Recap of Most Shocking TV Cliffhangers in 2018
TV

Some series send fans into frenzy with the death of some characters while the others make everyone drop their jaws with shocking revelations.

AceShowbiz - Throughout the year, fans may be feeling like riding a rollercoaster while watching their favorite TV shows. Deaths, resurrections, splits, shocking revelations, abrupt change of plans and unexpected hookups made some of the best plot twists in 2018.

Starting with Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s controversial move in "The Bachelor" season 22 finale to the revelation of the Blossom family's dark secret in season 3 of "Riverdale", some series sent fans into frenzy with characters' deaths while the others make everyone drop their jaws shocking revelations. To refresh memories and to remind viewers of what's to expect when those shows return with new episodes, here's a recap of some of the most shocking cliffhangers in 2018.

1. THE BACHELOR


THE BACHELOR
Instagram

When it comes to TV plot twist in 2018, we should definitely include "The Bachelor". Arie Luyendyk Jr. made himself the most hated Bachelor in season 22 of the ABC dating show after stirring some drama by calling off his engagement to winner Becca Kufrin in front of camera, just weeks after getting on his knees to propose to her in the finale.

As if that was not controversial enough, he dumped Becca to be with the runner-up, Lauren Burnham, as his feelings for her are apparently not over yet. And he didn't waste time to take his relationship with Lauren to the next level, proposing to her in the "After the Final Rose".

"I made some bad decisions, but I can't imagine a life without you. I'm ready to face this life with you and all that comes with it, good and bad. I love you so much, and I want to do this in front of everyone," Arie told Lauren. "Lauren Elizabeth Burnham, will you marry me?" Lauren gladly accepted it, and they are set to tie the knot next year as they are currently expecting their first child together.

2. HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER


HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
ABC

Season 5 winter finale of "How to Get Away With Murder" featured both happy and bloody moments for the characters of the ABC series. The episode saw Oliver and Connor finally getting married, but it wouldn't be "How to Get Away With Murder" if no one met his/her demise.

Meeting his end in the episode was Miller, who died in the hands of Nate and Bonnie, who was convinced by Nate that Miller was the one killing Nate's dad.

Miller's death wasn't the only thing that sent fans into frenzy as they finally discovered Gabriel's real identity. It was revealed that Gabriel was the son of Samuel Keating since his mother Vivian is Sam's first wife. It was Sam's first marriage that Annalise broke up.

3. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY


STAR TREK: DISCOVERY
CBS

Captain Lorca (Jason Isaac) had been showing strange behavior that sparked speculations among fans. Some assumed that he had a PTSD, while another fan-theory suggested that the character was originated from a mirror universe.

Towards the end of episode 12 of "Star Trek: Discovery", it was revealed that Lorca was indeed from the alternative universe, much to everyone's surprise. Additionally, he was a murderous impostor after killing one of Georgiou's crew members.

Aaron Harberts, co-showrunner and executive producer of the series, said the plot twist was long planned. "Before we even cast Jason, we knew that that character was going to be from the mirror universe. We knew we wanted to build the back half of the season around the mirror universe, and we wanted to make sure that when you go to the mirror universe, that the whole visit felt gobsmacking, that it painted the story forward," he explained.

4. GAME OF THRONES


GAME OF THRONES
HBO

It's still months away until "Game of Thrones" returns for its eighth and final season. However, fans are eager to find out what happened after last season ended with a huge plot twist involving the major characters of the hit HBO medieval drama.

Season 7 finale focused on Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) as they attempted to bring down the Night King and his White Walker army in the north. The season also confirmed fans' long-speculated theory that Jon is half-Targaryen that makes Jon and Dany relative. After revealing that Dany is Jon's aunt, the show dropped the unexpected by pairing up the two in a shocking romp.

Fans were not the only one shocked with the development between the two Targaryens. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who was secretly lurking outside the room during the sex scene, sported a somewhat confusing facial expression. "Obviously he has feelings for Daenerys. He loves her--or thinks he does. She's awe inspiring," Dinklage explained his character's reaction to Jon and Dany's relationship. "He's questioning that because he doesn't have a good track record for falling in love. There's jealousy wrapped up in there." It remains to be seen how this "jealousy" may or may not affect his pledge of alliance with the Mother of Dragons.

