History Main / Bookends

** Future 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.

* [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/place]] started with a blank white canvas and closed with people only being given access to use white, thus turning the canvas white again.

* [[Website/Reddit r/place]] started with a blank white canvas and closed with people only being given access to use white, thus turning the canvas white again.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* WebAnimation/AnimatedSpellbook's Longerform Campaign Journal starts with the villain Shifty Wick in danger of being killed by wolves, and the party choosing to save him. The third episode ends with wraiths attacking the cave Shifty Wick is hiding in, and the party needing to decide if they're going to help him.
* [=BagelBoy=]'s Meme Man saga began with "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnE6lcBi5vk sitt]]", wherein Meme Man sits in a chair [[MundaneMadeAwesome in an overly-dramatic manner]]. "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMjlL35unE riddle of the rocks 2]]" ends with him taking another "sitt".
* Deliberately {{invoked|Trope}} by Pencil in TheStinger of the final episode of ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'':
-->'''Pencil''': Wouldn't it be weird if the very first and very last spoken words of BFDI were the same?\\
'''Match''': Yeah![[note]]This being the very first word in the very first episode of BFDI.[[/note]]
* ''WebAnimation/BowsersKingdom'' episode 1 ends with Mario beating up Hal and Jeff because a Shy Guy betrayed them and TheMovie ends with Mario and Luigi beating Hal and Jeff because [[spoiler: Steve betrayed them.]]
* ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'' begins and ends with a voice-over monologue by Shandala, starting with "I dream". Both start off much the same, but grow gradually different to reflect the change from the beginning and ending of the story.
* At the start of ''WebAnimation/DickFiguresTheMovie'', young Red says "Cuz I'm AWESOME!" and he and young Blue high-five. At the end, old Red says "Cuz we're AWESOME!" and he and old Blue high-five.
* The Strong Bad E-mail "theme song" from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' actually begins and ends with Strong Bad singing "When E-mail Comes to Town, It's Like a Rainstorm in your Browser."
* The story of ''WebAnimation/LuckyDayForever'' starts with 514 falling for the Whites' propaganda and ends with Sasiadka falling for the Whites' propaganda. This is a way to show that the Proles want to stand out like the Whites.
* In ''WebAnimation/MarioBrothers'', the series starts and ends with the same scene of Mario running from something.
* The first and last episodes of the multi-website collaboration ''WebAnimation/TheMostAmazingStoryEverTold'' are made by Goonland, and both involve the main character floating in an inner tube in the water.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':
** ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheBloodGulchChronicles The Blood Gulch Chronicles]]'':
*** This story arc ends very similarly to how it begins. In the first episode, Grif and Simmons stand on Red Base, Simmons asks Grif "[[ArcWords Do you ever wonder why we're here?]]", leading to Grif going on an incredibly long speech about the meaning of the universe before Simmons [[NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion explains that that wasn't what he actually meant]], all while the Blue Team spies on them from the cliffs. In the final episode, this scene happens again, only this time it's ''reversed'', with Church and Caboose standing on Blue Base, Caboose asking the question, Church going on an incredibly long speech about what it means to hate someone before Caboose explains what he actually meant, all while the Red Team spies on them from the cliffs.
*** Simmons delivers both the first and last line of this arc.
** ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheRecollection The Recollection]]'':
*** The first appearance of South Dakota in ''Recovery One'' ends with Washington pretending to shoot her in the head. Her final appearance (chronologically) in ''Reconstruction'' ends with Wash shooting her for real.
*** Every chapter of ''Reconstruction'' begins with an audio transmission from the Director or the Chairman to each other. The final chapter ''ends'' with a monologue from the Director.
*** ''Reconstruction'' begins with a soldier looking at the dead body of a Freelancer as the camera panned up in Valhalla, showing a huge number of characters (so many that the creators actually had to run several games and use split-screen to get that many). ''Revelation'' ends with a soldier looking at the body of [[spoiler:Agent Texas]] in Avalanche and the camera pans up to show a similar shot.
*** The final scene of ''Revelation'' acts as this to [[spoiler:the entire series up to that point, with the Blue Team in Blood Gulch talking about how the Red Team got a new [[CoolCar Warthog]]]].
** In a strange example of this, a flashback in ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheProjectFreelancerSaga The Project Freelancer Saga]]'' reveals that [[ImplacableMan the Meta]]'s rampage began at Sidewinder, the same place it would end, as well as begin the same way it ends, with a [[SuperSoldier Freelancer]] being thrown off a cliff.
** ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy The Chorus Trilogy]]'':
*** A rather tragic example brought on by real life events, the second episode of the arc ends with a [[InMemoriam tribute]] to former Creator/AchievementHunter contributor David Dredger, while the final episode is dedicated to Creator/MontyOum.
*** The final episode of the arc has one for events all the way back in Season 1. In Season 1, when Church "died", his last words to Tucker are "I just want you to know... I always hated you the most.". In the final episode of Season 13, [[spoiler:as the Reds and Blues prepare to make a LastStand, Church's last words to them before making his HeroicSacrifice is "I just want you guys to know, out of everyone I've ever met... I hate you all the least."]].
*** Both the trailer for Season 13 and the final scene of the season are stills of characters in action as Church monologues over them.
** ''The Shisno Paradox'' ends on one that calls back to both the first episode of the season, [[spoiler:where two characters begin to have the "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" conversation before the camera pans up]], and the first episode of the series, [[spoiler:with the Blues spying and, of course, "Do you ever wonder why we're here?"]].
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** The song "From Shadows" is a powerful song with hard rock and metal elements as the singer speaks of revolution -- of the down-trodden rising up from darkness to take back what's rightfully theirs. However, the introduction and close bookends a song of revolution with a slow and lonely piano solo.
