Mood Whiplash/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* The outburst by Captain Joe in ''[[Fugitive Alien]]'' became a [[Memetic Mutation]] on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.

'''Captain Joe:''' (pensive) We don't deserve half the things we get. (laughs maniacally, then throws down his pen angrily) '''''You're stuck here!''''' }}

** Possibly the most chilling moment in this show's history: in the season one finale, they're on the raft, they fire the flare--and suddenly there's a light! There's a boat! There's triumph music! They're saved! And then: {{spoiler|"Only the thing is, we're gonna have to take the boy." HOLY CRAP.}}

** On a similar note, the ''soundtrack'' for this show. A prime example is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hre5fkdq-0 "Life & Death"]: the first three minutes are a [[Tear Jerker|tearjerking]] meditation on well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|life and death]], and the last thirty seconds is you being dragged into hell.

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' features this rather prominently, being a comedy set in a hospital where people have a tendency to die occasionally.

** The most egregious example must surely be: a pregnant couple find out that it is likely either the mother will die and their baby will live or vice versa, when the show suddenly cuts to J.D.'s fantasy {{spoiler|that they are on Candid Camera, complete with laughter and [[No Fourth Wall|pointing at the show's actual camera]]}} before cutting back to dealing with the dilemma. [[Mood Whiplash]] so strong you'll be massaging your neck for hours.

*** This was parodied in ''[[Futurama]]''; one episode had a robot surgeon clearly based on Alan Alda's character, which had an actual ''switch'' that it would flip to jump between jovial goofing around and war-weary angst (labelled Irreverent and Maudlin respectively).

'''iHawk (Groucho Marx voice):''' "Dis isn't a war, it's a moider!" }}

* [[Joss Whedon]] does this All. The. Time:

*** Everything to do with the Geek Trio in Season Six has Whiplash. Just one example is in "Dead Things," when they start with a zany plan to acquire a sex slave then accidentally murder her and try to frame Buffy for it.

*** ''Storyteller'' is pretty much pure comedy... Then they get to the seal, and Buffy threatens to kill Andrew:

'''Andrew:''' No. Because... I killed him. Because I listened to Warren and I wanted to believe it was him, but I knew it wasn't. So I killed him, and now you're gonna kill me, and... this is what Jonathan felt. ''(he starts to cry)'' }}

*** "End of Days" has a serious dialogue where Buffy and Faith contemplate the loneliness of being a Slayer ending with the following line:

*** Or how about "Standing", Giles' song from "Once More, With Feeling", in which he realizes that he must leave Buffy so she'll learn to stand on her own? He sings as he watches Buffy going through her exercises, and as the song ends, she walks up to him, unaware of what just happened, and:

*** Or in Selfless where we go from Anya singing about how she'll be Xander's Missus, to her impaled upon Buffy's sword?

*** Episode placement will do it too...right in the middle of the 'Angel goes bad' arc we get a wacky story of Xander casting a love spell - then back to the pain and angst.

*** In the Season One finale, the Master is [[Large Ham|hamming it up]] during an earthquake. After the shaking stops, he turns to the Anoited One and asks:

*** Or (told you Joss loved these), the whole ending scene of "Bad Girls", where the Mayor goes through the ritual to become invulnerable.

*** An unintentional example occurs in "The Body": the episode has no score, which adds to the harsh realism of an emotionally devastating story. Except nobody bothered to remove the loud, upbeat theme song from the end credits. It's somewhat jarring.

*** Another good example is the episode "Seeing Red" from season 6. {{spoiler|Willow and Tara finally get back together after being apart for pretty much the entire season and are shown incredibly happy for the whole episode...[[Too Happy to Live|until Warren kills Tara.]]}}

** Even ''[[Dollhouse]]'' has some:

*** In "Omega", Echo's line upon arriving at Alpha's lair:

*** Episode 2.11, ''Getting Closer'': Topher and Bennett's {{spoiler|[[First Kiss|kiss scene]]}}, which leaves them both giddily happy; it manages to be both Crowning Moments of [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Heartwarming]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Funny]] alike. Topher steps out for a minute and Claire walks in to have a conversation with Bennett that does nothing to lessen the charming atmosphere. {{spoiler|Then Topher comes back and Claire immediately pulls out a gun and blasts Bennett's brains all over him.}}

* ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' has a lot of this. The season 1 finale in particular goes from farcical to heartwarming to OH SHIT in the space of about fifteen minutes.

