Isn't it awful when a show you've been watching all season ends with a cliffhanger? It's bad, but it's also really, really good since of course it usually means you'll have something to look forward to in a few months (or let's be honest, sometimes much longer). We definitely have a love/hate relationship with TV cliffhangers, but all good shows have them. Why is that? Because any show worth its salt builds up drama and suspense throughout the season and sometimes across seasons. Why else would audiences keep tuning in?
Some shows take it totally over the top, though, leaving audiences anxious and stressed at the end of an episode. But TV and movies should absolutely make us feel, so we're not mad at them! Those are precisely the TV episodes that end up being the most memorable. We all know the ones. Sometimes they come in the very first season of a series, other times they're somewhere in the middle when networks are trying to ramp up numbers for a show with dwindling viewership. And occasionally, a series will end forever with a cliffhanger. Crazy (and super frustrating), right? We'll get to that later, though.
In case you've forgotten them, or even somehow missed them altogether, here's a list of some of the most unforgettable TV cliffhangers that have ever been on television. Be on the lookout for some of your favorite shows.
'Friends'
Season 4: Episode 24
Ross really screwed things up when he was set to marry Emily but then slipped up and called her Rachel during the actual ceremony. What would happen? Well, we wouldn't find out until the next season because the episode ended right then and there.
'The West Wing'
Season 1: Episode 22
The West Wing is one of those shows that had a cliffhanger right from the start. The first season finale ends with a shooting that occurs when nearly all of the main characters exit a building and several white supremacist snipers open fire on them at the same time.
'The Walking Dead'
Season 6: Episode 16
Season six was arguably one of the most intense seasons of the long-running series The Walking Dead. Negan absolutely tormented the survivors. At the end of the season, he gathers everyone up and proclaims that one person has to die, and of course we're led to believe that it's definitely going to be one of the main characters.
'Gossip Girl'
Season 3: Episode 22
What happened to Chuck?! We were really not expecting the twist of Chuck Bass getting shot in Prague after Blair couldn't decide whether she should stay with him or not. We didn't know how serious his injuries would be or whether he and Blair would end up together after all.
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Season 5: Episode 22
This one goes way back. Dying and coming back to life wasn't a new thing for Buffy, but at the end of season five it was super-emotional because she was sacrificing herself. They even showed a grave with her name on it at the end. It was unbelievable that she could really be dead, but still there was a chance.
'Supernatural'
Season 9: Episode 23
Supernatural is one of those insanely long-running TV series like Grey's Anatomy, so of course there's a cliffhanger or two in there. The most memorable came at the end of season nine of 15. It was basically like a double cliffhanger when Dean Winchester was killed only for him to later open his eyes and viewers discover that he had actually been turned into a demon. Would he stay a demon forever? Would he still die? Only time would tell.
'Grey's Anatomy'
Season 1: Episode 9
Did you know that the first season of Grey's Anatomy was only nine episodes? It's been so long that we didn't remember either. Shonda Rhimes managed to pack a lot of intrigue into that first season, though, and at the end of the final episode, viewers were left with the knowledge that Meredith's hunky boyfriend McDreamy is … married. Iconic.
'Sherlock'
Season 2: Episode 3
British TV shows seriously have the shortest seasons, which doesn't help when one ends with a major cliffhanger like in the last episode of season two of Sherlock, when the legendary detective throws himself off a building. We later see Watson standing over Sherlock's grave, but things get even more confusing when we eventually get a glimpse of Sherlock creeping around in dark shadows.
'Lost'
Season 3: Episode 22
Lost is a show that you had to watch very closely and carefully because there were so many odd plot twists, so when a cliffhanger happened any outcome could be plausible. At the end of season three, viewers were led to think they were watching a flashback, but then it turned out to be a flash-forward, leaving everyone very confused about how long it would really take for the deserters to be rescued.
