There’s nothing like a good twist. Although it’s rare for a movie to have one big central twist and even rarer for that twist to be satisfying, huge plot changes that subvert all expectations happen frequently on TV.
The longer form of story-telling on TV opens the possibilities up tremendously to a big and revolutionary twist. There’s so much more time to tell and build up to a big plot twist on TV that can make the big move so satisfying.
There’s also a greater chance on TV that the full consequence and impact of that plot twist can be explored. Unlike movies, a huge twist usually launches a story on TV, instead of ending one.
On the other hand, the exact opposite can also be true. The longer time to build up a plot twist can create more problems, resulting in unavoidable logical issues, plot holes, or just unsatisfying answers to long mysteries.
A good plot twist can help reinvigorate a story but a bad one can completely ruin a show. In the worst cases, a poorly conceived twist can retroactively damage the entire series that came before it.
This list is an effort to look at both sides of the coin, seeing which plot twists worked and which miserably failed on TV. The TV shows gathered here aren't defined solely by their big twists. However, those twists have had a huge impact on their respective legacies.
Here are the 9 Plot Twists That Hurt TV Shows (And 8 That Saved Them).
Ruined: Gossip Girl – Dan is the Mastermind
It’s hard to stick the landing on a series finale, but it’s even more difficult when the finale involves a series long mystery that needs to be solved.
For six seasons, the titular character had lurked the background of Gossip Girl. Although her “voice” was Kristen Bell, Gossip Girl turned out to not to be a "girl" at all but outsider and all around lovable character, Dan Humphrey.
From the moment, Dan was revealed as Gossip Girl, fans revolted and for good reason.
It was immediately clear that this twist hadn’t been planned from the start as there were so many loopholes and plot holes that needed to be fixed.
The move not only didn’t fit Dan’s character but there were countless previous scenes of Dan reading Gossip Girl’s online posts about the other characters, completely alone, and being shocked.
Dan was many things in the series, but Gossip Girl shouldn’t have been one of them.
Saved: Game of Thrones – Ned’s End
Fans probably shouldn’t have been so surprised when Ned Stark’s head was chopped off in the season 1 finale. The death was “spoiled” for years in the books-- and he was played by Sean Bean after all.
Yet fans were shocked when Ned passed away. However, without Ned’s death, Game of Thrones would be a much different show.
Ned’s death is the inciting incident for a lot of the mayhem of Game of Thrones. Without Ned’s demise, there’s no civil war, no Red Wedding, and none of the other countless twists of the series. Ned’s death was a bitter pill to swallow at the time but Game of Thrones would’ve been a lot more boring without it.
Game of Thrones needed Ned to pass away as much as it needed Peter Dinklage to play Tyrion Lannister.
Ruined: The X-Files – Scully’s Son Switcheroo
The X-Files revival seasons haven't been the greatest run of the show but they’re mostly passable. Sadly, there is one big exception. In the season 11 premiere, The X-Files dropped a huge bomb on fans, concerning William Scully.
Scully and Mulder’s son, William, isn’t a huge part of the series as Scully gave him up for adoption shortly after his birth. Yet he was a rather important figure, in Mulder and Scully’s relationship if nothing else.
However, in the season 11 premiere, The Cigarette Smoking Man claimed that he had drugged Scully and impregnated her, creating William.
The twist wasn’t just a huge betrayal of what fans believed but unnecessarily made Scully into a huge victim, long after the fact. The twist took something unexpected and complicated but beautiful between Scully and Mulder and turned into a twisted lie.
It’s even been speculated that the twist is behind Gillian Anderson’s decision to stop playing Scully.
Saved: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Hail Hydra
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. started off in a very rough place. The first TV show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in a very boring and repetitive cycle.
Yet all of that changed toward the end of season 1 and after the release of Captain America: Winter Solider. The movie that revealed that most of S.H.I.E.L.D. were Hydra sleeper agents obviously had a huge impact on the TV show dedicated to S.H.I.E.L.D.
The events of Winter Solider and the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., upended the series in the best way. It also resulted in one of the show’s best villains being created in Grant Ward.
Before Ward was revealed to be Hydra, he was a bland and handsome agent. Afterwards, he became a magnetic and dangerous sociopath who was so much fun to watch.
The Hydra turn lit a match under Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and propelled the show to telling even greater and wilder stories in the MCU.
Ruined: Luke Cage – Cottonmouth Goes Down
In 2016, Mahershala Ali received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor due to his role in Moonlight. The craziest thing is that might’ve been Ali’s second-best role of the year.
Around the same time that Moonlight was earning all of it acclaim, Luke Cage season 1 premiered and Ali played the show's first major villain, Cottonmouth.
