Beginning and end, volume 6. The game of musical apartments continues.
—we came in?"
Matching scenes at the beginning and end of a story, often to show how things have changed through the course of the series, or that they haven't changed at all.
This is extensively used in kids' shows to illustrate the characters applying the lesson they learned today, which happens to apply to the issue presented in the beginning. Ya'know, just in case they didn't catch it. In any work, bookends are a way to show if Character Development has occurred.
Compare After-Adventure Restoration. Compare and contrast Here We Go Again!, How We Got Here, Where It All Began. See also Call-Back, Ironic Echo. Often utilized in an And the Adventure Continues ending, with the last scene of the series mimicking the first, regardless of how long it's been running. In music, this is often a component of Album Closure. See Mirror Character for a similar concept applied to characters. Died on Their Birthday implicitly bookends a character's life on the same calendar date.
As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Example Subpages:
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Films — Animation
- Films — Live-Action
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Music
- Theatre
- Video Games
- Web Animation
- Webcomics
- Web Videos
- Western Animation
- Real Life
Other Examples:
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Advertising
- An Australian alcohol awareness advertisement opened with a father asking his son to get him a beer at a party, followed the son's descent into alcoholism, then ended with the son as an adult, asking his son to get him a beer at a party, with the implication that his son's life would follow the same course as his own.
- "Warning Signs", a 2009 PSA from the Australian Heart Foundation, begins and ends with our main character saying "I wish I could have my heart attack again".
- The Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives ad "Mark" begins and ends with the narrator calling Mark "a great blokenote ".
- The Montana Meth Project has some chilling public service announcements with these
two having the bookends.
- The first video shows a girl trying meth with her friends, saying she's only going to do it once. Cut to the next scene, where she uses meth again, still saying it's only once more. This was repeated a few more times, with the girl getting worse by the use of meth. At the end, the girl is shown unconscious on her bed, her fate ambiguous. Her younger sister then takes some meth from her older sister's jean pocket, saying she's only going to do it once.
- The next video shows a young man trying meth, also saying that he'll only do it once, as he doesn't want to be like "that guy", a meth-addicted psycho, which scarily resembles him. He then tries meth once again, also with the same promise. Repeat a few times with the man getting more addicted, and he ends up being exactly like "that guy". In the end, a young girl buys some meth with the promise of only trying it once, as she doesn't want to be like "that guy". Which is obviously the guy before.
- Corona beer's "One Man's Journey" begins (in its minute-long and 30-second cuts) with Pedro Pascal grabbing a bottle of beer in a bar, and ends with him grabbing another bottle placed beside his beach chair.
Eastern Animation
- Every episode of the Latvian cartoon Fantadroms began and ended with a shot of Indrikis (the show's main character) sneezing, for whatever reason.
- Happy Friends: The "God of War Legend" story arc begins with Kalo looking up at the sky, musing to himself that heroes are believed to turn into stars in the sky once they die, as rays of hope for the people, and wondering if he'll even become a star himself. Arcas tells Careful S. the same thing after the story's over, in relation to Kalo actually having died.
- Lost in the Moonlight begins and ends with the heroine in a play... where she's Playing a Tree.
- The Noonbory and the Super 7 episode "Pongdybory's Cold Feet" begins and ends with this exchange between Pongdybory and Noonbory.
Bory 1note : (sneezes)Bory 2note : Sounds like you're getting a cold, (name).
Magazines
- Nintendo Power:
- The cover of the last issue (featuring New Super Mario Bros. U) is based on its first issue's cover (featuring Super Mario Bros. 2).
- When the Nintendo Tip Line opened, its very first call was a question about The Legend of Zelda I. Coincidentally, the very last call before the line was closed was a question about The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
- Brazilian movie magazine SET had in its last page "Nostalgia", featuring a famous movie image. Once the section was finished on issue 199, they went back to the first picture, Gilda.
Myths & Religion
- Older Than Dirt: The Epic of Gilgamesh starts with a narration that extols the might of the walls of Uruk, which seem to be meant to emphasize the glory of their builder, the king Gilgamesh. Until, of course, Gilgamesh fails to gain eternal life, and in the final line of the epic, he speaks the same passage to his new traveling companion Urshanabi. (Scholarly opinion is divided whether this is intended as Ironic Echo, or an affirmation that true immortality is found in lasting greatness of a man's works.)
