*Spoilers ahead for How I Met Your Mother, The Shinning, Me Before You, and The Green Mile *
Have you ever gotten to the end of a film or show and the ending was so bad or disappointing that you had to turn the TV off and sit in silence? Well I have, and I’m betting the majority of you have as well. The end of something is meant to be a resolution, whether that is for the better or worse, but a lot of shows and movies fall short of hitting the mark for appropriate endings.
The most obvious example of this for me is the ending of How I Met Your Mother. This show is by far one of the most incredible pieces of television that has ever been out there, but I can not stand the ending of the show. While watching the show, you can tell that the creators were very creative and cared a lot about what they were making. Every episode is so unique and well thought out, except for the ending. From what I know, the ending was initially filmed in 2006 which was relatively close to the initial release of the show. This causes some issues, because it ignores a lot of the character development that has taken up to nine seasons to create. The ending leaves the show feeling pointless. Why did I take my time to watch this show when the ending essentially reverts the characters to their season one selves? Barney and Robin end up leaving each other and Robin gets with Ted. The ending turns into Ted essentially asking his children if it is okay if he dates Robin. No longer is it a sweet story about his wife that he cared deeply about, but instead it is about him dating a new woman. The show ends how it began, with Ted vying for Robin’s affection. Despite this, it is still an amazing show up to that point, and one that I highly recommend.
One movie that I believe has a bad ending, which may be a bit controversial, would be The Shining. I also really enjoy this movie, but I found the ending to be a bit lackluster. The tension is building throughout the movie for the big finale when Jack goes crazy. Once Wendy gets away and Jack freezes to death, there is a scene where the camera is zooming into a photo on the wall from the past and Jack is in that photo. Film critics agree that this scene is up for interpretation, but I believe that is a somewhat lazy way to end a movie. If you want to show something, then you should make that thing clear. It is your piece of art and you should create your own ending, without fear of it not being received well. I believe that sometimes it can be necessary or even beneficial to end a movie this way, but not this one. I think that it could have simply ended on Jack’s frozen face.
My final example would be Me Before You. I absolutely love this movie, the characters had so much chemistry and it definitely became one of my favorite romance movies. This however is lessened by the ending. The movie ends with one of the main characters deciding to end his own life. This ending is very bittersweet, because while I understand that it shows Will’s struggle with his new life, I think it also dismisses all the progress made in the movie. Lou’s job is to make Will happier as well as care for him as his caregiver. Eventually they begin to fall in love and Will seems to have less of a gloomy perspective. This is entirely ignored when he makes his final decision in the movie. This may be a shallow take, but sometimes I believe it is okay to have a happy ending. Not everything has to be deeper than just two people falling in love.
Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that some endings should be sad and sometimes I even agree with a movie ending like that. For example, The Green Mile ends with John Coffey being put to death and it is important to the plot of the movie. The movie is supposed to mirror the execution of Jesus Christ and in order to do that, it is important for him to also die. Another example is Whiplash. I recently watched it for the first time for its ten year anniversary and its ending is not exactly very satisfying, but I do not disagree with this dissatisfaction. Its ending helped highlight the circle of abuse in the movie, which was the point of it. In a lot of cases, the dissatisfaction is important to the plot and lesson of stories.
The reason that the movies I listened to were unsatisfactory to me was because they ignored the progress made throughout the movie. Part of the purpose of movies and shows is to teach a lesson or have a moral and if a movie ruins itself by destroying what it seeks to create, then I believe that it had a bad ending. No one wants to end on a bad note, that is why I think it is important to fully develop an ending just as much as you would the rest of the TV show or movie.