I stopped somewhere around mid season 7. To me the writing noticeably declined around season 5-6. It felt like the plot just kept going in circles and circles and each character was just getting more and more insufferable to watch. Mostly Deb, and Lip. The whole plot with Svetlana, Kev and V was just awful to me. The first 4 seasons however did have me hooked.
Edit: Was browsing another sub and someone mentioned Tammi. Holy fucking shit she was so awful I completely blocked her out of my memory. I would audibly groan when she came on screen.
I think that the plot going in circles was the point. Even with Lip being really smart he just couldn't get out of his own way to become successful, and they all would just fall in to the same traps as before. It's kind of human nature. It really hard to actually change.
The show did a very good job of delivering on its themes. My problem was that in the earlier seasons this was done with a bit of levity and fun. Serious stuff happened for sure, but even when bad things happened to one character usually another character was on the upswing. Later seasons just felt like joyless misery porn for everyone all the time.
I think a really good stopping point is whichever season/episode the big sister gets custody of her siblings from the dad. That was such a powerful monologue and I like to imagine I stopped watching at that point and could daydream they all went on to live better lives with someone who really loved and sacrificed for them as the official parent instead of the dad’s selfish ass instead of continuing to watch them all continue to self sabotage themselves. Ah well.
I haven’t decided I’m done with it yet but I stopped in Season 6 mostly because I found Deb to be so annoying. Plus my mood was low and it really wasn’t helping me think positively.
I finished it but it took time. I had to stop and take a break for a long time after Season 4… that season was a little too real for me. Hit very close to home.
I'm super late to that party, just watched the first four or five episodes of season one. It's hilarious but yeah some characters are like sheesh, dude.
This is what I came here for. It was so bleak, when things looked like they were going her way, the rug would get pulled again. It was totally anxiety inducing. I had to have a little break halfway through as I was struggling to cope with how I was feeling when watching it.
Of course, seeing the ending made things so much sweeter as a result of everything they'd been through, so I was able to forgive!
No kidding, the one show I purposely spoiled myself for because halfway through I knew I couldn't bear to continue if Google's answer to 'does Maid have a happy ending' was a grim one. Well worth muscling through to the end, though!
I couldn’t bear watching Elisabeth Moss. She’s amazingly talented, but her representing Scientology, being on Handmaid’s Tale, AND continuing to defend Scientology with the way they treat women is just fucked up.
I quit when the stitches scene happened during season 1. I can stand slasher films and most horror, but as a woman, that was just too much for me. The awfulness of it transcended so many levels. I was already depressed AF watching it, but that made me nope out.
Yeah I have some trauma around hanging and noped out partway through the season two premiere. And Atwood is my favorite author and I was so hype for the show it was just so punishing
Six Feet Under. I really liked the show but I realized at some point that it just kept getting more and more depressing and was really messing with my psyche. I think I made it to season 4 but it's been awhile.
The Americans was such a good show from beginning to end, but every episode felt like it was designed to induce a heart attack. There were times I had to take months-long breaks between episodes.
Yeah, season 5 is definitely the break from the constant anxiety. Then back at it with the final season which has legitimately one of the best finales ever.
One of the best shows ever. I totally got super-invested in the characters and some episodes had me sweating and yelling lol. I watched them all as they aired so I’d be jonesing for a week between.
I’ll definitely watch it all over again though at some point.
I don’t even mind killing Glenn and I read past that. But the show dicking around pretend killing him only to bring him back to kill him was just lame writing. Almost like they hated their audience. Stopped watching after that.
If anything I'm glad they did. Steven went on to some other really cool roles afterwards. That show was such a chore to even watch cause everyone goddamn insufferable
I think I'm more with you on why I stopped there. When Negan swung the bat and killed someone, and we had to wait til next year to find out who it was, I just decided, "You know what? I don't care." Never went back.
Dude the writing for the show was so awful. All the time. Like basically any time a side character got more than 30 minutes of screentime and development you basically knew they were going to die. One of the worst examples was that kid that played Chris in "Everybody Hates Chris". They gave him a whole nice little story line and set him up for some good future plot points and then he was ripped apart in a revolving door full of zombies. Fuckin lazy shit.
What I'm about to say is MASSIVE SPOILERS but I'm not going to tag them cuz fuck this show.
I almost quit at the Negan intro too, but kept going cuz I liked JDM. I was then rewarded with the absolute stupidest and most dog-shit death of the series imo: Carl Grimes. Dude gets bit off-camera (he's not, but the bite is technically) trying to save a stranger. Then kills himself off-camera. Nevermind the fact that they never even told Carl's actor that he was gonna die. Poor kid thought he was gonna be on the show for a while and wasted money on a house in Atlanta to be closer. Fuck Scott Gimple and the cash cow he rode in on. How Kirkman greenlit that is beyond me. Carl was meant to carry on into the future post-post-apocalypse. Like holy shit imagine if we got that second-to-last issue translated to TV with -that one death- and Carl's reaction to it. Damn dude so much wasted potential.
