Vote for 2016’s Best TV 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.
SPOILER ALERT FOR ALL SHOWS PICTURED ABOVE: The nominees for Best Plot Twist of 2016 are…
San Junipero is heaven (Black Mirror)
As the song goes, in the future, heaven is a place on Earth. One of Black Mirror’s finest episodes (and one of 2016’s 20 Best Episodes, period) imagines a world where a tech giant has developed an artificial afterlife, populated by the digitally uploaded consciousnesses of the recently deceased. Unlike most of the show’s cynical stories, “San Junipero” finds hope in high technology, which may just be the biggest plot twist of all. —Ethan Alter
Cottonmouth dies (Luke Cage)
The first six episodes of Luke Cage establish Harlem kingpin Cottonmouth as Luke’s main nemesis. But then the writers go and pull a Janet Leigh-in-Psycho surprise in the seventh hour, killing off a central character in truly shocking fashion. The shock is compounded by the fact that we’ve just learned Cottonmouth’s sad backstory, making his death more of a tragedy than a triumph. —EA
Tony is a dad (NCIS)
As we wrote in our list of 2016’s 30 Best TV Moments, even after 13 seasons, fans weren’t ready to see Michael Weatherly’s Tony leave NCIS, but producers made the exit as bearable as possible: He learned Ziva had left behind a daughter — his daughter. His priority was no longer being a “very special agent”; it was being everything to little Tali, because that’s what she’d lost. Turns out, seeing Tony finally grow up is as satisfying as watching Gibbs slap him on the back of the head. —Mandi Bierly
Jack’s dead and Rebecca’s remarried (This Is Us)
Viewers were still coming down from the pilot’s “Gotcha!” ending — Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore’s storyline takes place in the 1980s, and they are Kevin, Kate, and Randall’s parents — when they were hit with another shocker. Rebecca is remarried in 2016, to none other than Jack’s bestie, and it’s safe to say the kids aren’t thrilled by her choice of stepdad. If you could see through the cloud of betrayal (Miguel always seemed too into her!), you might have caught the small clue around her neck that divorce probably didn’t precipitate this new coupling. Unfortunately, Jack, the guy quickly becoming world’s greatest TV dad, is no longer in the land of the living. The details of exactly when and how Daddy Pearson passed are still a mystery, but given the impact he clearly had on the big three, and that Ventimiglia recently teased that the details are coming and they will “crush you,” you might consider adding Kleenex in bulk to your Christmas list. —Carrie Bell
Bernard is a host (Westworld)
Although eagle-eyed Internet fans had suspected that Westworld’s programming head might be a host himself, poor Bernard didn’t realize that he wasn’t in control of his own mind and body until Robert forced him to kill Theresa. And the surprises kept coming from there, when it turned out that Bernard was built in the image of Westworld’s long-dead co-creator, Arnold Weber. He was the host with the most surprises, for sure. —EA
Mulder and Scully discover a were-human (The X-Files)
It’s another of 2016’s 20 Best Episodes. When mutilated bodies start piling up and reports of a walking lizard creature start rolling in, Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate and explain the unexplainable — just as Mulder is (still) questioning everything he once believed in and the validity of his career. What they find, however, puts him back on track professionally and personally. The reptilian monster, which appears to have been lured out by a full moon and is played brilliantly by Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords), is actually a rare species that hibernates for 10,000 years and has therefore never been seen before. When it emerges from its nap in the forest, it finds itself in the path of the real serial killer, who bites him. Somehow, that cursed him to transform into an unhappy human driven by the need to make money and find companionship. —CB
Vote now.
Related:
Vote for 2016’s Best New Villain
Vote for 2016’s Breakout TV Star
Vote for 2016’s Best New Ensemble Cast
Vote for The Best ‘SNL’ Sketch of 2016
Vote for 2016’s Most Shocking Moment
Vote for 2016’s Most Painful Death
Vote for 2016’s Most Infuriating Plot Twist
