Top Ten Tuesday

So this week's top ten is about endings that left me with my mouth hanging open. Instead of ten, though, I'm just going to talk about two, because, really, they deserve longer consideration than just the teeny description I usually give things in these lists. As for spoilers... I'm going to do my best, but I can't promise you won't get some kind of idea about how shit goes down, but I won't give anything really vital away, and even if I did, it'd probably be different than what you thought it was anyway, because that's what always happens to me when someone describes something to me.

Any, the first ending that left me gobsmacked was the end of The Sopranos, which I only finished watching this year because, you know, I'm completely behind the times. Now, I'm assuming that we all know that it kind of cuts out in the middle of a scene, which caused a big stir when it was first broadcast and made people call up HBO and find out what the hell had gone wrong. This I knew before I watched it, but I didn't realise just how tense the last scene actually is. It's probably one of the most tense things I've ever seen, where you're constantly expecting something to happen- I swear my heart was thumping in anticipation while I was watching, while simultaneously being positive that this wasn't the final scene that cuts out in the middle that I knew about and then... it totally was. I was pissed off and shocked and I'm pretty sure my mouth just fell open by its own will, and it was awful and amazing and probably the perfect way to end that particular series.

The other one that immediately occurred to me when I first saw this topic was the conclusion of The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (note how the end of whole series are more shocking than that of single books- the emotional build-up of the preceding 6 books, or 85 episodes meaning that whatever happens, it's probably going to be shocking to some extent). I mean, I don't know if you've read all seven books, or none, or maybe just a few of them (I obviously think that you should, like, immediately) but trust me- King creates a whole load of characters that you love, gives you a really strong attachment to them, makes you go to hell and back with them, and the endings (there are sort of three) are kind of a relief, and yet, one of them is such a headfuck that you just really don't know what to do with yourself! The ending I'm thinking of (and hopefully some of you will have read it, and so know what on earth I'm talking about) I actually thought was more of an afterword than anything, but actually, I quickly realised it was still part of the story, and I was excited because, you know, yay, there was more, but actually it was the most frustrating thing ever, but also kind of an amazing way to end the series. At least, I thought it was...

So yeah, these are the two most shocking, and irritating/fabulous endings of books I can think of. I'm sure everyone will have come up with more, and really good ones too, but these are the only two I can really remember having such an impact on me. They are, for that reason, pretty great, and really worth watching/reading. So go and do it!