Playing Dead Trivia Quiz

Answer:

When nine noble families come face to face in the quest to gain the Iron Throne and control of the mythical land of Westeros, you can wager that there will be war, betrayal, collusion, and sexual liaisons aplenty. This is the basis for the fantasy drama "Game of Thrones", and it delivers all of these commodities in excess. The scriptwriters and the directors certainly had no qualms in removing leading characters, and they stung us early on with the beheading of Ned Stark in the penultimate episode of season one. At this point, we saw Ned as the main man. He was the righteous man, the voice of reason, and the fighter for justice. It certainly taught us, from the outset, not to get too attached to the characters in the show.

Stark's betrayer was Petyr Baelish, a master manipulator in a realm of deceivers, creating chaos across Westeros and playing a leading hand in setting up the War of the Five Kings. However, he played one game too many when he endeavoured to turn Sansa Stark against her sister Arya, a plot that fell to pieces when the truth was revealed by their brother Bran. The man known as "Littlefinger" had run out of escape routes and soon fell victim to Arya's blade. The narrative above mentions the death of Daenerys Targaryen's handmaiden, Missandei, and that it was, seemingly, pointless. Many will say that this is not the case as it was the straw that finally tipped the Dragon Queen into madness. However, at this point, there was enough weight on the shoulders of the "Mother of Dragons" to credit this spiral into insanity and, thus, avoid Missandei's death. Look deeper and you will note that Daenerys had lost one of her precious dragons, her claim to the throne was being questioned, Cersei Lannister, despite facing insurmountable odds, was refusing her call to surrender and, worst of all, her relationship with Jon Snow was turning from fire into ice. Loyal to the extreme, it would have been interesting to see how Missandei dealt with her Queen's razing of King's Landing, a plot that would have added a layer of depth to the season's finale.

One of the most terrifying villains that "Criminal Minds" introduced to us was George "The Reaper" Foyet. Acknowledge that the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) hunts down serial killers for a living, however, with Foyet, it became personal. The Reaper had his eyes on the BAU's team leader, Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner and, to this end, he stalks Hotch, attacks him and winds up killing his wife. The team catches Foyet, but there is no arrest... the ending becomes both violent and shocking as Hotch snaps and beats The Reaper to death with his fists.

Another with an obsession was "Outlander's" Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, a man determined to make Jamie Fraser's life a misery. That aside, Randall was a despicable human being, known for his extreme brutality, sadism, predatory bisexuality, and pedophilia. His final confrontation with Jamie, where he meets his end at the Battle of Culloden, was a long-awaited affair for many viewers.

In the political drama series "The West Wing", Leo McGarry was President Josiah Bartlet's best friend, counsellor, advisor, and Chief of Staff. Much more, he was the mentor to many of the staff at the White House, most notably to Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn. During the last season of the show, he suddenly collapses and dies. There is little doubt that this was not the future that the writers had envisaged for Leo, but their hand was forced when the man playing Leo, actor John Spencer, died suddenly of a heart attack. One of the much-loved characters on the show, his passing becomes a double blow when one realizes the circumstances behind it.

Buffy Summers comes home to find her mum, Joyce, lying lifeless on the couch, her eyes staring at the ceiling, dead as a result of a brain aneurysm. In a series that was filled with numerous supernatural deaths, this one was so ordinary... yet there was nothing ordinary about this episode. The one in question was "The Body" (season 5, episode 16, 2001). In a brilliantly executed set, we find Buffy, who has saved the world numerous times, totally powerless, unable to bring her mother back to life. Writer Joss Whedon then explores not so much the grief but the numbness that arrives in the aftermath of a passing. The camera switches between the characters who respond and deal with the situation in their separate ways and, between each exchange, the camera comes back to the lounge, where we see Joyce's lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. To heighten the atmosphere of loss, Whedon removes the soundtrack and, in the process, produces a potent piece of television.

"ER" is one of the best medical dramas to grace the small screen and Dr. Mark Green was there at the start. We warmed to him because he was the voice of reason among a cast of highly combustible professionals. Then comes the shock, he has brain cancer and it is going to kill him. And so we watched as he went through treatment, hoping that this group of miracle workers would save him. The treatment fails. And so we watched, through another 35 episodes, as he battled the illness, before succumbing in what was an emotional episode in season eight of the show.

There's no other way to describe the death of Winifred "Fred" Burkle in the "Angel" series but brutal. Fred arrived in the series as a shy and reclusive lass from Texas, but one who was blessed with an enormous intellect. She gets trapped in an alternate dimension, gets rescued and, eventually, gets drawn out of her shell to become the heart of the series. Then, in the episode "Hole in the World" (season 5, episode 15, 2004), while investigating a sarcophagus, she inhales some dust that is the essence of a demonic warrior goddess that had existed from before time. For the rest of the episode, while the team races to find a way to save Fred, we watch her fading. Her skin begins to harden as the parasite within, now known as Illyria, begins to hollow her out. We watch with sadness as she is held by Wesley, who informs her that he loved her before he'd met her. He's still holding her as she whispers her final words, "Why can't I stay?", at which point her eyes turn blue and Wesley is flung across the room... Illyria fully owns the shell of Fred's body and Fred is now nothing more than one of Illyria's memories.

