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Bookends / Western Animation

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookendswesternanimationsu.png
It all started and ended with Cookie Cats.

In most Western Animation series, remember that seasons can always begin and end at any time.

Note that some Bookends can be spoilers, so beware.

Shows that have their own pages:

Shows that don't:

  • The Adventure Time episode "Wizard" has one of these; near the beginning of the episode Jake wonders what a demon's heart looks like, and the episode ends with the mysterious figure who offered them powers near the beginning offering them some "free demon heart". Jake even lampshades it by excitedly shouting "Full circle!"
  • Arcane:
    • Act 1 ends with Powder setting off an explosion that accidentally kills off most of her adopted family sans Vi. In Act 3 after being responsible for the death of yet another adoptive father, she sets off a very much deliberate explosion that presumably kills off the entire Piltover council, sans Jayce and Viktor.
    • In their first episode, Jayce almost kills himself by throwing himself off the ledge from his destroyed apartment after being kicked out of the Piltover academy (essentially ending any hope of being a scientist for him) but is stopped by Viktor. In the final episode, Viktor is about to kill himself by throwing himself off a high ledge out of guilt for having caused the death of his assistant Sky during his attempt to further augment his body using the hextech core despite not having any shimmer to power it the effect. This time Jayce stops him (though perhaps unwittingly, as Jayce doesn't know what Viktor had done). They both even start with the same line, "Am I interrupting something?"
    • The very first scene of the season involves Vander choosing love over revolution, abandoning his cause to become the father of Vi and Powder. The final scene of the season sees a dying Silco affirm his love for Jinx, admitting that he could never choose independence over his daughter.
  • The last episode of Arthur, "All Grown Up" has a couple of examples:
    • The episode ends with the opening scene of the very first episode, "Arthur's Eyes"; in this case, the scene from "Arthur's Eyes" is shown as still panels from a now grown-up Arthur's recently finished graphic novel about his childhood.
    • The very first actor to voice Arthur, Michael Yarmush, returns to voice him as a young adult in the finale.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • The show ends the second season as it starts off with the first season: Katara looking overhead and carrying a comatose Aang in her arms. The first scenario is positive, finding the boy in the glacier for the first time to be revived, while the latter is negative as Aang has just been revived from having died.
    • The episode "Zuko Alone" begins with Zuko riding on his ostrich-horse, angsting and alone, and ends with (you guessed it) Zuko riding on his ostrich-horse, angsting and alone.
    • The Opening Narration at the beginning of every episode ends with a shot of Aang that pulls up into the sky to show the title; the very last image of the series mimics this with a shot of Aang and Katara kissing pulling up into the sky to show the words "The End".
    • In the first episode of the first season, Zuko is patrolling the South Pole and learns that Aang has returned, he starts obsessing and Iroh advises him to get some sleep, saying "a man needs his rest." In the last episode, Iroh and an utterly-exhausted Zuko find themselves on a raft after the siege at the North Pole. Zuko says that he's tired, and Iroh tells him that "a man needs his rest."
    • The Hundred-Year War begins with the arrival of Sozin's Comet when Sozin used it to wipe out the air nomads. Ozai, Sozin's grandson, intended to end the war with the same plan with the Earth Kingdom and secure the win for the Fire Nation.
    • The balance of the world was put out of place when Sozin left Roku to die for his own selfish goal in an erupting volcano, as shown in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", setting the seeds for the Hundred-Year War. The end of war shows the new Avatar, Aang, and the new Fire Lord, Zuko, willing to work together to rebuild the world and hence, restore balance to it.
    • The first and last episodes are both named after Aang. At the beginning, he is the Boy in the Iceberg. By the end, with all elements mastered and the Big Bad defeated, he is the fully-realized Avatar Aang.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender starts with a Southern Water tribe girl and a nonbender approaching a beam of light caused by the Avatar and Legend of Korra ends with a Southern Water tribe girl and a nonbender approaching a beam of light caused by the Avatar.
  • Batman: The Animated Series:
    • "On Leather Wings", the first episode, begins with Man-Bat startling a pair of cops in an airship, before swooping down with his shadow cast over buildings as he flies past. The Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", which was originally meant as a bookend for the entire DC Animated Universe (and still is the final chronological installment), ends with a scene of the new Batman's shadow cast over buildings as he flies past, before taking off into the sky and startling a pair of cops in a Flying Car. On both occasions, one of the two cops gasps "Did you see that?", voiced by none other than the Goddamn Batman, making Conroy's voice the first and last thing heard in the DCAU. And the BGM is a synthesized version of the B:TAS theme.
    • When the show was Un-Canceled, the last image of the DCAU is Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman racing towards the screen, with a final zoom in on the Bat-symbol. It isn't a perfect Bookend, but this means that the DCAU began and ended with Batman.
