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Troubled Fetal Position / Live-Action TV

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  • Batwoman (2019). In the Season One finale, Batwoman is double-crossed and nearly killed by Jacob Kane, who has no idea his daughter is the masked vigilante. Afterwards Kate Kane is shown sitting on a couch sideways with her legs up against her chest, clutching a drink and in tears over this betrayal.
  • In the Bizaardvark episode "Paige's Birthday Is Gonna Be Great" Frankie walks in on Amelia in the middle of this after Frankie's puzzling request for a sideways cake for Paige's birthday.
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz sits like this in his holding cell after the Initiative has experimented on him.
  • The Burning Bed : Francine sits this way while she's awaiting the jury's verdict, though her head is up and she's smoking.
  • In the CSI episode "Nesting Dolls", Sara adopts a Troubled Fetal Position when she talks to Grissom about her past.
  • Dexter:
    • In season five, Lumen does this upon hearing the sounds of people having sex in the hotel room next door, covering her ears with her hands as the sounds remind her of her own traumatic gang rape.
    • Dexter has also done this when flashing back to witnessing his mother's gruesome murder.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In episode "Midnight", the Doctor sits like this while he and the other passengers wait for the rescue vehicle to arrive. Pretty justified, considering he had just been horrifically mind raped by an unknown entity, and was nearly murdered by his fellow passengers during said mind rape.
    • The Eighth Doctor does this, while rocking back and forth, in one of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, during a conversation about the imminent destruction of the multiverse and the fact the few remaining survivors of his own species have dubbed him "the Blessed Destroyer", for reasons he just barely remembers. It probably doesn't help his state of mind that he also just had something close to a near-death experience.
  • In the Father Ted episode "Cigarettes and Alcohol And Rollerblading" Dougal sits like this while suffering withdrawal symptoms from being forced to give up rollerblading for Lent.
  • In Fawlty Towers "The Psychiatrist": at the end of the episode, Basil pulls his jacket over his head and hops about in agony, before rolling on his side in the fetal position.
  • River does this from time to time in Firefly, most notably at the end of the second episode when she's going on about "two by two, hands of blue".
  • April does this in Home and Away when her OCD storyline hits its climax.
  • iCarly: Since it's a kid-tween show, depressed adults are extremely prone to this trope.
    • Spencer in "iHeart Art". Lies down on the dining table with his face in a bowl after being criticized by his art idol.
    • Lauren Ackerman in "iHave a Lovesick Teacher". Curls on the teacher's table and bawls in front of class after her recent bad breakup.
    • Ricky Flame in "iCook". Slumps to the ground after losing in the cooking competition, then once again after Sam pins him down in the wrestling gym.
    • Lewbert in "iFind Lewbert's Lost Love". Traumatized after seeing his abusive ex-fiancee once again, he locks up himself in his office, rocking to and fro in the corner.
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Parado curls up like this in #33 after Masamune Dan confirms that he has complete control over the Bugsters.
    • This happens again in #40 while he is trying to cope with the results of Emu's Batman Gambit..
  • Lab Rats: Trent in "The Haunting of Mission Creek High", after he is "haunted" by Leo and the lab rats.
  • Stuart from Mad TV retreats into his "dark place" whenever things didn't go his way. He usually has to be coaxed out by his mom.
  • Parodied in Married... with Children. After Peggy not only beats Al's bowling score, but scores a perfect game, she turns around to find him curled up like this, humiliated by having been outdone by his wife.
  • Merlin (2008): Interestingly, Morgana is in one of these in "The Wicked Day" when Agravaine comes to bring her confirmation of Uther's death.
  • Elliot from Mr. Robot does this in the pilot episode.
  • Lots of inmates in the show Oz are shown curling up in the fetal position, particularly after all the ordeals that most of them endure while in prison, namely Beecher.
  • Pompeii: The Last Day: Stephanus assumes this once he realizes his fate is sealed. He is still sitting in the same position two thousand years later.
  • Star Trek: Picard: When hiding from Romulan guards in "Nepenthe", Elnor curls up in a corner and he rocks back and forth slightly. He's distressed over Hugh's death and he's also injured (he was limping beforehand).
  • In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Allison From Palmdale," Allison is shown in this position while in her prison cell.
  • In the episode "Adam" of Torchwood, Ianto goes into this after being mind raped.
  • During the American Whose Line Is It Anyway? run's (in)famous Living Scenery game with Richard Simmons, Wayne assumes the Troubled Fetal Position in his chair after the game. It's not very surprising.
  • Justin from Wizards of Waverly Place almost goes into this in "Third Wheel", although falling debris kept him from completing the pose.
  • Yellowjackets: In "The Dollhouse", the survivors find a cabin a few miles from the plane crash site. Lottie is reluctant to go inside, telling her teammate Taissa that she has a bad feeling about the place. Taissa dismisses it and makes her go in. Later, Taissa goes up to the attic to prove a point to the others (who are too spooked to sleep there), and finds Lottie like this, next to a mummified body in a chair. "Told you".

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