Angry TV characters have a spot of honor at the front of our memory. It’s hard to forget characters who impact your emotions.

Whether it’s sadness, intense joy, or burning rage, the best TV characters hit you in the feels.

We’ve picked 17 angry TV characters that we can’t help but remember for their grumpiness.

And for fun, I’m analyzing why most of us can relate to the reasons they’re angry. Let’s Hulk out.

17 Angry TV Characters

When taken out of context, an angry person can seem like they’re just a “blank” word — fill in your choice of adjective. I’m not trying to offend anyone.

But when you look past the surface and analyze the person beneath the grump, you often see fascinating causes that led to the brusk behavior.

For most of us, it’s simply getting older in a world that’s not as fun or friendly as we would like. I feel ya, fam.

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Anger can occur from untreated trauma, exposure to the worst that the world has to offer, life, addictions, or mental illness.

And the more it’s repressed, the worse it gets.

But some of TV’s grumpiest characters don’t mind blowing their lids. And we’re here for it.

Check out my 17 favorite unhappy people and why I (and probably you) can relate to their grump. Let’s do the grumpy dump.

Hailey Upton from Chicago PD

Chicago PD fans have had a rough few seasons as we continue to say goodbye to our favorite detectives in the Intelligence Unit.

Through the shortened season, we saw Hailey struggle with her marriage ending after Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) exited the show during the tenth season.

She threw herself into work and the abuse of running until she was past the point of exhaustion.

Disturbing how she spotted the signs of active addiction and self-harm when it came to Jo Petrovic’s drinking problem. But she couldn’t correlate similar signs with her own behavior.

CPD fans have spent several years dealing with the ups and downs of Hailey’s mental status as the show spent way too much time focused on her character development.

From depression to anger, her emotional roller coaster wore down even the most loyal of fans to the point that we celebrated when we heard the news of Tracy Spiridakos leaving, meaning the end of the Upton show.

Sam Carver from Chicago Fire

The writers of the One Chicago universe aren’t afraid to put their characters through the wringer when it comes to unprocessed trauma.

Firefighter Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) from Chicago Fire has a lot of baggage he hasn’t unpacked, which often leads to him responding to tense moments with aggression.

Like most hero types, Carver has a massive protective streak that extends to his Station 51 firefighting family and his workplace romance with paramedic Violet Mikami.

His childhood experiences with an abusive father make him sensitive to situations that involve dominating fathers and men who like to intimidate others.

Since he joined 51, we’ve seen him in several fights, which have led to tense situations with Stella Kidd, his rival-turned-close friend.

We’re familiar with how he looks behind bars, adding black marks to his heroism.

Gabi Mosely from Found

Found is a newcomer to the television lineup, but thanks to the charisma of Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) and Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), it quickly received a renewal notice for a second season (which will feature Station 19’s Bishop star Danielle Savre).

Equal parts creepy Criminal Minds child abduction and brilliant crime-solving Wisdom of the Crowd, with a healthy dose of Alert tossed in for a happily ever after.

Gabi is a brilliant and charismatic people finder running a crisis management team.

Their purpose is to find missing people who have been given up on by conventional methods.

A person who does the impossible and reunites families torn apart through violence should feel good.

But Gabi has a lot of repressed anger that we often see her unleash on the sexy yet evil prisoner she keeps in her basement dungeon.

Grossly referred to as Sir (although it’s hard to remember not to call him Zack Morris), Gosselaar portrays a deeply disturbed sociopath who kidnapped Gabi as a child and held her hostage for years before she escaped.

The irony is not lost that the kidnappee became the kidnapper and kidnapped her kidnapper to hold him as a prisoner as he had done her.

But Sir really got in our heads when we discovered that Gabi wasn’t in control after all.

While she thought she was keeping Sir against his will, he’s actually willingly acting as a hostage to obsessively spend time with her.

Imagine the kind of anger you must have inside from being held against your will as a child, only to stumble upon your captor years later when you’re not as vulnerable.

Has she become the protege of her captor without realizing it?

Henry Gowen from When Calls the Heart

The best TV shows give their characters deep personal growth, especially when it’s a bad guy.

Anyone who watching the awesomeness on Hallmark should be familiar with the massive ongoing success of When Calls the Heart.

WCTH takes viewers on a trip to the past, giving us a taste of life in a rural Canadian town at the forefront of modernization.

And as a Hallmark show, you can expect it to hit you in the feels from time to time as we immerse ourselves with the fictional townsfolk, like school teacher Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) and best friend Rosemary (Pascale Hutton).

But the best thing that’s happened on WCTH in the 11 seasons it’s been on is the amazing personal growth of the town grump and resident bad guy, Henry Gowen (Martin Cummins).

When the show first started, Gowen was the greedy, crooked mine manager that everyone blamed for the deaths of multiple miners.

It’s understandable why a person would hold onto repressed anger, especially if you agreed with the many insults and accusations deep down.

But the best thing about Henry’s angry persona is that we start to notice chinks in the armor that let us get glimpses of the inside. And unlike other angry people, his chi didn’t ooze evil.

