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    # 
  • Every season of 24, to one extent or another. Jack thwarts the terrorists, but in the process, ends up losing more and more of himself to do it, and many heroic characters and innocent civilians end up dead. The series ultimately concludes in the same fashion: Jack Bauer and President Taylor both face grim futures because of several questionable acts they committed in the course of the day, and the peace Omar Hassan fought and died for doesn't come to pass and may never be. On the other hand, the grave injustice of a fraudulent peace is avoided, the heroes ultimately do the right thing, and the villains fail and get their comeuppances.
  • The 100:
    • Season 2 ends with our heroes victorious, their people rescued, and Mount Weather defeated. But to accomplish that, Clarke and Bellamy had to commit murder on a massive scale, killing everyone in Mount Weather, both the guilty and the innocent. The last shot of the finale (aside from the Cliffhanger) is Clarke walking into the wilderness alone, because even though she spent the season determined to bring her people home, now she can't bear to be around them, to be reminded of the horrible things she did to protect them.
    • The season 3 finale. The City of Light is destroyed and people reunite with their loved ones, but Clarke has to finally say goodbye to Lexa, and A.L.I.E. reveals to her that radiation from nuclear plant meltdowns is going destroy the earth again in about six months.
  • Besides also being a cliffhanger, the end of The 4400. Most of the heroes are safe, the Virus has been stopped, and the Marked have been defeated (we think), but Susan and Danny Farrell both died, along with thousands of other people. Isabelle was killed trying to save Jordan, who took over Seattle and apparently has no intention of giving it back. Shawn has no idea what to do now, especially after killing his brother. Diana's just found out that her daughter sympathizes with people she thinks are terrorists. Countless p-s are going to have to adjust to life with their new abilities. And we don't know whether Tom will take promicin or not.

    A 
  • Accused (2023):
    • In "Naataanii's Story" Derrick is killed but thanks to the bailiff getting the confession of the false testimony on tape, the case against the others is thrown out, the FBI agent in charge of this mess and that guard are likely in trouble and the scandal has caused the Justice Department to stop the illegal mining.
    • In "Jack's Story" Jack is cleared of the charge of statutory rape, Clara is freed from her stepfather thanks to his arrest, and Jack and Clara reconcile. Britney however can't condone Jack having helped Clara get an abortion even if she thinks he's a good man overall and permanently ends their relationship as a result, and Jack is charged of transporting a minor across state borders without parental consent, which will likely strip him of his teaching license in Texas.
    • More on the sweet side for the primary characters in "Jiro's Story", bitter side on the grandscale. Jiro manages to gain custody of Osamu and brings him home with his family, where Osamu is much happier, and his family is happy to have him with them. Jiro however has to plead guilty to assault and kidnapping for it to happen, giving him a criminal record. What's more, the state of his job is in flux due to missing his flight and Videla's complaint against him, meaning he could possibly lose his job in the future. And it's unclear if the center that was abusing Osamu will face any punishment for their abuse of Osamu, if Osamu was the only patient of theirs they were abusing, nor if Kyle was actually guilty of anything aside from taking the tablet and was just scapegoated under the excuse of his "breaking parole".
    • In "Morgan's Story", Morgan is cleared of all false charges against her, Ari is returned to her full custody, and they and Kashir can begin to live happily for now. Eric however, who was already reluctant to be involved in Jason's schemes, is arrested for his role in the Frame-Up, and Jason is still stalking Morgan and Ari, making clear to everyone he is not done with trying to ruin Morgan.
  • The Addams Family: One episode ends with the family unable to go to the moon like they wanted, but they're happy, since they earned no money and, according to Gomez, zero is "still a good round number".
  • American Horror Story: Roanoke has an interesting ending. While every major character has died. Final Girl Lee Harris is able to put an end to the Roanoke House which had lead to numerous deaths and despite sacrificing herself, she is able to redeem herself in her daughter's eyes.
  • Andromeda ends with them saving the universe... but not before Earth explodes.
  • The spin-off to Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes (2008), ends with the principal characters (except for Gene Hunt, who stays behind to help others cross over) accepting their deaths and moving on to an afterlife, but this means that Alex Drake will never see her daughter again.
  • While The A-Team was almost always a fun, lighthearted show, there were a few episodes that ended this way.
    • "The Sound of Thunder" ends with Fullbright being killed just hours after finally becoming convinced that the team is innocent, and meeting the daughter he never knew he had.
    • "Family Reunion": Face will have the chance to get to know his newly-discovered half-sister, but their father dies without even telling Face who he is (Face finds out from Murdock).

    B 
  • Banshee:
    • The season 1 finale. Lucas gets saved and Rabbit is stopped. But he manages to escape and may still be alive. Meanwhile, Lucas still owes Proctor a huge favor, Anna's relationship with her family is destroyed, Rebecca begins her Start of Darkness, the mayor is killed, a federal investigator is assigned to Banshee, the corpse of the real Lucas Hood is discovered, and in the post-credits scene, real Lucas' son finds a Youtube video of fake Lucas' fight with Sanchez.
    • The season 2 finale. Lucas and Anna finally kill Rabbit, with Anna (seemingly) making amends with her family. But Rebecca has completed her descent into villainy, Emmett and his wife get killed by Neo-Nazis, Proctor is set free (again), and Chayton is on his way back to Banshee.
  • Bar Rescue
    • Can happen occasionally. On the more general point, the bar's relaunch is a success, but the owners have had to fire, and likely lose, a long time friend either because of that person's incompetence at running the bar, or they had been taking advantage of them.
    • Some the bars have had this situation thanks in part to the remodels. Watch, as the last 10 minutes of the show goes on to show case the cool changes to the bar's décor and features. Then go online, and find a local news website of that bar note they had to get rid of some of those changes, thanks to building codes and laws say they can't have that feature in a bar, or that the permits to own it are not worth the money.
    • This has, over the years, become the apparent case of Piratz Tavern. It was doing better for a while, taking advantage of being a unique niche bar, earning about average or above average reviews. But neither Taffer nor the Piratz crew had anything nice to say of each other; Taffer thinks they're a sinking ship and they think he's an arrogant blowhard. As of April 2015, it seems they are indeed closed for good; however, the owners are still in the bar business (their new bar is called "Bar Refuge"), and it would seem they've buried the hatchet with Taffer, as he calls on them for recon in a later episode. They also return on an episode of his Back to the Bar series and admit to him that he was actually correct on several fronts about them and that they have more fully embraced his lesson with their new bar.
    • KC's Neighborhood Bar/Johnson County Line ends on this note. The relaunch into a somewhat more upscale smokers' club with a buffet looks good; but Liz, the head bartender, manager, and minority owner at the time, is forced to leave because the ownership buyout deal she signed with Bill (the majority owner) is not beneficial to her at all despite how much she cared for the place. (See "What the Hell, Barstaff" below for more info.) Things work out for Liz, though, as the end of the show update reveal that she was able to get a good job at another nearby bar. Also, there's a very brief shot of her attending the Johnson County Line's relaunch. Plus, her brother who was bitter he wasn't next in line to take over the bar gets his wish.
  • Battlestar Galactica:
    • The ending of "Revelations". The good news: the fleet, including their new Cylon allies, finds Earth. The bad news: it looks like a bombed-out wasteland. Dayamn.
    • The ending of "Exodus, Part 2". Whilst humanity is rescued from New Caprica, Colonel Tigh loses his eye and his wife and is left alone and despairing as Bill Adama is being celebrated. Adama: "You did it, Saul. You brought them back." Tigh: "Not all of them."
    • The Galactica is saved from near-destruction but at the cost of the advanced battlestar Pegasus. As the series draws to its conclusion, the Bucket has begun to fall apart partly as a result of the horrendous punishment she took at New Caprica, aggravated by recent events.
    • The series finale. The fleet has managed to successfully rescue Hera Agathon, defeated Cavil's forces and have finally found a new home (our Earth, essentially). Meanwhile, the Centurions are freed and it is implied that they find a destiny free from the cycle of violence. However, many people have died in the process, including Kara (who was revealed to be Dead All Along), Boomer (who achieved redemption at the cost of her life) Laura Roslin (whose cancer finally does her in, leaving Adama lonely), and Anders (who is about to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence with Kara).

      And with Dee's suicide, Kara's ascending, Laura's death and Adama's decision to just leave everything, Lee Adama has effectively lost everyone he was ever close too, for the second time in half a decade.

      And then there's Galen Tyrol. After everything that's happened to him (discovering his ex-girlfriend is a Cylon, discovering he's a Cylon, his wife getting murdered, and getting emotionally manipulated through the years, he becomes sick of people and becomes an Ineffectual Loner who leaves to live up on an island up north. What happens to Galen Tyrol results in very amusing speculation. He's a Cylon, so probably very long lived. He is going to become a hermit on an "Island Up North." He's extremely intelligent, a survivor, and a master engineer. His memories are of a highly technological and advanced world, so that, in a way, he remembers the future. Add to that Clarke's observation that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Sound familiar? That's right. Perhaps somewhere along the line, he picks up the nickname "Merlin" ... which, of course, leads right to another bittersweet ending.
  • Beyond Evil: Yu-yeon, Min-jeong, and several other women are dead, but their killers have been brought to justice.
  • The Bite ends with one character having killed himself to avoid attacking others and a possible cure found for the zombie virus. Unfortunately, the list of compounds can't be read correctly and the doctor relaying this information is killed before he can clarify it. Another doctor, who's infected with the virus, concocts two compounds based on what she could get from the list but can't decide which to test on herself. Her neighbor deliberately infects herself so that they have a second test subject. They inject each other with the two compounds, knowing that one of them will die while the other will have to bring the cure to the world.
  • Black Mirror:
    • "Nosedive" ends with the protagonist locked in a glass prison cell, presumably for the rest of her life, as a result of acting out at the wedding. However, rather than feel trapped having been removed from society, she feels liberated. She flirts with the Tall, Dark, and Handsome prisoner in the next cell by exchanging curses and insults with him, both gleeful that they can finally say whatever they want and have real, meaningful relationships with other people.
    • "USS Callister" ends with the sentient digital clones escaping successfully from Daly's mod, and entering the updated Infinity game with a procedurally-generated universe that they're free to roam in Daly's nicked Cool Starship. Daly's consciousness is trapped in the game mod (which will soon be deleted) and he is left brain-dead in the real world, over the Christmas break where he left a "Do not disturb" sign on the front door of his apartment; his death will take a toll on the real Nanette who genuinely admired Daly and didn't know about her digital counterpart's plans. Also, the digital copy of Walton sacrificed himself to allow them to escape and didn't come back in the original game, presumably gone forever.
    • "Arkangel": Sara loses her boyfriend, beats her mother bloody with the Arkangel tablet and runs away from home to a new life god-knows-where. What stops it from being an outright Downer Ending is a line that suggests the Arkangel system is banned in Europe and soon will be in the US, so the world has learned its lesson with this technology.
    • "Hang the DJ": Frank and Amy succeed in escaping... but it turns out they're only one pair of simulated Franks and Amys (out of thousands) inside a dating app that's calculating the real Frank and Amy's romantic compatibility. It's implied the real Frank and Amy get together, but what happens to all of the simulated Franks and Amys after the calculation is complete and they all just vanish?
    • "Striking Vipers": Danny opens up with Theo about his Video Game Perversity Potential with Karl and comes to an agreement with her; once every year, on his birthday, Danny can go on Striking Vipers and have virtual sex with Karl-as-Roxette, and Theo can sleep with another man. It's implied to have strained their marriage, and Karl has become a recluse and given up on dating real women for good.
  • The Boys (2019):
    • Season 1: Hughie's vendetta against A-Train is resolved and Starlight stood up for herself, choosing to act heroic no matter who she's working for. The truth about the heroes, the V, and the people who the Supes killed is out in the open and the Boys know everything. But the truth isn't all good, especially for Butcher. His wife is revealed to be alive, and she's been raising Homelander and her son.
    • Season 2: Stormfront is out of commission, Homelander is humiliated, and the Boys have been pardoned for the crimes they have committed - but Becca is dead, rendering Ryan an orphan, and both Vought and Victoria Neuman are still not held accountable for their actions.
    • Season 3: Soldier Boy is taken down, Martin makes amends with his daughter, and Maeve manages to fake her death to begin a normal life. But Victoria may become Vice President of the USA. And Homelander is beginning to indoctrinate Ryan into becoming the same kind of superdick that he is. And Butcher is now living on borrowed time.
  • Breaking Bad:
    • Walt is dead, his family has completely disowned him, and the world knows that he's Heisenberg... But he died on his own terms, effectively eradicated Blue Sky, he's managed to redeem himself (partially) by rescuing Jesse from the Aryans, Jesse passes up a chance to kill him (indicating that he's earned his forgiveness), and there's a good chance that he'll manage to get his money to his children with Gretchen and Elliot's help. He gives Skyler the coordinates to Hank and Steve's bodies ensuring that they'll have a proper burial, and Skyler may be able to get the feds off her back in exchange for the information. And Todd, Jack, Lydia, and the Aryans have all gotten their just comeuppance.
    • The series also ends on a bittersweet note for the supporting Jesse: he's free from Walt, the Nazis, and the entire meth industry, and probably won't be prosecuted since the police think Walt was the Blue Sky cook all along. But he has NOTHING to show for the living hell Walt and Todd put him through, and may actually be coming out behind since working for Walt frayed his relationship with Badger and Skinny Pete, and he can barely live with himself after what happened to Gale and Andrea.
      • El Camino gives him a happy ending that costs him a price, as his friend Skinny Pete is arrested for harboring Jesse, he has also become the most wanted in America as the cops figure out his true role in the blue meth industry post-Ozymandias, his family has also completely disowned him and he had to trick his parents for killing more people. But, Jesse is safe, free and happy after almost a year, sorted out his mental issues with Walt and all other issues with his enemies, and looks for a well-settled job in Alaska with a new name and identity.
    • Better Call Saul: Jimmy is finally caught by the police and brought to trial over his involvement in the Heisenberg criminal empire. While he initially manages to bargain his way into an exceptionally cushy deal of seven years in a minimum security prison, upon learning that Kim has decided to come forth about her involvement in the death of Howard Jimmy decides to throw it all away and openly own up to his actions by making a full confession as Jimmy McGill rather than Saul Goodman. This earns him a life sentence at a maximum security prison but his actions have turned him into a respected underworld legend among the inmates as well as regaining Kim's respect, with the implication that they'll potentially repair their relationship.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine
    • "Det. Dave Majors" ends with confirmation that Amy does, in fact, have feelings for Jake still, but her confessing she doesn't want to date a fellow cop, putting a relationship on hold.
    • "The Chopper" ends with a triple murderer caught and Jake achieving one of his biggest dreams, but along with it comes the announcement that Cpt. Holt will be forced out of the Nine-Nine.
    • The finale episode of season 2, "Johnny and Dora" has Holt giving an emotional farewell to the Nine-Nine after his attempt to block his promotion fails, Gina resigning to work at Public Relations with him, but has Jake and Amy finally kiss.
    • Season 3's "The Oolong Slayer" is played off as a happy ending, but has a slight bittersweetness to it. Holt and Gina return to the 99, but it took Jake giving up credit for the titular serial killer's capture (a lifelong dream of his) in order for it to happen.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Especially Season 8. The group manages to win the day and avert the apocalypse once more. But Giles is dead due to Buffy's hesitation. All magic is gone with the destruction of the seed, meaning Willow is de-powered. All slayers are viewed as terrorists thanks to much idiocy of a few rogue slayers, who squarely put the blame on Buffy. While vampires are accepted by society. On the upside, Faith takes Angel in to rehabilitate him and Buffy, despite everything that's happened, continues to fight the good fight.
    • Season 9. Buffy manages to kill Simone in the final battle, a new magic seed is created meaning magic is back in the world and Dawn is restored to life. However, this has an odd effect on vampires who can now walk in the sunlight and shapeshift. What's more the book they used to create the seed has a blank page, meaning there's no new information to what's going on. A complete blank slate.

