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* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': Played with in "The Night In Question." When Henry and Abe finally learn where Abigail went after she left them, her landlady had kept a box of stuff "Sylvia" left behind when she disappeared. They take the box home, but there's nothing but everyday junk inside. Then, Henry finds a letter tucked into a ratty old poetry book, which Abigail never got the chance to send, [[spoiler: asking Henry to come join her so they can spend the rest of Abigail's life together.]]
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%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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[[PersonalEffectsReveal Revealing something about somebody through their personal effects]], often posthumously, in LiveActionTV series.
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* Averted in ''Series/{{Angel}}''. After [[spoiler:Doyle]]'s death, Cordelia tries to do this but finds that [[spoiler:Doyle]] didn't have any personal effects kept in the office, so she couldn't learn any more about him.
** But then, it turns out [[spoiler:he did leave something behind (albeit not something tangible): his visions. At the end of the episode, Cordelia even frames a drawing she made of her first vision as a reminder that something of Doyle's is still there]].
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' does this trope once or twice when pilots are killed.
* One of the last episodes of ''Series/BabylonFive'' has Zack find a vital clue to catching an assassin in the effects of a security guard killed by the assassin for his comlink: the fake replacement [[CommLinks comlink]].
** This is actually done when Franklin goes through Captain Sheridan's effects after he died at Z'Ha'Dum and finds a datacrystal in which Sheridan professes his love for Delenn. It's an extremely moving message, and Delenn quotes from it as she enjoins the Rangers and the White Star fleet to launch a desperate final assault on the Shadow's homeworld: "A friend told me, if you're falling off a cliff, you might as well try to fly. Here, and now, I give you one final chance to fly."
* Happened on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' after [[spoiler:Zach]] has been revealed as evil, crippled, and institutionalized. Remarkable in that it didn't involve an actual death, but still a major tearjerker.
* Happens in ''Series/BrothersAndSisters''. One of the central mysteries to the first season is the identity of a baby found in one of William Walker's photographs. And since they can't ask him (being dead and all), the first answer they get to the question is the wrong one.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' does this with [[spoiler:Warrick]], mostly to get something to bury [[spoiler: him]] in, and it's then that Catherine and Greg find the documents and video relating to [[spoiler:Warrick's custody fight for his infant son, Eli]].
* In ''Series/DharmaAndGreg,'' an elderly neighbor dies and the title characters read her diary, which seems to indicate that she [[MustNotDieAVirgin died a virgin]]. This sets up the episode's central plot, which is the neighbor's spirit [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibly]] possessing Dharma's body and having sex with Greg.
* Occurs in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''Terminus'', where it is revealed that new companion Turlough has inherited Adric's quarters on board the TARDIS, Adric having been killed off towards the end of the previous season. This leads to a scene in which artifacts relating to Adric's time with the Doctor make cameo appearances.
* Parodied in ''Series/{{Firefly}}''; when River and Simon are kidnapped in the episode "Safe," Jayne rifles through Simon's belongings, stealing his cash and mocking him in his journal.
-->"Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hillfolk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."
** When they return to the ship at the end of the episode, Jayne tries to return their stuff before they notice, running into Simon on his way out.
* Parodied in the penultimate episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where the gang find [[CasualKink a set of furry hand-cuffs]] in the closet in Monica's spare room. After going through all of the old inhabitants of the room (Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe), they come to the conclusion that they belonged to ''Monica and Ross' grandmother''.
-->Wow, Nana liked it ''rough''!
** In "The one where Mr.Heckles dies" Monica and Rachel are left all of the belongings of their annoying downstairs neighbor, and they discover he has many similarities to Chandler.
* In ''Series/GilmoreGirls,'' Richard's mother, "Trix," dies, and he's so distraught that Emily takes charge over the arrangements. While going through her things, she and Lorelei discover a letter that Trix sent to Richard right before his and Emily's wedding, begging him not to go through with it. Emily is so furious that she leaves Lorelei to take care of everything, which rapidly proves to be too much for her to handle.
* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'': The TV movie[=/=]episode ''The Fire Ships'', the men are auctioning off the possessions of a deceased crewmate, to send the proceeds home to his widow. The deceased sailor's best friend, stricken with guilt, hands over all of his money for the entire collection and throws it overboard.
