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Due To The Dead / Live-Action TV

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Examples of Due to the Dead in Live-Action TV series.

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  • Andor: The people of Ferrix have a tradition of baking the cremains of their honored dead into bricks which are stamped with their name and put in a public wall. Prominent citizens also get a funeral parade, which the Empire tries to deny for Maarva Andor's funeral. The people go against the Imperial edicts to do the funeral their way despite the almost unavoidable deadly violence the Empire will retaliate with.
  • On at least two occasions in Angel a dead character has to be dismembered by a loved one (Holtz by Connor, and Lilah by Wesley) due to the (incorrect) belief that they were killed by vampires.
  • Ash vs. Evil Dead:
    • In "Bait", after killing Kelly's Deadite-possessed parents, Ash takes the time to give them both a proper burial. Unfortunately, he makes them cross-shaped grave markers, and they're Jewish.
    • In "The Host", after Pablo's uncle is killed by Eligos, Ash and the gang make him a funeral pyre.
  • Babylon 5
    • One episode shows the bodies of those killed in an attack being fired into the system's sun while Commander Ivanova read off the names of the dead. Once the list is finished, she recites, "From the stars we came, to the stars we return. We hereby commit these souls to the deep." Starfuries escort the bodies for a time before one flies off to make a Missing Man formation.
    • Later, Vorlon ambassador Kosh is killed by the Shadows, and his living ship does something similar: after receiving its late master's effects, and unable to continue without him, it commits the remains and itself into the system's sun.
  • The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica showed several funerals now and then. Since they are a Fleet, they did burial at space, complete with flags and medals if the dead were soldiers/crewmembers. Regular burials were also shown over the course of the series though.
    • Cylons also have funerals for one of their own that died permanently. It becomes distressingly common after the destruction of the resurrection hub. The fact that the "infinity" symbol is used in Cylon funerals sparked some Epileptic Trees after it was shown in Caprica that a monotheist group closely connected to the creation of Cylons also used the same symbol.
    • One of the moments near the final episodes was a large funeral attended by the three main groups of the Fleet (the polytheists, the human monotheists and the Cylon monotheists) which showed (and contrasted) each groups practice.
  • Bones: Dr. Brennan sees it as her moral obligation to give the murder victims she analyzes a face and name, and to assist in the detainment of their murderers. She notably gets very distressed when she can't ID a victim, or if she doesn't determine the perpetrator as quickly as she thinks she should. This is also why serial killers are her Berserk Button: they either construe their actions as acceptable or simply take joy in killing others.
  • CSI: NY has quite a number of examples:
    • "Officer Blue": Stella and Mac are seen wearing their dress uniforms, having just returned from the memorial service for a mounted officer who was shot in Central Park.
    • "Heroes": Mac tells Stella that a former co-worker's father will let them know when the arrangements for her service are finalized.
    • "Yarhzeit": The broach owner's aunt leads Mac through the titular service in honor of her niece and his father. Also downplayed by Adam quietly filling in for Sheldon who goes out of town for his uncle's funeral.
    • "Pay Up": The team hold their own private wake of sorts for Angell.
    • "Indelible": Mac participates in and the other team members attend the dedication of the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance for first responders who lost their lives on 9/11.
    • "Clean Sweep": Mac sees that a deceased homeless Marine (who had been wounded twice in combat) is laid to rest with full military honors.
    • "Flash Pop": The lab workers, who are usually just background characters, hold a vigil at work for one of their own who was murdered. Adam and Jo are particularly moved by this.
    • "Reignited": Christine accompanies Mac to the funeral of a firefighter friend of his.
    • "Civilized Lies": Danny and Lindsay visit the family of an off-duty police officer who was shot and killed. They give the man's son, who is going through the Police Academy, his father's badge which the young man proudly shows to his mother and sister.
  • In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the Gelfling and even the Skeksis are shown properly honoring the dead.
