7 Major TV Show Plot Twists That Never Led Anywhere

The Unfulfilled Twists

Writers want to surprise their audiences, but they must be willing to follow through on a new plotline. It is a mark of bad writing when a plot twist is included just to shock the audience, but ultimately has no impact on the bigger story. It feels like the writers no longer care about that plotline once it has served its short-term purpose. These writers want to forget the story ever happened.

Miguel and Johnny in Cobra Kai season 1

Sometimes the audience might want to forget about it as well, but writers must be ready to back up their decisions and convince the audience that the plot twist is a vital part of the story. However, this list comprises examples where the writers started a story arc to amp up the drama and never finished it. This may result in characters who never do anything important or a plot element that is never mentioned again.

7. Miguel's Injury (Cobra Kai)

In the season 2 finale of The Karate Kid-sequel series Cobra Kai, the students of the rival dojos get into a brawl at their high school and one of them, a boy called Miguel, is kicked over the railing of a staircase and breaks his neck. In reality, this injury likely would have killed or paralyzed him. However, he is only temporarily paralyzed and is able to recover and return to karate soon enough. Miguel's horrific injury was an awakening for both teachers and students. But ultimately, Cobra Kai still depicts many rivalries, which did not disappear in the aftermath of Miguel's hospitalization.

6. Yelena's Appearance (Hawkeye)

Yelena was doubtlessly one of the better parts of the Black Widow movie and fans were looking forward to her appearing in the Hawkeye miniseries. However, she is a superfluous villain in a conflict that already has too many of them. Yelena is able to find emotional closure over her sister's death, but while the show serves her character, her character does not serve the show. She would have been more relevant to the main story if the writers had explored the possible friendship between her and Kate. However, they were likely forbidden from doing so, because Yelena is set to appear in Thunderbolts and can't do that if she's hanging out with Kate.

Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova in Hawkeye

5. The Mother's Death (How I Met Your Mother)

The main purpose of this plot twist is to allow Ted to get back together with Robin. The writers degraded Tracy's (the mother) character by essentially suggesting that her death was meaningless. There is no discussion of how Ted or her children grieved or adjusted to life without her. In fact, the kids are more than happy for their dad to move on with the woman he wanted all along who makes their mother look like a temporary distraction. The show skipped over any emotional impact of Tracy's death because that was not the point of the story.

Ted and Tracy Standing Under a Yellow Umbrella in How I Met Your Mother

4. Jon Snow's True Heritage (Game Of Thrones)

Jon being the true heir to the Iron Throne was a seemingly impossible situation to fix. The logical conclusion probably would have been for him to die, and Daenerys to take the throne. Or for Dany to earn Sansa's respect, and for them all to agree that Jon can better serve the realm in other ways. Or for them to publicly acknowledge Jon's birth, and for him to rule the North and Dany the South. However, Jon's parentage has no purpose besides contributing to Dany's downfall. He and Dany are both in constant denial about it, and he ultimately abandons any title and rejoins the Night's Watch.

Jon Snow Portrait

3. Toby Is Part Of The A Team (Pretty Little Liars)

In season 3, episode 12, called 'The Lady Killer,' a hooded figure talking to Mona turns around and intense music plays, because it is Spencer's boyfriend Toby, who is in league with A. Yet the twist feels played up when Toby later clarifies that he started helping Mona to protect Spencer and that he doesn't know who the true A is. Pretty Little Liars has many plot twists, especially within the category of red herrings to draw out the mystery of A, each connection more convoluted than the last.

Toby smiling on Pretty Little Liars

2. Rachel And Joey's Relationship (Friends)

The bizarre arc of Joey having a crush on Rachel begins in season 8 when Rachel is pregnant with Ross' baby. Joey and Rachel have a beautiful platonic roommate relationship, which becomes complicated when Joey admits his feelings. During season 9, it seems like the characters and writers have forgotten about this story until Joey and Rachel get together at the end of season 9. They 'date' for a few episodes of season 10, before deciding it was not to be. After that, the show goes back to pretending it never happened. Friends co-creator David Crane says (via RadioTimes.com), 'we knew going in: this is wrong. And that happens in life. There is the relationship that shouldn’t be. Even though you love someone, that’s not who you’re going to be with. And we loved that it took Joey to a more emotional place, and let Matt [LeBlanc] play colours that he hadn’t gotten to play yet in the series.' While it may have reflected real life and challenged the actors, the Joey and Rachel story falls flat because it does not alter their relationship at all. They go back to the way they were before, and the brief romance has no effect.

Friends Joey and Rachel together

1. The Doctor Is The Timeless Child (Doctor Who)

During the Jodie Whittaker era, it is revealed that the Doctor is not a Time Lord but the Timeless Child, a regenerative being billions of years old whose genetics are the basis of the Time Lord race. The Timeless Child changes everything and nothing: It disrupts the very foundation of Doctor Who, but the Doctor is still a time-traveling being and that is the only thing that matters to the story. Chris Chibnall, who finished his term as the show's creator with season 13, expects returning showrunner Russell T. Davies to ignore the Timeless Child concept. A huge controversy surrounds the Timeless Child, but it does absolutely nothing to the story.

An image of Jodie Whittaker holding a sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who