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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | ->''"Mrs. Matheson, I'm sorry, but you need to choose which one of your children I'm going to kill."'' |
| 7 | -->-- '''Sgt. Will Strausser''', ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E10NobodysFaultButMine Nobody's Fault But Mine]]" |
| 8 | Characters being forced to make [[SadisticChoice sadistic decisions]] in LiveActionTV. |
| 9 | ---- |
| 10 | * ''Series/TwentyFour'': |
| 11 | ** In one episode, a man is given a choice by a terrorist to either allow his son or wife to leave (he's holding them at gunpoint to force him to pick something up for him). After agonizing about it, he picks his son to be released. The terrorist then releases his wife instead, explaining that he only did that to learn who was ''more'' important as a hostage. |
| 12 | ** Nearly the entire first season is a series of Sadistic Choices for Jack. |
| 13 | ** In Season 3, Stephen Saunders tells the president he's ready to carry out a terrorist attack, but will call it off if he has [[spoiler:Ryan Chappelle]] killed. The president reluctantly instructs Jack to do the job. |
| 14 | * ''Series/The100'' forces Clarke to choose between evacuating Tondc before it's hit by a missile (which would reveal she has inside information on Mount Weather's military, putting her spy in their ranks at risk), or fleeing the village with just herself and Lexa, leaving everyone else to die. [[spoiler:She chooses to let them die.]] |
| 15 | ** In the Season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Clarke has to choose between letting her people be killed for their bone marrow, or flooding Mount Weather with radiation, killing everyone inside, including her own allies and innocent children. She chooses to irradiate the Mountain and save her people.]] |
| 16 | ** In the Season 3 episode 'Join Or Die', [[spoiler:Kane is forced to accept the chip that he knows will take away his emotions and free will, essentially making him a slave to A.L.I.E. Ironically, given the title of the episode, he IS actually willing to die rather than take the chip, but when Jaha holds a gun to Abby's head and threatens to kill her in front of him, he relents. Made worse by the fact that he is in extreme pain from being literally crucified while presented with this choice. It's not a good episode for him.]] |
| 17 | *** In fact, variations on this specific Sadistic Choice ([[spoiler:slavery to A.L.I.E. or the death of someone you love]]) are repeated several times throughout the latter half of Season 3. [[spoiler:It seems to be implied that physically *forcing* someone to ingest the chip doesn't work, so the recruiting method of choice for A.L.I.E. is to have an already controlled person threaten to harm themselves unless someone who cares about them takes the chip. Thus Abby takes the chip to save Raven, Kane takes the chip to save Abby, and so on. She tries this on Clarke too, by having Abby almost hang herself, but Clarke takes a third option.]] |
| 18 | * In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E5AHenInTheWolfHouse "A Hen in the Wolf House"]], Raina offers one to Coulson -- give up Skye to her (she hopes doing will have him protect her from Whitehall), or Raina will expose to Comicbook/{{HYDRA}} that Simmons is TheMole for Comicbook/{{SHIELD}}, complete with a timer counting down before Simmons is exposed. She's [[DidntSeeThatComing completely taken aback]] when he refuses to play ball and coldly lets the timer run out [[spoiler:because his ''other'' [[TheMole mole]] Bobbie Morse is ready [[TakeAThirdOption to get Simmons out]]]]. |
| 19 | * ''Series/TheAmazingRace'': |
| 20 | ** Several of the tasks have been picking the lesser of two evils. Perhaps the best example came during the China leg of Season 17, ''Both'' challenges were [[LuckBasedMission "Needle in a Haystack"]] challenges, and both of the particularly nasty variety. Teams had to pick either finding a boat with specific markings in the Marina or riding a tram and identifying the right signs, if you didn't get the right signs then you had to ride the Tram again and again. At the time the racers got to the leg it was nighttime; with the former challenge, they had to hold their flashlights over the signs one by one and with the latter, they had to search for specific signs in a sea of neon. |
| 21 | ** Amazing Race 21 features searching for books in Cryllic, or learning a synchronized swimming routine. |
| 22 | * ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In "[[Recap/AngelS05E15AHoleInTheWorld A Hole in the World]]", Angel has to choose between saving Fred, but killing thousands of innocents, or letting his friend die horribly. Angel chooses the latter, much as it hurts him. |
| 23 | * ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'': |
| 24 | ** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': |
| 25 | *** This sets up the entire conflict between [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] and [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] in Season 2. [[MadScientist Dr. Ivo]] tells Oliver to choose between Shado (his current love interest) and Sara (his former love interest) or he'll kill them both. Oliver doesn't actually make the choice, but when Ivo points the gun at Sara he instinctively throws himself in front of her -- Ivo takes this as an answer and shoots Shado. Slade Wilson -- who was secretly in love with Shado, and insane with [[SuperSerum Mirakuru]] -- can't understand why the man he loved as a brother would 'choose' Shado over some girl Slade barely knows. Later Slade deliberately sets up the same SadisticChoice by forcing Oliver to choose between his mother Moira and his sister Thea. Moira takes the choice into her own hands by choosing to die to save her children. |
| 26 | *** In a CrossOver episode with ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]]'', Captain Boomerang plants five bombs throughout Starling City, starting a 90-second timer. While Oliver is keeping Boomerang busy, Barry runs to the first location found by Felicity and Cisco but discovers that disarming one bomb will set off the other four. In the remaining time, he rushes Roy, Caitlin, Felicity, and Cisco to the other four bombs, so that they can all be disarmed simultaneously. The OhCrap expression on Boomerang's face when nothing detonates is priceless. |
| 27 | *** In Season 5 finale, [[BigBad Prometheus]] is holding Oliver's son, William, hostage on a boat and rigged a DeadMansSwitch that would set off the explosives on Lian Yu with his friends on it. He gives Oliver this ultimatum; either Oliver kills him and lets his friends get blown up to save his son, or Prometheus [[WouldHurtAChild breaks William's neck]] [[ForcedToWatch in front of Oliver]]. Oliver [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]] and shoots Prometheus' foot, saving William. However, Prometheus [[SpitefulSuicide shoots himself in the head anyway]] and the season ends in a cliffhanger with Oliver watching the island explode, [[DownerEnding seemingly having lost everyone he cared about except his son]]. |
| 28 | ** ''Series/TheFlash2014'': |
| 29 | *** [[Creator/WentworthMiller Leonard Snart]] (AKA Captain Cold) figures out "the Streak"'s (Barry's nickname before "the Flash" catches on) weakness -- he cares what happens to innocent people. So he chooses to escape by train. Barry catches up to him only discover that Snart has planned for this. Snart uses the [[FreezeRay cold gun]] to derail the train and jumps out, forcing Barry to choose whether to save the passengers or chase the bad guy. Naturally, he chooses to save the innocents, and manages to do it as the train cars are tumbling. As it turns out, Snart does not escape and nearly kills Barry afterwards. In a later episode, [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver]] berates Barry for rushing into the situation without exploring alternative options. |
| 30 | *** In the second half of the season, Snart returns and kidnaps Cisco, one of the Flash's teammates. After forcing the engineer to re-build some very dangerous weaponry, Snart gives him the choice between giving up the Flash's identity, or watching his brother die. [[spoiler:Cisco gives up Barry's name, and for the rest of the episode feels intense guilt, says he isn't worthy of working at STAR, and even implies that he believes that his teammates think it was "the wrong choice." In reality, they all understand that it was an impossible situation and there's no grudge-holding whatsoever.]] |
| 31 | *** In the ChristmasEpisode [[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E9RunningToStandStill "Running to Stand Still"]], the Trickster, [[BadSanta disguised]] as a MallSanta, gives out 100 explosives disguised as presents to random children from across Central City, threatening to detonate them unless Comicbook/TheFlash agrees to let the Trickster and Weather Wizard kill him. In the B-Plot of the same episode, [[BigBad Zoom]] forces Harry to agree to betray the Flash or Harry's daughter, held captive by Zoom, will suffer the consequences. |
| 32 | * ''Series/Awake2012'': In the pilot episode, it is suggested to Michael that once he comes to realize which reality is true he will stop dreaming the other. Or, as he put it, once he decides who has died (his wife or his son), he'll never see him/her again. |
| 33 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 34 | ** Sheridan and Delenn (and, by extension, all the lesser species) are compelled to chose between following one of the two uber-races: the (near-)fascist Vorlons and chaotic murderous Shadows, each of which would eventually result in an endless war. [[spoiler:They choose not to choose at all.]] |
| 35 | ** In a less obvious way Sheridan himself inadvertently gives this to Kosh: either he helps the Alliance to fight Shadows (and face an inevitable and lethal retribution for breaking the no-direct-confrontation agreement the two races had) or he would have to kill Sheridan, who firmly refused to take "No" for an answer (and was crucial to any victory over the Shadows). [[spoiler:He chose the former.]] |