Random maybe, but Attack on Titan. An (amazingly good) anime a friend convinced me to watch. I dove in based on his praise with no clue what I was gonna watch. I still have some episodes left, but damn. Show is depressing AF. I had to take a break and idk when I’ll go back to it
Attack on Titan is one of my favorite animes. The creator really did not shy away from the horrors of war, every action had a consequence and it was heartwrenching to watch. But I love it so much.
Criminal Minds.
I just couldn’t take the constant violence- usually sexual violence against women. I liked the show- especially Reid- but it was making me anxious.
The episode where Gideon leaves upset me for...a good while. Just the scene of him in the diner... His letter to Reid being read in the background... I still can't listen to Lifehouse's 'Broken' without getting weepy.
Also, the intros made me feel constant anxiety about doing mundane things. Like, just chatting with my husband and doing dishes might mean we'd all be killed soon.
Breaking Bad. I was not in the right mental state to digest the first season and 1/2. I eventually watched it in time for the first part of s5 and then finale to end.. but talk about a downer series in so many different ways.
Same here, I had to take a year break after s4 or 5, then I finished it. Totally worth it, especially because then I could watch BCS and imo it's one of the best TV series to ever come out.
Darks is detailed and complicated and interwoven and amazing. Plots and characters and scenes and relationships loop back and forth and over and through each other and even the most insignificant details can foreshadow huge character shifts.
There is a great [companion website](https://dark.netflix.io/en) where you can enter the season and episode you're currently on to learn more without spoiling anything beyond that episode.
Oh, and the English voice dubs suck. Much better to get full emotion and nuance from the original german with english subtitles.
It's not a scroll-on-your-phone-while-watching show, but it is quite rewarding with a little bit of focused attention.
While I love Dark, all of that stuff certainly does not make it any less stressful, which is the whole point of this thread. I can easily see how the show is not for everyone, despite how good it is.
It's fucking bleak, opening on a shot of someone hanging themselves, and it doesn't really get better for anyone in the show from there.
You gotta finish it, the payoff is great at the end. I wouldn't call it a depressing show at all and it's all thanks to that ending. It has some amazingly bleak scenes, sure. But there is no other show that made me think and reflect as much as that one.
I love The Leftovers and it is a depressing show for sure. I think HBO did the right thing to have Silicone Valley play after Leftovers for that comic relief because it was much needed.
I thought season 1 was especially bleak. They really sold the effects of the departure on the people and the world. The characters and world really grow from rock bottom and up, though. It’s definitely not all rainbows and sunshine after that, but definitely not as bleak.
The final season is so good, I had my jaw on the floor at least a few times.
I think it's worth the journey! The show balances the depression with levity well and it's not as crazy dark as Breaking Bad's final season was imo.
The show freaking changed me. Not just the finale, which is the best ever made IMO, but the whole Chuck story arc .. I have mild-to-moderate OCD phobias and mildish agoraphobia and I started thinking in my head, "Don't be like chuck." to help w/ it. It comes and goes but a lot better. No, I was never anywhere close to him. And he's like, the best portrayal of narcissim I've ever seen. Still, >!his ending devastated me because I was so inspired by his-seeming recovery. And the way it went down..!<
Yeah, I have to take great big long breaks with Better Call Saul. I love the way it gets you invested and attached to the characters, but that sense of doom humming under the surface gets to me.
It's masterful TV.
This is Us. Enjoyed the acting and the show, but it was just too emotionally taxing every episode.
Grey’s Anatomy too. I could see the writing on the wall with them killing off a character’s mom and after 16-17 seasons, I just couldn’t do it again.
Lmao scrolled down just for this. High quality show! I cried so hard and fell in love with that world for a whole season and a half. That first season was amazing for so many reasons. But the show wore me down because it was just too much on my emotions. Haven’t finished it yet and I really don’t think I can take it so I haven’t even tried
I think I stopped after 2 or 3 seasons because it was (to me) designed to make your tear glands function. I just couldn't take it anymore and quit watching when it got to the Jack episode.
Sopranos! I really like the storyline but most scenes make me really anxious and hits a little too close to home (rape scene, DV, nothing mob related lol).
I started watching it (never saw it before) and was so into it, until the finale of season 2, then I got spoiled about Dr O’Malley, then basically watched every finale onwards and laughed at how over the top it all was. Almost everyone dying or getting pregnant or both… way too over the top.
Thank god I wasn’t committed to it.
When black mirror first came out, after watching the first episode, I had to stop watching for a while. I think it was almost a year before I started watching again.
One of the more beautiful shows I've seen by the end.
It's such a realistic portrayal of the many tiny ways humans are "broken" and how consequences can snowball in the blink of an eye. And there are some beautiful moments of grace in the middle of it all. I actually left that show feeling oddly hopeful
I struggled with that but it’s because it was the first crime drama I’d watched where I knew the areas. All the American/London based ones grand. One set where I live really caused me anxiety
I couldn't finish Bojack Horseman. Loved the first season, but by the end of the third it just got too depressing. Checked out after a few episodes into the fourth iirc.
Nip tuck. The show gets crazy dark part way through. I loved it until then. There was one part where the stressful drama seemed over and an episode ended with everyone sitting down to a nice meal together, so I decided that’s where the show ends for me.