    • For the Gelfling, the right thing to do is bury the dead so they may be returned to Thra. The main band of heroes hold an impromptu sermon during their travels for the All-Maudra and Ordon, ending in a mournful song.
    • While the Skeksis would rather pretend they could never die, the one instance when they were faced with the death of one of their own was taken deeply seriously. The Emperor decreed that skekMal the Hunter would not be buried or burned. Instead, they would decorate him in their finest armor and display him in the throneroom so he would "rule at [their] side forever".
  • Dead of Summer: After Cricket dies, Deb has the campers fill a box up with mementos of her which they then bury.
  • Degrassi: The Next Generation had J.T. go to Rick's funeral. But only after Manny reminded him that he could never be the bigger man.
  • Deputy:
    • In "Deputy Down" when a deputy is killed on the job, there's a ceremonial roll call made by the LA County Sheriff's Deputies which ends with his send off.
    • At the end of "10-8 Selfless" a murdered homeless veteran Marine is paid tribute to by the people who knew him publicly.
  • Doctor Who:
  • Elementary: Third season episode "End of Watch" depicts the murder of a Highway Patrolman in New York City. Like current police in the city, they enact the "End of Watch Call". This is where a dispatcher makes one final call to the fallen officer before announcing he is no longer on duty.
  • In Eureka, the crew of the Astraeus is trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine to exploit their genius. When Holly Martin figures out what's happened to them, Senator Winn murders her to prevent her from telling the others. Then she orders her goons to dispose of her remains respectfully and discreetly. No one knows where she's buried, but at least the bad guy made an effort.
  • Fellow Travelers: A military funeral is held for Senator Wesley Smith after he commits suicide. His mourners include his family and Hawkins Fuller.
  • In the Firefly episode "Bushwhacked", the crew encounter a ship that has had its crew and passengers slaughtered by Reavers. Shepherd Book prevails upon Mal to let him perform a funeral for them. Mal agrees, but privately reveals that the main reason he did so was to keep the others busy and not worry them with the fact that a Reaver booby trap had snagged them and needed disarming before they went anywhere.
    Book: How we treat our dead is part of what makes us different from those that did the slaughtering.
  • The Full Monty (2023): After Horse dies, the others refuse to let him have a pauper's burial (a mass grave, and a stick with his name on it). They end up putting him in a homemade coffin and burning him in a pyre, accompanied by the Revenge Choir singing Hozier's "Nina Cried Power".
  • Higher Ground: After Riley gets trapped in a cave, she finds there's an ancient corpse inside, which it turns out is of a young Indigenous woman. They find out that her body will have to be examined multiple times so it can be determined whether she'd died five hundred years or more ago. If not, it goes to the local tribe for burial, but that could take a long time. Otherwise, she'd go to a museum. Sully and an Indigenous cop (who told him all this) don't like that, deciding instead to give her a burial in the woods.
  • In Highlander, Duncan casts Darius's ashes into the Seine river, saying it will symbolically allow Darius to complete his unfinished journey to the sea.
  • Homicide: Life on the Street: Although Pembleton won't go to the funeral mass for Crosetti because he refuses to step into a church after losing his faith, when Barnfather and Granger refuse to provide a funeral with full honors for Crosetti because he killed himself, Pembleton alone dons dress blues, stands in front of the Homicide building, and salutes Crosetti's coffin as the funeral procession passes by.
  • Horatio Hornblower: Sailors are usually given a Burial at Sea and most surviving ordinary seamen as well as officers are shown to care about giving them "a decent send off", as bosun Matthews puts it. Captain Sawyer orders to have one poor young seaman thrown over the side without a funeral. Hornblower is reluctant and gets "this" close to disobeying Captain's direct order, but Matthews pleads with him that they can "read over" the dead kid later.
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022):
    • "In Throes of Increasing Wonder...": The de Pointe du Lac family arrange a jazz funeral (which is traditional in New Orleans) for Paul, and the procession walk along the streets of the city until they reach the St. Augustine Church cemetery, where Paul's body will be interred in the family mausoleum. It's followed by a wake, although this is not shown on-screen.
