History Main / DramaBomb

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' season openers are usually pretty laid back, fun-romps which exist to introduce new characters (if there are any). This was blow out of the water with the opening episode to Season 6, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]" has the [[spoiler:Doctor begin to regenerate, and then die. The finale showed it was only supposed to ''look'' like that, but the Doctor's companions didn't know this until the same time as the audience.]]

* ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'': The second half is just one big drama bomb. To enumerate *inhales* [[spoiler:Balon Greyjoy dies. The Red Wedding wipes out Robb Stark and Catelyn Stark. Davos frees Edric Storm and informs Stannis of what's happening on the Wall. Joffrey gets poisoned by Olenna Tyrell and Littlefinger. Tyrion is blamed for this murder. Sansa is taken along with Littlefinger to the Vale. Meanwhile, the wildlings attack Castle Black, leading to Ygritte being killed. The wildlings from Beyond the Wall then lay siege to the Wall, leading to a large-scale battle. In the midst of this, Jon Snow is accused of being a traitor and is sent to parley with Mance Rayder, only to be interrupted by Stannis winning the battle for them. Meanwhile, Oberyn Martell volunteers to be Tyrion's champion to avoid the [[KangarooCourt kangaroo court]] of Cersei Lannister, in exchange for the identity of Elia Martell's murderer. Tyrion claims that it is Gregor Clegane, who also happens to be Cersei's champion. They battle only for Oberyn to be killed, which further sparks the animosity between the Lannisters and Martells. This results in Tyrion fleeing Westeros, but not before killing Tywin and Shae. Arya finally gets her revenge on Polliver, but it leads to The Hound's death. She finally gets passage to Braavos though. Meanwhile, Sam rigs the election at the Wall, making Jon Snow the new Lord Commander. Littlefinger weds Lysa Arryn, steals a kiss from Sansa, who gets accused of being the one who initiated the kiss in the first place by Lysa. She is threatened to be pushed out the Moon Door, only for Littlefinger to intervene. Lysa admits that SHE POISONED JON ARRYN UNDER LITTLEFINGER'S ORDERS, THUS INADVERTENTLY CAUSING THE WAR. Littlefinger then pushes her out of the window. Finally, Merrett Frey goes to a rendezvous point to ransom one of his relatives, only to find that he is being hanged. Who is sentencing him to death?? The reincarnated corpse of CATELYN FUCKING STARK!]]*exhales*

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' the bomb was dropped more than once, most potently "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody The Body]]". Season 6 seemed to consist of nothing ''but'' Drama Bombs (and a MusicalEpisode).

* Officer deaths in ''Series/TheBill''

* The first two seasons of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' were full of Archer and the gang staring at pretty comets, bitching about Vulcans, and saying 'Gee Whiz' a lot. And then came....The Xindi....

* Oh geez. The ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' episode "Missing" was a drama ''nuke''.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': The third-to-last episode, "[[Recap/BreakingBadS5E14Ozymandias Ozymandias]]". Dear. Lord. [[spoiler:It sees the consequence of just about every one of Walt's actions and sins in the entire series. It sees his drug empire completely collapse, his brother-in-law murdered by neo-Nazi hitmen he had hired to kill someone else, Jesse taken hostage and tortured (after Walt tells him he saw and let his girlfriend die) by the neo-Nazis and MadeASlave for them, Walt's family completely destroyed and their lives ruined. Walt runs away, kidnapping his baby daughter, until he finally comes to the realization that he was the one responsible for the family's destruction. Before returning Holly he makes a phone call to his wife, while the police are with her, acting as an abusive husband to absolve her from their crimes, and finally using Saul's eraser man to start a new identity.]] Feel happy? Even in a final season of nothing but WhamEpisode after WhamEpisode, it STILL stands out.