- Gospel of Mark: When Jesus is baptized, the heavens split in half and God announces that Jesus is His son. At the Crucifixion of Jesus, a curtain depicting the heavens in the Temple of Jerusalem tears in half and exposes the Ark of the Covenant (figuratively God's presence, representing his departure from the Temple).
Podcasts
- Each regular episode of '80s All Over (and many of the Patreon bonus episodes) starts with the sound of a VHS tape being popped into a VCR and ends with the tape being popped out and put in a rewinder.
- The Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe? version of The Phantom of the Opera: Love Never Dies opens with the title song as Jenny and Carol watch the musical of the same name. In one of the final scenes, Carol sings it to Jenny as she dies due to Jenny's spell.
- The Welcome to Night Vale episode "One Year Later" follows up on many of the plotlines first introduced in the pilot episode. The opening lines are nearly identical.
- The Silt Verses: Faulkner's first and last lines in the podcast are calling out "Marco!" to try to get Carpenter's attention.
Poetry
- Rudyard Kipling's Ballad of East and West starts with
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet
'Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgement seat
But there is neither east nor west, border nor breed nor birth
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth.
- And the poem ends with The Hero giving a speech as to exactly why Defeat Equals Friendship, using the same lines.
- In "Cold Iron", the first stanza ends with the Baron, sitting in his hall, proclaiming "Cold Iron" (by which we see in the subsequent stanzas he means strength of arms and the implements of war) to be master over the other metals. The last stanza ends with the Baron, now kneeling in his hall (having been humbled by his defeat and by the forgiveness of the King), proclaiming the true "Iron" - that is, Jesus - as master of all mankind.
- "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service both begins and ends with the same stanza, referring to the queerest sight ever seen by the Northern Lights (namely the eponymous cremation). The poem in between these stanzas describes the events of Sam's death, his subsequent cremation, and what the narrator saw when he looked into Sam's funeral pyre. He saw Sam sitting up "looking cool, and calm", happy to be warm for the first time since leaving his home in Tennessee.
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men that toil for gold
The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Labarge that I cremated Sam McGee - "Dream-Land (1844)": Both in the original version and the revised version, the chorus opens and closes the poem. Four lines are identical between them and the rest of the lines is alike. The effect is that the first stanza recalls the narrator's journey to Dream-Land, acknowledged merely as "these lands", and that the following stanzas reiterate the effort put into the journey, to which arriving in Dream-Land, now deemed "home" by the narrator after he finds there what he lost in the waking world, is the reward. In the original version, the extra two stanzas of the chorus make the shift in the narrator's view a gradual process while in the revised version the shift takes the form of a revelation.
- H. P. Lovecraft's poem "Nemesis" both begins and ends with the stanza:
Thro' the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight,
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright. - Lewis Carrol's "Jabberwocky" (largely nonsense):
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe,
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. - "Jenny Kiss'd Me" by Leigh Hunt: The first and last lines are the title.
Pro Gaming
- Dota 2: In The International 2019, OG's Main Stage run started and ended with Io, playing it as a carry in both game 1 of the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals and game 4 of the Grand Finals, the latter being their tournament-winning victory. These were also the only two games in this stage where OG got to play Io and ended both by fountain diving in soul-breaking fashion.
Pro Wrestling
- Adam Cole made his NXT debut at the end of TakeOver: Brooklyn III. Four years later, his last appearance was at TakeOver 36. Both occurred during SummerSlam weekend.
- Defiant Wrestling's first and last special events before folding for good were called Built to Destroy.
- If you accept the reunion show put on by Dynamo Pro, then Delirious's first and last opponent in Gateway Championship Wrestling was The Irish Luchador Billy McNeil.
- Edge: Before his surprise return to WWE in 2020, the very last move that he used in a televised WWF/E match was the Spear, the same move that was his very first in a televised match for that promotion. He also just happened to fight a Hispanic wrestler in both his first and "last" match (Puerto Rican Jose Estrada on the former, Mexican Alberto Del Rio on the latter).
- Goldberg's first match in WCW (and his first professional match period) was against DeWayne "Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker" Bruce, and his last match in WCW was a tag match with Bruce as his partner.
- In Progress Wrestling, Jimmy Havoc's title run started with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman and ended with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman (one of the people who own the company).