    • ...The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child's Demanding": Grace and Levi host Florence's wake at the de Pointe du Lac mansion. There's a funeral scheduled the next day, but the audience never sees it.
  • In iZombie Liv feels obligated to solve the murders of people whose brains she eats in the morgue.
  • Keep Breathing: Even after learning Sam was a drug smuggler, half the reason she's in the mess she is since no-one's looking for her, Liv still buries him so he wouldn't get devoured by bears.
  • The L Word: Her friends are all very upset when at Dana's funeral they're not only ignored with her sexual orientation erased by the minister while giving his eulogy, but her ashes aren't scattered how she'd liked, so Alice grabs them after storming out previously, and they scatter them later at the site she wanted.
  • Lost: In the fourth episode, Jack orders the dead be burned after wild boars start feeding on them. While Sayid objects on the grounds they do not know the religion or culture of the dead, Jack points out there is no other way to dispose of the bodies. The dead are cremated the next night as Claire reads their names aloud from the flight manifest.
  • Lost in Space (2018): When it comes to light that the Robot was responsible for the attack on the Resolute, Will's father makes Will build a memorial out of stones for the people who were killed. He adds another one to it after ordering the Robot to commit suicide. In a later season, the Robot (he got better) befriends a horse; when the horse is killed by local predators the Robot sets up a stone, to the astonishment of the people present when they realize what he's doing.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Heavy is the Head", Lance Hunter agrees to sell out Coulson to Glenn Talbot in exchange for his dead friend Isabelle Hartley being buried with full military honours, since as a SHIELD agent, she's most likely to be otherwise branded a traitor. He ultimately doesn't go through with betraying Coulson, but luckily Coulson still has friends, and Hartley gets her proper funeral.
    • The Daredevil (2015) episode "Penny and Dime" opens with a wake for the victims of Frank Castle's massacre of the Kitchen Irish, attended by their fellow associates. Finn Cooley shows up, and kills one underling for telling him that his son's death was part of the business. After the opening credits, we see Matt, Karen and Foggy attend a much smaller memorial service for Grotto, who the three had tried and failed to protect from the Punisher after he escaped the massacre.
  • Merlin
    • Uther's body is dressed in formal royal robes and laid out on a stone next to the tomb of his queen. Arthur holds vigil by his father's body overnight.
    • Despite Lancelot's apparent evil actions, Arthur insists on him receiving a proper burial, as in all other ways but one he was a good knight. Merlin gives him a good one, although he is the only mourner.
    • Elyan gets an elaborate funeral in Series 4
  • In Murdoch Mysteries, devout Roman Catholic Murdoch always crosses himself when he first comes upon a corpse, whether it's at a reported crime scene, or when someone dies in his presence (such as "Back and to the Left", "Stroll on the Wild Side" and "Tour de Murdoch"). Additionally, he does this at funerals such as the cop's memorial-cum-wake at the bar in "The Great Wall" and the graveside service for the long-dead Canadian government official in "Confederate Treasure". The gesture outs him as a minority Catholic in a Protestant-controlled city, so it is more of a big deal than it seems on the surface. On occasion, other characters do this: the hotel manager in "Return of Sherlock Holmes" performs it when a guest is found dead, and Crabtree tries to imitate his boss at that graveside in "Confederate Treasure".
  • In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring Samson vs. the Vampire Women, Mike has the Bots write letters in memorial of TV's Frank, who had ascended to Second Banana Heaven. However, Tom and Crow don't take the assignment seriously and insults Frank, which Mike scolds them for.
  • Dr. Mallard from NCIS shows a great deal of respect to those he autopsies, and this includes talking to them as a means to preserving their humanity. He also gets pissed at those who don't show proper respect.
  • Nirvana in Fire: It's set in ancient China, so whether or not the dead have received their due honor is a big deal in the story.