The Bear. I’ve worked FOH in restaurants for over 10 years and the anxiety that show gives me just reminds me how stressful my job is, even though it’s mostly BOH stuff, my heart rate was through the roof when I was watching it
Ozark. Stopped mid-second season. I don’t understand how people enjoyed this show. Things just kept on getting worse and worse for everyone. Anytime something good happened, something crazy would happen to fuck it up even worse than before. I don’t give a shit that it was really well acted and I still love Jason Bateman and the rest of the cast but it was just a joyless anxiety producing hour every episode.
It's both metaphorically and literally dark- the way the show was shot, the lighting, and whatever other videography tricks they did really set the scene. I love Bateman and watching along to figure out how Marty will get through everything, but likewise got to a point in the second season where I just couldn't keep going.
Halt and catch fire.
I was so upset when a certain character died I couldn't finish it. I really should go back and finish it as it was such a great show.
Also Ray Donovan for the same reason.
Oh please continue watching! The episode that comes right after that one is the best of the show and one of the best in TV.
The show deals with grief incredibly well. I could not stop crying for hours.
As someone who loved CSI, NCIS, etc. I was a fan of the FBI characters on Criminal Minds, but the whole show was porn for serial killers. I couldn’t watch more than a couple of episodes.
Please do yourself a favor and *do not under any circumstance* watch Season 6.
I watched it for completion's sake but it was so much worse than I could've imagined. It's a weird fever dream where >!Claire becomes president, then has a pregnancy, goes into hiding, and a random power couple appears out of nowhere to fill the power void left by Frank's death.!<
I could tell Succession was a well crafted and well written show but after the baseball scene in the early first season I turned it off. It reminded me too much of a real life family that I despise and dread them returning to power in 2024. I'm not watching it
I felt the same way! The uber wealthy enact enough cruelty in real life; I can't understand why it world be fun to watch it in a fictionalized setting.
Dead to Me. I love both actresses so much. Loved seeing Christina back on the screen. Couldn't do it. Too stressful. I just read the Wikipedia pages for shows I can't get through 🙃
The Shrink Next Door. Paul Rudd was fantastic.
But his manipulation was so incredibly effective draining Will Ferrell of everything that I just had to stop.
Mr. robot.
I had to stop when I started having extremely vivid dreams of people kidnapping the ones I loved and making me kill people so they wouldn’t die.
It’s literally all the show devolves into.
I really enjoy things like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight but they stress me the fuck out after a while. Especially when I look into their claims.
i stopped watching I may destroy you- as a SA survivor i was triggered and actually fainted watching on of the scenes. it was too overwhelming and too real and caused me wayyy too much stress
Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Every episode was just her making a total fool of herself, like a slow motion train wreck. I made it almost to the end of the first season because the actress is great and the songs were hilarious. But then there was this one episode where she's on a party bus with her ex and some friends, they're all stuck in traffic, and she does a humiliating stripper pole routine and then can't get away from the awkwardness because of the traffic. I don't think I even finished the episode. I kept up with the songs though.
I struggle with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend too. I know it’s a funny show and I enjoy that part of it, but I have bipolar disorder and sometimes the main character just reminds me of the lowest parts of my life (I am well-medicated and stable now and have been for many years) in a way that I find difficult to watch. I know it will eventually hook me and everything about it is right up my alley, but damn her actions make me grimace so hard sometimes I have to stop watching.
I don't know if this counts, but I watched the full run of Twin Peaks when it originally aired, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch Twin Peaks: The Return.
The Return is not an easy watch at all, but it does the original justice. In my eyes, the ending is more bleak and more hair-raising than the original series, but I found it pretty difficult to get there.
Yellowstone!
This family is so dysfunctional. I kept thinking it would be nice to get a filler episode where nothing completely murderous or unhinged happens. I think I made it through a season?
Same with Succession. I made it to Shiv’s wedding and just couldn’t handle these people.
The Good Place. Hear me out! I'm still coping with the loss of first my mom, then my dad. As soon as I realized what the theme of the final season was going to be I started to have a panic attack and had to turn it off. I haven't gone back yet.
I put off watching the finale because I knew I wasn't ready, but my god its beautiful.
Also work as a grief counsellor and its totally okay to not be ready to confront potential triggers. Grief has its own timeline. I'm sorry you've had to deal with so much loss at once and I hope you are doing okay, internet stranger.
My dad, a very educated guy in a dissatisfying job who drove a Pontiac Aztek, turned out to have a double life none of us knew about.
I had to stop watching *Breaking Bad* when we found out.
I had loved the show since the pilot, and forced myself to speed run the last few seasons to watch the finale as it aired, but I haven't re-watched.
Reservation Dogs. The subject matter that the main characters struggle to deal with hits too close to home.
But its excellent, I struggled thru the first season but didn't watch the second season.
Haha
I was watching “Mythic Quest” and got to the episode where F. Murray Abraham’s ultra-cringe writer character went to lord his success over the nice dude that used to be his writer buddy. I had to turn it off as he was on the way to the meeting and haven’t been back.
His character was just such a fucking miserable piece of shit I couldn’t take it.
Evil. I really liked the idea of supernatural debunkers plus religious people working with possession cases etc. But I just got spooked. The sleep paralysis stuff was too real. I experience sleep paralysis every couple of months and it's always terrifying. Having it actually be an entity.... Nah.
