You're never going to please everyone when it comes to finishing a TV show. But if there's one thing you mustn't do, it's leave fans extra-annoyed by failing to tie up all the loose ends.
Sadly, this happens more often than not. Plot points from previous seasons are forgotten and mysteries don't get an explanation.
These are just some of the series which opted to not answer the big questions, even though they had plenty of time to do so. (Note: we're not including The Prisoner, because we'd be here for days.)
1. Lost – why was Walt so special?
There are so many unanswered questions in Lost that we dedicated a whole article to them. But one of the most irksome was the lack of Walt after season 1.
It was clear early on that Walt had some kind of special powers, and by the end of season 2 he had projected himself to various points on the island, spoken backwards, seen future events and shown off some serious knife-throwing skills.
The Others were particularly obsessed with him, which further increased the mystery surrounding Walt. However, Ben let him and dad Michael leave the island (mainly because actor Malcolm David Kelley had aged rather quickly), and his special abilities were never explained.
The answer to why Walt was special? He just was. By the end of the series, Hurley could talk to ghosts, Miles (Ken Leung) could hear dead people, and we found out the island was all about trying to save a magic light, so Walt was pretty normal in that context. It was just a shame that Walt didn't return in season 6 as a major character to complete his arc, as by then his age and growth would have made sense.
He did at least make a brief return in a bonus DVD scene after the whole series ended, but even that was left on a bit of a cliffhanger.
2. The Sopranos – what happened to the Russian in the woods?
Yes, we could have technically put the entirety of The Sopranos in here as an unanswered question following that cut-to-black final scene, but instead we're tackling this moment from season 3.
In the fantastic episode 'Pine Barrens', Chris and Paulie accidentally kill Russian mobster Valery. At least they thought they did. After driving his body out to the woods, they discover that he's actually alive, and instead make him dig his own grave.
Valery gets the upper hand, knocks them out and runs off. Paulie then appears to shoot him in the head, but amazingly he channels Rasputin, gets up and keeps running. The pair never find Valery dead or alive, and it's never revealed what happened to him.
Chris and Paulie's car was stolen from the woods, with some fans pondering whether this was Valery getting his own back. An HBO promo once featured notable characters who had been murdered, including Valery – but his name included a "?", further adding to the mystery.
3. Heroes – what happened to Peter's girlfriend?
In the fantasy drama's second season, Peter Petrelli time-travels to a post-apocalyptic New York. Not only that, but he does a Marty McFly and brings his girlfriend Caitlin along for the ride.
However, while they're in the future, Caitlin is captured and is told that she has to be deported back to Ireland. Peter isn't able to take her back with him to his present. But, you know, he can just go back at some point and rescue her, right?
Nope, because Peter goes on to stop the world-ending pandemic, thereby removing the timeline that she was stuck in. Thereby... kinda killing her. That's dark. By the way, this wasn't actually stated, we're just assuming that's what happened to her because no-one mentioned her again.
The writers were apparently planning to reveal her fate in season 3, but storylines were dramatically altered due to the extra-long hiatus created by the Writers' Strike in America in 2007.
4. True Blood – who was Sookie married to?
We'd rather forget the disappointing final season, and particularly the finale, of True Blood, but if we must...
The final moments of the once-brilliant HBO vampire series sees the time shift four years into the future. We catch up with a few surviving characters, and watch most of them enjoying a Thanksgiving party in Bon Temps.
However, we're also shown main character Sookie – pregnant AND married to an unknown dude. WTF? Who's this Johnny New Pants? There isn't enough time to explain who the hell he is, and we're all left thinking one thing: so, after seven years of love triangles and break-ups and orgies, Sookie ends up with some random? Imagine if that happened with Rachel in Friends.
5. The Good Wife – why did Will call Alicia just before he died?
In the heartbreaking episode that followed Will's death, 'The Last Call', Alicia was desperate to find out exactly why Will called her and left a brief voicemail before being interrupted.
However, creator Robert King decided to never reveal exactly why Will wanted to call Alicia that day, as Alicia needed to tell herself a story "that makes her feel good". Argh.
"We kind of wanted it to be never answered because it's really what Alicia decides for herself," he told E! Online, adding that the actors involved were at least told.
"We needed to and we needed to help Josh [Charles] come to a place. Maybe Josh will tell someone some day." That's not fair!
6. Red Dwarf – what happened after Rimmer kicked Death in the balls?
Okay, RD is still going, but for a long time it wasn't, and this one still annoys us. At the end of series 8, Rimmer literally kicks Death in the groin while trying to escape a disintegrating ship after his mates have jumped into a mirror universe.
However, cut to the next series 10 years later, and what happened next is never explained. For smeg's sake.
It wasn't until the finale of series 10 that the cliffhanger was even referenced, but they changed the topic before they could reveal to the audience what actually happened. Will it ever be explained? We doubt it.
7. BONUS: Twin Peaks – almost everything remains unexplained.
Ball's in your court, Lynch.
