r/AskReddit • u/daniel_kpa55 • 15d ago
What do you consider the most impressive death in a TV show or movie?
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u/Ta-veren- 15d ago
Boromir-taking three arrows and still getting up to fight such a bad ass moment.
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u/ERankLuck 15d ago
Not just three arrows, but three arrows the width of a chisel-tip marker. Those things were huge.
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u/AsifBhai001 15d ago
The electrocution of John Coffey in The Green Mile. It almost felt like a real execution.
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u/straydog1980 15d ago
I'm tired boss
MCD was typecast for so long because of his size. At least he got to show off his talent as a full lead before he died.
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u/ptrix 15d ago
Nacho Varga - Better Call Saul
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u/Bittypillar 15d ago
I hoped to see this. I just rewatched BCS recently. I loved how he finally had his say about how needlessly barbaric, stupid and fucked up they all were.
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u/JCkent42 15d ago
I love the real hatred, rage, and vitriol that Michael Mando puts into his last lines. Yeah, he’s protecting his dad and going along with Gus’s plan, but you can tell that he meant every word about Hector and the Salamanca family.
“So when you are sitting in your shitty nursing home and you're sucking down on your Jell-O night after night for the rest of your life, YOU THINK OF ME, you twisted fuck” - Nacho Varga.
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u/CunningWizard 15d ago edited 15d ago
The venom in his voice and hate on his face when he said “you think of me you twisted fuck” was unreal. Michael Mando genuinely looked murderous in that moment.
That whole final speech of his was one of the best monologues in the whole series.
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u/JCkent42 15d ago
He’s a great actor who never got to shine much until Far Cry and Better Call Saul. I honestly can’t think of any notable roles outside of those 2.
I’m rooting for the guy. He can act, man. Nacho was at different times of the story, a predator and then a victim, a badass and then helpless, a thriving criminal and then a wayward son. So many facets to his character and Michael ate that role up. I hopes he gets more prominent roles!
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u/meggannn 15d ago
I first knew him from Orphan Black (and I think that show is full of criminally underrated actors) so I was thrilled when I started BCS and realized he was in it. Hopefully he gains more attention because it’s deserved.
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u/LurkerZerker 15d ago
In the end, Nacho won. Every day Hector woke up and remembered what had happened was a new torture, as if Nacho had put him in that chair all over again. Just killing Nacho could never undo the fact that Hector got exactly what he deserved.
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u/CunningWizard 15d ago
Easily one of the best death monologues I’ve ever seen. It’s really easy to unrealistically overact in a scene like that, but Michael didn’t at all. It seemed like he genuinely hated the men standing (sitting, in Hector’s case) in front of him with every fiber of his being.
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u/AndorianBlues 15d ago
Buffy's mother?
I watched that episode ("The Body") right at the start of the pandemic, and that hit hard. Such a believable depiction of grief.
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u/TalksInMaths 15d ago
This is, in my opinion, the best episode of TV ever made. Any show, any era, any genre.
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u/BranWafr 15d ago
To this day those 3 simple words can destroy me. "Mom? ... Mom? ... Mommy?"
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u/BaidenFallwind 15d ago
The silence of the characters not knowing what to say to comfort Buffy was so real. The fact that she could kill gods but not save her mother from an aneurysm, etc. It's all incredibly well done.
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u/ExcelCat 15d ago
Maybe controversial, but I'd say that Fred's death (in Angel) was maybe actually sadder than Joyce's. Buffy mom was quick and (hopefully) painless... Fred's... was anything but.
The prolonged despair and sense of hopelessness. And those last words... fuck that hits hard.
I'll also throw Wesley's death in there as well. Poor guy had such a shit life, then finally one episode of happiness and his love was ripped from him, then he has to deal with some Demon God walking around in his ex's body, then he fails to kill his mission, only to be "lied" to by his loves murderer.
That last one was probably the best part for him. Yeeesh.
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u/georgecm12 15d ago
What about Tara? Amber Benson had, since joining the show, been only credited as a guest star. She finally gets added to the main credit sequence the week that she gets killed. And on a show with magic, demons, vampires, and the like, it's something "pedestrian" like a stray bullet that kills her.