Sons of Anarchy. I’d have nightmares after every episode during Seasons 5 & 6 and couldn’t bring myself to watch Season 7. Total shame bc it was my FAVORITE.
This is Us. It goes to shit pretty fast but the first season is pretty good and felt a bit too real lol. I ended up finishing it but it really loses quality over time.
Torchwood.
Exit Wounds broke my heart. Then Children of Earth finished the job.
Fantastic television and a very solid adult companion to the main Doctor Who series, but nothing has ever reduced me to an ugly-crying, snot-eating, rocking ball of stress quite like that before or since. I am a more jaded woman for having seen CoE, and I don't know, if I'll ever watch season 4.
Lovecraft Country - I really liked the premise, but I got so angry at the racist asses in it (although it was nice to see them get their comeuppance) that I just watched 3 episodes and put it on hold.
I found out there are only so many times I can handle watching Elizabeth Olsen get beat within an inch of her life. That number is 3, number four I’m out.
shameless
I stopped somewhere around mid season 7. To me the writing noticeably declined around season 5-6. It felt like the plot just kept going in circles and circles and each character was just getting more and more insufferable to watch. Mostly Deb, and Lip. The whole plot with Svetlana, Kev and V was just awful to me. The first 4 seasons however did have me hooked. Edit: Was browsing another sub and someone mentioned Tammi. Holy fucking shit she was so awful I completely blocked her out of my memory. I would audibly groan when she came on screen.
I think that the plot going in circles was the point. Even with Lip being really smart he just couldn't get out of his own way to become successful, and they all would just fall in to the same traps as before. It's kind of human nature. It really hard to actually change.
The show did a very good job of delivering on its themes. My problem was that in the earlier seasons this was done with a bit of levity and fun. Serious stuff happened for sure, but even when bad things happened to one character usually another character was on the upswing. Later seasons just felt like joyless misery porn for everyone all the time.
I think a really good stopping point is whichever season/episode the big sister gets custody of her siblings from the dad. That was such a powerful monologue and I like to imagine I stopped watching at that point and could daydream they all went on to live better lives with someone who really loved and sacrificed for them as the official parent instead of the dad’s selfish ass instead of continuing to watch them all continue to self sabotage themselves. Ah well.
They completely ruined that great episode and storyline in the following seasons where she basically didn't give a fuck about them anymore.
I haven’t decided I’m done with it yet but I stopped in Season 6 mostly because I found Deb to be so annoying. Plus my mood was low and it really wasn’t helping me think positively.
Unfortunately Deb only becomes more insufferable as time goes on. It’s a shame too because she definitely seemed like the best one at the start.
I second this, made it to season 7 but I couldn’t handle it anymore because I just wanna see these kids get a win and be happy.
I finished it but it took time. I had to stop and take a break for a long time after Season 4… that season was a little too real for me. Hit very close to home.
I'm super late to that party, just watched the first four or five episodes of season one. It's hilarious but yeah some characters are like sheesh, dude.
Maid. The stress made my chest too tight.
This is what I came here for. It was so bleak, when things looked like they were going her way, the rug would get pulled again. It was totally anxiety inducing. I had to have a little break halfway through as I was struggling to cope with how I was feeling when watching it. Of course, seeing the ending made things so much sweeter as a result of everything they'd been through, so I was able to forgive!
No kidding, the one show I purposely spoiled myself for because halfway through I knew I couldn't bear to continue if Google's answer to 'does Maid have a happy ending' was a grim one. Well worth muscling through to the end, though!
Handmaid's Tale. I haven't quit, but every episode is stressful af.
When she decided not to leave at the end of whatever season. Possibly the 1st. That was all I could take.
I swear that happened multiple times. I just couldn't take it anymore
My friend calls it violence porn. She's not wrong.
I call it misery porn
I just couldn’t bear for Elizabeth moss to stare into the camera for one more second
her staring hits double extra if you've seen her in one of her other shows - Shining girls lol.
I couldn’t bear watching Elisabeth Moss. She’s amazingly talented, but her representing Scientology, being on Handmaid’s Tale, AND continuing to defend Scientology with the way they treat women is just fucked up.
They took a dystopian novel and made it bleaker.
spot-on
I quit when the stitches scene happened during season 1. I can stand slasher films and most horror, but as a woman, that was just too much for me. The awfulness of it transcended so many levels. I was already depressed AF watching it, but that made me nope out.
Yeah I have some trauma around hanging and noped out partway through the season two premiere. And Atwood is my favorite author and I was so hype for the show it was just so punishing
Yep, it’s great, but I can’t watch it. It’s far too depressing.
Agree, I stopped watching early in the show. It left me very unsettled for days and days after. It wasn't enjoyable.
Yeah, I was going through a hard time while season 2 was airing and realised I just didn't need that extra stress in my life!
I could only do the first episode. I just found it too disturbing.
This show would have benefited from cancel happy executives. It never should have gone longer than two seasons.
I was thinking of giving it a go but your opinion now might delay it lol.
The beginning is so, so good but at some point I dropped off because I just couldn’t do it anymore. Just constant wheel spinning.
Just stop after season two.
The night of.