    • The episode "Joker's Favor" begins with Charlie unhappy with his mundane life and the prospect of eating meatloaf for dinner, and ends with him happily going home even when his wife, Bonnie, serves him meatloaf. There is also the scene that shows Joker menacing Charlie at the end of the first act, that has a mirror on the scene of the last act of Charlie menacing the Joker (see the image at Hourglass Plot).
    • The episode "Joker's Wild" begins with the Joker changing the channel on the Arkham rec-room TV and getting into an argument with Poison Ivy. It ends with the Joker back at Arkham changing the channel away from a news report about his capture, only to have Poison Ivy, the Mad Hatter, and Scarecrow browbeat him into changing it back.
  • Central Park:
    • In Season 1 "Episode One", the episode starts with "Central in My Heart", but end with a Dark Reprise version of it call "Central to My Plot".
    • In Season 1 "Live It Up Tonight", the episode started with the song "Live It Up Tonight" being played on the radio in Bitsy's car. At the end of the episode, Owen and Paige are singing a slower version of the song.
    • The Season 1 premiere "Episode One" started with the song "Central in My Heart", and the Season 1 finale "A Fish Called Snakehead" features a reprise from the song at the end. In addition, Birdie is the one to open and close the season.
  • Code Lyoko uses this trope in many episodes as part of the plot — since, in order to stop XANA, the heroes have to rewind time to before XANA tries to attack the world, often reliving the same things that at the start of the episode, although usually adding some twist with their foreknowledge.
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog: The Final shot of the final episode closes with a book from the first shot of the episode.
  • Chowder: The Final shot of the final episode closes with a book from the first shot of the Intro.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • "Operation: L.I.C.E." began with the Kids Next Door treehouse being infested with monstrous mutated hair-eating lice after the Delightful Children from Down the Lane swapped out Numbuh 5's real hat with one infested with the nasty insects while she infiltrated their mansion to steal tortilla chips, and ended with the Kids Next Door infesting the Delightful Children's mansion when they steal Lenny's real football helmet and replace it with one with lice.
    • After a short flashback, "Operation: T.R.E.A.T.Y." begins with Numbuh 1 staring forlornly at an old picture of him and Chad Dickson (then-Numbuh 274), sadly wondering why his former friend and mentor went rogue. Right afterwards, his team arrives and tries to convince him to raid a supply ship with them, to which he refuses. The episode ends with Nigel straightening out that same exact picture, having finally learned the truth about Chad, and once again has him staring at it sadly, the truth having changed nothing between them. His team then arrives, asking him to raid another supply ship — except this time, they refuse to take no for an answer.
  • In Cyberchase, a typical episode follows this format: in the beginning the protagonists are trying to find a solution to one of life's many problems, then Motherboard contacts and pulls them into cyberspace to help handle some Hacker-related problem using math, then they're sent back (with very litte time passing in the real world) and are able to easily solve the problem using the math lesson they happened to have just learned.
  • Danny Phantom:
    • "Reality Trip" starts off with Jack attacking Danny from his home with an Ecto weapon. The ending does the same, except Jack doesn't miss (played for comical abuse, nothing serious). If anything, it represents everything going back to Status Quo after Danny alters the world with a Reset Button so that the big change of his secret identity reveal is just that—secret identity, including erasing his parents' memory of that knowledge for no apparent reason.
    • "Bitter Reunions" has Danny meeting Vlad for the first time, triggering a longstanding arc between the two where Vlad madly pursues Danny as his son. This is ultimately concluded in "Kindred Spirits" when Vlad stages his final, desperate plan to obtain Danny. He fails miserably, resulting in a Villainous Breakdown. The Bookend is that Danny calls Vlad a "crazed up fruit loop" in both episodes; the first to start the saga, the last to end it. After that, they become bitter, bitter enemies.
    • There was also a couple of Bookends in the first and last episodes of the series. In the first episode, Danny was contemplating telling his parents about his powers but ultimately decided to keep it secret, then in the final episode, they learn the truth. There was also one with Danny and Sam's relationship. In the first episode, they begin the long spanning arc of them denying they were dating. In the final episode, they finally got together.
  • All episodes of Dan Vs. open with Dan giving a Skyward Scream, and many end him giving one too, including:
    • "Beach"
    • "Monster Under The Bed"
    • "The Dinosaur" opens with Dan giving a skyward scream, the episode ends with a dinosaur giving one (well skyward rawr).
  • On Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines, the episode "Sappy Birthday" was on the debut program from September 13, 1969 and the last CBS telecast on September 4, 1971.
    • For that matter, the debut show and the last new show contained episodes focusing on a birthday ("Happy Bird Day," Jan. 4, 1970).
  • The Dick Tracy Show: Hemlock Holmes was the officer in the first episode ("Red Hot Riding Hoods") and the last episode ("The Fortune Cookie Caper").
  • Doug: The episode "Doug's Secret Song" has the intro showing the titular preteen singing his song to Patti while playing his banjo under a tree at the park. As the episode ends, he is playing the same song at the same spot.
  • Not counting the airing order of episode lists of Doc McStuffins, but in production order, the fourth season begins and ends with 46 minute episodes "Welcome to McStuffinsville" and "First Responders to the Rescue".
