Top 10 TV Plot Twists That Ruined Everything

“The 100” (2014-20)

For many fans of this series, the worst thing they could imagine was for friends and on-again, off-again supercouple Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake to break up for good. They had no idea how dark things would get. In the post-apocalyptic show’s seventh and final season, Bellamy falls prey to the Disciples, a deadly doomsday cult. Clarke is put in the gut wrenching position of killing her friend. Shocking can be good, but this felt downright nonsensical and unfair. It was an emotional blow that fans weren’t prepared for, and even left several longtime watchers wondering why they’d invested in the story for all those years.

“The Walking Dead” (2010-22)

Viewers were shocked when fan favorite Glenn seemingly fell into a horde of zombies with no hope of escape. Readers of the comics on which the AMC series is based were just as shocked. Glenn does die in the comics, but not this way. Actor Steven Yeun’s name was removed from the opening credits for the next four episodes. Then the character made his triumphant return, explaining his narrow escape from death. However, his resurrection wasn’t well-received. Even those who loved Glenn felt cheated and manipulated by the lame way it was all handled. But it turns out his run was short-lived. The next season began with the antagonist, Negan, bludgeoning Glenn to death in a scene that was much closer to the source material.

“Grey’s Anatomy” (2005-)

Season 8 ended with a crash, a boom, and a bang. When several regular characters end up in a plane crash in the woods, they must fight to survive against all odds. Severe injuries and post-traumatic stress take hold. Watching Meredith Grey lose both her sister Lexie and Lexie’s boyfriend, the lovable heartthrob Mark Sloan, was shocking and devastating. However, once the dust cleared in season nine, it seemed for many fans that the show had suffered losses it couldn’t recover from. A major relationship was now gone, and for many, it was a turning point that signaled several departures and a drop in quality for the show.

“Dallas” (1978-91)

Where his brother J.R. was known for his double-dealing and backstabbing, Patrick Duffy’s Bobby Ewing was the warm heart at the center of the series. So when he was run down and killed by the jealous and obsessed Katherine Wentworth, it was a tremendous blow to the series. If the audience felt betrayed then, they felt totally duped when Bobby showed up in his ex-wife’s shower at the end of the next season. Apparently, all 31 episodes taking place between Bobby’s “death” and his resurrection were just a fever dream. Even fans who were happy to see him back couldn’t quite stomach the idea that they had just watched several weeks of storylines that didn’t matter.

“Veronica Mars” (2004-07; 2019)

Fans were understandably shattered when this cult mystery series was canceled after its third season. Given the title character is a private investigator, there’s a lot of death going on around her pretty much all the time. But few thought the series would kill her most reliable love interest, Logan Echolls. When the show came back for its belated fourth season in 2019, Veronica and Logan’s wedded bliss was unexpectedly short-lived when he became the victim of a serial bomber. It was seen as a betrayal of epic, series-ruining proportions.

“Gilmore Girls” (2000-07)

Spunky Lorelai Gilmore and ornery diner owner Luke Danes spent five whole seasons denying the achingly obvious chemistry between them. When they finally did get their act together and start dating in season six, in came nerdy preteen April Nardini to ruin their lives, and also ours. April was doomed from the start. Luke’s idiotic decision to not tell Lorelai about her was bad enough, but it just seemed like a soap opera development created to lengthen their will-they-or-won’t-they relationship. Once we got a taste of them moving forward, the last thing we wanted was another obstacle. Even if April had been sunshine and rainbows, it was always going to be hard for fans to accept her.

“Roseanne” (1988-97; 2018)

A great sitcom about regular people with everyday worries ended on a sour note. At the beginning of its ninth and original final season, the blue collar Conner Family became multi-million-dollar lottery winners. This kicked off a series of weird, inconsistent, and wildly dumb scenarios that betrayed everything the family had represented. Disoriented fans didn’t know what to make of their sudden, shark-jumping displays of wealth. Things weren’t made much better by the twist in its original series finale. Roseanne Conner reveals the ninth season was a fantasy she cooked up for her first novel. The bombshell revelation that her loving husband, Dan, was dead was the final straw.

“Game of Thrones” (2011-19)

Though rushed, Daenerys Targaryen’s turn to the darkside at least made narrative sense. However, even the most forgiving fans couldn’t help but scratch their heads during the “Game of Thrones” finale. After all the pain and bloodshed, Tyrion Lannister stood up and said that Bran Stark had the best story in the kingdom and therefore should be King of Westeros, and everyone agreed. The rest of us just went, “Huh?” Of course Bran went through it just like everyone else, but he didn’t even have the best story in the room. There was a lot to be said for his qualities as a future king, but given what everyone had gone through, it seemed like a weak and tidy end for such an epic story.

“How I Met Your Mother” (2005-14)

That’s right. You listened to Ted tell the story of how he met his kids’ mother, only to find out in the series finale that she was almost inconsequential. The kids point out the obvious fact that in telling how he met their mother, he revealed that he really is in love with Robin and should act on that feeling. Although many fans were understandably annoyed, some thought it a fitting end to a show that was constantly telling us how life is a story with a lot of unplanned twists. But still, the way Ted’s kids are constantly annoyed with him telling stories about their mother kinda sounds mean in retrospect after you find out she’s been dead the whole time.

“Gossip Girl” (2007-12)

After six seasons of making a bunch of rich teens’ lives a living hell, it was revealed in the series finale that the Gossip Girl blog was the brainchild of brooding and sensitive Dan Humphrey. Never mind the fact that there were several times Dan was seen reading the blog alone, reacting with confusion or outrage that’s rendered completely illogical if he wrote it. The blog exposed several secrets that humiliated people close to him in ways that go beyond throwing them off the scent. It’s a legitimate show-breaking plot twist that makes rewatches almost impossible to invest in.