- Hulk Hogan's first and last WCW matches took place at a Bash at the Beach PPV. The first one in 1994 against Ric Flair drew more money than any WCW show ever up to that point - and with what Hogan was being paid it needed to. The last one in 2000 against Jeff Jarrett was such a fiasco that it got its very own episode of Dark Side of the Ring.
- While Jushin Thunder Liger initially debuted under his real name of Keiichi Yamada in 1984, he unveiled the Liger persona at the first-ever Tokyo Dome wrestling show in April 1989, which was also the first Tokyo Dome wrestling show of the Heisei era*. He would end his career in January 2020... in the first Tokyo Dome wrestling show of the Reiwa era*.
- Lance Storm began his wrestling career in 1990 with a match against fellow Hart Dungeon alum, Chris Jericho. In 2005, he came out of retirement for one last match at ECW One Night Stand against Chris Jericho.
- Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono began their careers against each other on October 5, 1984. 39 years later, they would be each other's final opponents as the former challenged the latter to an impromptu match after losing to Tetsuya Naito.
- The first and last Nitro both had Ric Flair vs. Sting.
- Paige made her main roster debut on the Raw after WrestleMania XXX, which took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. Four years later, she announced her retirement from in-ring competition on the Raw after 'Mania 33, also in New Orleans, where she debuted.
- Terri Poch began and ended her on-screen career associated with Scott Levy. Her first role, in NWA Pacific Northwest Wrestling in Portland was as Taylor Made Medina, an assistant to Scotty the Body. Her last role was as Raven's masked Ninja woman in WWE in early 2001.
- Roman Reigns began his ascent to the top of WWE by winning the 2015 Royal Rumble, where Philadelphia booed him straight out of the building. He completed his ascent on the December 14, 2015 of RAW by winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in that same city, and the very same crowd that hissed and jeered at him couldn't cheer loud enough, happily celebrating his win.
- Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan entered the 2023 women's Royal Rumble match as the first and last two entrants, with Ripley winning the whole thing by last eliminating Morgan.
- Ripley is undefeated in single matches from 2022 to 2024. The person who ended her streak is also the last person to pin her, Liv Morgan.
- The Shield's dissolution when Seth Rollins turned on his teammates happened in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the same arena that hosted the 2012 Survivor Series that the stable debuted.
- The 2010 Feud of the Year began when Kevin Steen smashed El Generico in the face with a steel chair after they lost to The Young Bucks at Final Battle 2009. One year later, during the main event of Final Battle 2010, Generico uses that very steel chair, still smeared with his own blood, and in the same arena where his former best friend betrayed and abandoned him, smashes it across Steen's face to win their grudge match and send Steen packing from Ring of Honor.
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comes out of retirement to have one last match against Kevin Owens on the first night of WrestleMania 38 which takes place at Dallas, Texas, the same location where Austin (then known as Steve Williams) had his first wrestling match against Frogman LeBlanc in USWA. Austin even lampshades how meaningful it would be to end his career the same place it begins before accepting Owen's challenge.
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin:I had my first match in Dallas, Texas, and I could have my last match in Dallas, Texas.
- In 2002, Triple H started his second major heel run by returning to Raw and Pedigreeing Shawn Michaels to squash a D-Generation X reunion. HHH would end up turning face in 2006 by reforming DX with HBK.
- The Undertaker began his WWE career on November 22, at Survivor Series 1990. Exactly thirty years later, at the same event, he made his final farewell to the WWE Universe.
- WALTER's run with the Defiant Wrestling's Internet Title starts with him defeating two departing wrestlers (Travis Banks -who just signed with WWE- and Zack Sabre Jr. -due to schedule conflicts with New Japan Pro-Wrestling-) and ends with him being the departing one (to WWE), losing it at the hands of Martin Kirby.
- On WWE NXT, Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville's slow-burning feud begins when Zayn loses a number one contender's match for the NXT Championship against Neville. After the match, Neville extends his hand for a handshake but Zayn kicks his hand away... only to pull him in for a hug, showing that there are no hard feelings despite Zayn's loss. A year later, when their friendship is strained and the feud is at its peak, Zayn finally beats Neville for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: R Evolution. Post-match, the kicked hand-to-hug sequence plays out again– only this time with the roles reversed.
- AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura first faced each other in January 2016 at Wrestle Kingdom 10, a match that took place as both men were on the verge of leaving NJPW for WWE. Exactly ten years later, their final match against each other occurred in January 2026 at Saturday Night’s Main Event the very same year that Styles was set to retire from wrestling.
- In fact Styles career itself ended up ending like this. He made his first appearance in WWE at the 2016 Royal Rumble, entering at number 3. His final match at the event came ten years later at the 2026 event, where he put his career on the line against Gunther and lost via submission.
Puppet Shows
- Sesame Street: The opening scene of Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas is a long shot of 123 Sesame Street with Big Bird in the background preparing his nest for Santa's arrival. The closing scene is the same long shot, but Big Bird is now in his nest fast asleep.
- Similarly, in the season 6 premiere from 1974, the opening scene has The Count on top of the lamp post counting lights being turned on, and the final street scene has him counting them going out.
Radio
- Dimension X:
- In "The Man in the Moon", the episode begins with a character reciting the names and descriptions of people who had recently gone missing. The episode also ends with that character reciting the names and descriptions of people who had recently gone missing, which now includes the protagonist.
- "Pebble in the Sky": Robert Browning's poem isn't quoted in this adaptation of Pebble in the Sky, but the title is. First the narrator uses the title to describe how Earth is an ignored backwater planet, then at the end of the episode, Dr Arvardan uses the title to describe how Earth will be the only planet left with human beings.
- The first episode of the then-hololive Idol Road Radio, which aired on April 4, 2021 on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Anime & Game in Japan, was hosted by Shirakami Fubuki and Minato Aqua. The last episode of the now-Holo no Radio, which aired on April 2, 2023, was hosted once again by Fubuki and Aqua on the same station.
Roleplay
- A surprising, yet completely unintentional, meta example in Dino Attack RPG. Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG, which introduced PeabodySam to Play-by-Post Games and thus directly led to the creation of Dino Attack RPG, its Spiritual Successor, was started on December 21, 2004. Dino Attack: At War's End finally ended on December 21, 2012, exactly eight years later. Things truly do come full circle after all.
- The first scene of Ruby Quest is Ruby waking up in darkness, and pressing a red button to turn on the lights, which reveals her to be in a locker. The final scene is Daisy waking up in darkness, and pressing a red button to turn on the lights, which reveals her to be in a locker.
Sports
- In the 1981 NFL season, the Baltimore Colts lost all but 2 of their 16 games. Who were those 2 wins against? The New England Patriots in week 1, and the Patriots again in the final week.
- Bill Belichick's first win as the New England Patriots' head coach was against the Denver Broncos, defeating them 28-19 in the 2000 season, and his last was also against the Broncos, defeating them 26-23 in the 2023 season.
- On March 14, 2006, Drew Brees signed as a free agent for the New Orleans Saints after having started out with the San Diego Chargers. Fifteen years later, on March 14, 2021, Brees announced his retirement from the NFL, having spent the previous 15 years playing for the Saints.
- Both the Chicago White Sox' and the Boston Red Sox' respective 88- and 86-year World Series droughts have links to each other with the White Sox' last victory coming the year before the Red Sox' last victory and the White Sox ending their drought the year after the Red Sox ended their drought. Notably, both teams also ended their droughts by sweeping their opponents in the World Series.
- English cricketer Alastair Cook scored a century in his first international test match against India. His last test match was against India, and he signed off his international test match career with a century against them.
- During the 108 years of heartbreak the Cubs endured, seasons would end in two ways. Being obliterated out of the Playoffs (2007, 2008, 2015) or being very close only to choke in the end (1969, 1984, 2003). What better way to end the century of heartbreak by being on the other side of the table, the team that many people count out after being down 3-1 in the World Series against the Indians, only for the Cubs to come all the way back to win the Series.
- The first defeat suffered by longtime Duke Blue Devils men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski was to the North Carolina Tar Heels in 1980. Coach K's final home game and final game overall before his retirement in 2022 were both losses to North Carolina, with the latter in the Final Four.
- Euro 2004 started with Greece beating Portugal in the group stages. It ended with Greece beating Portugal in the final.
- Similarly, the 2007-08 seasons for both Manchester United and Chelsea started with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties. It ended with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties.
- The 1994 FIFA World Cup began with a missed penalty kick in the opening ceremony by Diana Ross, and ended with a missed penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the final by Roberto Baggio, which won Brazil the World Cup.
