Saddest Death to Watch in a Television Show

[FunKay the Inevitable]

First, I apologise if this thread has been done before. Next, I wanted to create a new thread and this idea came to me. Now, over all the history of television, there have been moments that have made you cringe and cry. Moments that have made you feel downright upset. Now, my question relates to the death of characters. My question is what is the single saddest death to watch in a television show?

Spoiler

Vegeta's First Death - Dragon Ball Z
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Th reason I chose this was very simple. Vegeta was a man of pride, of dignity & most of all honour. He was a prince of a near extinct race and he had survived countless battles, and caused horrible suffering. However, after a battle with Goku & the rest of the heroes of Planet Earth, Vegeta began to slowly change. He began to be less murderous and more merciful. This became obvious after he was thoroughly beaten by Freeza.

He threw away his pride, his dignity, his honour, so he could make Goku realise that being a nice guy wasn’t going to work. He was going to have to become as merciless as Vegeta once was. He pleaded with Goku, crying about how he was taken away as a child to serve Freeza. This once proud warrior was broken. He was begging the man he had once called a lower class wretch to not only avenge his death but the entire Saiyan Race.

Now what about you? What is your saddest death?

EDIT: I've also now included the remastered version of the death. It's just as powerful but the dubbing is slightly different.

 

[Furyof5]

Well while you already used that one I will post another that I feel was nearly as emotional.

When I was younger I used to watch Boy Meets World, and the episode where Shawn's father died, to me, was pretty emotional.

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Shawn and his father had a strained relationship and they had finally come to terms with one another in an emotional conversation. Soon after he died and it was a very sad scene.

 

[SorgFamily]

Saddest freaking death I've ever seen? Definitely I Am Legend when his dog dies. First of all, an animal dying is one of the saddest things in movies. Second, that dog was his only companion and friend and he was so sad. Yeah, I may have a shed a tear or two, or.......................cried like a baby.

 

[Hazardous]

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The death of Jonathan Kent on Smallville. Now yes, I already knew they would do it at one point as I have grown up with the Superman comics, and movies. But it was just the way it was all done. The fact that it was snowing here the day they filmed it just added to the whole thing too.

 

[LigerBomb]

May not mean much if you never watched ER but this is it for me. Doc Greene was really the anchor and guiding character of the show. When they killed him off it went down hill from that point on. The scene may be trite, perhaps, but they really go for the emotional jugular. Allow me to set the scene as youtube has blocked certain clips:

Chicago ER Doctor Mark Greene is dying of a brain tumor, and has decided to go back to Hawaii—where he is originally from—with his wife and two daughters to live out his final days. In some of his final moments he looks up to see his once estranged teenage daughter Rachel—from his first marriage—standing beside his bed.

Mark: Hi.
Rachel: Hi.
Mark: I was just dreaming about you.
Rachel: You were?
Mark: The way you used to love balloons. Remember how much you loved balloons?
Rachel: No.
Mark: I used to buy them for you, and right when I handed them to you, you let them go. It drove your mother crazy.
He looks at Rachel and motions to her.
Mark: Sit with me. Sit.
She comes closer and sits next to him on the bed.
Mark: I was trying to figure out what I should have already told you, but I never have. Something important, something every father should impart to his daughter. I finally got it.
He pauses.
Mark: Generosity. Be generous. With your time. With your love. With your life.
Rachel: Okay.
Mark: I’m sorry, Rachel. I’m so tired.
Rachel: It’s okay.
Mark: Don’t cry for me.
Rachel: I won’t.
Mark: Be generous. Always.


This is what follows:

 

[Hazardous]

Another one I would like to add.. For all you House fans I know you'd agree.. But killing off Cutner was sad. And shocking. Would show a clip of it, but it happened off camera, and they never really gave a reason as to why he did it (okay, the actor, Kal Penn, left the show to go work for Obama) but as a fan of his character, I was shocked and saddened by it

 

[INDYjon22]

The Shield, when Lem dies. You could tell Shane didn't want to do it, that he loved Lem, but the fact of the matter was that if Lem died then the other 3 would be clean free, which ironically turned out to be worse for all of them. It was just so hard to watch when Shane dropped the grenade in Lems lap in the car and then walked away and Lem knew what was about to happen, but couldn't do anything to stop it. And then when Shane came back to talk to the dying Lem, very emotional to watch. I really wish I could find the video to show you guys, but I will have to keep looking for it.

 

[Cactus~Clothesline]

The Shield, when Lem dies. You could tell Shane didn't want to do it, that he loved Lem, but the fact of the matter was that if Lem died then the other 3 would be clean free, which ironically turned out to be worse for all of them. It was just so hard to watch when Shane dropped the grenade in Lems lap in the car and then walked away and Lem knew what was about to happen, but couldn't do anything to stop it. And then when Shane came back to talk to the dying Lem, very emotional to watch. I really wish I could find the video to show you guys, but I will have to keep looking for it.

