Some TV episodes don’t end with answers – they end with questions, the kinds of questions that keep fans talking for weeks, months, and even years. Here, we look at seven unforgettable cliffhangers that have occurred on hit shows available on Paramount+, including All the Queen’s Men, Yellowjackets, Fire Country, and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Plot points from the following 7 shows will be discussed. If you haven’t seen the episodes listed below, read on at your peril, or watch them right now on Paramount+.
Shows featured in this list:
1. Who Shot Madam? (All the Queen’s Men)
Episode: Season 4, Episode 16, “Murder Was the Case”
What happens? Season 4 sees Marilyn “Madam” DeVille (Eva Marcille), owner of a male exotic nightclub known as Eden, facing serious criminal charges and a bleak future. At the end of the finale, she’s been cleared of every single charge. Seemingly alone in her office, she savors her hard-won victory … before being shot by someone she recognizes.
Why fans were left hanging: At the close of Season 4, one of the fiercest characters on television hovers between life and death. How could fans not count the days until the Season 5 premiere?
How it resolves: The identity of Madam’s attacker is the mystery driving All the Queen’s Men’s current and final season (Season 5). Her team is working to locate her shooter while her enemies are seizing the opportunity to destroy her empire.
WATCH NOW: All The Queen’s Men
2. Will Olympia Arrest Matlock? (Matlock)
Episode: Season 1, Episode 16, “The Johnson Case”
What happens? Towards the end of Matlock Season 1, a colleague of Madeline “Matty” Matlock (Kathy Bates), Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), learns the truth: Matty has been working as an undercover operative at their law firm, trying to dig up evidence about the company’s role in the death of her daughter. Olympia confronts Matty about her deception …
Why fans were left hanging: Olympia has every right to turn Matty over to the police; Matty lied to the firm, and also misrepresented herself to Olympia, who considered the older woman to be her friend. What’s unique about this cliffhanger is that it doesn’t fall during the season finale, so fans watching during the episodes’s original run didn’t have to hold their breath very long to see how the moment played out.
How it resolves: Rather than have Matty arrested, Olympia finds out the truth behind her mission and the two team up. Together, they take down the bad apples within the executive board of the Jacobson Moore law firm and – following the subsequent series of arrests – open up their own legal firm.
WATCH NOW: Matlock
3. What happens to Bode’s family? (Fire Country)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 20, “I’d Do It Again”
What happens? In the Season 3 finale of Fire Country, the Buena Vista memory care facility where Walter (Jeff Fahey) lives goes up in flames and collapses.
Why fans were left hanging: Cal Fire firefighter Bode (Max Thieriot) watches the explosion knowing that his mother Sharon (Diane Farr), his father Vince (Billy Burke), and his grandfather Walter are trapped inside the building, and viewers watched the end credits knowing that they’d have to spend the summer hiatus wondering if the three beloved characters survived the blast.
How it resolves: In the Season 4 premiere (“Goodbye for Now”), fans discover that Sharon and Walter have lived through the disaster, but that Vince has not. Bode spends the season wrestling with his grief and working to be the kind of man his father would want him to be.
WATCH NOW: Fire Country
4. Picard Is Captured by the Borg (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 26, “The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1”
What happens? When the Borg set their sights on Earth, the crew members of the U.S.S. Enterprise confront their deadly cybernetic foes. The Borg beam aboard the ship and kidnap Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). They surgically transform Picard into Locutus of Borg, a figure used to assimilate all species into the Borg. Aboard the Borg cube, Picard-as-Locutus tells his former crew that “Resistance is futile,” spurring Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to take over as Captain and order Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) to fire on Locutus and the Borg.
Why fans were left hanging: Was Picard going to die? Was everyone on board the U.S.S. Enterprise going to die? Was the Earth doomed?! The summer of 1990 was a long one for Star Trek fans.
How it resolves: In “The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2”, the Borg survive the attack. Though the U.S.S. Enterprise distracts them long enough for Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and Worf to beam aboard their ship and kidnap Picard-as-Locutus. With the help of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), Picard is freed from the Borg’s control. He suggests that Data puts the Borg into sleep mode, and the Borg’s ship is ultimately destroyed by a feedback loop. Though triumphant, Picard’s experience will haunt him for years, until he finds resolution in Star Trek: First Contact.
WATCH NOW: Star Trek: The Next Generation
5. Will Spencer Find Alexandra? (1923)
Episode: Season 2, Episode 6, “The Mountain Teeth of Monsters”
What happens? In this sequel series to 1883, a pregnant Alexandra Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer) is on her way to Montana when her car runs out of fuel, and her driving companions die of hypothermia.
Why fans were left hanging: Stranded in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a fierce blizzard, Alexandra has little time before death takes the wheel. Will her husband Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) reach her before it’s too late? 1923 viewers worried that a fan-favorite character might perish in the snow, and – even worse! – might do so without seeing her true love one final time.
How it resolves: Alas, not all cliffhangers have happy endings. Though Spencer does indeed find Alexandra – in Season 2, Episode 7 (“A Dream and a Memory”) – she’s severely frostbitten and her limbs are gangrenous. In this series finale, she sacrifices her life so that her childcan be born.
WATCH NOW: 1923
6. Where’s Flower? (Ghosts)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 1, “The Owl”
What happens? After a beam of light hits the roof of Woodstone Manor, home of mortals Sam and Jay (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar, respectively) and the many spirits bound to the premises, hippie ghost Flower (Sheila Carrasco) goes missing. The other ghosts believe she’s been “sucked off” (i.e., her spirit has ascended).
Why fans were left hanging: Could one of the most loveable ghosts on Ghosts have gone for good? Flower’s presumed ascension triggered heartbreak in the fans, as well as a mix of sadness and jealousy in those she’d left behind – especially her Viking boyfriend, Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long).
How it resolves: In reality, actress Sheila Carrasco, who plays Flower, had gone on maternity leave. Her free-spirited character returned in Season 3, Episode 8 (“Holes Are Bad”), where it was revealed that she’d merely fallen down the Manor’s well while chasing a butterfly. How very Flower of her!
WATCH NOW: Ghosts
7. What Happens After the Cabin Fire? (Yellowjackets)
Episode: Season 2, Episode 9, “Storytelling”
What happens? In the Season 2 finale of Yellowjackets, the girls’ soccer team loses their home in the wilderness when the cabin is destroyed by a massive fire. Without this shelter, will they freeze to death before any form of rescue can arrive?
Why fans were left hanging: The team is left utterly exposed in the dead of a freezing cold winter. Did Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger), disgusted by the girls’ turn to cannibalism, set their housing ablaze? Or was it someone – or something – else? Fans had seen the adult versions of certain Yellowjackets, so knew that some of the teens had survived the stint in the woods – but this cliffhanger sure made it seem as though many much-loved characters wouldn’t be making it out of the forest alive.
How it resolves: In the Season 3 premiere (“It Girl”), the show has leapt forward several months to the summer solstice, and viewers learn that the girls have built huts as shelter (whew!). But the mystery of who burned down their cabin remains unsolved, and the wilderness dangers are far from over …
WATCH NOW: Yellowjackets Seasons 1 and 2 available on all Paramount+ plans. Season 3 available only via Paramount+ Premium plan.