Mahershala Ali was a revelation as Cottonmouth being charming, threatening and wonderfully enigmatic. Yet shortly into season 1, Cottonmouth was killed off... in a rather lazy way.
The first season of Luke Cage never recovered. The follow-up villain to Cottonmouth was nowhere near as interesting or compelling.
The season lost all momentum without Cottonmouth as the central antagonist. Luke Cage stumbled to the finish line, rather than standing tall.
Saved: The Flash - Harrison Wells is Back from the Future
Before The Flash revealed the identity of their first major villain, the show wasn’t in trouble. The Flash was enjoyable from the start, but the quality hit a huge spike after Barry’s mentor, Harrison Wells, was unveiled to be the Reverse Flash, aka Eobard Thawne.
The information that Wells was Barry’s archenemy and closest adviser added a whole new level of tension for the audience. It also helps that Tom Cavanagh did a wonderful job switching between (and melding) the kindly Wells and menacing Thawne.
The twist was so good that The Flash tried to recreate (twice) in the subsequent seasons. The identity reveals for villains Zoom and Savitar didn’t work nearly as well but that doesn't take away from how well Wells worked.
Ruined: Angel – Cordelia is Possessed and Pregnant
Years later, the reasoning for why Charisma Carpenter was fired from Angel is still couched in rumor. Yet there’s no denying that Carpenter was removed from the series after season 4 and the final full year of her character, Cordelia Chase, was a complete mess.
During Angel season 4, Cordelia acted like a completely different person. Turning away from Angel and sleeping with her own surrogate son, Connor. This was because Cordelia was actually possessed by an evil Higher Being. Yet it took nearly all season for Angel to reveal that fact to the audience.
Even after the secret was out, Angel did nothing to bring back the real Cordelia.
They had the possessed character give “birth” to herself and shoved Cordelia off in a coma, only to be later killed off in season 5. It was a horrible end to a (previously) fantastic character.
Saved: Breaking Bad – Walt Lets Jane Pass Away
Breaking Bad is one of the best TV shows ever created. A large part of that is how the series committed to its central premise and took mild-mannered science teacher Walt and made him into a kingpin.
It’s up for debate when Walt really “broke bad." Yet one of the biggest moments of the series and one of its hugest plot twists was when Walt let Jesse’s love, Jane, pass away.
The death of Krysten Ritter’s Jane came out of nowhere.
Jane was the first person to really recognize Walt as a monster and did a pretty good job removing Jesse from Walt’s sphere of influence. If Jane had lived, Breaking Bad would’ve been very different but because of Walt indirect and direct actions, Jane died.
The moment flipped the switch on Breaking Bad and changed the direction of the show into even more of a compelling downward spiral. Jane's death is the first action from Walt that can't be rationalized.
Ruined: Dexter – Gellar Wasn’t Real
Is a plot twist still a plot twist if everyone guesses it well beforehand? This is the central question of Dexter’s big reveal in season 6 where the main antagonist, Professor James Gellar, was revealed to be dead before the season even began.
The real threat of Dexter season 6 was Travis (Colin Hanks) but Dexter tried to convince viewers that Gellar (Edward James Almos) was the real monster. When, in fact, Gellar was figment of Travis’ imagination.
It was so obvious that Gellar wasn’t real that the reveal itself lacked any sort of punch or impact. It was relief when the twist was finally unveiled, which is not the ideal reaction for the big plot twist.
The Travis and Gellar situation also signaled the beginning of the end for Dexter. The show changed from a compelling and tense tale to something that was predictable and silly.
Saved: This is Us – One Big (Kind of) Happy Family
Nearly every episode of This is Us ends in a big plot twist that somehow changes what viewers believe but still fits with the overall narrative. This is Us is a schmaltzy and saccharin family drama but it still functions as a beautiful and shocking series. Yet the best twist of the series was the very first one.
The pilot of This is Us functions as three separate stories but by episode’s end it’s revealed that all the characters are connected in one family but separated by two timelines. The twist was expertly executed and helped give This is Us its unique identity.
The pilot’s big plot twist not only set the tone for the series but eased audience in to the relatively big concept of the series.
Jumping through timelines can be hard to handle but This is Us navigated it just right.
Ruined: Once Upon a Time – Emma’s Dark One Turn
The concept of the first half of Once Upon a Time’s season 5 was sound. The series’ central hero, The Savior, Emma Swan was turned into the new Dark One, which is essentially Once’s version of The Devil.
The idea of Emma dealing with this darkness and the rest of her family being forced to face her as a villain was a strong but Once Upon a Time completely wimped out on the execution.
Although Emma was technically the Dark One, the reason why couldn’t be lamer.
It was constantly teased that Emma had some big secret and that her family would never forgive her for why she became the Dark One.
