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The 10 Worst Plot Twists In Otherwise Great TV Shows
Plot twists often are the best part of TV shows. The right twists can leave you amazed that you never saw the twist coming, yet make perfect sense, and often people watch because they love being surprised.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also sometimes true. Some twists come out of nowhere, force characters to behave erratically, or are more annoying than amazing. Whether it’s an annoying twist like the ending of St. Elsewhere or one that’s simply unnecessary, poor plot twists can break an otherwise brilliant show, and this has happened many more times than it should have.
10) The Mother Is Dead on How I Met Your Mother
The premise of How I Met Your Mother was fresh and interesting for a comedy, but the writers couldn’t stick the landing — instead, they went with one of the worst plot twists in TV history. For nine seasons, viewers debated who Ted would reveal to be the mother of his children, with many believing Robin would be the one at the end.
Those who guessed Robin were only half-right because of a ridiculous twist: the actual mother had died, and Ted married Robin afterwards. This twist was incredibly disappointing, making it seem as if the entire nine years the audience had devoted to the show were a complete waste of time.
9) Luke’s Secret Daughter on Gilmore Girls
The worst twists are the ones that don’t fit our understanding of the characters, and the Luke twist on Gilmore Girls was a prime example. For years, Luke seemed like one of the most steady, reliable paternal figures in the series, only for it to be revealed that he had a teenage daughter that nobody knew about.
This twist angered fans because it ruined Luke’s character, wasn’t foreshadowed well, and seemed like drama for its own sake. Many fans felt that the series betrayed them — and itself — with this twist, and Gilmore Girls never quite recovered afterwards.
8) Clarke Kills Bellamy on The 100
Clarke killing Bellamy was supposed to be a shocking moment that showed how far he had fallen, but it was gratuitous and only angered fans. Bellamy was the show’s moral compass, so obviously, there was thematic value to killing her, but it didn’t feel earned.
Instead, it seemed like the writers forced this devastating TV death in order to make a point, and it came across as an utter betrayal of Clarke’s character to have him do this. As with many late-series poor plot twists, this one made viewers feel as if they had wasted their time with the earlier seasons.
7) Gabi Is Revealed as Nick’s Killer on Days of Our Lives
Soap operas rely on plot twists, some of them outlandish, and Days of Our Lives used to be the best at selling unrealistic turns to the audience. Part of its charm is its over-the-top plots, and ironically, unbelievable nonsense like a bunch of murdered people being alive and living in a replica of Salem on an island was more popular and exciting than the more mundane reveal about who killed Nick Fallon.
The problem with this reveal was that it wasn’t the surprise twist the writers thought it was. Most of the audience had already guessed that Gabi was the culprit, both because of obvious clues and because it had been announced months earlier that Camila Banus, who played her at the time, was leaving the show. As a result, the reveal fell flat, and audiences were disappointed that the solution was so obvious.
6) Maggie and Ben’s Breakup on Chicago Med
Maggie and Ben were an unconventional but endearing couple who had been through a lot together. While they rushed into marriage, they seemed well-suited for each other, and they even came close to adopting the kid they had been fostering after he had been left in the hospital.
But then all of a sudden, an ex showed up in Maggie’s life, and Ben became suspicious and afraid she would cheat, eventually leading to a breakup. It was insulting to the couple and to viewers’ intelligence that, although Maggie remained faithful, Ben got angry after she didn’t tell him she was with her ex when she got into a serious accident, and their relationship soon imploded.
Chicago Med did not learn from this plot mistake, as a few seasons later, Maggie randomly broke up with her new boyfriend because she wasn’t feeling anything for him anymore, something that came equally out of nowhere.
5) Captain Cragen’s Death on Law & Order: SVU
Long-time fans were excited when Law & Order: SVU announced that fan favorites like Cragen, Dr. Huang, and Brian Cassidy would return in the season 27 premiere, only for it to turn out that Cragen had died off-screen and that the others were making cameos at a short funeral scene.
Cragen had been with the franchise since Law & Order premiered, and there was no reason to kill him off, and less so to hype actors who had less than a minute of screentime during their returns. The fact that this long-standing character’s death was treated so disrespectfully made this twist even worse.
Additionally, the entire thing was unnecessary when a better option was available. SVU could have honored late actor Richard Belzer by having a memorial for Munch instead of killing off a character whose actor was alive and willing to make guest appearances as needed.
4) Deb Falls In Love With Dexter on Dexter
Dexter is an unsettling show to begin with, considering the subject matter. However, there is a difference between seeing the world through the eyes of a serial killer who believes he is pursuing justice and having uncomfortable scenarios for the sake of being provocative, and the Deb love story angle falls into the latter category.
There was zero foreshadowing of this plot twist, and the last thing the show needed was a quasi-taboo love story on top of what it already offered. The story made fans more uncomfortable for no good reason and crossed a line it couldn’t come back from.
3) Georgie Becomes a Father on Young Sheldon
Although Georgie’s surprise baby opened the door for Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage after Young Sheldon ended, it didn’t work until that show premiered. Young Sheldon was supposed to be about the childhood events that shaped Sheldon into the uniquely annoying man he became on The Big Bang Theory, but Georgie’s story completely overshadowed everything.
The last few seasons were no longer centred around Sheldon’s childhood or the difficulty he had fitting into his family. The final season was especially painful to watch, as it was more or less a year-long backdoor pilot to Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, while Sheldon’s plotlines were an afterthought.
2) An Entire Season of Dallas Turned Out To Be a Dream
The Bobby Ewing debacle is one of the most famous missteps in television history. Dallas captured lightning in a bottle with the “Who Shot JR?” story and was eager to replicate it, but Bobby’s murder was so contrived and uninteresting that the nighttime soap began to lose viewers — and the solution they came up with was even worse.
Dallas revealed that Bobby was alive and well and that the murder and its aftermath had been a dream. This cheap trick disappointed viewers and made it clear that an entire season had been a waste of time, ultimately making the entire ill-thought-out plotline one of the worst in the series.
1) St. Elsewhere Was An Autistic Child’s Imaginary World
Although Dallas’ Bobby Ewing debacle was two years earlier, the writers of St. Elsewhere decided to go even further down the same road. In the final few minutes of the series’ last episode, it was revealed that the entire series was also a dream.
The only character who was real was Tommy Westphall, a non-verbal autistic boy who loved staring into a snow globe that had a model of the hospital inside it. This twist polarized the audience, with some calling it brilliant while others saw it for what it was: an even worse version of the Dallas twist, as it converted the entire six-year series into a waste of time.
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