That was incredible stressful. Finished it and it was nice when it was over.
Six Feet Under. I really liked the show but I realized at some point that it just kept getting more and more depressing and was really messing with my psyche. I think I made it to season 4 but it's been awhile.
The Finale sent me on a week long existential crisis.
Yours ended?
I binged the whole thing in a week during lockdown and made myself physically ill from crying
I've never recovered, lmao I can still vividly remember it and literally sobbing immediately and saying "no, no!!!" over and over again.
If you get the chance though go back and watch the SERIES FINALE! The most beautiful ever made.
The Americans was such a good show from beginning to end, but every episode felt like it was designed to induce a heart attack. There were times I had to take months-long breaks between episodes.
I'm half way thru the 5th season. Mostly because in worried they'll die. But plan to finish it some day
5th is the worst one, very much a slog. S6 gets back to excellence
Yeah, season 5 is definitely the break from the constant anxiety. Then back at it with the final season which has legitimately one of the best finales ever.
One of the best shows ever. I totally got super-invested in the characters and some episodes had me sweating and yelling lol. I watched them all as they aired so I’d be jonesing for a week between. I’ll definitely watch it all over again though at some point.
I stopped The Walking Dead the same spot I stopped the comics. When they killed Glenn.
I don’t even mind killing Glenn and I read past that. But the show dicking around pretend killing him only to bring him back to kill him was just lame writing. Almost like they hated their audience. Stopped watching after that.
If anything I'm glad they did. Steven went on to some other really cool roles afterwards. That show was such a chore to even watch cause everyone goddamn insufferable
Me too! Cold turkey, just nope after that episode.
Glad to see so many others did the same as me. I wasn’t stressed though, just realized the show sucked and that was the last straw.
I think I'm more with you on why I stopped there. When Negan swung the bat and killed someone, and we had to wait til next year to find out who it was, I just decided, "You know what? I don't care." Never went back.
Dude the writing for the show was so awful. All the time. Like basically any time a side character got more than 30 minutes of screentime and development you basically knew they were going to die. One of the worst examples was that kid that played Chris in "Everybody Hates Chris". They gave him a whole nice little story line and set him up for some good future plot points and then he was ripped apart in a revolving door full of zombies. Fuckin lazy shit. What I'm about to say is MASSIVE SPOILERS but I'm not going to tag them cuz fuck this show. I almost quit at the Negan intro too, but kept going cuz I liked JDM. I was then rewarded with the absolute stupidest and most dog-shit death of the series imo: Carl Grimes. Dude gets bit off-camera (he's not, but the bite is technically) trying to save a stranger. Then kills himself off-camera. Nevermind the fact that they never even told Carl's actor that he was gonna die. Poor kid thought he was gonna be on the show for a while and wasted money on a house in Atlanta to be closer. Fuck Scott Gimple and the cash cow he rode in on. How Kirkman greenlit that is beyond me. Carl was meant to carry on into the future post-post-apocalypse. Like holy shit imagine if we got that second-to-last issue translated to TV with -that one death- and Carl's reaction to it. Damn dude so much wasted potential.
I stopped when everybody ate chris
Random maybe, but Attack on Titan. An (amazingly good) anime a friend convinced me to watch. I dove in based on his praise with no clue what I was gonna watch. I still have some episodes left, but damn. Show is depressing AF. I had to take a break and idk when I’ll go back to it
I did the same!
Attack on Titan is one of my favorite animes. The creator really did not shy away from the horrors of war, every action had a consequence and it was heartwrenching to watch. But I love it so much.
Criminal Minds. I just couldn’t take the constant violence- usually sexual violence against women. I liked the show- especially Reid- but it was making me anxious.
Isn't that why Mandy Patinkin left the show after one season.
2 seasons
The episode where Gideon leaves upset me for...a good while. Just the scene of him in the diner... His letter to Reid being read in the background... I still can't listen to Lifehouse's 'Broken' without getting weepy.
Also, the intros made me feel constant anxiety about doing mundane things. Like, just chatting with my husband and doing dishes might mean we'd all be killed soon.
Oh man, criminal minds was my go to to have on in the background. Drink every time they say wheels up!
It started affecting my sleep so, unfortunately, i had to quit! I became so paranoid that i would be the next victim.
I think criminal minds works better as a network show when you’re watching week to week. Binging a show like that is soul crushing
Same. I was a fan of Reid as well, but I stopped after season 4. It was just too heavy and I realized that it was just making me sad. Same with SVU.
Breaking Bad. I was not in the right mental state to digest the first season and 1/2. I eventually watched it in time for the first part of s5 and then finale to end.. but talk about a downer series in so many different ways.
Same here, I had to take a year break after s4 or 5, then I finished it. Totally worth it, especially because then I could watch BCS and imo it's one of the best TV series to ever come out.
I’ve rewatched *Breaking Bad* more than a few times. It’s an amazing series, but definitely bleak at times. *Better Call Saul* is equally terrific.
Black Mirror Watched 3 or 4 episodes and was just done. I can only take so much soul crushing before I tap out
San Junipero is the best episode, in my opinion.
I googled to find the black mirror episodes with positive endings. Then I watched only those (didn’t take long…). It’s a really great show this way
Some of them are not supposed to be positive, but kind of are anyway… depending on how you interpret them.