    • The Grand Empress' funeral rites are a gigantic days-long affair and the mourning period lasts for a year. When the emperor catches the Crown Prince violating the mourning laws to have a drunken dance party in his private palace, it's the last nail in the coffin of his position.
    • The emperor has Consort Jing set up a secret shrine to the dead Consort Chen, who committed suicide after her son Prince Qi's execution, in order to appease her restless spirit and stop his bad dreams.
    • When Lin Shu is finally able to perform the proper funeral rites for his dead father it's a very emotional moment.
  • Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia closes Lizard's eyes.
  • Orange Is the New Black:
    • In Season 1, Trica is honored with a wake in the White dorm, and the other dorms provide food. Gloria and the Hispanics drop by with food. Poussey contributes her hooch on behalf of the Blacks, and Chang drops by with contraband oranges. Boo makes sure to pour one out for Trica.
    • After the library books are burned due to the bedbugs, Taystee and Poussey hold a (completly sincere) funeral for the books, whose ashes are dumped by a tree in "the ultimate book return"
    • The blatant disrespect of Poussey's body, being left on the ground for hours, contributes to the inmates's rage.
    • Utterly averted with CO Humphrey, whose corpse is tossed in a closet and ignored. Leanne outright denies his humanity when she finds him (and then gets high in the same closet).
      Leanne: Don't be stupid, he's a guard, not a person.
    • Following her suicide near the end of Season 7, Pennsatucky is honored with a wake in Florida. The inmates raise a toast of her signature Yellow Drink while wearing hoodies hood-on, the sytle she favored. Suzzane then sings the Mountain Dew jingle. CO Dixon steps in when she can't bring herself to finish it, resulting in the entire block joining in.
  • The Outer Limits (1995):
    • In "The Grell", an alien race stranded on Earth are treated as slaves, with plenty of Fantastic Racism to go around. One such example is that soldiers will often leave the bodes tied to the ground face-up, spitting in the face of traditional face-down burial which allows their souls to move on properly.
    • "Promised Land": In spite of him trying to steal from their farm, Krenn and Dlavan provide David with their people's funeral rites. This includes beheading his corpse though, which only reinforces Rebecca's (who's watching) belief that their kind are monsters.
  • The Outpost: After Nedra dies, Zedd and Wren give her a Blackblood funeral, scattering her ashes as the latter sings a beautiful dirge.
  • The Professionals. In "Heroes", Psycho Sidekick Tommy gives his life to save Bodie and Doyle when they're pinned down by hitmen armed with automatic weapons. As Tommy is about to be loaded on a hearse with the (now dead) hitmen, Bodie snaps, "No, don't put him in with them!"
  • Resident Alien: Asta cuts off part of her hair to honor Sam's death at Dan's urging, going by their people's traditions, which she stores in a box.
  • Rome:
    • The show has several accurate representations of ancient Roman funeral customs. Niobe is cremated and her ashes buried. Caesar is, of course, burned on a huge pyre in the Forum. Eirene asks not to be burned, but buried with hers and Pullo's child, which he does. Pullo later strangles Gaia after she confesses to killing Eirene, and Pullo unceremoniously dumps her body in the river, thus condemning her spirit to unrest.
    • After the conquered leader of the Gauls is finally executed during Caesar's Triumph, his body is unceremoniously dumped, but we see some Gauls living in Rome retrieve it, dress it and burn it on a pyre hidden in the woods somewhere.
  • SeaQuest DSV had the crew holding a brief memorial for the staff of an underwater facility who had died several years previously.
  • The Shannara Chronicles: After finding some gnomes massacred by demons, Prince Ander unchains the imprisoned Slanter so he may give them the proper rites. It later proved to be a critical gesture to the Elf & Gnome alliance.
  • Smallville features multiple funerals throughout its 10 year run.
    • Clark usually will make a point of honoring the tradition of slowly dropping a handful of soil on the recently lowered casket. He does this during the highly attended funeral of his adopted father Jonathan Kent, and later trespasses into the private funeral of Lionel Luther to honor him the same way.