- Formula One:
- Kimi Räikkönen made his F1 debut in 2001 driving for Sauber and retired in 2021 after having driven for Alfa Romeo, which is considered a part of the Sauber family.
- Similarly, the Mercedes tenure of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas both began and ended with him changing teams to replace another Finn who had just retired; he joined Mercedes in 2017 after the shock retirement of Nico Rosbergnote , and left after 2021 to replace Räikkönen at Alfa Romeo.
- Lewis Hamilton made an announcement moving from McLaren to Mercedes towards the tail end of the 2012 season to fill in for the retiring Michael Schumacher. After years of dominance and winning six consecutive world championships, and ultimately equaling Schumacher's records of seven world titles, Hamilton ended his final season with Mercedes by making a shocking announcement in early 2024 of signing with Ferrari (a team of which Schumacher himself had won 5 of 7 of his world championships) for the 2025 season.
- Scuderia AlphaTauri made its debut in the 2020 season, carrying over the driver lineup of Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat from Toro Rosso, the rebrand was made to promote Red Bull's namesake fashion brand. At the end of the 2023 season, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were the last drivers for AlphaTauri, and they are kept for the next season as the team is rebranded into Visa Cash App RBnote Formula One Team.
- And speaking of Daniel Ricciardo, he began his F1 career as a reserve driver for Red Bull and Toro Rosso in 2011. Ricciardo finished his last race in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix as a driver for Racing Bulls, which was formerly Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri.
- The first individual victory of biathlon legend Martin Fourcade's career was a pursuit race in Kontiolahti the 14th March 2010. Ten years and another 81 victories later, Fourcade got his 83rd and final win on the 14th March 2020, the final race of his career, which was a pursuit race in Kontiolahti.
- Somewhat inverted with Manchester United and Adidas: When the sportswear manufacturer's initial stint with the club came to an end in 1992, their final away kit had a rather unorthodox 'M' pattern all over the shirt. When Adidas returned as United's kit manufacturer in 2015, that 'M' pattern featured on the trim on the home shirt and across the chest of the third shirt.
- Similarly inverted with Brighton. Their final match at the Goldstone Ground, their home for nearly a century, came against Doncaster Rovers in 1997. After two years of ground-sharing with Gillingham, and 12 years at the temporary Withdean Stadium, Brighton finally moved into their new home ground, Falmer Stadium, in 2011 — and their first league match there was also against Doncaster Rovers.
- Baseball great Ichiro Suzuki started his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, and his first game was a 5-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics. After many seasons in Seattle, he played briefly for the New York Yankees, and the Miami Marlins, before returning to Seattle to finish his career. His final game before retiring was a 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics in 2019.
- Not only that, Ichiro's professional playing career ended in the country where it began—his homeland of Japan. (The M's and A's opened the 2019 season in Tokyo.)
- The Montreal Expos played their first game in existence against the New York Mets. Before moving to Washington to become the Nationals, they also played their last ever game against the New York Mets. Both games took place at Shea Stadium.
- Some NASCAR examples:
- First-ballot Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson's first five Cup Series titles (which were consecutive) were flanked by Hall of Famer Tony Stewart's second and third Cup Series titles. Stewart's latter one came on a tiebreaker over Carl Edwards.
- The first and last events using the "Car of Tomorrow" / "Gen-5" chassis were won by the same organization, Hendrick Motorsports.
- Similarly, the first and last points-paying events using the follow-up "Gen-6" chassis were also won by Hendrick. Those years' championships went to the specific winners, Jimmie Johnson (his sixth) in 2013 and Kyle Larson in 2021.
- The 2022 season started with the Daytona 500, and its last race before the playoffs was also at Daytona, though the latter race was shorter, at 400 miles.
- In Kevin Harvick's first and final races as a fulltime Cup Series driver, the pole position was won by the driver of the #24 car while the driver of the #1 car won the race.note
- The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety maintains a video channel for the public release of explanations of supplemental discipline. They're basically video essays; they start with a one-sentence summary of the punishment issued, then go into background and detail before restating the punishment.
- Kobe Bryant first scored in the NBA on November 5, 1996 against the New York Knicks. He scored his last point in the NBA on April 13, 2016 against the Utah Jazz. Both points were from the free-throw line.