    C 
  • Charite: Protagonist Ida gets to study medicine in Zurich, but her best friend Therese is dead, and she and Behring will never marry; he ends up with Else Spinola more by accident than anything else. Behring has successfully developed his diphtheria serum and is finally recognized as a scientist, but he loses Ida, plus the respect of his colleague Ehrlich whom he betrayed so he'd be the only one who benefits from their project financially and prestige-wise. Georg Tischendorf gets to work as a photographer in the hospital, but his awful behavior has driven Ida away for good, and he winds up a bitter, arrogant anti-Semite. Edith successfully founds a nursing association to better working conditions in the hospital, whereas Matron Martha retires and goes back to her order's motherhouse because she feels her time is over.
  • The 2005 Casanova serial ends with Casanova dying under the illusion that the one love of his life is still alive and coming to be with him. However, we learn from a letter that the elusive Henriette never stopped trying to find him all those years and did always love him, despite being married to another man. Add to that the closing shot of a young Casanova and Henriette dancing through the empty streets of Venice, and it looks less and less like Did Not Get the Girl really applies.
  • Channel Zero has a tendency to do this with each season:
    • Candle Cove: Mike saves his daughter from Candle Cove and cuts off Eddie's spirt's influence on the real world seemingly for good. But he's only able to accomplish this by allowing his body to die, trapping his spirit in Candle Cove forever.
    • The No-End House: Jules succeeds in rescuing Margot, and John dies in peace after helping them defeat Seth. But Margot has now lost her father all over again, and she and Jules must now face a world of which they have absolutely no memory because there's no way to get what's been eaten back. And the No-End House itself is left free to continue wreaking havoc.
    • Butcher's Block: Lighter than previous installments, but still not perfect — the Peach family's reign of terror is over. Louise, Luke, Izzy, and Zoe have formed a happy, loving family unit, and we see Zoe successfully managing her illness with medication. But Alice is mentally broken by her experience and institutionalized alongside her mother. Also, both the Pestilent God and the Meat Servant, and possibly other ancillary members of the Peach family, are still out there.
  • At the end of Chōjinki Metalder, the main villain is defeated but at the cost of the main character never being able to return to his human form. In fact, he gets the worst of both worlds: He is unable to return to human form and loses his powers as Metalder.
  • Chernobyl ends with the disaster successfully contained, at great cost to human life. Although many died painful deaths of Acute Radiation Syndrome and cancer rates skyrocketed, there are some unexpected stories of survival: the three "divers" survived their Suicide Mission well into the 21st century, Lyudmilla Ignatenko was eventually able to have a son, and many of the displaced population were able to move on and start new lives. Legasov's suicide was tragic, but the memoirs he left behind made it impossible for the Soviet government to continue hiding the problem with RBMK, and steps were taken to ensure that another such accident couldn't happen again.
  • Oh, Chuck. The series occasionally touched on some very dark themes, but things really took a turn for the bittersweet in the final two episodes of the show. At the very end, Sarah's memory is still damaged and it's unclear how much of it can — or will — be recovered. Optimists believe that the Magic Kiss worked and that they all lived Happily Ever After. Pessimists don't think it worked at all and that everything in Chuck is now something that the show's best character won't remember. Realists think that Sarah may eventually remember everything, but that memory and personality interact in some pretty complicated ways, so that doesn't necessarily mean that remembering everything will make her the Sarah that the audience knew. Wordof God says that they see the ending as a happy one, for what it's worth.
  • Almost every Cold Case episode ends the same. The killer is caught and justice is done. One last time we see the victim's loved ones as they were before and where they are now. One last time we see the victim's spirit before they fade into eternity because life must go on.
  • Community ends with the majority of the study group leaving to pursue their own futures, with Jeff, Britta, Frankie, and the dean being left behind. It is implied that none of them will be leaving anytime soon.
  • The Confessions of Frannie Langton: Frannie is convicted of murder and hanged for it, but she dies with dignity after having denounced the men who wronged her publicly first, which serves to soften it a bit.
  • Continuum ends with both Bad Futures averted, and Kiera finding herself in a much more utopian 2077, and she even gets to see her son Sam again. But she can only see him from a distance because his mother is that timeline's Kiera.

    D 
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: The Skeksis are beaten, the lost shard is found and the Gelflings have won the day, but Deet is overcome by the Darkening, which continues to spread, and skekTek creates the Garthim.
  • Dark Hole: Dong-rim and many other people are dead, but Hwa-sun, Tae-han, Do-yoon and several others survived and rebuild their lives.
  • Dear White People: Season 1. Lionel becomes a hero once again for exposing the Hancocks and standing up to Silvio (which earns him a well-planted kiss after the latter is turned on by the former developing a backbone), and Joelle and Reggie eventually becomes a thing, but Troy is arrested after destroying the town hall door in upset over the revelation that he was indeed a puppet to the Hancocks via his father's perfectionistic upbringing and nearly loses his life while resisting before Dean Fairbanks intervenes. Gabe ends his relationship with Sam, who was willing to make things right, but the latter rekindles her friendship with Coco as they bond over Defamation. Kelsey experiences her first genuine encounter with racism as Sorbet has been dognapped, only being left with a note, "Black girl, white dog, not on my watch", and is met with mass dismissal from the other black students.
  • Deutschland 83: Martin helps to stop a nuclear war and gets to come home. But Edel or Alex seems to commit suicide, Yvonne finds out that not only is her boyfriend involved with another girlfriend but said girlfriend is pregnant with his child, Thomas is deported and Martin's relationship with Anette is strained at best.
  • Doctor Who:
    • "The Aztecs" has the TARDIS crew succeed in returning to the TARDIS. However, Barbara was unable to change Aztec History and the High Priest Tlotoxl remains in control and is able to perform human sacrifices. The only lasting impact is that Autloc has decided to exile himself from Aztec Society to meditate on his faith.
    • "The Daleks' Master Plan" may end with the destruction of the Daleks about to attack Earth, however, in the process Sara Kingdom was killed. Not only that, but Katarina and Bret Vyon were killed during the story. It ends with Steven mentioning the deceased and the Doctor saying "What a waste. What a terrible waste."
    • In "Earthshock", the Cybermen's plan to destroy an interplanetary conference taking place on 26th Century Earth by crashing a hijacked space freighter into the planet is defeated, with the freighter instead crashing into the prehistoric Earth and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, Adric stays on the freighter in an attempt to divert it away from Earth and is killed in the resulting explosion. Worse, he dies without knowing that it was all part of Earth's history and he wasn't meant to stop the freighter from crashing.
    • New series season/series finales are often this, as are the episodes. It's the Trope Namer for Everybody Lives specifically because there's a terrible cost the other 99% of the time. (Series Five/Season 31/Series Fnarg bucked the trend; but then, it was written by the guy who gave us Everybody Lives.)
    • "The Unquiet Dead": Although the heroes prevail and the Gelth are defeated, the Doctor tells Rose that Charles Dickens won't get to complete his next novel, as he'll be dead within the year.
    • "Father's Day": The timeline is restored, but it requires Rose's father Pete to jump in front of the car that killed him and fulfil his destiny. At least Rose got to spend time with him and comfort him in his final moments, thanks to it being a Close-Enough Timeline.
    • Series 1, "The Parting of the Ways": The last Dalek fleet is blown to dust, but Earth has suffered casualties maybe in the millions, and the Doctor has to die/regenerate to save Rose from her own power. Meanwhile, Jack is abandoned on the space station. And much (like try a couple of centuries) later? We find out that the Doctor left him behind deliberately because he can't stand to look at what Jack had become.
    • "The Girl in the Fireplace": The villains are thwarted, and everybody lives, but the Timey-Wimey Ball and Narnia Time prevent Reinette from becoming a companion.
    • "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel": Lumic is dead, but there are still factories full of Cybermen on the alternate Earth, which Mickey and Jake set off to destroy, as he decides to stay to replace the dead Ricky. Pete, meanwhile, wants to get away from the revelation that he has an alternate-universe daughter.
    • Series 2, "Doomsday": The walls between universes are repaired, Jackie is reunited with an alternate-universe iteration of her lost husband, and the armies of Cybermen and the Daleks' ark are destroyed, but Rose is permanently separated from the Doctor and London has once again sustained a massacre.
    • Series 3, "Last of the Time Lords": The conquest of Earth is temporally reversed, the Doctor is saved, and Martha has become a badass of legend, but The Master is dead, leaving the Doctor alone again as the last of the Time Lords, and Martha quits her Companionship rather than pine after the Doctor (presumably not without some trauma from having witnessed the Master's subjugation of Earth first-hand).
    • "Voyage of the Damned": The Titanic doesn't crash into Earth, and no one on the planet dies. Mr. Copper gets a wonderful retirement. On the other hand, almost everyone onboard the ship dies, including the woman the Doctor was thinking of taking on as a companion.
    • Series 4, "Journey's End": Donna might have saved the world, but she can't be allowed to remember any of it or she'll die. All that Character Development, all that belief in herself? All gone. The Doctor abandons his Children of Time to live their own lives, leaving him alone with lots of angst. Rose has her own version of the Doctor, but his ability to live a mortal life is uncertain and there is no guarantee he and Rose will have a lasting love. Huh? The Doctor says "One heart, one life." Now, he's not guaranteeing they're going to be married fifty years, but it's definitely implied that 10.2 will have a single mortal lifespan and that he and Rose will stay together. Still a downer for the "real" Doctor, though. The Doctor is a time traveller. He has seen humanity develop and grow from the Adam and Eve Plot beginnings to the universe collapsing into itself and he's been to every planet in the galaxy. Sarah-Jane Smith had to adjust to a normal life after only three years of living like that. If you've never known anything else, could you just settle down in Suburbia and forget about everything you've seen and done throughout the universe? While most season finales in the new series have ended with something to lighten the mood and lead into their corresponding Christmas Special, season four ends with the Doctor, soaked and alone, staring at the control panel in the TARDIS. Cut to credits.
    • "The End of Time" has Earth saved from the Master's bio-template, the horrors of the Time War sent back into their lock, and a startlingly low body count. Then he knocks four times and the Doctor has to take a fatal dose of radiation to save someone from a mundane failure of engineering forethought, says a final goodbye to all of the new series companions, and dies in a fiery cataclysm of regeneration. Also, the Time Lords in their final days went Axe-Crazy, and even if they could be rescued from the timelock, were planning to mercy-kill the universe. It's also implied that the "mercy" part of "mercy-kill" is also inaccurate. "The End of Time" changed the way that Wilf (and the audience) thought of regeneration. The transition to a new Doctor is always jarring to the audience, but at least we could take comfort in the fact that it's just a normal part of life for our favourite Time Lord. Well, not quite. 10's last words? "I don't want to go."
    • "Victory of the Daleks": The Doctor fails to prevent the new Daleks from escaping to rebuild their species, but Amy manages to save the Earth and allow Bracewell the chance at a normal life free from Dalek control.
    • "Vincent and the Doctor" has the Doctor and Amy treat Vincent van Gogh to a visit to an art museum in the modern day. Of course, the real purpose of the visit is to show Vincent that the museum has his work on exhibit and that in the future he is beloved as one of the greatest painters to have ever lived. However this gesture, grand as it is, cannot undo years of poor mental health and depression and they find out Vincent still committed suicide — but not before dedicating Sunflowers to Amy.
    • Series 8, "Death in Heaven": Missy's (aka the Master) plan to prove she and her old friend the Doctor are not so different is foiled when he gives the Cyber-converted Danny Pink control of the Cyberman army of the dead; Pink leads almost all of the army to a Heroic Sacrifice that saves the living of Earth. That's about the only sunshine, though: The Doctor almost has to kill Missy before the Cyber-Brigadier zaps her instead, his UNIT friend Osgood was slain by Missy, the coordinates Missy gives the Doctor lead not to his lost homeworld of Gallifrey but empty space, Clara is left bereft when Danny sacrifices his one chance to return to her in favor of giving the boy he killed in Afganistan a second chance at life, and the dead rising from their graves undoubtedly left a mess for Earth. And Clara and the Doctor each believe the other is happy, so they lie to each other and part ways. However, The Stinger of the episode reveals Santa Claus will help fix that last part in the Christmas Episode that follows, and Series 9 reveals that both Missy and an Osgood are still alive and kicking.
    • Series 9, "Hell Bent": Having become a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds to undo the death of his Living Emotional Crutch Clara, the Doctor realizes they must be parted forever for the safety of the universe and loses not only her but most of his memories of her. He has found Gallifrey only to become a fugitive from it once more, having lied, stolen, and even killed (luckily the General has two lives left) for the sake of that Tragic Dream; his fellow Time Lords and his confidante Ohila may or may not forgive him. He deposed Rassilon and his cronies; will they seek Revenge? But he is his best self again... and though he doesn't know it, the now-functionally immortal Clara is using the second stolen TARDIS to travel the universe with Ashildr (fulfilling the latter's dream at last) before she returns to Gallifrey and her death.
    • "The Husbands of River Song": The Twelfth Doctor and River Song end up crash-landing on Darillium, which he knows will be the site of their last night together before Ten meets and loses her forever in "Silence of the Library"/"Forest of the Dead". Worse, it turns out that River has heard stories that their next meeting will be their last, and he sadly tells her that he can't confirm or deny them, much less change what is to happen. But having learned to accept loss at last in the wake of the Series 9 finale, Twelve will be the "Sweetie" River hungered for all those years, the lover his previous selves were not, making the most of this last night... a night that, as it happens, will last twenty-four happy years.
    • "Rosa": The Doctor and her companions ensure history remains on its proper course, but to do so they have to stay passengers on Rosa Parks' bus so there are enough "white" people on board for her to be asked to move, and they have to watch her get arrested. The Doctor also notes that Rosa and her husband lost their jobs because of the incident, but reassures her companions by telling them Rosa got the Presidential Medal of Freedom eventually and shows them the asteroid named after her.
    • "It Takes You Away": All the humans and the Doctor are returned to the main universe, Erik and Hanne will start over in Oslo, and Graham and Ryan's relationship is stronger for the experience. The Solitract must be alone forever, but the Doctor will always remember it and vice versa so it won't be truly lonely.
    • "Resolution": The Dalek scout is defeated and the Earth is saved, while Ryan renews his relationship with his father and Lin and Mitch both survive to pursue their Relationship Upgrade. However, the Dalek killed dozens if not hundreds of people on its brief rampage across the UK.
    • "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror": As the Doctor points out at the end, Tesla is doomed to die penniless and fade into obscurity (at least for a while), but his inventions and ideas that were too far ahead of their time will eventually become the foundations of the technology of the 21st century.
  • Dollhouse: The protagonists are able to restore the minds of everyone affected by the mass imprinting with Topher's Heroic Sacrifice, but it will take decades if not centuries to undo the damage caused by the chaos and there's still the possibility that the mindwiping technology could be used again.
  • Doom Patrol (2019): The threat of the Butts and Immortus has been thwarted, and the world is once again saved, but Rita succumbs to old age and dies despite the rest of the team having their longevity restored moments before, Cliff's Parkinsons eventually claims him too, and the team is disbanded at Rita's final request from beyond the grave. However, the rest of the team does find some closure— Jane is able to heal from her trauma and becomes Kaleidoscope (or Kay) to join Space Case and start up a relationship with her, Larry and Keig retrieve Mr. 104 and travel to a dimension where they can live their lives without their powers hurting everyone, Vic returns to being Cyborg and joins in teaching a class to help young geniuses hone their talents, Rouge goes to burn down the Ant-Farm, Rita is reunited with her long-deceased lover in the afterlife, and Cliff is granted a vision of the complete life of his grandson Rory to see the kind of man he'll grow up to become before he passes on.
  • Due South: The last few minutes of the final episode, when Fraser tells of what happened to those whom he considered as friends as he starts a happy ending with Ray Kowalski. Fraser's voiceover is hated by some fans, who think that all of the characters except for Fraser and Kowalski DIDN'T get happy endings.