* ''Series/DocMartin'': When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of Season 5.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'''s Wrath Gate.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain''. You ''start the game'' in a nice, stable place, with such action-packed events as brushing your teeth in your clean, organized bathroom, pouring yourself orange juice in a bright kitchen beneath a sunlit window, and musing over photographs of your beautiful, complete family, all of whom are alive and living with you in apparent harmony. In order for saying things get worse to be a spoiler, the player would have to expect something contraindicated by what previous experience with video games, stories in general, and the game's specific marketing materials (including the box art and ''the title'') would tell him or her.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', the release of update 18.0 and the storyline quest 'The Second Dream' upended ''everything'' players thought they knew about the Tenno.

* ''Webcomic/CaptainUfo'' has a couple in season two.

* The very end of the second episode of ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}''.

** Other episodes include "Fun with Veal", "The Death Camp of Tolerance", "Toilet Paper", "Red Man's Greed", "Raisins", "Preschool", and "The Return of Chef".
** And in the case of Stan and Kyle's friendship, "Follow That Egg" was the first of several episodes to have these dropped on it in contrast to earlier, sillier episodes such as "Prehistoric Ice Man".
** Cartman himself has quite a big one in "1%".

** The 2nd Season Finale could count as a example for the show itself.

*** Season 2: [[spoiler: Locke tests to see if the hatch's countdown actually does anything. It turns out it does, and ends up destroying the hatch, trapping Locke, Eko, and Desmond inside. Also, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer get trapped by the others, and Penny discovers the island.]]

* The martial arts movie ''House Of Flying Daggers'' does pretty well with its drama and plot for the most part...but just ''try'' to keep up with the last quarter of the movie. [[spoiler:The two government agents find the rebels, and it is revealed that one of the agents is actually working for the rebels and in love with the lady protagonist, also an agent of the Flying Daggers. But it turns out the leader of the Flying Daggers is NOT the leader of the Flying Daggers, our lady isn't blind, and is in love with the agent still pro-government and...]]

Also see: WhamEpisode, ShockingSwerve, KilledOffForReal, and DramaBombFinale.

* ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'': The second half is just one big drama bomb. To enumerate *inhales* [[spoiler:Balon Greyjoy dies. The Red Wedding wipes out Robb Stark and Catelyn Stark. Davos frees Edric Storm and informs Stannis of what's happening on the Wall. Joffrey gets poisoned by Olenna Tyrell and Littlefinger. Tyrion is blamed for this murder. Sansa is taken along with Littlefinger to the Vale. Meanwhile, the wildlings attack Castle Black, leading to Ygritte being killed. The wildlings from Beyond the Wall then lay siege to the Wall, leading to a large-scale battle. In the midst of this, Jon Snow is accused of being a traitor and is sent to parley with Mance Rayder, only to be interrupted by Stannis winning the battle for them. Meanwhile, Oberyn Martell volunteers to be Tyrion's champion to avoid the [[KangarooCourt kangaroo court]] of Cersei Lannister, in exchange for the identity of Elia Martell's murderer. Tyrion claims that it is Gregor Clegane, who also happens to be Cersei's champion. They battle only for Oberyn to be killed, which further sparks the animosity between the Lannisters and Martells. Arya finally gets her revenge on Polliver, but it leads to The Hound's death. She finally gets passage to Braavos though. Meanwhile, Sam rigs the election at the Wall, making Jon Snow the new Lord Commander. Littlefinger weds Lysa Arryn, steals a kiss from Sansa, who gets accused of being the one who initiated the kiss in the first place by Lysa. She is threatened to be pushed out the Moon Door, only for Littlefinger to intervene. Lysa admits that SHE POISONED JON ARRYN UNDER LITTLEFINGER'S ORDERS, THUS INADVERTENTLY CAUSING THE WAR. Littlefinger then pushes her out of the window. Finally, Merrett Frey goes to a rendezvous point to ransom one of his relatives, only to find that he is being hanged. Who is sentencing him to death?? The reincarnated corpse of CATELYN FUCKING STARK!]]*exhales*

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a particularly large one mixed liberally with the game's biggest HopeSpot, when the Empire appears to be crying "uncle" after the Espers are unleashed on them. [[spoiler:[[ILied They lied]], the Emperor attempts [[AGodAmI to ascend to godhood]], [[TheStarscream Kefka]] gets caught in the effect instead, and [[OmnicidalManiac destroys the world as a result]].]]