- The first football game of the Southwest Conference, a major NCAA league from 1915 to 1996, saw Rice host Baylor. The SWC's final football game, played in 1995,* was also hosted by Rice, this time against its crosstown rival Houston. On top of that, both visiting teams are now Big 12 Conference members—Baylor joined the Big 12 at its formation and remains there today, while Houston joined in 2023.
- The New England Patriots' 2003 season has an interesting take on this. They began their regular season with a 31-0 loss at the Buffalo Bills. When the Patriots faced the Bills again at home in Week 17, they won by the same 31-0 score. They would go on to win their second Super Bowl that year.
- Similarly, the following year, their 2004 season, as champions, they hosted the Kickoff Game and beat the Indianapolis Colts by three points with a score of 27-24. Then come the Super Bowl, they defend their title by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21, another three point game.
- And then 13 years later, in their 2017 season after their epic comeback victory in Super Bowl LI, the Kickoff Game was them against the Kansas City Chiefs, where they lost 42-27. They made it back to the Super Bowl and faced the Eagles once again, and lost 41-33. Both those losses were to opponents that scored over 40 points in total.
- In the aforementioned 2017 season, the New Orleans Saints' opening game would be an away game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium, where they would lose 29-19. Their season ends in the playoffs at the same stadium, with the Vikings winning 29-24 in an epic last-second miracle finish on their end.
- Also in the 2017 season as mentioned above, the Cleveland Browns began their 0-16 campaign with a home loss to Pittsburgh and, fittingly enough, ended it with a loss at Pittsburgh.
- The 2014 Green Bay Packers. Their season began by losing the Kickoff Game to the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Then come the NFC Championship Game, where they have one of the worst chokes in NFL playoff history and blow a 19-7 lead with two and a half minutes to go, and proceed to lose in overtime.
- The Kansas City Chiefs' first Super Bowl win, in Super Bowl IV (1969 season, played in 1970), was broadcast by CBS, with Jack Buck, most famous as the play-by-play man for baseball's St. Louis Cardinals,note on play-by-play. They wouldn't appear in another Super Bowl until LIV (2019 season, played in 2020), which they also won. While this edition was aired by Fox, the play-by-play man was Jack's son Joe, who's also more famous for his baseball work (in his case, as Fox's lead announcer).
- On January 1, 2023, the Green Bay Packers blew out the Minnesota Vikings (41-17) in the penultimate game of the season, improving their record to 8-8 and setting themselves up for a win-and-in scenario for Week 18. On December 31, 2023, the Packers once again blew out the Minnesota Vikings (33-10) in the penultimate game of the season, improving their record to 8-8 and setting themselves up for a win-and-in scenario for Week 18.
- In the 1990-91 NFL playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Houston Oilers in the Wild Card Round before losing to the Los Angeles Raiders in the Divisional Round, leading to a 30+ year playoff win drought for the Bengals. In the decades that followed, the Oilers relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, and became the Tennessee Titans, and the Raiders returned to their previous home city of Oakland, California, before relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, and becoming the Las Vegas Raiders. In the 2021-22 playoffs, the Bengals ended their drought by defeating the Raiders in the Wild Card Round and the Titans in the Divisional Round, and also winning the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, reaching the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years, only to lose to another team, the Los Angeles Rams, there, thus keeping the Bengals waiting for their first Lombardi Trophy until the Bengals do win their first Super Bowl title.
- The Parade of Nations during the Olympic Games starts with Greece and ends with the host nation. So what happened in 2004, when Greece served as the host nation? Their flag came out first, did a lap of the stadium and vacated, before coming back out at the end of the parade.
- In Rio 2016, the first gold medal was awarded to American sport shooter Virginia Thrasher. The final gold medal of the games was won by the American men's basketball team.
- On the topic of the Games, the Paris 2024 Games started with an Olympic opening ceremony with rain. At the closing ceremony of the Paralympics, guess what happened on that very night?
- The Red Sox's first World Series loss during the Curse of the Bambino, which began with trading star Babe Ruth to the Yankees, was to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946. The team they beat to end the 86 year drought? The St. Louis Cardinals. Bonus points as the player that got the last out, Edger Rentería, was wearing number 3 just like the Babe.
- In their 2018 season, their ace Chris Sale served as their first starter that year. Come the World Series that October, Sale was called upon to serve as the closer in the final inning of Game 5. Sale started the Sox's season, and he ended it.
