23 TV Episodes That Surprised Even the Most Jaded Viewers
The prestige TV era is all about shock value. If you don’t have as many plot twists as ludicrously expensive costumes, what are you even doing? But when everything is shocking, nothing is shocking. We’ve come to expect character deaths and resurrections, heel turns, and every Squid Game you can throw at us. A twist has to be truly shocking, or at least pulled off in an inventive way, to surprise today’s jaded viewers.
One of them is Redditor JasonToddsSidepiece, who recently told r/Television, “Maybe I don’t watch enough TV, but nothing really shocks me anymore. The last time I was genuinely shocked when watching TV was when the Earth queen was killed in The Legend of Korra. Looking back now, it’s still shocking, but especially seeing her be killed as a kid shook me to my core.” They then asked, “When was the last time a TV show truly shocked you?” and the subreddit bonded over a lot of shared trauma.
Succession
Better Call Saul
Our Flag Means Death
The Boys
House of Cards
Station Eleven
The Good Place
The Expanse
Midnight Mass
Dark
Breaking Bad
The Haunting of Hill House
The Wire
BoJack Horseman
Mr. Robot
Sharp Objects
Invincible
Sons of Anarchy
Severance
Dexter
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Lost
