Here are the most coldly logical TV deaths. They were sad, but made sense. Spoilers follow.
Eddard Stark on Game of Thones
He was right, but his killers took a different, cowardly approach. – Credit: C/O
Though an absolute shock (for people who hadn’t read the books), the death of Ned (Sean Bean) skillfully set the table for all the carnage to come: If the hero of Game of Thrones could die, anyone could die. We kept watching through splayed fingers, hoping that at least the occasional wedding episode would provide a respite from the horrors.
Nope!
Walter White on Breaking Bad
No one could be that sad for Walter White: His fate felt sealed from the very first episode of Breaking Bad. He also did countless awful things.
Despite that, he went out on top by killing his enemies, freeing Jesse, leaving his family set for life, and scaring the hell out of his friends-turned-betrayers Elliott and Gretchen. Walt had nothing left to prove, and his feels like one of the most logical TV deaths, and least tragic.
Rita Bennett on Dexter
Rita (Julie Benz) was married to a serial killer who targets serial killers, and he made the dire mistake in the spectacular fourth season of Dexter of leaving her unprotected as he went to war with the Trinity Killer (an outstanding John Lithgow). Rita really never had a chance. It’s kind of surprising she survived as long as she did.
Tony Soprano on The Sopranos
We can speak frankly here, right? We’re all adults. Tony Soprano died at Holsten’s. And if he didn’t (but he did) he would have died soon after, at the hands of some other Members-Only jacketed gunman. Live by the sword and gun, die by the sword and the gun.
Sopranos creator David Chase more or less confirmed Tony Soprano died, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 15 years after the Sopranos finale aired: “What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. That bothered me,” he said.
Look, we all have to go sometime, and there are worse ways to end it than eating onion rings and listening to Journey with people you love. Tony Soprano had one of the more peaceful TV deaths, in a way.
And while we miss James Gandolfini, we enjoyed seeing his son — Michael Gandolfini — play a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark.
Everyone on Six Feet Under
The whole show was about death, and dealing with death, so of course Six Feet Under was going to end with some death — but Lord, what a breathtaking montage of death. Still maybe the best, most emotional ending of any TV show, and also, oddly enough, the most logical.
Gale Boetticher on Breaking Bad
For a meth maker, Gale (David Costabile) was sweet and naive. When Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) put him directly in Walter White’s path, his death became assured, setting off a spectacular cat-and-mouse fight between Walt and Gus in Season 4 of Breaking Bad that could have easily gone the other way.
That’s why Fring’s death isn’t on this list of the most coldly logical TV deaths: He could have easily won as lost.
Adriana LaCerva on The Sopranos
Again, there’s an unwritten rule of TV deaths that the most innocent person among a lot of terrifying people is going to die prematurely. Adriana (Drea de Matteo) was a good person, money-laundering and some other stuff aside, and the FBI rather ruthlessly exploited her love for a weak man. Her death was heartbreaking, but made sense within the world of The Sopranos.
Also: Her last name means “the doe” in Italian, and the show kills her in the woods. This is, to us, one of the most heartbreaking TV deaths.
Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos
With his addiction issues, hotheadedness and general unreliability, Chrissy (Michael Imperioli) made it impossible for Tony not to whack him. And after he allowed what happened to Adriana, we weren’t that sorry to see him go.
Why does The Sopranos get three different entries in our list of the most coldly logical TV deaths? Maybe because it’s the best-written TV show ever, and handled logical deaths as well as it handled everything else.
At least we still get to enjoy Imperioli in roles like his great one on Season 2 of The White Lotus.
Eddie Munson on Stranger Things
We should have known something was up when Eddie (Joseph Quinn) arrived on Stranger Things in Season 4 and quickly established himself as the most charismatic and sympathetic metalhead in town. He courageously stood up to Vecna to save his new friends, sacrificing himself in the process, which was such an Eddie thing to do.
Joseph Quinn has moved on to even bigger things — he’ll soon appear in Marvel’s Fantastic Four, and recently starred in Gladiator II.
Joffrey on Game of Thrones
In the harsh world of Game of Thrones, cruel despots tend to thrive — at least for a while.
Joffrey seemed to have plot armor as one of the main antagonists of the series, and because of his youth. But Game of Thrones loved to subvert expectations, so killing him off was actually the last thing many viewers expected. Which made it the most logical thing for the show to do.
Lucerys Velaryon on House of the Dragon
Look, we hate to see a child die — especially a child as brave as Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), killed in such a cruel and violent way. But it was inevitable the moment he crossed Aemond Targareyen. And once they boarded their dragons?
As The Sopranos would say, fuhgetaboutit.
And now, a MAJOR SPOILER WARNING about two recent shows, Succession and Barry, in our next two slides.
Ready? Last warning.
OK, here we go…
Logan Roy on Succession
The great one almost died in the very first episode of the show, and in a way, it’s sad that he didn’t — when Succession started, Logan Roy (Bryan Cox) was on at least decent terms with all of his children. By his final appearance, he treated them like chess pieces he considered unclean. His final acts were to skip one son’s wedding while ordering another to do his dirty work — for fun.
His death joins the pantheon of the most logical TV deaths — and yet it was still one of the most surprising, thanks to the extraordinary writing on Succession, which also pulled off one of TV’s greatest finales.
Barry Berkman on Barry
It’s not a total shocker that a hired killer with countless enemies would die at the end of his show. But his manner of death was a huge “wow” — to quote Barry (Bill Hader) himself. And it’s also impressive that Barry star and co-creator Bill Hader would give up a character he could have kept going for many more seasons, or in reunions or reboots. It’s a testament to his incredible creativity that he would rather go on to other things.
Main image: The Sopranos. HBO
Liked This List of the 13 Most Coldly Logical TV Deaths?
You might also enjoy this list of TV Characters Who Deserved to Die. Yes, there’s some overlap here.
Main image: Game of Thrones. HBO