Boy do we love a twist ending.
Just when we thought all our nerve endings had been fried thanks to the sh*!tshow that was 2020, there was still more to be shocked by in 2021. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's explosive Oprah interview? Our jaws dropped. That Succession season three finale? We're dead.
And thanks to David E. Kelley's double whammy of 2020's The Undoing and this year's Nine Perfect Strangers, it's been proved that no one does tense like Nicole Kidman.
Oh, and who could forget Mr. Big (Chris Noth) DYING ON A PELOTON in the first episode of And Just Like That...?!
From Mare of Easttown's mind-boggling mystery to the steamy Sex/Life finale, which was nominated for the 2021 TV Scoop Awards for Best Season Finale, and even the death of Love (Victoria Pedretti) on Netflix's You, 2021 has constantly surprised us. We're more shocked than This Is Us fans after realizing Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) won't be married much longer (for some answers, check out E! News' inaugural cover story).
As we countdown to 2022, let's raise a glass to all the subverted expectations and jaw-dropping TV moments from the past year.
We just know there are more thrilling moments in store....
Keep scrolling to see our 2021 picks!
Turns out, Love (Victoria Pedretti) doesn't always win, especially when she goes up against Joe (Penn Badgley). The season three shocker on Netflix's beloved You bid adieu to a fan favorite just as Joe said bonjour to Paris. Ah, what happens when a marriage goes up in flames—literally.
Yes, Erika Jayne filed for divorce from Tom Girardi back in November 2020. But it wasn't until the jaw-dropping four-episode (!!) Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion where we finally got some answers to Dorit Kemsley's "orphans and widows" questions about the legal drama surrounding the Girardi name.
In a moment that Law & Order: SVU fans have been waiting on for decades, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) finally confesses his true feelings for his former partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). It turns out that Stabler's letter was actually written by his now-deceased wife, Kathy...and Stabler has been repressing his love for Benson for years.
During an explosive sit-down with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle addressed the royal family's hand in "perpetuating falsehoods" and stated her one regret when dealing with The Firm. "My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected," she confessed. "And I regret believing that because I think, had I really seen that that wasn't happening, I would have been able to do more. But I think I wasn't supposed to see it."
Turns out that it takes a few Gregs Roys to make a Tomlette. In the Succession season finale, Tom comes out on top...and throws the Waystar Royco power rankings completely off. No, we definitely did not see this coming...even though there were clues all season long.
In a chilly turn of events, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah was arrested by the FBI on charges of fraud and money laundering due to an alleged telemarketing scheme. And watching her arrest play out on RHOSLC made the series seem even more dangerously real.
Billie (Sarah Shahi) may have seem to have the perfect life, but fantasizing about her bad-boy ex Brad (Adam Demos) threatens to ruin everything once she starts having an affair. Turns out Billie is ready for a second chance with the true love of her life when she dumps her husband, Cooper (Mike Vogel), in the final episode. Applause, please!
For a series that had us guessing until the bitter end—when Kate (Olivia Holt) finally believes that Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) didn't know she was being held hostage—one final twist was revealed: Jeanette really did hear Kate's cries for help. Psychopath, much?
A well-timed romance proved to be the missing link in the Only Murders in the Building murder investigation. We can never look at oboes the same way again (not that we really looked at them in the first place...)
We couldn't help but wonder: Did Big (Chris Noth) really have to die?! The first episode of Sex and the City revival series And Just Like That... killed off Carrie's main man with one simple line, "And just like that, Big was dead." We're not crying, you're crying! Here's to never biking that much on a Peloton ever again.
When you hear Nicole Kidman and David E. Kelley in the same sentence, you don't expect there to be a Perfect ending. Exhibit A, Big Little Lies' messy murder cover-up. Yet Nine Perfect Strangers subverted expectations to deliver a perfectly happy ending for all nine not-quite-strangers. At least...we think so: There's a chance the entire ending was all in Melissa McCarthy's novelist character's head.
So much for Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) being together forever. The season five finale gave us yet another time jump, in which Kate is tying the knot with her boss Phillip (Chris Geere). What is happening?! To find out, check out E! News' inaugural cover story with the This Is Us cast here.
Turns out that Theresa (Stella Baker) isn't dead after all. In fact, she was even a predator herself. Theresa was having an affair with Kit (Xavier Samuel) and became jealous when Karen (Lily Rabe) got pregnant with Kit's baby. Karen fought back from the attack, but merely injured Theresa, and did not kill her. Then Karen changed her name to Emma, and it seems like everyone has a few secrets now and then.
Way to kill off our favorite character half-way through the season! Mare of Easttown had a titillating mystery (spoiler: The teen son did it) but the real moment that made our mouths drop open in shock was when Detective Zabel (Evan Peters) gets shot right between the eyes. Peters even won an Emmy for his performance!
Matt James confronted Bachelor season winner turned ex (and now current girlfriend) Rachael Kirkconnell during the After the Final Rose special, hosted by Emmanuel Acho. "I don't wanna be emotionally responsible for those tears," Matt told Rachael at the time following her social media controversy over alleged past racially-insensitive behavior. "'Cause the work and reconciliation that needs to be done is work that I can't do for you, and I know that you're capable of doing it. The last thing I want is for people to be calling to have you canceled or people to be calling you out for things. I really want them to call you in, and I want you to do this work because that's the best thing that could come out of this."
There's not enough medicine in the world to resurrect this nurse. Nicolette "Nic" Nevin (Emily VanCamp) is left brain dead after a devastating car crash on Fox's The Resident. Thanks to VanCamp's shocking exit from the series, the medical drama jumped three years into the future and welcomed new recurring cast members like Trevor (Miles Fowler), the estranged son of Billie (Jessica Lucas).
A picture perfect couple played by Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac is just too sexy to break up, right? Well, even after getting divorced, they are still together...just now Isaac's character is cheating on his new wife with his ex.
Netflix's thriller Behind Her Eyes featured a body-swapping twist...but what happens when the person you swapped bodies with actually wasn't herself all along anyway?! Rob was in Adele's body the whole time.
Replacement priest Father Paul (Hamish Linklater) is actually the original pastor for the island, Monsignor Pruitt. Tip: He didn't age since he drank the blood from the Angel and is essentially a vampire now.
While season four revolved finding out what happened to Percy (Alice Kremelberg), Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) realizes that she did not commit suicide after all. However, Percy did kill Bo (David Huynh) by accidentally pulling the trigger.
Money can't buy happiness, only guilt, according to Squid Game. Of course participating in a tournament that murders other people doesn't really do great things for the conscience either. Good thing Gi-hun is going to find the Squid Game.