| 36 | ** This show loved this trope. It's revealed that the Minbari (or at least, some of them) knew of the Shadow invasion, and deliberately did not help the Narns when they were invaded by the Centauri with the help of the Shadows. But they held back because if they had moved to stop the Shadows, the Shadows would have started attacking openly sooner than they eventually did. As Delenn states in the episode "Ship of Tears", it was a choice between the lives of millions (on the Narn homeworld) and the lives of ''billions'' (on entire planets that could be destroyed by the Shadows, as they later proved capable of doing). [[spoiler:The Minbari choice bought enough time for the Alliance to find a weakness of the Shadows...but only just enough.]] |
| 37 | ** And earlier, Sheridan (in the episode "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum"), who was facing the decision of whether or not to release the dangerous [[ManipulativeBastard Mr. Morden]] from the station's holding cells, made a reference to the attack on Coventry in World War II, repeating a rumor of the time that Churchill had deliberately allowed the attack to go through simply to keep their knowledge of the Enigma cipher secret (in actuality, action ''was'' likely taken, but went wrong; Straczynski admitted that the Coventry example wasn't a certain one, but it made for a good story and illustrated his point well). As one character comments in that same episode: "How many lives is a secret worth?" [[spoiler:Sheridan lets him go, as to keep him would have revealed the "secret" and cost billions of lives, as the Minbari decision showed above.]] |
| 38 | ** The Army of Light has to choose which planet to try and protect from the Vorlon fleets -- Centauri Prime with 3 bln people, or Corianna with 6 bln -- for they barely have enough forces for one battle. They choose the latter. |
| 39 | * ''{{Series/Batwoman2019}}'': In "A Narrow Escape" a bomber called The Detonator returns, whose shtick is forcing people viewed as heroes into this. They're strapped to bombs, with a button disarming them which will trigger another bomb planted somewhere else which will murder people. It's to show they're not ''really'' so heroic, as they won't sacrifice themselves for others. [[spoiler:However, it turns out this is a copycat using the same m.o. to cover up crimes for a different end.]] |
| 40 | * ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''. Parodied when Ludwig the Indestructible sends a ransom demand for Blackadder and Melchett to Queen Elizabeth, knowing she can only afford to pay for one of them. She decides to spend the money on...a party instead, so [[ItsAllAboutMe she can forget all about them.]] |
| 41 | * ''Series/BloodTies2007'': In the series finale, a demon makes Vicki choose between the life of one of her friends, or the power to save the world, which includes reversal of her near-blindness. [[spoiler:She chooses her friend.]] |
| 42 | * ''Series/{{Bones}}'': |
| 43 | ** The serial killer Pelant starts draining Hodgins's massive fortune, using the exact same server that controlled the drone he was using to attack a school in the Middle East. The team is already tapped into the server and could easily shut it down, saving the money, but doing so would prevent them from stopping the drone before it could reach its target. Hodgins doesn't hesitate to choose his own poverty over allowing the children to die. |
| 44 | ** In the eighth season finale "The Secret In the Siege" [[spoiler:after Booth accepted Brennan's marriage proposal, Pelant contacted Booth by cell phone, announcing that he would kill five innocent people if Booth didn't break the engagement. At the end of the Season 9 premiere, Brennan assured Booth that she has absolute faith in him (a major step for her given her mistrust of the concept of faith over the years) and will stand by him no matter what, saying only that the next time it will be Booth's turn to propose to her. Which he did at the end of "The Sense in The Sacrifice", after he finally killed Pelant.]] |
| 45 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': |
| 46 | ** In the second episode, Crazy-8 has managed to survive being gassed. Walter and Jesse keep him imprisoned in the basement while they think of what to do. Walt is the presented with the choice of letting him go, but risking the very high chance of him retaliating, or finishing him off. Walt agonizes over the decision and bonds with Crazy-8, who promises to let bygones be bygones, [[spoiler:but when he discovers Crazy-8 has hidden a shiv and was preparing to kill him the moment he's freed, Walt is forced to kill him]]. |
| 47 | ** In the third season, Walt and Jesse kill two of Gus' men, angering him, and they know he will try to kill them in retaliation. Walt realizes that Gus needs to always have ''someone'' cooking meth, and his only other meth cook is Gale, therefore if they kill Gale, Gus will have no choice but to let them live. Due to circumstances, [[spoiler:Jesse is forced to kill Gale; he hesitates due to the fact he's gunning down a defenceless man who (aside from the meth cooking) is by all accounts a NiceGuy, but since he and Walt would be killed otherwise, he reluctantly pulls the trigger]]. This decision causes him severe PTSD in the following season. |
| 48 | * ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Councillor Druggett gives Brittas one of these in 'The Chop': Either he accepts responsibility for the irregularity in the petty cash and resigns from his job, or his wife (who actually took it to buy a dog) accepts responsibility and goes to jail. [[spoiler: He takes the blame and resigns. Luckily for Brittas, he doesn't lose it for long]]. |
| 49 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 50 | ** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E11Triangle Triangle]]", Willow and Anya have made a powerful troll angry, and he tries to kill them both, and Xander jumps to their defense, but isn't not much of a match for the troll. The troll is however impressed with his bravery, and offers him to spare one of the girls, if Xander chooses which one of them he shall kill. Xander's response: "I'm not gonna choose between my best friend and my girlfriend! That's InsaneTrollLogic!" |
| 51 | ** And in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheGift The Gift]]", Buffy has to chose between [[spoiler:her sister, or the whole of reality. She takes the third option -- HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 52 | * ''Series/Charmed1998'': |
| 53 | ** Piper and Phoebe dealt with this when they had to either choose to save their sister Prue, or stop the bad guys...who in this case happened to be the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, meaning that saving Prue would trigger the end of the world. Piper was adamant about doing it anyway, then somehow saving the world after that. Only after seeing a vision of the future did Phoebe realize Prue had to be sacrificed to save everything else. Luckily, they TookAThirdOption in the end. |
| 54 | ** Piper is forced to face another one of these in Season 5. Phoebe is kidnapped by a demon to use her body as a host for his lover's soul. Cole arranges for Paige to be taken as a host instead, which results in Phoebe being turned into a mummy and Paige being possessed. Cole then goes to Piper and tells her that she gets to choose which sister she gets back: if she chooses Paige, then Phoebe's body will be used as a host, and if she chooses Phoebe, the demon inside of Paige will set her free but keep Paige's body. Piper stresses over this seemingly impossible choice until she fakes choosing Phoebe, TakesAThirdOption by removing the demon's spirit instead of Paige's from Paige's body, and relies on the spell knowledge Paige picks up from sharing the body in order to free Phoebe. |
| 55 | * ''Series/{{Clarice}}'': [[spoiler:Nils Hagen]] was forced to choose by his father whether he or his little brother would be used as a gas test subject. |
| 56 | * ''Series/ColdCase'': The alternate title for "A Perfect Day" was "The Choice", and it's a SadisticChoice indeed. An abusive husband and father holds his twin four-year-old girls over a bridge railing to "punish" his wife for wanting to leave him; the wife is capable of pulling them back over, but only one at a time, and she knows that as soon as she grabs one of the girls, her husband may well let go of the other one before she has a chance to save her too. In the end, she goes for the one that's closest to her, likely because she has a better chance of getting her to safety quickly; as she feared (and [[ForegoneConclusion as the existence of the case made clear would happen]]), the husband drops the other girl to her death right as her mother is reaching out for her. |
| 57 | * ''Series/CriminalMinds'': |
| 58 | ** Not surprisingly, some Unsubs like to use this. An episode had the Unsub lock three friends in an underground chamber to deprive them of food and water. They are told that one of them has to die for them to survive. Even worse, they had to kill the unlucky third friend themselves. With a hammer. |
| 59 | ** Notably, Reid is forced into this twice in ''Revelations''. In one instance, he is shown four computer screens of complete strangers and is told to pick one to live and one to die (logically, he's picking one to live and three to die -- Reid brings this up almost immediately, though not in so many words). If he doesn't choose, they all die. Reid eventually gives in and arbitrarily picks a victim to live and is [[ForcedToWatch left to watch]] the others be murdered. Later, [[SplitPersonality Rafael]] tells Reid to choose one of his colleagues to die. If he doesn't choose, Rafael will shoot Reid. He uses this to his advantage in one of the cleverest maneuvers Reid has ever made, [[TVGenius which is saying something]]. |
| 60 | * In ''Series/DarkAngel'', Max and Logan CantHaveSexEver, and Max blows her chance at finding a workaround in order to save JerkAss Alec's life. |
| 61 | * ''Series/TheDeadZone'': A variant occurs in one episode, in which the villain is fate. After some visions, Johnny is forced to choose which of his old friends dies. Does he let one friend get a heart transplant at the cost of the other friend's life? He keeps trying to try the third option, but it never works out. Leads to some very TearJerker moments. |
