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If executed properly, pretty much the standard reaction

Comic number 500 is Monday. I don't have anything particularly special planned, but who knows.
Jeph Jacques (probably laughing his ass off as he typed)

The live experience is thrilling and if some dramas can replicate that and present a story to an audience as new and no-one knows what's going to happen, then that's good storytelling. That's the way it should happen.
Russell T Davies.

They pulled it off! A legitimate Twist Ending!

An episode that suddenly sets the Story Arc moving in a very different direction, metaphorically hitting the viewer over the head with a sharp shock. Frequently the result of The Reveal (possibly of The Mole), a Luke I Am Your Father, a Tomato Surprise, all at or other such surprising twist. Sometimes carries a significant dose of Mood Whiplash along with it. Multiple Whams are best used in short series (26-52 episodes) or series that have an impressively developed Myth Arc.

More often than not, they like to connect these major episodes with some sort of Milestone Celebration.

The term was coined by J Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5, which is very liberally sprinkled with them.

Compare Genre Turning Point. Contrast with Breather Episode. Related to Drama Bomb. Similar to a Wall Banger, except not all Wham Episodes are bad — in fact, they're supposed to be shocking (only in a good, or entertainingly bad, way). If the Wham seems to come out of the ass, then it's a Shocking Swerve. In most cases, the Wham Episode makes things worse. Ideally followed by nothing being the same anymore. Tends to be followed by a Time Skip. If you're playing a video game and the wham lies in the challenge, it's a Difficulty Spike.

Not to be confused with a BLAM Episode, which is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment spanning an entire episode.

Abandon all spoiler avoidance hope, ye who read here!


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