Basic Trope: A dying character's last act is to desperately grasp out for something to save themselves.
- Straight: Bob is sinking into a bubbling pit of quicksand, and the last thing to vanish is his outstretched hand.
- Exaggerated: The character's shoulder and arm fully appear above the surface and take a while to sink back in after death.
- Downplayed: Only one finger appears above the surface.
- Justified:
- There's a floating platform nearby, but Bob's fingers only graze it before he sinks out of reach.
- He knows Alice is nearby, and he's giving her one last chance to grab him before it's too late.
- Inverted: Futile Hand Reach: Alice screams a Big "NO!" and stretches out her hand to Bob from the shore, even though he's twenty feet away.
- Subverted: Bob's right hand breaks the surface of the Shark Pool... and turns out to be a bloody disembodied stump floating in a red cloud.
- Double Subverted: ..Then his left hand reaches up, grabbing hold of his lost one, and Bob gasps for breath, revealing the dead shark held in a chokehold under his mutilated right arm.
- Parodied: Bob's hand sinks below the surface... and his left hand thrashes out to a Scare Chord. That one gradually sinks... and then the right one comes back up to an identical scare chord. Eventually even Alice gets bored and walks away.
- Zig Zagged: Bob sinks hand-last, a few solitary bubbles reach the surface... and then with a burst of Heroic Resolve, it re-emerges... only to thrash around at nothing. Just before he seems about to go back under, Alice's hand grasps his and hauls him free.
- Averted: Bob's head is the last part to vanish.
- Enforced: The writers want to end the episode on a Not Quite Dead teaser, so have the submerged Bob's hand reemerge at the last moment.
- Lampshaded: "What's he even reaching for? There's nothing there..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Bob's enemy knew that the hand would reappear and shots it to hurt Bob last time.
- Defied: Bob resolves to Face Death with Dignity, and crosses his arms.
- Discussed: "Tenner says his hand pops out."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Bob is told to hold still and lie on his back to stop himself sinking in the quicksand; unfortunately his movie-taught instinct is to thrash around wildly, which only drives him further downwards into the non-Newtonian deathtrap.
- Reconstructed: Bob can see a strong vine hanging mere inches about him, and if he can just grab onto it he can pull himself out...
This... this can't... be the end... must... reach... for... Last Grasp at Life.
