When it comes to shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Sopranos, violence and bloodshed are quite common. Death can be a recurring theme even in superhero shows or darker animated series. But when a character succumbs to their death in a show like Seinfeld or The Powerpuff Girls, the demise comes out of nowhere.
The brutality of these deaths not just comes from the shock value but also the very nature of these cases, ranging from car accidents to drug overdoses. And the very fact these shows usually don't kill off that many characters, such moments are indeed quite depressing and surprising.
Warning: Mentions of violence, death, and drug abuse.
9 An Anger Outburst Turns Into A Heart Attack - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Captain Seth Dozerman is a guest star on Brooklyn Nine-Nine played by the versatile Bill Hader. A short-tempered man who is newly assigned to the precinct, he has to be hospitalized after one of his outbursts leads to a heart attack. Even after recovering, he loses his cool yet again when he sees Jake and Amy cozying up in the office. This time, he falls prey to another cardiac arrest that takes his life.
The moment is darkly funny but also a quite unexpected way to die. Even though the sitcom's characters are police detectives, the family-friendly show usually strays away from death. This makes Dozerman's death all the more random.
8 Unexpected Car Crash - Nashville
Nobody would have thought that a country singer from a musical show like Nashville would die an ugly death like this. Towards Season 5, Rayna James faces tussles because of an obsessive stalker who even holds her at knifepoint in one scene. After the stalker is finally arrested, James heads back home only to be caught up in a car crash.
The accident leaves her with a crushed pelvis and a broken leg with the character ultimately dying on the hospital bed. Regarded as the "Queen of Country", James was a flawed but positive character and her death did hurt the show's fans.
7 Krabs Gets Eaten By A Human - SpongeBob Squarepants
A classic among the best cartoons on Nickelodeon, SpongeBob Squarepants is known for its cartoonish and over-the-top antics. As all episodes are mostly standalone stories, they don't seem to share a continuity. If that's the case then the Season 4 episode "Wishing You Well" marks the death of Mr. Krabs. The money-minded boss of SpongeBob sets up a wishing well for some side income. However, SpongeBob is convinced that there is magic in the well and it grants wishes.
When the skeptical Krabs wishes to be "steamed and served with a side of melted butter", the show suddenly shifts to a live-action format showing a crab dish. A human appears with a bib reading "The End" and proceeds to eat the crab even as viewers hear Krabs saying "Uh-oh! I do believe in magic!". Sometimes, cartoons can have quite a twisted sense of humor.
6 Client Shoots Lawyer In Panic - The Good Wife
Will Gardner has been a loyal work partner and an occasional love interest to The Good Wife's titular protagonist. The drama has had its fair share of legal tussles but never featured any direct violence. Without any foreshadowing whatsoever, Gardner is shot in the fifth season by his own client.
After he represents an emotionally-unstable client Jeffrey Grant, chaos ensues in the courtroom. Grant himself reaches for a security guard's service gun and opens fire with Gardner dying in the scuffle.
5 Road Accident And Negligent Hospital Staff - Grey's Anatomy
Patrick Dempsey's Derek Shepherd is one of the fan-favorite characters on Grey's Anatomy, a medical drama that deals with all sorts of depressing operation room cases but none that involved such a brutal death. After Shepherd intervenes in a car accident, he actually manages to save four people. Heading back to his car, he receives a text. But as he goes on to check his phone, an approaching semi loses control and he gets injured in the ensuing accident.
This isn't where the melancholia ends. He is in an immobile state while being rushed to the hospital. And given the gifted doctor he is, he knows exactly that he needs a "head CT" right away. Unfortunately, the head doctor feels it's more important to check his abdominal bleeding. This medical mistake proves to be costly and Dempsey's stint as the show's main character ends right there.
4 Truck Crushes Matthew Under His Own Car - Downton Abbey
Dan Stevens' Matthew has survived the horrors of the First World War and even the wave of Spanish influenza. Now that he's back home, he happily meets his wife, Mary at the hospital with their newly-born child. But the drive home proves to be a bumpy ride as a truck collides with his car. Not much is shown when it comes to the crash and the next scene just opens with a frame of Matthew's corpse crushed under his own car.
A haunting visual for a relatively harmless period drama like Downton Abbey, Matthew didn't have to go down such a sad road.
3 Susan Dies Of Licking Toxic Glue On Envelopes - Seinfeld
Arguably one of the most tragic characters on Seinfeld, Susan has had an on-and-off relationship with George. However, it would have been better if she wasn't with him given how he caused her unfortunate demise in a way. As it is, the couple was facing problems during their engagement. When George decides to use low-quality glue for the engagement envelopes, Susan licks all of them to seal the letters. The toxic glue eventually leads to her sudden death.
What's even more disturbing is that George treats her death as his way out of a dissatisfying relationship. He clearly doesn't get any brownie points here among Seinfeld fans.
2 A Drug Bender Gone Wrong - Bojack Horseman
Sudden character deaths are common in Bojack Horseman but still, the show doesn't engage in any direct instances of violence. As drug abuse serves as a recurring theme in the Netflix adult animated show, audiences thought that Bojack and his former Horsin' Around co-star Sarah Lynn's drug bender would be one of the many psychedelic sequences in the show. Instead, the recently-sober Sarah goes past her limit and dies of an overdose.
The death has major consequences for Bojack's guilt-filled persona in the future episodes and adds to the morbid realism that the show tries to encapsulate.
1 Bunny Explodes - The Powerpuff Girls
The episode "Twisted Sister" revealed that the titular protagonists of The Powerpuff Girls had another lab-made sister. Instead of the professor, the girls had themselves created her secretly so that this new sister can help in easing off the burden to save the town. Even though Bunny has similar powers, she can't speak complete sentences and her bulky physicality limits her crime-fighting activities.
Shunned by her sisters, she wants to prove herself one last time and defeats multiple criminals at times. But at the end of the battle, her body grows unstable and she explodes in a flash of lightning. The only good character to die in the show, Bunny's arc is truly tragic.
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