Crisis in the Climax

An essential element for a satisfying story finale.

My rather well-thumbed copy of Story by Robert McKee. Photo by author.

Major spoilers ahead for The Italian Job, Ocean’s Eleven, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Empire Strikes Back, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Hamlet, The Remains of the Day, The Lord of the Rings, Jane Eyre, Mockingjay, and The Great Gatsby.

One of the most important skills for great storytelling is the ability to create crisis within the climax. This element is essential to a deeply satisfying finale, but it is overlooked with surprising regularity. In his exceptional screenwriting book Story, Robert McKee discusses the importance of this principle.

“We’ve taken the protagonist through progressions that exhaust one action after another until he reaches the limit and thinks he finally understands his world and knows what he must do in a last effort. He draws on the dregs of his willpower, chooses an action he believes will achieve his desire, but, as always, his world won’t cooperate. Reality splits and he must improvise. The protagonist may or may not get what he wants, but it won’t be the way he expects.” — Robert McKee, Story.

McKee is talking about screenwriting, but his principles apply to all forms of storytelling, including television, plays, and prose. Having the protagonist discover revelatory new information, or be challenged…