We don't know why, but TV villains often feel so much worse than movie villains.
Perhaps it's because we spend so much more time with them, perhaps it's because we invite them into our homes – whatever the reason, it sure feels good when they get duffed up good and proper.
Here are some of our favourite TV comeuppances, ranging from minor-league toughs to full-on Big Bads.
1. Stranger Things – Eleven's rage
You can't make a Stephen King homage without a knife-wielding bully and a jump off a cliff into some water (see also IT: Chapter One).
But what Stranger Things does differently is add some Eleven (you know, the 'Carrie' girl) gifting us with this goosebump-inducing comeuppance sequence where the bad guys get exactly what's coming to them, and we get one of the best "Yeah – you better run!" moments of all time.
Psychokinetically satisfying.
2. Game of Thrones – loyal dogs
So many comeuppances. Joffrey's wedding; the High Sparrow exploding; Tywin on the bog. But the best of all (so far…) was that horrible little bastard Ramsay.
He liked to keep his hounds hungry in the hope he'd have an opportunity to toss someone at them. Which is all well and good until he's the one being thrown to the wolves (well, dogs).
This comeuppance scene is satisfying on so many levels – it involves Ramsay's weapon being used against him, wielded by the woman he treated the worst. For added irony, it takes place in the same area Ramsay killed his stepmother and brother. Woof!
3. The Walking Dead – irony zombie
So, Martinez loves building big pits full of zombies to chuck people into. He also enjoys torturing zombies, and using them to kill people.
Wouldn't it be terrible if one day, the Governor snapped and decided to chuck him into one of those zombie-filled pits?
As it turns out, it's not terrible at all, but really, really entertaining – more satisfying than even the Governor's death by Michonne's sword, later in the series.
4. Breaking Bad – phone call
Breaking Bad's entire concept is basically around various people getting individual comeuppances – RIP, Gus Fring – but our favourite has got to be Lydia's.
A character who spends most of her screentime proving that she doesn't care about anyone but herself is dispatched not with the bang of a gun, or the boom of an explosion, but with a quiet poisoning. And using a device that was set up years before. We'd almost suspect that Vince Gilligan introduced the ricin capsule way back when without any idea what he was going to do with it – which is why it stayed hidden for so long.
"Goodbye Lydia," Walt says as he tosses away the phone. Never has such a casual killing been so comforting.
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – trophy daughter
Catherine Madison may have been one of the minor villains, but she was still cruel enough for her ironic death to be punch-the-air delightful.
After bullying her daughter and essentially trying to live through her successes as a cheerleader, the witch tries to curse her daughter into a cheerleading trophy and ends up accidentally sticking herself inside it instead. Layers upon layers of delicious irony.