  • DuckTales (1987): The first and last episodes of the first season both feature brief appearances by Donald Duck.
  • DuckTales (2017):
    • At the end of the first episode ("Woo-oo!"), Dewey discovers a painting of his mother and says to himself, "Mom?" In the season finale ("The Shadow War!"), Della, lost on the Moon, watches a news report about her sons and says to herself, "Boys?"
    • Early in the Season 2 episode "Last Christmas!", Dewey is sitting alone in his room and says "Merry Christmas, mom." while looking at an old family photo. At the end of the episode, Della is shown alone on the moon looking at a copy of that very same photo and says "Merry Christmas, you guys. See you soon."
    • In the third season episode "The First Adventure", Scrooge has his first direct confrontation with F.O.W.L. while both parties are trying to claim the Papyrus of Binding, which F.O.W.L. fail to use on Scrooge as they don't truly understand him; they order the Papyrus to kill Scrooge's sidekicks when Donald and Della are his family. Likewise, in "The Last Adventure", during Scrooge's final confrontation with F.O.W.L., they reclaim the Papyrus of Binding and try to use it against Scrooge to make him give up adventuring for the sake of his family, but it fails due to Scrooge regarding family as the greatest adventure of all, the contradiction causing the Papyrus to destroy itself.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: The first episode started with Double D labeling every item in his room. At the end of The Movie (not counting The Stinger), Double D places a label on the screen itself that says "THE END".
  • The Fairly OddParents! episode "Spaced Out" starts with Chester, AJ, and Timmy watching Crash Nebula while eating cereal. It ends with three Yugopotamian kids watching The Fairly OddParents! while eating cereal.
  • The Family Guy episode, "Get Stewie", begins and ends with Peter collapsing and sweating while trying to spend time with Chris.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
    • In the Pilot Movie ''House of Bloo's, while Bloo and Mac wait to be welcomed into Foster's in the first part, Bloo tells a worried Mac to make him feel better "With me living here, Mom will be happy, Terrence will leave you alone, and you can visit me every day. It's perfect! Our problems are solved!". At the end of the movie, Bloo repeats this, but adds: "It was just a little more of a hassle than we thought."
    • The finale "Goodbye to Bloo" ends with the beginning of the theme song (where the house is being drawn) in reverse, to pretty much say, "It's over".
  • The short film Fuelled begins with a widow wounded and kneeling in front of her house after being robbed, and ends with her wounded and kneeling in front of a burning gas station (accidentally caused by her own robbery, as she was in need of gas to hunt down the first robber).
  • Before Futurama was Un-Canceled for the second time, the fourth movie "Into The Wild Green Yonder" had a poetic Bookend involving the main characters entering a wormhole which took on the appearance of the pattern of lights seen at the beginning of each episode.
    • The first episode also began with a countdown from 10 (to mark the new year), this movie ends with nearly every character in the series counting down from 10.
    • Also, before it was Un-Canceled for the first time, the episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" end with a crudely animated Fry and Leela walking away together, just like how the series began with a crudely animated starship flying. This was pointed out in the DVD commentaries.
    • Meanwhile begins with Fry, Leela and Bender making their last delivery in the show to Luna Park, which is where they also made their first delivery in The Series Has Landed.
    • The first episode began with Fry (and later Leela) getting frozen. The final act of Meanwhile has everything except for Fry and Leela getting frozen.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • The first episode begins with Dipper giving a monologue and ends with Dipper writing a journal entry that starts with the sentence "If you go on enough road trips chances are, you've seen a certain bumper sticker: WHAT IS THE MYSTERY SHACK?" The final episode ends with him similarly monologuing, beginning by saying "If you've ever taken a road trip through the Pacific Northwest, you've probably seen a bumper sticker for a place called Gravity Falls."
    • The end credits for the first episode has a message that decodes to "Welcome to Gravity Falls". Naturally, the end credits for the final episode have a message that decodes to "Goodbye Gravity Falls".
    • Gravity Falls' first episode aired on June 15th, 2012 (6/15/12). In a case that is either coincidence or genius planning, its final episode aired on February 15th, 2016 (2/15/16), which is the premiere date reversed.
    • Mabel's iconic shooting star sweater that she wore in the first episode is also worn in the last.
  • Green Eggs and Ham: Sam and Guy meet over Green Eggs and Ham and the season ends with them about to eat some together.
  • Hilda has its first season begin and end with Hilda's old home, the wilderness, overlooking Hilda's destroyed cabin.
  • House of Mouse:
    • The animated shorts "How to be a Waiter" and "How to Wash Dishes" begin and end with Goofy being a waiter and washing dishes, respectively.
    • Another House of Mouse short, called "How to be a Rock Star" actually begins with Goofy crying on a bench. The short ends with Goofy crying on the same bench again, except this time, he's now accompanied by the recording studio manager in which he accidentally bankrupted with his new album.
