History BittersweetEnding / LiveActionTV

* ''KamenRider'' has a few of these

* ''Series/Psych'' Several episodes end this way, specifically the episodes with the Yin/Yang killers

* The final episode of the TV version of ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy~=]'' ends with Arthur and Ford discovering that the meaning of life is nonsensical. In addition, they're trapped five million years in Earth's past with no apparent way out of their situation. The radio and novel versions show that they get out of this predicament okay, but still...

** Again in PowerRangersRPM. The rangers beat Venjix [[OrIsIt or so they think]], and the RobotWar is finally over, with humanity having won. Except... now the rangers have to go back to their ordinary lives, something that they don't want to do. Oh yeah, and there's still that "most of humanity is dead, and the entire planet outside Corinth is a mildly radioactive wasteland with the entire ecosystem gone" problem.

*** Well, it's shown that the ecosystem is likely to recover[[hottip:* : although it'll take thousands of years for species diversity to recover and fill a lot of niches, and most of the known species, particularly the photogenic mammals, are probably done for]]. The real kicker is the OrIsIt part. After 16 years of this show, the most dangerous villain in the entire series may have gotten away with no one realizing it. ''16 years.'' The show that began with a SealedEvilInACan leaves us right where we started at the end... but this time, as stated before, most of the global population is dead.

** ''ChoujinSentaiJetman'' - In a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, Gai is a successful businessman, Raita is happily married, Ako has achieved her dream of becoming an IdolSinger and the characters go to the wedding of Ryuu and Kaori. Everyone's happy - and then Gai is knifed by a bandit on his way to the ceremony. He does make it in time to see his friends, but collapses and presumably dies. Fan opinion is divided on whether or not he's really dead but there was an official tie-in manga epilogue which stated that Gai died and was replaced on the team by a new character.
** ''BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' - Mikoto/[=AbareKiller=] is dead and Asuka and Mahoro return to Dino Earth, vowing that they will name their new baby after him. Some time later, there is a reunion of the show's {{Nakama}}, with the missing Mikoto, Rijewel, Asuka and Mahoro replaced by identical-looking customers who just happen to wander into Dino Curry at the right moment.

* ''LittleHouseOnThePrairie'', the town of Walnut Grove is bought out by a scheming, corrupt railroad tycoon. Rather than hand over their town, the citizens of Walnut Grove defiantly demolish all of their homes, robbing the tycoon of his prize. This act also inspires the neighboring towns to threaten the same thing if they are bought out as well and the people of Walnut Grove take comfort in the fact that the sacrifice of their town was not in vain.

* Every ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' season finale except 1, and 4.

** The ending of Season 7 and the series as a whole qualifies as this. While the First Evil was defeated (for the time being), the Scooby Gang themselves lost several group members close to them. Not to mention all the girls with Slayer powers? Opening up a whole can of worms. Mentally challenged individuals (as seen on Angel) with super strength? Militaristic types or government employees with the power to physically take over governments? That is not even going into the likely [[KidsCanBeCruel teasing and ostracism]] of young girls even up to high school.

* Quite a few episodes of ''{{Farscape}}'' end like this. For example, in "Throne For A Loss" though the heroes save the day, the Tavlek mercenary that Zhaan was trying to rehabilitate goes straight back to drugs the moment he leaves Moya.

** ''KamenRiderOOO'': Ankh sacrifices himself by giving Eiji his last three medals to form the Tajadol combo and defeat Maki. However, he lives on as a spirit and accompanies Eiji (who does not know Ankh is there) as Eiji returns to WalkingTheEarth.

* ''DoctorWho'' finales are almost always this, as are the episodes. It's the TropeNamer for EverybodyLives specifically because there's a terrible cost the other 99% of the time. (Series Five/Season 31/Series Fnarg bucked the trend; but then, it was written by the guy who gave us EverybodyLives.)

* The first season of ''InTreatment'' ends with a mix of good and bad consequences. Sophie and Laura have made breakthroughs and have left treatment with Paul as happier, healthier people, while Paul stopped himself from making a mistake with Laura. However, his marriage to Kate is marriage is effectively over, as is Jake and Amy's, and Alex's possible suicide is still on his conscience.

* Heck, the show hasn't ended yet, but how could ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' possibly end any differently? Thanks to the ForegoneConclusion, we know that Arthur will become King with Gwen as his wife and Merlin as his most trusted advisor, but they'll still have lost Morgana to evil, Arthur will one day be slain by Mordred, and there's always the shadow of Lancelot lingering over the OfficialCouple...

* HoratioHornblower has the episode "Retribution," in which Horatio and co have taken many prisoners and prize ships, narrowly averted disaster multiple times, and Horatio's name has been cleared of mutiny charges and he is even promoted. However [[spoiler: Archie Kennedy, his [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friend of many years]], dies of wounds received in battle, having [[HeroicSacrifice confessed to mutiny in order to save Horatio.]]]] Horatio's face in the final scene looks like he's struggling between being heartbroken and being grateful.

