Season-ending cliffhangers

[mtbc]

To my annoyance, season one of The Diplomat (2023) ends on a cliffhanger, with a long time to wait for the next season. I think that we are even still waiting for some further resolution of Lupin (2021) though I could check again to be sure we don't have new episodes. Netflix have plenty of other past form here, a notable earlier example for me is Money Heist (2017).

It's not only Netflix that does this. My memory is now hazy but a much earlier example, from back when seasons had plenty of episodes, might be Zero Hour from Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), yet another season-closing cliffhanger where there is a lot of complicated stuff going on and little hope of remembering the detailed context for long. This is also true of the above Netflix shows, hence the need for the subsequent recaps.

I wish that they would stop doing this. The effect for me is to close the season by irritating me then open the next by giving me a confused sense that I am missing things. I assume that that's not their intent. Either they are missing the mark or, more probably, I am not a typical viewer. It is not like the cliffhanger is going to make me more likely to watch the next season because, long before it arrives, I've mostly forgotten what was going on, so it's not as if I am desperate to see it resolved.

Comments

[thewayne]

Literally yesterday, after reading your post, I started listening to a Fresh Air (NPR) interview with the star of The Diplomat. Her career started in The Mickey Mouse Club with Christine Aguilera et al, then Felicity!

[mtbc]

Ha, goodness, I don't think I noticed her before Waitress, I thought she did a good job of portraying a capable ideologue in The Americans, great fun to watch.