* ''[[Blackadder]]'' - The finale of the fourth series suddenly takes an abrupt swerve out of comedy territory in the final five minutes. The entire final episode features Blackadder once again attempting to get out of "The Big Push", that is, everyone in the trenches entering No-Man's Land assaulting the German front. In previous episodes, he and the other characters have gotten out of these assaults, but at the end of this episode {{spoiler|he realises that there's no way to get out of it this time, and he, George, Baldrick and unexpectedly Darling, end up going over the top with everyone else, Blackadder's last words before going over being "Good luck, everyone". All of them are killed within seconds of going over, and the final, silent shot of the series is of an empty field of poppies in spring.}} There are no jokes in these last few minutes whatsoever, it's entirely dramatic, and in a comedy series, this comes as being a very unexpected [[Tear Jerker]].

** A specific example of a beautifully-executed mid-sentence [[Mood Whiplash]] in this episode comes when Captain Darling, {{spoiler|about to go "over the top" to his likely death,}} is listing all the things he'd hoped to do when the war ended. "Go back to work at Pratt and Sons" gets an audience laugh, as does "Keeep wicket for the Croyden gentlemen", but these are followed by a brief pause and a wistful "Marry Doris". A character who'd been portrayed as just a petty comic foil to Blackadder up to that point suddenly gets humanised.

** George gets a very similar mid-sentence whiplash.

'''George:''' I'm scared, sir. }}

*** There are jokes right up until Blackadder's penultimate line, but they are all extremely grim. It's called Trench Humour for a reason.

** And of course that moment moments before the end where they are lined up ready to go over the top, artillery booming in the background, when... silence falls.

''...And we know that the First World War actually ended in 1918.'' }}

* [[That Mitchell and Webb Look]] referenced the famous Blackadder example above in the fourth series's penultimate episode, joking that they would follow suit and see the show off dramatically. Fast forward to the last sketch of the series a week later, in which Dr. Watson visits a dementia-riddled Sherlock Holmes and through a very silly exchange allows him to think he's still the cleverest mind in England. {{spoiler|Then, Holmes has a moment of clarity.}}

* The ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' episode "Operation Briefcase" was surprisingly dark, featuring an agent actually dying (offscreen) while in Hogan's care, when most involved escapes by the skins of their teeth. Even more unpleasantly, this episode dealt with an attempt to assassinate Hitler--an attempt, as everyone should know, that failed.

** In the [[Batman Cold Open]] of another episode, the guys are meeting an Underground agent who was a [[Wholesome Crossdresser|female impersonator]] before the war. Jokes fly, then Germans crash the meeting, fire at the good guys and take off in pursuit of the Underground agent. Hogan and his men get up again, Newkirk cracks a joke at the expense of the French... and they realise that LeBeau is still on the ground and has actually been shot. Cue one of the most dramatic moments in the (usually) comedic series when Newkirk [[OOC Is Serious Business|does a 180 from]] his usual [[Deadpan Snarker]] persona and says quietly, "Colonel, my little mate's been hit."

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'''s most prominent comedy episode "Window of Opportunity" ends with one of these. The episode's all wacky time-loop fun until we find out ''why'' the archeologist is looping time; he's trying to bring his dead wife back to life, which of course leads to an outburst from the usually jovial O'Neill:

'''O'Neill:''' I lost '''my son!''' }}

* The end of the ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' episode "Light". The mood the entire episode has been one of resignation. Then Rush realizes that they're all going to live, and the mood shifts to elation. Then they realize that Destiny is accelerating too fast for the shuttle to catch them, and the mood shifts again to action, as the crew work together to get the shuttle back home.

* On ''[[Deep Space 9]]'', "The Magnificent Ferengi" bounced back and forth between ridiculous and awesome repeatedly. Especially evident in the end, when Quark's team has just beaten the remaining Jem'hadar in a shoot-out and captured their Vorta leader, the triumphant mood is suddenly turned hilarious by showing the dead Vorta (reanimated with carefully-controlled electrical impulses) trying to walk into a wall, with Nog saying "I can't turn him off!"

