Five great TV shows marred by their finales

It's not just 'Game of Thrones', sometimes good television shows can be brought down by their series finales

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  How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014): Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story? Unfortunately, after nine years, fans didn’t get quite the finale they were hoping for. The entire show had focused on Ted Mosby telling his children the story of how he met their mother. But as fans would find out in the end, the story was never actually about The Mother (because she’s actually been dead this whole time) – but rather how he still has a flame for his on-again and off-again friend Robin even though their relationship never worked out in the past.

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  Dexter (2006-2013): The show about a serial killer who killed serial killers started strongly enough but seems to have lost its way once it got to the end. After following Dexter Morgan and his killing compulsion for eight seasons, fans were curious to know how his story would end. Rather than being caught for his murders (spoiler: he wasn’t) or having a happy ending with his girlfriend (spoiler no 2: he didn’t), he instead buries his sister (spoiler no 3: who he didn't kill) at sea and lives out the rest of his life as a lonely lumberjack. That’s it. Fans were undoubtedly frustrated with this ending. Randy Tepper / Showtime

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  Lost (2004-2010): 'Lost' ran for six seasons and had plenty of ups and downs before its polarising finale that has left fans debating to this day. The show follows the aftermath of a plane crash and the surviving members of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 on what seems to be an uninhabited tropic island. Rather than present an ending that seemed to answer some of the questions that fans had over the years, it chose the confusing path of dealing with the afterlife with many thinking it meant that everyone had actually died and they were all just in purgatory. Of course, it’s later been discussed that perhaps was just misunderstood all this time.

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  The Sopranos (1999-2007): One of the first big binge-worthy HBO shows, 'The Sopranos' followed Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano as he tries to balance his family life with organised crime. The finale sees Tony preparing to meet his family in a diner with Journey’s 'Don’t Stop Believin’' playing in the background when suddenly the screen cuts to black. At the time of airing, many fans wondered whether their cable had actually cut out but nope, that’s actually how the show ended. Whether it’s terrible or brilliant probably depends on your own interpretation of the ending actually means.

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  Girls (2012-2017): The show about four 20-somethings navigating life in New York City focused a lot on friendship and growing up. However, the series finale only featured two of the main characters, Hannah and Marnie, and focused on their life after the city. Hannah decides to have a baby and raise it on her own with Marnie helping her. For some, it was a bit too 'meh' for such a brilliant series. 'Girls' was always uncomfortably honest but having it end the way it did left some fans feeling quite underwhelmed. AP Photo / HBO

Game of Thrones has wrapped up its final season. After an 18-month wait between the seventh and eighth seasons, fans were eagerly awaiting the epic fantasy show's return in April.

Spoiler alert: the gallery above is packed full of plot giveaways 

The hugely popular show was lauded for most of the time it was on the air. Unfortunately, following a season that received a lukewarm response almost across the board and even saw some fans sign a petition asking to remake the eighth season, the finale fell flat and left many feeling frustrated and disappointed.

However, sometimes these things happen (especially in the television world, it seems). Not every ending will be satisfactory or tie up every loose end. Here we round up five other great television shows marred by questionable endings.

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Read more:

Game of Thrones: the best memes to come from the finale

What the Westeros? 11 gaping plot holes from the last season of 'Game of Thrones'

'Game of Thrones': Why season eight is just the first ending

Spoiler alert: 'Game of Thrones' grand finale – is that it?

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