    • A music video for the song "Minnie Mouse in the House" actually begins and ends with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto passing by the Hercules section of the prop room, respectively.
  • Atom Eve's personal storyline in episode 3 of Invincible (2021) begins with her walking in on her boyfriend (Rex) with her team-mate Dupli-Kate. It ends with her going to see Mark, whom she's friends with, and stumbling on him making out with Amber. Notably her relationships with them led to the different ways she reacted.
  • The Jack Rabbit Story: Easter Fever establishes that Jack Rabbit was inspired to begin his career as the Easter Rabbit from his parents giving him a painted egg for Christmas. At the end of the special, an aardvark presents him with the last Easter egg as a retirement gift, which convinces Jack Rabbit not to retire.
  • Kappa Mikey uses these, in the form of takes of scenes in Lily-Mu, usually with Mikey screwing something up horribly at the beginning and doing it right at the end.
  • The last episode's stinger of Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (in production order) called 'Last Fan Standing' ends with Gunther & Kick deciding to shred Dead Man's Drop, the same location that Kick shredded in the first episode.
  • The first episode of King of the Hill opens with a far shot of Arlen at sunset with the city's water tower in the background, panning down towards the Hill residence. The final episode ends with the camera panning up from the house into the sunset sky. The final line spoken is also "Yup," which was the first line heard in the pilot episode.
  • Both seasons of Legion of Super Heroes (2006) work like this. First, Superman returns to the Kents' kitchen and muses that just as promised by Bouncing Boy, he's back just in time for dinner: the same dinner they smelled cooking when they left for The Future.
    • In the second, Brainiac 5's Ho Yay fantasy of heroically sacrificing himself to save Superman and dying melodramatically in his arms gets twisted around a bit. Superman calls Brainy his hero again, but it's Superman that's dying in his arms.
  • Looney Tunes:
    • In the cartoon "Porky the Gob," Porky Pig is in the Navy on a battleship. At the beginning of the cartoon, the CO is doing inspection after reveille, when a bugler sounds the mess call. The CO shouts, "Last one in the mess hall's a softie!" and everyone rushes to the mess hall; the CO trips (he would have been the "softie" but he called "Company halt", making everyone freeze in place while he took the front of the mess line). Later, in the main plot, Porky becomes a hero by capturing a pirate submarine, and is honored at an award ceremony at the end... When the bugler makes the call again, and the CO makes the same joke. This time it looks like Porky is going to get there first, but he has to rush back to get his reward, and then rush back.
    • In The Ducksters, the cartoon begins with Porky on a Conveyor Belt o' Doom. After all the abuse and Porky buying the radio station, the cartoon ends with Daffy on the same conveyor.
    • "Operation: Rabbit" opens with Wile E. Coyote erecting a door at Bugs' rabbit hole and knocking. Bugs answers it as Wile E. goes into his long-winded spiel about his superiority. At the end after the final humiliation, Wile E. erects the door again and knocks, only to tell Bugs his name is "mud."
  • The first chronological episode of Miraculous Ladybug involved Marinette berating a new classmate while Adrien looked on, uncomfortable with her harshness but too meek to say anything. The finale of the first season has a similar scene, except that now Adrien is confident enough to speak up and stop her (and that Lila is more at fault then he ever was).
  • Moral Orel: Both the first episode aired and the finale are Christmas specials. (Note it technically shouldn't have been: the first Christmas special was supposed to be the tenth episode.
    • The intro to each show has Orel waving to God. In the final episode, his baby daughter does the same.
    • The episode "Numb" begins and ends with an overhead shot of Clay and Bloberta lying in their separate beds as the Mountain Goats's song "No Children" plays, both ends highlighting just how bad and broken their marriage is.
    • The episode "Help" begins with pictures from a wedding: the married couple about to toast, the cake cutting, the bride's garter on a leg, and the "Just Married" vehicle. It ends with those same pictures zoomed out to show how doomed Clay and Bloberta's marriage was from the beginning thanks to Clay's alcoholism: Clay's too busy drinking from a bottle to toast Bloberta, Bloberta has to cut the cake herself cause Clay's drinking, Clay put the garter on another woman, and Clay is getting arrested for drunk driving. Both ends being accompanied by the Mountain Goats song "Old College Try".
  • The My Little Pony episode Bright Lights begins with Knight Shade giving a concert near Paradise Estate. The episode ends the same way, except Baby Half Note, Baby Lofty and Baby Heart Throb get to be Knight Shade's backup singers/dancers.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • The first three seasons start and conclude in Canterlot, in addition to beginning and ending on similar story beats: the first season begins and ends with a celebration (the Summer Sun Celebration and the Grand Galloping Gala), the second season begins and ends with the near-domination of Equestria by outside forces (Discord and the Changelings), and the third season begins with royal ascension (Cadence to the title Princess of Crystal Empire and Twilight Sparkle to the title of Princess of Friendship).
    • "Sisterhooves Social" begins and ends with an exterior of Carousel Boutique and two birds on a tree branch; in the opening, the birds are apart; in the end, they are together and snuggling.