| 62 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': A reoccuring theme the Doctor has to face nearly once a season. |
| 63 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]]: The Doctor has to choose between using a cobbled-together weapon that can destroy the Daleks, but also everyone else on a future Earth or do nothing. [[spoiler:He can't bring himself to do it, and the Daleks bomb the Earth killing everyone anyway. The rest of the universe is only spared thanks to a last minute DeusExMachina.]] |
| 64 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]]: The Doctor can either let the Beast's mind escape, or kill Rose, the rocket's crew and himself (not that ''that's'' ever been a problem). He hesitates, but ultimately rejects the idea that Rose is just a victim and goes through with it. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he then finds the lost TARDIS, allowing him to rescue Rose and the rocket's crew.]] |
| 65 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]]: The titular family capture both the Doctor's companion, Martha, and his love ([[spoiler:or at least John Smith's love]]), Joan, and then giving him the option of which one to kill first. |
| 66 | --->'''Son of Mine:''' Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or matron? Your friend, or your lover? Your choice. |
| 67 | *** [[spoiler:And then Martha goes and [[TakeAThirdOption rescues herself]] ''[[TakeAThirdOption and]]'' [[TakeAThirdOption Joan]]. Give her a medal!]] |
| 68 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]] counts as one of the hardest choices the Doctor has been forced to take, as he has to choose between [[spoiler:sacrificing Pompeii or letting the villains ruin the world. Worse, ''it's a fixed point in time.'']] |
| 69 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]]: Starship UK's residents have two options: [[spoiler:continue to torture the Star Whale to keep their ship going, or release it and kill the entire country... at least, that's what they ''think''...]] |
| 70 | ** Later on in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]], the Doctor has to choose between destroying the last five Daleks or preventing Earth from being blown up by a Dalek bomb. [[spoiler:There is no [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] — the Doctor saves Earth and the Daleks escape after gloating about his weakness being his compassion.]] |
| 71 | --->'''Supreme Dalek:''' [[AC:Then choose, Doctor. Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth.]] |
| 72 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]: The Dream Lord forces Amy to choose between her nice, reliable, dull boyfriend Rory and the dashing, unreliable, charismatic Doctor. [[spoiler:When Rory apparently dies, Amy immediately kills herself — either it's a dream world and she'll wake up, or it's not and she ''refuses'' to live in a world without Rory (thankfully, it was a dream).]] |
| 73 | ** Amy ends up with the same choice at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan "The Angels Take Manhattan"]] after Rory is stranded in the past by the last Weeping Angel. With the added twist that, if she chooses Rory, she will be forever parted from not only the Doctor, but the familiar life she knows in the early 21st century. [[spoiler:Without hesitation, she chooses Rory again.]] |
| 74 | ** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]], the Doctor addresses this trope directly in all but name. |
| 75 | --->'''Twelfth Doctor:''' Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose. |
| 76 | ** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven "Death in Heaven"]], the Doctor has a choice of letting everyone on Earth die or forcing free-willed Cyberman [[spoiler:Danny Pink]] to give up his emotions by connecting to the Cybernetwork so they can learn their plan. The Cyberman in question, who has always disliked the Doctor, mocks him for this. "Watch as his morals disappear in the face of ''tactical advantage''." [[spoiler:The Doctor can't do it... so Clara, Danny's girlfriend, does it instead.]] |
| 77 | ** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied "The Girl Who Died"]], the Doctor chooses between [[spoiler:saving Ashildr's life in a way that may make her an ageless functional immortal]] or [[spoiler:leaving a family bereft and failing to live up to his chosen name and mission]]. Remembering the events of "The Fires of Pompeii", in which [[spoiler:he did manage to save one innocent family from the city]], he chooses the former. Tragically, his choice sets the stage for [[spoiler:her betraying him to the Time Lords centuries later via a trap that accidentally kills his beloved companion Clara]] later in the season. Suffice it to say, the Doctor doesn't take this well '''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds at all]]'''. |
| 78 | ** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E8TheZygonInversion "The Zygon Inversion"]], the Doctor himself invokes one: He gives two opposing sides each a box containing two buttons. One of the buttons does what they want (which will result in genocide against the other side) while the other will screw over their own side. The buttons are, of course, not labeled. [[spoiler:Actually, none of the buttons do anything. It was all a trap to draw out any radical elements so that they'll search for a supposed instant victory (and hopefully learn a few things in the process) instead of just waging a normal, violent campaign]]. |
| 79 | --->'''The Doctor:''' Because it's not a game, Kate! This is a scale model of war! Every war ever fought right there in front of you! Because it's always the same! When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: '''''SIT DOWN AND TALK!''''' |
| 80 | ** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], in order to prevent the coming of the Hybrid, either the Doctor or Clara has to have their memories of the other blocked. It comes down to essentially a flip of a coin, with no winner. |
| 81 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E8TheHauntingOfVillaDiodati "The Haunting of Villa Diodati"]]: Two of these choices in quick succession, both with potentially history-breaking consequences, force the Doctor to [[spoiler:let the Lone Cyberman leave with the Cyberium it came for]]: |
| 82 | *** First, either [[spoiler:the Lone Cyberman gets what it wants, leading to the death of billions, or let Percy Shelley die thanks to the Cyberium being inside him with potentially enormous consequences for the human race in the long run.]] |
| 83 | *** Second, after the Doctor manages to [[spoiler:extract the Cyberium from Percy without killing him]] and takes control of it, [[spoiler:the Cyberman]] threatens to destroy the Earth unless she hands it over. Yaz thinks it's bluffing, but history has proven fluid enough this night that the Doctor isn't willing to tempt fate. |
| 84 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': The "Look at the Princess" trilogy revolves around Crichton being pressured into marrying an alien princess since he is the only one who can give her healthy children (a prerequisite for becoming empress). To... encourage... John to make the right choice, the current empress invites Scorpius to the proceedings and tells John, "My daughter, or that abomination. Choose." Not much of a choice given that Scorpius would dissect John's brain and whatnot. |
| 85 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': |
| 86 | ** Niska captures [[TheCaptain Mal]] and [[AcePilot Wash]], and has Zoe choose between them. It's subverted when she chooses her husband Wash without stopping to think, ''before he even finishes asking her to choose''. Niska is so irritated at being interrupted in mid-taunt that he decides to be ''extra'' generous and throw in Mal's ''ear''. The director's commentary points out that while sadistic, it's not much of a choice: Not only is choosing Wash the emotional choice, but the pragmatic one as well (since Mal has a greater chance of making his own escape, is more capable of resisting torture, and if the crew is unable to rescue the remainder, Wash's piloting skills in the getaway would be invaluable. And Wash actually does prove invaluable in the rescue because of the one chance only piloting maneuver needed to get close to Niska’s space station without being detected.) |
| 87 | --->'''Niska:''' They are perhaps... damaged now. Are they worth so much to you?\ |
| 88 | '''Zoe:''' Yes.\ |
| 89 | '''Niska:''' And to me they are worth more. I think this ''[he gestures towards ransom money Zoe brought with her]'' is not enough. Not enough for two, but sufficient perhaps for one. ''[[[PsychoticSmirk he smirks]]]'' Ah! You now ha-\ |
| 90 | '''Zoe:''' Him. ''[she points at Wash]'' Sorry, you were going to ask me to choose, right? Do you want to finish? |
| 91 | ** Bounty hunter Jubal Early pulls the variant of the SadisticChoice on Simon in "Objects in Space" -- if Simon doesn't help him find River so that he can take her in for the bounty on her head, Early will go back to the engine room where he has Kaylee tied up and rape her. Sadistic element is taken down a notch by Early reminding him that if he goes along with helping to find River, there ''might'' be an opportunity down the line where Early slips up enough for Simon to take control. This is because Early's goal is to ''control'' Simon, not to make him suffer. He is indifferent to suffering ([[PsychoForHire or so he claims]]). He just wants this to go smoothly, and jam tomorrow works best for that kind of thing. |
| 92 | * ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': The episode ''Out With Dad'': |
| 93 | -->'''Frasier:''' Dad, would you please come with me?\ |
| 94 | '''Martin:''' To the ''opera''? What do you need me for?\ |
| 95 | '''Frasier:''' Dad, I can't go with a woman because then she'll think I'm on a date, and if I go alone she'll think I couldn't get a date.\ |
| 96 | '''Roz:''' He would look pretty pathetic.\ |
| 97 | '''Martin:''' Oh, geez!\ |
| 98 | '''Daphne:''' Or you could stay home with us and watch sad movies.\ |
| 99 | '''Frasier:''' ''[reads a title]'' ''Sophie's Choice''.\ |
| 100 | '''Martin:''' I'll say it is! |
