Well the word is out that there WILL be an Episode 4, so I’m feeling excitement and even more hope burgeoning. I don’t know if Penny will be returning or even if Dr. Horrible will be front and center and even focusing on Penny’s return at all, but I can hope that somehow, sometime, maybe not even in Episode 4 but some future episode of Dr. Horrible…that Penny’s voice will be heard once again singing with Billy's.

Thank you Brothers Whedon for continuing this and for now my disappointment has lifted because Act III was not the end! I’m looking forward to possibly seeing more Dr. Horrible, Captain Hammer, and even maybe (hopefully!) Penny too.

Sincerely,

Hope

A lot of people compare this to "Little Shop of Horrors," and while it's certainly the same genre, I think there are two important differences with regard to the setup of the ending.

1) "Little Shop of Horrors" blends comedy with darkness/horror ALL the way through. The tone doesn’t switch at the end. Seymour starts out feeding the plant blood; as it grows, it needs more and more blood. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that eventually, either people will die or the plant will. If I recall correctly, the dentist is killed at the end of Act 1 – so we're halfway through and there's ALREADY been a death. Then in Act 2, a good, innocent person dies (Mr. Mushnick), so the deaths are escalating. By the time the ending comes, the audience isn't totally shocked and stunned that it's an unhappy one, even if they were hoping for a happy ending.

In contrast, "Dr. Horrible" starts off totally lighthearted and adorable and goofy and silly. In acts 1 and 2, the violence shown is purely "cartoon" violence – no one is seriously hurt. Pretty much EVERYONE was shocked by the ending (including those that loved it).

2) As for the "morality" aspect: Like Dr. Horrible, Seymour of LSOH had to make a decision whether to kill (or in his case, whether to allow Audrey II to kill), and agonized over that decision. Unlike Dr. Horrible, Seymour DID kill. Once he allows the dentist to die, he's got blood on his hands, and Mr. Mushnick's death adds to that. So from a morality standpoint, we can feel that he "deserved" to be punished with an unhappy ending (although, as with Penny, it's kind of sad that a woman's death is seen solely as punishment for a man's actions).

In contrast, Dr. Horrible DIDN'T cross the line and kill. Yes, he made the decision to build the death ray and plot Captain Hammer's death. But when the moment of truth came, he hesitated. There was doubt on his face. He never actually crossed the irrevocable line and COMMITTED murder, as Seymour did. So from that standpoint, it bugs me that he suffered the same penalty. I think the fact that he hesitated and DIDN'T go through with the murder should have earned him some redemption points.

If it's meant to be a morality tale, then after hesitating, he should have steeled himself and forced himself to pull the trigger, but ended up accidentally shooting Penny instead (i.e. the gun explodes because it was built poorly; or the freeze ray fails AS he's pulling the trigger, and Captain Hammer smacks the gun away, making the shot go wild; etc. etc.) If Dr. Horrible had actually taken that step and pulled the trigger, then he would be more deserving of an  unhappy ending.

Aside from that point, overall I'm in Hope's camp. If I want something dark, I'll watch "The Dark Knight." If I want something sad, I'll watch "Titanic." If I want something goofy and silly to cheer me up, I look for something that sounds fun and goofy, like "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog." The ending may have been one valid artistic choice and does work as an ending, but it's DEFINITELY a bait-and-switch to the viewer, and I don't think that's fair. Some people love a shock ending that's tragic, but others don't.

I AM recommending this to other friends (because I do think it's great), BUT I'm warning them about the ending in advance. To me, the ending was a very unpleasant and upsetting shock, and I wouldn't do that to someone else. (If I knew someone with darker tastes, then I suppose I wouldn't, but that's not my circle.)

"Horrible is the villian, there had to be at least some doubt in everyone’s mind that he wasn’t going to win in the end."

 He’s NOT really the "villain," though, in terms of the story that’s being told. He’s the sympathetic protagonist, the one we’re rooting for, and Captain Hammer is the antagonist. I’m sure we can all agree that Captain Hammer is NOT actually the real hero of this story, right? The whole point is that it subverts your expectations, so the character that’s labelled a hero by the town really ISN’T, and the one that’s considered the "villain" is sweet and sympathetic. Since the story subverted those labels from the beginning, it was only natural to think that the ending would continue that subversion.

