Prevent VLC from looping playlist
At the bottom of the player where the controls are you'll see 9 control buttons (play, fast reverse, stop, fast forward, etc.). The 8th control button (2 opposite facing arrows) is the loop control toggle. First click is "loop all", second click is "loop 1", third click is "no loop"
For mac this setting can be found in the menu bar, under Playback. Just select the option you prefer, or disable by selecting the active option. here is a screenshot of the menu dropdown