Spoilers ahead!
Nothing beats that feeling of finding a new TV show we love. We love the plot but stay for the characters. We go through the highs, the lows, the butterflies, and the tragedies with them. We laugh with them, cry with them, and sometimes wish they were a real person. It’s genuinely a beautiful bond; but, right when we least expect it, they fall down an elevator shaft and die! We’re suddenly screaming at the TV and wiping our seemingly never-ending stream of tears. The episode ends, but we’re just sitting there, reeling in from what we witnessed. Our heart is broken, and it will be a while before we feel okay to move on. If you think that you’re over-reacting, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
An article in Time Magazine says that “Human beings love stories and make connections, even if it’s too fictional. We create meaning and then experience actual grief when that connection is broken”.
People go to extremes with character deaths today. Studios are sent petitions to bring them back, fan accounts are made to “honour the dead,” and social media is flooded with montages (or playmate edits) of the character’s best scenes. We asked a few people what their most heart-breaking character deaths were to understand what draws people to the surfaces they loved. The responses made us tear up. Read at your discretion to relive some of these iconic moments.
Jack Pearson from This is Us: The American Family Drama series by NBC has been a crowd favourite and a source for endless tears in the last four seasons. A friend talked to me about the show’s biggest tragedy by saying, “Growing up, I realized that everybody becomes a certain way depending on their childhood. Every trait can be traced back to some incident in their childhood. It’s like Jack Person knew this and strived to give his children a beautiful childhood. Watching him put in so much effort felt nice. He was my hope that there are still people who believe in good things. And watching him being snatched away, that too while literally saving a dog from a fire just broke me. He was the least deserving person to have been taken away like that”.
Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad: The American neo-western crime drama series by AMC is a massively successful show.
“Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad has always been a two-fold character. He was the cool uncle, but he also had ideas that said ‘Justice is Justice. The end doesn’t justify the means’. He dies, holding on to these values. He dies by not turning in his brother-in-law, which gave me chills.” Continuing the Breaking Bad train of thought, another fan responded by saying, “I don’t usually connect with fictional characters, but the troubles and moral decisions Walter white had to go through resonated with me. His drive to find any way out of a situation was something I looked up to. That was really devastating even if that was a fitting end to the series”.
Character deaths affect people more than we think they do. Unlike movies, we watch these characters over numerous seasons. Over time, even the ones that we didn’t particularly like in season one, become our imaginary friends by season ten. TV shows are an escape from reality that we often use to help distract ourselves.
Derek Shepherd (and everyone else now dead) on Grey’s Anatomy: The internet is currently raving about Derek Shephard’s brief return on the show.
Grey’s Anatomy is one of the longest-running shows with 17 seasons, currently on-air by ABC and is undoubtedly a fan favourite. People stuck with the doctors through an Earthquake, A shooting, Drowning, Car crash, Plane Crash, Train Crash, Alzheimer’s, and many other tragedies.
When Derek Shepherd on the ensemble medical drama series died, it shook the internet. His death came after 11 seasons. While his death is what most fans would have spoken about, a 22-year-old decided to tell us about another painful death on the series. “George O’Malley was a pure baby; he didn’t deserve to die. He was actually the sweetest, and his death was way too sudden and brutal. I didn’t see it coming, nor was I prepared. For me, his character was the most real out of the initial lot”.
Jim Hopper from Stranger Things: The science Fiction-Horror web series by Netflix is another sought-after web series. A fan opened up about the death of Jim Hopper from the show. She said, “I know there are theories that he’s still alive but that death was the saddest thing for me. He was the loneliest cop when the show began, and him taking eleven into his life was heart-warming. Knowing that the little girl is left without a family once again just breaks my heart”.
Katekar from Sacred Games: The thriller series is definitely one of the most talked-about shows. A Netflix original, Sacred Games became an unexpected hit. Although viewers love most characters, a fan talked about how Katekar, a constable on the show, impacted him.
“The fans did not see this coming. Though he was not one of the protagonists, his death created an impact. It came out of nowhere. He was a normal guy, who did normal things, like any of us except for this case he was dealing with the lead to his death. It was sad”.
We find comfort in the fact that there are so many people out there experiencing the heartache. Maybe we all need support groups to get us through the genuine pain. These characters often remind us of someone we know (could be us) or are the kind of people we wish to find in real life. As frivolous as the shows may be (or not), they are around to tell us stories that resonate with us. All that we ask is for our favourite characters to die in an old soap opera fashion. Give us a real death, and don’t breeze past it like it was just a plot point for your season finale. Please insert a crying emoji here; we were told it’s not writer-like just to add one.