Two separate scenarios with two different sets of protagonists are taken into consideration for this trope:
- Alice is fighting Bob, and Bob kills her. The last thing the viewers see is Bob killing Alice from Alice's POV.
- Cornell and Dante are in the middle of a trek, when a huge boulder falls upon Cornell. The last thing the viewers see is the boulder falling, from Cornell's POV.
- Where the example is actually a Medical Drama or a medical Reality Show with interviews, Elena is the medic, Frank the forensics specialist and Gustavo the psychiatrist.
Typical forms
- Played Straight:
- Bob kills Alice. We see everything from Alice's POV.
- Cornell is killed by the boulder. We see everything from Cornell's POV.
- Justified:
- Inverted:
- Bob kills Alice. We see everything from Bob's POV.
- Cornell is killed by the boulder. We see everything from Dante's POV.
- Subverted: Second-Person Attack.
- Double Subverted:
- Second-Person Attack, but Alice later dies due to delayed internal damage.
- Second-Person Attack, but Cornell dies due to the boulder crashing vital organs, leading to a delayed death.
- Parodied: Both scenarios are part of an act, and everyone is reprising their roles. At the end of each scenario, the director screams "Cut!" and the backgrounds become green screens.
- Deconstructed: The work is a documentary, where Elena, Frank and Gustavo talk about what exactly a person sees the moment they're about to die. In this work, we actually see recreations of Alice's and Cornell's incidents while they talk.
- Reconstructed: The work is a documentary, where Elena, Frank and Gustavo talk about what exactly a person sees the moment they're about to die. In this work, we actually see recreations of Alice's and Cornell's incidents while they talk... except said work is a Show Within a Show, and they don't appear afterwards, or appear for other, specific scenarios.
- Zigzagged:
- Averted: In both cases, we're prived of the key part of the trope: seeing the last moments from the victim's POV.
- Bob doesn't kill Alice.
- The boulder doesn't kill Cornell.
- Enforced:
- The work is a Public Service Announcement about danger on the streets. While Alice is being murdered, the narrator appears on screen talking about the dangers of going solo in the night.
- The work is a Public Service Announcement about danger on the wildlife. While Cornell is being crushed, the narrator, in an off-voice, talks about the dangers that a person may face if they venture in the wilds.
- Implied:
- Bob is about to kill Alice. We see everything from Alice's POV... except her actual death. In the next episode/scene, the circumstances of Alice's death are being discussed.
- The boulder is about to kill Cornell. We see everything from Cornell's POV... except his death. In the next episode/scene, we see Dante lamenting the whole ordeal.
- Logical Extreme:
Tone and Style
- Exaggerated:
- Bob kills Alice. We see everything from Alice's POV. The death was so gruesome that there's Not Enough to Bury.
- The boulder crushes Cornell. We see everything from Cornell's POV. But behind the boulder, there was another, bigger one. And another, even bigger.
- Downplayed:
- Bob kills Alice, but we never get to see things from Alice's POV. (People Sit on Chairs?)
- Cornell is crushed by the rock, but we don't get to see things from his POV. (Same?)
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob is strangling Alice and we see everything from her POV, however, it turns out to be just a joke between the two.
- Cornell thinks he's being crushed by a rock. In reality, Cornell and Dante were playing a Jumanji-like game.
- Played for Drama:
- While killing Alice, Bob tells her to recall what she did to him in order to deserve such a fate. Alice has a flashback with the wrongs she did to him.
- The boulder that crushed Cornell was about to kill Dante instead, however, at the last minute, Cornell pushed Dante aside and took the hit.
- Played for Horror:
Specific characters
- Lampshaded:
- "How does it feel to suffer the pain before dying, Alice? What do you see while you're dying?" - Bob
- "Dante, what are the odds of a boulder falling on any of us?" - Cornell
- Invoked:
- "Bob. I was expecting you. What took you so long? Did you stop in a motel to get some fun with a chick?" - Alice
- "Dante, If We Get Through This…, I'm buying us some beers." - Cornell
- Defied:
- "I still have a lot to live for, Bob!" - Alice; cue Groin Attack.
- "Cornell, get out of here!" - Dante, and Cornell quickly steps aside.
- Exploited:
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