Underneath, Henry is a great guy with tons of compassion and a soft spot for those who take the time to see the real him.

He has an undisclosed moral code that puts him on a path to redemption and rebirth free of the tarnishments of his former grouch self.

Kat Landry from The Way Home

Another Hallmark hit featuring a pretty angry main character (played by Chyler Leigh) is The Way Home.

Adding a time-traveling element is a neat twist on the traditional female-led family drama about mothers struggling to connect with their daughters.

Fans instantly flocked to the vibe of three generations of Landrys gathering at the family home to unlock deep secrets, rehash old pains, and discover magical family history.

And by magical, we are referring to the time portal lake that Kat and her daughter Alice discover.

But they’re not the first ones.

While Alice travels back in time to when her mother was the same age, Kat travels back several hundred years, where she meets not one but two people she starts crushing on.

And if that’s not enough entanglement to make you angry, there’s also the confusing relationship of the current timeline best friend, Elliot (who’s in love with you.)

Then there is the unsolved disappearance of a younger brother decades before (I predicted his fate about eight episodes before they revealed it if anyone wants to be impressed).

Or the smothering guilt of knowing that you played a part in the death of your father years prior.

A secret you don’t discover until you’re grown and damaging your child’s psyche from your unresolved emotional baggage.

So, yeah, be angry, Kat. Like this next one, you might deserve it more than most of the other angry TV characters on our list.

Danny Reagan from Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods has been a police procedural that fans have loved or hated throughout its 14 seasons.

This fan is still undecided about her feelings on the show finally ending.

The show’s premise revolves around a loud Irish family deeply immersed in the New York City justice system.

At the helm of the family is Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), an old-school boss with a strong moral code who believes in doing everything by the book.

While Frank is about doing things by the rules, his oldest (living) son doesn’t.

Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) has been through a lot since the show started (and before).

He’s already buried a mom, a fellow police brother, and his wife. As an NYPD detective, he constantly sees the worst side of humanity.

And he has serious trouble hiding his anger and contempt from the bad guys.

While I normally abhor shows that feature police brutality and abusive officers, BB has handled its storylines differently.

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In nearly every instance, I agree with Danny’s actions.

So when Danny expressed his anger at a pedophile holding a missing child by drowning the perv in a toilet bowl, I cheered him on.

Is there a way to write a letter of recommendation for a medal? Bravo.

Even when Danny isn’t expressing his anger through waterboarding techniques, you can see the barely-reigned fury begging to erupt in his mannerisms.

But they make him all the more endearing.

Who doesn’t love a sexy smartass with a deep moral compass that today’s society sorely lacks?

Red Forman from That ’70s/’90s Show 

As a teenager growing up in the ’90s, I was obsessed with That ’70s Show, which was a throwback to the flower power and disco eras decades before my time.

I could relate to the teenage side of dealing with out-of-touch parents making a mess of your life.

Whether it was a mom trying too hard to be cool or a dad who killed the fun, it felt like our lives.

When That ’90s Show debuted to Netflix with a reboot starring the cool kids all grown up, my childhood felt fulfilled until I realized that I’m totally Team Red (Kurtwood Smith) these days.

Well, crap.

After rewatching the original from the point of view of an exhausted mom with kids who are doing too much too often, I fully get and appreciate his smartassery and perpetual grumpiness.

His wife was more willing to bend the rules and let the kids have free reign over the house and their schedules (I’m guilty of that, too).

But Red had zero apologies about giving them a “hell no” or threatening to put his foot up someone’s butt.

As a Xennial parent, I often use the threat of a flip-flop to get my point across when I need to make a point or solve a problem. IFKYK.

Yeah, Red is rude and crass.

He’s the typical hardass parent of yesteryear, where crying only got you something to really cry about, and sticks and stones may break your bones, but words could never hurt you.

But in all fairness, the man did bust his butt at work for a blue-collar, middle-class life.

While having to deal with a promiscuous daughter and a son who took over the basement to hang out with his stoner high school friends and eat all the food in the house.

Not to mention all the teen drama, an annoying neighbor, and a wife who tried too hard to be relevant in her kids’ (and grandkids’) lives.

House from House

When you think of an angry character with a reputation for being somewhat of an asshole, Gregory House often comes up in conversation.

But what could you expect from an actively using drug addict who treats his body like a petri dish for any medical experience that might get him high and relieve his pain?

Not to mention his propensity for delusions of grandeur, extreme narcissism, the worst case of hubris you’ve ever seen in one body, and the fact that he gave zero F’s if he hurt your feelings.

As with most angry people, seeing that his behavior offended someone was a source of amusement. It was almost a goal for him.

While many of TV’s angriest characters have redeeming qualities and relatable reasons for being a grump, anger from over-excessive drug use and an active addiction isn’t one of them.

Especially from a doctor responsible for treating and curing extremely sick — often young and vulnerable — patients.

True, he lived in extreme chronic pain. As someone who can relate, yes, pain can make you snappy and rude.