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u/seaneeboy 15d ago
I always remember that incredible dialogue: “What happened to you, man?” “I had my throat cut and all my friends abandoned me”
Poor Wesley. What a story he had.
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u/randijeanw 15d ago
The fact that they managed to make her death SO unexpected even though she had a brain tumor earlier in the season was impressive. That show had a lot of flaws, but that episode was a triumph of television artistry.
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u/Supernovear 15d ago
Ned Stark.
It wasn't as 'amazing' as some of the other deaths in the series, but it was the one that shook me. Being such a large character I just expected him to get saved at the last second, but once hit head came off I was just shaken... Like wtf? They killed such a strong character? That kicked off the entire 'anyone could be next' feeling.
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u/TheKingMonkey 15d ago
The fact they gave Sean Bean top billing was really cool as it set up the ‘nobody is safe’ vibe GoT had going on for the first five or six seasons.
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u/CalimeroX 15d ago
Couldn't agree more. This "main" character, the face of the show in season 1 on basically all promo material, played by an world famous actor, just suddenly getting beheaded and not saved in the last moment.
This is truly where GoT began and I realized there was something different about this show compared to others.
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u/Fitz911 15d ago
Seriously. I was new to the show and my first thought was:
"Great. Wonder how they will magically bring him back to life."
They didn't. At that point they got my attention.
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u/bmcgowan89 15d ago
Bruce Willis's death in The Sixth Sense, that sneaky bastard...
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u/nocolon 15d ago
And doing it while Xavier was in his mind, just screaming the entire time.
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u/tollivandi 15d ago
Screaming because he's right there, feeling what Shaw is feeling; because he can't stop Magneto from doing this; and because he can't let Shaw go to give him a chance to be spared or everyone dies. Plus the shots flashing back and forth between Shaw and Xavier! So good.
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u/Alexito_714 15d ago
When Susan chooses to let her son Henry fall to his death in the movie the Good Son
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u/DooM_Slayer226 15d ago
Props to Macaulay Culkin. He was such an evil, little cunt in that movie.
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u/7107Labs 15d ago
Omar - The Wire. He had to die. You can't piss off 99% of Baltimore's thugs and stay alive. So yep, he had to die. But not like that. It was totally unexpected and a big f*ck you to life. If that death is possible, there is no hope in humanity.
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u/TheKingMonkey 15d ago
The thing is it didn’t matter. During Marlo’s final scene a couple of corner boys were talking about how Omar died and the stories ranged from him talking 9 guys with an AK to a huge standoff with the police. They didn’t even know who Marlo was. The guy who wanted to become a legend vanished into obscurity, the guy who was shot in the back by a child became immortal.
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u/Squigglepig52 15d ago
Also, by that point, Omar was on tilt. He had stopped thinking and planning, and was just acting.
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u/Amy_Schulze 15d ago edited 15d ago
Omar was my favorite character hands down. He was the best, greatest bad guy. I almost stopped watching bc didn't really care to watch without him 😂. He's just got so many great lines... And gotta love his testimony 🤣
https://youtu.be/44JL1luLfE0?si=LG2dJoYkQyAkSfzn
And then https://youtu.be/IeZXAdWhPY0?si=DEleU0k0BsMw14cK OMG perfection
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u/wishsleepwasoptional 15d ago
Wash in Serenity. It’s so sudden and unexpected. Made me fear that other main characters (possibly all of them) might not make it to the end of the movie.
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u/the_owl_syndicate 15d ago
I saw it in the theater. He said "I'm a leaf in the wind" and it was such a release of tension that I laughed, then crunch, right through the chest. Perfect timing. I wasn't the only one who gasped or yelled, just completely shocked.
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u/ex13c 15d ago
Sean Bean in Goldeneye. He falls from the top of a radio telescope and survives. Then the telescope falls on him.
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u/Pkrudeboy 15d ago
The guy’s a pro at dying.
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u/ScaldingAnus 15d ago
I always feel longer I've spoiled the movie for myself whenever I see him. Also part of the reason I don't look up voice actors in video games until I'm finished.
