Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Compare [[Bolivian Army Ending]] and [[Our Hero Is Dead]]. If characters are revealed to have escaped from the fatal event after being shown or suggested to have been caught right in the middle of it (i.e. A bomb demolishing a building before anyone could get out), that's a [[Cliffhanger Copout]].

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Veritas]]'', scheduled to have a second part to the story, ends with the lead ''starting'' a fight with Vera, the closest thing the series has to a [[Big Bad]], having just awoken Yuri, the closest thing the series has to a [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] in order to get the [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] he needs to fight the first one. The last time he fought anyone he was not yet ready to fight Vera.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' the first season ends with two characters in a tense showdown and two gunshots, but doesn't show us who gets shot. And there's a massive battle to end all battles going on elsewhere. We only find out what happens in the next season, and even then, only halfway through the second season premiere.

** Season six ends with {{spoiler|Danny at the mercy of a [[Serial Killer]] (who had just hours before experienced a [[Disney Villain Death]] and [[Never Found the Body|they hadn't found the body yet]]) who's holding his daughter hostage}}. The screen goes black, then there's a gunshot. {{spoiler|Fired by Lindsey, as revealed at the begining of the new season.}}

* One season of ''[[Dynasty]]'' ended with a terrorist attack on a wedding... long story... and everyone apparently dead. The first episode of the next season was one of the highest rated episodes in that show's history. The resolution was that a couple of extras got killed. The cop-out is considered the show's [[Jumping the Shark]].

** Of course, they have a ''better'' chance of surviving if it did detonate than the alternative. Really.

* Both ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street]]'' and ''[[NCIS]]'' ended seasons with the entire cast getting reassigned. Less fatal than the other situations, but the same effect of being able to write out any character they want.

** The second season ended with the crew launching a seemingly suicidal [[Delaying Action]] against an alien fleet. Two characters were written out: Blake and Jenna. The former returned for the next two finales, dying in the last episode. The latter was killed off-screen.

* In the ''[[Army Wives]]'' Season 1 final episode, the title characters were inside a bar when a man walked in and detonated a bomb he had strapped to him.

* Just about every season ending from ''[[ER]]''.

** Not quite: early seasons usually ended with some sense of closure (e.g. Carter's graduation) and it was only for new generations that they added this trope. For instance: {{spoiler|Season 8 has four of the regulars locked inside during an apparent breakout of smallpox; 9 leaves Luka's fate unknown; 10 has the shootout while Chen and Pratt are in the car with Elgin; 12 has another shooting, this time inside the hospital; 13 has the stampede and 14 the explosion}}.

* ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' Also season 1 ending.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "Best of Both Worlds Part 1" ended this way, with the Enterprise's [[Wave Motion Gun]] aimed at Picard and the cube that assimilated him. This coincided nicely with rumours that Patrick Stewart might be quitting, making for a very tense summer.

* In ''[[The Guardian]]'''s second season cliffhanger, James is brutally shot by a client and left to die. The resolution is a nasty fakeout: Nick sees the client leave and realizes something's up, but he's too late to help James.

* ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'' season 5 ended with both Izzy and George flatlining. Izzy survived, George didn't.

* The unresolved Season 2/series finale of ''[[Dark Angel]]'', which may be considered an unintentional [[Bolivian Army Ending]].

* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' has done this with the last three November sweeps. In 2007 a tornado hit the street and the episode ended with Lynette screaming narmily while the camer pulled back and showed a devastated street. In 2008 everyone just happened to be at the same bar when it burned down and in 2009 everyone just happened to be in the same yard when an airplane fell out of the sky. The show's executives always try to get some hype going by saying that, yes, for sure, someone you care about has died. And it always ends up being a minor charactor.

*** Libby, Zeke and Bridget missing during a rafting trip, when their raft is capsized by a prank. (2008)

*** Summer and Andrew trapped in a fire, as Natasha and Michael s attempt to rescue them. (same house as 1999!) (2010).

* Happened quite often in ''[[Babylon 5]]'', often as part of JMS's preplanned "hooks" to remove a character from the plot if the actor decided to quit. Perhaps the most impressive was Captain Sheridan, who ended the third season finale {{spoiler|at ground zero of two 500-megaton nuclear explosions}}. He came back (eventually), but a number of characters, including {{spoiler|Talia Winters (season two finale)}} and {{spoiler|Marcus Cole (season four finale)}} stayed gone.

** Seemed to be Michael Garibaldi's main thing.

 

* ''[[Phantasy Star]] II'' ended like this, with Lutz transporting the other members of your party to the your location to aid you in fighting a HORDE of {{spoiler|[[Humans Are Bastards|Earthmen]]}} after defeating the final boss. Kind of a stupid thing to do in retrospect because the only people that actually know what really happened on the ship and with Mother Brain are (you guessed it) the members of your party, and with them all (possibly) dead, no one would be able to tell the world the truth.

* The mission "Of Their Own Accord" in ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' ends with the US Army Rangers boarding a Blackhawk to cover the evacuation of civilians from a warzone. After gunning down multiple Russian gunners, the helicopter is shot down, and your character, Pvt. Ramirez, wakes up inside the wreckage as {{spoiler|Russian troops are closing in, you run out of ammo, and Cpl. Dunn gets shot}}. The next few mission takes place on the other side of the world, with an entirely different protagonist. {{spoiler|Then we are sent back to Ramirez, Foley, and Dunn, who thanks to the timely actions of the other protagonist and his squad, survives.}}

* At the end of ''[[XIII]]'', the conspirator's identity is revealed and the hero is left in a potentially deadly situation. Poor sales, however, meant that it would never be resolved in game form.

* ''[[Driv 3 r]]'' ends with Tanner flatlining after being shot by the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Last Breath Bullet]]. It is unlikely that this will be resolved.

** ...Except that it apparently will be in Driver: San Fransciso.

 

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