# Saddest single episodes of TV series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571 "2008-09-21T19:00:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/21 "2008-09-21T21:37:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > First of all, the 80s New Twilight Zone is a terrific show — better in many way than the original. You’re probably thinking about the 2002 revival, which _was_ terrible. > > “The Cold Equations” was from the 80s version. > > Second, it was hardly likely that there was any network interference on the show for the simple fact that it was shown in the third season of the show, when it was not on any network – it was being syndicated. I have asked you OVER and OVER not to bother me with the facts. Facts are for women, liberals, and Frenchmen. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/22 "2008-09-21T21:46:54Z")
I’m sorry I missed the TZ version. I saw The Sci-Fi Channel’s version, which was bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/23 "2008-09-21T22:09:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Scrubs is known for episodes that end sadly, and a good number of the “happy” endings are at best, bittersweet. For pure sadness, the first-season effort in which JD, Eliot, and Turk all do their best to save three patients who all deserve to live–and who all die–is a big one. Yes, as is the episode where Dr Cox inadvertently kills the same number of patients – including one that was in no immediate danger of dying – by using organs from a rabid donor and then suffers a small mental breakdown that is the main plotline of the episode immediately following it. That episode – _My Lunch_ – and _My Screw Up_, the Brendan Frasier episode mentioned above, are the highest rated episodes of \*Scrubs \*at [tv.com](http://tv.com) ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/24 "2008-09-21T22:21:36Z")
The last episode of _Dinosaurs_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/25 "2008-09-21T22:23:21Z")
> [@alfonzos](#): > > The last episode of _Dinosaurs_. May we assume that involves a cometary impact? ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/26 "2008-09-21T22:30:55Z")
> [@Endiqua](#): > > Oh, man, _Jurassic Bark_… I was sitting there surreptitiously wiping away tears so my husband wouldn’t see me crying at a cartoon. (Of course, for all I know he was doing the same.) What use is a husband if you can’t cry on his shoulder? (Yeah, I came here for this one too) There’s two from Babylon 5 that come to mind: Confessions and Lamentations:An entire race is at risk when a 100% fatal disease becomes widespread. Their religious views prevent them from looking for medical treatment, as they feel it’s a punishment for their sins, but one doctor does try to help. A cure is eventually found, but too late–the entire race has already perished. Rising Star:Ivanova is critically injured and there is no hope to save her. Marcus finds a reference to a machine that can heal her, but only at the cost of the life of another. He rushes back to the station from the battlefield, knocks out the infirmary staff and gives his own life to save hers. My favourite character death of any series–not only very touching, but I also love her reaction at the beginning of the next episode. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/27 "2008-09-21T22:36:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I have asked you OVER and OVER not to bother me with the facts. Facts are for women, liberals, and Frenchmen. [Dad from “Mary Poppins”]Kindly do not confound the matter with facts![/Dad from MP] Anyway, I too came in to post about Jurassic Bark. I was crying by the end of it, too. Also the “Funhouse” ep of “Sopranos” because It’s the one where Big Pussy is killed. ---
**Author:** ![in\_hiding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/28 "2008-09-21T22:53:20Z")
“My Screw Up” really got me. Best Episode, imho. “Hard Luck Woman” from Cowboy Bebop. The “Call me” - Sequence is a real tearjerker, and it obviously starts the ending of the series. Even the last 2 Episodes aren’t as sad, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/29 "2008-09-21T22:54:17Z")
ER: Love’s Labor Lost - the episode where the woman needs a Cesarean, and no one from the OB/GYN staff is available. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/30 "2008-09-21T23:23:12Z")
[http://www.tv.com/law-and-order-special-victims-unit/shaken/episode/285120/summary.html](http://www.tv.com/law-and-order-special-victims-unit/shaken/episode/285120/summary.html) At the end the mother admits she killed her own child, shaking her to calm down so that she can entertain her boyfriend in the other room. Wish I could find the video clip: she says, “She laid down again and smiled at me.” The child later died in her sleep, IIRC. It was such a chilling moment—to know that you’d just killed your child and her last act was to show you love. The actress totally nailed the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/31 "2008-09-21T23:30:05Z")