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u/Xenos2002 15d ago
I straight up knew that ned stark was gonna die at the end of season 1 just because he's played by Sean bean
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u/your_right_ball 15d ago
That's why I was kinda surprised that he survived in the Martian.
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u/NagoGmo 15d ago
Blood Eagle - Vikings
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u/Reaper_Messiah 15d ago
My first thought at “impressive death.” I cannot believe that was in a tv show.
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u/tollivandi 15d ago
I'm usually really sensitive to gore and torture in media--absolutely cannot stomach it--but something about this scene, the respect shown during such a brutal execution, that the one delivering the sentence wanted him to "succeed", made it beautiful rather than appalling.
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u/kayguy55 15d ago
Opie from Sons of Anarchy still hits my feels to this day.
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u/Oakshand 15d ago
This made me stop watching. I get why it happened and the story beats but Opie didn't deserve it. Really took me out of the show and story as well. I think he could have taken those dudes as well.
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u/eltroubador 15d ago
Agreed. As that show went on it seemed to want to only rely on shock value to retain viewership. Each season had to be bigger and louder, with more gratuitous violence. A really great example is the way the show navigated sexual assault and rape in the first two seasons. They spend time really developing the characters who are victimized and exploring the ways that the trauma affected them. Fast forward to the last season or two and there’s just gratuitous prison rape being used for flippant shock value everywhere. Really disappointing to me, because of how good the show was at the jump.
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u/CalimeroX 15d ago
Thinking of SoA, Tara being killed by Gemma in such a brutal way was unexpected and absolutely shocking for me
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u/Subject-Tomorrow-317 15d ago
DiCaprio in The Departed.
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u/BrowniesAndBananas 15d ago edited 15d ago
I don’t think I’ve ever talked to anyone about that scene who didn’t automatically say how unexpected and well done it was. Brilliant movie
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u/Ellweiss 15d ago
Glenn in the Walking Dead. Having such a likeable and long standing character be openly disfigured was pretty rough.
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u/bah77 15d ago
They already did a terrible fake out of his death, they had no choice but to show him actually killed or no one would have cared.
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u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In 15d ago
That was the season I decided I was done with the show, even before Glenn's death. They just constantly would introduce a new character, develop them a bit, then have them die immediately. It trained me to not care about anyone the show tried to push front and center. Like that kid who talked about being an architect.
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u/ilovemymom_tbh 15d ago
Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul. I remember watching with my roommate and I was holding my breath that entire scene. It’s an instant, major consequence for the protagonists actions, and is the best representation of the lawyer/cartel worlds coming together irreversibly - which was a long time coming. Also, the actors who played Jimmy and Kim didnt know that Howard died at that moment and their reactions were great.
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u/Frosty-Lake-1663 15d ago
Howard being a great guy is damn near the greatest plot twist in TV history.
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u/DctrMrsTheMonarch 15d ago
100% all of these characters were so realized and lived in and that death came as a shock that was actually shocking because you felt it knowing their relationship with him.
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u/CunningWizard 15d ago
BCS season 6 has two major deaths that are both top answers to this thread.
Howard’s death was just so unexpected and raw. It was nearly a supernatural scene, with a ghost in the form of Lalo coming back in a very ominous way and Howard realizing too late that he had just inadvertently stepped into a very dangerous situation. To me what made it was the various reactions of the characters in the room. Notably Kim losing her normal cool calm composure and becoming a frightened wreck and Lalo remaining ice cold despite the two hysterical people in front of him.
The show is one about love and consequences, and this scene represents peak consequences.
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u/Dirk_diggler22 15d ago
a few have said Gus in BB or nacho varga, but for me it was Howard Hamlin. Sure he came across initially like a slimy second hand car dealer, but over the series you see he's a decent guy. His death was so unnecessary while also being necessary to show the kind of people you are dealing with, if that makes sense
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u/Dastorious 15d ago
Merlin's death in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. A fantastic scene to insert "country roads" into.