    • The fourth season starts with Twilight struggling to get used to her new role as princess, and ends with her fully embracing the position.
    • Season 6 begins with the previous season's villain struggling to understand the importance of friendship, with the finale having her finally comprehend and use the lessons learned to help overthrow Chrysalis as Queen of the Changelings.
    • The first three My Little Pony: Equestria Girls films form one: the first movie ended with the main universe's Twilight Sparkle saving Sunset Shimmer from her demonic form and offering her friendship, while the third movie (Friendship Games) has Sunset rescuing the human universe's Twilight from her demonic form and offering her friendship.
    • In a literal example, the first few seconds of the first episode feature a book being opened. The last seconds of the last episode show it being closed.
    • The series starts with Twilight moving to Ponyville and ends with her moving back to Canterlot.
    • The final season begins with Twilight struggling to adjust to her eventual role as the new ruler of Equestria, and it ends with her fully assuming the position. Then, she sends her student to Ponyville just as Celestia sent her in the first episode.
    • Both the first (Nightmare Moon) and last (Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow) major villains of the series are defeated the same way: Twilight confronts them and gives a Rousing Speech, she and her friends start glowing, she too gets Glowing Eyes and they float in the air, and they conjure up a powerful rainbow blast that returns everything to normal.
    • A meta-example, but the series premiere aired on October 10, 2010. The Grand Finale, on the other hand, aired on October 12, 2019, a mere two days after the show's ninth anniversary.
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes has a few examples of this in its series finale "Thank You For Watching The Show";
    • At the end of the series premiere, Let's Be Heroes, Mr Gar. launches himself from the sky to defeat Darrell. At the end of the series finale, K.O, who at age 35+ has become a level 100 hero and owns Gar's Bodega, launches himself from the sky to take down a futuristic Darell like robot named Robbie.
    • The aforementioned finale's name, "Thank You for Watching the Show" is this as well.
      • Plus, the song plays one last time at the end of the episode, with K.O. speaking these words aloud over the same lyrics.
  • Over the Garden Wall begins with some quick Futureshadowing scenes, each of which provides the backstory for one of the episodes, in order. The show ends with a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue that mirrors those scenes, now done in the opposite order.
  • The Patrick Star Show: "Late for Breakfast" begins and ends with Patrick and Ouchie going to sleep, complete with Ouchie's thorns getting stuck on Patrick.
  • The Pink Panther: "Prehistoric Pink" starts with Cavemen Pink Panther and Big Nose pushing off a giant stone. The cartoon ends with the duo pushing off the same giant stone, apparently after all their hard work of inventing the wheel to make moving the stone faster failed.
  • Pinky and the Brain's segments in both Animaniacs and their Spin-Off show itself always end with Brain's Character Catchphrase from the intro ("The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to Take Over the World!")
  • The first Popeye cartoon from 1933 opens with Popeye on a ship, singing his famous Image Song. The last theatrical Popeye cartoon, 1957's "Spooky Swabs", ends with Popeye once again on a ship and singing his theme song.
  • The Recess theme song ends with the kids coming inside after recess is over, and as Miss Finster is about the close the door, T.J. comes up from behind her and waves to the audience, and she slams the door right after that (where the doors are closed for a few seconds while the "Created by:" credits are up until the fadeout to the episode). Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade (the 2003 Grand Finale) ends with the exact same scene.
  • Ready Jet Go!:
    • The Season 1 premiere, "Tour of the Solar System", starts off in Jet's backyard. The Season 1 finale, "Commander Mom", ends in Jet's backyard.
    • In "Mindy's Moon Bounce House", Mitchell's first appearance, he tells his mom that he saw Mindy floating, but she doesn't believe him and says that he has a "wonderful imagination", and Mitchell protests that he has no imagination. In his final appearance in a regular episode, "Moon Face", Mitchell sees a face on the moon and realizes he does have an imagination after all.
  • Rugrats:
    • Series-long example: The first and last episodes of the series were both birthday episodes; "Tommy's First Birthday" and "Kimi Takes the Cake".
    • The episode, "Slumber Party" both technically begin and end with Tommy asking what a slumber party was and Angelica replying "If you hafta ask, you'll never know."
    • The episode, "Sour Pickles" begins and ends with a view through Angelica's kaleidoscope.
    • The episode, "New Kid in Town" begins and ends with Angelica hanging from the monkey bars by her legs while Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil dig a moat around it.
  • Samurai Jack; the main plot of "Jack and the Scotsman" begins and ends with the two arguing, first over who has to step aside and let the other cross a narrow bridge and then over which one of them is buying drinks after they become friends.
  • In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the main characters rejoice in the first episode and state they should celebrate. They do this again in the final episode, down to the exact same poses.
  • The Short "Close Encounters Of A Strange Kind" from The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show both begins and ends with Scrappy stating with great conviction that he's not the least bit tired. And falling asleep moments later.
