20 People Share The Most Disturbing Scenes They've Ever Seen In A TV Show
Warning: emotional rollercoaster and spoilers ahead.
Some TV scenes stick with you long after the credits roll, and not always for the right reasons. A Reddit thread asked people to name the moments that disturbed them most, and the answers quickly turned into a list of unforgettable, unsettling scenes.
The responses range from emotional gut punches to deeply uncomfortable moments that felt a little too real. From Heroes to Grey's Anatomy, viewers shared the scenes that made them pause, look away, or think about them for days.
Here are the TV moments people still cannot shake.
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
NBC2. 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; 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
Netflix3. 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."
AMC
4. The Tudors
"The botched execution of Thomas Cromwell because Henry Cavill's character got the executioner drunk. Seven or eight attempts to kill a man who was promised a clean, quick death was pretty chilling.
History tells us that this was pretty close to how it happened, too."
Showtime
5. Atlanta
"The whole 'Michael Jackson'/Teddy Perkins episode was extremely disturbing to me."
FX
That first batch already sets the tone.
6. Fringe
"There’s an episode of this 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 messed up."
Fox
7. The X-Files
"There's an absolutely bizarre episode of this show involving an inbred family who lives on a farm and all rape their deformed, amputee mother. They helped her give birth and then buried the dead fetuses in the backyard."
Fox
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."
CBS
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."
WB
10. The Haunting of Hill House
"The entire 'Bent Neck Lady' subplot."
Netflix
It only gets more unsettling from here.
This is the same kind of “wait, what?” energy as the 81 visual anomalies that make your logic unravel.
11. Scrubs
"When Dr. Cox loses four patients. It just rips your heart apart, but also showcases the epic quality of acting within the show."
NBC
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."
Amazon Studios
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."
ITV
14. Game of Thrones
"Talisa getting stabbed in her pregnant belly during the 'Red Wedding' episode."
HBO
15. Orange is the New Black
"When Poussey was killed by a police officer during the cafeteria riot."
Netflix
By now, the list has gone from creepy to brutal.
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."
Amazon Studios
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."
Netflix
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 brightly."
CBS
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."
Fox
20. Grey's Anatomy
"Season 9, Episode 1, when Mark Sloan dies. During the episode, his character's health deteriorates 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."
ABC
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
AMC
So, what do you think of our list? Do you agree with the 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 comes in handy when you want to transform into an emotional wasteland.
Some scenes just do not leave you alone.
For another family blowup, read about the sister whose drama was ruining everyone’s well-being.