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' the bomb was dropped more than once, most potently when [[spoiler:her mom died]]. Season 6 seemed to consist of nothing ''but'' Drama Bombs (and a MusicalEpisode).

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' season openers are usually pretty laid back, fun-romps which exist to introduce new characters (if there are any). This was blow out of the water with the opening episode to Season 6, "The Impossible Astronaut" has the [[spoiler:Doctor begin to regenerate, and then die. The finale showed it was only supposed to ''look'' like that, but the Doctor's companions didn't know this until the same time as the audience.]]

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': The third-to-last episode, "Ozymandias". Dear. Lord. [[spoiler:It sees the consequence of just about every one of Walt's actions and sins in the entire series. It sees his drug empire completely collapse, his brother-in-law murdered by neo-Nazi hitmen he had hired to kill someone else, Jesse taken hostage and tortured (after Walt tells him he saw and let his girlfriend die) by the neo-Nazis and MadeASlave for them, Walt's family completely destroyed and their lives ruined. Walt runs away, kidnapping his baby daughter, until he finally comes to the realization that he was the one responsible for the family's destruction. Before returning Holly he makes a phone call to his wife, while the police are with her, acting as an abusive husband to absolve her from their crimes, and finally using Saul's eraser man to start a new identity.]] Feel happy? Even in a final season of nothing but WhamEpisode after WhamEpisode, it STILL stands out.

* ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum'' gets hit with one halfway through the series (Episode 12): [[spoiler:Himari dies, seemingly permanently. The Takakura parents are revealed to have been responsible for the 1995 terrorist attacks. And the penguin hat stops working]]. Things [[FromBadToWorse go downhill from there]].

* Episode 7 of the anime adaptation of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'' starts off as your normal BeachEpisode, [[spoiler:but turns into this like WOAH. Namely, in explained ''why'' Rikka behaves that way, in the ''very'' TearJerker manner.]]

%%* Chapter 15 of ''[[{{Fanfic/AceCombatEquestriaChronicles}} Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]''. [[TearJerker And let's leave it at that]].

* Chapter 10 of ''FanFic/TheLegendOfSpyroNoRestForTheWicked'' is a pretty big one. [[spoiler:First off, Spyro's new friend Caden is killed alongside hundreds of other dragons in the battle against the humans. Then Spyro manages to drive the humans away by accidentally unleashing his SuperpoweredEvilSide, only for it to nearly completely take over him even when Cynder tries to get through to him. Then, the biggest shocker comes during the aftermath when Galiron blames the humans' attack on Cynder for what she did to them, to which Spyro defends her, only for Galiron to reveal that among Cynder's victims during her time when she was evil were ''Spyro's biological parents'', shocking Spyro to the point that he actually '''smacks''' Cynder when she tries to explain she didn't know and runs off]].

* ''FanFic/ThreeGuysGoToABarAndThenTheyBeatYouWithIt'' is mostly a darkly humorous story about Bakugou, Tokoyami and Shinsou getting their revenge after being forced to take on the role of villains for that year's final exams. Things take a sharp turn, however, when the first two discover that their partner's mother is an {{Abusive Parent|s}}, and Katsuki takes matters into his own hands, immediately exposing what's been happening to their teacher... and several of their classmates. This leads to Hitoshi [[spoiler:effectively being ''orphaned'', as his mother is stripped of custody and his father is currently in prison due to abusing his MindControl Quirk]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' had a few well-spaced ones, but of particular note was the ''cluster'' Drama Bomb towards the end of Season 2, where an episode ends with [[MetaGuy Sokka]] blithely mentioning how [[TemptingFate smoothly]] things have been going, followed by [[spoiler:[[CuteBruiser Toph]] getting captured by [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Xin Fu and Master Wu]], [[EvilChancellor Long Feng]] being revealed to still control the [[SecretPolice Dai Li]], and instead of Suki and the [[AmazonBrigade Kyoshi Warriors]] coming to the aid of [[TheFederation Ba Sing Se]], it's actually [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] and [[QuirkyMinibossSquad friends]] in disguise.]]