    • The entire Justice League hold an elaborate funeral in an ancient Egyptian pyramid for their fallen teammate Carter Hall.
  • The show Space: Above and Beyond being a future Earth military environment does a modern naval burial in space complete with the space carrier's laser turrets being used in lieu of a firing party.
  • The Star Trek franchise shows many different funerary customs for the various races.
    • Ferengi dice up and sell the bodies of their dead as a souvenir. From the perspective of a society motivated primarily by the acquisition of profit and the belief that absolutely everything worth having has monetary value, not selling off the deceased's body would be an admission that the person literally had no worth.
    • Klingons will hold open the eyes of a dying warrior and howl at the moment of death as a warning to the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive. After keeping watch over the body for a night (to protect it from predators), once the spirit has had time to make the trip to Sto-vo-kor, they then just dump the body, believing it to be an empty shell, but will celebrate the honorable dead with feasting, drinking and singing. The episode "The Sound of Her Voice" explicitly likened the celebrations to an Irish Wake.
      • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine touched on Klingon death customs a couple times. First, a Klingon can engage in an act of glory to "pay the way" for one who would not otherwise be worthy of Sto-vo-kor (Worf did this for his late wife Jadzianote ; she normally wouldn't be worthy because she was a Trill who was not killed in honorable battle, but blindsided by Dukat). A later episode featured Kor, an old Klingon warrior who wanted to find a way to avoid dying in dotage; he manages to do so by taking Worf's place in a suicide mission. His sacrifice clears the way for a convoy of Klingons to escape. So Martok (who hated Kor in life) begrudgingly gives him due: opening a bottle of bloodwine and issuing a toast to "a noble warrior to the end".
      • On the other hand, Star Trek: Discovery introduces a Klingon house that gives their dead a proper funeral, which ends with the coffin being placed on the hull of their flagship.
    • The Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror" orders the dead Centurion's body dumped into space along with a bunch of debris to make it seem that his ship has been destroyed — but he is clearly distressed about it, and asks his late friend to forgive him.
    • At the end of "Skin of Evil", the senior staff of the Enterprise (plus Wesley) hold a wake on the holodeck, where a holographic recording of the late Lt. Tasha Yar gives her thanks and words of inspiration to the crew that had become her found family. Afterwards, Data confides in Picard that after the wake, his thoughts were not of Tasha, but himself, and how lonely it would be with Tasha gone. When he asks if he missed the point of the wake, Picard assures him that he understands it perfectly well.
    • "The Bonding" explores and deconstructs Starfleet's attitude towards the loss of a crew member, with the stated norm is to carry on without letting the weight of one's death hold them back. As such, the mourning process is typically very quick. However, when it comes to the children of those whose parents died in the line of duty, such as Jeremy Aster, it proves much more difficult to let go. Wesley, himself, admits that he attempted to carry on like everyone expected after his father died, but for a long time, he secretly resented Captain Picard for leading the away mission that his father died on, the same way Jeremy resented Worf for surviving while his mother died. Wesley outgrew his hatred of Picard as he got older, and at the end of the episode, Worf and Jeremy work through their grief together.
    • In "The Next Phase" Ensign Ro, who is presumed dead after a transporter malfunction (but is just rendered invisible and intangible), worries that Picard will hold a Bajoran funeral, which includes a funeral chant that goes on for two hours.
      Ro: Please, not the Death Chant.
      • In the same episode, Data takes on the task of arranging a memorial for Ro and Geordi La Forge (who is in the same situation as Ro for the same reason), and ends up with a New Orleans-style jazz funeral, something resembling a party more than a traditional funeral. Apparently aware of his deviation from tradition, he briefly asks Dr. Crusher if he's made a mistake, but she tells him it's just fine. (For their part, Ro is a little taken aback, but Geordi thinks it's great.)
    • In the TNG episode "Darmok", after Picard informs the Tamarian crew that their captain, Dathon, has died, they raise their daggers and place their hand on their heads as a sign of benediction. Picard performs this act himself in private in the last scene of the episode.