I came to this thread specifically to list that one. one of the most complex, sad, long lasting deaths on TV. Every once in a while I'll just look at my fiance, dead pan and just say..."Shane?" Gets her everytime.

It also helps with the fact he was really the only one with deep morales.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Mine's kinda different, because it wasn't the character that died that choked me up so badly, but the character she loved losing her was what choked me up. I'm of course referring to......

That's right, Libby in Lost getting blown away by Michael and Hurley's reaction. I didn't really like Libby the character, but Hurley had been through such a load of shit in his life that to have his one ray of happiness taken from him after barely getting a chance to savour any of it really choked me up.

All i could think was 'Poor Hurley'.

I mean, the guy's dad just ups and leaves for seemingly no reason when he's a kid. He becomes stupidly obese (apparently because he developed an eating disorder when his dad left) and spends the next 15 odd years as a nobody with no aspirations (with a brief stay in a mental institution). He then wins $150,000,000 on the lottery, and then his Grandad dies, his mum's house burns down, he gets arrested, his old work and newest acquisition is his hit by a meteorite resulting in the death of a news reporter and one of his factories burns down.

He convinces himself that he's the source of all this bad luck and that his money has cursed him, and he even goes to Australia to learn of a man who suffered near enough the exact same thing after winning a competition in the exact same way that Hurley won the lottery, furthering his belief that he is cursed.

Then his plane crashes on an island filled with murderous psychos, animals from god knows where, pillars of smoke and un-godly goings on that no one can explain. Hope for being saved is becoming seeingly more and more forlorn with each passing day, he's mocked constantly by Sawyer, he watches people die on a daily basis, and then finally, he meets a girl who makes his heart sing and they make a connection, signifying that finally a little light is going to pierce through the shrowd of misery that Hugo Reyes has put up with nearly his entire life.....

And then this idiot who's desperate to reclaim his son, shoots her accidentally and then stands there pretending like he's another victim. And the worst part is, they all believe him, and if they hadn't told her he was ok, she probably wouldn't have freaked out and may have at least lasted a little longer. Plus, Hurley once again, blames himself.


There's no need to watch past 2:40, except to see Kate crying and Sawyer comfort her (although i felt she was crying more for Hurley than Libby, but whatever), the toll it's having in Jack 'The Douchebag Doctor' Shepard, Locke and Eko returning from the other hatch, and finally Michael standing around with a look on his face that says 'How long before they realise.....?'

What's worse is that the shit just kept on coming for Hurley, and this happened in freakin' season 2 out of 6!

 

[Alex]

I don't actually watch a lot of TV at the mo and FunKay already picked Vegeta's death so I decided to pick another one


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Throughout the entire season of Supernatural people knew that Dean was supposed to be going to hell and there didn't look like much that could be done. But then it was found out the antagonist (Lilith the demon) if she was killed Dean wouldn't go to hell in the last episode. So Sam, Dean and Bobby go to try and kill her with help from the good demon Ruby, but after fighting their way to Lilith they can't find her, it turns out she posseses the body Ruby was using and had Dean killed.

This was really sad as it seemed Dean wouldn't die in the end and just as it looked there might be hope it was crushed and Dean went to hell leaving Sam without his brother.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I cry whenever I see the scene in which Bambi's mother dies. When Bambi walks off with his father and turns to take one last look back, I dissolve.

And when they play "Love is a Song That Never Ends," I'm useless for the rest of the day.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHr-9_6hCg

(How the hell do you link to a YouTube video, anyway?)

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I was a huge fan of The Sopranos, so I would have to pick Adriana's death.

Adriana had been talking to the FBI for a while, and then she had to reveal all of this to Christopher who was her boyfriend/fiance. He was pissed, but he contemplated the whole protective custody thing. Well, Christopher proved his loyalty to Tony(which didn't pay off for him in the end) and Silvio killed Adriana. The devastated look on her face as she realizes she's been betrayed by the love of her life is just so hard to watch. She knew what was coming, and there was nothing she could do about it. Adriana was one of my favorite characters on The Sopranos, and I hated to see her go.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Jin and Suns death towards the end of Lost was pretty sad. Theyve been apart for god knows how long with all the time travel, and Sun thinking Jin was dead. Jin never getting to see his daughter, and all the other obstacles in their way. Then the day finally comes when they reunite. How heartwarming it was...until about 15 minutes later when they died in a submarine together. So you're left with feeling cheated, sadness, and regret, because now Jin will never get to see his daughter.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Jin and Suns death towards the end of Lost was pretty sad. Theyve been apart for god knows how long with all the time travel, and Sun thinking Jin was dead. Jin never getting to see his daughter, and all the other obstacles in their way. Then the day finally comes when they reunite. How heartwarming it was...until about 15 minutes later when they died in a submarine together. So you're left with feeling cheated, sadness, and regret, because now Jin will never get to see his daughter.