5. THIS IS US


THIS IS US
NBC

Throughout the first two seasons, fans of NBC's hit drama "This Is Us" have been led to believe that Jack's brother Nicky died while the two served as soldiers in Vietnam. While how he met his demise previously remained as mystery, season 3 of the SAG Award-winning series delved deeper into the story of the Pearson siblings.

The season appeared to depict Nicky's story as another tragedy in Pearson family, only to drop the biggest bombshell in the season finale titled "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning". It was revealed that Nicky never died. He is very much alive, after all.

Played by Griffin Dunne, the younger brother of Milo Ventimiglia's character is living in Bradford, PA, just about 150 miles from the Pearson homebase of Pittsburgh. Fans need to wait for season 4 to discover what exactly happened to Nicky and how he changed Jack's life almost significantly post-Vietnam War despite his survival.

6. WESTWORLD


WESTWORLD
HBO/John P. Johnson

HBO's apocalyptic series "Westworld" didn't even give fans a second to breath. Right in the premiere episode of season 2, fans of the hit series starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright were offered a timeline twist. Barely recovering from the confusing plot, fans were further sent into bewilderment with the post-credit scene in its season finale.

Written by series creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the scene featured the Man in Black (Ed Harris) finally passing through "the Door", the destination he's searched for all season long. Instead of going inside and meeting Dolores (Wood) and Bernard (Wright), it was later revealed that he had arrived in an entirely different timeline as the scene was packed with multi-layered timelines.

When he entered ruined "The Forge", he found a woman that looked like his daughter Emily (Katja Herbers) though he knew it was not her since he killed her just in the previous episode. Referring to the simulated world, he said, "I knew it. I'm already in the thing, aren't I?" The faux Emily responded, "This isn't a simulation, William. This is your world -- or what's left of it."

Explaining the scene, Joy shared, "In the far, far future, the world is dramatically different. Quite destroyed, as it were. A figure in the image of [William's] daughter -- his daughter is of course now long dead -- has come back to talk to him. He realizes that he's been living this loop again and again and again.

"The primal loop that we've seen this season, they've been repeating, testing every time for what they call 'fidelity,' or perhaps a deviation," she continued. "You get the sense that the testing will continue. It's teasing for us another temporal realm that one day we're working toward, and one day will see a little bit more of, and how they get to that place, and what they're testing for."

7. JANE THE VIRGIN


JANE THE VIRGIN
The CW

Season 4 finale of "Jane the Virgin" succeeded to make everyone drop their jaws with the appearance of a presumed dead character. Bearded Michael Cordero, who supposedly died in season three's "Chapter Fifty-Four", emerged when Jane showed up at Rafael's apartment expecting a marriage proposal.

It remains to be seen what happened to the character and how exactly he survived when everyone thought he's dead. But one thing that's certain was that Sin Rostro seemingly hinted that he knew about Michael's existence all along. He told Rafael, "What I know is going to change your life forever."

One wild fan-theory suggests the Michael whom Jane saw in the season 4 finale wasn't actually him, but an impostor who looks like him instead. As to who the impostor is, the theory further states it may be Derek, Rafael's half-brother. Both he and Michael have shaggy hair. In addition, Derek sported beard. Whether or not the theory is true, fans can only discover in season 5, which seemingly will also be the final season of the series.

8. THE WALKING DEAD


THE WALKING DEAD
AMC/Jackson Lee Davis

Season 9 of "The Walking Dead" featured the departure of actor Andrew Lincoln, who has been playing leading character Rick Grimes since the AMC show's pilot. While fans were devastated over the decision, they were also wondering how the show would wrap up his story. When it comes to the apocalypse zombie series, one's departure often means death.

Titled "What Comes After", the fifth episode of season 9 saw Rick getting impaled on a slab of concrete before finding himself getting caught between two herds of zombies. After much struggle, he made into a hospital which was featured in the 2010 pilot episode. Throughout the episode, Rick was having a hard time to keep himself awake and alive as he fell into multiple flashbacks and hallucinations. The hallucinations brought him back to several key moments from his past.