  • Shadow Raiders begins and ends with The Beast consuming a planet. Yes, its ending is a pretty dark variant of Stinger, why are you asking?
  • Shakespeare: The Animated Tales: The framing device for the episode "The Taming of the Shrew" begins and ends with Christopher Sly being kicked out of the tavern.
  • The Simpsons:
    • "I Love Lisa" was a Valentine's and President's Day episode, yet it begins and ends with the KBBL disc jockeys playing the song 'Monster Mash'.
    • "In Marge We Trust" starts and ends with sermons by Reverend Lovejoy, bored during the first and energetic during the last. Also, it's revealed that Lovejoy used to be a more passionate preacher until spending many years being bothered by Ned Flanders. So, Lovejoy rediscovers his passion by saving Ned from a baboon attack.
    • Many people regard "Lisa's Wedding", the first Flash Forward episode, as a bookend with "Lisa's Substitute" as episodes examining Lisa's relationship with Homer. In "Lisa's Substitute", Lisa wished Homer wasn't in her life; in "Lisa's Wedding", Lisa wants Homer in her life.
  • Skull Island (2023):
    • The Final Battle between King Kong and the Kraken in the Season Finale takes place on the very same beach where Mike and Charlie washed up in the first episode. Furthermore, when the boys wash up there at the end of the first episode, there's a broken mug presumably from the Once Upon a Maritime – that same mug reappears in the final episode, having been seized by a hermit crab.
    • The first season begins and ends with Annie cast into the sea and waking up in a new environment. The series begins with her escaping into the sea from a boatful of mercenaries, losing consciousness, and getting rescued by the Once Upon a Maritime and subsequently ending up on Skull Island with them; and the series ends with Annie getting knocked into a coma while caught in a tsunami, and waking up in a hospital back at civilization (much to her distressed bewilderment), under Irene's care.
  • Sofia the First: The series starts with an animated movie where Sofia enters Royal Prep and ends with an animated movie that features her graduation ceremony. Both stories are the only ones in the series where Royal Prep's anthem is sung and the only ones featuring Sofia and Miranda's shoe store outside flashbacks.
  • The Sonic Boom episode, "Three Men and My Baby!" begins and ends with Knuckles driving his monster truck through the desert, with Sonic and Tails in tow.
  • The South Park episode "Coon 2: Hindsight" (the first of a trilogy of episodes) began with Cartman/the Coon criticizing Bradley/Mintberry Crunch's identity ("Maybe you need to add something else to the mintberry crunch part of your costume." "Like milk?" "No, not like milk!"), along with this conversation with Butters/Professor Chaos:
    Cartman: You aren't going anywhere, Chaos!
    Butters: Yeah, but you only gave me this bucket to poop in and it's full now. And I ain't got nothin' to eat.
    Cartman: You've got poop, don'tcha?
    • The last episode of the trilogy, "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", begins with the group criticizing Mintberry Crunch, and features this conversation near the end:
      Kyle: You're not going anywhere for a long time!
      Cartman: This is inhumane! There's a big bucket with Butters' poop in here, and there's nothing to eat!
      Stan: Ya got poop, don't ya?
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man seems to be fond of this:
    • In the first episode ("Tell me there's something better. Go ahead, try.")
    • The final episode of Season 2, Norman repeats the line he said in the first episode. "Don't apologize. I never do.".
  • Special Agent Oso has Oso do a training exercise at the beginning and the end of every episode. Oso messes up at the beginning, but during his special assignment he remembers something about the training exercise, based on what he does to help the child in need. In the end, Oso uses what he learned during the special assignment to successfully complete the training exercise.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • "Big Pink Loser" starts with Patrick sleeping and awakening to an award delivery meant for SpongeBob, and ends with him receiving an award for real (for doing absolutely nothing longer than anyone else) and going back to sleep to protect his title.
    • The episode "Mid-Life Crustacean" opens with Mr. Krabs getting out of bed and being reminded that he's nearing his twilight years. The ending has him going to bed in his childhood bedroom after his mother sent him there when he, SpongeBob, and Patrick made her the target of their panty raid.
    • "Shell Shocked": The first and last scenes of the episode begin with SpongeBob sleeping in bed, teeth chattering from a bad dream, before he jolts awake.
    • "The Inmates of Summer" starts and ends with SpongeBob and Patrick bursting into tears.
    • In "A Pal For Gary", the episode begins with SpongeBob leaving Gary alone to go to work, and ends with him bringing Gary to work with him so he's not alone.
    • "Yours, Mine and Mine": The episode starts at the Krusty Krab where Mr. Krabs presents the patty pal toy and insists Sponge Bob and Patrick have to share it, leading to Patrick's All Take and No Give attitude; it ends at the Krusty Krab where Mr. Krabs punishes the two for nearly letting a single toy ruin their friendship, and gives them each a new Patty Pal to call it even.