I personally thought their death was pretty stupidly done. The bomb ges off, the submarine jerks to one side, and suddenly Sun has been grafted to the wall by some metal bars. And Jin decides 'fuck it, never met my daughter so she won't miss me, we'll just leave her in the care of Sun's MOB BOSS FATHER!!!!'

Yeah, really clever decision on Jin's part there.

 

[1C3-M4N]

hahahaha Kenny from South Park.... no seriously though....


I would have to pick Charmed when Prue died. No one saw the show going in that direction and it was sad because it seemed like such a sad ending to the series. Although it was brought back I didn't think it would be possible.

 

[Heartbroken Soldier]

The Futurama episode where Fry's dog dies.
Just to watch Seymour wait outside the pizzaria for his whole and waiting for his master to return. I get choked up just thinking about it.

 

[jmt225]

There are two for me, and both were fathers.

First off, Dawson's dad dying in Dawson's Creek. Now, the death was a sudden car crash, and it wasn't his death that was sad to watch, but the aftermath of it and how Dawson and his family took it. There were beautiful flashbacks throughout the episode showing how great of a dad Mitch was not only to Dawson, but to his friends Joey and Pacey as well. I guess that's what made it so sad... the dude was a terrific father. There really wasn't an unlikable trait about him all throughout the series, and it was just sad to see him die so young, right after his second child was born and right after having a huge blow-up fight with Dawson.

Second, from Friday Night Lights... Matt Saracen's father dying. Now, I didn't necessarily like Matt's dad (as an Iraq vet he was only shown a few times in the first season and he was a bit of an asshole, but Matt really loved and respected him), but Zach Gilford gave such a fantastic performance in the episode (for which he should have won an Emmy) that it just broke your fucking heart to watch Matt go through the grieving process of losing a father he really didn't even know to begin with, but still loved and admired so much.

 

[Unsold Bacon]

I'm Sorry to pick a movie but I just can't think of much TV right now.But I want to contribute.

Although you didn't see it I would have to say Big Mike's Father's death in The Blind Side. Mind You I don't watch many movie so this is probably nowhere near the saddest.

It happened off camera but The School Director pulled Micheal away from school to say:

Big Mike? Mike, I got a call from someone at the police department. Do you remember the story in the papers while back about a… a man who fell off an overpass? No one knew who he was and or he jumped, or… Umm… anyway he… he passed away. Mike, the man was your father. They’ve been looking for somebody to notify and they… They found your name on our registry. I’m really sorry, son.

The pure emotion in Micheal Oher's face was really captivating and you couldn't help but be took in by it. He revealed he wasn't close to his father, Oher's childhood was so tough. Quinton Aaron made some of the best acting I've ever seen on this movie as Big Mike, his facial expressions really let the emotions in the movie just jump out at you. I'm surprised he wasn't nominated for an award. If you haven't saw this movie you should really go out and watch it.

 

[D-Man]

The Fox TV show 24 had many deaths. It seemed they killed off a main character in every season of the show. Each death just seemed worse than the next. And at other times, a character would be killed off, only to reappear in another season when you find out they barely escaped death and reentered the plot.

(I'll use spoiler tags, just in case you guys want to watch the seasons and don't want the plots to be given away.)

Even though many would say that the saddest deaths on the show occurred in one episode, when...

Spoiler

...former president David Palmer and CTU's Michelle Dessler were both assassinated, one after the other. Michelle's death was right before Tony Almeada's eyes. And after seeing what those two went through to finally be together in Season 4, it was heart-wrenching to see Tony lose her.

But for me, it was when one of the most innocent and important characters of that time was killed when...

Spoiler

...Edgar Stiles died from being exposed to nerve gas in CTU headquarters. Just seeing the look on Chloe's face as she had to sit safely in a room and watch her friend die through the glass window was just awful. Her post-catastrophic trauma drew the audience in and made us all feel horrible about what just transpired.

I remember that I couldn't stop think about how innocent he was and how he just didn't deserve it. And I really enjoyed his character because he was very intelligent and didn't take shit from anyone. He toughened up from one season to the next. And just when it seemed like he was finally getting the recognition he deserved, the tragedy occurred.