He found strength from the flashbacks and eventually reached to the bridge that he and several communities had been building since the start of the season. Thinking that the brigde wouldn't be strong enough to hold two herds of zombies, he led the walkers to it. However, his plan didn't work out so he decided to blow the whole thing up. In front on his friends Maggie, Michonne, Carol and Daryl, Rick met his end, or so we thought.

Much to everyone's surprise, Rick didn't die as Jadis found him in the verge of death before sending him away with the mysterious group in the helicopters. It remains to be seen where Rick was heading or whether he was then saved, but even if he died, he didn't have to worry about his legacy.

9. THE AMERICANS


THE AMERICANS
FX

The story of undercover KGB spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings came to an end in final season 6 of "The Americans". Fans were excited to see that FBI counterintelligence agent Stan Beeman, who has been oblivious about the identity of his across-the-street neighbors and best friends, finally confronting them in the series finale.

Stan started to get suspicious of the pair when they left town on Thanksgiving, blaming the failings of their travel agency. It was super weird for them to leave their family behind on such an important American holiday. Not to mention, his suspicion increased following a botched KGB mission in Chicago.

Fans predicted that one of them would die after the confrontation, but the plot twist was that Stan let them go. The shocking scene took place in a parking garage near Paige's school. He cornered Philip and Elizabeth with a gun in his hand as he demanded answers. Philip eventually told Stan the truth, adding that they would leave behind their son Henry and asked Stan to protect him.

It was Philip's tears that made Stan opt not to do anything. He let the Jennings leave in their car.

10. THE HANDMAID'S TALE


THE HANDMAID'S TALE
Hulu/George Kraychyk

The whole series, it was about June (Elisabeth Moss) trying to escape Gilead. In season finale, titled "The Word", June was seen making a giant sacrifice, by trusting her baby girl Holly/Nicole to Emily (Alexis Bledel) for her to look after.

Instead of going to the dystopian society, she made an abrupt change of plan by staying behind. This particular plot twist successfully left viewers annoyed and frustrated because the opportunity to leave Gilead was not going to come easily ever again.

Of the twist, creator/showrunner Bruce Miller says that it's mainly because of the fact she's a mother of two. "There was incredible amount of push back from me and from everybody else," Miller told reporters during a conference call. "All we want is for her to get out. So even though story-wise you wanna do one thing, emotionally all you want is the other answer. So I guess all we wanted was her to get out, personally. But yeah, I mean, I knew from the middle of season one that this would happen. So because of that, we were working towards this."

"I mean, once we started to feel the kind of deep vein of regret that Offred was feeling, or June was feeling, at the prospect of leaving Hannah behind and how it was tearing her apart, we felt like after she saw her and after she kinda was faced with the idea of, 'I am gonna be able to get one child to safety, and now I just have to decide what to do myself,' " he added.

"And so, I don't think it's a choice about whether you're gonna stay behind to try to rescue either your child, I think it's a need to," he further explained. "I wouldn't be able to leave one of my children behind. So, I think it wasn't, when we got to it, it felt very natural to the character. It is an impossible choice, but we are faced with those all the time, so it is interesting to see what she does."

11. RIVERDALE


RIVERDALE
The CW

Fans know that deep histories of each family on "Riverdale" play a big role in the story. And in episode 4 of The CW's series season 4, the dark secret of the Blossoms was revealed that led to a shocking incest plot twist.

The episode, titled "The Midnight Club", saw the young characters going back to the past to when their parents were in high schools. It featured one of the most surprising confessions from Penelope. She admitted that she was adopted by the Blossom family for her red hair from an orphan from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

What's more shocking was that she'd been groomed by the Blossoms to become the "sister-companion" to Clifford, whom she ended up marrying when they grew up. Her friends were beyond suprised by the confession, labelling their action as some sort of incest.

The revelation further sparked speculation that Cheryl was adopted, which explained why her parents were harsher on her while being favourable toward her brother Jason. Judging by how Jason and Cheryl were close to each other, fans also believed that Cheryl were also planned to be the "sister-companion" to Jason though the latter found himself getting head over heels for Polly Cooper.

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