    F 
  • Quite a few episodes of Farscape end like this.
    • For example, in "Throne For A Loss" though the heroes save the day, the Tavlek mercenary that Zhaan was trying to rehabilitate goes straight back to drugs the moment he leaves Moya.
    • At the end of "That Old Black Magic", Crichton and Zhaan manage to defeat Maldis. Unfortunately, Crichton failed to talk Crais out of his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and Zhaan is now dangerously close to giving in to her dark and selfish impulses. And considering that the next episode was "DNA Mad Scientist", in which Zhaan eagerly helped D'Argo and Rygel hack off one of Pilot's arms...
    • The end of the "Liars, Guns And Money" trilogy: the crew is now officially rich thanks to the raid on the Shadow Depository, and they've managed to save Jothee from Scorpius in the process. Unfortunately, Moya is suffering from crippling injuries; only one out of the five mercenaries survived (though he promises to deliver his dead partners' shares to their families); finally, Crichton is suffering a Split-Personality Takeover and begging D'Argo to kill him.
    • In "Eat Me", though Kaarvok dies when Rovhu explodes, and Rovhu's tormented pilot is finally put out of his misery, the two Crichtons are now trying to decide which of them is real. Plus, Talyn has been reunited with Moya- but he and Crais have been terribly injured in a battle with someone or something that may still be hunting for them.
    • The end of the "We're So Screwed" trilogy seems so hopeful at first: the Scarrans have been dealt a blow that will eventually force them to leave the region, Captain Braca has had Grayza removed from her command and saved the lives of his crew in the process, D'Argo and Chiana have managed to rekindle their relationship, and Scorpius and Sikozu appear to have fallen in love. However, Crichton is clearly unhappy at having to use a nuclear weapon to achieve his ends, wondering what he might be forced to do next time; worse still, the Scarrans are planning an invasion of Earth thanks to a minute slip of the tongue on Crichton's part.
    • Then you have the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series, meant to tie up loose ends in the show. It ends with Crichton and Aeryn naming their baby. Also, the Scarran-Peacekeeper War is over, at the cost of thousands of lives, including Jool and D'Argo. There's also a follow-up comic, which has Rygel regaining his throne... but Scorpy is back to his old tricks and has taken an interest in Crichton Jr.
  • In "A Fanatic Heart", the first season finale of Fate: The Winx Saga, Bloom uses her powers to save Alfea from the Burned Ones and reunites with her friends, Sky and Bloom have professed their love for each other, and Sky is finally reunited with Andreas. However, Luna has Silva arrested, Farah is killed and nothing is stopping Rosalind from using Bloom to concoct her sinister plans.
  • Father Ted: Upon learning the American parish he's headed to is rife with gang violence, Ted is able to duck out in time but that means he's stuck on Craggy Island for the forseeable future, if not forever.
  • Fellow Travelers:
    • By 1987, Timothy Laughlin is dead and Jerome is HIV positive. However, Tim fought until the very end; Marcus and Frankie are still together and very happy with each other and the family they formed with Jerome; Lucy divorces (or at least separates from) Hawkins Fuller because she knows she deserves to be happier than he can make her; and at the very end, Hawk and his daughter Kimberly visit Tim's panel in the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and he tearfully reveals to her that Tim was "the man I loved."
    • Mary Johnson's story as well: in 1986, she is a congresswoman and is implied to be in a long-term relationship with a woman named Phyllis. But episode 8 confirms that she regrets not fighting for her relationship with Caroline, and wonders what would have happened if she had.
  • The Flash (2014) episode "Killer Frost": Wally gets the Super-Speed he desperately wanted and Barry is able to get through to Caitlin and help her suppress her Superpowered Evil Side KillerFrost... but Barry and Cisco's friendship is on the rocks due to the revelation that Cisco's brother was alive before Barry changed the timeline, meaning that Barry is partly responsible for his death, and Barry is forced to quit his job as a CSI so that Julian will keep quiet about Caitlin kidnapping him. Oh, and the episode began with Barry being badly beaten by new Big Bad Savitar, meaning that at the end of the episode, the heroes still have the threat of a new evil speedster hanging over their heads.
  • The The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse" ends in a bittersweet moment, because just when Will's father entered his life again, his father has once again by trying to weasle out of going on a trip with Will with more of his lies, thus ending the episode with Will calling his father by his real name instead of father, Will going through an emotional rant about how far he has come, without his father in his life, ending his rant with Will breaking into tears asking Uncle Phil "How come he doesn't want me?" as the last scene of the episode is of Will's present; an African statue of a father holding his son.
  • Friends: All the characters end the series happily: Monica and Chandler have their children, Ross and Rachel are back together, Joey's a TV star, and Phoebe is married. But with that also comes the group's separation: Monica and Chandler are moving to the suburbs, Joey's going to L.A., and Phoebe's living with her husband. It's the start of a new era and while that's great, it doesn't change the fact that the True Companions are leaving their lives behind and things will never be the same again. Though for four of the friends (Monica, Ross, Chandler and Rachel) they're in-laws so if nothing else it's highly unlikely the four of them will never see each other again.
  • Fringe concludes in this manner. The Observers and all the other villains have been defeated for good, the shapeshifters have been wiped out, time has been altered so that the Observers will never conquer humanity, the two universes have been stabilized, and Peter and Olivia will be able to live out their lives happily with their daughter. But September, Sam Weiss, and Nina Sharp are dead and Walter and Michael had to go through the wormhole, meaning they'll never see the others again. The episode ends with Peter receiving a white tulip in the mail, suggesting that Walter may be alright.
  • The Fugitive: Kimble solves his wife's murder, brings the one-armed man to justice, and clears his name, finally allowing him to move on with his life. But his wife is still dead, and Kimble's years of fleeing the law have clearly left him traumatized in a way that will take years to heal. The series ends with him starting to walk off into the sunset with his Love Interest… only to freeze up and nearly have a panic attack simply because some cops passed by him without even looking in his direction, showing just how deep these scars are and how much work Kimble has ahead of him to relearn how to be a normal person instead of a fugitive.

    G 
  • Game of Thrones ends with Daenerys declaring her intent to continue her conquests from Lannisport to Qarth, and from Winterfell to Sunspear to her Dothraki and Unsullied forces. Tyrion pleads with Jon to do the unthinkable, and Jon is forced to break his vow of loyalty by killing Daenerys. While the wars over Westeros have finally ended, the continent faces a uncertain future as The North secedes from the Seven Kingdoms, with Sansa becoming Queen in the North. The remaining Six Kingdoms are in bad shape from all the fighting, but there is hope for the future. It becomes an elected monarchy to produce rulers that are appointed by the lords of Westeros instead of being born to the ruling family. With Tyrion's advice, Bran is appointed as the next King of Westeros, who then declares that as penance for his own failures Tyrion must advise him as his Hand. Jon is permanently exiled from Westeros at Bran's order to compromise with Grey Worm and the remnants of Daenery's forces. The Dothraki leave Westeros while Unsullied leave for Naath and an uncertain future. And Arya Stark leaves Westeros to search for lands beyond the Sunset Sea, finally having the freedom she wanted. Jon's exile allows him to return to the North, where he goes beyond the wall with Tornmund, Ghost and the Wildlings.
  • Glee:
    • Season 1; The New Directions come last place in regionals and are utterly humiliated. On the up-side however, it's revealed that Sue Sylvester — the arch-enemy of the glee club — thought they were the best show choir group and voted for them. Not to mention whilst the glee club was originally going to be discontinued in Junior year (I.E season two), Sue made sure they got a second year for free, which was a definite consolation prize for Rachel and Co. On another sunny note (assuming you ship Finchel), Finn and Rachel have finally sorted out their relationship problems and are an official couple. It doesn't last long. Queue Wangst. On the downside, (Again, assuming you ship a certain couple) Emma rejects Will and says she's seeing her dentist, leaving him disappointed and a little embarrassed.
    • Season 2: The New Directions fail to even make the top 10 at Nationals, most likely due to the humiliating Big Damn Kiss between Finn and Rachel on stage, which leads to their downfall. It was later revealed that the slip-up was put on YouTube, making ND the Butt-Monkey of show choir and a national laughing stock. On the upside, however, Finchel fans were pleased when Finn and Rachel got back together (again) and are now a happy couple. Also on the more optimistic scale of things, Brittany and Santana finally makeup and become best friends again, and say that no matter what ends up happening with their relationship they will always love each other and accept one another for who they are. Kurt says that even though the championship has tarnished ND's reputation, he's still glad he participated because they all got to go to New York and have a fun time which is award enough for them all.
    • Season 3: Well, New Directionals have won nationals! Will won teacher of the year award! Puck is passing Senior year after all! After all her whining Rachel got into NYADA! ...Rachel was also dumped by her fiance without warning and forced onto a train to New York...And it looks like no one else is going with her because Kurt didn't get into NYADA and Finn failed to get admission to his New York acting school. And Brittany isn't even graduating and has to retake senior year, which is tragic enough on without getting into the implications of her relationship with Santana, who is going half-way across the country, foreshadowing a possible breakup. Then again, it looks like Quinn is finally back to where she was at the start of season 1; she's regained her dignity, good reputation, grades and is off to the school of her dreams. Pretty mixed, all in all.
    • Dave had this regarding his character arc. In Season 1 he was part of a bullying duo with Azimio. In Season 2 he forced himself onto Kurt and spent the rest of the year battling his gayngst. Come Season 3, he transferred schools to avoid being outed, but Sebastian cruelly rejected his advances, Kurt ignored him after the two decided to be friends, and Dave was outed at his new school, causing him to attempt suicide in what was considered by many to be the show's darkest moment. When we last saw Dave, he was recuperating in the hospital with Kurt telling him that his life will one day get better. Still, at that point in time, his parents and best friend Azimio were rejecting, and he was still attending the high school where he was an outcast. The only positives were a second chance at life and the hope to one day be free from small-town ignorance.
    • As of season 6, Dave is happy, out, and a very different person.
  • The Golden Girls: Dorothy finally finds true love with Blanche's uncle, but the girls all end up going their separate ways; Dorothy moving to Atlanta, Sophia going with her and Rose moving in with her daughter, leaving Blanche all alone.
  • The Good Doctor: The finale of Season 3 probably would have gone full blown Downer Ending if not for the last five minutes. Morgan is able to save her patient and earn back Andrews respect but she ends up doing permanent damage to her joints likely ending her career as a surgeon. Park is unable to save his patient and has to pretend to be his father to comfort the boy before he dies, a process that deeply traumatizes him and makes him decide to return to Phoenix and his family. Melendez's condition is inoperable and he dies by the end of the episode but not before saying his goodbyes to Lim, Glassman and Claire the latter of whom reveals her feelings for him who reciprocates and the two spend his last moments together. In the aftermath Claire and Lim comfort each other and decide to go out drinking some time. The only unambiguously happy ending is Shaun and Lea the latter of whom reciprocates Shaun's feelings after believing he died which ends the episode on a hopeful note as the two kiss.
  • The Guardian:
    • The bad: Nick loses his job at Fallin & Fallin. His friendship with Jake is over. Burton retires, thinking that Nick doesn't have what it takes to be a corporate lawyer. Lulu prematurely gives birth to her and Nick's daughter, who has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Nick realizes Lulu will never love him the same way again. Alvin quits LSP due to ALS. Talik's final appeal is denied.
    • The Good: Nick's probation is over, and he appears to be determined to stay clean this time. Nick takes over Lulu's job as head of LSP, seemingly content with his choice. Despite their situation, Nick is happy to be a father, and his relationship with Lulu is cordial (if no longer romantic). Alvin is determined to spend his final days living life to the fullest.

