History SacrificialLion / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Loves to point these out. Tom Servo once called out, "Ding-ding-ding--'''VICTIM'''!" at one blatantly obvious Sacrificial Lion in ''Film/IWasATeenageWerewolf'' [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E09IWasATeenageWerewolf episode]]. It became a RunningGag as the teen walked through a desolated path.

** The seventh-season episode "Heroes" fan-favorite character [[spoiler: Dr. Frasier]] is killed while treating a wounded airman during an offworld firefight, mostly to give us another reason to hate Anubis.

---> Eddington: "You don't get to be a captain wearing a [[RedShirt gold uniform]]."
---> Chuck: "That's because guys in the gold uniforms usually get their salt sucked out to prove the situation's serious."

** ActionGirl Tasha Yar. Granted [[DroppedABridgeOnHim her death]] was a way to shuffle Denise Crosby off the stage, but story-wise she's killed simply to make the MonsterOfTheWeek look even more lethal.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Damn near everyone. In particular, Ash and the Roadhouse in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One", John Winchester in "In My Time Of Dying" (all for the Yellow-Eyed Demon), Henriksen in "Jus In Bello" (for Lilith), and Jo and Ellen in "Abandon All Hope..." (for Lucifer). Another possible example is Kubrick in "Fresh Blood", who seemed to be getting set up as another recurring antagonist, only to be killed by Gordon in his second episode. Not to mention Bela (to remind us of what's about to happen to Dean) and Anna (angels can stay dead and Heaven's torture is ''very'' bad news). Then we have [[CoolCar the]] [[CompanionCube Impala]], which doesn't ''die'', but does get hidden for most of season seven after "Slash Fiction" to emphasize the Leviathan threat.

-->''EX-TER-MI-NATE!''
-->[[FamousLastWords I kinda figured that]].

** The execution of Thomas More halfway through Season 2 also applies here. More is portrayed right from the start as King Henry VIII's closest advisor and personal friend - More is practically the only character who addresses the king as 'Henry' or 'Harry', rather than 'Your Majesty'. Until the second episode of Season 2, he is Henry's Chancellor. Henry then has him beheaded a few episodes later.
* ''{{Series/Defiance}}'' - 2 important characters are killed in the first season. Sukar and Kenya Rosewater.
** Sukar is introduced as a father figure to Irisa and his death makes her faith stronger. Sukar's death is also a major plot point in one of the episodes.
** Kenya Rosewater is shown as the proprietor of the local brothel, and was also Nolan's lover, and later becomes the Stahma's lover. In the finale, Stahma kills off Kenya to placate Stahma's husband. Kenya's death is used to demonstrate Stahma's loyalty to her husband[[spoiler:, and according to WordOfGod also set up major plot points in Season 2]].

** An element of FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you remember that that's exactly what all the RedShirts died for in the Original Series - the only difference is that this time the audience ''knows'' the RedShirt in question.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Damn near everyone. In particular, John Winchester in "In My Time Of Dying", Hendrickson in "Jus In Bello" and Jo and Ellen in "Abandon All Hope". Another possible example is Kubrick is "Fresh Blood", as he seems to be getting set up as another recurring antagonist, only to be killed in his second episode. Not to mention Bella (to remind us what's about to happen to Dean) and Anna (angels can stay dead).
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Captain Jack seems like this at first, in DoctorWho. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil The Daleks]] drive him and his army into a corner (Not to mention they also go to the lower floors of a space station just to [[KillEmAll wipe out the humans hidden away there]]). Everybody's dead, and his machine gun just running out, he pulls out a pistol and fires that quickly running out of bullets. He relents, and asks what the Daleks are going to do:
--> "EX-TER-MI-NATE!
--> [[FamousLastWords I kinda figured that.]]
* ''TheTudors'': Cardinal Wolsey's banishment from court and subsequent execution could arguable be a drawn out version of this trope. The show had taken the time to build up Wolsey and establish him as a major force in the royal court and politics of Europe and billed the actor as a member of the main cast. His downfall helped establish Henry's fickle nature and demonstrate that in RealLife AnyoneCanDie. Though he [[SuicideNotMurder wasn't executed]].

