Vote for 2016’s Most Infuriating Plot Twist
It’s time for the Yahooies, Yahoo TV’s second annual reader-voted awards honoring the best — and sometimes worst — of 2016. Each day through Dec. 16, we will announce the nominees for one category, with an accompanying poll. The winners will be crowned Monday, Dec. 19.
The nominees for Most Infuriating Plot Twist are (SPOILER ALERT for all shows pictured above)…
Rickon’s Death (Game of Thrones)
Listen, we don’t have a problem with producers changing book storylines or characters, even innocent ones, being killed off. We get it. Life in Westeros is cruel, and after Daddy’s beheading and the Red Wedding, a Stark shuffling off this mortal coil is far from surprising. So when Rickon got handed over to deviant psycho rapist Ramsay, you expected things wouldn’t go his way. But couldn’t the writers at least give him a fighting chance to avoid being kebobbed by an arrow at the Battle of the Bastards, by making him zigzag, change pace, or employ any other evading tactic — instead of running in a straight line across an open expanse! We know we were not alone yelling at the TV that night. (Right, Leslie Jones?) We’re also a little miffed that Jon, a skilled strategist, so easily fell for that trick to separate him from his army. —Carrie Bell
The Final Four Words (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life)
We know: Logan is Rory’s version of Christopher, and Jess is her Luke. On paper, we can appreciate the poetic symmetry of history repeating itself, and hey, now Rory’s memoir of her relationship with her single mother has one helluva ending and marketing hook. But Rory’s accidental pregnancy is a reminder that she was knowingly sleeping with Logan when he was engaged and she had that boyfriend she kept forgetting to break up with — which is just one of the reasons we didn’t exactly love the girl Rory Gilmore had become. —Mandi Bierly
Diane’s Slap (The Good Wife)
As with Gilmore Girls, this moment was meant to bring the series full circle: In the pilot, Alicia slapped her philandering husband, Peter, backstage at a press conference; in the series finale, it was a much-changed Alicia getting slapped in the hallway after betraying Diane. To quote our Ken Tucker from his review, “All praise and respect to Christine Baranski for her performance here and throughout the series and to the Kings for giving her such a terrific final showcase. And yet, the one thing that was made most definitely clear — that Alicia and Diane will never be friends and colleagues again — was disappointing and disturbing. I’m reasonably sure the Kings didn’t intend it this way, but it certainly struck me that this series, which prized feminist ideals, concluded with Alicia and Diane as enemies and in pain over the men in their lives rather than the independent female agents The Good Wife had spent years developing.” —MB
Maddie’s Emancipation (Nashville)
Rebellious teenagers can be annoying. We get it. But Maddie’s form of rebellion — declaring emancipation from Rayna based on the mistaken belief that her mom is stifling her music career — was mostly annoying in its preposterousness. If we were the presiding judge, the case would have been thrown out and she’d be sentenced to five months of polishing Deacon’s guitar picks. —Ethan Alter
Chandra’s Kiss With Naz (The Night Of)
Chandra Kapoor was one of the HBO miniseries’ best characters: a smart, ambitious and caring attorney whose lack of experience — and attendant weariness about the realities of the legal system — was one of the best things accused killer Naz had going for him in his dire corner. But seven episodes into the eight-episode run, Chandra and Naz’s professional relationship took a turn for the romantic, with her kissing her client (in a jailhouse under video surveillance, no less) and eventually agreeing to buy drugs and smuggle them into jail for him. Those were offensively ridiculous decisions for a character who, though na?ve, was absolutely too smart and committed to have made such moves. —Kimberly Potts
Abbie’s Death (Sleepy Hollow)
The paranormal partnership that launched a thousand #Ichabbie memes ended in an unfortunate — and genuinely frustrating — death, as Abbie Mills gave her life so that Ichabod Crane might continue to fight the good fight against the demonic elements of American “twistory.” But an Abbie-less series isn’t what many fans signed on for back in Season 1, when the duo seemed poised to become the new Mulder and Scully. Whatever the reasons that motivated her exit, Abbie’s absence makes Sleepy Hollow a less interesting place to visit. —EA
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