Is the 'Persons Unknown' Finale the Worst Series Finale Ever? (VIDEO)
Well, we were promised answers. And we didn't really get them. This was the two-hour season finale of 'Persons Unknown' (Sat., 9PM ET on NBC). Considering that the show has gotten incredibly low ratings, it seems highly doubtful that it will be back next year. Thus, this is essentially our series finale as well. So, were all the loose ends tied up?[Spoiler alert.]
... No, not at all. After temporarily "escaping" the nameless deserted town by faking their deaths, our group of heroes are all recaptured by the mysterious "Program." Sucks to be them. Joe and Mark the journalist (Jason Wiles and Gerald Kyd) find themselves back in the original hotel. Which pretty much puts Joe right where he started in episode one of the series. To make matters more intriguing, the once-dead Tori (Kate Lang Johnson) is now the new hotel manager.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group (Janet, Moira, Charlie, Erika, Bill, and Graham) also wake up in the hotel. But when they take the elevator down to the hotel lobby, the doors open up ... to reveal that they are standing on a massive ship -- and are stranded in the middle of the ocean. The Night Manager greets them, and says this: "Welcome to Level Two."
Then, the camera pulls back as the ship sails away on the vast, stormy sea. And ... that's the end of the series.
This would be fine, and a good "cliffhanger" ending for a season, but it's pretty much guaranteed that 'Persons Unknown' is never returning to TV. In addition, the first season of the show was pitched to viewers as a complete 13-episode mini-series. NBC did endless promos for the show promising that "All Will Be Revealed." Remi Aubuchon, the Executive Producer of the show, even did an interview where he said this:
"[In the season one finale], there will be none of those maddening teases that we're going to tell you the answers and then we don't tell you the answers."
But that's essentially what happened. The finale was nothing but a "maddening tease." The show essentially rebooted, leaving the characters right where they started. Everyone's still trapped, except now some of the characters are trapped on a boat. ... Whoo-hoo. Big deal.
There have been finales that displeased viewers before. Many fans didn't like the last episodes of 'Lost' and 'Battlestar Galactica.' But even if you didn't like the way those shows ended, they did at least provide answers. (It's just that many fans weren't completely pleased with those answers.)
But 'Persons Unknown' explicitly promised to wrap things up for us, and then didn't do that. Either NBC lied about "revealing" everything, or the producers changed their minds
What do you guys think? Was this a terrible finale? Was it the most annoying finale ever? Or did you find it pleasingly mysterious, even if it was a bit inconclusive?
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