21 TV Episodes That Are Too Painful to Watch
There’s a lot to appreciate about the era of prestige TV: the big budgets, the Oscar-caliber performances, the tiddies, etc. One thing we could do without, however, is the emotional manipulation. It’s like a series can’t be taken seriously if it doesn’t sink you into existential despair at least once a season. To be fair, this isn’t entirely new — ever since the advent of sweeps week, showrunners have been organizing parades of human misery.
That was on Redditor Own_Championship7862’s mind recently, when they asked r/Television, “What’s an episode that’s so painful to watch”? More specifically, they wanted to know what Redditors consider “that one episode or one of those episodes that are so painful to watch … to the point of having skipped it or tapped out of” it. We know our answers (seriously, f- - - that episode of Fullmetal Alchemist), but Reddit provided plenty of popcorn for thought, from simple emotional tension, to overwhelming grief, to unbearable cringe.
Six Feet Under
The Bear
Outlander
Breaking Bad
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Futurama
8 Simple Rules
NewsRadio
Game of Thrones
M*A*S*H
The Wire
Cowboy Bebop
The Office
Mr. Robot
Chernobyl
Fullmetal Alchemist
Angel
Scrubs
House
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Grey’s Anatomy