    H 
  • The miniseries Hatfields & McCoys mirrors history in how miserable everyone ends up once the feud is over. Randall McCoy lost six children during the feud and his wife went insane with grief. Devil Anse Hatfield lost two brothers and an uncle, and his eldest son left the state and he will not see him for another ten years. Johnse Hatfield survived the feud but the love of his life and their child are dead, his wife has betrayed him and when he returns home ten years later he is arrested and imprisoned. Wall Hatfield tried to stop the feud and ends up dying in prison. Frank Phillips got a book published about his exploits during the feud and was fairly successful but then one day he got violently drunk and pulled a gun on his best friend who was forced to shoot Frank dead. However, despite all this misery, the killing is over and the descendants of the participants will be able to move on and make peace.
  • The ending of Volume Three for Heroes. Sure, the world was saved (again) and Sylar was defeated (again) (or so we are made to think (again)), but Claire's biological mother Meredith is killed and Nathan approaches the US Government for help in rounding up everybody with powers.
  • The final episode of the TV version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981) ends with Arthur and Ford discovering that the meaning of life is nonsensical. In addition, they're trapped five million years in Earth's past with no apparent way out of their situation. The radio and novel versions show that they get out of this predicament okay, but still... Every incarnation of The Hitchhiker's Guide thrives on either this trope or Downer Endings.
  • Highway to Heaven: The final episode "Merry Christmas from Grandpa": Jonathan shows three men (a tycoon, a farmer and the president) each a Bad Future caused by their polluting and hopefully scaring them straight, but when Mark asks if it'll do any good, Johnathan says he doesn't know and that all they could do was try.
  • The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, the 30-year war between the houses of Lancaster and York finally ends for good when Henry Tudor Earl of Richmond, marries Elizabeth of York (Edward IV's daughter, Richard III's niece, uniting the houses of Lancaster and York). But this came at a heavy price, the horrible loss of life at the battle of Bosworth Field, where Richard III waged war for the last time only to die alone and while he dies a warrior's death, because of the terrible things he's done just for the sake of gaining power (i.e. killing his own wife and nephews) one can only pity him because it didn't need to end this way, despite his "deformity" he could have tried to love and be loved in return rather than choosing to be evil, all he has to show for it in the end, is losing his kingdom being hated and feared by his own people and family, and letting his life come to a wasteful end at Bosworth.
  • Horatio Hornblower, the episode "Retribution": Horatio and co have taken many prisoners and prize ships, they narrowly averted disaster multiple times, and Horatio's name has been cleared of mutiny charges and he is even promoted. However, Archie Kennedy, his best friend of many years, dies of wounds received in battle, having falsely confessed to mutiny in order to save Horatio. Horatio's face in the final scene looks like he's struggling between being heartbroken and being grateful.
  • House: Bittersweet endings were common on House in its episodes, and the finale was a major case of the bittersweet.
    • The most common varieties in episodes were the one in which the patient had to choose between taking the cure and compromising another aspect of their health or lifestyle (eg. losing a limb) or forgoing it in favor of whatever they stood to lose and the one in which the diagnosis revealed something about the patient that their family, friends, partner and sometimes the patient themselves didn't know, which changed their life for the worse.
    • The series ends on one of these: Wilson has five months to live, and House has been told he must spend that time completing his prison sentence. House fakes his own death so that everyone who knew or cared about him except Wilson and Foreman thinks he's dead, he can never be a doctor again, and he'll have to be in hiding for the rest of his life or go to prison for years, but he gets to be with Wilson for those final 5 months and realizes he's capable of change.

    I 
  • The first season of In Treatment ends with a mix of good and bad consequences. Sophie and Laura have made breakthroughs and have left treatment with Paul as happier, healthier people, while Paul stopped himself from making a mistake with Laura. However, his marriage to Kate is marriage is effectively over, as is Jake and Amy's, and Alex's possible suicide is still on his conscience.
  • Into the Dark's "Blood Moon" ends with the implication that Esme and Luna will have to move again, but what matters is that they're safe for now, and it's clear Luna won't hurt Esme.
  • I Shouldn't Be Alive:
    • This happened in "Horror in the Grand Canyon" where the group was rescued but, for one of them (Dave Phillips), rescue came too late.
    • In "Fear in Freefall", only Will survives being stranded off the coast of Costa Rica. The other five don't.
    • Steve, Steven, Travis, Ross, and Joseph all survive, but Roger Stone sacrificed himself to save the other two.
    • Benedict Allen is alive, but he had to Eat The Dog.
    • Sea of Cortez. For everything that Joe and Jose do, Lorenzo dies.
    • Blizzard of Death - despite most of the group surviving, one of the guides and helicopter pilots died.

    J 
  • Jejak Suara Adzan: In the end, Ririn's wish to meet her long-lost eldest son (Dika/Putra) before her heart operation is fulfilled and most of the other subplots end happily (Dimas went through a positive Character Development, Mila gets a job, Zahra is married in the Distant Finale). But Ririn dies in the postoperative period, leaving everyone sad particularly her youngest son and the protagonist Dimas.
  • The Journey of Flower: Many of Qian Gu's friends are dead by the end. Qian Gu dies but is revived without her memories so she and Zi Hua can start over.

    K 
  • Kamen Rider almost never has an unambiguously happy ending. Just to name a few:
    • Kamen Rider BLACK: Saved the world, killed the Big Bad. All seems well... except for the fact that the one thing Kotaro/BLACK set out to do, save his step-brother, had not been accomplished and is believed to be dead (at least until BLACK RX). Not to mention Kotaro lives alone now because Kyoko and Katsumi fled from Japan after Black appeared to lose a duel to the death with Shadow Moon (though in the end, not quite), and Kotaro never resumed contact with them again, since he can't bear to see them again after numerous times promising them to save Nobuhiko, and failing in that regard (not to mention they were told by himself to flee from Japan and start fresh, even after hearing the news of Black's revival).
    • Kamen Rider Kuuga: The Grongi are defeated, but Godai is so traumatized by his experiences that he can't stay in Japan and leaves for a long trip around the world. His friends are heartbroken even though he promises he'll return someday (and in a tie-in novel released in 2013, Godai is missing in the present day and never did return.)
    • Kamen Rider Ryuki: Good news: The Rider War is stopped, everyone harmed by the mirror world restored. Bad news: Yui has to die, Asakura is restored too, and Kitaoka's illness will presumably kill him. Seeing Yui's aunt alone in the shop we know they once ran together is quite the Tear Jerker, even if she will presumably never know Yui was supposed to be there. None of the Rider War participants remember anything about the original timeline either, which means Kitaoka will likely never end up receiving the Character Development he had in the original timeline that allowed him to accept his death and gain something of personal responsibility. Meanwhile, Shinji and Ren remember nothing of their friendship in the original timeline, although it is hinted that there is some vague recognization from both parties of something having existed between them. All said and done, it's pretty telling that the last shot of the show focuses on a strangely sad photograph of the now-deceased Kanzaki siblings as children, smiling and happy at last.
    • Kamen Rider 555: Good news: The Orphenoch King is stopped for now. The bad news: Emphasis on "for now." He's still alive and Saeko is still tending to him. All this could start again in a week. This also means Teruo is probably gone for good. We didn't directly see Kiba die, but he almost certainly did. Also, Orphenochs still probably suffer from the reduced life span - bad news for the good ones.
    • Kamen Rider Blade: Kenzaki decides to sacrifice his humanity in order for his best friend to live as a human. However, as the End of the World could potentially occur if one or the other destroys each other, they have to separate, never being able to see each other again.
    • Kamen Rider OOO: Ankh sacrifices himself by giving Eiji his last three Medals to form the Tajadol combo and defeat Maki. However, he lives on as a spirit and accompanies Eiji (who does not know Ankh is there) as Eiji returns to Walking the Earth. The crossover movie with Kamen Rider Fourze reveals that Ankh's medal would be repaired sometime in the future.
    • Kamen Rider Wizard: Koyomi died, but Haruto is able to reach inside Gremlin where Koyomi's spirit gives him the Hope Ring and enables him to destroy Gremlin with it. As everyone returns to their lives, Haruto goes to find some distant safe place to leave the Hope Ring so that it can't be used, and fulfill Koyomi's wish to rest in peace. The crossover movie with Kamen Rider Gaim has the Hope Ring stolen from him and used against him, but he's able to truly allow Koyomi to rest in peace.
    • Kamen Rider Gaim: Kouta kills Kaito in a battle to the death and takes the fruit, becoming the "Man of the Beginning." Rather than destroy the earth, he and Mai take Helheim with them and ascend to a barren planet on the edge of the universe to create their own world; but they'll never see their friends or family again. Sagara creates a new fruit for another species to fight over and will continue the cycle forever more. Takatora has been found alive but is in a coma; Kouta is able to enter his consciousness to speak to him, and Takatora agrees to return to the world of the living to teach Mitsuzane that it's not too late to change things. Seven months later, the world is recovering slowly and the city's dancers are now performing as a group, without Mitsuzane who is too ashamed to join them. He and Kouta reunite one last time for a battle against Kougane, the villain of The Movie, before Kouta returns to his own world and Mitsuzane finally reconciles with his friends. The tree at the shrine where Mai's father was a priest has reappeared, and Kaito is now a spirit there. Mai appears to him as they watch children dancing there, and reassures him that humanity will learn from their mistakes. She and Kouta return to their planet which is now blooming and full of life.
    • Kamen Rider Drive: Shinnosuke gets a happy ending, but all the Roidmudes are dead (including the good ones), and Krim chooses to be shut away underground along with all of his technology so that humans can't misuse it again.
    • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Leans heavily towards the optimistic side, but doesn't completely shy away from the bitter end of the spectrum: Kamen Rider Chronicle is permanently over, Emu and Kiriya are officially part of the CR, Nico is going back to school and supporting Genm Corp's stocks with her savings, Taiga's opened up a Game Disease clinic to start his life over again, Kuroto's on the path to redemption, Poppy and Parado are revived, and Tsukuru is now the CEO of Genm Corporation, ensuring that the company's in good hands. However, with Masamune's death, the doctors currently have no way to revive those who were deleted, though Emu is confident that they'll find one someday. Also, Game Disease is still in the world, but the riders will always be there to fight it.
    • Kamen Rider Build: Sento manages to undo all the horrible things that Evolt did by fusing the world with a parallel world where the Sky Wall doesn't exist, and the cast in the new world is all alive and living much happier lives. Prime Minster Taizan Himuro is well and leading the country, Gentoku never went insane, Nanba Industries never became an evil MegaCorp, allowing Sawa and Utsumi to live normal lives, Soichi is happily running nacsita with Misora, Kazumi's friends are all alive and he gets to meet and fall in love with Misora again, and Ryuga never lost his career or his girlfriend. However, nobody remembers what happened except Sento and the old world's Ryuga, who both managed to carry over directly into the new world, leaving the two in a world that doesn't really have a place for them. However, the two at the very least have each other and Sento decides to share the story of Kamen Rider Build with the world with a 49 episode script that he wrote.
    • Kamen Rider Outsiders: The first half of the anthology ends in a very foreboding and somber note. The Ark is rendered off the grid by the heroes. However, the Ark's (apparent) destruction didn't eradicate all human malice just what the good guys intended even with the powers of Kamen Rider Zein, but instead created a catastrophic chain of events that would follow — Zein is finally outed as the Big Bad, having overthrown the Ark as the only AI with the right to annihilate humanity, and betrays its associates after managing to con them into relaunching Kamen Rider Chronicle to speed up mankind's own self-destruction. With Zein victorious over the Ark, the Outsiders, Foundation X, and Zein's former allies must prepare for a long battle to liberate the world from Zein's tyranny, or die trying.
  • Kevin Can F**k Himself: Patty and Tammy break up, Neil moves out and his fate is up in the air, along with his relationship with Diane, and Pete is gonna eventually find out that Kevin died in a fire in his own house shortly after he left for Florida. But on the positive side, everyone is free from Kevin's tyranny, Allison is able to come back since the case involving Patty is dropped, it's implied that Neil and Diane's relationship might have hope if Neil is able to change, and the show ends with Allison and Patty embracing and deciding to "grow old and die alone together", possibly implying a relationship.
  • Kim's Convenience: The first two season finales end on a sweet yet also sombre note.
    • In the Season 1 finale, Mr. Kim and Jung, while now on speaking terms, still get on each other's nerves and aren't ready to make up yet, and Shannon starts dating Alejandro just as Jung's realized his feelings for her. However, the Kims still give a heartwarming performance at the church singing contest (yes even Mr. Kim, albeit from outside so no one can see him) and Mr. Kim gives his blessing to Janet to move out with her friends, establishing that the Kims are still very much a family despite their differences.
    • In the Season 2 finale that just barely avoids being a Downer Ending, Mr. Kim and Jung properly reconcile but have another big argument just before the whole family reunite at the party celebrating Jung's GED; they all take a family photo before the two men go their separate ways, but it doesn't stop Mr. and Mrs. Kim from proudly putting the photo up on display. Jung's chances of becoming a manager at a rival car rental company look good, only to come crashing down thanks to his delinquent past; and this comes after Shannon 1) tells him she can't be with him because of her boyfriend Alejandro, and 2) shows her disapproval about said job offer. It worsens when it's revealed Kimchee's taken Jung's assistant managing position, unaware he just got rejected. On a final good note, after spending the episode feeling unappreciated by her parents, Janet has a heart-to-heart talk with her mother and gets her graduation present from her father (albeit the present that was meant for Jung, but she'll take it).
  • Kingdom (2019): How Season 2 wraps up, with the plague being contained, the Haewon Cho Clan being ousted from most positions of power, and most of the main cast surviving to lead more fruitful lives. However, Prince Chang goes into self-imposed exile, Mu-yeong was killed in the process, his wife left a widow and unable to raise their child, and said child being raised by the state as the heir to the throne, never knowing about his parents. And to make matters worse, there's the implication that someone is trying to start a new outbreak, and it turns out that the young prince isn't entirely cured of the plague as there is still one parasitic worm in his body.
  • The King Loves: Won becomes king while San and Rin leave together. But then Won hands the throne back to his father and goes to Yuan for ten years, and implicitly never sees San or Rin again.