    • The DS9 episode "Ties of Blood and Water" doesn't touch much on traditional Bajoran funeral practices, but still demonstrates the essence of the trope. When Kira's father dies, she immediately begins to dig his grave. The episode ends with the death of a Parental Substitute of hers (a Cardassian ironically enough), and reveals that she has buried him next to her father, under the same tree.
    • In "Unnatural Selection", the crew of the Lantree are infected with a rapid aging disease that kills everyone aboard. To keep the disease from spreading, a quarantine transmitter was initiated to play a recorded message for anyone else finding the ship to stay out. When it was concluded that retrieving the bodies for burial would only cause the disease to spread further, the Lantree was destroyed by a photon torpedo fired by the Enterprise, but not without Picard requesting everyone to stand in quiet respect for the deceased.
    • Star Trek: Voyager
      • The Kobali from "Ashes to Ashes" reproduce by reanimating the dead as members of their own race. Harry Kim becomes angry when he discovers they did this to the body of his love interest; her alien "father" is equally angry that they would have just "abandoned" her into space.
      • In "Emanations", the crew discover a cobweb-filled cave filled with bodies, and Chakotay insists they avoid disturbing the bodies even with scans as it may violate the beliefs of whatever alien race left them — he cites how he once removed a rock as a souvenir on an away mission, only to find it was a sacred stone placed in commemoration of the deceased. Turns out he disturbed the bodies anyway, as the cobwebs were created by their decomposition. Then Harry Kim finds himself on the planet where the bodies came from, and they complain about him not running any scans, as it could have told them what happens after death (they'd assumed that on dying their bodies entered The Lifestream instead).
      • The episode "Juggernaut" briefly shows death rites for the Malon. When one Malon dies, the other one present touches the dead one's eyes, then his own. No other details or explanations are given.
      • In "Nemesis", the Vori turn their dead face down, believing that is required to enter "the gloried Wayafter". The enemy they are fighting are alleged to be desecrating the dead by turning Vori corpses face-up.
        "We beg peace from the Power that made us Vori, and we commend our brother Naymon to the gloried Wayafter."
  • In Supergirl (2015), after the death of General Astra, her men invite Kara to lead the rites at her funeral. Both sides observe the truce and leave without incident, but then Non warns Kara that the next coffin will be hers.
  • In Supernatural, a dead hunter is burned on a pyre while surrounded by family or friends so the hunter does not come back wrong. Not that it stops things; multiple characters have stuck around in ghost form, anchored to some Unfinished Business.
    • The Viking Funeral isn't done for Dean when he dies at the end of Season 3, because Sam reasons that he'll need a body when he finds a way to retrieve Dean from Hell. Instead, he's buried in a pine box with a wooden cross marking his grave, allowing him to come back when Castiel pulls him out of Hell at the start of season 4. Rufus]] is also buried instead of burned, having insisted on being buried in a Jewish cemetery]].
  • Super Sentai: In the Jetman tribute episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the Gokaiger visit Gai Yuuki's grave (to confirm that he's really gone) and find presents left behind by his teammates, including flowers, his favorite liquor, and an Ako-chan ramen cup.
  • In Teen Wolf, Derek buried his remaining family members (Laura in the Pilot and Peter in the season one finale) under the Hale family house with wolfsbane planted on top, so they can remain in wolf form even after death.
  • Trigonometry: Gemma leaves flowers by the site of her mom's death in a car accident.
  • The Walking Dead. The main characters make a point to honor their fallen friends, and treat the dead with respect. Glenn in particular is a firm believer of this. If anyone they know becomes a Walker, putting them down is often treated as a moral obligation.
    • In "Guts" several people chop up a Walker and spread its guts and blood on Rick and Glenn, in order to prevent other Walkers from detecting them. Rick makes a point to read the Walker's name from his driver license, muse on the type of man he might have been, and reminds everyone he was a person like them.
