Mood Whiplash/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

* The last 10 minutes of the Season 1 finale of ''[[Queer As Folk]]'' (US). Wow.

* In a bizarre case where it's used for comedic effect, (and I may be wrong about the exact show, but I think I'm right) the old UK sketch show ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' where two politicians are in a shouting match until one of them drops dead on the stage, resulting in a line to the effect of: "How can you believe these lies! This man... * URK* ...will be sadly missed, and our condolences to his family."

** An example in the preceding episode "The Stolen Earth" is the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|beautiful reunion scene]] where the Doctor and Rose notice each other and start running into each other's arms when suddenly, out of the blue, a Dalek rolls up and shoots the Doctor.

** It's not limited to the New Series, either. In ''The Green Death'', after the menace has been destroyed, the Doctor's companion announces {{spoiler|she is going to leave the Doctor and UNIT to get married and explore the Amazon. There are smiles and congratulations all round, even from the Doctor. But when the companion walks away to talk to someone else, the Doctor sadly downs his drink, leaves quietly, and drives off alone.}}

* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' manages to do this so-often that you would swear the entire show was bipolar. Prime example, in the episode "Revenging Angel" where John gets knocked unconscious due to a comedic accident... cue Harvey appearing in his coma-hallucination telling him that he's dying... cue John turning his ''entire reality'' into a Looney Tunes world... cue slap-stick and John asking all the main characters in his head how he should survive... cue his entire world blowing up and him flatlining. This is a one-episode example. Often the show will jump from the serious arc plotline with horrific and damaging psychological implications for the characters to good old harmless space opera fun in a very short amount of time. Admittedly the show is made of [[Crazy Awesome]] but there is a ''heavy'' emphasis on the crazy.

* ''[[Skins]]'' did this one in series 4; sandwiched between Freddie's Episode 5 (which ends with {{spoiler|Effy slitting her wrists}}) and Effy's Episode 7 (which ends with {{spoiler|Freddie being murdered with a baseball bat by Effy's psychiatrist}}), is JJ's episode, which is an almost ''too'' saccharine love story (in which {{spoiler|JJ gets together with a colleague at the [[Sugar Bowl|confectionery wholesalers]] where he works}}). It sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't advance most of the other arcs of the series, and is suspected by some to exist primarily because of [[Executive Meddling]].

* ''[[True Life (TV)|True Life]]'' has this, an episode about drug use may be followed by an episode about summer flings.

* The ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'' episode "Infinite Regress", where Seven of Nine starts manifesting the personalities of people she assimilated. So in the middle of her descent into madness we get a comedy scene where she's a Ferengi trader. And then we immediately switch to pathos as she becomes the confused mother of a Starfleet officer, who was supposed to meet him at Wolf 359 (site of the big battle in "Best of Both Worlds"). And ''then'' the [[Fridge Horror]] creeps in on a sweet early scene of her as a little girl playing with Naomi Wildman, when we're reminded that this little girl was assimilated.

** Another one involving Seven of Nine manifesting other characters was when the Doctor's program is downloaded into her nanoprobes. Initially this is played for comedy, with Jeri Ryan doing a hilarous pastiche of the Doctor's pompous mannerisms. And then it suddenly turns dark when Seven learns what's happening, and she feels ''[[Mind Rape|violated]]''.