    L 
  • The Last Kingdom: After pursuing it for a lifetime and losing many friends and loved ones along the way, Uhtred finally reclaims his ancestral home, the fortress of Bebbanburg for himself and his family, avenges himself on his villainous in-laws who stole his birthright, and declares Northumbria a place for Saxons and Danes to live and thrive together. To secure peace with the Scots, however, he abandons his allegiance to King Edward of Wessex and declares Northumbria an independent kingdom, ensuring that Alfred the Great's dream of a united England will not come to be until Edward's son (and Uhtred's ward) Aethelstan takes the throne. Edward's fury at this and his and King Constantin of Scotland's ambitions to claim Northumbria for themselves also foreshadows conflict with Uhtred in the future.
  • Last Resort: Captain Marcus Chaplin goes down with his ship in a Heroic Sacrifice designed to keep the sub from falling into Chinese hands and it seems likely that Kylie Sinclair and Admiral Shepherd are dead, but the truth comes out, most of the sub's crew returns home, James seems to find peace with Tani, and Kendall is reunited with the wife he believed dead.
  • Laverne & Shirley: "New Year's Eve 1960" ends with Laverne having gotten over her bad breakup, but Shirley still has a cold. Similarly, at the end of "Bowling for Razzberries", Laverne wins the bowling tournament and Shirley blows a raspberry at Karen the way Laverne wanted to do, yet Laverne still hasn't recovered from her cold.
  • Law & Order: SVU has these frequently.
    • The mother in "Aliens" is cleared of guilt but refuses to forgive her in-laws for accusing her of molestation just because she is gay, and it is unlikely that she will ever let them see their grandchild again.
    • "American Disgrace" ends with the suspect being exonerated, but the rape accusation destroys his career and reputation and even resulted in his lover aborting his child.
    • The rapists in "Pornstar's Requiem" are convicted but the victim is expelled from school and all but abandoned by her parents after her work in Adult film is revealed. The judge overturns part of the verdict and lets one rapist go, and the victim ultimately gives up on herself and goes back to making porn.
  • The Legend of Xiao Chuo: Yan Yan dies in the last episode (and De Rang dies off-screen), but they're reunited in the afterlife.
  • Lexx Kai is made mortal again by Prince but sacrifices his life to saving other planets from Lyekka's ship. The recurring villains Prince and Priest escape with a rocket full of schoolgirls. 790 orders a dying Lexx to destroy Earth. The Lexx dies of age and exhaustion but Xev and Stan find a baby Lexx and Stan is made Captain again. 790 is stranded in space to make poems about Kai for the rest of his existence.
  • Life on Mars (the British version) technically possesses a downer ending, as it ends with Sam committing suicide by jumping off a roof. However, as this also enables him to save the lives of his friends in 1973, get the girl and drive off into the sunset, in another sense, it's quite a happy one as well. But not for his mum, who is all alone yet again, or all the people who might have been glad that he was back.
  • Little House on the Prairie, the town of Walnut Grove is bought out by a scheming, corrupt railroad tycoon. Rather than hand over their town, the citizens of Walnut Grove defiantly demolish all of their homes, robbing the tycoon of his prize. This act also inspires the neighboring towns to threaten the same thing if they are bought out as well and the people of Walnut Grove take comfort in the fact that the sacrifice of their town was not in vain.
  • Lost:
    • The season three finale became a prime example of bittersweet. The 815 survivors are celebrating "being rescued" and gaining a huge victory over their "enemies", the Others. The cost, of course, is that unknown to almost everyone at the time Charlie bites the big one. Not to mention, the ending of the episode reveals that some of the characters suffered from depression and regret after returning to civilization.
    • The end became this as well. The Man in Black is defeated and eight people make it off the island at the end (only four of them survivors of the original crash) Jack ensures their escape and saves the island at the cost of his own death; Hurley and Ben live but stay behind as the island's new protectors, and everyone else by this point is already dead. Made a little less bitter with the knowledge that they all meet up in some kind of afterlife later.

    M 
  • M*A*S*H: The war is over and everyone is going home. On the other hand, besides the emotional scars from their time in a war zone, Father Mulcahy is going deaf and the main cast realizes they will probably never see each other again.
  • Masters of Horror:
    • "Deer Woman": Reed has been killed, the Deer Woman has claimed her victims, and vanishes when Faraday tracks her down. There's no indication that she won't come back, but at least won't kill any more people for the time being.
    • "Cigarette Burns": Literally everyone dies... except the Angel, who retrieves the reels of La Fin Absolue du Monde and thanks Kirby before leaving the theater, finally free.
  • Master of Study: The students in the special skills become more educated and found their own dreams and the school is saved from bankruptcy. But Seok Ho leaves the school as he didn't fulfil the promise of sending all 5 students to Chendu (only Pulip & Bonggu went, Baekhyun passed but decided to go to another university that enable him to study traditional medicine, Hyeonjung failed her test [though she's later shown attending art school], while Chandu decides not to enter and pursue dance instead).
  • The ending of Merlin (1998) fulfills every single one of the above criteria, except for the villain escaping bit, with such highlights as Merlin losing everyone he loved, passing into obscurity and eventually becoming a beggar who tells stories for money, the true king and wielder of Excalibur dead, and his love interest being trapped forever. Even the destruction of Mab and the Old Ways isn't much of a victory, given that it results in the death of Magic and all the magical peoples that Mab was trying to save with the exception of Frik and the Rock of Ages. However, the time of darkness comes to an end at last in the epilogue. It is made somewhat less bittersweet in the last few scenes, where it is revealed that Nimue is still alive and was released from Mab's spells, and Merlin uses the last of his magic to restore their youth so that they can finally live out their lives together.

    The direct-to-video sequel brings back Merlin... only to kill him.
  • Merlin (2008): It was clear from the beginning thanks to the Foregone Conclusion. We knew that Arthur would become King with Gwen as his wife and Merlin as his most trusted advisor, but they would still have lost Morgana to evil, Arthur would one day be slain by Mordred, and there would always be the shadow of Lancelot lingering over the Official Couple... Merlin and Arthur succeeded in building the great kingdom of Albion, though Arthur never lived to see it. Kilgarrah tells Merlin that one day Arthur will return when Albion is in its time of greatest need. Many, many years later, in the present day, Merlin is still wandering the earth as an immortal old man. With everyone he knew - Gaius, Gwen, the dragons - long dead, and knowing that the same will continue to happen throughout history as he waits for the day that Arthur will return. Thankfully, everything the Dragon had said throughout the entire series about prophecy and the future did eventually come to pass, which means that Merlin's wait will not be in vain - however long it may be.
  • Most episodes of Miami Vice tend to be like this or a Downer Ending. This was one of the first cop shows where the good guys didn't always win, or if they did there was a high price to pay.
  • Midnight Mass (2021): Crocket Island is burnt to the ground and nearly everyone is killed. But Leeza and Warren manage to escape alive, and it's heavily implied by the fact that Leeza can no longer feel her legs (meaning that her magically healed spine has reverted) that the "Angel" didn't get out of the sun in time and is now destroyed, preventing the fate that befell the island from ever happening again... although Mike Flanagan deliberately left The Angel's fate ambiguous, to show that even if you drive it out of a community, the possibility of corruption and fanaticism never really goes away.
  • The second season of Mighty Med ends with Oliver's mom absorbing the power of the Arcturian and becoming a powerful supervillainess. On the plus side, Alan gets to meet his father (and grandfather), and Kaz and Oliver get powers too!
  • Mimpi Metropolitan: Alan and Prima (separately) get long-term jobs that they want, but they must leave their friends in the dorm, at least for months. Pipin gets the money she need to repair her family's house, but has to tearfully parts with Alan and realizes too late that Alan loves her. Bambang can't achieve his dream of getting a degree in Jakarta as his father's death force him to go back to Wonosari, but he has won Melani's heart and promises he will find another way to improve his village.
  • Every season/series of Misfits ends with this, usually with the fact that the misfits are still even alive being the sole sweet ending.
    • Series one ends with Curtis and Alisha happily together and both their distrustful antagonist and most dangerous foe dead. Nathan also finally discovers his power. Unfortunately, everyone believes he's dead, Simon has just killed the group's second probation worker, and Kelly's still grieving.
    • Series two ends horribly, with both Alisha's and Curtis's new lovers having died, Kelly and Nathan splitting up, and with all the misfits losing their powers and gaining new, lamer ones. However, Nathan, who's already flat broke, is in a cute relationship with a pregnant woman who's perfect for him. He then ends up in jail in Las Vegas. Simon's life, however, has made a turn for the better. He has a beautiful Italian girlfriend (Alisha) and owns his own flat
    • Series three ends with Alisha dead and Simon going back in time to save her (which will eventually lead to his own death, trapping him and her in a permanent time loop). Even Rudy states he doesn't know if he should feel happy that he's found love or sad that they'll both be trapped forever. Curtis replies "both", this being a Bittersweet Ending.
    • Midway through Series four, Curtis dies. The only woman Rudy's ever loved sacrifices herself for him. And basically, nothing has gone right for Finn. Alex has been stabbed in the lung, and Jess is worried about him. On the upside, Abbey seems to be getting some of her memory back and needing a new lung, Alex might get a superpower. Also, he got back his dick, which is a HUGE win.
  • Mouse (2021): Ba-reum dies, but Seo-joon is finally dead, Yo-han's name has been cleared, and Mu-chi, Bong-yi and Hong-ju can carry on with their lives.
  • My Cat from Hell's hour-long episode featuring Lux, the cat who was so aggressive that the owners had to call 911 when he attacked their seven-month-old child and trapped them in a room, resulted in him being rehomed (a rare outcome for the show). It turned out that Lux, an otherwise calm cat, had a condition causing him to feel pain on random occasions, triggering his violent behavior. Both Lux's owners and Jackson agreed that rehoming was the best choice for Lux and the family. The ending is "sweeter" for Lux in light of the owners' admission that they'd allowed their child to play rough with the cat, the husband had, in fact, kicked him, and allegations of neglect/abuse. The family later tried to get him back but were blocked.
  • My Country: The New Age: Hwi and Seon-ho both die, but Hui-jae and Hwi's friends survive and can live in peace.

