If you need further evidence, the real world will happily oblige. Flat-earth theories, moon landing coverups, Area 51, the JFK assassination, QAnon, the Illuminati, government coverups of underground passageways in Antarctica, and so many more that attract millions of followers.

Suspicious thinking and paranoia are nothing new. In fact, many scientists believe it’s entirely natural, a trait handed down throughout the ages as an old survival mechanism.

No matter where it comes from, creative minds know how to tap into the paranoid edge of the human consciousness, conjuring characters that are simultaneously fascinating and suspicious of everything.

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Some of TV’s deepest conspiracy buffs are indeed the greatest fictional characters in the history of the small screen.

Rust Cohle – True Detective S01

The first season of True Detective is one of those shows people will hunt down and watch fifty years from now, assuming we consume entertainment in the same way by then. As it turns out, Cohle was mostly correct in his conspiratorial introspection.

The deep south of Louisiana, already a scene of mysticism and old secrets, is the backdrop of Cohle’s investigation. An archaic sense of dark wonder is pervasive throughout the series. If you don’t come away believing in shadowy conspiracies deeply intertwined with the seedy undergrowth of American crime, you’re flirting with a dose of aphantasia.

Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock

There is no true list of TV’s conspiracy buffs without Sherlock Holmes. If he’s not on there, it’s a bust.

Sherlock Holmes’ fictional life took place in late 19th-century England, otherwise known as the Victorian Era. It’s difficult to disassociate Holmes from Jack the Ripper, a real-life serial killer in the shady underbelly of 1888 London.

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The very nature of Holmes’ private investigation enterprise conjures up theories, investigations, and, yes, conspiracies.

The eccentrically luminous Holmes unravels conspiracies for a living and is probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, fictional detectives in history.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully – The X-Files

Why list two? Well, in many ways, this is a necessary combination.

If you could take the consciousness of the entire X-Files series and split it into two parts, Scully would be one, and Mulder would be the other. They are oil and water, yet they somehow combine to agglomerate the ultimate conspiracy investigator.

At its heart, The X-Files is about alien colonization or the attempt at colonization. That extraneous effort is shrouded and enabled by a dark government conspiracy with many tentacles. These tentacles are subsets — other conspiracies with key players revolving around the center.

In short, Mulder’s and Scully’s unique intellectual opposition comes together to tackle a multi-faceted nightmare conspiracy of world-shattering proportions.

Olivia Dunham – Fringe

Olivia Dunham is the perfect follow-up to Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. When Fringe came along, everyone assumed it would be a J.J. Abrams-led rip-off of The X-Files. To be fair, the two shows have a lot in common.

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However, where The X-Files’ overarching theme was an alien invasion coordinated with a shadow government, the Fringe crew is up against Massive Dynamic, a multi-billion-dollar corporation/pseudo-government entity.

Like The X-Files, Fringe is essentially a series of paranormal investigations that serve as filler between primary episodes that cover Massive Dynamic and the alternative universe the company is intertwined with.

Mark Scout – Severance

TV’s most entertaining conspiracy buffs don’t have to work for the FBI or some unelected, secret bureaucracy. Severance takes the boring, traditional office setting and turns it into a brain-twisting hellscape of insidious content moderation, social experimentation, and literal, split personalities.

Nothing is what it seems to be in Severance.

Those who work at Lumon Industries undergo a voluntary procedure known as “severance,” which splits and separates their “at-work” consciousness from their “not-at-work” consciousness. The result is a mind-bending spiral of discovery and insanity.

It’s a treacherous conspiracy, tightly constrained within the home-work dynamic.

Bernard Lowe – Westworld

Bernard Lowe has to be one of the most tortured conspiracy buffs on the list. Westworld is a deep dive into the rabbit hole, with a lot going on in its first season.

Built as an “entertainment” venue for the rich and famous, Westworld is a fantasy version of the Wild West made real and peopled with biomechanical robots.

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Unfortunately, the robots no longer behave as intended, and Bernard Lowe, the head of Delos Programming, is intent on figuring out why. The journey is one of self-discovery, though not in the way that most people think.

There’s a huge difference between discovering hidden or repressed aspects of your character and discovering you are not you. The labyrinthine storyline only gets trippier from there.

Jack Shephard – Lost

Lost is probably one of the most convoluted and controversial series on this list. The ending satisfied some and elicited groans from others.

