History HopeSpot / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/JupitersLegacy'': In episode 8, Brandon tells his dad that he fully understands the Code after Petra tells him that she intended to leave the Union in the previous episode, making Sheldon proud. [[spoiler:But later, Sheldon hesitated to kill Blackstar to save his son's life, which Blackstar calls him out on. Brandon only got saved when Petra attacked Blackstar from behind. Sheldon tried to assure Brandon that he wouldn't let Blackstar kill him, but Brandon doesn't seem to believe that. Now Sheldon worries that he's losing Brandon, just like Chloe, and asks Walter for help]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}: In Recap/ArrowS3E9TheClimb, Oliver has challenged Ra's al Ghal in a duel to the death. It goes to a horrific start as it's clear that Oliver Queen is clearly outmatched in sword fighting. Near the end of the fight, Oliver seems to be getting the hang of the battle at last, and the triumphant music of the series begins to play... only for him to be chopped in the throat, the music stopping abruptly altogether, and is impaled on one of the swords.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': In the Season 17 finale, SVU's sergeant Mike Dodds is shot, but makes it through surgery and it looks like he's going to be all right. Then he has a massive medical crisis almost out of nowhere, and it's ultimately revealed that [[spoiler:he has had a massive stroke and is brain dead.]]

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': In the Season 17 finale, SVU's sergeant Mike Dodds is shot, but makes it through surgery and it looks like he's going to be all right. Then he becomes incoherent while Benson and his father are visiting, and [[spoiler:the next scene reveals he had a massive stroke and is brain dead.]]

** In another episode, Starfleet appears to send a ship with a faster-than-warp drive that can make the trip from the Delta Quadrant in a matter of weeks. While sad to leave ''Voyager'', the crew is overjoyed at being able to get back so soon. Then it's revealed that the ship is a decoy from a LastOfHisKind, who blames the humans for his species being assimilated by the Borg. It turns out to be not so bad, though, and they're able to adapt the quantum slipstream drive for use on ''Voyager'' and shave a few years off their return trip (after a TimeyWimeyBall).

** The crew makes contact with a Romulan commander through a tiny wormhole. They manage to successfully receive the Romulan, who transports through the wormhole. They are excited about the possibility of sending everyone through the wormhole to the Romulan ship, so they can be taken to the Federation. Then Tuvok reveals that the wormhole is also temporal in nature, and the Romulan commander is from over a century in the past. Instead, they give the commander a message to deliver after the ''Voyager'' disappears in the Badlands. While the commander offers to alter history by warning Starfleet of the ''Voyager''[='s=] disappearance, the crew agrees that it would undo many of the good things they've done. As soon as the commander teleports back, Tuvok reveals that he checked the historical records, and the Romulan died decades before they departed on their ill-fated trip, likely failing to pass the message along.
** In another episode, Starfleet appears to send a ship with a faster-than-warp drive that can make the trip from the Delta Quadrant in a matter of weeks. While sad to leave ''Voyager'', the crew is overjoyed at being able to get back so soon. Then it's revealed that the ship is a decoy from a LastOfHisKind, who blames the humans for his species being assimilated by the Borg. It turns out to be not so bad, though, and the quantum slipstream drive does end up shaving a few years off their return trip (after a TimeyWimeyBall).

** In "Recession-Proof", the team finally makes a diagnosis, and House declares that with treatment "he'll live a long and healthy life". They rush down to give the patient the news and start him on the treatment, only to find that he has just died.

** The episode itself is also something of a hope spot for the season: a touching episode that shows the crew overcoming much of the detachment and fear that had been building since the Dominion War arc began a season earlier, ending with some emotional speeches about valuing their time together and not letting the fear of loss stop them from being happy for what they have right now. Then in the next episode, finale of the season, [[spoilers: Jadzia is killed off for real]]

** The second fight with The Beast has two. The first is when Wesley's shotgun blasts bring it to its knees, with him advancing on it firing from closer and closer - until he gets within range, at which point it grabs him, hurls him into a wall, and stands up as though its apparent injury was a just an act. The second is when Angel puts his GameFace on and goes in for a rematch. He also manages to knock The Beast to its knees, produces a stake, and stabs it towards The Beast's eyes, the only seemingly vulnerable part of it. He stops an inch away, and the camera reveals The Beast had caught his wrist. Then it stabs him in the neck with his stake and hurls him off the skyscraper.
** One episode has the heroes easily defeat [[MadeOfIndestructium the Beast]] with a McGuffin way too easily and everyone working out their issues, so it's no surprise when it turns out to be AllJustADream to bring out [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Angelus.]]

* AmericanHorrorStory loves this trope. One of the most blatant examples is found in Season 2, where a journalist named Lana Winters has been unlawfully detained in an abusive, nightmarish asylum to prevent her from exposing the truth of what's going on. She is helped out by a psychiatrist who is unnerving but not villainous...until he is revealed to be a serial killer and rapist with serious mother issues. She escapes by outwitting the killer after her rape, only to be picked up as a hitchhiker by a suicidal man who hates women because of his ex-wife. He kills himself, crashing the car...landing Lana right back in the asylum, now pregnant with her rapist's baby. It keeps getting worse from there.