 

[Alex]

Another DragonBall Z one is the death of Future Gohan

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This was in an alternate reality where Future Trunks from the Cell saga came from. What makes this sad is how Future Gohan and Future Trunks were best friends and hung out together and helped each other out against the androids. Gohan is trying to teach Trunks how to be a Super Saiyan but Trunks isn't quite getting it. The androids are attacking and Trunks wants to help Gohan, however Gohan knocks Trunks out and goes to fight alone and is unfortunatly killed. Trunks wakes up and finds Gohan, his best friend dead and his anger causes him to become a Super Saiyan.

 

[8thwotwATG]

There are a couple of TV deaths that stick in my head. The saddest one that comes to mind was the death of Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue. The month long plus build up to one of the most heart wrenching tv deaths was nearly too much to bear, as I got really sucked in for the longest time as Bobby got sicker and sicker. As was almost always the case with this program, the top notch acting and writing made this series, and this particular storyline one of the most captivating and memorable.
The second tv death that was also quite sad, and very much a shock to those of us that saw it at the time was the death of Henry Blake on M.A.S.H.
While this is a part of television history now, when the farewell episode of MaClean Stevenson aired, no one had the slightest idea that he was going to die at the end of the episode. This in part is what made the death of Henry Blake very sad, and very shocking.

 

[Spaceman Spif]

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Amber's death on House was extremely sad. Multiple things come into play that caused the death, but what's hardest for Wilson to accept is that if she wasn't being nice and went to pick up House, she wouldn't have been on the bus when it crashed. Sad sad death as I was really starting to like Amber as a character and thought she was gonna be around longer.

 

[Chardee Macdennis]

There are a couple of TV deaths that stick in my head. The saddest one that comes to mind was the death of Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue. The month long plus build up to one of the most heart wrenching tv deaths was nearly too much to bear, as I got really sucked in for the longest time as Bobby got sicker and sicker. As was almost always the case with this program, the top notch acting and writing made this series, and this particular storyline one of the most captivating and memorable.
The second tv death that was also quite sad, and very much a shock to those of us that saw it at the time was the death of Henry Blake on M.A.S.H.
While this is a part of television history now, when the farewell episode of MaClean Stevenson aired, no one had the slightest idea that he was going to die at the end of the episode. This in part is what made the death of Henry Blake very sad, and very shocking.

Absolutely, with out a doubt, the worst TV death for me was Bobby. Andy and Diane's reaction to it made it all the harder. This was the greatest TV drama (IMO) of all time and there were some other sad one's as well. Andy's son dying after he and Andy had basically just gotten their realationship on track and Andy was teaching him to become a good Cop. Also, Andy's second wife being shot in court. Damn, Andy's had a tough life! His partner Danny (i think it was Danny) the one that Ricky Schroeder played, he got clipped. Can't remember if there were any others, but they were all sad in their own way. Bobby's was def. the saddest though.

 

[Hazardous]

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Amber's death on House was extremely sad. Multiple things come into play that caused the death, but what's hardest for Wilson to accept is that if she wasn't being nice and went to pick up House, she wouldn't have been on the bus when it crashed. Sad sad death as I was really starting to like Amber as a character and thought she was gonna be around longer.

Agreed! That was something I didn't see coming. Not only that, but it broke the seemingly "unbreakable" House. He cracked after that, eventually going as far as to seeing her everywhere (Cutler also at one point). This was a defining moment, as it showed House wasn't as mentally strong as we thought. Nothing trip to Rehab couldn't solve.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents on this. I was first very sad when they killed Warrick of the original CSI. I hadn't watched it in a while, and was hearing that someone was gonna die, and had seen him doing some investigating on the side. Then I was watching the end of the show when the double dealing detective guy came up to him as he was leaving the Coffee shop after having dinner/breakfast with the whole gang (Catherine, Brass, Greg, Sara, Gil, Nick) and then the dude starts to leave, then BOOM, u see the glass break and more bullets, and then he slumps over. Then the next episode starts and its chaos, and you see everyone completely torn. I was shocked, and to me CSI has NOT been the same since the death of Warrick, because then Grissom left shortly afterwards, and he was kinda the emotional glue for that group and you RARELY saw him breakdown, but he was very emotional during that, he seemed to consider Warrick like a son and when he found out Warrick had a baby, everything was just amplified even more that made him want to go and work things out with Sara in his strained relationship with her.

Another one I will say, someone already mentioned it in here, was Will Smith's dog in I Am Legend. I just couldn't stop crying during that, I a mess watching that, not only am I a big animal person, but then to know that your last 'friend' on the planet (that you were aware of) was succumbing to the illness. Then you had to decide, "Do I risk my life, or risk my sanity and end the dog's suffering?" I certainly was torn up watching that.

The series finale of Angel, where Wesley dies, he dies in the arms of Fred/Illyria who he always had a crush on Fred. It turns out to be the sweet ending he had wanted. Sad way to end the show.