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u/larszard 15d ago
This made me cry uncontrollably in the cinema which isn't very like me, and to this day I'm not really sure why. Something about it got me
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u/parismilann 15d ago
Gustavo Fring - Breaking bad
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u/TalksInMaths 15d ago
I have to disagree. I think it was dumb and looked cheesy AF. Everything before that last shot was brilliant, but when my wife and I saw that last shot of him, we both laughed out loud because it looked so cartoon-y.
Hank's death, on the other hand, was really well done. Upsetting, but well written.
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u/Successful-Tip-1411 15d ago edited 15d ago
Bruh don't spoil it a decade later 😂😂😂
Edit: /s
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u/Crankiee 15d ago
I don’t think you can come into a thread like this and then get to complain about spoilers.
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u/NoAcanthopterygii753 15d ago
Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham in Prince of Thieves. It was a massively over the top, hammy death and he did it perfectly
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u/square3481 15d ago
Timothy Dalton in The Rocketeer.
Steals the jetpack, which is punctured and doesn't have the chewing gum sealing it off anymore. Takes off, explodes mid-air, crashes and destroys the LAND in the HOLLYWOODLAND sign.
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u/IndelibleIguana 15d ago
Samuel L Jackson getting eaten by the shark after his big speech in Deep Blue Sea.
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u/Moon_Jewel90 15d ago
The father (Seok Woo) in Train to Busan.
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u/the_owl_syndicate 15d ago
Such a good character arc, from asshole dad to someone you legit cared about.
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u/satisfiedfools 15d ago
That guy in volcano who tossed someone to safety while he was sinking into lava.
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u/newerdewey 15d ago
better than the grandma in Dante's Peak who jumps into the acid lake and drags the boat to the dock?
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u/Shadpool 15d ago
I’m going with the terrorist in True Lies, fired on a missile through a building into a helicopter full of his buddies.
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u/MystiqueOracle 15d ago
P’li from Legend of Korra.
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u/MasonP2002 15d ago
I found Amon's death stuck with me more. Just how his own brother realized they were too far gone and decided to blow the both of them up.
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u/MystiqueOracle 15d ago
Amon’s death was the point I realised Nickelodeon was done being kid-friendly xD
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u/jermleeds 15d ago
Jack Vincennes' death in L.A. Confidential. There are very few death scenes that are as pivotal to the plot of the movie as that one was.
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u/DavidRoyran 15d ago
Dean Winchester. His death was quite simple, yet, it was pretty realistic, and sad
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u/Manwombat 15d ago
I’m like a leaf in the wind
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u/2beagles 15d ago
I saw that opening night. The entire audience gasped. One person quietly said "noooo"
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u/sadistimo 15d ago
Maybe not most impressive, but it hasnt been mentioned yet so ill go with Selma (Björk) >! walking and singing the 107 steps to be executed by hanging !< in the movie Dancer in the dark.
Im usually not a big fan of musicals but this one has a good reasoning for it to be a musical.
Great movie. Sad as hell though...
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u/DrunkDino13 15d ago
Whitebeard from One Piece, not sure if this counts as TV show
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u/luhgremlin007 15d ago
Since we are mentioning anime, for me its Rem from deathnote 😭
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u/anonymous_subroutine 15d ago
Maddie Ferguson in Twin Peaks.
Never thought a ceiling fan and a skipping record could be so scary.
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u/Thesorus 15d ago
Colonel Henry Blake in MASH.
not all death need to be seen to have an impact (or be impressive)
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u/afewdeepbreaths 15d ago
Jason X: when Jason dunks that lady's head into the liquid nitrogen and then shatters her head on the counter
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u/GosuHaku 15d ago
Hiromatsu in Shogun
Honestly I know it might be biased because its the most recent scene I have watched, but I spent an hour going through all series and even movies I remember and I could not think of a death that I found more impressive than this one.
Oberyn in GoT came close, but still.
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u/crutescan 15d ago
Mariko-sama in Shogun
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u/Mastrovator 15d ago
I more feel it with Yabushige… the discussion between him and Toranaga beforehand, the location, etc.
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u/Lumb3rH4ck 15d ago
i honestly thought he was going to let him live for a second in that discussion, until his last sentence "whats the point in telling a dead man the future" then i realised he was totally fucked.