| 101 | * ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': Daniel has to decide which of two people will be shot after he's negotiated a reduction of the hostages with Kollwitz. Along with Sauvier he was also forced to pick ten people who would be shot, or twenty died instead. |
| 102 | * ''Series/{{Friends}}'': |
| 103 | ** The concept is spoofed in one episode. The topic of "if you had to give up either food or sex" comes up. Immediately Ross says he'd give up food. Phoebe counters with "sex or dinosaurs." Ross's face falls, and he says "it's like Sophie's Choice!" |
| 104 | ** [[BigEater Joey]], realizing choosing sex or food was hard, replied: "I want girls on bread!" A similar dialogue occurs in an earlier episode: |
| 105 | --->'''Chandler:''' Hey, Joe, I gotta ask. The girl from the Xerox place buck naked ''[holds up one hand]'', or, or a big tub of jam. ''[holds up the other hand]''\ |
| 106 | '''Joey:''' Put your hands together. |
| 107 | * In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', Walter -- who has become increasing less able to focus on the GreaterGood if it means directly causing harm or suffering -- is the one to realize that the only way to save two worlds is to shoot someone in the head. [[spoiler:Made considerably worse by that 'someone' being the love of his son's life. Somewhat subverted in that he thinks she'll live thanks to all the drugs in her system.]] |
| 108 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 109 | ** TheCaligula King Joffrey is very fond of giving these to people, such as when he learns of a song poking fun of the late King Robert, his father [[spoiler:(or so he believes)]] and summons the singer to play the song in his throne room before giving him a choice of which body part will be cut off as punishment. |
| 110 | --->'''Joffrey:''' Tell me, which do you favor? Your fingers or your tongue? |
| 111 | ** You're free to leave your cell in The Eyrie at any time; the cells only have three walls. Of course, the missing fourth wall is also the one that would keep you from falling to your death. Lysa Arryn also implies that the cells have sloped floors to pull prisoners toward the edge, as Tyrion discovers when he nearly rolls out in his sleep. |
| 112 | ** Stannis has a series of these forced upon him in Season 5. He has to march to Winterfell and defeat the Boltons if he wants to help The Night's Watch or he can winter at Castle Black with few supplies and no political clout and die out during the winter. After Ramsay Bolton leads a raid on Stannis's camp that results in the destruction of his food stores and siege weapons, Stannis is faced with the likely possibility of his entire army starving and freezing to death in the Northern wilderness. The only apparent chance for victory lies in Melisandre's magic, which will create conditions for an impossible victory, but using that option comes at a terrible price: Stannis must give his only daughter up as a blood sacrifice, or all of his army starve out in the snow anyway. It's a brutal lose/lose situation. [[spoiler: [[MortonsFork Stannis sacrifices his daughter and loses anyway]]: His wife hangs herself in grief, his hired mercenaries collectively say ScrewThisImOutOfHere, and the Boltons get the drop on him at Winterfell.]] |
| 113 | --->'''Stannis:''' Sometimes a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand. If a man knows what he is and remains true to himself... the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny — and become, who he is meant to be. ... However much he may hate it. |
| 114 | ** How Ned feels upon learning of the illegitimacy of the Royal Children. He can be loyal to his friend Robert, tell him the truth, and drive him into an insane fury that would most likely cause him to kill not only Cersei and Jaime, but also Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella, who, upon being declared as abominations, will be murdered as well, or he can listen to Cersei and ignore the issue altogether and allow the Lannisters to install their inbred corrupt dynasty. In the end, he gets killed by the very boy-king, Joffrey, whose life he hoped to spare. |
| 115 | ** When he finds Lyanna on her deathbed with her newborn child (Jon), Ned has the following choices: He can allow the world to know his sister had a child with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, the man King Robert hated more than anyone, which would put his sister’s son in fatal danger from Robert or Ned can protect his nephew, honor his sister’s DyingWish, and put himself in the line of fire out of love for Lyanna and Jon. Ned brings his nephew home with him to Winterfell and claims Jon as his bastard son to protect Jon from their family’s enemies. Ned loves Jon and raises him as his own alongside his true-born children, but Ned's lie tarnishes his reputation and strains his marriage, and Jon experiences a series of issues related to his bastard status and never knowing about his mother because it is too dangerous for Ned to reveal the truth. |
| 116 | * ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Chidi tries teaching his ethics class the trolley problem, where you choose to either let five people die or deliberately kill one (see Real Life), but Michael [[spoiler: makes the situation real and forces Chidi to choose.]] |
| 117 | * ''Series/GothamKnights2023'': In "[[Recap/GothamKnights2023S1E13NightOfTheOwls Night of the Owls]]", Rebecca coerces Harvey to bring his evil alternate personality or she'll murder his daughter, and he reluctantly does it because of this. |
| 118 | * ''Series/HawaiiFive0'': In the Season 2 finale of the remake, Frank Delano tells Chin Ho that he has targeted Kono and Chin Ho's wife Malia for death and that he might have time to save one of them if he acts immediately. [[spoiler: He goes after Malia and gets Adam Noshimuri to find Kono. Adam saves Kono from drowning, but Chin Ho is too late to save Malia from being fatally shot.]] |
| 119 | * ''Series/HeroesReborn'': In the series finale, Erica holds Tommy's mother and girlfriend hostage in the future and then gives him a choice -- let the solar flares destroy his sister and all life on Earth in 2015 or go back in time and help her save the world and let the current future and everyone in it -- including his loved ones -- be erased from existence. [[spoiler: Tommy decides to do both and splits himself in two, one Tommy going back to 2015 to help Malina while the other stays to send everyone but Erica back before that part of the timeline is erased]]. |
| 120 | * ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': Joy and Fabian are given a choice at the end of Season 3 -- the mask or their trapped friends. They chose their friends. |
| 121 | * ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'': In "[[Recap/IDreamOfJeannieS1E17TheRichestAstronautInTheWholeWideWorld The Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World]]", after Roger steals Jeannie's bottle (and Tony's position as her master), he works her hard blinking up all sorts of luxury things for him. Following an unsuccessful attempt to talk Roger into letting Jeannie go peacefully, Tony shows a photo of his new mansion to Dr. Bellows and points out that Roger is working on a very important project. Dr. Bellows and General Peterson conclude that Roger is selling military secrets to another nation. Roger has the choice of saying nothing and getting executed for treason or explaining about Jeannie and getting tossed out of the space program. Tony provides a third option on condition of Roger letting Jeannie return to him. Jeannie removes Roger's fancy things and changes the past few minutes so that neither Dr. Bellows nor the general remembers they existed. |
| 122 | * ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'': Near the end, [[spoiler: the insanely massive Zangyack invasion fleet, something that the previous 34 Franchise/SuperSentai teams could only delay for a few years by sacrificing their powers, returns to Earth. The Gokaiger can either face the fleet by themselves, a task which is the next thing to suicide, or use the Greatest Treasure in the Universe to [[CosmicRetcon retroactively wipe Zangyack from the face of existence]] -- at the cost of doing the same to every Super Sentai. They end up destroying the Treasure and resolving to face the impossible odds because that's what Super Sentai members do.]] |
| 123 | * ''Series/TheKingLoves'': The king tells Won that he'll kill either San or Rin and forces Won to choose who dies. |
| 124 | * ''Series/LawAndOrder'': A young girl is kidnapped, and while the kidnapper is soon arrested, he refuses to reveal the girl's location unless he's allowed to walk free. The DA office is forced to choose between taking the deal and allowing a dangerous criminal to escape justice or refusing and convicting him at the cost of a girl's life -- [=McCoy=] wants to do the former and Branch the latter. [[spoiler: [=McCoy=] goes behind Branch's back and takes the deal, but Branch finds out and [[TakeAThirdOption twists it into a third option]] by persuading the judge not to honor it. The girl is safely rescued, and the irate kidnapper is left facing a trial he knows he can't win.]] |
| 125 | * ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': [[spoiler: A psychiatrist forces couples to choose to save themselves and kill their spouse or be killed and let their spouse live. He did this ''nine times'' and only an elderly couple chose the "altruistic" choice. Ironically, the killer was inspired by the sadistic choice put to his grandfather ''during the Holocaust''. Yes, he was called out on it, and no, he didn't get it ("I'm doing ''real'' science! It's ''documented'' and everything!"). To some extent, he had a FreudianExcuse: if he could "prove" that it's human nature to choose yourself in that situation, then it would prove his grandfather wasn't a monster for making that same choice. Unfortunately, in trying to absolve his (long-dead) grandfather of responsibility, he ended up going way past the MoralEventHorizon.]] |