** Joss had intended to do something similar with Xander's quickly-forgotten best friend Jesse in "[[ThePilot Welcome To The Hellmouth]]," but was unable to sneak him into the opening credits for a single episode.
** WordOfGod has it that in Season 7, the original plan was that Caleb would kill Xander.

** Scorpio Zodiarts from ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' gets defeated... yet still hangs around for a few more episodes before he goes back into the fray again and gets defeated by the SecondRider. Despite living through that, Virgo comes and sends him to the Dark Nebula where he/[[SamusIsAGirl she]] [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse will never be seen again]].

* ''SpartacusBloodAndSand'': Varro.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon are both reasonable if flawed men who establish in the first season that AnyOneCanDie. A nice guy like Renly serves to demonstrate the power of a new faction introduced in the second season.

* ''{{NCIS}}'': Kate Todd, made even worse by the fact that it was looking more and more unlikely since Reveille that Ari would actually kill her; he'd already almost bombed a cafe, but this showed that he wasn't going to stop until Gibbs was in mental agony.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Captain Jack seems like this at first, in DoctorWho. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil The Daleks]] drive him and his army into a corner (Not to mention they also go to the lower floors of a space station just to [[KillThemAll wipe out the humans hidden away there]]). Everybody's dead, and his machine gun just running out, he pulls out a pistol and fires that quickly running out of bullets. He relents, and asks what the Daleks are going to do:

* ''TheTudors'': Cardinal Wolsey's banishment from court and subsequent execution could arguable be a drawn out version of this trope. The show had taken the time to build up Wolsey and establish him as a major force in the royal court and politics of Europe and billed the actor as a member of the main cast. His downfall helped establish Henry's fickle nature and demonstrate that in [[strike: this show]] RealLife AnyoneCanDie. Though he [[SuicideNotMurder wasn't executed.]]

** Kenya Rosewater is shown as the proprietor of the local brothel, and was also Nolan's lover, and later becomes the Stahma's lover. In the finale, Stahma kills off Kenya to placate Stahma's husband. Kenya's death is used to demonstrate Stahma's loyalty to her husband[[spoiler:, and according to WordOfGod also setup major plot points in Season 2.]]

** None of these count, with the possible exception of Renly. The heart of the SacrificialLion trope is that the plot could have proceeded anyway and that the deaths are there just to show that AnyOneCanDie. Ros, however, is a SacrificialLion because her death was simply to show that the BigBad was now flat-out killing people for the fun of it.

*** None of these count, with the possible exception of Renly. The heart of the SacrificialLion trope is that the plot could have proceeded anyway and that the deaths are there just to show that AnyOneCanDie. Ros, however, is a SacrificialLion because her death was simply to show that the BigBad was now flat-out killing people for the fun of it.

** Kenya Rosewater is shown as the proprietor of the local brothel, and was also Nolan's lover, and later becomes the Stahma's lover. In the finale, Stahma kills off Kenya to placate Stahma's husband. Kenya's death is used to demonstrate Stahma's loyalty to her husband, and according to WordOfGod also setup major plot points in Season 2.

** Kirihiko from ''KamenRiderDouble'' gets offed, though his Nasca Memory becomes a ChekhovsGun ''and'' a SuperMode for his killer late in the show.
** Mezool and Gamel from ''KamenRiderOOO'' are also offed, but thanks to Uva, they came back to life halfway into the show. As it turns out, Greeeds can only truly die if their conscious cores are destroyed, and soon, they get KilledOffForReal. A DoubleSubversion right there.
** Scorpio Zodiarts from ''KamenRiderFourze'' gets defeated... yet still hangs around for a few more episodes before he goes back into the fray again and gets defeated by the SecondRider. Despite living through that, Virgo comes and sends him to the Dark Nebula where he/[[SamusIsAGirl she]] [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse will never be seen again]].

* ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'': Has [[ActionMom [=MagiMother=]]] fall in battle to [[BlackKnight Wolzard]] at the start of the second episode, leaving her children without her guidance in their battles against Infershia.

* ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Loves to point these out. Tom Servo once called out, "Ding-ding-ding--'''VICTIM'''!" at one blatantly obvious Sacrificial Lion in ''IWasATeenageWerewolf''. It became a RunningGag as the teen walked through a desolated path.

** Danny Matheson in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E11TheStand episode 11]]. What really hits home about his death is that the protagonists spend the first half of the season trying to rescue him and this happens the episode after he gets rescued. On the plus side, he saved a lot of lives as he died, and his death has inspired many younger people to join up with the rebels, such as Jason Neville in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E13TheSongRemainsTheSame episode 13]].

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': This show is riddled with these, especially in Season 5. Don't get too attached to ''anyone'' in this show; they'll probably be dead by the end of the series.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Season two brings the first of many examples in Jenny Calendar. She's specifically killed to convince the Scooby Gang that Angelus is an actual threat. And Puccini would never be the same again.

* ''BurnNotice'': In the fifth season, Max. They introduce him, give him strong characterization, show that he's one of the rare, unambiguously good guys, and then they kill the shit out of him. And frame Michael in the process.

* ''{{Fringe}}'': Agent Charlie Francis. After getting through the first season relatively unharmed, being established as [[ActionGirl Olivia]]'s {{Wingman}} and one of the major Agents in [[TheMenInBlack Fringe Division]], and surviving a M-Preg gone horribly wrong, we all assumed that Charlie had developed PlotArmor as one of the core characters. Then the writers [[DroppedABridgeOnHim have him killed]] by a shape-shifter who steals his form, who later dies anyways.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'': Often an InvertedTrope to the villains, especially after Decade. They are usually offed by the end of the first quarter of the show, though there are some special cases...

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Boone Carlyle receives a good deal of character development before being the first main character to die, restoring a AnyoneCanDie atmosphere to the show that it had lost after the first few episodes (thanks to the weird DisneyDeath of Charlie) and that it has maintained ever since.

* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'': Did this in the second episode (two-part season premiere) with the character Mike, leaving his brother Leo to take his place as the Red Ranger for the season. While Leo was obviously TheHero of the story from the beginning, such things never happen in Franchise/PowerRangers.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Danny in episode 11. What really hits home about his death is that the protagonists spend the first half of the season trying to rescue him and this happens the episode after he gets rescued. On the plus side, he saved a lot of lives as he died, and his death has inspired many younger people to join up with the rebels.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Jadzia Dax's death in the episode "Tears of the Prophets" is there to make Dukat an even more ominous BigBad than he already was, and serves to give Sisko a TenMinuteRetirement in CliffHanger form. (Don't worry, [[TheNthDoctor Dax gets better]]).
** In an SFDebris review of The Adversary, Chuck references this trope, along with the ubiquitous RedShirt.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': ActionGirl Tasha Yar. Granted [[DroppedABridgeOnHim her death]] was a way to shuffle Denise Crosby off the stage, but story-wise she's killed simply to make the MonsterOfTheWeek look even more lethal.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Captain Jack seems like this at first, in DoctorWho. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil The Daleks]] drive him and his army into a corner (Not to mention they also go to the lower floors of a space station just to [[KillThemAll wipe out the humans hidden away there]]). Everybody's dead, and his machine gun just running out, he pulls out a pistol and fires that quickly running out of bullets. He relents, and asks what the Daleks are going to do.

* ''TheTudors'': Cardinal Wolsey's banishment from court and subsequent execution could arguable be a drawn out version of this trope. The show had taken the time to build up Wolsey and establish him as a major force in the royal court and politics of Europe and billed the actor as a member of the main cast. His downfall helped establish Henry's fickle nature and demonstrate that in [[strike: this show]] RealLife AnyoneCanDie.
** Though he [[SuicideNotMurder wasn't executed.]]

* ''GameOfThrones'': Just like his book counterpart, Eddard Stark. Also in the first season, there's Viserys and Robert. As for the second and third seasons, there's Renly, Catelyn, Talisa, and Robb.

* ''GameOfThrones'': Just like his book counterpart, Eddard Stark.

* ''{{Rome}}'': Pompey Magnus. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to anyone who knew their history, but being killed halfway through the first season after the show had been focused entirely on the rivalry between him and Julius Caesar still makes it feel pretty abrupt.

* ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Loves to point these out. Tom Servo once called out, "Ding-ding-ding--'''VICTIM'''!" at one blatantly obvious Sacrificial Lion in ''IWasATeenageWerewolf''. It became a RunningGag as the teen walked through a desolated path.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': ActionGirl Tasha Yar. Granted [[DroppedABridgeOnHim her death]] was a way to shuffle Denise Crosby off the stage, but story-wise she's killed simply to make the MonsterOfTheWeek look even more lethal.
** An element of FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you remember that that's exactly what all the RedShirts died for in the Original Series - the only difference is that this time the audience ''knows'' the RedShirt in question.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Jadzia Dax's death in the episode "Tears of the Prophets" is there to make Dukat an even more ominous BigBad than he already was, and serves to give Sisko a TenMinuteRetirement in CliffHanger form. (Don't worry, [[TheNthDoctor Dax gets better]]).
** In an SFDebris review of The Adversary, Chuck references this trope, along with the ubiquitous RedShirt.
---> Eddington: "You don't get to be a captain wearing a [[RedShirt gold uniform]]."
---> Chuck: "That's because guys in the gold uniforms usually get their salt sucked out to prove the situation's serious."
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Season two brings the first of many examples in Jenny Calendar. She's specifically killed to convince the Scooby Gang that Angelus is an actual threat. And Puccini would never be the same again.
** Joss had intended to do something similar with Xander's quickly-forgotten best friend Jesse in "[[ThePilot Welcome To The Hellmouth]]," but was unable to sneak him into the opening credits for a single episode.
** WordOfGod has it that in Season 7, the original plan was that Caleb would kill Xander.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In this ''Buffy'' SpinOff, [[TheLancer Doyle]] appears in the first episode, gets some strong characterization and a potential LoveInterest, and undergoes some noticeable CharacterDevelopment. Then, he pulls a HeroicSacrifice in the ninth episode [[RealLifeWritesThePlot because of his actor's drug habits.]]. Notably, unlike Jesse in [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the parent series]], Doyle is [[DefiedTrope NOT]] [[ForgottenFallenFriend forgotten]], and even in the fifth and final season, his name and legacy are sore spots for the main characters.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'': Skulls, Racetrack, Kat, Socinus, Crashdown, Jammer, Dualla, and even Cally are all given screen time, character development, and plot points (in some cases, entire storylines and multi-episode story arcs). And then they die just to show how shitty the situation was.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Captain Jack seems like this at first, in DoctorWho. [[AlwaysChaoticEvil The Daleks]] drive him and his army into a corner (Not to mention they also go to the lower floors of a space station just to [[KillThemAll wipe out the humans hidden away there]]). Everybody's dead, and his machine gun just running out, he pulls out a pistol and fires that quickly running out of bullets. He relents, and asks what the Daleks are going to do.
--> "EX-TER-MI-NATE!
--> [[FamousLastWords I kinda figured that.]]
* ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'':
** Derek Reese gets killed in the penultimate episode of the second season, just to show that the new AI isn't playing around like John Henry and Weaver were.
** Charley Dixon dies the episode before Derek; they are both examples of AnyoneCanDie.
** Derek also subverts the trope. Due to time travel, he reappears in the next episode alive and well.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Damn near everyone. In particular, John Winchester in "In My Time Of Dying", Hendrickson in "Jus In Bello" and Jo and Ellen in "Abandon All Hope". Another possible example is Kubrick is "Fresh Blood", as he seems to be getting set up as another recurring antagonist, only to be killed in his second episode. Not to mention Bella (to remind us what's about to happen to Dean) and Anna (angels can stay dead).

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Boone Carlyle receives a good deal of character development before being the first main character to die, restoring a AnyoneCanDie atmosphere to the show that it had lost after the first few episodes (thanks to the weird DisneyDeath of Charlie) and that it has maintained ever since.
** The deaths of Sayid, Jin and Sun in the final season, which happened to show the audience that The Man in Black was truly the BigBad.
* ''TheTudors'': Cardinal Wolsey's banishment from court and subsequent execution could arguable be a drawn out version of this trope. The show had taken the time to build up Wolsey and establish him as a major force in the royal court and politics of Europe and billed the actor as a member of the main cast. His downfall helped establish Henry's fickle nature and demonstrate that in [[strike: this show]] RealLife AnyoneCanDie.
** Though he [[SuicideNotMurder wasn't executed.]]

