Joyce Summers – “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”
Joss Whedon is famously unsentimental about letting his creations live happy endings, with fans frequently traumatized by the deaths of major characters in his films and TV shows, from Jenny Calendar in “Buffy” to Wash in “Serenity,” all dispatched by malevolent supernatural figures or heroically sacrificing themselves. But the most devastating demise he was ever responsible for came unceremoniously, via natural causes. In “The Body,” one of the best ever episodes of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” (still Whedon’s finest hour), the title character comes home to find her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) unconscious on the sofa. She tries CPR, she calls paramedics, but it’s to no avail: she’s had an aneurysm, and has passed away. The rest of the episode sees Buffy telling her sister, and her friends not knowing how to treat her, and the result is one of the most potent and powerful televisual explorations of… not so much grief, but the numb aftermath and continuation of life that comes in the wake of death. It’s all the more remarkable for coming on a show that so many could have dismissed as a silly teen horror-comedy, were it not done consistently with the level of quality that Whedon (who writes and directs the episode) and his team delivered.
Zoe Barnes – “House Of Cards”
The first season of “House Of Cards” was, essentially, a four-hander, with Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood, his wife Claire (Robin Wright), young Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) and journalist Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) all taking up more or less equal amounts of screen time, at least until Frank killed Russo near the end of the first season. A year later, viewers were only just adjusting to the Russo-free second season, literally not even a full episode in, when the number of major characters dropped again, as Underwood pushed Barnes in front of a Metro. Fans of the British original might have been prepared for Zoe not to last the series (her UK equivalent, Mattie Storin, is pushed off a roof), but they likely thought she was safe until much later on. Indeed, there’s something almost thrillingly unceremonious in how fast it happens, leaving the viewer’s head reeling. It was a welcome sign that the show wasn’t messing around (although it was potentially something of a mistake, given how it would get by the middle of the second season — the gap left by the exit of Mara was a palpable one).
Omar – “The Wire”
Again, “The Wire” was a show that prepared you not to get attached to even its most memorable characters: first Wallace was killed in Season One, then Idris Elba’s Stringer Bell was murdered in Season Three. But surely, fans, thought, Omar, the relentlessly badass, code-espousing, openly gay stick-up man played by the great Michael K. Williams, who was perhaps more beloved than any other character on the series, would be safe. And indeed, he made it through the bulk of the fifth and final season of the show unscathed, despite actively targeting the crew of Marlo Stanfield, who’d killed his friend Butchie. But his trail of bloodshed finally came to an end with the antepenultimate episode, “Clarifications,” where, when inside a Korean convenience store, he’s ambushed by pre-teen psychopath Kenard (Thuliso Dingwall), who’d held him at gunpoint earlier, and killed instantly with a bullet in the head. And in retrospect, while Omar’s legend might have made it seem like he would live forever, he would always die like this: having made one too many enemies, and living by a code in a world where a code was a hindrance, never a help.
Adriana – “The Sopranos”
Among a show full of complex characters that you could hate one minute, and utterly pity the next, Adriana La Cerva, as played by the always terrific Drea de Matteo, was always one of the more sympathetic characters. Sure, she was ambitious and materialistic and should have shaken off dirtbag fiancé Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) years ago, but she had a good heart and a good soul. Which meant that she became a target for the FBI’s attempt to take down the family, forced to turn mole after being threatened with being sent down for cocaine dealing. She tries to do right by Christopher and the Soprano family, avoiding giving up any truly damaging details, but is increasingly and desperately backed into a corner (de Matteo was positively heartbreaking during this time, and rightly won an Emmy for her performance during this run), and eventually confesses all to her fiancé, hoping he’ll join her in Witness Protection. Instead, he tells Tony, who has Silvio drive her into the woods and shoot her. It’s a horribly sad, terrifying end for her to face, and the boldness of having her death ordered by characters we’ve increasingly come to care about was a risk even for a show as unconventional as “The Sopranos.”
Teri Bauer – “24”
Over the decade or so that it was on TV, real-time anti-terrorism thriller “24” (soon to return in rebooted form) got increasingly ridiculous. Actually, it began with a woman blowing up a plane after parachuting out of it, so it actually started pretty ridiculous, but it would eventually progress to Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) sawing a terrorist’s head off and a nuclear bomb going off in the Grand Canyon. But at its best, it was gripping, and it was usually at its best when it got personal, and it was never more personal than at the end of the first season. The day was seemingly saved: the president had been saved, and the villainous Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) killed. But there was no happy ending to be had: Jack’s number two at CTU, Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) turned out to be a terrorist mole, and in an attempt to escape, murders Jack’s wife Teri (Leslie Hope). Who was also pregnant. Of all the twists and turns the show would throw at viewers — and it was about one twist every fifteen minutes for over 200 episodes — this was the most brutal and bruising, and its hero never quite got over it.