* In the ''Series/CloakAndDagger'' episode "B-Sides", [[spoiler: Andre]] is making Tandy live through various alternate lives in order to destroy her hope. She breaks out of his mental control, gets Ty and the police and confronts him. [[spoiler: Then he shoots Ty, and ''then'' it becomes clear she never broke free at all. This is the final alternate, and it's ''worked''.]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]": The Doctor has become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds thanks to this TraumaCongaLine and via BatmanGambit manages to [[spoiler:pull Clara out of time at the moment of her death, violating a fixed moment in time]]. He's overjoyed at the prospect of new adventures, brainstorming wacky new ideas like "cocktails with Moses" and inventing a flying submarine -- but then he learns that [[spoiler:she isn't fully returning to life]]... and the universe may well start falling apart soon, and it will be all his fault. He doesn't give up his quest just yet, but several conversations later he has a HeelRealization and accepts that his desire to [[spoiler:staying with her forever]] is just a TragicDream that he must give up. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Clara is able to continue "living" in her not-quite-dead state for as long as she likes, but this is technically not a hope spot as she is well aware that some day she will have to voluntarily return to the point of her death.]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]" is ''very'' mean about its Hope Spots. The Doctor has just saved the Earth and possibly the universe from the opening of the sealed time bubble and the return of Gallifrey, and he's still alive, despite thinking that The Master's return was what was supposed to have killed him. Then [[spoiler:he hears a sound... four knocks, from Wilfred, on the inside of the flood chamber for the radiation, which The Doctor will activate if he lets Wilfred out, spilling the radiation on him... the entire rest of the special is a class one TearJerker through and through.]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]" has another powerful one. Astrid has driven herself off a precipice into the ship's reactor in order to off the BigBad. As the Doctor returns to the other survivors, he is reminded that she was wearing a teleport bracelet with a system for rescuing passengers who run into trouble with it on. [[spoiler:So he attempts to recall her... only to find that the system does not have enough power, and all that's left of her is constituent particles in her image, which he has to disperse. Hell of a TearJerker.]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]]: Donna ends up in a LotusEaterMachine, married to a virtual husband that she really loves, and when the virtual reality begins to collapse, she promises that she'll find him. But in the real world, she asks after him but is told that no one by his name was in the Library, leading her to unhappily conclude that, like her virtual children, he was never real. However, ''he'' sees ''her'', but his [[SpeechImpediment severe stutter]] prevents him from getting her attention before he's teleported home.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer Fear Her]]", all the drawings have returned to life — except the Doctor. [[spoiler:Then the other drawing comes to life, and it's an OhCrap moment.]]

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]", Rory saves his and Amy's daughter from being kidnapped. Amy takes the baby and hides, while Rory, the Doctor, and the various aliens he recruited to help out form a line of defense to stop the last of the troops coming to get little Melody Pond. [[spoiler:It turns out that the baby Amy was holding was just a "Flesh" replica, and the real baby had been kidnapped long ago. [[TearJerker Yeah...]]]]
** A particularly nasty and heart-wrenching example from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan The Angels Take Manhattan]]"... [[spoiler:Rory and Amy have jumped to their supposed deaths]] to create a temporal paradox to poison the Weeping Angels' food supply. The paradox puts them back where they started the adventure, ready to head out with The Doctor and River on a family voyage, until [[spoiler:Rory is distracted by his own gravestone and is sent back in time by a Weeping Angel and Amy goes with him. And thanks to the paradox, the TARDIS can't go their time/place, so the Doctor will never see them again.]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]". The Doctor has become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds thanks to this TraumaCongaLine and via BatmanGambit manages to [[spoiler:pull Clara out of time at the moment of her death, violating a fixed moment in time]]. He's overjoyed at the prospect of new adventures, brainstorming wacky new ideas like "cocktails with Moses" and inventing a flying submarine -- but then he learns that [[spoiler:she isn't fully returning to life]]... and the universe may well start falling apart soon, and it will be all his fault. He doesn't give up his quest just yet, but several conversations later he has a HeelRealization and accepts that his desire to [[spoiler:staying with her forever]] is just a TragicDream that he must give up. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Clara is able to continue "living" in her not-quite-dead state for as long as she likes, but this is technically not a hope spot as she is well aware that some day she will have to voluntarily return to the point of her death.]]

** A similar situation occurred with ASA Flight 529. After the engine was mangled by the broken pieces of a faulty propeller, the plane was descending too quickly to make it to an airport, so the pilots had to make an emergency landing in a field. The landing was rough and the plane was ripped apart, but amazingly, everyone survived the impact. Then sparks from broken wiring ignited leaking fuel, starting a raging fire that quickly enveloped the only exit, forcing passengers to run through the flames in order to escape. Five people died in the immediate aftermath, and another four later succumbed to their injuries, bringing the death toll to nine. Of the 20 survivors, 11 were significantly injured, and nearly all, even those who escaped serious physical injury, suffered the effects of severe emotional trauma; one passenger died two months later of a heart attack thought to be induced in part by the stress of the incident.