** Season 4: Donna might have saved the world, but she can't be allowed remember any of it or she'll die. All that {{Character Development}}, all that belief in herself? All gone. The Doctor abandons his Children of Time to live their own lives, leaving him alone with lots of angst. Rose has her own version of the Doctor, but his ability to live a mortal life is uncertain and there is no guarantee he and Rose will have a lasting love.

** Season 3: The conquest of Earth is temporally reversed, the Doctor is saved, and Martha has become a BadAss of legend, but TheMaster is dead, leaving the Doctor [[FoeYay alone again]] as the last of the Time Lords, and Martha quits her Companionship rather than pine after the Doctor.

** ''MiraiSentaiTimeranger'' - Naoto/[=TimeFire=] is killed. Eventually, Tatsuya decides he must send the other Rangers back to the year 3000, forever separating him from his friends and his love Yuuri. When they return, they find that the events of the show have altered their timelines: Yuuri's family are still alive, Domon's ban from the ring became a temporary suspension which is now over, and a cure has been found for Ayase's terminal illness. However, nothing has changed for Shion, whose planet is still destroyed.

** Even the Cardassians get a bittersweet ending, Garak in particular. While Garak is happy that Cardassia is now free of Dominion rule (And that he can return home), he notes that it had been devastated from the war, twisted under its occupation, and further ruined by the attempted genocide of its people. When Bashir tries to cheer him up by saying that they will rebuild, Garak angrily responds that, of course they will rebuild, but not as the Cardassia he knew. He succeded at freeing Cardassia and going home, but the home that he was banished from no longer existed.
** Pretty much everything about ''DS9'''s finale was a bittersweet ending. The Dominion was defeated? Awesome, but hundreds of billions of people died on both sides. Sisko stopped Dukat once and for all and got to ascend to the level of a god? That's great, but now his wife and two children are on their own. Odo finally gets to return to his people and help them change from their murderous ways? Good news for him, but to do so he has to leave behind Kira, who he made pretty clear was the one thing that mattered to him more than returning home, with the added sting of Odo being one of the few people Kira was close to who hadn't died horribly by the end of the series. Then you've got Worf, O'Brien, and Rom leaving, and, well... the Dominion war was a very good example of a pyrrhic victory and we'll leave it at that.
*** ''StarTrekEnterprise'' ends with the knowledge that the Enterprise NX-01's mission was a resounding success, Captain Archer is virtually guaranteed a promotion to Admiral, and the Coalition of Planets is about to become official. But with all that, Archer has still lost his best buddy, Trip. And the Enterprise is still going to be decommissioned, ending the era for the ship his father built.
*** Of course, fan backlash to the finale was so strong that there are canonical implications in books that the holographic log Riker is watching is ''not'' historically accurate, but a cover story for a secret mission. In that version, Trip survives.

** ''HikariSentaiMaskman'' - Peace has been restored to the earth, but Takeru and Mio/Iyal cannot be together because she has become the queen of Tube and is forbidden to have a relationship with a human.

** Ultimately, the series ends this way.

** ''HikariSentaiMaskman'' - Peace has been restored to the earth, but Takeru and Mio/Iyal cannot be together because she has become the queen of Tube and is forbidden to have a relationship with a human.
* The end of [[Lost]]. The Man in Black is defeated and ight people make it off the island in the end (only four of them survivors of the original crash; Jack ensures their escape and saves the island at the cost of his own death; Hurley and Ben live but stay behind as the island's new protectors, and everyone else by this point is already dead. Made a little less bitter with the knowledge that they all meet up in some kind of afterlife later.

* The end of [[Lost]]. The Man in Black is defeated and ight people make it off the island in the end (only four of them survivors of the original crash; Jack ensures their escape and saves the island at the cost of his own death; Hurley and Ben live but stay behind as the island's new protectors, and everyone else by this point is already dead. Made a little less bitter with the knowledge that they all meet up in some kind of afterlife later.
* LordOfTheFlies: Way to go Ralph! You've managed to get the Navy to rescue you and the other survivors on the island!! ...So does this mean we can forget about Simon's and Piggy's deathes, destroying the island, and proving that HumansAreBastards?

** New series, season 1 finale: The last Dalek fleet is blown to dust, but Earth has suffered casualties maybe in the millions, and the Doctor has to die/regenerate to save Rose from her own power.

* The end of [[Lost]]. The Man in Black is defeated and ight people make it off the island in the end (only four of them survivors of the original crash; Jack ensures their escape and saves the island at the cost of his own death; Hurley and Ben live but stay behind as the island's new protectors, and everyone else by this point is already dead. Made a little less bitter with the knowledge that they all meet up in some kind of afterlife later.