The 10 Worst Plot Twists In Otherwise Great TV Shows

I honestly think plot twists are the most exciting part of watching TV. When a show really gets me with a twist, it’s amazing – it feels so unexpected, but when you think back on it, everything fits together perfectly. A lot of times, that’s exactly why I keep watching – I love being surprised!

Sometimes, plot twists can actually hurt a story. They might come across as random, make characters act out of character, or just be frustrating instead of exciting. A bad twist – like the ending of St. Elsewhere or one that doesn’t add anything to the plot – can ruin an otherwise great show, and unfortunately, this happens all too often.

10) The Mother Is Dead on How I Met Your Mother

The show How I Met Your Mother started with a unique and engaging idea for a comedy, but the ending was a major disappointment, featuring one of the most criticized plot twists ever seen on television. For nine seasons, fans speculated about who Ted would ultimately end up with, and many thought it would be Robin.

Viewers who predicted Robin as the mother were partially correct, but there was a surprising catch: Ted’s wife had actually passed away, and he later married Robin. This unexpected turn of events frustrated many fans, who felt like the nine seasons they invested in the show didn’t lead to a satisfying conclusion.

9) Luke’s Secret Daughter on Gilmore Girls

The most jarring plot twists are those that feel out of character. A good example is the reveal of Luke’s daughter on Gilmore Girls. For years, Luke was presented as a stable, dependable father figure, so it was surprising to learn he had a teenage daughter no one knew existed.

The unexpected turn upset many viewers because it felt out of character for Luke, lacked proper setup, and appeared to be added just for shock value. A lot of fans believed the show let them—and its own established story—down, and Gilmore Girls never felt quite the same afterward.

8) Clarke Kills Bellamy on The 100

The decision to have Clarke kill Bellamy was meant to be a shocking reveal of his character’s decline, but it came across as unnecessary and upset many viewers. While Bellamy served as the show’s moral center, making his death thematically significant, it didn’t feel justified by the story.

It felt like the writers unnecessarily killed off this character just to shock the audience, and it didn’t feel true to who he was. Like many disappointing plot twists in later seasons, it left viewers feeling like their investment in the show earlier on hadn’t been worth it.

7) Gabi Is Revealed as Nick’s Killer on Days of Our Lives

Soap operas are known for surprising plot twists, and Days of Our Lives was once particularly good at making even the most unbelievable storylines seem captivating. While the show’s dramatic and over-the-top plots were part of its appeal, it’s ironic that fans were more thrilled by wild scenarios – like several supposedly dead characters being alive and living on a secluded island – than by the relatively straightforward mystery of who killed Nick Fallon.

The big reveal didn’t have the impact the writers intended. Many viewers had already figured out Gabi was responsible, either because the hints were too clear or because the actress, Camila Banus, was leaving the show – something that was public knowledge for months. This made the reveal feel predictable and left audiences feeling let down.

6) Maggie and Ben’s Breakup on Chicago Med

Maggie and Ben were a quirky but lovable couple who had faced many challenges together. They married quickly, but seemed like a good match, and were nearly able to adopt the child they’d been caring for after he was found abandoned at the hospital.

Honestly, it was so frustrating to watch Maggie and Ben’s relationship fall apart. Just when things seemed good, an ex showed up, and Ben instantly became insecure, worried Maggie would be unfaithful. It was a real letdown, especially because Maggie wasn’t cheating! What really got to me was that she didn’t tell him she’d been with her ex after a serious accident, and he blew up about it. It felt like a huge insult to both of them, and frankly, to us as viewers, that a simple conversation could cause everything to fall apart when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

As a longtime viewer of Chicago Med, I have to say the show seems to have a recurring problem with its writing. We saw it happen before, and it happened again with Maggie and her boyfriend. Just when things seemed stable, she suddenly ended things, claiming a lack of connection. Honestly, it felt completely unearned and came across as a frustratingly random plot point, much like a similar situation from a few seasons back. It’s a pattern that really undermines the emotional impact of these relationships.

5) Captain Cragen’s Death on Law & Order: SVU

Dedicated viewers of Law & Order: SVU were thrilled to hear that beloved characters like Cragen, Dr. Huang, and Brian Cassidy would be back for the start of season 27. However, it turned out Cragen had passed away before the season began, and the others only appeared briefly at his funeral.

Captain Cragen had been a part of the show since the very beginning, so killing off his character felt unnecessary. It was especially frustrating that the show focused so much attention on actors who only appeared briefly, while treating such a long-running character’s death with so little respect. This made the storyline even more disappointing.

The situation felt avoidable, especially since there was a more respectful path forward. Instead of writing off a character whose actor was still able and eager to return for occasional appearances, SVU could have simply held a memorial for the late Richard Belzer, honoring his memory through his character, Munch.

4) Deb Falls In Love With Dexter on Dexter

Let me tell you, Dexter starts off really strong – it’s genuinely disturbing in a way that pulls you in, given the premise. But there’s a line, and I think the show crossed it with the whole Debra storyline. Seeing things through Dexter’s head as he tries to justify his actions is one thing, but throwing in awkward romantic drama just for shock value? That felt unnecessary and honestly, a bit of a misstep.

The plot twist came completely out of nowhere, and honestly, the show didn’t need a complicated and potentially inappropriate romance added to everything else. It just made fans feel uneasy without serving any real purpose, and it felt like a mistake the show couldn’t recover from.

3) Georgie Becomes a Father on Young Sheldon

Even though Georgie having a baby unexpectedly led to the creation of the show Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage after Young Sheldon finished, the new show didn’t actually happen until it premiered. Young Sheldon was originally intended to focus on the experiences of Sheldon’s childhood and how they made him the quirky character we know from The Big Bang Theory, but Georgie’s storyline ended up becoming the main focus.

In recent seasons, the show shifted away from focusing on Sheldon’s upbringing and family struggles. The final season was particularly disappointing, feeling more like a prolonged preview for the spin-off Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage than a satisfying conclusion to Sheldon’s story, which seemed to be treated as secondary.

2) An Entire Season of Dallas Turned Out To Be a Dream

The storyline where Bobby Ewing was seemingly killed is remembered as a major mistake in television history. After the huge success of the “Who Shot JR?” mystery, Dallas tried to create another dramatic event, but Bobby’s death felt forced and didn’t capture viewers’ interest – and the way the show tried to fix it was even more problematic.

The show Dallas shocked viewers by revealing that Bobby hadn’t actually died – the whole season had been a dream. This frustrating twist left fans feeling like their time had been wasted and cemented the storyline as one of the series’ worst.

1) St. Elsewhere Was An Autistic Child’s Imaginary World

Just two years after the famous Bobby Ewing dream sequence on Dallas, the creators of St. Elsewhere took a similar approach. The very last scene of the show revealed that everything viewers had watched throughout the entire series was actually a dream.

The only genuinely real character was Tommy Westphall, a young, non-verbal boy with autism who was fascinated by a snow globe depicting the hospital. This reveal sharply divided viewers – some praised it as a stroke of genius, while others felt it invalidated the entire six-season series, comparing it unfavorably to the infamous twist from the show Dallas and rendering the whole story pointless.

What’s the most shocking plot twist you’ve ever seen on TV? Share your thoughts and discuss it with other fans at the ComicBook Forum!

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2025-12-07 04:42