History Main / MandatoryTwistEnding

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'', though not so much a mandatory twist ''ending'' as a mandatory twist at ''some'' point during the episode (especially in the first few seasons with back story [[TheReveal Reveals]], the most significant of these probably being the one from "Walkabout"). However, the seasons finales are of special note-- it is so well known that there will be a twist at the end of each season that the producers give the twist scene a special name-- The Bagel: [[spoiler:Walt gets taken]], The Challah:[[spoiler: the first off-island scene indicates Penny is searching for them (and may have found the island)]], The Rattlesnake In The Mailbox: [[spoiler:The flashback is actually a flash''forward'', with Jack and Kate off the island]], The Frozen Donkey Wheel: [[spoiler:Locke is revealed to be dead off of the island]], and The Fork In The Outlet (named in a contest by fans): [[spoiler:Jacob is stabbed by Ben.]] Whew.

* Every Literature/HarryPotter book but ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' ends with a twist (meaning that then ending of ''Order of the Phoenix'' answers all the questions raised, while in all the others, an unsuspected traitor '''or''' — not an exclusive OR! — a good guy mistaken for a villain is revealed).

* O. Henry put so many of these in his stories that the phrase "O. Henry ending" was once a common part of the language.
* Happens at the end of almost every chapter in the first few ''Dragonlance'' trilogies by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

** Creator/BruceCampbell lampshades and mercilessly makes fun of this in ''Film/MyNameIsBruce''. As the monster comes back for it's surprise scare at the end, the film cuts to the screening of the movie. Bruce gets up and starts complaining about how horror movies always end like this, even when they don't make sense. He implores the directors to give the audience a little more credit and give the characters a happy ending for once. The "new" ending is then played, where Bruce, his love interest and her son are dressed as [=WASPs=] and talking formally about how wonderful their lives are and how happy they are, all in front of a green screen display of a beautiful mountain lake. Bruce then realizes how stupid this is, and calls the monster back to kill them all.

* ''Film/PerfectStranger'': The least likely suspect to have been the killer is the killer of course. Duh.

* Parodied in DetentionOfTheDead where zombie!Janet pops up at the last moment, but is immediately put down by soldiers.

** Not to mention Batman: Nemesis Fight in which Robin leaves Batman forever.

*** DIGIMON SAVEZ THE WROLD!!1111: [[spoiler:But he found that on the way home there was no road. It was too late like the scientist said. He had already destroyed the road and the people were trapped on the island that they were trapped in. There was nothing he could do. So he went home and cried.]]

*** And best of all, Quarter-Life's epic twist: [[spoiler:"Hooray I succeeded at winning the mission" "Not so fast, Mr. Gordon" What happens next? You decide!]]

* The ''{{Saw}}'' films. A twist at the end is more or less expected, ever since the first film.
* ''PerfectStranger'': The least likely suspect to have been the killer is the killer of course. Duh.
* ''{{Inception}}'', dealing with layered dreams, has to end with a shot that reveals at least one more layer.

*** Part of what makes this film work so well is that the twist at the end is that it doesn't matter if it's a dream or not

* Parodied in ''MysteryTeam''. The case is solved, Duncan is [[spoiler: going off to college]] and everything seems well.... Until [[spoiler: a man comes running out of the woods, castrated, unaware of his name and carrying of a picture of himself in a lab]] having sex with a panda.

** The more realistic-styled show ''AlfredHitchcockPresents'' also tends to feature a mandatory twist. Considering there's no sci-fi element, it's less out of the blue and can be pretty easily guessed.
*** And then there are the twists that were forced on Hitchcock. For episodes in which the bad guy wins, Hitch was forced by the Network to add a little story at the end, describing how the bad guy eventually met their fate. Parodied in the 80s remake about an alien invasion, when Hitchcock appears at the end in a cell, because the aliens were very angry he broadcasted his plan to conquer earth at his tv show.
* ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' was fond of these, albeit the dark humor and irony tended to keep the pretentiousness in check and viewers coming back for more.
* Many, many ''QuantumLeap'' episodes have the following template: Sam leaps into a situation involving some possibly supernatural occurrence like ghosts, aliens, or the Bermuda Triangle. Al completely buys into the possibility, while Sam refuses to believe it and does everything he can to prove Al wrong. In the end, it appears Sam was right, but just before he leaps out there's some hint that [[RealAfterAll maybe Al was right after all]].

* ''{{CSI}}'' almost always has a twist ending in every episode, sometimes more than one depending on the amount of sub-plots. Usually it's pretty easy to see it coming and sometimes one can even predict who really ''is'' the killer, because it's almost never the first person we think it is. And if it was we were led to believe that it wasn't and then it turned out it actually was. Which is pretty impressive.
* {{Lost}}, though not so much a mandatory twist ''ending'' as a mandatory twist at ''some'' point during the episode (especially in the first few seasons with back story [[TheReveal Reveals]], the most significant of these probably being the one from "Walkabout"). However, the seasons finales are of special note-- it is so well known that there will be a twist at the end of each season that the producers give the twist scene a special name-- The Bagel: [[spoiler:Walt gets taken]], The Challah:[[spoiler: the first off-island scene indicates Penny is searching for them (and may have found the island)]], The Rattlesnake In The Mailbox: [[spoiler:The flashback is actually a flash''forward'', with Jack and Kate off the island]], The Frozen Donkey Wheel: [[spoiler:Locke is revealed to be dead off of the island]], and The Fork In The Outlet (named in a contest by fans): [[spoiler:Jacob is stabbed by Ben.]] Whew.