** In "Lessons Learned", the first and last shot of the scene of Winter tutoring Weiss is of a caterpillar, which acts to identify the progress Weiss is making in developing her Semblance. The scene starts with Weiss's lack of faith in her Summoning ability while the caterpillar crawls alone in view of the camera. The scene ends with the caterpillar being stopped by a tiny summoned sword as Weiss and Winter depart, unaware that Weiss has started to manifest her ability.
** Pyrrha's first appearance in Volume 3 is accompanied by Ruby flinging her arms wide and calling out her name in delight when Pyrrha appears just in time to solve the problem they were facing, which is that Weiss's credit card has been declined so they can't pay for their food. Pyrrha's final appearance in Volume 3 is also accompanied by Ruby flinging her arms wide and calling out her name. [[spoiler:This time, Ruby's cry is despairing; she tries to reach Pyrrha in time to save her from a major problem -- fighting the too-powerful Fall Maiden, Cinder -- but instead arrives just in time to witness Cinder murder Pyrrha.]]
** The "beginning" of the opening act in the machinations of the villains' occurs in the pilot episode. The show opens to a narration by a mysterious woman that ends with a male narrator refuting her darkness by expressing faith in a "smaller, more honest, soul". The same episode quickly reveals the male narrator to be [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]], headmaster of [[ExtranormalInstitute Beacon Academy]]. The next three volumes consists of Ruby and her team trying to develop their skills at Beacon Academy while also trying to figure out what the villains are up to. Volume 3 closes with the same mysterious woman narrating a response to Ozpin's pilot episode objection; [[spoiler:as she announces the close of the [[YouCantThwartStageOne first stage]] of [[BigBad her plan]] and her intention to [[ArchEnemy begin "the end" of Ozpin]]]].
** Weiss's Volume 4 storyline is introduced to the audience with the sight of a subdued girl being summoned by the butler from the isolation of her sunlit room to walk through long, empty hallways as her heels loudly echo in a silence that only broken when she reaches her father's study and overhears him arguing with General Ironwood about the General's decision to inflict a Dust embargo on the world. Her Volume 4 storyline ends with the same butler again triggering her to walk through the long hallways. This time, her heels are muffled by carpet and she's determined rather than subdued. She is again stopped at the doorway to her father's study, overhearing him arguing with General Ironwood, this time about Ironwood's latest decision to close the Kingdom's borders to movement in either direction. [[spoiler:While the first study argument leads to her subjugation throughout the volume, the second study argument leads to her emancipation as she locks the men in the study while she escapes from the mansion to freedom.]]
** Cinder's first and last line in Volume 5 is "Shut up!" in response to being mocked. In the first scene, her retort to Watts mocking her lost eye reveals that she's recovered from her injuries and can be sent back out against the protagonists. [[spoiler:In the last scene, her retort to Raven reveals that she's lost control of the battle and is about to be defeated as a result of not paying attention to an enemy whose presence she should not have forgotten.]]
* The first scene of ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' is Nabi being harrassed by Doki at a drink machine. The final scene is [[spoiler:Nabi wiping racist graffiti off of it while sharing a drink with Nabi]].
* ''Machinima/YogscastMinecraftSeries'':
** The LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} has one in their first season of its ''Minecraft'' series. A bit before discovering the town full of {{NPC}}s, LetsPlay/LewisBrindley and LetsPlay/SimonLane build a portal to the Nether (which doesn't work). At the end of the season, they are at the same portal, preparing to venture into it. [[spoiler: However, they end up not trying to enter until the start of season three, with season two being more of a breather season. And the portal ''still'' doesn't work.]]
** Season three starts with [[spoiler: almost the entirety of Simon and Lewis's old world on fire, and them trying to reclaim items from the wreckage.]] Much later (though not at the end of the series, but at the end of an important part), they find [[spoiler: Mistral City also on fire, and are trying to reclaim items from the wreckage. This time, specifically the Holy Record from the church.]]
** In Survival Island (a custom map that eventually starts having slight relevance to the main plot that is billed as Season 2), they are in a slight hurry at the start to get coal for torches. Near the end, they again go looking for coal, this time to [[spoiler: fuel the airship that will take them home.]]
** The Blackrock Chronicle has a heart breaking one. Near the beginning and end of season 2. Both times the [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove confession]] at the end is averted. First, because the computer explodes before LetsPlay/ZoeyProasheck can read LetsPlay/{{Rythian}}'s message. The second time in the closing of season two, it's Zoey, and her sentence is interrupted by a nuclear explosion.
--->'''Rythian/Zoey:''' I miss you, I need you, [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove I love you]]."
[[/folder]]

