There's nothing more frustrating than tuning in for years to a show that has some of the best storytelling, most compelling characters, and unique plots, only to see the ending absolutely butcher everything they were building towards.
This week, I finally got around to finishing Squid Game, and the resounding disappointment I felt upon doing so reminded me of the only other time I've seen a show fail to stick the landing just as badly—Game of Thrones.
The first two seasons of Squid Game were nearly perfect in every way, so seeing the third and final one fall apart was so frustrating. The path to greatness was there, but instead of following it, the final season makes some truly baffling decisions.
Too much of the final season revolved around characters we barely knew or strongly disliked. I get that not everyone we liked could make it to the end, but leaving us with only Gi-hun and Jun-hee's baby to root for was rough. Maybe this choice would've been fine if less time had been spent focusing on these characters, but so much of the final season was devoted to them and ultimately felt like wasted screentime.
Easily my biggest gripe with the ending was Jun-ho's unfitting end. He spends the entire series trying to find the island, and his brother, In-ho the Front Man, only to finally get there and do absolutely nothing. People died to get him there, and he spent years trying to fulfill his mission of finding the island, only to immediately leave and end the series, no longer caring about it. He was originally one of my favorites, but after his ending, I just don't feel like there was any point to his character at all.
Everything Squid Game had been carefully building towards just seemed to fall apart in the end. I take no issue with the game continuing even after everything, but it would've been more impactful to me if Gi-hun had survived, returned to his daughter, thought he ended the games for good, then stumbled across a ddakji game in the alley. I didn't dislike him sacrificing himself for Jun-hee's baby, as it did feel like a fitting parallel to his relationship with his daughter, but I do think it could have been better.
In the end, the issue with Squid Game's ending is that so much of what was being built throughout the series resulted in nothing. There's so much more that bothered me about the ending, but overall, I did still enjoy the show. The ending isn't the worst one I've seen, either, as there are certainly parts I did enjoy. It's just frustrating since the first two seasons were nearly flawless, while the third one felt like a mess that didn't really fit with what came before it.
The actual worst ending to any show I've seen is Game of Thrones. I was a bit late to the party on this one, and only got around to finally watching the series around a year or so ago. I went in with everyone warning me I'd hate the ending, but even though I was somewhat prepared for it, I really had no idea what I was in for.
The final season of Game of Thrones mostly suffers from being rushed and making giant leaps without the context and development needed to get there. The character assassination of Daenerys Targaryen, otherwise known as Dany, is a prime example of this.
Dany spends her entire life leading up to the final season fighting to free and save others. Sometimes, she could be overly harsh and brutal with it, but her sudden switch to a fully mad tyrant is completely jarring, especially when she fought so hard not to be like her father.
The show essentially tried to turn a hero and beloved character into a full-on villain in less than a season, and the finale suffers greatly because of it. I'm not completely against this idea per se, but it would've needed a lot more time and development to work. I still don't really think Dany should've ended up being a villain, but if that's the choice that was going to be made, it needed to be handled more delicately.
My other big gripe with the finale is Bran ending up on the throne. He's a weird, godlike figure who is completely disconnected from humanity, so his being the one to lead them just doesn't make sense. This is also a choice that perhaps could've worked with the proper build-up, but instead felt like a rushed last-minute one made for shock value.
I've got plenty of other issues with it, too. Cersei and Jaime dying together in a pitiful way, Jon Snow ending up back at the wall, the White Walkers dying way too easily, and so much more. I still love this show, but the final season feels drastically disconnected from the greatness that came before it.
Ultimately, the finales of both Squid Game and Game of Thrones suffer because they threw out a lot of what the previous season had been building toward. Sudden switch-ups or failure to follow through on storylines that were established led to botched finales that bring down otherwise great series.
So, Destructoid, what did you think of the endings of these shows? Is one of them the worst ending to a TV series you've ever seen, or is there another one that's even worse? Or, if you haven't seen them, what else have you been watching lately? Let us know down in the comments so we can discuss.
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