So What Do We Do Now?: Difference between revisions

 

Contrast [[Send Me Back]], where the hero wants to go back to how things were because they didn't save the day.

 

See also [[What Now? Ending]].

 

As a pseudo-endings trope, some Tropers forget their spoilers. Consider this your only warning.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Used in the first few episodes of ''[[Battle B-daman]]''. Yamato finally gets his own B-daman and his first battle is against [[The Lancer|Gray]], someone who's generally considered a really tough opponent. After this, even though Yamato now has the B-daman he's been wanting all these years, he gets bored with every last thing he does. [[Hot Shonen Mom|Mie]] [[lampshade]]s this and suggests he goes out and look for Gray.

* At the end of ''[[Buso Renkin]]'', when the kakugane are collected, Tokiko feels uneasy because she was so used to having hers. Then, of course, Kazuki promises that his will be with her forever...

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Nextwave]]'' ends with the titular squad's members asking each other what they should do now that they've defeated the H.A.T.E organization, as they stand on the top of its former mothership. Monica's answer, {{spoiler|after she realizes the mothership is still ''fully operational'': "Anything we want."}}

* This is how the story ended for Link in the ''[[The Legend of Zelda (comics)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' comic that ran in Nintendo Power. Zelda thanks him for his trouble, he puts the Master Sword back and that's it!

 

== Film ==

* ''The Candidate'' (1972) ends with Robert Redford's title character, a dark horse candidate for U.S. Senate, winning the election (which nobody, least of all the heroes, had expected). During the victory party in his hotel suite, he finds a quiet moment to ask his campaign manager, in a horrified tone, "So. What do we do ''now''?".

** [[Fridge Logic|Um, be a Senator, perhaps?]]

 

== Literature ==

* At the end of book three of ''Secret of the Unicorn Queen'', Sheila gets to go home. By page two of book four, she's decided she can't focus on algebra and baseball, or her "normal life", so she goes back.

* The soldiers in ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' worry about this, because being so young, they have left no roots behind in the world to return to. Lucky for most them, this problem is solved when {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All|they die.]]}}

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' ends with this. After {{spoiler|defeating the First Evil, destroying the Hellmouth and the entire town of Sunnydale, and activating all of the potential Slayers,}}, Dawn asks Buffy "what are we going to do now?" The final shot of the series is a closeup on Buffy, smiling.

** It's later revealed, in ''[[Angel]]'' crossover episodes and the canonical Season Eight comic that they've gone out looking for new Slayers and created a multinational demon-killing organization. That'll do nicely.

* ''[[Sliders]]'' season 3 finale. Rembrandt and Wade have presumably slid back to original Earth. Maggie and Quinn attempt to follow them and wind up in a futuristic world. Maggie: "So how do we get home?" Quinn: "I don't know." Scene. Apparently, they thought that if they ended on a cliffhanger they couldn't get cancelled. Wrong.

** [[Uncanceled|Then]] the season 5 finale. Rembrandt has slid, possibly back home to his death, leaving Maggie, Mallory and Diana stranded along with Quinn's mom. And the person who can see the future just died. After standing there for five seconds, one of them asks "So... what do we do now?" "I don't know." Again, cliffhanger -> cancelled. There was talk of a [[Wrap It Up]] movie, and the ending was clearly written [[Sequel Hook|with such in mind]], but sadly it never materialized, leaving the series [[Cut Short]].

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* The very first ''[[Baby Blues]]'' comic began right after Zoe was born, with Darryl, Wanda and Zoe all sitting there thinking, "Now what?"

 

== Radio ==

* After satellite radio was created, talk show hosts came flooding in. Suddenly, they were given freedom of speech. Now they could say anything they wanted to. So what do you say? Suddenly, there's no censorship, no FCC over their shoulders, no [[Moral Guardians]] "protecting" their children's virgin ears. But what do you talk about? You don't have to be creative anymore with your euphemisms, but then it's not funny anymore. Soon, the shows ended up just being the word "fuck" [[Cluster F-Bomb|every other word]], just because they could.

 

== Real Life ==

* Many veterans of the military found during their time of service that they felt they were truly living when danger was all around. Back in the civilian world, they often don't know what to do with the rest of their lives. This is why many go into mercenary work for private contractors. (A good dose of PTSD doesn't help, either.)

* Some people who are revived after being [[Only Mostly Dead|technically dead]] recount having amazing experiences before returning to life. In some cases (especially for those who believe they experienced the afterlife), ordinary life just doesn't seem meaningful anymore.

* A lesser version of this might be had when you just finished a particularly lengthy video game, doubly so when it's an immersive RPG. Some people would rather not go into [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] because the game will end after you finish it. Fortunately, most people have life outside video games.

* This is the unfortunate consequence of many a revolution headed by the lower class. Without someone who has the slightest idea how to run a country, they have feuds whenever a stable government is trying to be established.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Castlevania]] Symphony of the Night'': Why did the titular castle reappear a mere 5 years after Richter Belmont banished [[Dracula]]? It seems like Richter couldn't go back to a normal life after saving the world from the Prince of Darkness and he wants [[Dracula]] back so he can be the hero again. {{spoiler|Luckily he's just been brainwashed into thinking this, although you can get a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] by killing him.}}

* In the [[Multiple Endings|best ending]] of ''[[Cave Story]]'', Barlog asks Curly and the protagonist what they're going to do now. Curly declares she'd like to live out the rest of her days somewhere with a beautiful view and they all go off to look for one.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Wapsi Square]]'', [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/back-to-normal/ Monica] seems to have this problem. [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/no-other-shoe/ Tepoz] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it. And, it turns out that [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/herculean-task/ she's not the only one.]

 

== Western Animation ==

* Season 2 of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'' starts with Taranee trying to get into trouble out of fear of becoming anonymous; subverted by her teachers going easy on her since she had always been such a good student. The episode ends with a heartwarming [[An Aesop|aesop]] about how she will never be anonymous as long as she has friends.

** {{spoiler|Plus she didn't have to worry about not being done as a Guardian as a new [[Big Bad]] was currently building her forces at the time}}.