And I think Joss was counting on that – he WANTED people to be shocked and surprised by the ending. That was kind of the point, IMO.

I totally understand why people love the ending. What surprises me is that people who love the ending CAN’T understand why anyone would NOT like the ending. Is it really so hard to understand that someone cares about a character and wants them to end up happy, and is therefore sad and upset when they don’t? It doesn’t make the ending wrong; it just means that people have different tastes, that’s all.

“Honestly, how good would it have been if she lived and Horrible won? If instead of her death was Captain Hammer?”

I didn’t want Captain Hammer to die either. I thought his fate was perfect: he lived, but was publicly humiliated and found out he’s not so tough after all. It was an absolutely fitting justice for him. That's one aspect of the ending I AM totally happy with.

TrudiRose said:

 He’s NOT really the “villain,” though, in terms of the story that’s being told. He’s the sympathetic protagonist, the one we’re rooting for, and Captain Hammer is the antagonist. I’m sure we can all agree that Captain Hammer is NOT actually the real hero of this story, right? The whole point is that it subverts your expectations, so the character that’s labelled a hero by the town really ISN’T, and the one that’s considered the “villain” is sweet and sympathetic. Since the story subverted those labels from the beginning, it was only natural to think that the ending would continue that subversion.

Yes, I understand that. I don’t think you understand that I was hinting on that at the same time. Horrible is the Protagonist but he’s not the “HERO” in the setting he’s in. Any comic book you pick up is all about the Heros winning and the Villian’s being beaten in one way or another. So when people say “Omg I can’t believe Horrible lost Penny!” I’m just wondering how.. people could just not think that might be an option?

“I didn’t want Captain Hammer to die either.”
Well, if neither of them died then Horrible would have never made it into the ELE and would have been hunted down until he was killed himself. Then Horrible would have completely lost and, for someone we are so attached to, would have been even worse than with Penny’s death. Joss and the others didn’t go win/win or lose/lose but an interesting win/lose that would create even more emotion than either of those two.

I understand your point – "he's the villain and villains don't get happy endings" – but to me, the fact that they switched the "hero" and "villain" archetypes (sweet likable villain, asshole hero) made me assume that they likewise wouldn't follow the typical ending (hero wins, villain loses). 

"Well, if neither of them died then Horrible would have never made it into the ELE and would have been hunted down until he was killed himself. "

He wouldn't make it into the ELE, true, but he might have gotten Penny, which is more important to me. And yes, the ELE would have been after him…but who's to say they HAVE to succeed in killiing him, though? There are all kinds of possiblities, IMO. For example, I would've been happy with an ending where Billy gets Penny, but now they're both on the run from the ELE which is trying to kill them, and maybe Captain Hammer also wants revenge for Billy ruining his big moment and winning Penny over him, so he's after them too…or, if Captain Hammer ended up emotionally messed up like in the real version, then the whole city might be after Dr. H for robbing them up their hero…OR, if Cap was messed up and therefore out of commission, Dr. H could take credit for that, and get into the ELE that way — but then he'd have to walk a tightrope: assuring Penny that he's NOT really evil, but having to act evil enough to keep the ELE from getting suspicious…

I'm not saying the ending SHOULD should have been any of those specific ideas; I'm not Joss and I don't have that kind of talent. I'm just saying that, in my humble opinion, it IS possible to have an ending where Billy gets Penny while STILL having lots of drama and complications (if that's what people want), not necessarily a Disney ending where they go off into the sunset with birds singing. If Joss had wanted a different ending, and put his talent and creativity toward writing it, I'm sure it would have been great and no one would say "I'm disappointed! I wanted a tragic ending!"

I want to reiterate that I DO respect the fact that other people think this was the perfect, most satisfying ending and wouldn’t want to change a thing. Different strokes and all.

"My take on it is that Dr Horrible is evil and doesn't feel a thing, but that Dr Horrible is really just this dress-up roll that Billy is now playing, so he can avoid feeling.  At the end, we see the stark reality, where Billy is not in costume, and is shattered, alone, and miserable."

I see it this way too. Billy can't deal with the pain, so he throws himself into the role of Dr. Horrible, strutting around and telling himself that he's fine, he has everything he wanted, this is great, he doesn't feel anything…but at home, when he takes off the lab coat, he can't hide from himself. Inside, he'll always be Billy, and he'll always be in pain.