Yet ultimately her reasons for turning to villainy were selfess and heroic. Emma also never did anything remotely evil while being the embodiment evil.
The twist was first of many similar reveals where something huge was teased with little to no pay-off.
Saved: Arrow – Sara is Alive (For Now)
From the Arrow pilot, it was obvious that the show had plans to take Dinah Laurel Lance and make her the Black Canary. The thing that no fan could’ve expected, though, is that Laurel’s sister, Sara, would beat her to the punch and become the first Black Canary. This is mostly because Sara was killed off in the pilot.
However, in Arrow season 2, Sara was recast and revealed to be alive and (kind of) well. The character quickly became a fan favorite and, despite being a totally original creation was everything fans could’ve wanted from Black Canary.
Arrow did eventually kill Sara off (again) and bring her back (again). Yet the initial introduction and reveal was one of its smartest moves as it introduced a character no was expecting but (nearly) everyone loved. The Arrowverse would be very different and worse without Sara Lance.
Ruined: The Walking Dead – Glenn is Alive (For Now)
The Walking Dead has been taken to task by fans for cruelly paying with their emotions and expectations. The worst example this problem though is The Walking Dead trying to trick viewers was when they “killed off” Glenn at the start of season 6.
At the end of the episode, “Farewell” it appeared that Glenn was eaten by zombies. This came as quite a shock as the arrival of Negan was being teased and Negan famously killed Glenn in the comics.
For a long time, The Walking Dead allowed viewers to think Glenn was dead. Yet it was all a fake-out, Glenn miraculously and illogically survived… only to almost immediately pass away at Negan’s hands.
It was manipulative and cruel, achieving nothing but making fans angry. Sadly, it was just the first of many unnecessary twists from the series.
Saved: Lost – We Have to Go Back, Kate!
Whether Lost came to a satisfying end or not is up for debate. It is rather hard to deny that the journey getting to Lost’s controversial series finale was exciting. A lot of that excitement has to do with the big plot twist of the season 3 finale.
Throughout the episode, scenes were shown of a severely depressed Jack and the assumption was that they were flashbacks.
Yet at the very end of the episode, the flashbacks were revealed to be flash forwards.
They were taking place after Jack (and a handful of characters) had gotten off the main island. This reveal flipped every fan expectation on its head and reinvigorated Lost, giving even more mysteries and stories to explore.
Jack screaming at Kate, “We have to go back!” occurred right at the halfway point of Lost and launched the series’ exciting, memorable and often confusing second chapter.
Ruined: Roseanne – The Final Season Fiasco
The revival season of Roseanne is somehow explaining away the mess of the final season and the series finale. Yet even if Roseanne is ignoring it, the show can’t wipe the mistake from history.
For the majority of Roseanne, the show was about a conservative lower middle-class family. However, in the final season Roseanne won the lottery and everything changed. The show shifted and became a lot less funny but that flip in status quo was nothing compared to the series finale.
In the final episode, it was revealed that most of the recent events of the series were a delusion of Roseanne.
Roseanne and her family never won the lottery and her husband, Dan, had died of a heart attack at their daughter’s wedding. It was a depressing, ridiculous twist that made even less sense than the miraculous lottery win.
Saved: The Good Place – They’re in the Bad Place
This sitcom starring Kristen Bell and Ted Dansen began with the concept that Bell’s character, Eleanor, was dead. Elanor had gone to the afterlife of The Good Place but she didn’t belong there so she tried to earn her place in “Heaven.”
During the first season, The Good Place was pleasant and interesting, but everything switched in the finale.
It was revealed that Eleanor and the rest weren’t in The Good Place at all but The Bad Place. Each of the four main characters were being punished for how they acted in life, not rewarded. This sounds like an even more unfunny concept, but the exact opposite was true.
Reversing the entire premise of the show allowed The Good Place to be increasingly wilder, inventive and funnier. The Bad Place twist not only made The Good Place one of the most serialized sitcoms ever but one of the funniest shows on TV.
Ruined: How I Met Your Mother – The Mother is Dead
How I Met Your Mother had one job. After way too many seasons, the show had to introduce the mother of Ted Mosby’s children and make her worth the ridiculous wait it took to bring her to life.
Against all odds, How I Met Your Mother managed it. Cristin Milioti’s Mother (whose real name was Tracy) was precisely as charming and funny as she needed to be; she was the perfect match for Ted.
Yet after the long wait it took for Ted to meet Tracy, How I Met Your Mother decided to almost immediately take her off.
In the series finale, it was revealed that Ted was telling the story of he met his children’s mother because said mother was dead and Ted was really in love with his ex-girlfriend Robin.
It was ridiculously unsatisfying end that made no sense in context of the larger series.
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What are some of your favorite and least favorite plot twists from TV? Do you agree with this list? Sound off in the comments!