Darkest Sitcom Episodes
Although Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Connor (Alan Ruck) all have complex feelings about the man that raised them, they are all shocked when Logan Roy (Bryan Cox) suffers from a heart attack and dies. Night Shyamalan-esque twist, none of it was real; the ups and downs of the fictional hospital, St. Elsewhere, were really happening inside a child’s snow globe. A sharp turn from the style and tone of the series up to this point, which was an inspiration for the realistic, rough-around-the-edges procedural dramas that dominate the television sphere today. It feels like a good deal of detail and adult interpersonal drama to all be from a child’s imagination, but that’s where the show left things. An ending that has been parodied by many other shows at this point, including the finale of 30 Rock, St. Elsewhere, is known better for the head-scratching finale than for the actual content of it. “8 Simple Rules” ( )John Ritter’s large comedic presence on the sitcom “8 Simple Rules” was one of the reasons the show was so well received during its initial run in 2002.
The object of Joe’s obsession is a girl named Beck, and of course Joe can’t just admire her from afar. Nope, he has to show up as a creepy reflection in the window just inches from her oblivious face and hang around behind her while she’s in the library, mostly so showrunners have some good still images to use in banner ads, but anyway. At one point, Joe compares himself to the leading man in a romantic comedy, after he breaks into Beck’s house and starts rifling through all her stuff. Tiger King is so bizarre and unbelievable that some people were confused as to whether it was actually a mockumentary, because, let’s face it, it runs a bit closer to Spinal Tap than The Fog of War. You can get your creepy programming fix and maybe be a Good Samaritan, too.
Instead of hiding in Durnsville, Kimmy does what millions of people who aren’t former prisoners of a doomsday cult wouldn’t dare to do — she moves to New York. This Netflix original begins when a SWAT team rescues four women from an underground bunker in a fictional town called Durnsville, Indiana, where they’ve been imprisoned for 15 years. So there’s psychological drama, the tragedy of wasted lives, and the long, slow process of reintegrating into the modern world.
It examines the much larger scheme that emerges, while ultimately focusing on the toll the investigation has taken on the son and the promising life he squandered in search of truth and justice. You won’t find answers here, but that makes it no less spellbinding. The original French horror series The Returned, also known as Les Revenants, is the one to watch. But this doesn’t have anything to do with Leonardo DiCaprio being eaten by a bear. It’s actually much worse than that, as a number of dead people mysteriously return to life with no idea how or why.
In hopes of retiring from bootlegging, Nucky decides that it is best to handle the remaining relationships he has yet to fracture while tying up loose ends. The intention of the flashbacks and the leaps forward in time strongly illustrate how Nucky’s hubris and violent reign can not be erased or minimized regardless of his wants and wishes. He managed to be a bootlegging tycoon, the city treasure, and in 1931, the deputy sherif of Atlantic City, however such flexibility in a world with rules both recited daily and unspoken produce detrimental results that can not be evaded. In his final night in the city, he is confronted by Joe, who reveals himself to be Tommy Darmody (Travis Tope), the son of the late-Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt). Unleashing three bullets of fury, Nucky is fatally struck, meeting the same demise he inflicted on his once-close confidant Jimmy.
#12: “Chuckie’s Wonderful Life”
We get an entire monologue from Will about how he doesn’t need his father before he breaks down. As someone who is one of the biggest fans of The Last of Us franchise, this episode took it out of me, both mentally and physically. I already knew that Henry and Sam (from The Last of Us cast) would die from playing the game but man, they made this episode twenty times darker with the ending and it still makes me jump and look away each time I’ve watched it. Honestly, every Mike Flanagan TV show has some incredibly dark episodes, but “The Bent-Neck Lady” is by far the darkest.
Terry returns to the street to collect the blanket, but a fellow cop racially profiles him and accuses him of being up to no good. The cop backs off when he finds out Terry is a police officer, but he refuses to acknowledge that race played a role in the altercation. Depictions of demonic figures within children’s entertainment used to be a more normal occurrence.
Drake is sure that Josh is nothing without him, but boy is he proven wrong. Josh’s life improves while Drake’s falls apart without his stepbrother. After an intense apology scene, Josh forgives Drake, and the dynamic duo is reunited. Usually, we get a laugh out of the brothers’ fights, but seeing the dramatic tone shift was unnerving. Jealousy and resentment are never a good combination which is why, when Stimpy shoots to stardom and Ren gets left in the dust, their relationship becomes increasingly strained. What’s worse is that Ren gets appointed the president of Stimpy’s fan club and is forced to read and reply to Stimpy’s fan letters.
‘Into that Good Night’ – Roseanne
As satisfying as it was depressing the series finale of Breaking Bad, “Felina” solidified Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as one of the more notorious anti-heroes to grace the television screen. However, long before this episode, audiences stopped rooting for Walter White. It’s in this episode that, yes, he rescues Jesse (Aaron Paul) from the neo-Nazis, but it’s also where he admits to his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) that he didn’t movie quiz start making the meth for his family.
#16: “The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float”
Personally, we’ll take the butt-kicking, “abnormal” Jenny any day, especially if the alternative has her being possessed by a symbiotic menace. In a grim flashback episode, we see Josh and Parker’s first day at Mr. Meaty. But everything changes when the two teens find the frozen body of the company’s founder, Edward R. Carney, and wake him up.
The story follows the Locke siblings, who move into a creepy old mansion called Key House, but don’t let the stupidity of the title put you off the show, or anything. Also, don’t let the fact that the whole “hapless family moves into scary mansion” premise has been done and done put you off the show, either, because somehow, showrunners managed to reinvent that old trope and make it not only watchable but disturbingly fun. Right around the time America went into lockdown, its bored, isolated citizens discovered Animal Crossing and Tiger King.
Although the show is incredibly earnest in showing how Elliot learns from his past, that does not make his emotional breakdown in this haunting episode any easier to watch. A chemistry teacher turned bad and a lawyer in the middle of an identity crisis trigger a series of events that completely overturn Albuquerque’s criminal underworld. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are both full of death and sacrifice, but Walter White transforms into a truly toxic protagonist that’s hard to watch.