Some TV shows, like Ozark or The Walking Dead, started out with a great pilot episode, but ended with a terrible series finale. It’s extremely rare that a show has both a perfect beginning and a perfect ending (although it has happened with the likes of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under).

It’s much more common that a show takes a few seasons to find its feet, but eventually delivers a doozy of a finale, like The Office, or starts out with an amazing pilot episode, but ultimately disappoints with its finale. These are their stories.

Dexter

The pilot episode of Dexter introduced us to the fascinating title character in all his quirky, sociopathic glory. We learn that he’s a forensic blood spatter analyst who moonlights as a serial killer who only kills other serial killers. This skewed morality, exciting double life, and Michael C. Hall’s captivating performance all made this a promising first episode.

Eight seasons later, Dexter ended with one of the most baffling series finales of all time. The final episode undid all of Dexter’s character development as he killed his sister and dumped her in the ocean, abandoned his family, and moved to the middle of nowhere to become a lumberjack. It was so disappointing, I wished I hadn’t wasted so many years watching the show.

The Walking Dead

The pilot episode of The Walking Dead should be played on the biggest screen possible. It plays like a movie, deftly capturing the scope and scale of the zombie apocalypse. It’s filled with exhilarating action set-pieces, but it focuses solely on Rick Grimes coming to terms with this terrifying new world and searching for his wife and son.

That pilot episode gripped viewers around the world, and The Walking Dead quickly became one of the highest-rated shows on the air. But it ended up becoming a victim of its own success. By the time it finally ended 11 years later, The Walking Dead had been spun off into a shared cinematic universe with a dozen spinoffs.

The final episode of The Walking Dead doesn’t feel like an ending at all, because it’s not. When The Walking Dead ended, half the main cast members had left and the other half had spinoffs lined up. The Walking Dead’s series finale isn’t really a finale; it’s just there to set up the next few Walking Dead spinoffs.

Two And A Half Men

The pilot episode of Two and a Half Men sets up the premise of Alan and Jake moving into Charlie’s house nice and quickly, then it demonstrates why that premise is so effective. We see a softer side of Charlie start to reveal itself as he reconnects with his brother and becomes a loving father figure to his nephew.

By the time the series finally ended, after 12 seasons, that endearing underlying sweetness had been completely eradicated and Charlie had been dead and buried for four Kutcher-centric seasons. The finale just feels cynical and mean-spirited as the cast and crew openly complain about still working on the show, and Charlie is brought back to life, only to be brutally killed once again.

Killing Eve

Killing Eve changed hands between showrunners every season, so every season was a different writer’s interpretation of something that already worked. The series got off to a really strong start under Phoebe Waller-Bridge in season 1, but its quality gradually declined until its fourth and final season, the worst season by far. In the finale, the death of Villanelle is deeply disappointing.

Game Of Thrones

The original pilot for Game of Thrones wasn’t working, so it was reshot and retooled under a new director (Tim Van Patten, replacing Tom McCarthy). The new pilot, “Winter is Coming,” not only successfully launched the series, but also made it a blockbuster hit. It masterfully established the show’s ability to tell relatable human stories in a medieval fantasy setting.

For most of its run, Game of Thrones was one of the best shows on the air. But in its last two seasons, when the writers ran out of fully fleshed-out source material to adapt, the show took a nosedive. Rather than developing George R.R. Martin’s story outlines, they just adapted the bullet points, so the whole thing felt rushed.

Ozark

On paper, Ozark sounds like a Breaking Bad knockoff. It’s about an ordinary family man, a dramatic role played by a traditionally comedic actor, who ends up working with a Mexican drug cartel due to desperate circumstances. But the grim-colored pilot makes it clear that this is a unique vision of a crime thriller, with a very different lead character, family dynamic, setting, and story engine.

Ozark was great for almost all of its four-season run, but it didn’t quite stick the landing. When the finale reveals that the much-hyped minivan crash is completely pointless, it’s a dubious sign that this won’t be a satisfying conclusion to the series. Spoiler alert: it’s not. Ruth is too smart to go out like she does, and the cut-to-black gunshot ending is just a trite cliché.

The X-Files

In the pilot episode of The X-Files, Chris Carter sets up the unique premise of this strange sci-fi procedural — the day-to-day adventures of two FBI agents assigned to investigate UFO sightings and paranormal activity — but, more importantly, he sets up the relationship that will become the heart of the series. Mulder and Scully’s dynamic arrived fully formed in the pilot.

By the time the series ended, that relationship was no longer carrying the show, because David Duchovny had left the cast. He came back for the series finale, but it wasn’t enough to save the ending. The revelation of an impending alien invasion of Earth is needlessly bleak, and the finale has a complete lack of closure.

How I Met Your Mother

The pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother gave us the perfect Friends replacement. It succinctly sets up the gimmicky framing device of old Ted Mosby telling the story to his kids in the future, but it also sets up an ensemble cast of lovable, talented actors. From the get-go, Lily, Marshall, Barney, and Robin were all characters you wanted to follow.

But in the end, How I Met Your Mother would be hoisted by its own petard. While the framing device made for a good hook in the pilot episode, the finale had to actually answer the question of who Ted would end up with. By then, fans all had their own idea of who Ted’s true love would be, so the writers couldn’t please all of them.

Even taking this lose-lose scenario into consideration, it’s hard to imagine the ending of How I Met Your Mother turning out any worse than what we got. After spending an entire season building up to Barney and Robin’s wedding, the finale broke them up within seconds. After spending an entire season developing Ted’s relationship with Tracy, the finale killed her off.

A few seasons earlier, How I Met Your Mother had closed the door on Ted and Robin’s potential romance in a pretty definitive and emotionally satisfying way. And against all odds, the show stuck the landing with its casting of the mother. Having Ted end up with Robin after all, blue French horn in hand, just felt like a misguided attempt at fan service.