Basic Trope: A season finale that feels like the Grand Finale, and may have been intended to be so.
- Straight The final episode of the second season of Troper Quest ends in the downfall of Emperor Evulz and his empire, the death of Lance, and the marriage of Hiro and Alice. Except the show continues for 3 more seasons with a new villain and Lance didn't actually die.
- Exaggerated: The episode is the finale of the 8th season of the show, which would theoretically be a good place to finish. But the studio has the show planned out for 20 years beyond that.
- Each season of the show ends in a way which wraps up lingering plot threads, defeats or kills off the Arc Villain and gives each main character a final send off, until the series is renewed for another season. There is is a Revolving Door Casting where characters come and go with no Myth Arc at all.
- Downplayed: Despite the destruction of his empire, Evulz survives the last battle and escapes, leaving room for another season. He even gets a Stinger where he kills Hiro's mentor as somewhat of a Sequel Hook.
- Justified:
- The studio worried that the show's contract wouldn't get renewed, and wrote the season finale accordingly in case.
- The episode was supposed to be the final episode, but after outcry from fans, the show was Un-Cancelled.
- Inverted: Troper Quest is cancelled early into the season with no warning, forcing the writers to leave several plot threads dangling.
- Subverted: Word gets out about the show returning for a third season... But it's a false leak. The season finale really was the last episode.
- Double Subverted: After witnessing how annoyed the fan base was when the leak was revealed to be fake, the network decides to renew the show anyway.
- Parodied:
- Troper Quest is a Show Within a Show that was designed to be terrible and was almost cancelled after four episodes, but the fanbase still wouldn't let the network take it off the air.
- There are several episodes like this, and characters keep saying that it is the end, then apologising for the mistake.
- Zig-Zagged: Flip-Flop of God continually cancels and un-cancels the show in between seasons, making it nearly impossible to tell what'll happen for the show.
- Averted:
- The second season finale is the actual finale.
- The season finale is just as climactic as it needs to be without feeling like the end.
- Enforced: This trope is enforced by definition, so see Justified.
- Lampshaded: "What do you mean, that wasn't the end?!"
- Invoked: Evulz replaces himself with a robotic double before the final battle and doesn't reveal himself to the heroes afterward, leaving them to think it's over.
- Exploited: ???
- Discussed: "Oh, I doubt this is the end. Evulz always survives his defeats, so we likely didn't finish him off yet."
- Conversed:
- "Man, the show really should've ended after the second season. It just feels like a better ending."
- "For a moment there I thought the show was gonna end."
- Deconstructed: Troper Quest becomes a Franchise Zombie, leading to the creator leaving the work. As the Seasonal Rot kicks in afterward, it's easy to tell that the writers are running out of ideas.
- Reconstructed: The creator's son takes over the work and retcons the rot, replacing it with a plot idea his father wouldn't go for. This plot turns out to be more popular than the initial premise. Ratings go through the roof.
- Logical Extreme: The season finale closes off every last plot thread and leaves no room for continuation, but the writers still find a way.
- Played for Laughs: The first episode of Season Three begins with a large "THE END" sign covering the screen and then Hiro and Alice pop up in front of the sign, saying "Hey! Who put that sign up? I know that last episode felt like the end, but trust me, it wasn't!" and Bob apologizing and taking the sign down.
- Played for Drama: The first episode of Season Three is all about Hiro, Alice and Bob grieving for Lance.
It's finally over. We can catch a break now... Wait, no, never mind. It's just the Series Fauxnale.
