This week I've been watching the TV show Containment. Claudia Black is one of the stars, which is kind of funny, because before that, I watched The Originals, and that also has Claudia Black. I feel like I'm having a Claudia Black themed holiday season.
I really like Claudia Black. I hope to watch her in more things someday. Though she seems to be mostly in video games lately.
Anyway....
That's not really the point of this post.
I should get on with it. Right?
So last night I saw a really sad death on the show. It shook me up a bit. I think the last time I was so affected by a TV death was when I saw the tragedy on Love My Way. That was horribly sad.
I think the thing with Aussie TV deaths, though, is it's the shock that hurts the most. The shows scare me because it's usually someone happily going about their life and then suddenly they're hit by a car. Or they're in their car and crash down a cliff simply because they saw a mysterious white horse.
I'm already really scared of cars, and Australia has a lovely way of making my fear even worse.
The death on Containment wasn't really shocking, because the show is about a deadly virus spreading through Atlanta. It would be kind of silly to expect people not to die.
Sometimes a death can be sad because we don't like the idea of having to watch future seasons of a show without a character. There's a sense of future emptiness. But Containment wasn't renewed for a second season, so I'll have only two episodes without the character.
I'm sitting here trying to explain why Containment was sad, and all I'm doing is explaining how it's not like other TV deaths that have saddened me.
I want to explain why it was extra sad for me, but I don't think I can.
Maybe I'll just describe some of my feelings.
First of all, I had a lot of denial while it was happening. I thought the character would end up being cured. I thought there'd be a miracle. Even when things were looking VERY bleak, I still clung to hope. I think these denial feelings happen when someone is not handling a death so well.
Then late at night, I would be having my mind on something else. I'd suddenly remember this character had died, and I'd have that awful pit in my stomach. In the past, I've had those kinds of feelings about real life deaths or other bad events. Actually, I think the last time I had it, about a real life thing, was when Trump was first elected.
Wait...
I just thought of another difference between the Aussie TV deaths I've seen and the Containment one.
I think the Aussie shows do evoke feelings of sadness and not just fearful shock.
I think the difference, though, between the sadness there and the sadness with Containment is this: With Aussie deaths, the sadness usually happens in the aftermath. It's sad to see the mourners crying and falling apart.
With Containment, I haven't even seen much of the aftermath yet. I've just seen the dying and death scenes. I'm sure the mourning scenes will be very sad as well.
I think the difference is mostly due to the cause of death.
It goes into the whole what's worse—a surprise instant tragic death or a long drawn out dying drama? In which way would we prefer to lose the ones we love, and how would we prefer for people to have to lose us?
I usually feel, that though less painful, the surprise deaths are worse. There are no goodbyes and then you have to deal with the fact that your last words were something like, hey don't forget to pick up more toilet paper. Or worse.
On the other hand, the goodbyes on Containment were REALLY sad.
I guess all in all, death isn't easy.