When a story has been coasting along quite well and nothing really strange is happening, beware. This is exactly the kind of environment writers can't stand. After all, a story without conflict is dull, and [[RuleOfDrama no-one likes a dull story]], right? So, just when you think everything has settled, they pull out the best weapon they can bring to bear on your sensibilities: a sudden explosive moment of drama.The happy couple breaks up. A character [[KilledOffForReal dies and doesn't get better]]. Somebody crosses the MoralEventHorizon. A well done authorial blitzkrieg attack will leave you stunned, shocked, yet wanting for more.

Similar to VerySpecialEpisode, except the consequences carry and a lesson needn't be learned. Can be the first sign of CerebusSyndrome, but not always.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ''

** When Super Buu returns after he seemingly self-destructed, everyone is baffled since he didn't get any stronger and is still outmatched against Gohan. He challenges Gotenks to a fight instead of Gohan, who obligates. Buu then absorbs Gotenks and Piccolo, becoming stronger than ever.
** After Vegeta forces Buu to revert back to his original form, things seem fine since this version of Buu doesn't appear to be as strong as his other forms. Then Buu blows up the Earth, killing Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': The death of Loren Singer in season 8. [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot Enter]] ''Series/{{NCIS}}''.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': The third-to last episode, "Ozymandias". Dear. Lord. [[spoiler:It sees the consequence of just about every one of Walt's actions and sins in the entire series. It sees his drug empire completely collapse, his brother-in-law murdered by neo-nazi hitmen he had hired to kill someone else, Jesse taken hostage and tortured (after Walt tells him he saw and let his girlfriend die) by the neo-nazis and MadeASlave for them, Walt's family completely destroyed and their lives ruined. Walt runs away, kidnapping his baby daughter, until he finally comes to the realization that he was the one responsible for the family's destruction. Before returning Holly he makes a phone call to his wife, while the police are with her, acting as an abusive husband to absolve her from their crimes, and finally using Saul's eraser man to start a new identity.]] Feel happy? Even in a final season of nothing but WhamEpisode after WhamEpisode, it STILL stands out.

* ''Series/DocMartin'': When [[spoiler:Joan]] is KilledOffForReal at the start of season 5.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* In ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'', everything looks like it's worked itself out, at least to some extent. Then [[spoiler:Neil shoots himself.]]

* ''Series/Superstore'' ended its second season on a surprisingly intense note. It starts out fairly normal with Glenn trying to figure out who to fire and Jonah trying to make amends with Amy after accidentally calling her sexy. [[spoiler: Glenn finally ends up firing six of his workers, including Marcus and Justine, only for a tornado to appear and start destroying Cloud 9. In all of the chaos, Amy and Jonah kiss, Mateo desperately calls Jeff, Sandra leaves Carol to die, and Brett is assumed to be dead. Once the tornado ends, the workers realize that Cloud 9 has been completely destroyed.

* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' provides examples of both the use and overuse of the Drama Bomb. A fairly early episode has Kirby get a robo-puppy that becomes something of a little brother to him. The episode ends with the puppy [[TearJerker sacrificing itself to save Kirby]]. The overuse comes when they do this ''two additional times''. By the third self-sacrifice, you can't help thinking "Oh, not again."

* ''Anime/KirbyOfTheStars'' provides examples of both the use and overuse of the Drama Bomb. A fairly early episode has Kirby get a robo-puppy that becomes something of a little brother to him. The episode ends with the puppy [[TearJerker sacrificing itself to save Kirby]]. The overuse comes when they do this ''two additional times''. By the third self-sacrifice, you can't help thinking "Oh, not again."

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebComics]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]