| 126 | * ''Series/LoisAndClark'': In one episode, a mysterious couple kidnaps [[TheScrappy Jimmy]] and Clark's adoptive parents. They then tie Jimmy to a bomb in an undisclosed location, while doing the same with Clark's parents in another location. The bombs are set to go off at the same time. They give Superman a choice of saving his friend or his parents, as he only has enough time to find and disarm one bomb. Supes decides to TakeAThirdOption and uses a beam splitter to fry both bombs with his [[EyeBeam laser vision]] from the sky. The kidnappers are not happy, as [[spoiler: they are actually [[HumanAliens Kryptonians]] sent to test Kal-El's qualifications for leadership of their LostColony. Their goal was to force him to make a tough choice, as a leader is likely to face many such choices, and there's not always going to be a third option to take. This later ends up biting Clark (and the world) in the ass, when the Kryptonians finally show up with Zod at the helm. Had Clark made the tough choice, he would have probably been the one in charge]]. |
| 127 | * ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Yuan An forces Yuan Ling to choose between marrying Duo Xia or watching Qing Chen be killed. Yuan Ling chooses the marriage. [[spoiler: What Yuan An didn't know was that Yuan Ling, Duo Xia and Qing Chen had already agreed Yuan Ling would marry Duo Xia.]] |
| 128 | * On ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'', Dr. Carlisle had his life fall apart when he was in a car accident and chose to save a briefcase containing an important project rather than the driver, who was killed when the car exploded. Carlisle was fired, vilified and his wife left him. He thus sets out to prove that anyone would make the same choice of their profession over the life of a stranger. He kidnaps a random person and injects them with a designer poison then tells someone else he'll provide the cure in exchange for them ruining what makes them successful. |
| 129 | ** His first target proves Carlisle right: An actor who is unable to carve up his face and is overcome with guilt when told that the poisoned woman died. |
| 130 | ** A surgeon is told the cops have found the next victim but still poisoned. So, she jams her own hand into a garbage disposal. Feeling she "won," Carlisle does provide the cure. |
| 131 | ** When he realizes the cops are onto him, Carlisle ups the stakes: He has one victim hooked to a plastic drip with the poison. The other (a track star) can yank the drip out...but in doing so, will set off a guillotine that will cut his legs off. When Chloe and Lucifer show up, Carlisle offers them the chance to save both men...by crossing a room filled with the poison gas. [[spoiler:Lucifer is able to convince Chloe to chase Carlisle, giving him the chance to become immune to the gas (since he's only mortal [[PowerNullifier when Chloe's nearby]]) and save the men.]] |
| 132 | * ''Series/{{MASH}}'': In one episode, B.J. is forced to choose between cutting a rope that a wounded soldier is using to climb up into the helicopter he's riding in, or let the helicopter be shot down. He chooses to cut the rope. This drives him into a deep funk, especially after he tries and fails to find out whether or not the guy made it out alive. Then the Army awards him the Bronze Star... |
| 133 | ** And then of course, there was the finale...[[spoiler:Either the mother smothers her own crying baby, or the entire bus full of refugees, wounded soldiers, and doctors (including Hawkeye) will be killed by an enemy patrol. Hawkeye's insistence that she shut the child up led to him having a nervous breakdown from the guilt.]] |
| 134 | * Happens in a few {{Medical Drama}}s where a woman is pregnant and must choose between her life or the life of her unborn child. |
| 135 | ** An episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' has this with an expectant mother who was to allow Cuddy to adopt the baby. The woman chooses her life over the baby's, but both end up surviving and she decides to keep the baby for herself. |
| 136 | *** Another episode deals with this more directly. A pregnant woman, after spending all episode trying to diagnose her without harming the baby, lapses into a situation that will prove fatal to either her, or her unborn baby. But she's comatose, and the doctors turn to her husband instead and tell him that there's no third option: either he saves his wife, or he saves his child. He chooses the latter, and breaks down when he holds his baby. |
| 137 | ** In ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' had a woman in her late forties who had breast cancer [[LawOfInverseFertility get pregnant after she had long given up trying to.]] She was to undergo chemotherapy, but found out she was pregnant. She initially chose to terminate the pregnancy so she could get treatment for the cancer, but ultimately decided to keep the baby, since she didn't expect to live long anyway (her mother also died of breast cancer at that age) and wanted to live the rest of her life to the fullest. If the she died, her husband would be there to raise the child. |
| 138 | ** In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', the mother was unconscious as the time, so her husband had to make the decision. |
| 139 | * ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': In the "Return of an Old Friend" two-parter, Goldar says that he'll free the teens' parents (who had been captured by Rita Repulsa prior...) if they give up their Power Coins to him. They comply, but naturally, Goldar doesn't [[ILied hold up]] his end of the bargain. |
| 140 | * ''Series/MyCountryTheNewAge'': Seong-gye gives Seon-ho one: either he shoots a fleeing, unarmed man, or Seon-ho and his father will both be killed. Seon-ho shoots the man. |
| 141 | * ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'': One episode has a hypothetical version where Michael's wife and sister, who have never gotten along, ask him which one they would save if they were both drowning. Michael's response ("[[TakeAThirdOption I'd probably]] [[HeroicSacrifice kill myself]] [[EverybodyLives trying to save both of you!]]") is what makes them finally patch things up. |
| 142 | * ''Series/MyWorldAndWelcomeToIt'': A comic example is seen in "The Wooing of Mr. Monroe." John discusses how arguing with women invariably ends up as a lose-lose proposition for the man. |
| 143 | -->'''John''': What I hate most about arguing with women is that usually you lose -- and when you win, you get a pain in the stomach. That's guilt, you see. And most of the time, you don't have that heady memory of something to feel guilty about. |
| 144 | * ''Series/NashBridges'': Nash was given one of these in the first episode of the sixth (and final) season. The VillainOfTheWeek managed to get the drop on Joe and Cassidy and take them hostage. He then has Nash chose between them while showing them chained up on internet camera. (The implication is that the one he doesn't choose will be left to die.) Nash chooses [[spoiler:Cassidy. But after the villain hangs up, Nash reveals it was because Joe would be easier to find because the graffiti behind him belongs to a particular street gang.]] |
| 145 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': |
| 146 | ** In the opener of the episode "Requiem," Tony is presented with a difficult decision (although it wasn't forced on him by an enemy). Gibbs and the childhood best friend of his deceased daughter are in a car that goes off a dock. Tony dives in and pulls both of them out, but neither is breathing. He begins CPR on Gibbs, and then looks over at the young woman lying on the dock. He goes over to her, glances back to Gibbs, who still isn't breathing. Tony makes the agonizing decision to begin CPR on the girl, instead of continuing with Gibbs. It's a subtle moment, but an important one: it shows that Tony knows Gibbs well enough to know that Gibbs would not want to be saved at the cost of the young woman's life, and that [[HandsomeLech the womanizing]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity goofy]], [[JerkJock often annoying]] NCIS agent is mature enough to make the hard choice. Fortunately for everyone involved, both Gibbs and the girl are saved. |
| 147 | ** "A Many Splendored Thing" starts with a navy officer being told to kill herself or her daughter will be killed. Two scenes later, NCIS is examining her body. |
| 148 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': In one episode, Snow White drinks cursed water, and is told she'll never be able to have children because of it. Later, Prince Charming's mother is poisoned. To cure both Snow and Charming's mother, they all travel to Lake Nostos, which has water that will fix everything. Only problem is that the lake dried up, thanks to Charming's actions in a previous episode. All that's left is one snail shell worth of water, and only enough to cure one of the two. And the choice is up to Snow White. She chooses to save Charming's mother. [[ForegoneConclusion But Charming's mother fakes drinking it, and instead gives it to Snow White.]] |
| 149 | ** The BigBad of Season 3, Zelena, tries to force Hook into one by cursing his lips so that the next time he kisses Emma, she'll lose her magic. If he ''doesn't'' kiss her, though, Zelena swears to kill off all Emma's loved ones, starting with her son (whom Hook had become a ParentalSubstitute to). He decides to try and TakeAThirdOption...which leads to the following: |
| 150 | ** Zelena drowns Hook in front of Emma, forcing her to choose between delivering a KissOfLife and losing her magic, or standing by and keeping her magic at the cost of her LoveInterest. Naturally, Emma chooses the first option. |
| 151 | ** ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'': Jafar [[spoiler:turns Will into stone]] in the fourth episode in a gambit to get Alice to use one of her wishes. [[spoiler:She'd already used one to save Will in the same episode. Alice is clearly torn between saving Will and knowing what would happen to Cyrus if she uses all three.]] |
| 152 | *** The second choice presented to Alice is even worse: [[spoiler:her own father is held hostage, on the edge of a cliff. Alice resists Jafar's demands, forcing his hand and letting Alice's father fall. Alice immediately uses her second wish to send her father back home.]] |
| 153 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': |
| 154 | ** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E15Afterlife Afterlife]]", Stiles is offered a choice by the US Army: death, or participation in a secret experiment whose details he doesn't know. |
