Heroic BSOD/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

** The 1st Doctor arguably has one {{spoiler|at the end of ''The Daleks' Master Plan''. "What a waste... what a terrible waste."}}

** The Eleventh Doctor gets a short one of his own in {{spoiler|''Victory of the Daleks''}}.

** {{spoiler|1=We get to see the aftermath in the Let's Kill Hitler prequel, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2LZomoBipI&feature=player_embedded it's not pretty.]}}

** The 3rd Doctor goes into a self-induced coma in ''Inferno'' {{spoiler|after witnessing a parallel world and its people be consumed by lava.}} Which, incidentally, lead to a fear of fire ''The Mind of Evil'', that according to the books lasted at least until his eighth body - hundreds of years later.

* This actually occurs to Dr. Cox on ''[[Scrubs]]'', after three of his patients (one of whom he was actually friends with) died due to what he thinks is an error on his part<ref> They transplanted organs from a recently deceased patient of J.D.'s. It turns out she died of rabies. [[Tempting Fate|It didn't really help when Dr. Cox notes how J.D.'s initial failure was a godsend for Cox's patients in the form of said transplants]].</ref>.

** He really has two, although the first is very short. After the first two die, he starts to go into one, but JD snaps him out of it by pointing out they would have been dead much earlier if he hadn't done anything. Only when the third patient (who happens to be both the friend and the one that could have survived for at least a few months without the organ transplant) dies does this take effect fully.

** Really, {{spoiler|Ben}} just tends to inspire hallucinatory BSOD in people. Remember the episode where {{spoiler|JD diagnosed him?}}

** Their ability to do so is remarkably potent, considering some folks BSOD just seeing those two episodes.

** Moreover, much of Mal Reynolds' character and development revolves around his attempts to [[Heroic Safe Mode|gradually put himself back together]] after suffering the massive BSOD (caused by the crushing Independent defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley) shown during the pilot episode's cold open.

** Hired gun and [[Accidental Hero]] Jayne does this when he doesn't understand why one of his [[Red Shirt|fans]] [[Hero Secret Service|takes a bullet for him]] and the town continues to [[Shrouded in Myth|idolize him]].

** Janeway had one of these in "Equinox" when she became obsessed with hunting down Ransom after she found out he was responsible for murdering hundreds of sentient lifeforms. She also went a little crazy in "Year of Hell" and "Scientific Method". See [[Berserk Button]] and [[Mama Bear]].

** Kirk has occasional BSODs, usually triggered by the death of a [[Red Shirt]], which result in him angsting for about fifteen seconds and then getting over it very quickly after a pep talk from McCoy. Spock has a much bigger one in "Amok Time" after apparently killing Kirk, and almost quits Starfleet. He presumably has another one offscreen some time between the end of the series and the first movie, and '''does''' quit Starfleet!

** Sam had his after his girlfriend died, causing him to be just as obsessive as John was about hunting this demon.

** And Dean? Someone dies to save him in a Season One episode, John dies to save his life in the Season Two premiere, Season Two completely breaks him down in as many ways as possible and all of it prompts a suicidally guilty breakdown in which, after Sam dies, Dean ends up [[Deal With the Devil|selling his soul]] in an incredibly poor and desperate bargain to [[Back From the Dead|bring him back]].

** Castiel after finding out that God really doesn't care. He loses his faith in everything, even in Dean, and disappears, only to show up completely drunk next episode. Which led to a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]], "I found a liquor store. And I drank it!"

* Admiral Adama in ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' has a huge one after {{spoiler|his best friend reveals himself as a Cylon and tells Adama to use him as a bargaining chip during a [[Mexican Standoff]] with Cylons.}} Although Adama has displayed intense emotion over key events before, this time he destroys his office, drinks an entire bottle of liquor and is reduced to weeping nearly incoherently in his son's arms.

