How It Should Have Ended

All right, because I am me, there will be a lot of whingeing in this post, and I’m already begging your forgiveness by introducing it with a picture of a cute puppy.

And this will be a rather controversial post. Why? you may ask. Because of the subject matter, and the extremely subjective views I’m about to put in it. Why the controversy? you’re probably now wondering.

Today we’re discussing where some of my favorite series disappointed me.

It’s subjective and controversial because not everyone will share the same ideas about what makes good entertainment, and sometimes we get very heated over it. But, hey, this is my blog, so my perspective reigns here.

For a while now, I’ve been thinking about how I’d change the stuff I didn’t like about these series, and I wanted to make a post about it; but I was a little worried about backlash I may get. So, disclaimer time:

A.) These are my thoughts, and you’re allowed to disagree, but you need to do so respectfully.

B.) And if you aren’t caught up on The Hunger Games, Shadowhunters, Supernatural, or Grey’s Anatomy, for once I am not holding back on spoilers. So if you want to be kept in utter suspense, you may choose not to read forward.

Okay. Let’s do this…

THE HUNGER GAMES

I did not want to read The Hunger Games. I fell prey to the massive hype. I should’ve stuck to my gut feeling.

Book 1 sucked me in, though, and while I had mixed feelings, I plowed ahead.

By the time the Capitol sent Katniss back into the Arena, though, I was pretty done.

Wanting to see the evil empire defeated, though, I finished the trilogy.

And then desperately wished I hadn’t bothered.

To me, there is something intensely wrong with having your heroine marry a guy who tried to kill her. Truly, I don’t believe the excuse of “Oh, he was under mind control” should fly at ANY point.

And the fact that Prue died ANYWAY…after all Katniss suffered to prevent it…I just CANNOT with that. It’s like the entire story was absolutely pointless from the very beginning.

So, here’s my alternate Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay:

Katniss and Peeta (gets to keep his leg) return to District 12. Emboldened by the brewing rebellion, District 13 comes out of hiding, drawing other downtrodden areas into the spirit of revolt against the Capitol. When the next Hunger Games is announced, several of the districts send Tributes that are “plants” from the rebellion, and they sabotage the Arena and take down President Snow. (The despicable Alma Coin doesn’t even exist in my version.)

Meanwhile, Katniss is sensibly sorting out her silly love triangle, and she makes the right choice — Gale. Peeta (no ridiculous mind control involved) volunteers for the civil war, and dies for something worth fighting for.

SUPERNATURAL

Yes, I am quite aware Supernatural has another season to go before wrapping up. But for me, it’s nowhere near soon enough.

I had watched this show for years. I’d even go so far as to call myself a devoted fan… Until the start of season 11, that is.

Anything that happened after that (except for the episode shot from the POV of the Impala) does.not.count.

I cannot bring myself to care anymore about characters I loved for nearly a decade…because it’s just gone too off the rails.

I was 90% on board through season 10. The Mark of Cain arc was just great. But the thrown-in subplot of the family Stein really fell short in my eyes, and something in me began to sense a sort of unraveling.

In retrospect, I really think the writers could’ve altered the last 15 minutes of the last episode of season 10, called it quits, and it would’ve been one of the most amazing finales in TV history.

Here’s where I would’ve deviated from the established canon:

Instead of Dean killing Death, the Mark of Cain gets removed right before he swings that scythe. Knowing that he can’t carry out the deal Dean has just made with him, Death leaves, but on the condition that the next time the brothers die, that is IT, don’t make him hunt them down.

Cass has to kill Rowena, knowing she can’t be trusted with the amount of power in the Book of the Damned. (I’d still be sad about that, because I loved Rowena, but it would’ve been fitting.) Cass and Crowley make an agreement, that angel and demon status quos need to return to normal, so no more making bargains with the Winchesters and upsetting the balance so much. If Cass wants to remain the brothers’ wingman, that’s up to him, but Crowley is out. (As much as I love Crowley as well, the running joke about him being boys’ lackey got a bit tedious.)

The last scene can be set, say, 5 years in the future, with the Men of Letters bunker full of new recruits, being trained by Sam and Dean. 

GREY’S ANATOMY

Self-five for this past summer and fall, when I successfully made it through every.single.season of Grey’s Anatomy released on DVD as of 2018. (Hint: It was 12 of them.) Well, I’d never really seen it, and I like Patrick Dempsey. It turned out I got hooked on the whole show (with a few exceptions).

However, by about mid-season 9, I was beginning to feel jaded. And by the end of season 11, I went from, “Holy heck, this is impressive television,” to, “Make it stahp!”

The final straw? Derek Shepherd’s woefully inadequate death scene. It was so undignified for a character that had helped carry the whole premise since day one.

And the time jump that happened afterwards…well, I think it took the writers’ brains to an alternate dimension.

So here’s my editor’s red pen for Grey’s:

Instead of Derek dying, Meredith finally figured out that staying in Seattle would mean sacrificing her marriage, and she moves to Washington D.C. so Derek can pursue the most amazing opportunity a dashing neurosurgeon was ever offered. The finale would be wrapping up the other characters’ storylines in Seattle, and showing Meredith and Derek with their kids in D.C.

(Actually, there are a BUNCH of things I’d change about certain seasons or characters. But that’s also a whole other post.)

SHADOWHUNTERS

My biggest complaint about all the Shadowhunters series is, interestingly, also the most condensed: There are simply too many books in this universe. The Mortal Instruments could completely have stopped at a trilogy. The Infernal Devices could easily have been a one-off. Same for The Dark Artifices. Rather than recycling plots and just changing characters’ names (sorry, folks, but that’s sure how it looks by now), the author could’ve been trying to create new worlds and new tales. I don’t even have an alternate ending for most of these…because my only wish is that it came faster.

Again, all these opinions are my own, and if you love any or all of these just the way they are, go nuts being you, lovely human.

But I am soooo grateful for freedom of speech.