    • In "All That Glitters", the episode begins with SpongeBob trying to flip a Monster Krabby Patty, which leads to his spatula breaking. The same patty shows up at the end of the episode, but this time, SpongeBob's arms break off.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks:
    Boimler: I confidently enter the bar and demand bloodwine! (rolls dice)
    Martok: The bartender rips your arm off and kills you with it. It is not an honorable death since, technically, you have died by your own hand.
  • Star Wars Rebels:
    • Senator-in-Exile Gall Trayvis' first and lastnote  appearances on the show involve him making a broadcast that lures the Ghost crew into an Imperial trap that they eventually escape, resulting in the Empire no longer being able to use it to ensnare rebels. In "Rise of the Old Masters", it's that Jedi Master Luminara Unduli was supposedly alive and being held at Stygeon Prime. In "Vision of Hope", it's an in-person meeting with him, as he's been an Imperial spy all along.
    • In the early Season 3 episode "The Antilles Extraction", after getting captured during a failed attempt to escape Skystrike Academy with several would-be defecting cadets, Sabine snarks at Agent Kallus, regarding Governor Pryce, that they've "finally found someone who can do [his] job", which he looks like he took harder than expected — because he's turned The Mole, and was having doubts in his job and efforts at the time. In the season finale, "Zero Hour", after being exposed as The Mole, and subsequently getting arrested and beaten up, and then managing to escape, Kallus stops Kanan on the Ghost en route to Yavin IV to thank him and the rest of the Ghost crew for trusting him, and Kanan in return thanks him for risking everything and putting everything he knew at risk.
    • At the beginning of "Spark of Rebellion", Ezra, leaning on the railing of his tower, watches a Star Destroyer fly overhead towards Lothal City. In the Grand Finale, "Family Reunion — and Farewell", the epilogue begins with Sabine standing in the same spot and position, watching a shuttle belonging to Ahsoka Tano and two X-Wings fly overhead towards the city.
  • Star Wars Resistance:
    • "Fuel for the Fire" begins and ends with Kaz getting distracted by a race and the cart with parts he was ordered to clean falling off the platform.
    • "The Core Problem" begins and ends with Poe and Kaz, respectively, sneaking onto the occupied Colossus by an unknown method and surprising people in the repair shop.
    • The first season begins and ends with Kaz in a dogfight against First Order pilot Major Vonreg. However, the second time, Kaz has improved as a pilot...
  • Steven Universe:
    • In "The Answer", a confused Garnet is told "Welcome to Earth" when she first joins the Crystal Gems. Millennia later, she tells the Crystal Gems' newest recruit those same words in "Message Received".
    • The final scene of "Change Your Mind" mirrors that of the show's opening sequence. The scene is also preceded by an alternate version of the show's theme song.
      • The episode also has a moment that doubles as a meta Call-Back: The plot of the show's pilot is resolved by Steven making a comeback toward Garnet calling him a buttface, saying that while he's a child, she has no such excuse for acting like one. The show's initial five-season Myth Arc ends with the Big Bad calling him an immature child, with Steven jokingly responding that he is a child and asking what her excuse is, forcing her to realize that she isn't as perfect as she believes.
    • The first episode of the original series has a scene where the Crystal Gems bring a 12 year-old Steven into the kitchen to give him his favourite treat (Cookie Cats), with him singing a silly rap about the feline-shaped ice cream sandwich. The final episode of the sequel series has a 17 year-old Steven gather them into the kitchen to give them said treat, with the Crystal Gems happily performing the rap instead, before realizing this was Steven's way telling them he's leaving Beach City and may not return.
      • The first antagonist that the Crystal Gems faced was a Gem Monster, but Gem Monsters gradually became less prevalent in the series as the overarching plot started to take form. But after all is said and done, the very last foe the Crystal Gems face off against in the series finale is another Gem Monster. However, this time the Gem Monster is Steven himself, who involuntarily transformed into a gargantuan beast after a meltdown induced by years of trauma and self-doubt catching up to him.
  • The Super Hero Squad Show: Season 1's arc started, as shown in the intro, with the Infinity Sword being shattered as a consequence of Iron Man and Doctor Doom fighting over it. In the Grand Finale, Earth was returned to normal when the Infinity Sword (this time with the Infinity Jewels) was shattered as a consequence of Iron Man and Doctor Doom fighting over it.
  • The SWAT Kats episode "Bride of the Pastmaster" used this. The episode begins with the Turbokat flying towards an oil tanker under attack by a sea monster. The episode ends with the Turbokat, freshly returned from its adventures in time, flying towards an oil tanker under attack by a sea monster. Razor even invokes this. "Isn't this where we came in?"
  • Thomas & Friends:
    • At the beginning of "A Scarf for Percy", Thomas and Percy are in the sheds, cold and coated with snow all over. At the end, they're back in the sheds, but the snow has melted off.
    • The episode "Horrid Lorry" starts and ends with all the engines working happily together at the docks.
    • One of the first episodes of the Nitrogen era, "Double Trouble", started with an episode featuring Sir Topham Hatt's birthday. The second-to-last episode of that era, "Happy Birthday Sir!", did the same.