- In Rugby Union, the Heineken Cup was the top European club competition from the 1995–96 season through 2013–14, after which it was replaced by the current European Rugby Champions Cup (though Heineken has since come back as the competition's name sponsor). The first-ever Heineken Cup was won by French club Toulouse, which went on to win France's national championship. The last Heineken Cup was won by another French club, Toulon, which also went on to win the French championship.
- This managed to happen twice in the 2023 Rugby World Cup:
- The first game saw New Zealand lose 27-13 to France, and the final 12-11 to South Africa.
- England and Argentina started their campaigns against each other and faced each other in the bronze medal play-off, England winning both times.
- The last two Super Bowl victories of the New England Patriots dynasty under Tom Brady are an odd mirror of the first two championships won by them. The first two victories (XXXVI and XXXVIII) saw them first beat a St. Louis Rams team known for its high-powered offense, then two years later beat an NFC South team (the Carolina Panthers) whose next Super Bowl appearance would see them lose to a Denver Broncos team led by a Hall of Fame quarterback participating in what would turn out to be his final game (Peyton Manning in 50). The last two victories (LI and LIII) would see them first beat an NFC South team (the Atlanta Falcons) whose previous Super Bowl appearance saw them lose to a Broncos team led by a Hall of Fame quarterback participating in what would turn out to be his final game (John Elway in XXXIII), then two years later beat a Rams team, now residing in Los Angeles, known for its high-powered offense.
- Furthermore, his first (XXXVI) and last Super Bowl (LVI) championship as an individual for Tom came during a season where he went 11-5, the last loss against the same team he would face in the Super Bowl, a team from Missouri (Rams and Chiefs respectively).
- In 1996, Lee Corso announced his pick for who would win the game between Penn State and Ohio State on College GameDay by putting on a head of Brutus the Buckeye (Ohio State's mascot). 430 picks, 69 pieces of headgear, and 29 years later, Corso retired on August 30, 2025, ending the tradition by putting on Brutus' head to pick who would win between Texas and Ohio State. Adding to the parallels, the Buckeyes won both times.
- On April 17, 1985, The Diamond, a baseball park in Richmond, Virginia, hosted its first game, a Triple-A game between the Richmond Braves and Syracuse Chiefs, with Dan Lovello calling the game for the Braves' radio broadcast team. The Diamond hosted its last game on September 14, 2025, a Double-A matchup between the Richmond Flying Squirrels and Hartford Yard Goats. Calling the game for the Yard Goats: the same Dan Lovello.
Tabletop Games
- The soundtrack for the animated timer of Alice Is Missing begins with “You Are A Memory” by Message to Bears. The song plays again when the timer runs out and the characters’ voicemails play.
- BattleTech, the new ilKhan Brett Andrews started the Wars of Reaving in a Clan council where he demonstrated a Trial of Reaving by killing the Diamond Shark Khan, near the wars end he was killed in another Clan council when pulled a dirty move in killing the senior Star Adder Khan, and the junior Star Adder Khan killed him almost immediately.
- The Eclipse Phase intro fiction 'Lack' begins and ends with Sava waking up in a new body and asking what the date is.
- Microscope: Play begins with the selection of both the beginning and ending of the history the players build over the course of the game. This makes it easy to link the two thematically: empires and great families can rise and fall, new nations can arise in the ashes of the old, etc.
- Many World Of Darkness sourcebooks both old and new begin and end with information related to a specific event. Mage: The Awakening has a diary in the front from a student, and ends with a letter from the mage who's teaching said student to that mage's last student, who went bad and was responsible for Awakening the student writing the diary. Promethean: The Created has the first and second halves of Mr Verney's interview with a psychiatrist.
Theme Parks
- The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios began and ended with the song "Hooray for Hollywood!" playing.
- In Disneyland's Wondrous Journeys, the first human to appear in the center of Sleeping Beauty Castle is Snow White, as a black-and-white sketch picking flowers. The last characters to appear in the center of the castle are Snow White and her prince, now fully-colored as he helps the revived princess out of her glass coffin. The show also upholds a custom in which a nighttime spectacular's finale repeats music from the introductory segment; in this case, "It's Wondrous."