* Interesting use in an early episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'': the survivors hold a memorial for those who died in the crash, whom they didn't know. They go through their effects to glean what they can for the service.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
** In the episode "Death Takes a Holiday," during a Christmas party for local orphans, Hawkeye, BJ, and Margaret try to help a wounded G.I. After seeing there was no chance to save him, Margaret finds a photo of his wife and kids. BJ decides to try to keep him alive for a few hours more, so his kids "won't think of Christmas as the day their daddy died."
** In the episode "Who Knew?" has Hawkeye preparing to eulogize a nurse who died after stepping on a landmine. While going through her personal effects, Father Mulcahy comes across her diary, where she revealed her strong feelings for Hawkeye, with whom she'd spent what he'd assumed to be a casual one-night-stand.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' Gibbs takes one last look through a box of personal effects gathered from the desk of a deceased agent. He explains to Ziva it's a tradition of making sure nothing upsetting in that box makes it back to the family.
* After Rimmer leaves in ''Series/RedDwarf,'' Lister has to throw out his old things to reduce the weight on the ship and gets teary-eyed at the memories. Kryten then decides to 'cheer him up' by collecting Rimmer's old journals and making 'The Rimmer Experience' ride on the holodeck. Lister suddenly remembers why he hated Rimmer so much.
* In an early episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', when it's believed Daniel's been killed (this is before it became a character trait, believe it or not), the rest of SG-1 go through this. Carter ends up finding Daniel's journal from the original movie, among other things.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Geordi and Wesley do this for Data after he's believed to have been killed in "The Most Toys", including working out which possessions go to which crew member. They end up discovering a photo/holograph of [[WeHardlyKnewYe Tasha Yar]], a book on Creator/WilliamShakespeare (a gift from the captain), and a set of playing cards. Wesley is also surprised to discover Data's medals--including several of Starfleet's highest honours. The audience knew about these from the earlier episode, "The Measure Of A Man", but the characters apparently didn't.
-->'''Geordi:''' Not bad for a walking pile of circuitry and memory cells.
* Parodied in the episode of ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'' where Jerri's father dies. She goes through his closet looking through his stuff--we see some intriguing things like a huge wad of money, a gun, and a KKK outfit... but Jerri just laments that she's still learned nothing about him.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** It's some time after the death, but the boys eventually find their father's storage locker. Although they were actually looking for [[McGuffin something plot relevant]], they also find some of Sam's old report cards and the first shotgun that Dean sawed off by himself.
** After [[spoiler:Bobby's death]], Dean keeps his flask. After Dean and Sam burn his body, his ghost is able to manifest itself, because the flask was a huge part of him.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/VanDerValk'': After a teenage petty thief falls to his death while fleeing from the police, the titular detective finds himself going through the personal effects of the tourist whose suitcase the boy had stolen. [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife Much to his dismay]], it turned out that [[AllForNothing there was nothing of significant value in the case]]; he died over a couple of changes of clothes, some toiletries, and a paperback Creator/AgathaChristie novel.
* ''Series/Warehouse13'' does this at the end of an episode where they investigated the death of a former Warehouse agent. In his personal effects (untouched since he died), they find an engagement ring, meant for [[RetiredBadass Rebecca]] - who had previously said that her dead boyfriend/former partner "always chose the Warehouse before me."
-->'''Agent Bering:''' ''(showing her the ring)'' Looks like he chose you after all.
* In the Australian series ''Water Rats'' the police search the flat of a lonely man who committed suicide and find a sex doll there. When his father comes to pick up his personal items, the doll has mysteriously disappeared.
* After prominent drug kingpin [[spoiler:Stringer Bell]] is killed on ''Series/TheWire'', the cops find and go to his apartment... and are shocked to see that it's a tastefully decorated apartment that looks like it should belong to a corporate executive. [=McNulty=] in particular is surprised to realise that they knew ''nothing'' about the guy they'd been investigating for years.
-->[=McNulty=]: [After pulling an edition of [[UsefulNotes/{{Capitalism}} Adam Smith's]] ''Wealth of Nations'' off a bookshelf] Who the fuck was I chasing?