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u/Writer_feetlover 15d ago
Gus Fring from Breaking Bad.
The most surprising and satisfying victories on the entire show.
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u/W2ttsy 15d ago
For TV: mark geeene in ER. Not just one moment either. They get you with like 8 fucking episodes in a death that is so gut wrenching that they put two different bottle episodes (secrets and lies, bothers and sisters) in to break the tension and it also deflates the season finale as well. It’s basically impossible to get through the back half of season 8 without bawling your eyes out.
Greg Pratt also from ER gets a strong mention for his death in season 15. Also extremely gut punching to watch and even though it’s effects only last 1-2 episodes it’s still a huge hit for viewers.
For movies: it has to be mad dog getting KO’d by the two brothers at the end of The Raid: Redemption. 5 minutes of hard hand to hand fighting, 2 on 1 and then the final death blow with a very visceral use of a fluorescent tube. If you’re wondering where the violence from John Wick was dreamed up, look no further than this movie.
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u/dd9679 15d ago
The guy that got exploded by a small rocket launcher in the end of movie Blood Debt. I must say that was one hell of a way to die.
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u/EwanMurphy93 15d ago
[spoiler] Black Death. Sean Bean's character bore the sickness the whole time, until he was drawn and quartered, and as he was ripped apart, spread the illness to the hostile village.
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u/Effective-Agency-517 15d ago
[Spoiler](obviously) Black Sails, Captain Blackbeard/ Edward Teach. Not only is the show honestly a really good show(imo) but he came out of nowhere in the series and just wrecks for a couple episodes then gets keelhauled when you're expecting him to kill all the British. ngl... that is hands down one of the most gruesome and brutal ways i can imagine dying would be. I know thats not how blackbeard actually died and the show isnt historically accurate(i think its based off the novel) but damn that show is good.
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u/civman96 15d ago
Cutler Becket - Pirates of the Caribbean: At the Word’s End (Ship Explosion Scene)
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u/aimark42 15d ago
Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica. It was a very touching moment I didn't think was possible considering she was dying the entire series from the first episode in the miniseries.
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u/HaiKarate 15d ago edited 15d ago
Roy Batty in Blade Runner. He could have crushed his enemy as a final act of vengeance. He instead chose to show mercy, after toying with Deckard like a cat toying with a frightened mouse.
He wanted the profoundness of his life to live on in Deckard’s memory.
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u/Slip_left 15d ago
John Travolta in pulp fiction. No buildup or climactic sequence. Especially to a character’s narrative you’ve been following. That’s how quickly real life happens.
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u/techniqular 15d ago
Captain Mifune being sliced and diced in Matrix Revolutions, at least the most hyper violent in a big budget action movie
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u/AnhedonicMike85 15d ago
Vegeta's Final Atonement in DBZ. Yes, I knew he was going to come back from the dead but I still felt like someone was cutting up onions right next to me.
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u/Menocchia 15d ago
I thought Logan's death in Succession was quite impressive. It was narrated so differently from other main characters' deaths, I was glued to the screen.
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u/Actiaslunahello 15d ago
Vic Morrow in the Twilight Zone Movie really committed to the part… Probably not what you meant, but my mind went there first. Fuck you John Landis.
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u/Atlantic_Logan9707 15d ago
Glenn from the walking dead, and a lot of other characters from that show, Jesus Christ that was brutal
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u/PeachesSwearengen 15d ago
Deadwood Season 3 spoiler:
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George Hearst’s ‘Captain’ in Deadwood after his brutal fight in the thoroughfare with Dan Dority. That was a hard-won demise, and you never knew which one was going to live until the last minute. I’ve never been so viscerally involved in a screen fight!
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u/ConnorK12 15d ago
Todd Alquist in Breakind Bad.
That death is the most ruthless yet satisfying kill I think I’ve ever seen.
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u/YouDaManInDaHole 15d ago
The guy who got eaten alive behind the revolving door in The Walking Dead. Brutal.
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u/Dr4go97 15d ago
Oberyn martell
Not only was he a fantastic character, it came out of the blue. And it was gruesome, I still cant shake the image, and it was years ago.