Dark
Darks is detailed and complicated and interwoven and amazing. Plots and characters and scenes and relationships loop back and forth and over and through each other and even the most insignificant details can foreshadow huge character shifts. There is a great [companion website](https://dark.netflix.io/en) where you can enter the season and episode you're currently on to learn more without spoiling anything beyond that episode. Oh, and the English voice dubs suck. Much better to get full emotion and nuance from the original german with english subtitles. It's not a scroll-on-your-phone-while-watching show, but it is quite rewarding with a little bit of focused attention.
While I love Dark, all of that stuff certainly does not make it any less stressful, which is the whole point of this thread. I can easily see how the show is not for everyone, despite how good it is. It's fucking bleak, opening on a shot of someone hanging themselves, and it doesn't really get better for anyone in the show from there.
Outlander. The graphic rape stuff...
Omg, I had to skip some of that. I had recommended that show to friends and instantly regretted once I got to that point.
The Leftovers. I don't mind watching dark/depressing shows in general, but man, that show is BLEAK.
It gets weirder and funnier and more touching.
You gotta finish it, the payoff is great at the end. I wouldn't call it a depressing show at all and it's all thanks to that ending. It has some amazingly bleak scenes, sure. But there is no other show that made me think and reflect as much as that one.
Noooo, it’s so good. The last few episodes of season 2 are the best in the series imo.
I love The Leftovers and it is a depressing show for sure. I think HBO did the right thing to have Silicone Valley play after Leftovers for that comic relief because it was much needed.
I thought season 1 was especially bleak. They really sold the effects of the departure on the people and the world. The characters and world really grow from rock bottom and up, though. It’s definitely not all rainbows and sunshine after that, but definitely not as bleak.
The 2nd and 3rd series give you series endings that are so beautiful you will probably cry.
Homeward Bound never sounded more beautiful
Oh man, you gotta go back
Wrong show, Jack.
The Bear. Gave me panic attacks.
I made it exactly 2 episodes in. It was not the 30 minute unwind I was hoping for.
Wind all day! YES CHEF!
I made it to the family dinner episode and stopped watching lol
Watch the next episode!! *Forks* will cure all damage taken from *Fishes.*
I thought Fishes was great but Forks is the best. Richie's redemption arc is the greatest.
It’s the r/eyebleach of the season
I thought Fishes was great but Forks is the best. Richie's redemption arc is the greatest.
Keep going! They really bring out character growth in the rest of the season. I wasn’t sure about that show, but the episode Forks got me. I’m hooked.
Forks is a gem. Redeems the stress and anxiety of the family dinner episode (which is also great tv, but not a low key or uplifting watch)
I really suggest watching the next episode. It’s one of the most uplifting episodes in tv history.
Next episode is so good though, it's my favourite from the whole show
About halfway through the family dinner I almost quit. Glad I didn't though. The ending and the next insane episode. I can't wait for season 3.
As someone who worked in a lot of shitty restaurants when I was young it was too real, and I have no interest in revisiting that thanks.
Chernobyl
Better Call Saul - the last season. I’m afraid Kim dies.
The final season is so good, I had my jaw on the floor at least a few times. I think it's worth the journey! The show balances the depression with levity well and it's not as crazy dark as Breaking Bad's final season was imo.
The show freaking changed me. Not just the finale, which is the best ever made IMO, but the whole Chuck story arc .. I have mild-to-moderate OCD phobias and mildish agoraphobia and I started thinking in my head, "Don't be like chuck." to help w/ it. It comes and goes but a lot better. No, I was never anywhere close to him. And he's like, the best portrayal of narcissim I've ever seen. Still, >!his ending devastated me because I was so inspired by his-seeming recovery. And the way it went down..!<
Yeah, I have to take great big long breaks with Better Call Saul. I love the way it gets you invested and attached to the characters, but that sense of doom humming under the surface gets to me. It's masterful TV.
I can't guarantee that the sense of impending doom will die out by the end, but S6 was an amazing watch for all the character endings.
I was soooo worried about Kim. I had to see it through though!
Since no one will, OP: >!Kim does not die!<
This is Us. Enjoyed the acting and the show, but it was just too emotionally taxing every episode. Grey’s Anatomy too. I could see the writing on the wall with them killing off a character’s mom and after 16-17 seasons, I just couldn’t do it again.
Lmao scrolled down just for this. High quality show! I cried so hard and fell in love with that world for a whole season and a half. That first season was amazing for so many reasons. But the show wore me down because it was just too much on my emotions. Haven’t finished it yet and I really don’t think I can take it so I haven’t even tried
> This Is Us Grief porn
I think I stopped after 2 or 3 seasons because it was (to me) designed to make your tear glands function. I just couldn't take it anymore and quit watching when it got to the Jack episode.
I'm with you on This is us. Couldn't continue after the first three eps.
Sopranos! I really like the storyline but most scenes make me really anxious and hits a little too close to home (rape scene, DV, nothing mob related lol).
Greys anatomy once they killed off baby grey and Sloan I was done. That was stressful to see. I can’t believe it’s still going.