| 155 | ** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S7E16Abduction Abduction]]", five high school students abducted by a mysterious alien are told they must vote for one of them to die. If they don't, they'll all die. |
| 156 | * ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': |
| 157 | ** In "Baby Blue", John Reese approaches crime boss Elias for help in finding a kidnapped baby, citing EvenEvilHasStandards. Elias helps him find the baby, then holds them both hostage in a freezer truck until John is forced to give up the location of a Mafia boss being held in protective custody. Afterwards Elias claims he WouldNotHurtAChild, but he knows that John couldn't afford to take that chance. |
| 158 | ** "The Crossing" has a case where the villains ''didn't'' deliberately set this up. Shaw realizes that [[DirtyCop HR]] is going to kill both Lionel Fusco and his son, and that she will only be able to save one of them. She chooses the latter, saying she believes it is what he would want, and apologizes to him. [[spoiler:Fusco tells her that was the right choice, and then manages to save himself]]. |
| 159 | * ''Series/PrincessAgents'': Xi Feng forces Yan Xun to choose between cutting off his own finger, or watching as Xi Feng crushes Chu Qiao's fingers. Yan Xun chooses to cut off his own finger. |
| 160 | * ''Series/PrincessSilver'': |
| 161 | ** Fu Yuan tells Rong Qi that either she'll kill herself, or he'll force Rong Le to go through with the arranged marriage. |
| 162 | ** Later, Fu Yuan holds Hen Xiang's daughter and Rong Le's son prisoner, and tells Hen Xiang that she can only save her daughter if she kills Rong Le's son. |
| 163 | * ''Series/PrisonBreak'': In Season 4, Michael is offered the choice of keeping Scylla out of the General's hands or rescuing [[spoiler:Sara]]. The choice gets worse when [[spoiler:Christina Rose]] then calls and offers Michael the choice of keeping Scylla out of her hands or rescuing Linc. The Sadistic Choice has a three way. |
| 164 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': Used in the fourth season finale. Shawn is given a choice between saving Abigail (his girlfriend) or Juliet (the woman he's in love with). He originally chooses to save Juliet, as he doesn't know Abigail's whereabouts. When he solves the clue about Abigail, the team splits up to save them both. |
| 165 | ** Lassiter also ends up having to choose between obeying the procedures and laws he [[RulesLawyer loves]] and rescuing Abigail, and rescuing his partner. He doesn't blink, and in fact gets angry when he's told to prioritize the civilian. |
| 166 | * ''Series/PsychopathDiary'': In-woo gives Dong-sik one. Either Dong-sik kills Ji-hoon and In-woo helps him start a new life abroad, or In-woo kills Bo-kyung and frames Dong-sik. [[spoiler: Dong-sik pretends to kill Ji-hoon.]] |
| 167 | * ''{{Series/Pure}}'': |
| 168 | ** Anne is given one by the Mexican drug lord. She either works as his manager of the Canadian Mennonite drug trade, or he kills both her children. However, even if she agrees, he will keep one of them as a hostage. This leads to another such choice, as he'll let her choose. [[spoiler: She chooses her son.]] |
| 169 | ** Estrada later forces Isaac into one when he tries to save a Mennonite who's crossed the cartel. He'll be spared if Isaac cuts off his fingers, but shot otherwise. Isaac reluctantly does it. |
| 170 | * The main character of ''Series/PushingDaisies'' can resurrect the dead with a single touch, but is then faced with one of these every time. If he touches the revived person again, ''ever'', they die again, permanently. If he ''doesn't'' touch them again within about five minutes, then someone else in the vicinity will die. He manages to avoid this by using his power to revive murder victims, ask them about their deaths, then un-revive them, but when his childhood sweetheart shows up in the morgue in the pilot episode, the choice gets a lot harder. He chooses to let her live, and the morgue's owner dies of a heart attack on the toilet. |
| 171 | * ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': |
| 172 | ** "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E6SexAndDrugs Sex and Drugs]]" reveals that Drexel is fond of these. First, he put Charlie up to killing Bill O'Halloran in exchange for Nora Clayton's life... and revealing later that Charlie will never get out of the O'Halloran's house alive as a result. Then, when Miles went off to stop Charlie, Drexel puts Nora and Aaron Pittman in a pistol duel in retaliation. Aaron solves this problem by supposedly shooting himself in the chest, and when Drexel got close enough, Aaron killed him off, revealing that his metal canteen is covering his chest and is bullet-proof. |
| 173 | ** In "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E10NobodysFaultButMine Nobody's Fault But Mine]]", Sergeant Will Strausser tries to force one on Rachel Matheson when he [[spoiler:asks her which of her children she wants to die. Rachel TookAThirdOption by completing the power amplifier and then stabbed Strausser when he tried to rape her]]. |
| 174 | * ''Series/{{Quincy}}'': A kidnapper threatens to refuse to fess up to where he hid his victim unless the prosecutor throws the case and he walks. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} when Quincy figures out the kidnapper must have hidden her in a national park. The prosecutor then intentionally bungles the state case into dismissal so the girl can be rescued, [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans at which point the FBI steps in]] since hiding her in a national park meant he broke ''federal'' kidnap law, too.]] |
| 175 | * ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': In the episode ''A Scandal in Belgravia'', Irene shows Sherlock an email she stole from a Ministry of Defense employee. Sherlock uses this, and Mycroft's earlier comment on the phone, to deduce that [[spoiler:terrorists are about to put a bomb on a plane]]. The government knows about this but doesn't want to spook [[spoiler:the terrorists into finding leaks in their organization]], so they are forced to allow the event to take place. The Coventry Blitz is mentioned as an inspiration. However, the government decides to TakeAThirdOption by [[spoiler:loading the plane with dead bodies and piloting it remotely]]. Unfortunately, Sherlock inadvertently foils the government's plan. |
| 176 | * ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': |
| 177 | ** All the time. See the [[Quotes/SadisticChoice quotes page]]. |
| 178 | ** In the much darker Season 8, [[TheChessmaster Lex]], who wants to pay back Clark and Lana for his [[EvilCripple condition]] reveals that the suit Lana stole in an earlier episode (which was meant to heal Lex) absorbs Kryptonite radiation. He then offers the sadistic choice -- let Lana absorb the fuel in a kryptonite bomb on the top of the ''Daily Planet'' building and never be able to come near Clark again, or walk away and let the bomb go off, taking half of Metropolis with it. |
| 179 | ** In Season 9, Amanda Waller shows Clark a TV screen depicting an agent holding a gun to Chloe's head and demands that he serve Checkmate or watch her die. [[spoiler:The gunman makes the fatal mistake of talking, allowing Clark to hear him and figure out his location. Then, he simply speeds over to him and takes him out.]] |
| 180 | ** LX-13 does this in the Season 10 opening. Tying Lois Lane up in a field, he sets fire to the crops around her; he's already left a bomb in the ''Daily Planet' building. He then confronts Clark, asking him whether he'll let his girlfriend die, or sacrifice thousands of people in the streets of Metropolis. Clark [[spoiler:saves them both]]. |
| 181 | * ''Series/{{Spooks}}'': In one episode, Fiona and Danny have been taken hostage and Fiona has to [[spoiler:choose between her husband Adam (a fellow spy) and her son, she has no choice but to lure Adam into the abductors' trap. Adam then has to choose which one will die. But before Adam gets to choose, Danny sacrifices himself.]] |
| 182 | * ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Elizabeth Weir gets these ''at least'' once a season. [[{{ShipTease}} Usually involving her co-commander and closest friend John Sheppard]]. So far, she's chosen between: Saving the entire expedition or John. Saving a new alliance or John. Saving the Puddle Jumpers or John. Saving a valuable collaborator or...you guessed it...John! Normally, she finds a ThirdOption but even so the poor woman really needs a break. |
| 183 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 184 | ** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''; |
| 185 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E20Oasis Oasis]]", when the crew learn the circumstances that led to the Kantare ship crashing, the circumstances appear to have basically been this. The ship essentially crashed because the ship's engineer, Ezral, abandoned his post during a crisis, but he only did this to save his infant daughter Liana, who he left in a lower level of the ship; Erzal ''knew'' that Liana would die if he didn't go to help her, but his choice ended up killing the rest of the crew (in Ezral's defence, his explanation suggests that he had hope the crew could stop the crash without him). |
| 186 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': |
| 187 | *** Kirk actually ''invokes'' this towards the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]". Two planets have been "waging war" for centuries [[AMillionIsAStatistic by computers calculating attacks, with the people "targeted" sent to suicide chambers]]. Kirk and Spock destroy the computers on one planet, urging them to either make peace or wage actual war. |
| 188 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever The City on the Edge of Forever]]", Kirk learns that he must choose between preserving the future and saving the woman he loves (and for once, there's no way to TakeAThirdOption). It's obvious from the start what choice he has to make, but it doesn't make it any easier for him to let her die. |