'Breaking Bad'
Season 3: Episode 13
The folks behind the hit AMC series Breaking Bad were masterminds when it came to creating cliffhangers. In season three, it was all left up to flaky Jesse Pinkman to save Walter from being killed by Gus when he no longer thought he needed him. But it was Jesse we were talking about, and fans just didn't know if he'd be able to pull that trigger. We didn't find out until the next season, either.
'Mad Men'
Season 4: Episode 13
It was around this point in the series when things really got unhinged, so we shouldn't have been too surprised when Don proposed to his secretary Megan, who for all intents and purposes, he barely knew. Some of us thought Don had changed and seen the error of his impulsive and superficial ways, but no. Of course Mad Men always had long gaps between seasons, so we didn't find out what would happen until much later.
'Grey's Anatomy'
Season 8: Episode 24
This was arguably the most dramatic episode of Grey's Anatomy ever, and that's saying something. Many of the show's stars were involved in a plane crash while delivering an organ for a transplant patient. At least one died in the aftermath of the crash, but the worst was the fact that the episode ended with the remaining doctors still stranded and nearly out of the supplies that could help them survive until help came. It was crazy!
'Breaking Bad'
Season 5: Episode 8
Season five of Breaking Bad was so insane. No one knew what to expect even up until the very last episode. But the craziest cliffhanger actually came right in the middle of the season before the show took a brief hiatus. In the episode, Walt's brother-in-law Hank finally realizes that Walt is Heisenberg, and then the episode ends and we don't find out how Hank will handle it until the hiatus is over.
'Game of Thrones'
Season 6: Episode 10
Actor Kit Harington shot to fame on HBO's Game of Thrones, so when he's stabbed and left for dead alone in the snow at the end of season six, fans didn't know what to think. In the books by George R.R. Martin, the character ends up not really being dead, but the series was beyond events that occurred in the book, so it could've gone either way.
'Orange Is the New Black'
Season 4: Episode 13
Orange Is the New Black took place in a prison, so of course unexpected and unpredictable things happened. Fans were still shocked at the end of season four when the character Daya (played by Dascha Polanco) pulled a gun on the officers. To make matters worse, as is typical with Netflix, fans had to wait a year before the next season revealed how it all played out.
'Glee'
Season 3: Episode 14
During the winter finale of the third season of the beloved series Glee, fans watch as Quinn gets in a terrible accident while texting and driving. The accident itself was a really dramatically filmed scene that built a lot of tension, and then the episode ends before we find out Quinn's fate.
'Game of Thrones'
Season 7: Episode 7
This was a super-intense episode of Game of Thrones in which the Night King leads his army in an attack on Eastwatch, utilizing a massive reborn dragon named Viserion who actually breathes blue fire. From there, they head to Westeros. Viewers were left with the impression that sure destruction was ahead, but had to wait to find out.
'The Good Place'
Season 1: Episode 13
Yes, serious cliffhangers can happen on sitcoms! During the last episode of the very first season of The Good Place, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, the characters find out that they aren't really in the good place, but that they've actually been in the bad place all along. Oh and then Eleanor apparently loses all memories of her soul mate, Chidi. Whoa!
'Dexter'
Season 4: Episode 12
No one, and we mean no one wanted to see what happened at the end of Dexter season four. Sweet Rita is shown dead in a bathtub at the end of the episode, and we just know that it's going to set off the usually unfeeling Dexter to see one of the few people who actually matters to him meet such a fate.
'Alias'
Season 2: Episode 22
Not only is Jennifer Garner's Alias character, Sydney, totally BA, but she was also still just as lovable as the actor herself. So even though she was always in sticky situations, fans hated to see her struggle. At the end of season two, there's a plot twist in the form of a two-year time jump, and poor Sydney had no clue what was going on. Unfortunately, fans didn't either — at least until the season three premiere.
'Manifest'
Season 1: Episode 16
Shock was totally the norm for the series Manifest, and it started right from the beginning. During the season one finale, Jared and Zeke were struggling with each other over a gun. Michaela bursts into the room, and the gun suddenly goes off. The episode ends before it's revealed who or if anyone got shot.