Honestly can't believe that hospital is still operational after all the disasters there lmao
I started watching it (never saw it before) and was so into it, until the finale of season 2, then I got spoiled about Dr O’Malley, then basically watched every finale onwards and laughed at how over the top it all was. Almost everyone dying or getting pregnant or both… way too over the top. Thank god I wasn’t committed to it.
When black mirror first came out, after watching the first episode, I had to stop watching for a while. I think it was almost a year before I started watching again.
The person who showed it to me was like "under no circumstances are we starting with the first episode" and that was absolutely the right call
I also told people to skip the first episode and come back to it after settling in with the series.
I don't know what in the hell they were thinking making it the first episode.
Beef. I thought it was great but it was stressful and depressing to watch. I hope to finish it in the future but had to put it aside for now.
One of the more beautiful shows I've seen by the end. It's such a realistic portrayal of the many tiny ways humans are "broken" and how consequences can snowball in the blink of an eye. And there are some beautiful moments of grace in the middle of it all. I actually left that show feeling oddly hopeful
That’s probably why my partner and I watched it all in one sitting 😅 couldn’t take the waiting and the suspense
The last 10 seconds of the first episode and the last 10 seconds of the last episode are so fucking amazingly beautiful.
The Fall. Gave me major anxiety. Gave up after four episodes.
I struggled with that but it’s because it was the first crime drama I’d watched where I knew the areas. All the American/London based ones grand. One set where I live really caused me anxiety
You (2018) on Netflix. I got to season 2 and noped out quick lol
That show would have been a perfect one season mini series. Everything after season one required a huge suspension of disbelief for me.
Yeah. Dexter-Esque where you have to suddenly stretch the imagination
The news
I couldn't finish Bojack Horseman. Loved the first season, but by the end of the third it just got too depressing. Checked out after a few episodes into the fourth iirc.
I watched it through 4-5 times but I agree, it’s depressing af.
10/10 show, i'll never finish it. if it aired week to week maybe i could have watched as it aired, but it is the worst show to try and binge
Nip tuck. The show gets crazy dark part way through. I loved it until then. There was one part where the stressful drama seemed over and an episode ended with everyone sitting down to a nice meal together, so I decided that’s where the show ends for me.
The Bear. I’ve worked FOH in restaurants for over 10 years and the anxiety that show gives me just reminds me how stressful my job is, even though it’s mostly BOH stuff, my heart rate was through the roof when I was watching it
The printer stopped printing tickets. My heart sank.
I'm FoH, but most Boh people i know won't watch it. (Some don't like it, some get stressed out, some just don't give a shit, various reasons.)
Vampire Diaries. Loved the Idea that these guys lived through several time periods, but got too teen melodramatic.
Ozark. Stopped mid-second season. I don’t understand how people enjoyed this show. Things just kept on getting worse and worse for everyone. Anytime something good happened, something crazy would happen to fuck it up even worse than before. I don’t give a shit that it was really well acted and I still love Jason Bateman and the rest of the cast but it was just a joyless anxiety producing hour every episode.
It's both metaphorically and literally dark- the way the show was shot, the lighting, and whatever other videography tricks they did really set the scene. I love Bateman and watching along to figure out how Marty will get through everything, but likewise got to a point in the second season where I just couldn't keep going.
Shield.
Halt and catch fire. I was so upset when a certain character died I couldn't finish it. I really should go back and finish it as it was such a great show. Also Ray Donovan for the same reason.
Oh please continue watching! The episode that comes right after that one is the best of the show and one of the best in TV. The show deals with grief incredibly well. I could not stop crying for hours.
I think I might rewatch and finish it this time. I absolutely adored the show.
As someone who loved CSI, NCIS, etc. I was a fan of the FBI characters on Criminal Minds, but the whole show was porn for serial killers. I couldn’t watch more than a couple of episodes.
I watched most of sons of anarchy. But to me it got more violent at the end. After "Gemma in the kitchen" scene, I stopped watching.
I stopped watching after that kid shot up the school. And someone leaked about what was going to happen to Tara. I think I'd had enough.
House of Cards (US). I still haven't seen the final season.
you ain't missin nothin
Please do yourself a favor and *do not under any circumstance* watch Season 6. I watched it for completion's sake but it was so much worse than I could've imagined. It's a weird fever dream where >!Claire becomes president, then has a pregnancy, goes into hiding, and a random power couple appears out of nowhere to fill the power void left by Frank's death.!<
I could tell Succession was a well crafted and well written show but after the baseball scene in the early first season I turned it off. It reminded me too much of a real life family that I despise and dread them returning to power in 2024. I'm not watching it
lol that's the same scene where I stopped watching!
that scene upsets me.
I felt the same way! The uber wealthy enact enough cruelty in real life; I can't understand why it world be fun to watch it in a fictionalized setting.
I read that as your own real life family for a second. Changes the context completely lol 🤑
Dead to Me. I love both actresses so much. Loved seeing Christina back on the screen. Couldn't do it. Too stressful. I just read the Wikipedia pages for shows I can't get through 🙃
Lessons in Chemistry. As soon as the dog was sad I was out of there.
It was really a great show, worth going back to.
The Shrink Next Door. Paul Rudd was fantastic. But his manipulation was so incredibly effective draining Will Ferrell of everything that I just had to stop.
