Fangirlish 2022 End of Year Lists: TV’s Biggest WTF Moments Of The Year

Every year, there are more than a few moments on television that make us question everything and ask, “What were these writers thinking?” 2022 was no exception. So, here is our list of “Biggest WTF Moments of 2022.”

Warning: this article may contain spoilers. So, read at your own risk!

Chicago Fire Kills Off Evan Hawkins

Violet Mikami and Evan Hawkins were the best thing to happen to One Chicago in a long time. So of course, Chicago Fire decided to kill off Hawkins. On the same night that Halstead left P.D. Because apparently, the writers decided we really wanted to be depressed. We wouldn’t expect anything less from this show, though. Apparently, we just can’t have nice things. Did the writers decide Gallo and Violet were better off together and that’s why Hawkins had to die? Even though it was clear the fans loved Hawkami, and they had much better chemistry? We’ll never forgive or forget them for this, and honestly, it makes us not want to get invested in another character or couple because they’ll probably just get killed off the second we start to like them (…like Carver. Who may or not have been killed in the winter finale. But that’s another story.)

Chicago P.D. Writes Out Jay Halstead

During summer hiatus, we learned that Jesse Lee Soffer was leaving Chicago P.D. And from everything that has been reported about it, we know it probably wasn’t his choice. If you’re a regular reader of Fangirlish, you know we have a LOT of thoughts about this. Basically, WTF? Jay Halstead is one, if not THE, most popular character on Chicago P.D. He’s been there since the beginning, and he’s the moral compass of the show. If the show needed to cut costs, there are plenty of other ways they could have done that, and other characters that could have been written off (we’re looking at you, Hank Voight). His exit made zero sense, and now Chicago P.D. is missing a huge piece of the show. Plus, there’s no one stopping Voight from doing what he usually does, and it seems like he’s taking Upton down with him. We need Halstead back. NOW.

Kelli Giddish Exits Law & Order: SVU

Continuing the trend of Dick Wolf shows, let’s talk about Law & Order: SVU. It wasn’t enough that Jesse Lee Soffer was written off P.D., but Kelli Giddish also exited SVU after more than a decade. Again, we ask, WHY? We love Giddish and the character she plays, Amanda Rollins. Rollins and Carisi are finally together and happy. Regardless of what Dick Wolf and NBC think, we like happy characters. And as exciting as it was that Rollisi got married, we’re sad that we’re not going to actually see their married life on television. We’ll also miss Rollins’ friendship with Finn and Benson. Watching Rollins’ last episode and seeing her take down the creep with Benson just reminded us of what we’re losing. Not that we don’t like the new characters, but they’re not the same. And SVU won’t be the same without Rollins.

New Amsterdam …Exists, Post Helen Sharpe

Moving on to another NBC show, can we talk about the disaster that is the final season of New Amsterdam? There are just so many “WTF” moments! While we don’t blame Freema Agyeman for leaving, the show has been a mess without Helen. Why did the writers decide we wanted Max and Wilder together? Their friendship was good; they could have stayed friends. But no. (And this is nothing against Sandra Mae Frank. We think she’s fabulous.) And they brought back Helen (well, kind of) just as Wilder agreed to go out with Max. We hate love triangles!

Besides Max and Wilder, the other characters are a mess, too. We don’t want to watch Iggy date. Based on his character and his actions from the past few seasons, we really don’t want to see him at all. And Lauren! Lauren is probably the reason why some of the fans stuck around. Did they really think that it was a good idea for her to pretend to still drink and abuse drugs just to bond with her sister? Because that’s so unhealthy! With only a few episodes left, we hope the writers can fix this mess. But we won’t get our hopes up.

General Hospital Keeps Spencer in Jail

Spencer Cassadine spent most of 2022 trying to help Trina after his terrible ex-girlfriend framed her. He knew Trina didn’t make the revenge porn video of her best friends, but unfortunately, he knew this information because was he with Trina at the time the video was uploaded. And he was with her because he had escaped from Spring Ridge, a minimum security prison. He ultimately confessed at the trial because he couldn’t stand the thought of Trina being incarcerated for a crime she didn’t commit. He knew there was a chance he’d have to go back to prison, but he didn’t expect to serve three months at Pentonville, a maximum security prison. We didn’t expect it either. With so many people in Port Charles getting away with far worse crimes (we’re talking to you Sonny), it was a shock.

