cliffhanger endings that come with their own reset buttons. It doesn't mean anything to an audience to have a shocking cliffhanger ending to every episode when theyre aware that anything from five to sixty seconds into the next episode, circumstances will conspire to make that ending irrelevant. Its classic boy who cried wolf. Fundamentally, theres no emotional payout possible from a cliffhanger ending when you know theres little danger and no dilemma. Theyre not hooking people; no ones out there screaming "I must know what happens next!" Has Jessica just stepped out into daylight to kill herself? Its ok, Jason will tackle her back indoors in a few seconds and itll be as if it never happened. Has Sams brother Tommy been roped back into dog fighting by his parents? Don't worry, in the first sixty seconds of the next episode he'll just kill the pair of them. Actually, do we even care enough about Tommy to worry about his alleged cliffhanger? Relax, it won't matter anyway - because five episodes later hes going to be beaten to death by another character we dont care about, whos going to be killed in turn in the episode after that. But hey, who needs actual jeopardy when you have wait, what do we have again? Oh yes
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