Visual Novels
- Ace Attorney:
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: The first defendant is Phoenix's childhood friend Larry Butz. Discounting the Updated Re-release-exclusive "Rise from the Ashes", the final defendant is Phoenix's childhood friend Miles Edgeworth.
- Both the first and the final killer of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney turn out to be Kristoph Gavin.
- Spirit of Justice is the final game in the Apollo Justice trilogy, and the main game ends with the player playing as Apollo and having Phoenix Wright as his co-counsel, just like the first case in the trilogy. The DLC case, set after the main story, instead ends with a Nostalgia Level where Phoenix has Maya as his co-counsel and stands opposite Miles Edgeworth, harkening back to the very first game and rounding out the series before a massive Sequel Gap.
- Heart of the Woods begins with Madison and Tara taking a train ride to Eysenfeld, the setting of the game and the focus of Tara's investigation for supernatural phenomena. The last scene before The Stinger of each ending is the surviving cast members taking a train out of town.
- Near the beginning of Katawa Shoujo, Hisao suffers a heart attack and wakes up in the hospital. Near the end of Lilly's route, he suffers another heart attack and wakes up in another hospital. The first and last scenes also show Hisao with his Love Interest at the time- the beginning of the game has Hisao meet Iwanako on a snowy day, while The Stinger of Lilly's route has him outdoors with Lilly in the summer.
- The Many Deaths of Lily Kosen both starts and ends in the exact same summoning circle. If the player gets the Golden Ending, then there's a second bookend - the story proper starts and ends with a camping trip.
- In the Good and Family Endings of Melody, the protagonist is actually about to open for the same band that he’s fantasizing about opening for at the beginning of the story. This time, though, instead of having a spiteful fiancée snap him back to reality, he is there in real life, calling home to the love of his life.
- Paper Perjury's first interrogation sequence involves Justina and a woman in a police station, and the last scene of its epilogue is Justina interviewing a female candidate in the same station for the position of police clerk.
- Spirit Hunter: NG starts and ends with Akira walking past a pair of drunk salarymen complaining about everyday issues, to signify that the supernatural events of the game are truly over and Akira has returned to his normal life.
- In the Zero Escape series:
- It can potentially happen in Virtue's Last Reward. One of the three options to accompany you through your first Chromatic Door, Tenmyouji, is also the one who accompanies you through the last Chromatic Door en route to the Omega Ending.
- At the very beginning of Zero Time Dilemma's Decision Game, Zero says: "This is the Decision Game. The fates of you, me and the human race hang in the balance". At the very end of the game, he says: "The fates of you, me and mankind are all on the line. This is the Decision Game". What's ironic about all this is that Zero had the power to kill the characters at the beginning, and at the end the characters can kill Zero.
Web Original
- Volume 3 of Dial B for Blog began with this image◊ and ended with this one.◊ Both are based on the cover to Strange Adventures #162.◊
- Dream's "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters" (the first one) ends with Bad orchestrating a trap in the End spawn area designed to kill Dream upon entry — and he succeeds. The fifth episode & grand finale of the 3 Hunters series has Bad lead the hunters in setting up another End spawn trap to kill Dream again — however, Dream becomes aware of their plan and sends TNT through the portal to counter the trap.
- The transgender chickens that kick off Farce of the Three Kingdoms reappear in the final chapter.
- I Like Monkeys: The story starts and ends with the words "I like monkeys".
- After the prologue, The Pirates Covered in Fur starts and ends with Michum hanging out at a skate park. But unlike how it is at the beginning, in the end, the park is in ruins and all his friends are dead.
- The second r/place experiment started with a blank white canvas and closed with people only being given access to use white, thus turning the canvas white again.
- Sailor Nothing has the following at the start and end of the Web Novel. "My name is Shoutan Himei. I'm sixteen years old/seventeen years old, going on eighteen in two months, and I'm very tired."
- The first arc of Worm ends with the protagonist, Taylor, standing on a rooftop with Armsmaster, the leader of the local Super Team, discussing the options that Taylor has after having single-handedly taken down one of the most powerful supervillains in the city, whose minions will want revenge. At the end of arc twenty-two, after they both have changed so much, the supervillain Skitter stands on a rooftop with the Cyborg superhero Defiant, discussing the options that Skitter has after having killed one of the most powerful superheroes in the world, whose friends will want revenge. The chapter marks the close of Skitter's career as a villain.