| 189 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E18TheImmunitySyndrome The Immunity Syndrome]]", Kirk has to send someone on a suicide mission, and both [=McCoy=] and Spock volunteer. Kirk tries to TakeAThirdOption and go himself, but has to submit to Spock's argument that not only does the crew need the captain aboard in the crisis, but also Kirk does not have the scientific knowhow to be of much use in the said mission. Finally, he chooses Spock to go through with it, and it's clear how much it hurts him to make that choice. |
| 190 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath The Empath]]", Kirk is given the choice to choose either Spock or [=McCoy=] to go through torture. His captors inform him that [=McCoy=] would likely die if he went through with it, and Spock would likely go insane if he went through with it. Interestingly enough, Kirk probably would have [[TakeAThirdOption chosen himself]] to go through the torture ''again'' if [=McCoy=] hadn't knocked him out first. |
| 191 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': |
| 192 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E7Justice Justice]]", Wesley is due to be executed for a [[AllCrimesAreEqual trivial crime]]. The orbiting "God" wants to hold Picard to his own rule about obeying the Prime Directive, which would apparently forbid rescuing Wesley. Picard chooses to [[spoiler:[[TakeAThirdOption "bend" the rules]], and the entity buys it]]. |
| 193 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin of Evil]]", the evil oil slick Armus takes control of Data's arm (which is holding a phaser) and tells Dr. Crusher that she gets to choose who gets shot. Dr. Crusher chooses herself, and the entity quickly becomes bored with this game because none of the Enterprise's crew are giving in to the creature's desire to be tormented for its entertainment. |
| 194 | *** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]" forces Riker into this trope -- either argue against Data's right and personhood to the best of his ability (and therefore take much of the responsibility if Data loses), or see Data summarily judged as the property of Starfleet. Since Riker regards Data as a friend, he is understandably not happy about the choice, but chooses to argue, reasoning that that way Data at least has a chance to win. For what it's worth, when asked, Data finds this choice not only appropriate, but even altruistic. |
| 195 | ---->'''Data:''' Is it not true that had you refused to prosecute, Captain Louvois would have ruled summarily against me?\ |
| 196 | '''Riker:''' Yes.\ |
| 197 | '''Data:''' That action injured you, and saved me. I will not forget it. |
| 198 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]", Guinian tells Picard that something about their timeline, where the Federation is stuck in a losing war against the Klingons, is wrong and that probably the only way to fix it is to send the ''Enterprise''-C back to their timeline and doom the entire crew to the Romulans attacking a Klingon colony. Picard is uncertain if he wants to do such a thing, but ultimately decides to choose so. |
| 199 | *** "The Best Of Both Worlds": Part I ends with Riker debating whether the ''Enterprise'' should try to rescue Picard or destroy the Borg cube with Picard onboard. He picks the latter... [[SubvertedTrope and in Part II, it fails thanks to the knowledge acquired from Picard's assimilation]]. |
| 200 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg I Borg]]", the Enterprise crew captures a Borg drone. Picard soon learns there is a way to eliminate the Borg by planting a virus in the drone that will spread to the rest of the collective once the drone returns. Thus, he is faced with the choice of manipulating a sentient life form in order to commit genocide against an entire race, or passing up the best opportunity to eliminate the most significant existential threat the federation has ever faced. In a later episode, he is chastised for this by Admiral Nechayev, who then gives him a direct order to go ahead with the plan if such an opportunity presents itself again. |
| 201 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': |
| 202 | *** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E24TheCollaborator The Collaborator]]" is one episode with ''three'' examples of this trope in a single plot. It's two days before Kai [[MessianicArchetype Opaka]]'s replacement (the spiritual leader of Bajor) is to be chosen and the front-runners are Vedek [[MessianicArchetype Bareil]] and Vedek [[AmbitionIsEvil Winn]]. Then a collaborator (a Bajoran that helped the Cardassians with the occupation of Bajor) accuses Vedek Bareil of having collaborated with the Cardassians in a massacre that killed 43 [[LaResistance terrorists]] (including Opaka's son). The episode's plot is spent following [[HotBlooded Kira]] who has to gather evidence that will prove Bareil's innocence or guilt. The three examples of the trope are: |
| 203 | *** The obvious example: Bareil is Kira's lover and Winn forces her to take command of the investigation. The more evidence she gathers, the more it looks like Bareil is guilty. Eventually, she's forced to choose between protecting her lover and revealing the findings of her investigation to the Vedek Assembly which will destroy Bareil if revealed. She chooses to inform the assembly of her findings. However, when she contacts the assembly to present her findings, she learns Bareil's already spoken to the council so she doesn't need to go through with it. She made the choice, however. |
| 204 | *** The less obvious example: Bareil is the favourite for becoming Kai and was also Kai Opaka's first choice for the position. He is faced with the option of confessing to the collaboration which will destroy him, ensure he never becomes Kai and give the position of Kai to a ruthless, power-hungry woman, or he can exonerate himself and take the position of Kai, but this would probably expose the true identity of the collaborator: Kai Opaka. In the end, he chooses to take the blame for the massacre, both out of respect for Opaka and also to protect the sanctity of the position of Kai, knowing it would be damaged if the truth was ever made public. He withdraws from the running for Kai, leaving Winn to take the position. |
| 205 | *** The third example predates the episode but is still relevant, as it's the reason Opaka did what she did in the first place. The Cardassians threatened that if the 43 resistance fighters weren't handed over to Cardassian authorities, they would indiscriminately kill all 1200 Bajorans in the area in order to wipe out the resistance cell. Opaka was forced to choose between the lives of 43 people (including her own son) or 1200 people. She chose to [[TheNeedsOfTheMany sacrifice 43 lives to save 1200]]. |
| 206 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E25BodyParts Body Parts]]", Quark is diagnosed with a fatal illness, so he auctions off his soon-to-be remains, only to learn that the diagnosis was wrong and he's going to live. Unfortunately, the person who bought his no-longer-going-to-be remains was his nemesis, Brunt of the [[IntimidatingRevenueService FCA]], who leaves Quark with a choice. Option A is to fulfill the contract between them and find some way to die so Brunt can have the remains he bought and paid for. Option B is to break the contract, one of the gravest sins a Ferengi can commit, have all of his belongings liquidated, and have his commerce license revoked, rendering himself PersonaNonGrata. Quark ultimately decides to break the contract, but his bar is saved from closure thanks to generous donations from the station's crew. |
| 207 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E05TheAssignment The Assignment]]", Chief O'Brien's wife Keiko is possessed by a Pah Wraith, a malevolent version of the alien Prophets. In a twisted IHaveYourWife version of this trope, the alien, speaking through Keiko, gives O'Brien the choice of building a weapon and firing it at the Bajoran Wormhole, thus killing the Prophets, or watching his wife die. He's able to find a [[TakeTheThirdOption Third Option]] at the last minute: [[spoiler:he builds the weapon, but fires it at Keiko, thus killing the Pah Wraith]]. |
| 208 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E13ForTheUniform For the Uniform]]", Sisko faces off with Michael Eddington, a former Starfleet officer under Sisko's command who betrayed him for the Maquis. To keep Sisko off his tail, Eddington fired on a ship carrying innocent Cardassian refugees and gives Sisko a choice: save the Cardassians and let Eddington escape, or continue his pursuit and let the Cardassians crash on a nearby planet and die. Sisko chooses the former option, then later turns the tables on Eddington by giving him a sadistic choice of his own: surrender himself into Starfleet custody; or watch as Sisko bombards Maquis colony worlds with trilithium resin, rendering them uninhabitable. |
| 209 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E22ChildrenOfTime Children of Time]]", the Defiant crew discovers a planet inhabited by their descendants as a result of the Defiant being thrown back in time 200 years by a temporal event and crash landing there, an event which also led to Kira's death. Now that they know what causes the event, they have the opportunity to avoid it and prevent themselves from being marooned on an unoccupied planet 200 years in the past. However, avoiding the accident would cause the current inhabitants of the planet to be erased from existence, since they only exist as a result of the crash. Thus, they have to choose between sparing themselves that fate and saving the 8,000 people who would be lost if the accident is avoided. [[spoiler:Ultimately, they decide to let the accident happen and [[TheNeedsOfTheMany save the 8,000]], but the future version of Odo, devastated by Kira's death in his timeline, arranges for the accident to be avoided anyway.]] |
| 210 | ** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': |
| 211 | *** A somewhat undermined one happens in the pilot episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker Caretaker]]". Janeway is seemingly given the choice: use the Caretaker Array to go home, or destroy it and save the Ocampa (ignoring the use of a time bomb in that choice). Thing is, Tuvok had earlier stated that without the Caretaker, it would take several hours to activate, and with Kazon reinforcements on the way, keeping it for several hours given the state of their ship was looking less an option (and that's not counting the fact that the Array might have had other parts damaged, not just the self-destruct when the Kazon ship crashed into it). A better SadisticChoice would have been Janeway agonizing over negotiating the Array as a bargaining chip to the Kazon, vs just blowing it up. |
