What’s a film or TV scene that felt like a punch to the gut?

Ahead of the Oscars, I have been thinking about Michael B. Jordan’s career. He was on Friday Night Lights, and there was a fairly brief scene with his character Vince sitting at the hospital bed of his mom, who has just OD’d. In the span of like a minute, he goes from being a mature comforting presence for her (explaining what happened, why she is strapped to the bed, etc) and then switches to being a kid again. He has a line like “why do you keep doing drugs? Why dont you want to be with me? Am I bad?” It is *so* heartbreaking on its own and especially for his character, who tries so hard to take care of her…he’s a great actor and has been in some amazing things, but thats an early moment for him, I think.

The Wire – Wallace. I can’t even type it.

“She said you came to the place where they buried her. Asked her a question. She said, the answer is every day… What did you ask?”

“‘D-Do I make her proud?’”

Basically the entire scene when Cole finally decides to trust his mom with his secret, even though he knows it’s going to crush her.


Precious. When she starts crying talking to her teacher about how nobody loves her. That movie had me ugly crying with how relentlessly bleak it was.

I couldn’t watch The Walking Dead after the introduction of Negan & his bat.

It just meant that I couldn’t believe the best in people anymore. Or rather, it was symbolic of that.

Granted it’s FICTION & the Glen character in the comics is gone much earlier than the show…. that meant this was a deliberate production choice for a demise at that point in the show’s popularity.

It was an effective scene to convey utter cruelty + power tripping craziness. So effective that I couldn’t take it anymore.

I do think I’ll watch the….5? seasons that followed at some point. I’m still not over this though.

Don’t even get me started on scenes from LOST. When Locke’s dad ends up paralyzing him, it was that same disgust.

It’s a lot less heavy compared to some other scenes mentioned here but in The Good Place when Eleanor comes back to Earth with Michael and she visits her mom and watches her be a great mom to her step daughter, it broke my heart. The dialogue – if Dana Shelstrop was always capable of change, then I just wasn’t worth changing for – will forever be etched in my brain.

Paige on the train platform – The Americans. Oooof.

There’s an old, old (1992) episode of Law & Order called Prince of Darkness. In the first scene a husband and wife are shot dead in a crowded restaurant because of their ties to Colombian drug cartels. Their young daughter is there but physically unharmed.

In the last scene the DA, Adam, learns that two of the prosecution witnesses as well as the victim’s mother have been murdered. One of the characters asks “what about the little girl?”

Adam says with some relief “she was picked up at school by her uncle.”

There’s a beat of silence, then another character says “she doesn’t have an uncle.”

And that’s the end of the episode. Fade to black. Most chilling line I’ve ever seen on Tv and it’s done with no big acting or even any musical score.

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind knowing all their memories were being erased even though they meet again. But learning Kristin Dunst’s character also lost hers was shocking

not as intense as some of the others, but in freaks and geeks when sam and lindsey both realize that lindsey egged sam and his friends on halloween.

something about being an older sister with a little brother, it just broke my heart.

There’s a tv show called Modern Love in episode 3 (each ep is a stand alone) Anne Hathaway plays a character who is bipolar.

She is happy, getting ready for a date, dressed up feeling good. Then a depressive episode hits, and in just momments she crumbles.

She tries so hard to stay in that good place, but the sadness just overtakes her.

Its just was such an amazing representation of what its like to be so drowned negative motions that no amount of effort can stop it.

Oh probably the entirety of “White Tulip” S2:E18 of Fringe. Walter’s struggle to tell Peter he was stolen from the parallel universe, him asking God for forgiveness despite his belief in science over religion, Alistair Peck finally dying with his wife….Walter receiving his sign of forgiveness…..oh god I tear up just thinking about it

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gut wrenching

The whale – OMG what was that movie, and deservingly brandon fraiser got the Oscar for it

The scene from Wake Up Dead Man, where the old hag calls the young woman some explicitly horrible names and even distorts the truth to make her look like she’s possessed by the demon only bcuz the girl didn’t “uphold the christian faith and moral ideals.” But at the end it turns out the girl was just in a very bad situation and was denied help bcuz of that religious bitch. i don’t have any memory of crying this much over a movie in recent times. Absolutely fucked me up.

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Long Term Parking, The Sopranos

Futurama – Jurassic Bark 😭

And a gut punch in a not so bad way, but in Dirty Dancing where Baby’s dad tells her she looked beautiful dancing, and apologizes to Johnny. UGH, I love Jerry Orbach!


La La Land final sequence