One of the most shocking deaths on television was that of Ryan Chappelle during season 3, episode 18 of the series "24" (2004). Chappelle had been there from the start as the head of the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) and was not a very likeable character. However, when the terrorists demand his death within the hour or they will release a deadly virus that would kill millions, President Palmer authorizes Jack to perform the execution. Surely this cannot happen. The team at CTU has always found a way. This time they don't and, at 6:59 am, Chappelle finds himself on his knees at a quiet railway facility with Jack behind him, shooting him in the back of the head. The irony of it all is that Chappelle spends the entire hour with Jack and, in that short space of time, we learn so much more about Ryan than we had for two and a half seasons, that we actually manage to find some warmth and sympathy for the character.

Over the course of eight seasons, the cast of "How I Met Your Mother" had developed an incredible chemistry between themselves that it was difficult to see how the writers could weave another "lovable" character into the plotline. Then, in the season 8 finale "Something New" (2013), we meet the "girl with the yellow umbrella". It proves to be Tracy McConnell, the woman who would become the love of Ted's life and the mother of his children. The whole of season nine is about Tracy and Ted and, as the pair's love grows, so does the audience's love for Tracy. Then we hear that she has an (undisclosed) terminal illness and will die... and we feel the loss. And while some of the audience felt this was the long-awaited and satisfactory conclusion to the series, many felt betrayed when it became obvious that all of the backtracking was pieced together so that Ted and Robin could get back together. Oh, you are despicable, Ted!

When Joel Miller was tortured and killed in the video game "The Last of Us Part II" (2020), it sent shockwaves through the gaming community and lit up the online chat boards. It was no less of a shock when the same thing occurred in season 2, episode 2 (2025) of the television version of the game. Pedro Pascal had put so much work into turning Miller's broken man, who shifts his morals to protect a young woman in the same manner he'd protect his own daughter, into one that endeared himself to the audience, that we are left devastated by his departure. The devastation is no less severe that we know something is going to happen... the killer being Abby, who'd sworn revenge upon Joel for the death of her father at the end of season one in 2024.

"Spooks" was a British spy drama series that was called "MI-5" in the United States and, by the very nature of the occupation of the characters (spies), it was another television show in which a number of beloved characters died. The passing of Danny Hunter, a Junior Case Officer in Section D, was one of the earlier ones and it put the viewers on notice that this was a series that was prepared to put your heartstrings through the wringer. Danny was there at the start, in 2002, and helped to set up the success of the programme and his death in the series three finale was filled with both bravery and tragedy. Held hostage by terrorists, he sacrifices himself to save Fiona and her husband, leaving a big hole in the show.

"Seinfeld" was billed as the "show about nothing" and, for the most part, it stuck to that principle. The rare exception was the long-running storyline about George Constanza's engagement to Susan Ross and his upcoming wedding. The problem is that George is looking for a way to get out of it and he does so, by accident. He purchases some cheap envelopes for the wedding invitations and leaves Susan alone to do the work of licking and sealing the invites. The problem is the glue on the stationery was toxic and... bye-bye Susan. In what TV Guide rated as number 8 in their "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History", a relieved George immediately contacts Marisa Tomei (who plays a fictional version of herself) to let her know he is back on the market. Oh, you are despicable, George!

Adding yet another death from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" may indicate that the show is a favourite of mine (that's true, by the way), but you cannot help enjoying Joss Whedon's smart and subversive writing, the snappy dialogue and his unexpected action sequences. The villain known as "The Judge" appears in a two-part episode, "Surprise" and "Innocence", during season 2 (1997) and he is a blue-skinned demon brought to Earth to remove it of its humanity. He also comes with the legend that no weapon forged by human hands could destroy him. Oh dear, there appears to be no way Buffy can win this one. That is, until she shows up with a bazooka and aims it at "The Judge". Comically, he asks with arrogance, "What does that do?", at which point Buffy unleashes the rocket and blows him to smithereens. (Note: Technology has advanced since "The Judge" was around in the early days, the bazooka is machine-cast, not hand-forged, hence it can destroy him.)

Until "Six Feet Under" came to light, most television shows, indeed pop culture, tended to tiptoe around the subject of death. Not so this show; it was unflinching in its approach and, consequently, there's a certain symmetry that it should provide one of the most meaningful departures on the small screen. Nate Fisher is the family's rebellious eldest child and has moved out of the family home, not wanting to have any obligation attached to the family's funeral business. His life, to this point, has become an exercise in going nowhere, but that changes when his father passes away in the pilot episode and he decides to return home. He embraces the family business, discovers that he has a brain condition and, for five seasons, is haunted by his own mortality, culminating in a stroke that takes his life just prior to the end of the show's run. In some respects, this highlights that the entire show was built around the concept of how death provides life with meaning. This is accentuated in the final two episodes, where we see the eventual deaths of all the main characters and what they had meant to the people around them... a tender touch from the writers that is, surprisingly, uplifting.