* ''[[Night Court]]'' did this from time to time, often going all the way around back to funny in the same scene. In "Leon, We Hadly Knew Ye" Judge Harry's foster son (and recurring character) Leon successfully runs away when he can't stand his nice, but prudish new adoptive parents. He's not seen again for the rest of the season. "The Hurricane: part 2" goes all the way back around to funny again. After helping deliver the babies of four couples during a thunderstorm and blackouts Harry slips away to have a deep and emotional talk with God in front of a cross someone left in the courtroom.

* ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' lives and breathes this trope... Ahem.

* ''[[Sesame Street]]'', when dealing with the death of Mister Hooper. The scene where Big Bird shows his drawings of his friends to the adults is light and cute ... up until the point where Big Bird says he wants to show Mr. Hooper the drawing he made of him. The mood then turns changes abruptly as the adults have to explain to Big Bird that Mr. Hooper has died and he won't be coming back.

** Right after Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz {{spoiler|both beat the record for 'Star in a reasonably-priced car'}}, James May segues (complete with [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] of the mood change) into a 15 minute piece on Ayrton Senna, who would have turned 50 that year.

* The BBC Adaptation of ''Cranford'' can be quite frankly emotionally exhausting to watch. Funny and witty one moment, heart-breaking the next. Then melancholy. Then heart-warming. Then...you get the picture.

* ''[[Sports Night]]'' did this too many times to list.

* ''[[News Radio]]'' tried this with the episode dedicated to Phil Hartman's death by inserting jokes to lighten the mood. It didn't work too well; the real-life tears from the cast were too overwhelming for much of the episode to be really funny.

** In "Two Bodies In the Lab", Booth insists on staying with Brennan in her apartment after someone shot at her. At one point he notices a Foreigner CD in her music collection, and Booth and Brennan start rocking out to "Hot Blooded". Shortly after, Booth offers to get Brennan a beer. Just as he opens the refrigerator, he ends up getting the brunt of an explosion from a booby-trapped door.

** The trope is also invoked in the episode "The Hole in the Heart", in this conversation between Brennan and Angela:

'''Angela''': [[Shipper on Deck|Because I don't want to yell "Hallelujah" so close to losing Vincent]]. }}

* In the final episode of season two of ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' Marian was {{spoiler|brutally stabbed to death by Guy and buried miles from home}}. The first episode of season three dealt the raw and bloody emotional aftermath of this. But the ''next'' episode involves Robin laughing his head off as he hang-glides from the parapets of Nottingham Castle, and Marian was only mentioned a handful of times throughout the rest of the season.

* Done deliberately as part of the format in ''[[Doc Martin]]'', every episode will contain one dark, serious and weighty storyline, and one light [[Quirky Town]] style story. They will then interleave throughout the episode, often with both story lines crossing through the same scene, and leaving the viewer pretty wrung out emotionally by the end.

* An In-Universe example from [[iCarly]]:

'''Spencer:''' No, I'm kidding, she had a heart attack. }}

* The third season ''[[Modern Family]]'' episode "Virgin Territory" goes from a serious discussion and realization of girls growing up quickly to scenes where Luke and Manny, both too young to drive, try to impress a girl by slowly driving Mitch's car.

* ''[[Friends]]'' occasionally does this, and never more than in the episode "The One With the Morning After" which deals with the fall out of Ross sleeping with another woman behind Rachel's back after believing she's left him. Even though it's a fairly serious episode, the majority of it still has a few hilarious moments such as Ross and Rachel taking a brief break from their fight to order pizza and Rachel intentionally ordering anchovies mixed in with the toppings and sauce because she knows Ross hates them. However, the very last scene completely abandons the humorous aspect and goes completely serious. Even the brief moment where we see the remaining four other characters still trapped in Monica's back room is suddenly [[Played for Drama|much more serious]] as they're all somberly listening in to the conversation, with Monica and Phoebe even breaking down into tears as they all realize that their two friends' relationship is over.

* A ''[[Taxi]]'' episode had Jim buying an over-the-hill old racehorse and keeping it in his apartment. Typical Jim hijinks, but the horse inevitably dies. Jim gives it a funeral, and gives a truly sweet, moving eulogy that chokes up the rest of the cast (and plenty of viewers.)