    P 
  • Party of Five: ends with the four siblings parting and going off to live their own lives, realising that they won't be as close as they were before. Nonetheless they resolve to stay in touch and always visit.
  • The Patient: Sam murders Doctor Strauss, but makes sure his family find the body so they can perform the Jewish funeral rites and that his estranged son gets a letter that Strauss wrote apologising for what happened between them and assuring his son that he loved him. He also voluntarily imprisons himself in the same basement he kept Doctor Strauss in to make sure he can never kill again.
  • Person of Interest: Samaritan is defeated and Finch reunites with Grace, but two of Team Machine are dead. The existence of a second team, revealed in the third last episode, means The Machine's work can continue with or without the remaining original team members.
  • Power Rangers:
    • Power Rangers in Space: The Rangers fail. Push comes to shove, the United Alliance of Evil attacks in full force, and the Rangers lose. Good triumphs, yes, but only because The Dragon stabbed the Big Bad in the back with a planetbuster missile, and the father figure Zordon kills himself to cause a Deus ex Machina and take out the army. The enemy may have fallen, but the Rangers failed, Zordon died to make up for it, and they know it.
    • Power Rangers Time Force, being the adaption of the aforementioned Timeranger also contained the future Rangers returning home. But at least Eric, Naoto's counterpart, doesn't bite it as he did.
    • Power Rangers Wild Force: The day is saved, but Princess Shayla and the Wild Zords return to the Animarium, having to say goodbye to the team. It's even worse for poor Merrick, as Shayla was his girlfriend. And unlike in Gaoranger, they all never got to reunite again, except for Max and Danny, but that's only because the two went off going around the world together.
    • Power Rangers RPM: The Rangers beat Venjix or so they think, and the Robot War is finally over, with humanity having won. Except... now the Rangers have to go back to their ordinary lives, something that they don't want to do. Oh yeah, and there's still that "most of humanity is dead, and the entire planet outside Corinth is a mildly radioactive wasteland with the entire ecosystem gone" problem. It's shown that the ecosystem is likely to recover.note  After 16 years of this show, the most dangerous villain in the entire series may have gotten away with no one realizing it. 16 years. The show that began with a Sealed Evil in a Can leaves us right where we started at the end... but this time, as stated before, most of the global population is dead.
    • Power Rangers Samurai: Big Bad Xandred has fallen, but it's quite possible that the Nighlok might indeed return. In addition, the sympathetic Dayu and Deker are dead, and the team (including Jayden's estranged older sister) dissolves.
    • Power Rangers Cosmic Fury: Zayto ends up Ascending to a Higher Plane of Existence at the end of the season as a Morphin Master, but unfortunately this means he can never see his friends again. Still, Zayto saved them all from certain destruction, and from there, the team saved the universe, strengthened their bonds, and even gave Lord Zedd a chance to redeem himself. And if any indication can be gained with Billy learning Zordon is possibly alive in the finale (reigniting the hope he lost from the incident he had in Once and Always), the Cosmic Fury Rangers will soon find themselves on another adventure together.
  • Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The senshi and Earth are revived, albeit without their powers and the Shittenou stay dead. All the girls' love for Usagi allows them to revive her in turn, as a normal girl. She marries Mamoru after transforming one last time to save the world from Mio and is fine with moving on from the trauma. Makoto, unlike every other adaptation, gets a boyfriend and fiance in Motoki, who loves her. Ami becomes a successful doctor, Rei finds friends, and Minako revives her singing career, fighting her terminal illness successfully. The only sour part is the Shittenou have to bid goodbye to Mamoru while promising they will always watch over him.
  • The Prisoner (2009): 2 uses 6's nobility and selfless humanity against him in the finale. In the real world, Dr. Curtis (2) had brought Michael (6) into The Village with the express purpose of training him as his replacement. After mentally breaking 6, 2 publicly announces that 6 is the only person capable of stopping The Village from collapsing. 6 agrees to become the new Dreamer, but 313 intervenes and takes the position instead, allowing 2 and his wife to go free and wake up from The Village. In her new dream state, 313 sheds tears for 6's new indefinite imprisonment as 6 begins imagining a new and better Village.
  • Psych Several episodes end this way, specifically the episodes with the Yin/Yang killers
    • "An Evening With Mr. Yang" Shawn manages to save his mother and aid in capturing Yang and even gets the girl (former high school sweetheart, Abigail) only to finally have his love interest, Juliet O'Hara, ask him out. He turns her down as he was on a date with Abigail at the time.
    • "Mr. Yin Presents" While victims are rescued, the characters also have to deal with the death of a recurring character and Shawn is dumped by Abigail.

    Q 
  • Quantum Leap: Five words: "Sam Beckett never returned home." The "sweet" part comes from Al being a happily-married man, and from Sam doing what he subconsciously wanted to do all along. The "bitter" part involves Al never meeting Sam, and Sam's wife never getting her husband back.
  • Queen for Seven Days: Chae-gyeong decides not to come back to the palace. She and Lee Yeok write to each other and send gifts, but they only meet again in person shortly before Lee Yeok's death.

    R 
  • The Rise of Phoenixes: Zhi Wei is dead and Ning Yi is left alone, but Ning Yi promises to be a good emperor and to never be corrupt or tyrannical.
  • The Rising: Neve finds her murderer, who's killed by the ghost of his other female victim, so he can't murder anyone else. She has to move on into the afterlife, with her loved ones left behind, though not without hope that they'll be together again someday.
  • Rome has this in spades at the end of the second season, which is admittedly a step up from the full-on Downer Ending in the first season. Octavian is finally in power, the wars are at an end, Pullo is reunited with his son and life on the Aventine appears to be stabilizing...but Lucius Vorenus is dead. Word of God has it that Pullo was lying and Vorenus lives, or will if the movie is made.
  • The ending of Runaway. Sean is reunited with his family which despite still being broken, he knows it is where he belongs. And thanks to Gary (his mother's boyfriend) the boy who bullies him at school won't be bothering him anymore. However, Molly is still out on the streets alone, her dreams of finding her home and family completely destroyed.