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': Another J.J. Abrams' show that does the same thing. Irony points, the character in ''Series/{{Alias}}'' who was replaced by an identical assassin was named Francie. Awfully similar to Francis, ain't it?
* ''Series/RobinHood'': Roughly 40% of the guest stars that featured on this show, in particular Carter and Legrand.
* ''SpartacusBloodAndSand'': Varro.
* ''{{Rome}}'': Pompey Magnus. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to anyone who knew their history, but being killed halfway through the first season after the show had been focused entirely on the rivalry between him and Julius Caesar still makes it feel pretty abrupt.
* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'': Did this in the second episode (two-part season premiere) with the character Mike, leaving his brother Leo to take his place as the Red Ranger for the season. While Leo was obviously TheHero of the story from the beginning, such things never happen in Franchise/PowerRangers.
** Kendrix's death towards the middle of the season came as quite a shocking conclusion to the ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' crossover (caused due to the actress being diagnosed with leukemia and needing to leave for treatments). Both characters [[UnexplainedRecovery get better]].
* ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'': Has [[ActionMom [=MagiMother=]]] fall in battle to [[BlackKnight Wolzard]] at the start of the second episode, leaving her children without her guidance in their battles against Infershia.
* ''BurnNotice'': In the fifth season, Max. They introduce him, give him strong characterization, show that he's one of the rare, unambiguously good guys, and then they kill the shit out of him. And frame Michael in the process.
** In a villainous example (with a show that likes to keep around [[JokerImmunity the really cool bad guys]]), Brennan is killed just before the season finale by another bad guy, "Dead" Larry.
* ''BoardwalkEmpire'': Plays this trope straight and hard in the second season finale when after seemingly having patched things up Nucky murders Jimmy after two seasons of him as the show's most important character besides Nucky himself.

* ''SonsOfAnarchy'': Sees the death of main character Jax's long-suffering and devoted best friend Opie Winston out of nowhere just '''three''' episodes into the fifth season.

* ''{{NCIS}}'': Kate Todd, made even worse by the fact that it was looking more and more unlikely since Reveille that Ari would actually kill her; he'd already almost bombed a cafe, but this showed that he wasn't going to stop until Gibbs was in mental agony.

* ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' loves to point these out. Tom Servo once called out, "Ding-ding-ding--'''VICTIM'''!" at one blatantly obvious Sacrificial Lion in ''IWasATeenageWerewolf''. It became a RunningGag as the teen walked through a desolated path.
* ActionGirl Tasha Yar from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Granted [[DroppedABridgeOnHim her death]] was a way to shuffle Denise Crosby off the stage, but story-wise she's killed simply to make the MonsterOfTheWeek look even more lethal.

* Jadzia Dax's death in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Tears of the Prophets" is there to make Dukat an even more ominous BigBad than he already was, and serves to give Sisko a TenMinuteRetirement in CliffHanger form. (Don't worry, [[TheNthDoctor Dax gets better]]).

* Season two brings the first of many examples from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' in Jenny Calendar. She's specifically killed to convince the Scooby Gang that Angelus is an actual threat. And Puccini would never be the same again.

* In the Buffy SpinOff ''Series/{{Angel}}'', [[TheLancer Doyle]] appears in the first episode, gets some strong characterization and a potential LoveInterest, and undergoes some noticeable CharacterDevelopment. Then, he pulls a HeroicSacrifice in the ninth episode [[RealLifeWritesThePlot because of his actor's drug habits.]]. Notably, unlike Jesse in [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the parent series]], Doyle is [[DefiedTrope NOT]] [[ForgottenFallenFriend forgotten]], and even in the fifth and final season, his name and legacy are sore spots for the main characters.
* On ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', Skulls, Racetrack, Kat, Socinus, Crashdown, Jammer, Dualla, and even Cally are all given screen time, character development, and plot points (in some cases, entire storylines and multi-episode story arcs). And then they die just to show how shitty the situation was.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' is riddled with these, especially in Season 5. Don't get too attached to ''anyone'' in this show; they'll probably be dead by the end of the series.