    • "Wildfire": Following the attack on the Atlanta Camp, the Walkers that attacked them are thrown in a pile and burned. Their dead however are buried.
    • "Nebraska": Sophia is given a proper burial along with Annette and Shaun Greene, but the rest of the bodies are burned.
      Andrea: We bury the ones we love, and burn the rest.
    • "Say the Word" features a funeral (complete with graves and crosses) for Lori, T-Dog, and Carol, the last of whom is actually still alive.
    • "What Happened and What's Going On" has a funeral for Tyresse, with Father Gabriel performing a funeral ceremony, Rick personally digging a grave, and Tyresse's beanie left on the cross as a marker.
  • The episode "In Excelsis Deo" of The West Wing closes on the military funeral of a Marine veteran of the Korean War. Despite an honor guard and a three-volley salute, it's a Lonely Funeral and terribly poignant. The man was homeless and died of exposure on a cold night. His only living relative was his brother, also homeless. The ceremony only happened because a White House staffer, who had no connection to the deceased other than he used to own the coat he died in, spent the episode pulling strings.
    President's Secretary, Mrs. Landingham: Did you use [the President's] name to arrange a military funeral for a homeless veteran?
    Toby: Yes.
    Landingham: You shouldn't have done that, Toby.
    Toby: I know.
    Landingham: You absolutely should not have done that.
    Toby: I know.
    [later]
    Landingham: I'd like to come along.
  • The Wheel of Time: After surviving the attack from the King Of Ghaeldan and his fellow Dragon Sworn, the Aes Sedai camp buried all of the fallen, including the King, at the same place.
  • The Wilds: After they believe Nora's dead, the other girls all hold a funeral, with Toni performing an Ojibwe ritual for the dead to let her soul pass.
  • The Wire: Sing it with me, "I'M A FREE-BORN MAN OF THE USA"
  • Yellowjackets: In "Digestif" Nat decides to transfer Jackie's remains from the cabin to the plane and gives her a final eulogy (she had been given one when placed on a pyre to burn. Instead she ended up slow-roasted and eaten by her team members), thanking Jackie for possibly being the reason they survive.

    Evil 
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after killing Jenny Calendar, Angelus takes her body to Giles' apartment and places it in his bed before the latter arrives. Then, Angelus sets up his living room as if for "romantic evening" with champagne, roses, music and a note that says "upstairs." When Giles arrives he believes Jenny, with whom he has just reconciled, is expecting him...
  • Doctor Who: In "Battlefield", Morgaine puts her invasion of the Earth on hold when she finds a war memorial. When The Brigadier finds them, they're in the middle of a ceremony to honour their enemy's dead; he agrees to a truce until the ceremony is over.
  • Horatio Hornblower: One poor young seaman falls to his death when shortening sails because Insane Captain Sawyer threatens to have the last man down flogged. He then orders to have him thrown over the side of his ship without a funeral.
    Sawyer: Have the lubber thrown over the side. [...] Mr Hornblower, get that man off my quarterdeck.
    Hornblower: [With Due Respect, dripping with sarcasm] Aye, aye, sir.
  • In The Outer Limits (1995) episode "The Grell", an alien race stranded on Earth are treated as slaves, with plenty of Fantastic Racism to go around. One such example is that soldiers will often leave the bodes tied to the ground face-up, spitting in the face of traditional face-down burial which allows their souls to move on properly.

  • An episode of Star Trek: Voyager had the crew get caught up in a conflict between two warring species, at least one of whom brainwashes aliens to serve as grunt troops (in this case, Chakotay) and convince them their opponents are horrific monsters. One of the crimes the "nemesis" soldiers commit in this training is the regular desecrating of fallen soldiers. It is never revealed if this species actually does this, but they accuse their opponents of the very same crimes.
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Frank Reynolds, as self-admitted scum (and shameless cheapskate), considers being buried in an actual grave to be improper of him. He hardly cares what happens to his corpse, and outright recommends that the others "just throw [him] in the trash" once he dies.

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