* Happens (sort of) on ''Series/TheXFiles'' in the hunt for Mulder after he goes missing. While looking through his things, Scully finds that Mulder was keeping a terrible secret: he was dying from a brain disorder and had never told her. He had a headstone made and was getting his affairs in order.
----
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%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
%%
%%%
[[PersonalEffectsReveal Revealing something about somebody through their personal effects]], often posthumously, in LiveActionTV series.
----
* Averted in ''Series/{{Angel}}''. After [[spoiler:Doyle]]'s death, Cordelia tries to do this but finds that [[spoiler:Doyle]] didn't have any personal effects kept in the office, so she couldn't learn any more about him.
** But then, it turns out [[spoiler:he did leave something behind (albeit not something tangible): his visions. At the end of the episode, Cordelia even frames a drawing she made of her first vision as a reminder that something of Doyle's is still there]].
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' does this trope once or twice when pilots are killed.
* One of the last episodes of ''Series/BabylonFive'' has Zack find a vital clue to catching an assassin in the effects of a security guard killed by the assassin for his comlink: the fake replacement [[CommLinks comlink]].
** This is actually done when Franklin goes through Captain Sheridan's effects after he died at Z'Ha'Dum and finds a datacrystal in which Sheridan professes his love for Delenn. It's an extremely moving message, and Delenn quotes from it as she enjoins the Rangers and the White Star fleet to launch a desperate final assault on the Shadow's homeworld: "A friend told me, if you're falling off a cliff, you might as well try to fly. Here, and now, I give you one final chance to fly."
* Happened on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' after [[spoiler:Zach]] has been revealed as evil, crippled, and institutionalized. Remarkable in that it didn't involve an actual death, but still a major tearjerker.
* Happens in ''Series/BrothersAndSisters''. One of the central mysteries to the first season is the identity of a baby found in one of William Walker's photographs. And since they can't ask him (being dead and all), the first answer they get to the question is the wrong one.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' does this with [[spoiler:Warrick]], mostly to get something to bury [[spoiler: him]] in, and it's then that Catherine and Greg find the documents and video relating to [[spoiler:Warrick's custody fight for his infant son, Eli]].
* In ''Series/DharmaAndGreg,'' an elderly neighbor dies and the title characters read her diary, which seems to indicate that she [[MustNotDieAVirgin died a virgin]]. This sets up the episode's central plot, which is the neighbor's spirit [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibly]] possessing Dharma's body and having sex with Greg.
* Occurs in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''Terminus'', where it is revealed that new companion Turlough has inherited Adric's quarters on board the TARDIS, Adric having been killed off towards the end of the previous season. This leads to a scene in which artifacts relating to Adric's time with the Doctor make cameo appearances.
* Parodied in ''Series/{{Firefly}}''; when River and Simon are kidnapped in the episode "Safe," Jayne rifles through Simon's belongings, stealing his cash and mocking him in his journal.
-->"Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hillfolk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."
** When they return to the ship at the end of the episode, Jayne tries to return their stuff before they notice, running into Simon on his way out.
* Parodied in the penultimate episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where the gang find [[CasualKink a set of furry hand-cuffs]] in the closet in Monica's spare room. After going through all of the old inhabitants of the room (Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe), they come to the conclusion that they belonged to ''Monica and Ross' grandmother''.
-->Wow, Nana liked it ''rough''!
** In "The one where Mr.Heckles dies" Monica and Rachel are left all of the belongings of their annoying downstairs neighbor, and they discover he has many similarities to Chandler.
* In ''Series/GilmoreGirls,'' Richard's mother, "Trix," dies, and he's so distraught that Emily takes charge over the arrangements. While going through her things, she and Lorelei discover a letter that Trix sent to Richard right before his and Emily's wedding, begging him not to go through with it. Emily is so furious that she leaves Lorelei to take care of everything, which rapidly proves to be too much for her to handle.
* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'': The TV movie[=/=]episode ''The Fire Ships'', the men are auctioning off the possessions of a deceased crewmate, to send the proceeds home to his widow. The deceased sailor's best friend, stricken with guilt, hands over all of his money for the entire collection and throws it overboard.