| 212 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E4Phage Phage]]", a pair of aliens steal Neelix's lungs for their own use, and because he's the only member of his species on the ship, there's no compatible donor for a transplant. After capturing the aliens, Janeway has to decide between letting them keep the lungs, which would effectively be a death sentence for Neelix, or killing one of them to return Neelix's lungs to him. Thankfully, the aliens themselves offer her [[TakeAThirdOption an alternative]]; they have technology that allows them to perform a cross-species transplant, allowing Neelix to receive a lung transplant from Kes. |
| 213 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E24Tuvix Tuvix]]", Nelix and Tuvok are combined into a single being. Janeway has to decide to destroy the being to save them, or let it live, which would effectively kill them. |
| 214 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E11LatentImage Latent Image]]", this trope turns into a LogicBomb for the Doctor when he [[spoiler:is forced to choose between saving Kim's life or Jetal's life after an accident. They have the same chance of survival, but he doesn't have time to treat them both. He instinctively picks the one he knows best, something not covered by his programming, and suffers a nervous collapse]]. |
| 215 | *** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E2Imperfection Imperfection]]" Seven's Borg implants are malfunctioning, so she's trapped in Sickbay while the crew tries to save her. Neelix arrives with a board game to keep her company, but Seven isn't in the mood. The Doctor tries some reverse psychology as he "chides" Neelix for trying to play a game when Seven isn't at her best. Seven has to make a choice: play a game with Neelix or admit that she's debilitated. She chooses the former, much to SFDebris' amusement when he reviews the episode. |
| 216 | * ''Series/StrangersFromHell'': Moon-jo says he'll let Ji-eun go if Jong-woo kills his friend. Jong-woo attacks Moon-jo instead. |
| 217 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' loves hitting Sam and Dean (''especially'' [[BreakTheCutie Dean]]) with this, particularly during Season 5. Either say yes to being meat suits for asshole archangels and condemn billions of people to death, or we'll torture you and your brother with either a) stage 4 stomach cancer, b) broken legs, c) missing lungs, d) watching your loved ones die/suffer/do the torturing, e) a good old-fashioned, super strength beatdown, etc. Whatever suits the mood, really. |
| 218 | * ''Series/ThreeKingdoms'': Zhou Yu, trying to conquer Jingzhou, presents Liu Bei with one of these during the Sun-Liu marriage arc. If Liu Bei accepted the proposal and went to Wu to be married to Sun Quan's sister, he'd become Zhou Yu's hostage to be ransomed for Jingzhou -- or killed. If he refused the marriage proposal, he'd insult all of Wu and give Zhou Yu a legitimate reason to declare war on Jingzhou anyway. [[spoiler:Although when Liu Bei elects to go, deciding [[WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison his own life isn't as important]] as keeping what he and his generals had fought for, Zhuge Liang comes through with three schemes to help him survive and escape anyway, thereby taking a third option.]] |
| 219 | * In the ''Series/Titans2018'' episode "Hank and Dove", Red Hood puts Dove in one of these as she must choose between using the gun she grabbed to kill him or let Hank Hall/Hawk die of a bomb attached to his chest. Nightwing is begging Dove to wait, to let Superboy build a way to disarm the bomb and save Hank. [[spoiler:However, this is a BatmanGambit that Red Hood planned and Nightwing realized early on -- Dove would stress out and finally pull the trigger. However, it turns out the gun was actually the ''detonator'', and Hank is blown up.]] |
| 220 | * ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'': [[spoiler:The alien 456 demands 10% of the earth's children or they'll kill everyone. Captain Jack Harkness does eventually figure out how to stop them, but has only moments to choose between sacrificing his own grandson (whilst his daughter, the child's mother, watches) or letting the 456 take 10% of Earth's children.]] |
| 221 | * ''Series/TheTunnel'': Karl is given one in the series finale: kill Elise or let 11 innocent people be killed by gas. Elise realizes he can't choose that, and so [[HeroicSuicide kills herself to insure they live. |
| 222 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Button, Button", Mr. Steward sends a button unit to Arthur and Norma Lewis and tells them that two things will happen if they press the button: they will receive $200,000 tax free and someone whom they don't know will die. The Lewises have several heated discussions on whether or not to press the button. Norma argues that the person killed could be a Chinese peasant or someone with cancer while Arthur counters that it could be a baby. After Arthur goes to bed, Norma presses the button. The next day, Mr. Steward returns for the button unit and [[spoiler:says that it will now be given to someone whom they don't know]]. |
| 223 | * ''Series/TwinPeaks'': In the second part of the second season, Agent Cooper is forced to play a game of chess with Windom Earle. Whenever Cooper loses a piece, Earle commits another murder. |
| 224 | * Late in the fourth season of ''Series/TheWire'', Carcetti, the newly elected mayor of Baltimore, finds out the public schools are running at a $54 million dollar deficit. The Maryland governor has offered Carcetti the money to bail out the schools, but if he takes it, there will be more state control of the schools (which includes allowing the school board to remove tenured faculty for cause), and Carcetti will end up pissing off DC voters, middle-class African-American voters, and the teachers. However, if Carcetti doesn't take the money, the schools and the kids are screwed. Unfortunately, since this is ''Series/TheWire'', there's no way for Carcetti to TakeAThirdOption. |
| 225 | * ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': |
| 226 | ** Season 7's "[[Recap/WalkerTexasRangerS7E12LostBoys Lost Boys]]" has Carlos's nephew, Jesse Estrella, being accused of killing a Dallas police detective after his best friend, Bobby Landrum, hides the murder weapon, which belonged to the gang leader, [[VillainOfTheWeek Johnny Blade]], in his dresser drawer. When Blade orders Jesse to return his gun, he can either stay silent about the whole thing or his gang murders his mother, Theresa. When Theresa and Carlos find the gun first, the former choice escalates to confessing to a murder he didn't commit, as well as Theresa being kidnapped by the gang. In short, Blade wasn't going to take any chances and was still going to kill both of them in case Jesse changed his mind-- after his imprisoned gang members kill Jesse in juvey, he'll make Theresa's death look like a suicide. [[spoiler:Thankfully, there's one thing Blade didn't count on: Bobby eventually becomes [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone overcome with guilt]] after selling out his best friend and [[HeelFaceTurn finally comes forward and confesses]], upon which Jesse is released, his mother is rescued and the real killers are arrested.]] |
| 227 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'': |
| 228 | ** Negan orders Rick to cut [[spoiler:Carl]]'s arm off, or he'll have every member of the group murdered. [[spoiler:Though he eventually decides to go through with it, Rick is stopped before he can actually perform the act.]] |
| 229 | ** The Governor does this to Maggie, threatening to maim Glenn if she doesn't tell him the location of the prison. Though it puts her friends lives at risk, she ultimately chooses Glenn. |
| 230 | * In the last episode of ''Series/WandaVision'', during her fight with [[BigBad Agatha Harkness]] Wanda has a HeelRealization about how she had been torturing the citizens of Westview by [[AndIMustScream imprisoning them inside The Hex.]] However, [[spoiler: she also knows that her sons and Vision are linked to The Hex because she created them by magic and thus would die if The Hex is removed, giving Wanda the choice to either sacrifice her family and save the town or continue the delusion of her "married" life by enslaving the town. Ultimately, she chooses the first option and goes into a SelfImposedExile trying to [[MamaBear bring her sons back to life.]]]] |
| 231 | * ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Humorously subverted in "Wizards vs. Vampires: Tasty Bites". Jerry and Theresa consider the possibility that they might only be able to save either Alex or Harper from Juliet's vampire parents. By the time of the confrontation, however, they've already decided to save Harper -- reasoning that she's the one who will take care of them in their old age. |
| 232 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'': |
| 233 | ** It's at least very strongly implied that Mulder's father [[spoiler:had to choose if his son or his daughter would be taken for experimentation]]. |
| 234 | ** In Season 8, Krycek gives Skinner a choice. He will give Skinner the antidote against the virus that is killing Mulder (recently returned from being abducted), but Skinner has to kill Scully's unborn child. In the end, he chooses [[spoiler:to kill Mulder by unplugging his life support, which leads to the realization that the life support was only incubating the virus. A strong course of antivirals later, and both Mulder and baby are very much alive.]] |
| 235 | * In the ''Series/{{Ziwe}}'' episode "Hot!", Ziwe makes Creator/IlanaGlazer model "making the hard decisions to solve climate change" via a game forcing her to choose whether to sacrifice a sickly elderly person, a sea turtle, or the entire state of Florida to save the others. |
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