** Adama had several in the final season. He got into a fist-fight with Colonel Tigh when [[spoiler: he found out Tigh had knocked up a certain Cylon prisoner. Tigh retorted that Adama was endangering the fleet by pining for the missing Laura Roslin. He actually [[Heroic Safe Mode|gave up his command to sit alone in a Raptor]] and wait for her. Also, when forced to confront the fact that {{spoiler|[[The Battlestar|Galactica]] was on the verge of structural failure, and that Roslin was dying, he collapses while defiantly trying to fix the cracked wall in his quarters}}. It was a bad year.

** Hell, after ''Revelations'' there is practically a fleet-wide BSOD. Roslyn {{spoiler|says ''frak this'' to both politics and prophecy, declaring the whole search for Earth and her role in it a "farce"}}, Dee {{spoiler|shoots herself}}, Adama {{spoiler|tries to commit suicide-by-Cylon by trying to goad Tigh into shooting him}} etc.

** Colonel Tigh has one of these very briefly in the third season while still on New Caprica, {{spoiler|immediately after he discovers that his wife has been feeding information to the Cylons}}. Following all of this, he totally [[Took a Level In Badass]].

** Athena has one when Boomer takes revenge against her for stealing her life. {{spoiler|She gets brutalized, tied up, and stuffed in a closet where she is forced to watch helplessly as Boomer has sex with her husband, who can't tell the two apart. Boomer then kidnaps their daughter and successfully escapes the ship.}} When Athena realizes the full extent of Boomer's actions, she breaks down in Helo's arms {{spoiler|only pulling herself together for the rescue mission.}}

** Earlier than that, the entire episode "Trial" is about Blake having an heroic BSOD {{spoiler|after his actions resulted in Gan's death.}}

* Mack, the Red Ranger from ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'' has one of these upon {{spoiler|learning that he is an Android}}. Shortly thereafter, he turns into the [[Death Seeker]].

* In ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', Hercules lays on the ground for three days in shock after Iolaus is killed by Dahak. When his efforts to get him back fail, he goes into a more violent outburst.

* Hawkeye has a pretty famous one in ''[[MASH|M*A*S*H]]'' ("Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen"), where he has a mental breakdown (complete with a paranoid claim that one of the anesthesiologists was attempting to suffocate his patient with the oxygen mask, and a joyride in a jeep through the mess tent), in response to a traumatic experience on the ride home from a day at the beach a few weeks prior. So determined is his mind to deny what it had witnessed, Hawkeye seems to regress into an even more rambling and manic state than usual. He is only shaken back into reality when he is pressed by his psychiatrist Sidney Friedman to recall the pivotal incident on the bus, at which point he breaks down, remembering now in horror a peasant woman having smothered her own infant son out of the fear of being discovered.

** Radar has another one at the end of the Season 3 Finale "Abyssinia, Henry" when the commanding officer Henry Blake who was a sort of a father figure to Radar recieved his discharge, only {{spoiler|to have the plane he was on to be shot down and crash in the Sea of Japan, killing everyone on board.}} Radar had to deliver the news to the rest of the staff in surgery and suffered such a heavy BSOD that he did not put on a mask while delivering it despite being yelled at to do so.

* At least two characters in ''[[Band of Brothers]]. ''

** And most notably, pretty much ''everyone'' went through this after {{spoiler|Fred}} died. Some worse than others, like Gunn and especially Wesley.

* On ''[[Merlin (TV)|Merlin]]'' - {{spoiler|Arthur, after finding out the truth about his birth, and getting the idea that his father is to blame for his mother's death. He tries to kill Uther. It takes Merlin telling him that it's all lies (which it isn't) to snap him out of it.}}

* Exaggerated for comic effect in one episode of ''[[Roseanne]]''. Roseanne tells Dan she's pregnant, and Dan proceeds to sit in one spot staring into space for about ''eighteen years''.