* ''TheEvent'' was probably ''too'' dependent on this. The most ridiculous example probably being the third episode's "twist" which revealed that [[spoiler: the previous episode's twist was a fake out.]]

* A common criticism levied toward ''MassEffect3'''s controversial original ending.

* A common criticism levied toward Mass Effect 3's controversial ending.

* Arguably ''TotalDrama'' falls into this, especially during the middle of ''World Tour,'' when the writers seemed to go out of their way to invent some kind of "twist" for every elimination--Chris decides to throw out a random intern while ''admitting'' he just wants to keep the rightful loser in, someone accidentally votes for themselves, someone accidentally votes for the wrong person to cause a tie and one contestant [[ContrivedCoincidence randomly is allergic]] [[OverlyLongGag to the type of plant the tiebreaker challenge requires touching]]...

*** And then there are the twists that were forced on Hitchcock. For episodes in which the bad guy wins, Hitch was forced by the Network to add a little story at the end, describing how the bad guy eventually met their fate.

* ''Franchise/BioShock'' had twist endings in the first game, the DLC for the second game, and third game, whose DLC ALSO had a twist ending.

* ''Franchise/BioShock'' had twist endings in the first game, the DLC for the second game, and third game.

* ''Franchise/BioShock'' had twist endings in the first and third game, as well as in the DLC for the second.

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* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', sometime after the resolution of the Fire Orb arc, embraced the Mandatory {{Anticlimax}}. It's been done so often that the jaded fans actually enjoy wondering just how Clevinger is going to destroy any hint of CerebusSyndrome. It probably reached its height when the author made a fake ending that finished things [[ItWasAllJustADream in the most anticlimactic way possible]] and, [[SpringtimeForHitler to his dismay]] actually received praise for it.

-->--'''"Creator/MNightShyamalan"''', ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''

* There was a show called ''Eye Drops'' on TechTV that showcased independent short films. For whatever reason, the vast majority of them had twist endings.

* ''LawAndOrderSVU'': The last full act will typically end with [[RandomEventsPlot the main crime, the crime it led to, the crime that led to,]] [[ItsPersonal and the detectives' personal issues]] resolved more or less happily, and then TheStinger either [[DiabolusExMachina suddenly undoes all progress]] or holds a last-minute [[TheReveal reveal]] that paints the ending in a more ambiguous light.
** [[LawAndOrder The main series]] only really got to this level at the end of Elizabeth Rohm's tenure (seasons 14 and 15), where, in an attempt to define Serena Southerlyn as something other than "Really Pretty", would often have Serena PullTheThread that pointed to a suspect other than the one they'd spend 40 minutes trying to convict.

* Creator/AndyKaufman spent his entire career screwing with his audience. Eventually he couldn't surprise them anymore, because no matter how egregious he got, people figured it was part of the gag. It got so bad that, when he was diagnosed with cancer, some of his fans assumed it was an elaborate hoax. Even dying of cancer didn't convince everyone it was real and [[HesJustHiding many still believe he is out there, somewhere.]]

Some series have {{Twist Ending}}s so frequently it practically becomes mandatory for it to happen OnceAnEpisode or book. Why does this happen? Though (almost) everyone likes a HappyEnding --with the smiling and the kissing and the vanquishing and the riding off into the sunset-- people also tend to get bored of too many happy endings in a row. So authors will try to surprise audiences using a DownerEnding; it's the DarkerAndEdgier way to end a movie or (if you're really ballsy) an episode or ''season'' in an ongoing series. This can do a lot in terms of adding a sense of urgency to a cliffhanger and fresh air to a series, especially if the series sticks to its guns and the badness is permanent (see KilledOffForReal).

* Creator/AndyKaufman spent his entire career screwing with his audience. Eventually he couldn't surprise them anymore, because no matter how egregious he got, people figured it was part of the gag. It got so bad that, when he was diagnosed with cancer, some of his fans assumed it was an elaborate hoax. Even dying of cancer didn't convince everyone it was real and many still believe he is out there, somewhere.

* Common in music videos that include a storyline, as their extremely short duration can make a visual TwistEnding the ''only'' plot development there's time for. The revelation at the end of Music/TheProdigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", that the beer-swilling, dirty-fighting, lecherous brute [[spoiler: is a woman]] is a classic example.

* Every Literature/HarryPotter book but ''OrderOfThePhoenix'' ends with a twist (meaning that then ending of ''Order of the Phoenix'' answers all the questions raised, while in all the others, an unsuspected traitor '''or''' — not an exclusive OR! — a good guy mistaken for a villain is revealed).

->''"What a twist!"''

** To be fair, [[spoiler: Garterbelt wasn't finished with the mission God gave him, so his first death earlier in the episode was undone, therefor explaining why he unexploded during the ending... Still doesn't explain why he died a second time in the first place, though.]]

* Andy Kaufman spent his entire career screwing with his audience. Eventually he couldn't surprise them anymore, because no matter how egregious he got, people figured it was part of the gag. It got so bad that, when he was diagnosed with cancer, some of his fans assumed it was an elaborate hoax. Even dying of cancer didn't convince everyone it was real and many still believe he is out there, somewhere.

* Every HarryPotter book but OrderOfThePhoenix ends with a twist (meaning that then ending of ''Order of the Phoenix'' answers all the questions raised, while in all the others, an unsuspected traitor '''or''' — not an exclusive OR! — a good guy mistaken for a villain is revealed).