* Interesting use in an early episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'': the survivors hold a memorial for those who died in the crash, whom they didn't know. They go through their effects to glean what they can for the service.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
** In the episode "Death Takes a Holiday," during a Christmas party for local orphans, Hawkeye, BJ, and Margaret try to help a wounded G.I. After seeing there was no chance to save him, Margaret finds a photo of his wife and kids. BJ decides to try to keep him alive for a few hours more, so his kids "won't think of Christmas as the day their daddy died."
** In the episode "Who Knew?" has Hawkeye preparing to eulogize a nurse who died after stepping on a landmine. While going through her personal effects, Father Mulcahy comes across her diary, where she revealed her strong feelings for Hawkeye, with whom she'd spent what he'd assumed to be a casual one-night-stand.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' Gibbs takes one last look through a box of personal effects gathered from the desk of a deceased agent. He explains to Ziva it's a tradition of making sure nothing upsetting in that box makes it back to the family.
* After Rimmer leaves in ''Series/RedDwarf,'' Lister has to throw out his old things to reduce the weight on the ship and gets teary-eyed at the memories. Kryten then decides to 'cheer him up' by collecting Rimmer's old journals and making 'The Rimmer Experience' ride on the holodeck. Lister suddenly remembers why he hated Rimmer so much.
* In an early episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', when it's believed Daniel's been killed (this is before it became a character trait, believe it or not), the rest of SG-1 go through this. Carter ends up finding Daniel's journal from the original movie, among other things.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Geordi and Wesley do this for Data after he's believed to have been killed in "The Most Toys", including working out which possessions go to which crew member. They end up discovering a photo/holograph of [[WeHardlyKnewYe Tasha Yar]], a book on Creator/WilliamShakespeare (a gift from the captain), and a set of playing cards. Wesley is also surprised to discover Data's medals--including several of Starfleet's highest honours. The audience knew about these from the earlier episode, "The Measure Of A Man", but the characters apparently didn't.
-->'''Geordi:''' Not bad for a walking pile of circuitry and memory cells.
* Parodied in the episode of ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'' where Jerri's father dies. She goes through his closet looking through his stuff--we see some intriguing things like a huge wad of money, a gun, and a KKK outfit... but Jerri just laments that she's still learned nothing about him.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** It's some time after the death, but the boys eventually find their father's storage locker. Although they were actually looking for [[McGuffin something plot relevant]], they also find some of Sam's old report cards and the first shotgun that Dean sawed off by himself.
** After [[spoiler:Bobby's death]], Dean keeps his flask. After Dean and Sam burn his body, his ghost is able to manifest itself, because the flask was a huge part of him.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/VanDerValk'': After a teenage petty thief falls to his death while fleeing from the police, the titular detective finds himself going through the personal effects of the tourist whose suitcase the boy had stolen. [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife Much to his dismay]], it turned out that [[AllForNothing there was nothing of significant value in the case]]; he died over a couple of changes of clothes, some toiletries, and a paperback Creator/AgathaChristie novel.
* ''Series/Warehouse13'' does this at the end of an episode where they investigated the death of a former Warehouse agent. In his personal effects (untouched since he died), they find an engagement ring, meant for [[RetiredBadass Rebecca]] - who had previously said that her dead boyfriend/former partner "always chose the Warehouse before me."
-->'''Agent Bering:''' ''(showing her the ring)'' Looks like he chose you after all.
* In the Australian series ''Water Rats'' the police search the flat of a lonely man who committed suicide and find a sex doll there. When his father comes to pick up his personal items, the doll has mysteriously disappeared.
* After prominent drug kingpin [[spoiler:Stringer Bell]] is killed on ''Series/TheWire'', the cops find and go to his apartment... and are shocked to see that it's a tastefully decorated apartment that looks like it should belong to a corporate executive. [=McNulty=] in particular is surprised to realise that they knew ''nothing'' about the guy they'd been investigating for years.
-->[=McNulty=]: [After pulling an edition of [[UsefulNotes/{{Capitalism}} Adam Smith's]] ''Wealth of Nations'' off a bookshelf] Who the fuck was I chasing?
* Happens (sort of) on ''Series/TheXFiles'' in the hunt for Mulder after he goes missing. While looking through his things, Scully finds that Mulder was keeping a terrible secret: he was dying from a brain disorder and had never told her. He had a headstone made and was getting his affairs in order.
----
