Entertainment
TV Series Finales That We're Still Confused About
It's always sad when television shows shut their doors, even in this age of kickstarting movies and Netflix revivals. A series finale is a hard thing to pull off — one of the best things about television is that in most cases, the ending is not meant to be as finite as a book or a movie. Sometimes, threads are left dangling or a series finale adds a twist that keeps fans talking long after the final credits have rolled. Whether you love to be left hanging or hate it, here are 31 confusing series finales that may or may not ever be resolved.
2. The Sopranos
Another infamously confusing ending, this is the sudden cut to black heard 'round the world.
3. Mad Men
Did Don Draper invent the iconic Coke commercial? Did he become the commercial? Unclear.
4. How I Met Your Mother
The ending betrayed the promise of the pilot, and I'm always going to be confused as to why its big twist needed to happen.
5. Pushing Daisies
The closing narration of Pushing Daisies neatly wrapped up some loose ends in a general sense, but there are still many unanswered questions about Ned's powers, and what happened after Chuck revealed herself to her aunts.
6. 30 Rock
How old is Kenneth? Was this whole show technically taking place in the past? So many questions.
7. Twin Peaks
I mean, did you expect the ending of this show to not be confusing?
8. Parks & Recreation
Was Leslie Knope the President? Was she?! I need to know!
9. St. Elsewhere
This is the show that essentially inspired every Lost fan theory and implied that an entire universe of TV series take place in a snow globe. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.
10. Dexter
I'm sorry, what? We're supposed to accept that Dexter just becomes a hot lumberjack? Sure...
11. Gilmore Girls
I know that Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life put a new ending on the series that raises new questions, but the Season 7 finale, which was the series finale until now, is still confusing. How are Luke and Lorelai not married? Why is Rory completely unaffected by the fact that Logan proposed to her and then they broke up? (The answer, obviously, is Jess.)
12. Roseanne
Kind of like Atonement (spoilers for Atonement), the character Roseanne revealed in the finale that the show has been a second fiction, and that in "reality," they never won the lottery, Dan was dead, and a lot of the character dynamics on the show were totally different. Huh?!
13. Veronica Mars
Sure, we have the movie and some novels now to fill in the gaps. However, the finale left so much up in the air back in 2007. Does Keith become sheriff? Is Veronica really (nope) over Logan? Even knowing the movie happened, the fact that she and Piz didn't immediately break up is baffling.
14. Weeds
The whole "North Carolina fronts the legal marijuana movement" plot in Weeds Season 8 baffled me, as someone who grew up there. That would never happen. Still, the flash-forward finale is deeply depressing in many ways. While the final shot is lovely, I'll never understand how Shane ended up on such a sad path and how Doug ended up leading a cult.
15. The X-Files
Much like Twin Peaks, I ask, what did you expect? Even the new revival series couldn't explain much.
16. Dollhouse
Dollhouse has two series finales, weirdly enough. The futuristic Season 1 finale "Epitaph One" was written when it looked like the show was canceled. When it was renewed for Season 2, and then canceled again, "Epitaph Two" was written to further tie things up. That said, it never explains that Boyd reveal, and a lot of fates are left unknown. "Epitaph Two" is a beautiful, confusing end to an equally confusing series.
17. Alias
Is Sydney and Vaughn's daughter being groomed to be an agent?! Is she?!
18. Sex and the City
Surprise! It was a rom-com all along.
19. Two and a Half Men
The troubled sitcom broke the fourth wall in the finale, which is always confusing.
20. True Blood
Who is Sookie's husband? How do they have all these friends? Why do I still care so much? Just some of the questions we were left with after the series ended.
21. Battlestar Galactica
Way before Westworld, this series finale had fans wondering if we were all really robots IRL.
22. Breaking Bad
He died, right? He definitely died? And where is Jesse going?
23. The Good Wife
Forget the slap, where was Jason?
24. Cheers
It's only confusing if you believe in love conquering all.
25. The Office
I genuinely loved the finale, and I know this probably had to do with scheduling, but if the group was reuniting to do bonus features for the documentary DVD, you would think Michael would be in more than just the wedding scenes. A lot of the logistics of this show don't make sense, if you stop to think about it.
26. Freaks & Geeks
Lindsay becomes a Dead Head? Is there no end to her rebellious whims?
27. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
It was a triumphant ending for Sunnydale, a confusing ending for Buffy and Spike, and you have to wonder why they didn't think to break the Slayer laws and activate a bunch of girls everywhere before. I guess that's what series finales are for. At least Spike returned in Angel.
28. Heroes
Just thinking about the Carnival in the final season of Heroes makes me confused and sad, even though Peter and Sylar working together was pretty amazing. Plus, since the episode aired before the show was cancelled, it doesn't really have any traditional series finale elements.
29. The West Wing
What happened to Mandy? I'm kidding, that unsolved TWW question wasn't important to the series finale. However, if you have a fan theory about the shuttle leak, then the finale rightfully added to your confusion.
30. Gossip Girl
There's no way it was Dan and that's all I have to say. Absolutely not.
31. Seinfeld
In the Seinfeld finale, the four friends almost die and then end up in jail. That seems overly dramatic for a show about nothing, don't you think? It's jarring, confusing, and bold — which is all you can ask of a finale, honestly.