A macabre post
Several posts from my flist make me think of death lately, more precisely fictional deaths and how death is pictured on screen or which "kinds of death" work the most. In RL I'm rather terrified by death, but in fiction I rather "dig it". It's probably the Greek in me that loves tragedy, or perhaps it's the mediaevalist who tends to see works of fiction as artes moriendi.
Anyway, I wanted to make a post on death in series from my tv Pantheon, but I'd rather make several entries in order not to spoil anyone for some people might have not seen certain series yet. I thought about that last night when it was so hot that I couldn't sleep...
I won't write an essay on death for each show - I don't have the time to do that - but I will try to categorize some memorable deaths in six great tv shows(BtVS, BSG, OZ, The Wire, Deadwood and Breaking Bad), that in my humble opinion are the best tv shows ever. There are many other shows that I love dearly, but those six really are the first class series. Also the categories may change for the shows in questions are very different(I haven't begun to think of what I will pick for OZ!), but I'll try to keep some constant themes.
Let's start by the series whose creator is known for killing many characters (yet when I thought about it, I realised he didn't kill that many regular characters compared to others...), that is Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And I mean the tv show as the comics don't exist in my book.
The most heroic death
It has to be Buffy's at the end of "The Gift". Because, you know, she saved the world a lot...
The most iconic death
Spike's in"Chosen", obviously. But everything that Spike did was iconic, even dying.
The most poetic death
April the Robot dying on the swings. It's a bittersweet and touching moment. I loved that Buffy stayed with her until the end. Of course it's even more bittersweet if you think that because Buffy stayed with her she wasn't at home with her mom...
The most tragic death
Jenny Calendar's in "Passion", because of the dramatic mise-en-scène by Angelus, because of its impact on plot, because of Puccini's music, and because of Giles' reaction.
The most cliched death
The watcher who died in season 7 but had the time to tell Giles that "It has begun"!
The tearjerking death
I'm torn about that one. Tearjerking deaths imply a lot of pathos, a certain melodrama (like Melany dying in Gone With The Wind). Jenny Calendar's fits in, especially if we think of Willow crying afterwards, but so does Buffy's at the end of "The Gift", but in both cases it isn't the death itself that was tearjerking but its consequences, the grief of the living. I think I'd just have to have a Buffy marathon to see which episode will make me cry the most. But I guess "The Body" would win that one, especially when Buffy tells Dawn in the corridor while we stay inside of the classroom.
The death the audience didn't really care about
That blonde Potential who died in season 7 and the First took her guise? Snyder's in season 3?
The death that looks so real it makes you think of death in RL
Joyce's in "The Body" of course. It' still the most difficult episode to watch for me. I remember thinking that Joss nailed it. It took me back to how numb I felt during the few hours after I heard that my father had died, how unreal it felt.
The most expected death
They are legions! Professor Walsh killed by her creature in season 4, or Warren killed by a bored Willow in season 6, or cancer boy in "Lie to me", or the girl who flirted with Spike in "Sleeper".
The death that wasn't that much of a surprise but that turned out to happen quickly and in a "clean way":
Definitely Anya's in "Chosen". Her death has been foreshadowed, and given the context of the fight it was likely to happen then and there, but it wasn't a cliché. It wasn't theatrical, it was "clean", and nobody noticed her body. I liked that.
The least expected death
That one is difficult. I'm tempted to say Joyce again, because it was unexpected, as it often is in RL yet there was the tumour thing before...so I'll go with Harmony's because it's the death that also didn't happen on screen and that nobody could foresee. One minute Harmony was one of Cordelia's followers off to vacations, and the next she was back in Sunnydale as a fledging vampire!
The most shocking death
Tara, because they were just talking in their bedroom and suddenly there was something red on Willow's shirt...
If you think of other categories, feel free to add your own.
Anyway, I wanted to make a post on death in series from my tv Pantheon, but I'd rather make several entries in order not to spoil anyone for some people might have not seen certain series yet. I thought about that last night when it was so hot that I couldn't sleep...
I won't write an essay on death for each show - I don't have the time to do that - but I will try to categorize some memorable deaths in six great tv shows(BtVS, BSG, OZ, The Wire, Deadwood and Breaking Bad), that in my humble opinion are the best tv shows ever. There are many other shows that I love dearly, but those six really are the first class series. Also the categories may change for the shows in questions are very different(I haven't begun to think of what I will pick for OZ!), but I'll try to keep some constant themes.
Let's start by the series whose creator is known for killing many characters (yet when I thought about it, I realised he didn't kill that many regular characters compared to others...), that is Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And I mean the tv show as the comics don't exist in my book.
The most heroic death
It has to be Buffy's at the end of "The Gift". Because, you know, she saved the world a lot...
The most iconic death
Spike's in"Chosen", obviously. But everything that Spike did was iconic, even dying.
The most poetic death
April the Robot dying on the swings. It's a bittersweet and touching moment. I loved that Buffy stayed with her until the end. Of course it's even more bittersweet if you think that because Buffy stayed with her she wasn't at home with her mom...
The most tragic death
Jenny Calendar's in "Passion", because of the dramatic mise-en-scène by Angelus, because of its impact on plot, because of Puccini's music, and because of Giles' reaction.
The most cliched death
The watcher who died in season 7 but had the time to tell Giles that "It has begun"!
The tearjerking death
I'm torn about that one. Tearjerking deaths imply a lot of pathos, a certain melodrama (like Melany dying in Gone With The Wind). Jenny Calendar's fits in, especially if we think of Willow crying afterwards, but so does Buffy's at the end of "The Gift", but in both cases it isn't the death itself that was tearjerking but its consequences, the grief of the living. I think I'd just have to have a Buffy marathon to see which episode will make me cry the most. But I guess "The Body" would win that one, especially when Buffy tells Dawn in the corridor while we stay inside of the classroom.
The death the audience didn't really care about
That blonde Potential who died in season 7 and the First took her guise? Snyder's in season 3?
The death that looks so real it makes you think of death in RL
Joyce's in "The Body" of course. It' still the most difficult episode to watch for me. I remember thinking that Joss nailed it. It took me back to how numb I felt during the few hours after I heard that my father had died, how unreal it felt.
The most expected death
They are legions! Professor Walsh killed by her creature in season 4, or Warren killed by a bored Willow in season 6, or cancer boy in "Lie to me", or the girl who flirted with Spike in "Sleeper".
The death that wasn't that much of a surprise but that turned out to happen quickly and in a "clean way":
Definitely Anya's in "Chosen". Her death has been foreshadowed, and given the context of the fight it was likely to happen then and there, but it wasn't a cliché. It wasn't theatrical, it was "clean", and nobody noticed her body. I liked that.
The least expected death
That one is difficult. I'm tempted to say Joyce again, because it was unexpected, as it often is in RL yet there was the tumour thing before...so I'll go with Harmony's because it's the death that also didn't happen on screen and that nobody could foresee. One minute Harmony was one of Cordelia's followers off to vacations, and the next she was back in Sunnydale as a fledging vampire!
The most shocking death
Tara, because they were just talking in their bedroom and suddenly there was something red on Willow's shirt...
If you think of other categories, feel free to add your own.