** 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 respectivly). The seasons he won those rings were his second and second to last seasons as a pro as well.

* The Parade of Nations during the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames starts with Greece and ends with the host nation. So what happened in 2004, when Greece were 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.

* The first (XXXVI) and last (LIII) of the six Super Bowl championships that Creator/TomBrady won with the New England Patriots were victories over the St. Louis[=/=]Los Angeles Rams, coming off 11-5 seasons.

* Similarly, the 2007-08 Premier League season started with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties. It ended with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties.

* 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.

* In the 1990-91 NFL playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Houston Oilers in the Wildcard Round before being 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 Wildcard 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.

Not to be confused with the Music/SimonAndGarfunkel album of the same name.

* ''Ride/TheGreatMovieRide'' at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's Hollywood Studios]] begins and ends with the song "Hooray for Hollywood!" playing.

* Wrestling/AdamCole made his [[Wrestling/WWENXT NXT]] debut at the end of ''[=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn III''. Four years later, his last appearance was at ''[=TakeOver=] 36''. Both occurred during ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' weekend.

* Wrestling/AdamCole made his NXT debut at the end of ''Takeover: Brooklyn III''. Four years later, his last appearance was at ''Takeover 36''. Both occurred during ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' weekend.

* Wrestling/{{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 [[TenMinuteRetirement "last"]] match (Puerto Rican Wrestling/JoseEstrada on the former, Mexican Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio on the latter).

Similarly, the 2007-08 Premier League season started with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties. It ended with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties.

* The ''Animation/NoonboryAndTheSuper7'' episode "Pongdybory's Cold Feet" begins and ends with this exchange between Pongdybory and [[spoiler:Noonbory]].

Compare and contrast HereWeGoAgain, HowWeGotHere, WhereItAllBegan. See also CallBack, IronicEcho. Often utilized in an AndTheAdventureContinues 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 AlbumClosure.