One thing everyone can agree on is that Lost is a complex tale. It often expands too far and becomes dangerously self-destructive. There’s so much going on here that it’s difficult to summarize it all in a few paragraphs.

Suffice it to say, elements of purgatory, flashbacks, flash-forwards, electromagnetism, time loops, immortality, a flash-sideways world (may or may not be defined as purgatory), and metaphysical questions that will never be answered.

Jack presided over more episodes than any other character, so he earns the “conspiracy buffs” title for one of the most divisive and delirious TV shows of all time.

Valery Legasov – Chernobyl

Of all the conspiracy buffs on this list, Valery Legasov is the only real one, and his journey ultimately led to his suicide.

Russia, during the days of the Soviet Union, was a walking, talking conspiracy theory, the result of an oppressive, tightly controlled regime.

Valery Legasov was one of the Soviet chemists sent to the site of the most well-known nuclear plant meltdown in history to ascertain the damage and assist in cleanup efforts.

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Throughout his time in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Legasov faces the brutal nature of a government hell-bent on maintaining secrecy, controlling information, and spying on its own citizens.

To say that the word “conspiracy” is applicable here is an understatement. During that time period, it was paramount that the Soviet Union never allow its chief rival, the United States, to witness a moment of weakness.

The many deaths and the expansive destruction of the meltdown are direct results of a Soviet PR campaign.

Rorschach – Watchmen

Rorschach is one of those conspiracy buffs who gets a bad rap and one that’s well-deserved. Exposing conspiracies is one thing and arguably a positive.

However, to have the legacy of your labors tarnished by a self-written journal meant to expose the results of those labors is tragic in so many ways. This is especially true in Watchmen.

Rorschach’s published journal was perverted into the foundational mechanism of a white supremacist group. While Rorschach was certainly no angel, his intolerances are exclusive to gender and sex.

The Seventh Kalvary rose from the aftershocks of Rorschach’s journal, along with the general dismissiveness people often conjure in the face of conspiracy theories. Regardless of what the audience thinks about his character, his legacy was not his original intent.

Detective John Munch – Homicide

As characters who indulge in conspiracies go, there are none quite like Detective John Munch, whose portrayal stretches across multiple shows, starting with Homicide: Life on the Street.

Interestingly, the late Richard Belzer coauthored “Hit List,” a book that covers the enigmatic deaths of those associated with the Kennedy assassination.

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Detective Munch is conspiracy personified, often haranguing his fellow detectives with one seditious connivance or another.

Ironically, the character of Detective Munch once did a crossover with The X-Files, where he makes fun of the Lone Gunman with mocking tones and implications of tin foil hat conspiracies.

Dale Gribble – King of the Hill

Like the Simpsons, King of the Hill draws its comedic power from the relationships between the characters, whether it’s family or friends throughout the neighborhood.

This allows creators to develop all sorts of characters and see who sticks. Dale Gribble is that slightly off neighbor that you hate to run into at the grocery store because the milk in your cart will reach room temperature before you can drag yourself away from the conversation.

He is the conspiracy buff of all conspiracy buffs, and the internet is rife with Gribble’s best and most delusional quotes.

Dale covers everything from UN weather shaping to clones and psyop campaigns coordinated by the United States Postal Service. He also questions the existence of Hawaii, which he may as well include Wyoming since both are probably government conspiracies.

What do you think? Are there any conspiracy buffs you think should be on the list as well? Hit us up in the comments, and let us know!

The post The Ultimate List of TV’s Conspiracy Buffs appeared first on TV Fanatic.

If you need a primary example of that, work your way through Game of Thrones, Lost, True Blood, or The Walking Dead (to name a few) and suffer the indignity of watching the endings come apart at the seams.

But those who get it right are forever enshrined in the public consciousness and the hallowed halls of TV history.

We're not talking about sadness brought on by a beloved series ending a long and storied run, though that is devastating in its own way. No, these are episodes capable of eliciting the same emotions as a standalone movie.

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Like any good TV show, the characters drive the story, and when characters say goodbye, even if it's just analogous, the result is often heartwrenching.

Fringe – Walter Bishop Says Goodbye

Fringe was often touted as the heir apparent to The X-Files, and some missed out, thinking the show was nothing more than a J.J. Abrams rip-off of a classic.

