Dumb TV character resurrections – when dead characters are brought back to life – are notorious in the telly industry. Here are just a few of our... favourites?
1. Jon Snow – Game Of Thrones
All right, this is a show with dragons and shadow babies but – even in that context – Jon Snow gasping back to life still felt a tiny bit ridiculous. Mainly because, despite our totally expecting it to happen (even though it is still a cliffhanger in the books), the showrunners decided to draaaaag it out for as long as possible.
It's not the method of bringing him back that was silly (that had been carefully foreshadowed) nor was it the way it was shot or performed (which were brilliant). It was the torturous wait for the reveal which eventually turned preposterous.
But that's nothing compared to…
2. Glenn – The Walking Dead
We get it, The Walking Dead loves to foreshadow a future character-kill, and Glenn had an impending date with a barbed-wire baseball bat, but does that really excuse the idiotic fake-out that took place in Walking Dead's season 6, episode 7?
The reveal that Glenn hadn't actually died when he fell off that dumpster into the arms of hundreds of zombies, because they were too distracted by the guts of the other dude Glenn was with at the time (guess the undead hordes weren't hungry that day, huh?), wasn't just dumb – it was insulting, leading to the first major backlash by WD fans against their favourite show (it wouldn't be the last).
3. Sherlock – Sherlock
[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlyZYTLmt0&t=75s[/youtube]
Oh, Sherlock. Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock. In a shocking twist so egregious it even upset big fans, Holmes survived his confirmed death by roof-plummet via the magic of… Who knows?
Sherlock's return from the grave is technically never explained, with his resurrection episode structured around a bunch of theories as to how he did it, and none of them actually confirmed as the real explanation. Talk about frustrating. And silly.
4. Buffy – Buffy The Vampire Slayer
She saved the world, a lot – so when Buffy sacrificed her life to rescue little sister Dawn, fans wept, but accepted her demise as a relatively satisfactory conclusion to their favourite show. It was so good some fans still wish it'd been the actual end of the series.
This was a deliberate move by showrunner Joss Whedon, who wasn't sure if Buffy would return for a sixth season, so gave his hero a proper ending. When a new series was commissioned, he had to come up with a solution to bring her back.
Thankfully, he was working in a world in which pretty much anything could happen. Not so thankfully, he decided to use the Buffybot (a robot version of Buffy, which started life as a sex toy – don't ask) as part of the "resurrect her via magic" get-out that was already built into the show's mythology.
The idea that a malfunctioning robot could easily replace the once-in-a-generation Slayer, even for a short amount of time, isn't just ludicrous, it's rubbish. It felt more like a tenuous excuse for a cheap fake-out than a satisfactory element of such a key plotline.
5. Kenny – South Park
The "Oh my God, you killed Kenny!" running gag, with show co-lead Kenny being murdered at the end of every South Park instalment only to show up in the next episode with no explanation, is obviously ridiculous (and funny). The character received a final death in season 5 ('Kenny Dies'), only to come back again at the end of season 6.
In Season 14 we finally get the – totally ludicrous – explanation that Kenny is (sort of) immortal, thanks to a deal his parents made with a Cthulhu-worshipping death cult. Whenever he dies, a new baby Kenny materialises to take his place. We know South Park's a comedy and everything, but this is definitely the oddest entry on this list.
6. Brian – Family Guy
In season 12, episode 6 of Family Guy, the Griffin family had to deal with a tragedy that would be all-too familiar to most people watching the show, the death of a family pet.
When Brian was killed after being run over by a speeding car, we were told it was permanent. And it was… Until it wasn't.
After all, this is a show in which time travel is canon, so when Seth McFarlane and his mates got bored of trolling everyone with new dog Vinnie, they simply sent Stewie Griffin back in time to bring Brian back.
7. Spock – Star Trek: The Original Series
The Trek movie producers were so worried about fans reaction to Spock's death in Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan, they added an end coda that hinted their Vulcan hero could come back for the next film (which he did). But they needn't have worried, because Star Trek fans were well-used to Spock dying, only to return with relatively little fuss.
In Original Series season 2, episode, 'Return To Tomorrow', Spock dies spiritually (when an orb holding his soul – we know, we know – is destroyed), then physically, when an alien possessing his body is given a lethal injection. Both of these events happen in the same episode.
But don't worry guys, he's fine – turns out it was all a ruse to trick the alien into leaving his body. Or something.
