As you’ll know from yesterday’s post, and also from a post I wrote a few days ago, I’ve been planning on writing an entry about the saddest moments in TV shows and films. This entry is actually slightly broader than the title would have you believe as I’m also including internet series in my top 10 saddest moments. Due to length, I’ve decided I’ll post this over two days as people may not like to read such a long entry. I should also warn you that there will be spoilers in this post, so if one of the items on my list is of a series you like but aren’t fully up to date with you may wish not to read it.
10. Friends: The Last One
I’m sure you know what Friends is, it’s one of those comedies that almost everybody likes with only very few exceptions. The sad moment I’m using from Friends is from the episode The Last One, which just so happens to be the very last episode. All the main characters are together in the empty apartment where a lot of the action from the series took place over the last ten years, except it’s all empty now because none of them will be living there anymore. They’re all about to go their separate ways and this is true of both the characters and the actors who were all very upset about it being the end, it was the end of an era after all. This one isn’t really any tragedy or anything (unlike some of the later entries) more a bittersweet ending, earning it a spot at number ten.
9. Summer Heights High: Episode 8
You may not have heard of this series, so I’ll briefly explain it to you: it’s a comedy series written by and starring Chris Lilley, showing the lives of three people who attend Summer Heights High School in Australia: Jonah, a trouble making Year 8 boy, Ja’mie, a snobbish Year 11 girl and Mr. G, an egotistical, flamboyant drama teacher. The sad moment in this series is from Episode 8 when Jonah learns that he has been expelled (and for something relatively minor). He ignores his instruction to empty his locker and goes to his lesson as usual, though it’s clear that he’s very unhappy about it. Then a member of staff comes along and drags him out of there, while Jonah strongly resists. It’s pretty sad as Jonah is the most likable of the three characters and you already know that his future looks rather grim as his father says that if he gets expelled he won’t be going to any other school.
8. Frasier: Visions of Daphne
Frasier, the series about two somewhat pompous physiatrist brothers, earns the spot at number eight for the ending of the episode Visions of Daphne. We’ve seen throughout the series that the character Niles has quite a crush on Daphne, and after his wife leaves him, he tries several times to tell her how he feels, but always fails. At the end of this episode Daphne gets engaged to a man named Donny, and announces it to everybody, including Niles who we see sitting miserably on the sofa, unable to express how sad he is because he doesn’t want her to find out how he feels…
7. Doctor Who: The Green Death
This’ll probably be the nerdiest entry on the list, but who cares? I love Doctor Who! It’s great! Now, the episode The Green Death, isn’t a particularly sad one, it’s mainly about giant maggots terrorising the English countryside, but it has a very sad ending. During the course of the story The Doctor’s companion, Jo Grant, meets and falls in love with a young man (I forget the character’s name). At the end of the story Jo gets engaged to this man and everybody has a big party to celebrate. However, this, of course, means that she can’t stay with The Doctor anymore, so The Doctor quietly sneaks out of the celebration party and drives home alone in the dark, having lost his friend to somebody else…
6. The Waltons: The Empty Nest
The Waltons is so good; it’s basically about a family living in 1930s America (and later 1940s America) and makes good use of both comedy and drama. Throughout the first six seasons the grandfather of the family, Zebulon Walton, was played by actor Will Geer, and was probably the most playful and humorous of all the characters. However, Will Geer sadly died before they started filming the seventh season and so the first episode of that series is about the characters coming to terms with Zebulon’s death. At the end of the episode they all gather round his grave and say their goodbyes, the fact that the actor was actually dead and that the other actors probably didn’t need to act to appear to be mourning makes the whole episode very sad (especially as it’s about the status quo of their life changing for all of them).
10. Friends: The Last One
I’m sure you know what Friends is, it’s one of those comedies that almost everybody likes with only very few exceptions. The sad moment I’m using from Friends is from the episode The Last One, which just so happens to be the very last episode. All the main characters are together in the empty apartment where a lot of the action from the series took place over the last ten years, except it’s all empty now because none of them will be living there anymore. They’re all about to go their separate ways and this is true of both the characters and the actors who were all very upset about it being the end, it was the end of an era after all. This one isn’t really any tragedy or anything (unlike some of the later entries) more a bittersweet ending, earning it a spot at number ten.
9. Summer Heights High: Episode 8
You may not have heard of this series, so I’ll briefly explain it to you: it’s a comedy series written by and starring Chris Lilley, showing the lives of three people who attend Summer Heights High School in Australia: Jonah, a trouble making Year 8 boy, Ja’mie, a snobbish Year 11 girl and Mr. G, an egotistical, flamboyant drama teacher. The sad moment in this series is from Episode 8 when Jonah learns that he has been expelled (and for something relatively minor). He ignores his instruction to empty his locker and goes to his lesson as usual, though it’s clear that he’s very unhappy about it. Then a member of staff comes along and drags him out of there, while Jonah strongly resists. It’s pretty sad as Jonah is the most likable of the three characters and you already know that his future looks rather grim as his father says that if he gets expelled he won’t be going to any other school.
8. Frasier: Visions of Daphne
Frasier, the series about two somewhat pompous physiatrist brothers, earns the spot at number eight for the ending of the episode Visions of Daphne. We’ve seen throughout the series that the character Niles has quite a crush on Daphne, and after his wife leaves him, he tries several times to tell her how he feels, but always fails. At the end of this episode Daphne gets engaged to a man named Donny, and announces it to everybody, including Niles who we see sitting miserably on the sofa, unable to express how sad he is because he doesn’t want her to find out how he feels…
7. Doctor Who: The Green Death
This’ll probably be the nerdiest entry on the list, but who cares? I love Doctor Who! It’s great! Now, the episode The Green Death, isn’t a particularly sad one, it’s mainly about giant maggots terrorising the English countryside, but it has a very sad ending. During the course of the story The Doctor’s companion, Jo Grant, meets and falls in love with a young man (I forget the character’s name). At the end of the story Jo gets engaged to this man and everybody has a big party to celebrate. However, this, of course, means that she can’t stay with The Doctor anymore, so The Doctor quietly sneaks out of the celebration party and drives home alone in the dark, having lost his friend to somebody else…
6. The Waltons: The Empty Nest
The Waltons is so good; it’s basically about a family living in 1930s America (and later 1940s America) and makes good use of both comedy and drama. Throughout the first six seasons the grandfather of the family, Zebulon Walton, was played by actor Will Geer, and was probably the most playful and humorous of all the characters. However, Will Geer sadly died before they started filming the seventh season and so the first episode of that series is about the characters coming to terms with Zebulon’s death. At the end of the episode they all gather round his grave and say their goodbyes, the fact that the actor was actually dead and that the other actors probably didn’t need to act to appear to be mourning makes the whole episode very sad (especially as it’s about the status quo of their life changing for all of them).
So that’s 10-6 of the moments I think are saddest in TV Shows and films (though no films are on this list yet). What do you think will be in 5-1? I can assure you that the final episode of the fourth series of Blackadder will not be on the list, I’ve been shown the clip so many times that it’s beginning to lose its effect on me, so it will not have a place in my top ten (if that’s what you’re expecting).
