8 Perfect TV Finales Ruined By One Thing

Not every finale is created equal. Whether it’s a season’s end or the closing of an entire series, there’s a lot resting on whatever type of finale audiences are served. And it’s safe to say that not every finale lives up to what we hope for.

It’s the writer’s chance to wrap up everything that needs it into one nice package, or leave an incredible thought-provoking cliffhanger that will keep audiences talking about the show until its return - or just forever!

Whilst there is no set way to do a good finale episode, there are a few general rules that are followed. Make things make sense, resist the temptation to jump the shark, don’t let your characters’ characterisation fall off a cliff just to serve some big finale moment, et cetera.

Unfortunately even if you follow all the logical rules, just one bad decision can completely throw off the episode’s whole vibe - they even have the power to retrospectively taint the season that preempted them. It’s a sad truth that even great shows can fall at the final hurdle, dragging audiences’ investment and attachment to the show right down with them.

It’s not necessarily that this episode was perfect but featured one bad moment, but that the series set up its finale to BE perfect and then was let down by its creator, Jed Mercurio, deciding he actually didn’t want to be Jed Mercuio anymore and was going to throw out his own signature approach.

Mercurio is to thank for a few powerful, successful series that are beloved by British audiences (e.g. Line of Duty, Cardiac Arrest), and so viewers thought they had gotten used to his usual style. He’s all for setting up interconnected, complex plots with shocking twists and well-seeded character development - so when Bodyguard’s final episode had been given a good shave by Occam’s Razor, people were left very disappointed.

The series was an incredible hit with UK audiences and millions flocked to watch it each week, and each of them was more than ready to have their minds blown by the ending. Only there was no big ending twist; everything turned out exactly how it was likely to. The bad people did the bad things, the explanations for things were totally sensible and normal, it was all, dare I say, a bit boring?

So used to bombastic closing acts and unpredictable ending twists are we that Bodyguard’s final offering just wasn’t enough. The show had set its own standards so high that Mercurio couldn’t possibly meet them with his ‘the twist is that there’s no twist’ conclusion.