10 Shocking TV Finales That Changed Everything

When Lost first debuted, the cryptic series grabbed the attention of viewers the world over. Offering only tantalising glimpses of explanation into its murky mythos over its six agonizingly slow seasons, the show grew more and more complicated as fan-sites, reviewers and critics alike speculated on its possible conclusion.

Anyone online in the mid aughts will recall debating the meaning of the statues, the origins of the Others, and the nature of the smoke monster.

When the time finally came for the show’s finale, the world waited with bated breath. Surely, after all this deciphering, all the decoding, all the countless complex riddles left unsolved, the ending couldn’t be a slightly jazzed-up remix of the classic Occurrence at Owl Creek gambit. Could it?

I mean, was there really ever any question?

Well, the good news is that between JJ Abrams contributions to the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises and Damon Lindelof’s work on the Prometheus movies, the world seems to have mostly forgiven the creators of Lost for the show’s somewhat inevitable ending. However Lindelof recently found himself back in hot water with a divisive adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen which prompted the ire of critics who called out its “copaganda”