    • The first shot of The Great Race is a zoom-in on Thomas driving into Kellsthorpe station. The last shot is a zoom-in on Thomas driving into Vicarstown station with the rest of the Sodor team and Ashima.
    • The first installment of the CGI switchover ends with Hiro leaving for Japan. In the 24th season, the last season of the CGI era, Hiro leaves for Japan again with Kenji.
    • A series-wide example; the first episode starts with Thomas pulling into a station, and the last episode "The Royal Engine" ends with Thomas pulling into a station the same way.
  • A Thousand and One... Americas: At the start of the second episode, Chris and his pet dog Lon are strolling within a gentle forest not too far from home; the dog then climbs a tree and reaches a branch that sustains him until it breaks, making him fall down. Near the end of the the same episode, Chris, Lon and a kid from the prehistoric era climb a tree in a wildlife-ruled forest to avoid being caught by a dire wolf; they think they're safe and thus start taunting at the wolf,... and then the branch where all three are on breaks and they fall down to where the dire wolf is. The first scene is played for laughs, and the second.... isn't.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures:
    • Series-long examplenote : The first episode begins with Bugs Bunny narrating the episode and concludes its final episode with him making a brief one-liner.
    • "Hog Wild Hamton" begins and ends with Ed McMayhem announcing a winner for the Acme Clearinghouse contest.
    • "Toons Take Over" begins and ends with Buster and his friends in the rehearsal hall, reading over a script involving Buster dressed like an aardvark.
    • The short, "Ruffled Ruffee" (part of "Music Day") begins and ends with Buster playing his electric guitar.
  • The Tom and Jerry cartoon "Blue Cat Blues" begins and ends with Tom depressed over losing the white cat to Butch leading him to attempt to kill himself by being run over by a train. In that same end, Jerry faces the same fate when he loses his girl to another mouse and joins along with him.
    • Two other cartoons end the way they started: "The Truce Hurts" (Tom, Jerry and Spike beating the hell out of each other) and "Duel Personality" (Jerry challenging Tom to a duel but with a different response).
  • The very first shot in Transformers: Beast Machines is a flower growing through a crack. In the very last shot, the camera zooms in on the same flower.
    • Another one occurs if Beast Wars and Beast Machines are taken as a single series. Cheetor gets the very first line of Beast Wars and the very last of Beast Machines, reflecting his Character Arc from rookie kid to wise leader.
    • The premiere and finale of Transformers: Rescue Bots both end with a group photo taken of the Rescue Bots and the Burns family, the only difference being that the finale has the Greene family and the other Rescue Bots that have appeared on the show joining the group picture.
  • In Trollz, episode 2 has everyone saving Amethyst from falling into a pit. The last episode has them saving her from falling into a volcano.
  • In Turtles Forever, the final shot is of the cover of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles # 1 (in live-action), bringing the era of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles under Mirage's ownership full circle.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) began and ended the same way, with Spider-Man taking on the Trapster while trying to get a cake.
  • Vampirina begins with the Hauntleys moving to Pennsylvania and trying to hide their identities as vampires to fit in; the series ends with them finally breaking the masquerade to the townsfolk and being accepted by them.
  • Wander over Yonder has an episode consisting of two episodes: "The Day" and "the Night". The first scene of each also serves as the last scene of the other.
    • The title for the episode "The Liar" appears twice, especially at the end.
    • The Grand Finale ends exactly like how Season 2 began, with Lord Hater chasing Wander after Wander steals his flag. This is followed by Peepers and Sylvia declaring "Nothing ever changes." before joining the chase.
  • Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) has a three-part premiere called "Hindsight" and a three-part finale called "Foresight".
  • Work It Out Wombats!: "Junior Supers" started with the wombats' bedroom being messy. Using what they learned in the Starlight Room, they break things down to clean their bedroom at the end of the episode.
  • The first Xiaolin Showdown seen is for the ownership of the Eye of Dashi. The final showdown seen in the series is also for the Eye of Dashi.
  • Young Justice (2010) episode "Insecurity" began and ended with the scene taking place at night between a father and a daughter, with the father calling his daughter by a term of endearment "baby girl". While Mr. Jones in the beginning likely sincerely meant it as a term of affection to his daughter, Sportsmaster used the term as straight up manipulation, attempting to regress Artemis back to when he could dominate her to his will.
    • The first episodes of both seasons included a scene of the Justice League flying in to surround the awed teen heroes with a majestic piece of music, which the creators specifically referred to as being like the gods descending from Mount Olympus. The ending of Season 2 has a scene of several Leaguers being surrounded by the team flying in, to the same music. It's hurt somewhat in that the majority of the team can't fly and are being carried by the Super-Cycle, so that there's barely enough airborne members to properly duplicate the "surrounding with awe" effect.
    • Kid Flash makes his first appearance in the pilot episode running circles with The Flash. His death scene in the second season finale has him doing the same.
Then again, is it possible to end a long-running series?

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