_Supernatural_: when Sam dies at the end of season two, clutched in his brother’s arms. I still can’t watch that one without getting sniffly. _Lost_: when Charlie dies (although Jin [del]dyign[/del] just resting for a little bit, he’ll be fine works for me too). _24_: when at the end of season three, Jack just completely breaks down in his car and loses it, crying into the steering wheel–it was such a raw emotional \*human \*moment for him, after all the standard superheroics. I’m gonna have add “Jurassic Bark” to that, too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/32 "2008-09-21T23:42:17Z")
Another for _Jurassic Bark_. \*The Sting \*stings too. Someone is going to say it at some stage but the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth was another weepy. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/33 "2008-09-21T23:47:05Z")
Dr. Greene dying on _ER_. I just saw it the other day and blubbered like a baby boy. He spends his last hours alive trying to give his daughter happy memories of him. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/34 "2008-09-21T23:48:44Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > May we assume that involves a cometary impact? A deep freeze, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Mumio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@Mumio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mumio)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/35 "2008-09-21T23:55:39Z")
ER: the episode when Dr. Mark Green (Anthony Edwards) dies from a brain tumor ☹ The song “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” performed by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole was played during that episode and still haunts me to this day. It makes me cry. Also ER: The “Time of Death” episode starring Ray Liotta as an alcoholic in the final stages of cirrhosis. This episode was unbelievable. Liotta should have received an award for this. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/36 "2008-09-21T23:58:55Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > What use is a husband if you can’t cry on his shoulder? (Yeah, I came here for this one too) > > There’s two from Babylon 5 that come to mind: > > [cut for brevity] > > Rising Star > My favourite character death of any series–not only very touching, but I also love her reaction at the beginning of the next episode. Oh, how I bawled like a little girl, and so did my daughter. Watching Ivanova’s reaction the following week seriously did me in. I still can’t watch it without pausing at least once to get myself back under control. My son was just a wee lad when it first aired, but he watched the DVDs with me awhile back and he had to get up and leave the room because he didn’t want me to see him crying. The episode where Ivanova’s speaking to her hospitalized father didn’t do me any favors either. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/37 "2008-09-22T00:00:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I have asked you OVER and OVER not to bother me with the facts. Facts are for women, liberals, and Frenchmen. Go here: > **[Science Fiction-Media in Transition](https://web.mit.edu/m-I-t/science_fiction/transcripts/jms_jablokov_index.html)** and then scroll down about 3/4 of the way–it’s a bit of a slog–to the red section called Creativity and Communities, then look under that to see J. Michael Straczynski himself comment on the dispute with the network over “The Cold Equations.” I knew I hadn’t dreamed that up. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/38 "2008-09-22T00:55:22Z")
I’m going to be the dissenting voice here and say I did not like the Scrubs episode “My Screw-Up.” I actually just watched it on DVD for the first time, and immediately realized it made no sense. Before the big reveal that Brendan Fraser’s character has been dead all this time (shades of The Sixth Sense), the entire cast except for Dr. Cox are just bopping along happily like they usually do. It makes no sense that they, especially J.D., would not have some lingering reaction to his death. Instead, they are having silly arguments about Turk’s mole. It was shameless writer’s manipulation to disguise the reveal. On the other hand, I really liked the episode where the young woman who envisioned death as a Broadway musical gets her touching finale with the cast joining in. The previously mentioned “Jurassic Bark” is the only T.V. episode that has made me sob and sob and sob, long after it was over. It was just such a depressing punch in the gut, and sad animals really get me. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/39 "2008-09-22T02:40:04Z")
Another one for _Jurassic Bark_. I got all misty-eyed over the death of Dr. Green on _ER_, but now that my mother has recently passed away from a brain tumor, there’s no way I could ever watch that again without coming completely unglued. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/40 "2008-09-22T02:42:00Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > My favourite character death of any series–not only very touching, but I also love her reaction at the beginning of the next episode. Which was…? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571.md?page=3)