Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

I watched the last fifteen minutes or so of Alias's season finale last night. It was what I call a "Type II Cliffhanger". This is a cliffhanger where the show ends just after a huge revelation is unveiled about the plot or characters, and then we're left wondering (a) if it's true and (b) if so, what are the implications thereof? The classic Type II Cliffhanger, of course, occurs in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, when we're left wondering, "Jeez, is Darth Vader really Luke's father?"

TESB isn't exclusively a Type II Cliffhanger, though; it's actually a blend of Type II, Type III, and the more familiar Type I. Type I is simply when you leave your characters in serious jeopardy for their lives, and that's where the word "cliffhanger" comes from in the first place. In TESB this is the freezing of Han Solo. Other notable examples are the assassination attempt that closed out the first season of The West Wing, and the X-Files episode "Anasazi", in which we fade out with Mulder trapped in a buried and burning railroad car.

One of the most famous cliffhangers of all time, though, is the shooting of J.R. Ewing on Dallas. You might initially think this is a Type I cliffhanger, but it's not -- it's Type III. J.R.'s survival wasn't much in doubt (the character was by far the most popular on the show, which was then entering the height of its popularity). So what's Type III? That's when you either set up a mystery to be cleared up next year (or next movie), or simply leave the story unfinished. J.R.'s shooting, then, is actually known better by its mystery: "Who shot J.R.?" Likewise, TESB invokes Type III in a couple of ways -- it leaves the Rebels on the verge of utter defeat, it leaves us wondering if Luke will ever become a Jedi, we wonder who "the other hope" that Yoda had mentioned earlier is, et cetera. This is all in addition to Vader's revelation (Type II) and Han's unresolved fate (Type I).

Which brings me to Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I found it funny, when the film came out, how many reviewers complained about the film's lack of an ending. But Peter Jackson could have done even worse: he could have ended it the way the book ends. The film is Type III all the way: the final war against Mordor is being set up, and Gollum is scheming to lead Frodo and Sam into certain doom. But while most of the Type III stuff still applies in the book, when you reach the last page Gollum has already led the two Hobbits into certain doom. The book literally ends with the gates slamming shut with Sam on the outside, and the final sentence is this: "Frodo was alive but taken by the enemy." Classic Type I, and I can imagine the howls of protest that would have erupted in theaters nationwide if Jackson had brought us to that point and then rolled the credits.

I suppose there could be a Type IV cliffhanger. This is the "accidental" cliffhanger, which exists for shows whose futures aren't certain at the time of writing, so that the writers have to leave things open enough for subsequent plotlines if they're renewed but settled enough for closure if they're not. This is what happened to Ed this year, what with the "at last" admission of love between Ed and Carol Vescey. It also happened on the second-to-last season of Magnum, PI; a surreal episode involving Magnum's death was made and televised, but then the show was suddenly renewed, so some backtracking was in order.

And that, friends, is more than you ever wanted to know.