20 People Share The Most Disturbing Scenes They've Ever Seen In A TV Show

Warning: emotional rollercoaster and spoilers ahead.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• May 18, 2022

One of our favorite methods to pass the time is by watching movies, series, and TV shows. The sheer abundance of genres, subgenres, and possibilities is staggering.

It allows us to "travel" to other locations, experience various emotions, and simply escape reality. Some films and shows are terrific for providing background "noise," while others truly engage us.

However, some of them engage us just too much. We feel emotionally drained after the whole experience.

As a rule, it's those moments when shows and movies mimic real life. And it's not pretty.

We are not talking about mutilations and some gruesome stuff, but emotional scenes that resemble real life so much that they shake us to the bone. Real-life is scary, don't you think?

"What is a scene from a TV show that really disturbed you?" asked Redditor u/thertt8 in a viral thread this week. We have to admit that did people come up with some very messed-up responses.

Here are a few of the disturbing TV scenes that have been shared. We have to warn you that the content you will see might be disturbing, and will contain some spoilers.

However, you will also find recommendations for some good shows. So, let's take a look at our list:

1. Heroes

"When Sylar broke into Claire’s home, overpowered her, cut open her head, and rubbed his finger along her brain to take her power — all while she was immobilized on the coffee table and unable to die because of her healing ability."

—u/bjornlelf

2. Ozark

"When the brother diagnosed with bipolar disorder broke down. Then, his sister left the table at the restaurant and drove back.

The phone rang and it was her brother, and then it stopped ringing and she just knew he was dead. It fucking wrecked me.

The actors were phenomenal in those scenes. So good. Such a good series, too."

—u/Phukewwwwwe

3. Breaking Bad

"When Todd killed Andrea in front of Jesse. It made my gut drop to the center of the Earth seeing Jesse scream in pain. Aaron Paul acted the hell out of that scene."

—u/ultranerd555

4. The Tudors

"The botched execution of Thomas Cromwell because Henry Cavill's character got the executioner drunk. Seven or eight tries to kill a man who was promised a clean, quick death was pretty chilling.

History tells us that was pretty close to how it happened, too."

—u/chickenfatnono

5. Atlanta

"The whole 'Michael Jackson'/Teddy Perkins episode was extremely disturbing to me."

—u/Mr_Slugworth

6. Fringe

"There’s an episode of his show where a guy is trying to bring a dead girl back to life by stealing all of her donated organs back from people. In one scene, he hooks her corpse up to a bunch of ropes that he has connected to a machine and makes it do a ballet dance.

The scene is really well done, but also super fucked up."

—u/SlapChopMyShamWow

7. The X-Files

"There's an absolutely batshit episode of this show involving an inbred family who live on a farm and all rape their deformed, amputee mother. They helped her give birth, and then buried the dead fetuses in the backyard."

—u/roseripper

8. M*A*S*H

"When the lady smothered her baby so the enemy wouldn’t hear it crying and kill everyone on the bus. Hawkeye tried to convince himself over the years that it was a chicken, but finally admitted it to himself, because he was the one who told her to keep the baby quiet."

—u/BilboMontague1

9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"When Buffy finds her mom dead. For a show full of crazy supernatural elements, that moment was just so realistic and relatable for so many people."

—u/little-bird89

10. The Haunting of Hill House

"The entire 'Bent Neck Lady' subplot."

—u/hercyp

11. Scrubs

"When Dr. Cox loses four patients. It just rips your heart apart, but also shows the epic quality of acting within the show."

—u/lolodune

12. The Boys

"When Homelander gave up on the hijacked plane. Just such dread from all of the people knowing they’re about to die."

—u/tiramisutonight

13. Downton Abbey

"When Lady Sybil died shortly after giving birth. It’s one of the most violent deaths I’ve ever seen on television.

Just the way her whole family surrounded her, pleading for her to live, and there was absolutely nothing they could do."

—u/sharpl11

14. Game of Thrones

"Talisa getting stabbed in her pregnant belly during the 'Red Wedding' Episode."

—u/ch4881

15. Orange is the New Black

"When Poussey was killed by a police officer during the cafeteria riot."

—u/gathering-dusk

16. Invincible

"The end of the first episode. The twist hit me like a truck out of nowhere and it was more graphic than I thought the show would be since I went in blind.

I don't have an issue with it, I just wasn't ready for it to go down like that when they put me at ease with a team so akin to the Justice League."

—u/1AJ

17. Black Mirror

"The pig scene from 'National Anthem.' For those who don’t know, the prime minister was blackmailed into having sex with a pig on national television in order for terrorists to release a princess they kidnapped."

—u/ItStillIsntLupus

18. All in the Family

"The attempted sexual assault of Edith. It legitimately put Jean Stapleton at the top of the list of greatest TV actors.

She played Edith so well as a naive-yet-loving and supportive wife, so her being put into a dramatic situation and using the full range of her acting skills made her shine so bright."

—u/soysuza

19. Futurama

"That episode where Seymour the dog waits for Fry for years in the elements. It disturbed me because there are animals out there that are ridiculously loyal to humans who, in turn, treat them like trash."

—u/SnooMemesjellies6886

20. Grey's Anatomy

"Season 9, Episode 1 when Mark Sloan dies. During the episode, his character's health devolves to the point that the viewer knows he's going to die. Shortly before he passes, Mark experiences a phenomenon called 'terminal lucidity,' which is a medical term that refers to a period of increased mental clarity and alertness during the dying process. The scene is particularly gut-wrenching for me to watch as I witnessed this happen to my father when he was in hospice care for terminal cancer."

—u/Mr_Wigglebutz

21. The Walking Dead

"The season opener with Negan having Rick Grimes and company on their knees, and he bashed Glenn and Abraham. I wasn't ready."

—u/Pilowpants

So, what do you think of our list? Do you agree with Redditors?

Sometimes it is difficult to establish a connection between the audience and the show's characters. However, by providing these magnificent works, these filmmakers succeeded in winning our hearts, which come in useful when you want to convert into an emotional wasteland.

Damjan