Dig a little deeper, however, and Fringe reveals exciting twists and turns, solid character development, and even some decent world-building.

It also pulled off a feat that only The X-Files previously mastered — tying individual episodes (having little to do with the overall arc) into the primary plot on an emotional and relatable level.

Like many fantastic Sci-Fi offerings, Fringe was embodied by the team. Dr. Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, and Olivia Dunham. That familial composition was challenged often, though it never faltered.

That is, until the day that Dr. Bishop said goodbye to his son, Peter. The farewell encompassed far more than a mere parting of ways, and the sacrifice that came with it lingered for a long time afterward.

Breaking Bad – Walter White Makes Amends

Breaking Bad is a story about an antagonist (Walter White) in every sense of the word. But a good antagonist is empathetic in many ways, often doing evil to snatch salvation from the jaws of annihilation.

The idea for Walter White came from a single episode of The X-Files, where Bryan Cranston played the role of a desperate driver, opening the door to a leading role in Breaking Bad.

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Somehow, this makes the end of Breaking Bad so much worse. It was like watching The X-Files's last glowing ember (not counting the more recent stuff) die out, shrouded in a silent darkness.

Darkness also aptly describes Walter's ending in Breaking Bad. Though redemption is within the grasp of the worst of humanity, it often comes at a cost — a cost that Walter White paid in full.

The music playing over his body on the floor, Badfinger's Baby Blue, is an unexpected and brilliant choice that drove home Walter's love for the thing that destroyed him.

Chernobyl – Valery Legasov's Legacy

What makes Chernobyl so particularly devastating, besides the mass deaths and environmental disaster of the meltdown, is the fact that these were real people in a real situation.

Legasov had a prestigious career, something the five-episode Max series (Formerly HBOMAX or HBO) hinted at but never wholly defined. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and a professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Understandably, he was chosen as one of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant meltdown investigators. In reality, as in the show, he was crucial in reducing the meltdown's impact and detrimental to a hostile Soviet government.

Radiation sickness took a toll on his body, and for reasons likely but not wholly related to that, he took his own life.

Both the show and Legasov's real history suggest a psychological breakdown as a result of sickness and the oppressive government under which he labored for so long.

Dinosaurs – The Coming Ice Age

Dinosaurs is an oldie but a goodie, except for the series finale. That's not to say it was bad; it was anything but. However, talk about depressing, especially coming from a mostly lighthearted, family comedy sitcom.

Apparently, the show was fairly expensive, and it was difficult to stabilize it with a set time slot. This led to a shorter lifespan for what was a reasonably popular show.

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A series of catastrophes, one leading to the next, facilitated by large corporations more focused on dollar signs and not stewardship of the planet, led to a heartbreaking finale.

The final focus is on Earl, the obedient catalyst of the very event that brought on the Ice Age. Though the show doesn't elaborate on this prophetic knowledge, it's readily apparent in the very pores of the episode.

Earl is optimistic, though the viewer is well aware that this entire family, and indeed the world, will soon freeze to death. It's enough to spoil your entire week.

Six Feet Under – We All End Up In The Same Place

No matter how rich, poor, successful, evil, good, or anything else we are in this world, we all must go out at some point. Sitting down and contemplating that is depressing enough.

Six Feet Under takes those thoughts of inevitable endings, ties them together with memorable characters, and ends them all. Quickly too.

That, and the use of a song that will forever evoke the beauty and pain of the finale, is what makes the series finale of Six Feet Under such a mentally devastating end.

Growing to love the characters over the course of five seasons would normally make anyone's throat knot up. But ending them so fast that it forces you to work it over in your mind for days afterward is just downright cruel.

Our brains instinctively wall off lingering contemplations of our own deaths. Six Feet Under forces us to reflect on that concept in a little too long for comfort.

Quantum Leap – Dr. Sam Beckett Never Returned Home

That last phrase is brutal. Not because it implies a horrible ending for Sam. He could have gone on to help so many others. It could have been lazy writing on the part of the showrunners.

It created a foreboding sense of non-closure in audiences not to mention the fact that after five seasons of leaping through time, Sam's reward is a perpetual life of never returning home.

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Unfortunately, it's probably the result of NBC cutting the series short without an opportunity to develop a true series finale. The suggestion that Sam wanted to keep leaping, with so much evil in the world, certainly helps.