* {{spoiler|Topher}} in ''[[Dollhouse]]'', after {{spoiler|Saunders shoots Bennett.}}

* In the final episode of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'', the sequel to ''[[Life On Mars]]'', Gene Hunt gets a world shattering BSOD when {{spoiler|he remembers who and where he really is. Gene died as a young police constable in 1953 and has been in limbo in a fantasy afterlife of his own creation where he is the hero he always wanted to be, unable to accept his own death and pass on to the real afterlife. In fact his entire team are also dead coppers who Gene has also kept from passing on until Alex Drake helps them all.}} Fortunetely he gets better and {{spoiler|accepts a new role as a guardian for coppers who die tragically before their time, helping them to pass on with dignity.}}

** Arguably all the characters had a BSOD in this episode. The above is also one for Alex as is {{spoiler|discovering she is dead}}, the videotapes of them being {{spoiler|hung, shot and stabbed}} respectively are [[BSO Ds]] for Ray, Chris and Shaz. Reconciliation follows.

* In ''[[Castle]]'', Detective Kate Beckett is normally the picture of unflappable professionalism. Until "Sucker Punch" {{spoiler|where she learns that the [[Murder Of The Week]] was committed by the same person who killed her mother ten years ago.}} She's visibly shocked to her core upon hearing the news and the revelation is enough for her to flee the station and trigger a (near-literal) [[Ten Minute Retirement]].

** A minor example occurs in "A Deadly Game" {{spoiler|when Castle informs Beckett that he's leaving the precinct and that the case of the week will be his last.}} Beckett is obviously shaken to her core by the news, and is unusually distracted and uninterested when Esposito and Ryan try to tell her information they've discovered about the case as a result.

** Beckett pretty much has a slow-burning one throughout "Rise", which culminates in her {{spoiler|freezing when a suspect pulls a gun on her.}} Following this, she begins to act increasingly erratic and out-of-control, ranting irrationally at a potential suspect connected to her mother's case and nearly suffering a complete plunge over the [[Despair Event Horizon]] when the possibility that she has no leads in her mother's case arises. It takes Castle intervening to persuade her to take a step back from the case until she has a better grip on everything to bring her back to something close to an even keel.

** Castle appears to be in the middle of one after {{spoiler|he finds out Beckett heard him say 'I love you' when she was dying and she hasn't said anything to him}} compounded by the fact {{spoiler|he found out accidentally by overhearing her talk to a suspect who claimed to have amnesia leading him to the conclusion that not only does she not love him back but she doesn't even care enough about him to tell him she doesn't love him}}. What makes it worse is that {{spoiler|he's pretty much the only thing standing between Beckett and being assassinated (possibly successfully) since he's persuaded her to stop investigating her mother's case for the time being after being told by a mysterious man that if she doesn't, she'll die.}}

* In the ''[[Smallville]]'' Season Two finale, "Exodus", Clark Kent has one when his attempt to destroy the ship that brought him to Earth causes Martha Kent to lose her unborn child. He puts on Red Kryptonite, freeing himself of all inhibitions, and runs off to Metropolis, only for Jor-El to give Jonathan Kent temporary Kryptonian powers, allowing him to smack some sense into Clark. However, {{spoiler|this act permanently damages Jonathan's heart, leading to his heart attack two years later in "Reckoning"}}. This sends Clark into another BSOD which is only really cured when {{spoiler|he has a near-death experience in the episode "Void" and talks to Jonathan's ghost}}.

* In ''[[Flashpoint (TV)|Flashpoint]]'', this happens to the whole team after {{spoiler|teammate [[Black Dude Dies First|Lewis Young]] dies from stepping on a land mine.}}

* In ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', Fred has one when he realizes he is on the hook for a lot of money. (I think it's the episode where they're buying a car to go to California). He doesn't snap out of it until he's told he isn't on the hook anymore.

* ''[[The Mentalist]]'' - Patrick Jane suffers one when his actions cause a serial killer to torture his wife and child to death. Ends up in the loony bin for a while before a therapist sticks his mind back together.

** John also gets one in "The Reichenbach Fall" ''after'' said Fall.

* ''[[Warehouse Thirteen]]'''s Claudia Donovan is showing signs of this in the third season finale after {{spoiler|Steve Jinks's death}}. The blank look on her face throughout the episode is quite unlike her, and her [[And This Is For]] moment was bone-chilling.