    S 
  • Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas ends with Zack and Kelly getting married but, as Slater says, it's the end of an era.
  • Scenes from a Marriage (2021): Jonathan and Mira get divorced and are perfectly amicable towards each other, and their daughter seems to be fine, but will most likely spend the rest of their lives pining after each other with the knowledge that they're still deeply in love.
  • Schitt's Creek:
    • Even though they love each other deeply, Ted and Alexis realize their lives are taking them in different directions and break up.
    • All of the Roses get happy endings and new opportunities, but this means they move out of the motel and will no longer see each other every day. Moira and Johnny move to LA, Alexis intends to move to New York and David stays in the town with his husband and best friend. They will still see each other and stay in contact and even work together but it won't be the same.
  • Search: Jun-seong, Min-gyu, Min-guk, Baek-jun, and Ye-rim's parents are all dead and Mun-cheol is seriously injured. But Lee Hyeok is missing presumed dead and his crimes have been exposed, Min-guk's reputation is posthumously restored, Ye-rim has learnt the truth about her parents, and Dong-jin has been discharged and adopted Mac.
  • The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Let's just say Amy and Ricky never got together, and she leaves both her son, Ricky and her family behind to pursue her "dream" in New York in the final episode. The last scene of that episode? Ricky reading to John a story and the last words for that finale were “And she lived happily ever after. And so will we.” What the Hell, Hero?
    • Thankfully series creator Brenda Hampton did soften the blow after she mentioned a What Could Have Been post series for the characters in an interview with MTV here.
  • Sesame Street: One episode ends with Gabi happy, but still sick on her birthday.
  • Seven Star Fighting God Guyferd: Guyferd and his brother defeat the Big Bad, only to find his plan to kill everyone with a Doomsday Device is still in motion. They succeed in stopping the device, but aren't shown getting out alive, leaving their friends to mourn the fact that they very likely died.
  • Skins did this with the Skins: Fire arc of its final series. Effy is sent to jail for insider trading, though she got a reduced sentence by striking a plea deal to inform on her boss, and her smile indicates that she will be okay in the end. Naomi is dying from terminal cancer, but at least she reconciled with Emily and can die peacefully with Emily beside her.
  • Spider-Man (Japan): There were a lot of episodes that ended with someone dying directly or indirectly because of the Iron Cross Army's actions in spite of Takuya Yamashiro's heroics as Spider-Man, Takuya resolving that the tragic loss is another victim of the Iron Cross Army he'll have to avenge. One of the most tearjerkingest examples was the 21st episode, where a boy who's painting has been accepted in an American art gallery is discovered to have a father working for Interpol who left him to be raised by his uncle and aunt because he discovered a secret base of the Iron Cross Army and saw a chance to avenge his wife's death at the Iron Cross Army's hands. In spite of Takuya's best efforts to get the man to reunite with his son before he leaves Japan, the man ends up succumbing to mortal wounds the Iron Cross Army inflicted on him.
  • Squid Game: Gi-hun wins the games and 45.6 billion won cash prize, but loses all of the friends he made there and as a result becomes thoroughly broken by the whole experience. He is also too late to save his mother from succumbing to diabetes, despite saving her being the only reason he reentered the games in the first place. Gi-hun spends the next year as a wreck of a man, unwilling to use the money to improve his life, and nearly commits suicide until a sudden revelation makes him decide to turn his life around and fulfill a promise he made to his dead friends — by taking care of their families. Upon learning that the games are still being held, he also decides that he will turn the tables on their creators.
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • One episode had the heroes manages to free a group of Unas from slavery, only to realize that they have inadvertently started a civil war.
    • The end of Season 5 was very bad. Yes, the Kelownans have been saved, Daniel has ascended and is still sort of "around" (the broken ventilation shaft), Jonas has been granted asylum at the SGC, and SG-1 is starting to move on after Daniel's "death", but at the same time the Kelownans are probably going to go do exactly what Daniel just saved them from, Jonas can never go home (as far as we know), and Daniel's still gone.
    • The Season 4 episode "Serpent's Venom". In that episode, while Teal'c manages to escape a Goa'uld ship he was held captive on (as well as convincing a Mook to defect) the plan to start an Enemy Civil War fails spectacularly and instead of having the two biggest System Lords engage in a costly war, the Big Bad Apophis kills the biggest obstacle to his conquest of the Goa'uld System Lords and absorbs his forces, becoming a bigger threat than ever thanks to SG-1.
  • Star Trek:
    • Star Trek: The Original Series has "Who Mourns for Adonais?". After keeping the Enterprise crew trapped on his planet, insisting he be worshipped, Apollo realizes that his late cohorts (the other Greek gods) were right in that "There is no room for Gods" in the 23rd century. Thus, the last of the Olympian gods dissipates himself, joining his old comrades in oblivion. Kirk and company, while having saved themselves from Apollo's clutches and regained their autonomy, come to regret it, noting that the Greek gods inspired much of the culture, narrative traditions, and philosophy that still live on. Kirk muses about if it would have hurt just a little to "gather a few more laurel leaves?"
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
      • "Legacy" ends with Ishara Yar's betrayal of the Enterprise crew to the Coalition, despite their initial welcoming attitude towards her based on the fact that she was the sister of the late beloved Tasha Yar. Although she feels remorse, there is little chance of reconciliation and Data realizes that he has discovered a new emotion: betrayal.
      • At the end of "Disaster", the disaster is over, but Picard mentions that it's taking a long time for things to return to normal.
      • "Hero Worship" ends with the boy whose parents died no longer in denial, but still in what Deanna Troi calls "a lot of pain".
      • "The Chase" has the Enterprise compete with the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans in search of an ancient treasure — which they discover to be a message detailing the origins of all their species' existence in the galaxya primordial race that traveled into space and discovered they were alone decided to create more, seeded across many planets. They did this in hopes that their "children" would all one day come together and see they were not alone, as they had been. The Cardassians and Klingons don't appreciate the sentiment, and both leave furious at this "worthless" treasure. However, Picard feels the journey was worthwhile, and in the end, the Romulan Commander of all people relates to Picard's feelings. The two share a brief but meaningful goodbye, suggesting that "one day" the future their creators wished for might be so. The episode ends with one of the first glimpses of a far-off, but possible, peace between Romulus and the Federation.
      • "Thine Own Self" involves an amnesiac Data being lost on a pre-first contact planet. He befriends a family with a young girl, who names him Jayden. He's eventually murdered by the townspeople who suspect him of causing a plague (they're half right; the "plague" is radiation sickness, caused by the container of material Data brought to town, not knowing of its danger). The crew eventually arrives and finds where he's "buried", Data gets to go home and has his memories restored. However, he has forgotten everything that happened, including the family who helped him, and Gia will never know he survived. The B Plot also has a bittersweet tone as Deanna Troi studied to obtain the rank of Commander — but to do so has to send a holographic version of her own crew to their death, something she now knows she may have to do while holding that Rank. This is a massive shift for Deanna, but as the well-known Star Trek phrase goes: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."
      • "Brothers" — Willie Potts hasn't fully recovered from his parasitic infection, Lore escaped, Data is in two minds about whether to forgive him, and Dr. Soong is dead. On the plus side, however, Data is saved, Willie is no longer in any danger of dying, and he has forgiven his brother.
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
      • At the end of "Babel", the replicators are still broken, and Sisko describes things as "slowly" returning to normal, but at least the virus has been cured.
      • "Hard Time" ends with O'Brien no longer suicidal and convinced that he's not a bad person for killing his simulated cellmate, but he will apparently take an entire month to recover from the experience.
      • The episode "The Quickening" certainly qualifies. Dr. Bashir encounters a planet whose population has been infected by the terminal "Quickening" virus and figures that his fancy equipment and magic potions will cure everyone in time for dinner. Unfortunately, not only do his potions not work on anyone, but his equipment starts making everyone die faster. Bashir is utterly heartbroken — and then a dying woman whom he had been caring for has given birth to a child free of the virus. This gives Bashir and the people a ray of hope — he can't cure the people infected with the virus, but he can spare the next generation from its curse.
      • Pretty much everything about the finale is a bittersweet ending. The Dominion has been stopped, freeing the Gamma Quadrant and saving the Alpha Quadrant, but at the cost of billions of lives. The episode starts starts with the Federation officers most involved in the Dominion War refusing to toast their victory with General Martok, thanks to the loss of lives on both sides. It ends with most of the characters separated to start new lives and one of them dead (sort of). Even the Cardassians get a bittersweet ending, Garak in particular. While Garak is happy that Cardassia is now free of Dominion rule (and that he can return home), he notes that it had been devastated from the war, twisted under its occupation, and further ruined by the attempted genocide of its people. When Bashir tries to cheer him up by saying that they will rebuild, Garak angrily responds that of course they will rebuild, but not as the Cardassia he knew. He succeeded at freeing Cardassia and going home, but the home that he was banished from no longer existed. Odo gets to save his people and reunite with them showing a better way but has to put his relationship with Kira on hold. Sisko joins the prophets but is guaranteed to return, and while the Federation staff move on, they leave the station and Bajor in better hands and with a bright future.
    • Star Trek: Voyager:
      • "Prototype" — B'Elanna is rescued, but the robot war hasn't ended, yet the robots still can't reproduce so it'll have to end eventually one way or another. She's also sad at having to destroy her own creation, but it was for the greater good, since building another robot would have given the robots the ability to reproduce.
      • "Tuvix" — Tuvix is turned back into Tuvok and Neelix, but he didn't want to "die", so Janeway had to do it against his will, making her guilty.
      • "Coda" — Janeway is safe, but she fears that the alien who attacked her might be worse than it seems.
      • "False Profits" — The Voyager crew fail at getting back home through the wormhole, but they improved the aliens' lives.
      • "Remember" — B'Elanna learns an ugly truth about Enaran history, but the Voyager crew doesn't have the time to actually investigate into it. That said, she does pass the memories onto Jessen, offering hope of the Enarans learning the truth.
      • "The Omega Directive" — The dangerous substance is destroyed, but this saddens Seven of Nine, who sees the dangerous substance as "perfection".
      • "Living Witness" — As revealed by a Time Skip, Voyager has become vindicated and the Kyrians and Vaskans have finally found peace. However, Quarren only lived six more years and barely lived to see the results of his actions.
      • "Hope and Fear" — The Voyager crew are able to get home faster, but also have to deal with the fact that they also helped the Borg by accident, and Arturis allows himself to be assimilated rather than help rebuild his homeworld.
      • "The Gift" — Kes leaves the ship, but pushes it closer towards home.
      • "Counterpoint" — Janeway's crush turns out to be a False Defector but she wins the battle of wits against him.
      • "Bliss" — The Voyager crew is safe, but they got their hopes taken from them, and Qatai is still stuck in the "pitcher plant" alien and we don't know whether it'll kill him or not.
      • "The Disease" — The Varro's Generation Ship separates after years together, and Harry is still sickly and refusing to take his medicine, preferring to just wait, but the dissidents get to be happy in their own system.
      • "Timeline" — Voyager is still in the Delta Quadrant and the "Quantum Slipstream Drive" (the latest going-home attempt) was a bust, but they're ten years closer to home.
      • "Collective" — Most of the Borg children are safe and sound, but one of them, "First", dies.
      • "Survival Instinct" — The three ex-Borgs are no longer psychically connected, but they will die within months.
      • "Riddles" — Tuvok is back to normal... but this means he's back to being grumpy, though he does make one last joke.
      • "Dragon's Teeth" — Voyager survives, but the main villains, the Vaadwuar, get away.
      • "Human Error" — The EMH offers to remove the implant that makes Seven of Nine incapable of falling in love, but she declines.
      • "Critical Care" — The EMH is wracked with guilt over having poisoned a man, but it was non-fatal and he did it to give the man A Taste Of His Own Medicine for being an abusive doctor, and it worked.
    • Star Trek: Enterprise:
      • "Fight or Flight" ends with Hoshi deciding to stay on Enterprise and no longer feeling down on herself, but she has to leave her pet slug-like alien, Sluggo, on another planet since there isn't enough argon to sustain it on the Enterprise.
      • At the end of "Shadows of P'Jem", T'Pol is injured and confined to sickbay for the day, but at least she's not going to have to leave Enterprise. Similarly, "Impulse" ends with T'Pol's insanity cured, but she's still recovering in sickbay.
      • At the end of "Fusion", T'Pol still has a possibly lethal disease, while Yuris, who tried to help her, is suspended from the High Command. However, Phlox is still trying to find a cure and T'Pol is still trying to help Yuris and others in his situation.
      • "The Seventh" ends with T'Pol still processing her guilt for wrongly executing Jossen, but the mission resolved.
      • "The Communicator" ends with the Enterprise crew having failed to prevent cultural contamination, but at the same time, having successfully retrieved their lost technology, and T'Pol being proud at Archer's noble act.
      • The end of "First Flight" sees Archer still grieving his old friend A.G. Robinson, but he and T'Pol have succeeded in their mission to excite dark matter, revealing a nebula.
      • "Similitude" ends with Trip's injuries being treated and the ship's damaged systems being fixed, but Trip's clone, Sim, who was created solely to heal Trip, dies in essentially a self-sacrifice.
      • At the end of "The Augments", all of the Augments are dead, but on the other hand, they were going to illegally create more Augments, which risked starting another Eugenics War. Soong is sad that they died, but he decides to take up cybernetics, which will eventually lead to the creation of Data.
      • In "Daedalus", Emery Erickson fails his goal of saving his son, but he's at least happy that the son got to die properly rather than be stuck in limbo.
      • In "The Aenar", Gareb dies despite everyone's best efforts, Shran anticipates punishment, and Trip transfers to another ship in a fit of guilt. On the plus side, however, Jhamel and T'Pol have recovered from their injuries, and the drone ships that were the main threat of the episode have been destroyed.
      • At the end of "Terra Prime", the conference that will eventually lead to the establishment of the Federation is formed, but on the other hand, Elizabeth, the alien hybrid baby, dies.
      • The series ends with the knowledge that the Enterprise NX-01's mission was a resounding success, Captain Archer is virtually guaranteed promotion to Admiral, and the Coalition of Planets is about to become official. But with all that, Archer has still lost his best buddy, Trip, and the Enterprise is still going to be decommissioned, ending the era for the ship his father built. Archer is still going to lose his prized beagle in one of the timelines. It's likely not Porthos, but still... Fan backlash to the finale was so strong that there are canonical implications in books that the holographic log Riker is watching is not historically accurate, but a cover story for a secret mission. In that version, Trip survives.
    • One episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ends with an Gorn infestation stopped, but Hemmer sacrifices himself to save his crewmates, Spock is left still angry and unable to suppress it, and Uhura is further left at a loss of a dear friend, though set on the path to the communications officer she will become.
    • Star Trek: Picard is definitely more sweet than bitter, but in the final act of the Borg Collective, they managed to assimilate the entirety of Starfleet and nearly destroy Earth while traumatizing thousands of young officer in the process. However, it's thanks to the crew of the Enterprise-D— the old girl herself having been lovingly restored back to her former glory thanks to Geordi— that the Borg are wiped out for good, and their Changeling allies are exposed and arrested. Picard and his old crew are hailed as heroes, Data is brought back from the dead and is made effectively as human as possible, Geordi is able to save his daughters, Riker and Troi strengthen their marriage, Worf is able to help Raffi reconcile with her family by leaking her service record, and Picard and Crusher rescue their son, who is now able to appreciate his father for the man he is. What's more, the Enterprise-D is placed on display at the Fleet Museum to be forever preserved for posterity, and the Titan-A is rewarded for her service to Starfleet by being renamed the Enterprise-G, with Seven of Nine being made its Captain and Raffi its First Officer. Now, the Trek franchise has entered into a bold new era, free from the nightmares of the Borg and the Dominion War. However, Jack Crusher finds one nightmare from his father's era isn't over yet as Q arrives to inform him that his own trial is just beginning...
  • Stranger Things:
    • Season 1. The Demogorgon is dead; it seemed to take Eleven with it, but she's implied to be alive, since Hopper was bringing Eggos to a dead drop in the woods. Nancy chose Steve over Jonathan, but they're all friends. Will is safe, but the monster did something to him so that he's vomiting slugs and having visions of the Upside Down. Hopper exposed the Hawkins "Department of Energy" research to the public, but appears to have made a deal with some Men in Black. Also, Mike succeeded in saving Will, but Nancy was too late for Barbara.
    • Season 2 ends on a happier note, but with too much loss to be considered a Happy Ending. On the plus side: Will is freed of the Mind Flayer's influence, and Eleven is able to close the Gate between Hawkins and the Upside Down. Nancy was able to reveal the Lab's role in Barbara's death, if not the exact circumstances; forcing the government to shut down the lab and the experiments, and allowing the Hollands some closure. Max is able to stand up to Billy, gets accepted into the group, and undergoes a Relationship Upgrade with Lucas, which Dustin accepts, while Nancy and Jonathan are happy together with Steve's acceptance. Dr. Owens provides a fake birth certificate to Hopper claiming Eleven is his daughter "Jane Hopper," allowing Eleven a chance to have a normal life and be with Mike. On the down side, Bob and a lot of (mostly) innocent people died at the Lab when the "Demodogs" overran the building. Also, Eight is still out there and wants revenge for what happened to her. Worst of all, while now trapped in the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer is still alive, and the closing shot of "The Gate" makes it clear that it wants revenge on the kids for thwarting its plans to invade our dimension.
    • Season 3's ending definitely qualifies. On the bright side, the Mind Flayer has been defeated once more, the Soviet plot to open up the Gate underneath Starcourt has been foiled, Mike and Eleven have mended their relationship, admitting they love each other, and all of the Party's somewhat strained friendships have been repaired. On the more bitter side, Billy and some other 30 people are dead, Hopper is gone, and Eleven has lost her powers. The Byers family moves out of Hawkins, taking Eleven with them. Even The Stinger is a mixed bag, with a hint of possibility at Hopper's survival as a prisoner in the Soviet Union (later confirmed), but also confirmation that the Soviets have succeeded in capturing a live Demogorgon, not considering the implications that the Soviets have successfully opened the Gate once to do so.
  • Supernatural:
    • The second season ends with John being released from hell and they finally kill the demon that started all the trouble. But Dean is going to hell, Sam may be negatively affected by his resurrection, and there are now over 200 demons to deal with.
    • The fifth season takes Bittersweet Ending even further. Sam, holding Lucifer inside him, drags the Archangel Michael with him into Lucifer's prison, sacrificing himself to seal the two and prevent Armageddon. Dean goes to live with Lisa and Ben, Castiel takes over Heaven..and we see Sam watching Lisa's house at the very end...
    • The final episode of the series is also one of these, considering it is a Deadly Distant Finale.
  • Super Sentai, like it's sibling series Kamen Rider, loves to use these in its Darker and Edgier seasons (and occasionally, the Lighter and Softer ones as well):
    • Denshi Sentai Denziman - The Denziman have defeated the Vader Clan. However, the Team Pet, Denji Dog IC, sacrificed his life to help the Denziman defeat them. What's worse is that Queen Hedrian is still alive, which sets up the events for the next Super Sentai series.
    • Choushinsei Flashman - The Flashmen have ended Mess' reign of terror, and Sara finds her real family. However, they have to leave Earth and return to the Flash solar system or risk losing their lives to the Anti-Flash Phenomenon.
    • Hikari Sentai Maskman - Peace has been restored to the earth, but Takeru and Mio/Iyal cannot be together because she has become the queen of Tube and is forbidden to have a relationship with a human.
    • Choujuu Sentai Liveman- Sure they saved the Earth from the Great Professor Bias, and all of the Livemen survived and are free to return to their families and lives but nobody feels really happy about it. Despite wanting to save the Volt generals, all of them die except for Gou, the whole scheme ended up just being a selfish way for Bias to prolong his life so everything they all believed in was a lie, Bias himself dies pathetically having rejected the chance to use his science for good and as they watch Gash's memories which are nothing but violence between the two sides the Livemen can only lament the pointlessness of all of it before walking away. We've yet to see Megumi, Tetsuya, or Jun'ichi since (outside of in costume for some Crossover films), but in Gaoranger VS Super Sentai Yuusuke is still mourning everyone and rather morose over 10 years later, and over 20 years later in Gokaiger, Jou isn't much happier himself so it doesn't seem like the events of the show are something they'll get over any time soon.
    • Choujin Sentai Jetman - In a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, Gai is a successful businessman, Raita is happily married, Ako has achieved her dream of becoming an Idol Singer and the characters go to the wedding of Ryuu and Kaori. Everyone's happy - and then Gai is knifed by a bandit on his way to the ceremony. He does make it in time to see his friends but collapses and presumably dies. Fan opinion is divided on whether or not he's really dead but a tie-in manga sequel and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger both confirmed that Toei does consider Gai dead.
    • Gekisou Sentai Carranger - The team has defeated the Big Bad, and the rest of the Bowzock have reformed. However, Zonnette/Vanity-Mirror Fanbelt, Kyosuke/RedRacer's girlfriend must return to her homeworld (a nod to the aforementioned Maskman), as well as Signalman and Dappu.
    • Mirai Sentai Timeranger - Naoto/TimeFire is killed. Eventually, Tatsuya decides he must send the other Rangers back to the year 3000, forever separating him from his friends and his love Yuuri. When they return, they find that the events of the show have altered their timelines: Yuuri's family are still alive, Domon's ban from the ring became a one-year suspension which is now over, and a cure has been found for Ayase's terminal illness. However, nothing has changed for Sion, whose planet is still destroyed. Adding insult to injury that even though Tatsuya promised that they will be all together again someday (as he said in the ending credits in the finale), it never comes to pass, esp. that there was no Gaoranger VS Timeranger at all, and even proved in the Timeranger tribute in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger where Domon can't even go back in time to visit Honami and their son Mirai.
    • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger - Mikoto Nakadai/AbareKiller is dead; the Bakuryuu, Asuka and Mahoro return to Dino Earth, vowing that they will name their new baby after the deceased Nakadai and everyone tearfully bids goodbye to their friends. Sometime later, there is a reunion of the show's True Companions, with the missing Mikoto, Rijewel, Asuka, and Mahoro replaced by identical-looking customers who just happen to wander into Dino Curry at the right moment.
    • Juken Sentai Gekiranger - Rio finally admits that he loves Mele, just as the two are killed. Long has been sealed away, but that's the best our heroes can do - he can't truly be destroyed. Jan returns to Walking the Earth to teach children the ways of Juken. While in Hong Kong, he meets a young boy whom he recognizes to be a reincarnation of Rio, and promises him they'll have a rematch someday.
    • Tensou Sentai Goseiger - The Goseigers obtain permission to stay on earth and follow their dreams there, but Nozomu is heartbroken when he discovers they will be leaving him. Alata reassures him they will be friends forever, and that the Gosei Angels will be watching over him. Sometime later, Nozomu is looking at the apple seeds he planted with Alata when a white feather lands upon him, showing that Alata is looking out for him after all.
    • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters - Beet Buster has been sacrificed to remove the Messiah card from Hiromu, but everyone else survives and J is learning to live without his partner.
    • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger - Yes, the Deboss has been defeated once again, but now Torin, Ramirez, and Tessai are dead/gone for good, with Candelia and Luckyuro taking Torin's place as the new mentors of the future Kyoryuger team that shows up 100 years later.
    • Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger:
      • In season two, the three Akibarangers have been killed (due to a final battle they forgot that would happen after they beat Prism Ace). However, at the end of the final clip show/recap episode, they appear as spirits along with other dead Sentai warriors; and state that one day the scriptwriters may find a way to bring them back.
      • Episode five of the first season also has a Bittersweet Ending. In the episode, the Akibarangers meet Yumeria's mother (who is basically an older version of her daughter) and warm to her instantly and she even fights alongside them. At the end of the episode, they discover that she had died some time ago and is another of Yumeria's delusions. The only reason it didn't end so sad was because of a sudden cake accident at the end that was Played for Laughs (Complete with it ending on a frame freeze before the cake ends up on Yumeria's face).

