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A previous episode of this show involved several thousand innocent people being violently murdered with machine guns. Just thought we should mention that.
— Description for the second Festival Episode of Code Geass on Adult Swim.com

Fiction often has far extremes. They cover the gamut of emotion, from tragedy to comedy. Sometimes these two will be so close together that they make the viewer's head spin! Done well, the contrast in moods can make each emotion all the more poignant and effective. Done poorly, the contrast can jar the reader/viewer right out of the story.

Sometimes Mood Whiplash can extend to entire sequels, where the original was funny but its sequel is rather dark. More often, however, a dark film will spawn a sequel that degenerates into self-parody and farce.

In episodic media, this trope will often take the form of a light-hearted stand-alone episode breaking up a darker Story Arc.

This trope often goes hand in hand with Out Of Genre Experience. Compare Mood Dissonance, where the contrast is compressed into a single scene, and Soundtrack Dissonance, the musical equivalent.

Not to be confused with Dastardly Whiplash.

Examples

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