What was even more shocking was that the writers actually had him serve that long sentence. Since this year began, Spencer has spent nearly 100 out of 365 days living behind bars. Granted, his Uncle Victor just pulled some strings for an early release. So, technically, he didn’t have to finish that 90 days. But you get the point. We still say this was definitely one of those times where the punishment did NOT fit the crime.

Bridgerton Gives us …A Love Triangle?

There was so much to love about Bridgerton season 2 — and we loved every second of Kathani Sharma — but the love triangle isn’t on the list. It was simply unnecessary, and the fact they dragged it on for as long as they did — all the way to the altar, in fact — just added insult to injury. The chemistry between Anthony and Kate saved the season for us, but we’d have much rather seen their wedding than the excruciating drawing out of the triangle, culminating in Edwina jilting Anthony. Note to showrunners for the future: You think fans want love triangles. We really, really don’t.

The Goldbergs Goes On

In its early seasons, The Goldbergs was one of the funniest shows on TV. But not anymore. The jokes are played out. The stories are pretty much the same. And there’s Murray. We understand the writers didn’t really have a choice in what happened with the Jeff Garlin situation, but Murray’s relationship with his kids was one of the best parts of the show. We get that they had to do terrible CGI to insert Muray in important scenes, especially Erica and Geoff’s wedding. But ABC could have (and should have) ended the show at the end of season 9. Watching The Goldbergs without Murray isn’t really what we want, and there’s nothing else that the show needs to do. Geoff and Erica are married now. They’re happy. Let the show go.

FBI Writes Out Nina

We love Maggie and are so happy that she’s back. However, we’re not super thrilled with how Nina was written out. FBI just decided to throw this surprise pregnancy in, and then she decides to transfer departments. Are we ever going to find out if she has the baby? Will Scola ever find out? He is the father, after all. And we’re invested in Scola and his life. Hopefully, the writers will remember this story and will revisit it in the future. We need some closure. We also can’t help but wonder: Was this the best that the writers could come up with to write Nina out? They knew she was a temporary character. They could have written a less messy exit.

Love is Blind Season 3, Period

Cole Barnett and Zanab Jaffrey’s relationship on the latest season of Love Is Blind was the biggest and most long-lasting WTF moment. From the moment these two came out of the pods, they had issues. The experiment was going great when they were in the pods: They fell in love, got engaged and were on their way to happily ever after. But the moment they started spending time with each other face to face, the problems started. They were constantly bickering, not to mention the occasional gaslighting, and so the fact that one of them said no at the altar wasn’t a surprise. But Zanab’s speech to Cole sure was. “You have disrespected me, you have insulted me, you have critiqued me, and… you have single-handedly shattered my self-confidence.” Even though we thought we knew their relationship, it seems a lot more went on behind closed doors, including body shaming, which Zanab revealed at the reunion. Their whole relationship, alongside last season’s Deepti and Shake situation, solidified that maybe love is not blind at all.

Chicago Med Writes Out Basically Everyone

This list started with One Chicago, so it’s only appropriate that we end with it as well. These shows have so many characters leaving that we’re not sure who’s going to be standing by the end of the 2023 season. And while Stevie’s exist wasn’t as painful as Hawkins or Halstead, it still hurt. Stevie was a breath of fresh air from some of the previous female characters (we’re looking at you, Natalie), and she made Will likable again. We know there were off-screen reasons why the actress left Chicago Med, but her abrupt exit upset us. And it reinforces our earlier comment about getting invested in characters from these shows. It seems like they show up and then leave as soon as we get to know them.

Other WTF Moments

Of course, there were other “WTF” moments that happened in 2022. Like Meredith Grey leaving Grey’s Anatomy. And The Resident having a love triangle with Conrad. Another love triangle? When will shows get the memo that we’re so over these? Then, there were the other characters that left the One Chicago shows: Ethan, Vanessa, and Dylan. And on another soap opera, Days of our Lives, the writers had Nicole insert herself into Jada’s personal life and suggest an abortion. Seriously?

Finally, we suggest you read our article about all of the WTF moments from Interview with the Vampire. There are several moments that are worth discussing.

Agree? Disagree? What were your biggest WTF moments from 2022?