movies/tv Great Stories with stupid endings.

[Misterian 118]

Okay, we all know about Mass Effect 3 and the reception the endings of that game had (with or without Extended Cut), right?

 

I know there are a lot of people who either hate the endings (be it due to Shepard dying, involving space magic, etc.) or were straight-up unbothered by them.

 

But frankly, I'm among those who, even before the release of the Extended Cut DLC, weren't bothered by the endings, if only because I already had problems with a certain ending some a different part of media.

 

I am talking about Codename: Kids Next Door's so-called 'Grand Finale', OP:INTERVIEWS.

 

Golly, where do I begin with this ending?

 

To avoid talking to death about it, I will sum up this ending by saying that the overall plot of that episode was silly even by Season 1 KND standards, much of what it brings up raises more questions than it does wrap up the plot (you know, something endings are SUPPOSED to do), the live-action scenes are very out-of-place, and it also has the same problem some of the later post-ZERO episodes had in putting the spotlight too much on Nigel/Numbuh 1 when most of his victories were possible with help from his team.

 

But here's my biggest problem with that ending, which admittingly actually dates back to before it was released back to the episode OP:TREATY, where this group the show was building up to called the KND Splinter Cell, a group originally thought to consist of extremists bend on removing all the world's adults (good and evil alike) from existence, is revealed to not actually exist. Now fast-forward to OP:INTERVIEWS where at the end it's revealed to really be a cover-up for a secret group called the Galactic KND.

 

Seems like an interesting twist to you? well, here are the problems with this whole GKND thing; First off, why use rumors of an evil extremist group as cover for your secret organization? If what Rachel/Numbuh 362 did in OP:GIRLFRIEND is any indication, you'd just be encouraging people to track you down.

 

Second of all, the non-existent Splinter Cell had the agenda of removing adults from existence, yet the show clearly states that's what the GKND is trying to accomplish by saying adulthood is actually a disease that must be removed, not helped by the fact it's made clear from the very start that Sector V eventually become adults anyway, that are somehow now allowed to go to Moonbase no less, try explaining that.

 

Third of all, Why's Nigel picked out of all other KND Operatives? the show never explains whether or not other Operatives were considered (aside from Chad and even then it's never explained why he was tossed aside by the GKND in favor of Nigel) And even if other Operatives were considered, it's never explained where Nigel has succeeded where all other Operatives considered have failed or why. Heck, and even if it has, why just Nigel and not the rest of his team as well? For much of Sector V's successes throughout most of the show were because of them working together up until the last few episodes where the show somewhat suddenly decided to focus strictly on Nigel.

 

Okay, so maybe I lied about not talking to death about it, but I think you can see why that ending sparked as much ire in me as those of you who hated the ME3 endings. And in my opinion, OP:INTERVIEWS was just as flawed an ending as were the ME3 endings, if not even more flawed. But the use of Fanon-discontinuity has helped me get over it.

 

Which is shame for 2 reasons, 1; Warburton did great with KND's storyline (aside from a few arbitrary twists in very few episodes) up until INTERVIEWS. 2; I believe the storyline and ending could've been straight-up perfect had they taken a different direction, like strictly keeping the Splinter Cell as an evil extremist group that engages in an internal civil war with the KND, or heck, screw the Splinter cell and let the ending just involve the KND permanently defeating Father and heroically moving on. Predictable, yes, but at least you'd get less plot-holes.

 

But enough about me, Are there any stories in media that you believe were mostly great but you believe didn't end the way it should have?

 

Note: Though I've placed the movie/tv prefix up, this topic is about stories and endings from all media, so feel free to bring up what you believe are great stories with bad endings.