    T 
  • Ted Lasso: The series ends with Ted leaving AFC Richmond and returning to America. Ted has overcome his anxiety problems, Richmond have gone from a byword for mediocrity to second place in the Premiere League, he's reunited with his son and a montage shows that everyone he interacted with over the last three years have become better people living happier and more fulfilling lives. At the same time; his best friend chooses to remain in England, his marriage has failed and he has left behind all the relationships he forged in England.
  • The Thorn Birds: Justine and Meggie have finally reconciled, as have Meggie and her mother Fee. Justine and her lover Rainer have also reconciled and are leaving Australia to start their life together. But Father Ralph dies in Meggie's arms, forever remorseful that he never had a proper relationship with her or their son (who also died recently without ever knowing Ralph was his father).
  • The ending of Torchwood: Children of Earth. The 456 have been defeated, the Prime Minister's role is about to be exposed and Gwen and Rhys are expecting a baby. But Captain Jack's grandson and Ianto are now dead, his daughter wants nothing more to do with him and at the end, he decides to leave Earth.
  • Travelers: At the end of the finale, MacLaren jumps back in time to the day Original!MacLaren met his wife in order to prevent the Traveler program, and thus the events of the entire show, from ever taking place. In doing so, he overwrites (read: kills) Original!MacLaren 17 years before he was supposed to die, erases his marriage to Kat from existence, and in all likelihood condemns the original Carly, Philip, and Trevor to their historical deaths. On top of all that, Traveler!MacLaren then allows himself to die in the World Trade Center attacks. However, he manages to prevent the Traveler program from making the future worse than it already was, possibly averts the Helios asteroid strike, and gives Original!Marcy the chance at a normal, happy life.
  • The Twilight Zone (1959): In "Back There", Peter Corrigan was never able to stop Abraham Lincoln's assassination, but his actions resulted in the cop who believed him becoming a millionaire, and his descendant William (who in the original timeline was an attendant at a club) inheriting his fortune.
  • Two Sentence Horror Stories: In "Squirm" Keisha gets her revenge, preventing Doug from harassing any of his other female employees, but only after weeks of mental torture from him. She also possibly loses Sanjay as a friend after she lashed out at him physically, wrongly believing he was behind her torment.

    U 
  • Ultra Series:
    • Ultraman Leo: All of MAC are gone thanks to Silver Bloome. However, Ultraseven is still alive. Leo manages to defeat all of Commander Black's Saucer Monsters and the children who witnessed Leo's battle against Black End put the invader down once and for all.
    • Ultraman Tiga: Gatanothor is defeated and humanity is saved. However, the Spark Lens dissipates into dust. But hey, Daigo finally gets to marry Rena in the end.
    • Ultraman Dyna: Dyna repels the Sphere's final invasion. Sadly, the battle came with a price: Asuka/Dyna get sucked into a wormhole, knowing the fact that he will no longer see his friends again... At least until Ultraman Saga when he does reunite with his teammates before leaving to travel other worlds.
    • Ultraman Nexus: Dark Zagi, the Unknown Hand and the mastermind of all the conflicts in the series, is defeated by Ultraman Noa. Thus, all remaining Space Beasts on Earth have been weakened and reduced to mindless monsters that the TLT must need to take care of. Komon manages to rescue Nagi from Zagi's trap. The other Deunamists, Himeya and Ren turn out alive, with the latter having cured of his terminal illness. Shiori herself is revealed to be alive after her supposed death at Ishibori's hands. The bitter part is that the people that Zagi have brainwashed to be his Dark Giants, Riko, Mizorogi, and Misawa, are dead.
    • Ultraman Mebius: With Alien Empera's defeat and all is said and done; Mirai leaves Earth, leaving the Earth's defense to GUYS, but not without a heartfelt sendoff from GUYS.
    • Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga: Carmeara/Megalothor is stopped, gets a sympathetic last moment with Trigger and the world is saved as is the Eternity Core without the need for Yuna having to sacrifice herself like her ancestor, Yuzare, did... Because Kengo is the one who sacrifices himself instead to save the universe from the Eternity Core's breakdown. While his sacrifice and heroism is well-remembered by the people of Earth months later, it's shown that his friends greatly miss him, especially Akito, who spent the series slowly warming up to him. Furthermore Ignis leaves Earth and his friends he made there to find a way to bring the Lishurians back while Darrgon (who had come to befriend the heroes and almost joined them before Carmeara forced the heroes to kill him) remains dead.
  • The Untamed: Nie Huaisang avenges his brother, Wei Wuxian is reunited with his adopted son, and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian briefly go their separate ways then meet again. But not only has Lan Xichen has lost both his closest friends, he learnt Jin Guangyao murdered Nie Mingjue then was tricked into killing Jin Guangyao. Jin Ling is now in charge of the Jin Sect while still just a teenager. And Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's friendship is still shattered, with little hope they'll ever reconcile.

    V 
  • Van Helsing (2016) ends this way, leaning more towards sweet than bitter. On the down side, Vanessa has gone into another coma to trap the Dark One in her body, and Ivory leaves Jack to hunt down other surviving Sisterhood members. On the much brighter side, however, all vampires appear to have been made human again, allowing society to safely rebuild; Olivia has been freed from centuries as the Dark One's host and is being helped to adjust by Jack and Violet; Ivory promises Jack she'll return; and Vanessa's mind is reunited in an apparent afterlife with her daughter Dylan and best friend Susan.
  • Vida: Season One ends with Eddy in a coma after being beaten unconscious by a thuggish bar patron, but it's implied that Emma and Lyn will go into business to keep the bar running without having to sell it. The final shot is of what appears to be Vidalia's spirit holding Eddy's hand.

    W 
  • Walker, Texas Ranger: "The Avenging Angel" in Season 9 ended this way at its best (a Downer Ending and Wham Episode at its worst). After the main villain of the episode is arrested for killing the titular wrestler and multiple counts of extortion, Walker and his companions receive devastating news: CD Parker has died and the ending is spent mourning his death and taking a Long Last Look at the Bar and Grill he was once the proud owner of, since it has to close down.
  • Wallenberg: A Hero's Story: The miniseries ends with the liberation of the ghetto and Wallenberg's arrest by the Soviets.
  • WandaVision: Wanda finally drops the Hex covering Westview, finally overcoming the grief that she dealt with. Agatha is forced to be a "noisy neighbor" thanks to Wanda and Hayward is arrested for his actions as Monica takes her first steps into superheroism. However, dropping the Hex meant that Wanda might have lost her family again for good, the citizens of Westview hate Wanda for what she did and both Wanda and Vision have disappeared with Wanda going into hiding and studying up the Darkhold book while Vision's whereabouts are unknown.
  • The second season of Waterloo Road. Every one of the villainous characters threatening the titular school has been dealt with. It remains open and not under the influence of Gerry Preston's Corrupt Church, and the people selling drugs outside the school have been arrested. Then right at the end, one of said drug dealers (out on bail) stabs a main character to death.
  • The seventh and final season of The West Wing ends with one. The sweet side: Matt Santos becomes the President. The bitter side: his running mate Leo McGarry died on the campaign trail.
  • When They See Us: The boys' names are ultimately cleared and they DO win their civil lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment, but only after they've served their sentences. The police officers who coerced their confessions and the prosecutors who railroaded them face no consequences for their actions and also refuse to admit that they screwed up.note  Lastly, while Reyes, who was the true perpetrator of the crime, admitted to it, it was only after the statute of limitations expired that he did, meaning that despite him being in prison, Reyes would never face proper justice for what he did. He at least is already serving life without parole for an unrelated murder, and so won't get out.
  • The White Lotus: Greg turns out to be plotting for Tanya to be murdered and he succeeds when she drowns after shooting Quentin and the guy hired to kill her. Albie helps Dominic reconcile with his mother even though it's unclear if he really abandoned his cheating tendencies. Ethan and Harper are better off in their sex life at the cost of their honesty and with the likelihood that they have cheated on each other with the Sullivans, who will go on with their Happy Marriage Charade. Mia lands a permanent position as a pianist at the resort, causing Giuseppe's resignation, and Lucia ends the season with €50,000 by exploiting Albie's naivety. Valentina manages to accept her own sexuality and become less of a bitter person.
  • Why Women Kill: Scooter and Bertram survive their wounds via Catherine, who ran off back to Texas with her father's fortune. But Rita gets murdered by Alma before Scooter can reconcile with her, Bertram commits suicide, Alma about gives up and let's the police arrest her, she is disgraced for her crimes, Scooter starts a new life being able to move on from Rita's tragic death and achieved popularity through his almost being framed by Alma, Dee and Vern now have a happy family life with a baby boy and Mrs. Yost's dog, and Alma loses her sanity imagining she is at a premiere of her own movie with adoring fans and not reporters and onlookers jeering at her as she is walked off to face a likely death sentence.
  • Without a Trace. Sometimes even finding the Victim of the Week alive isn't good enough:
    • In "Snatch Back", the child is rescued, but the Tragic Villain who took her—she was a disturbed woman desperate to replace the child she miscarried—kills herself.
    • "Maple Street". Two girls are abducted. One is found alive, but the other has been murdered.
    • "The Source". The Victim of the Week, a friend of one of the agents, is dead, (and her body has yet to be found) but thanks to her work, several bad guys are going to prison, while an innocent man will be freed.
  • Wizards of Waverly Place: "Wizards vs. Werewolves" ends with Mason being turned into a full wolf, Juliet becoming an old woman after losing her vampire powers, and Alex and Justin mourning over the loss of their loved ones. While some were unhappy with Juliet's death, most found this to be a satisfying ending that allowed them to go back to the more family-oriented storylines. At least for a little while.
  • The Wonder Years: Life goes on for Kevin Arnold after graduating high school, and the off-screen narrator (an adult Kevin voiced by David Stern) reveals that Kevin becomes a writer, Paul goes to Harvard and Wayne takes over the family business. However, it's also revealed that Kevin's father Jack dies not too much later and that Kevin and longtime love Winnie Cooper do not end up together in the end, Kevin having married someone else, but they stayed friends.

    X 
  • The X-Files certainly ends on a bittersweet note; Mulder and Scully, who had been separated for over a year, are reunited, but at a cost. Mulder only escapes execution by breaking out of jail (with help of his superiors), but he and Scully are fugitives from the law. On top of that, Mulder finally learns the depressing truth (the conspiracy is still very active and they've just learned that the aliens have plans for a massive invasion in 2012 leaving Mulder with a devastating feeling of defeat hanging over him). The long-anticipated child born to the couple at the end of the previous season was given up for adoption for his own safety. The upside? He and Scully have each other, she tells him she knows he will never give up and makes him feel that his pursuits were worthwhile because he opened her eyes and made her a believer. Mulder's last words to close out the show: "Maybe there's hope."


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