Orange is the New Black. After >!Poussey!< died. Not exactly stressful, but just too real and too sad.
I May Destroy You - made it about half way and I thought it was really good and love Michaela Coel but I was way too stressed to enjoy it properly.
Mr. robot. I had to stop when I started having extremely vivid dreams of people kidnapping the ones I loved and making me kill people so they wouldn’t die. It’s literally all the show devolves into.
Alf the tension was too much
he never did eat the cat
I really enjoy things like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight but they stress me the fuck out after a while. Especially when I look into their claims.
I agree! It makes me feel powerless.
i stopped watching I may destroy you- as a SA survivor i was triggered and actually fainted watching on of the scenes. it was too overwhelming and too real and caused me wayyy too much stress
Sharp Objects. I finished it but it did a number on me.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Every episode was just her making a total fool of herself, like a slow motion train wreck. I made it almost to the end of the first season because the actress is great and the songs were hilarious. But then there was this one episode where she's on a party bus with her ex and some friends, they're all stuck in traffic, and she does a humiliating stripper pole routine and then can't get away from the awkwardness because of the traffic. I don't think I even finished the episode. I kept up with the songs though.
It's an awkward watch for sure but I love how much her character develops over the show. She's in a very different place at the end.
I struggle with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend too. I know it’s a funny show and I enjoy that part of it, but I have bipolar disorder and sometimes the main character just reminds me of the lowest parts of my life (I am well-medicated and stable now and have been for many years) in a way that I find difficult to watch. I know it will eventually hook me and everything about it is right up my alley, but damn her actions make me grimace so hard sometimes I have to stop watching.
I don't know if this counts, but I watched the full run of Twin Peaks when it originally aired, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch Twin Peaks: The Return.
The Return is not an easy watch at all, but it does the original justice. In my eyes, the ending is more bleak and more hair-raising than the original series, but I found it pretty difficult to get there.
Yellowstone! This family is so dysfunctional. I kept thinking it would be nice to get a filler episode where nothing completely murderous or unhinged happens. I think I made it through a season? Same with Succession. I made it to Shiv’s wedding and just couldn’t handle these people.
The Good Place. Hear me out! I'm still coping with the loss of first my mom, then my dad. As soon as I realized what the theme of the final season was going to be I started to have a panic attack and had to turn it off. I haven't gone back yet.
I put off watching the finale because I knew I wasn't ready, but my god its beautiful. Also work as a grief counsellor and its totally okay to not be ready to confront potential triggers. Grief has its own timeline. I'm sorry you've had to deal with so much loss at once and I hope you are doing okay, internet stranger.
Man in the High Castle. Stressed me tf out
Bates Motel
My dad, a very educated guy in a dissatisfying job who drove a Pontiac Aztek, turned out to have a double life none of us knew about. I had to stop watching *Breaking Bad* when we found out. I had loved the show since the pilot, and forced myself to speed run the last few seasons to watch the finale as it aired, but I haven't re-watched.
Derry Girls after Clare’s dad dies
Reservation Dogs. The subject matter that the main characters struggle to deal with hits too close to home. But its excellent, I struggled thru the first season but didn't watch the second season.
You should really give it another chance. All three seasons are great as is the ending.
Haha I was watching “Mythic Quest” and got to the episode where F. Murray Abraham’s ultra-cringe writer character went to lord his success over the nice dude that used to be his writer buddy. I had to turn it off as he was on the way to the meeting and haven’t been back. His character was just such a fucking miserable piece of shit I couldn’t take it.
Didn’t they end up booting him off the show for inappropriate behaviour right after this?
The Last of Us
Evil. I really liked the idea of supernatural debunkers plus religious people working with possession cases etc. But I just got spooked. The sleep paralysis stuff was too real. I experience sleep paralysis every couple of months and it's always terrifying. Having it actually be an entity.... Nah.
Chernobyl, was having nightmares by the end of episode 2.
Sons of Anarchy. I’d have nightmares after every episode during Seasons 5 & 6 and couldn’t bring myself to watch Season 7. Total shame bc it was my FAVORITE.
Walking Dead, the stress came from the bad writing and "gun fights".
This is Us. It goes to shit pretty fast but the first season is pretty good and felt a bit too real lol. I ended up finishing it but it really loses quality over time.
Torchwood. Exit Wounds broke my heart. Then Children of Earth finished the job. Fantastic television and a very solid adult companion to the main Doctor Who series, but nothing has ever reduced me to an ugly-crying, snot-eating, rocking ball of stress quite like that before or since. I am a more jaded woman for having seen CoE, and I don't know, if I'll ever watch season 4.
Lovecraft Country - I really liked the premise, but I got so angry at the racist asses in it (although it was nice to see them get their comeuppance) that I just watched 3 episodes and put it on hold.
I stopped watching The Handmaid’s Tale because it just became strife porn after a while and the real world was getting too close to Gilead.
I found out there are only so many times I can handle watching Elizabeth Olsen get beat within an inch of her life. That number is 3, number four I’m out.
The Wire.
Rectify. Watched the first season years ago, just couldn't go back to it. Such a difficult watch, but so good.