* Lieutenant Keffer, hotshot pilot of ''Series/BabylonFive'', had an entire season of character development and screen time for the fans to get to know him. Then he's killed in the season finale so everyone would know the Shadows are back and ready to rumble. For fun, this was actually a WriterRevolt: The network insisted on the character.

* Damn near everyone in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In particular, John Winchester in "In My Time Of Dying", Hendrickson in "Jus In Bello" and Jo and Ellen in "Abandon All Hope". Another possible example is Kubrick is "Fresh Blood", as he seems to be getting set up as another recurring antagonist, only to be killed in his second episode. Not to mention Bella (to remind us what's about to happen to Dean) and Anna (angels can stay dead).
* ''Damages'' kills off two out of its five cast members before the end of the first season to establish that yes, AnyoneCanDie.
* Boone Carlyle in ''Series/{{Lost}}'' receives a good deal of character development before being the first main character to die, restoring a AnyoneCanDie atmosphere to the show that it had lost after the first few episodes (thanks to the weird DisneyDeath of Charlie) and that it has maintained ever since.

* Cardinal Wolsey's banishment from court and subsequent execution in ''TheTudors'' could arguable be a drawn out version of this trope. The show had taken the time to build up Wolsey and establish him as a major force in the royal court and politics of Europe and billed the actor as a member of the main cast. His downfall helped establish Henry's fickle nature and demonstrate that in [[strike: this show]] RealLife AnyoneCanDie.

* Agent Charlie Francis of ''{{Fringe}}''. After getting through the first season relatively unharmed, being established as [[ActionGirl Olivia]]'s {{Wingman}} and one of the major Agents in [[TheMenInBlack Fringe Division]], and surviving a M-Preg gone horribly wrong, we all assumed that Charlie had developed PlotArmor as one of the core characters. Then the writers [[DroppedABridgeOnHim have him killed]] by a shape-shifter who steals his form, who later dies anyways.

* Another J.J. Abrams' show, Series/{{Alias}}, does the same thing. Irony points, the character in ''Series/{{Alias}}'' who was replaced by an identical assassin was named Francie. Awfully similar to Francis, ain't it?
* Roughly 40% of the guest stars that featured on ''Series/RobinHood'', in particular Carter and Legrand.
* Varro on ''SpartacusBloodAndSand''.
* Pompey Magnus in ''{{Rome}}''. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to anyone who knew their history, but being killed halfway through the first season after the show had been focused entirely on the rivalry between him and Julius Caesar still makes it feel pretty abrupt.
* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' did this in the second episode (two-part season premiere) with the character Mike, leaving his brother Leo to take his place as the Red Ranger for the season. While Leo was obviously TheHero of the story from the beginning, such things never happen in Franchise/PowerRangers.

* ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'' has [[ActionMom [=MagiMother=]]] fall in battle to [[BlackKnight Wolzard]] at the start of the second episode, leaving her children without her guidance in their battles against Infershia.
* In the fifth season of ''BurnNotice'', Max. They introduce him, give him strong characterization, show that he's one of the rare, unambiguously good guys, and then they kill the shit out of him. And frame Michael in the process.

* ''BoardwalkEmpire'' plays this trope hard in the second season finale when after seemingly having patched things up Nucky murders Jimmy after two seasons of him as the show's most important character besides Nucky himself.
* Just like his book counterpart, Eddard Stark of ''GameOfThrones''.
* ''SonsOfAnarchy'' sees the death of main character Jax's long-suffering and devoted best friend Opie Winston out of nowhere just '''three''' episodes into the fifth season.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' often inverts this trope to the villains, especially after Decade. They are usually offed by the end of the first quarter of the show, though there are some special cases...

* ''{{NCIS}}'': Kate Todd, made even worse by the fact that it was looking more and more unlikely since Reveille that Ari would actually kill her.