However, it fails to match Quantum Leap's premise. NBC, foreshadowing Netflix's propensity for canceling shows on cliffhangers, took the ball off the court before the game was finished.

The result is the neverending feeling of Sam, jumping from time period to time period until he's old and gray—not exactly a comforting or positive feeling.

The Shield – The Antihero

Before Game of Thrones reinvigorated the idea of amoral, gray heroes, The Shield was already doing the heavy lifting in that regard. Michael Chiklis hasn't done much before or since, but he'll forever be remembered as Vic Mackey.

Vic was a fascinating but difficult character to watch. He was a cop who often and willingly stooped to the levels of criminality to accomplish his goals. He was the penultimate example of corruption, with a tiny window of redemptive light hanging above his head.

His partner in crime, Shane Vendrell, contributed to the most depressing part of the finale, with a murder-suicide that still haunts the mind with visions of his family and that final room.

Vic manages to avoid comeuppance for his crimes, yet his end is fitting nonetheless. Total and absolute non-relevance is a tough act for such a corrupted and ambitious man, yet we leave him as nothing more than a desk jockey shell of a man with no family or friends.

Succession – Neverending Backstabbing

The saddest part is not just how Succession ended but the characters themselves. They'll never be anything other than what they are. In a way, the ending of Succession is similar to that of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Despite everything, the entire party does the same thing, hilariously dissecting B-movies in front of a large screen. Succession is like that, with characters forever caught within the loop of their own contrivances while never ascending to the top.

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Succession is nothing but a well-laid-out example of what happens to three children whose late father has mentally ruined them. Their battle over Waystar is meaningless, as none of them have the capacity to lead, only undercut.

The sadness of Succession comes from seeing what money and privilege bring to three siblings. Despite all their wealth, they are three blind dogs fighting over a toy ball.

Ultimately, the toy ball rolls under the couch, leaving the blind dogs confused, angry, and hopeless.

Alf – There Is No Escape

Who would have thought that the weirdly cute and harmless Alf would end up on a list of series finales that hit us right in the feels? Nevertheless, here we are because Alf's series finale was a gut punch.

For those who have never seen Alf, he's an alien living with the Tanner family. In a strangely hilarious Sci-Fi sitcom, Alf is the ultimate smart mouth, with something witty to say about everything. Not in a bad way.

Alf is a likable alien, as the show's popularity clearly indicates. When an opportunity arises for Alf to escape Earth with his fellow aliens, he understandably takes it.

As a comedy, the last thing the audience suspects is that Alf will fail spectacularly, only to be carted off by the U.S. military in a scene that belongs on one of the more dramatic and serious X-Files episodes.

Pat Sajak – Wheel of Fortune

Sure, it's not a series finale in the strictest sense, but Pat Sajak is the face of the long-running family show. For many, his departure is the series finale of Wheel of Fortune because it won't be right without him.

It's no different from struggling through Jeopardy without Alex Trebek. Pat's departing message was one we can all support: a show that's about family and entertainment, avoiding politics and controversial issues.

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After over 40 years as the host of Wheel of Fortune, the curtain finally closes on a memorable career. His final address to Wheel of Fortune fans was honest and fitting.

“I’ve always felt that the privilege came with a responsibility to keep this daily half-hour a safe place for family fun — no social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing. I hope. Just a game.”

_{🔗 permalink: Wheel of Fortune – S41E95 – Pat Sajak’s Final Address}

Sons of Anarchy – Jax's Final Ride

For people like Jackson (Jax) Teller, there is no such thing as redemption, at least not in this world. This is one of those episodes where the writing is on every wall, and by the time the end rolls around, it's not a surprise.

With Jax on his old man's bike and a trail of police cruisers and motorcycles behind him, there was really only one path left for a man like Jax to take on Sons of Anarchy.

The scene gives everything away long before Jax takes his hands off the handlebars. The pursuing police cruisers are filmed in such a way that they seem more like a funeral procession than a pursuit force.

The impact between Jax and the oncoming semi isn't shown (thankfully). A quick cut to a duo of crows tells the final story. Though Jax was not a stand-up hero, his demise was heartbreaking nonetheless.

Series finales are often tough, whether they have a good ending, a bad one, or something in between.

Do you have a series finale in mind that hit you right in the feels?

Let us know in the comments!

The post 11 Series Finales That Hit Us Right In the Feels appeared first on TV Fanatic.