# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/81 "2008-09-22T20:06:22Z")
The “Jump the Shark” episode of the X-files, when they killed off the Lone Gunmen. Although that also ties for the episode that makes me angriest. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/82 "2008-09-22T20:19:34Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > T > > The episode of _CSI_ where the baby is left in a hot car. I’ll never be able to watch that one again. That was the one that I came in to mention. I have a hard time even thinking about that one. RR ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/83 "2008-09-22T20:24:09Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > _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. With all due respect, I think the moment when Edgar dies was a lot harder emotionally. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/84 "2008-09-22T20:24:37Z")
The West Wing episode where Mrs. Lanningham dies. The look on Leo’s face as he processes it just breaks the heart. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/85 "2008-09-22T20:30:01Z")
The last episode of “All in the Family”, when Michael says to Archie something along the lines of, “I know you think I always hated you, but actually I’ve always loved you.” ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/86 "2008-09-22T20:42:56Z")
Some strong examples, some old, some recent, that stick in my mind when I talk to interns about such things: “A Hole in the World”, \* Angel \*. “The Body”, _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. What can I say, Joss is good at this shit. Up there, too, is last season’s “Wilson’s Heart”, \* House, MD. \* From the year prior, another great example would be \* Law & Order: CI\*'s “Endgame” in which Det. Goren’s mother passes away. Powerful stuff. “Hiatus Part I” and “Hiatus Part II”, _NCIS_. Interestingly written and subtly played material. “Confessions and Lamentations”, \*Babylon 5 \* There are lots more, but these are a few that come right to mind. The first one, in particular. ---
**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 22, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/87 "2008-09-22T20:45:02Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Was the first ep. you mentioned the one where Dr. Franklin tried to save the young boy by performing surgery against his parents’ wishes–and then they ended up killing their own son to try to save his soul? > I was bothered by that for days. No, that was _Believers_, which was first season. The one I mentioned was second season. Believers bothered me too, but it didn’t have quite the same ‘awww’ factor to it. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/88 "2008-09-22T20:53:12Z")
The last episode of M_A_S_H_ when Hawkeye realizes that the lady didn’t strangle a chicken. (Spoiler below) She strangled her child. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/89 "2008-09-22T21:03:22Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > The episode of _CSI_ where the baby is left in a hot car. I’ll never be able to watch that one again. I’ll explain this one further if anyone wants to know why it’s extra sad The baby was left in the car on purpose. The couple’s first child died of Tay-Sachs. The couple had another child and noticed he too was showing the same symptoms of Tay-Sachs. They felt like they couldn’t deal with that again, so they drugged the baby with cold medicine and pretended to accidentally leave the baby in the car. Turns out that the Tay-Sachs like symptoms were actually caused IIRC some kind of chemical the mom used in the garden, pesticides or something, and the kid would have been fine if they would have waited for the Tay-Sachs results to come back (they killed the kid before the “inevitable” TS diagnosis that was coming soon). So they killed their healthy baby. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/90 "2008-09-22T21:09:00Z")
I don’t understand why this episode of ER isn’t named with the others that always come up in such topics. The episode where they flash back to when Luka lost his family in Croatia destroyed me. Both his wife and child are dying and he has to chose which he will try to save. But he can’t save either because he is trapped and no help is coming. Fantastic acting in that one but I stopped watching soon after that. The writers really like to torture those characters. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/91 "2008-09-23T00:20:42Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Is this the one containing the scene of Archie clutching one of Edith’s slippers and beginning to cry? I have vague memories of that episode, but that particular scene is as clear as day. That’s the one. The bit with the slipper was bad, but what I found worse was an earlier scene when an Avon Lady came by with Edith’s last order. Archie paid the outstanding amount without telling the woman that Edith had died. Then he shuts the door, clutching the bag, and says (as if to Edith), “You never could say ‘no’ to anybody…” The look on Carrol O’Connor’s face during that line is the thing that stayed with me from that episode. Just brilliant acting – so true it hurt to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/92 "2008-09-23T00:58:57Z")
There was an episode of **CHiPs** titled “Head over Heels” where Ponch’s fiancée was killed by a drunk driver near the end of the episode. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571/93 "2008-09-23T01:39:44Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > 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. They replay this occasionally in the morning, and I’m a wreck for the rest of the day after I watch it. That song that is playing on the Walkman, Over the Rainbow by the dead Hawaiian guy, well we played that at my dad’s funeral. So double whammy for me (although I heard a rumor that Dr. Green will somehow show up during this up-coming last season, flashback I guess, he and Carter are my all time favs from the very beginning). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-single-episodes-of-tv-series/464571.md?page=4)