And when you’re hurting, you don’t have the patience for things that annoy you.

For House, that’s stupid people. Unfortunately, he is disillusioned that everyone is dumb and, therefore, worthy of his wrath.

Dean Winchester from Supernatural

Vanishing demons and protecting the world from evil can affect your psyche.

Then there’s the absentee daddy issues — after he turned his kids into bad-ass hunters.

A dysfunctional family, spending time in Purgatory, living on the road with cheap hotels and crappy food, and no real romantic connections surely make things worse.

Most of us have his snark, crankiness, and general hatred of most of society, especially those under the age of 40.

And we haven’t been through any of Dean’s trauma.

So, while we might not necessarily excuse or forgive his massive level of anger for life in general and all things in it, we can certainly relate.

After all, can we really stay mad at a sexy smolder with great hair and superb tastes in music and automobiles?

Especially when he’s fiercely loyal to his family, even to the point of self-sacrifice.

Interestingly, Jensen Ackles retains his signature snark and disdain for the world in his role on Tracker as Russell Shaw, Colter Shaw’s elusive and estranged brother.

His dark, handsome good looks and rebel badassery perfectly balanced the chiseled sexiness of his on-screen brother, Justin Hartley (This is Us).

I’m not current enough on Jensen’s newest role on The Boys, where he reunites with his former on-screen brother from Supernatural, Jared Padalecki (check him out on Fire Country, too).

But given the show’s premise of superheroes who aren’t actually good guys (not in an awesome Deadpool way), I’m willing to bet his character, Soldier Boy, is angry, too.

Rebecca Pearson on This is Us

I’m new to the party for This is Us.

It took a few episodes to get used to how the show bounced through different parts of time throughout each episode.

But I loved how it showed the full lives of a family of triplets – Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz (formerly Poodle Moth from The Masked Singer), and Sterling K. Brown.

As an ’80s-made-me, ’90s-raised-me, Y2Ker, I grew up with the powerhouse female artists of Britney, Christina, and Mandy Moore.

And as a massive music maniac, I love it when singers (and athletes) cross over into acting. I’ve been a Moore girl since the days of Princess Diaries and A Walk to Remember.

You’d think I’d be used to her making the audience cry. However, this viewer was not ready for the emotional turmoil she left me with several months after watching it.

Seeing how her life played out, starting as a young, ambitious singer who fell in love, got married, had kids, and then had to find herself again, was your typical story.

But how life kept kicking her at every turn wore down her niceness, making her hardened to the sunnier side.

However, who wouldn’t be angry to lose a baby at birth that you don’t have time to mourn because you’re raising triplets (including an adopted newborn) while suffering from undiagnosed post-partum depression?

Only to lose your husband while your children are at the hardest teenage stage and getting ready to flee the nest to leave you alone and single for years.

The mental decline and cognitive impairments that we witnessed but dismissed as the typical behaviors of someone aging are enough to terrify the middle-aged generation that currently experiences the symptoms of CRS — Can’t Remember Stuff.

Lost your keys lately? Your phone that’s in your pocket? The glasses on your face? Or how about that password you made last week? Yeah, that’s a personal trigger for a source of instant anger for most of us.

Al Bundy from Married … With Children

Family sitcoms in the ’90s were a popular trend, done in various ways to appeal to all demographics.

Many of these classics featured a traditional American middle-class family.

Married …With Children targeted the raunchier, non-offended blue-collar audiences, giving us one of the greatest grumpy sitcom characters ever.

It had scenes that would outrage today’s cancel culture harder than Eminem’s newest album release.

Oh, the things the confused, overly-sensitive “woke” mob would have to say about Al Bundy’s exclusive social club.

Bundy (Ed O’Neill) had the life most people wanted.

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A nice house in the suburbs, a wife, two kids, and a few good friends.

But he had the mundane job of a shoe salesman — and not the Michael Jordan Shaq way. It’s hard to imagine that he would have his job for long in today’s world.

We often saw him engage in acts of sexual harassment and misogyny against female customers.

And more often than not, he made kids cry and pissed off moms.

But the Karens of the world didn’t have the power then that they do today.

So, he got away with it. And for that, I’m extremely jealous.

Call a kid out for acting like a brat these days, and you end up with haters and overly dramatic actions.

And can we blame him for being cranky and snarky when he had a wife who had an obsession with bonbons and soap operas, a dumb blonde daughter who had a new boyfriend every night, and a nerdy son who never quite reached his peak?

We also admire his creativity in frugalness.

As the costs of living continue to rise, we can support his cheapskate in a way we previously couldn’t understand.

A financial note for the younger generations.

An older paid-off car and a smaller home you own are one thousand times better than owing money (hours of your life) to have the newest and biggest.

Perry Cox from Scrubs

If there’s a TV trope we see far too often that never gets old, it’s a cocky, narcissistic doctor who thinks they are the world’s answer to medicine.

While House was an unbearable jerk due to his drug habit, Dr. Perry Cox’s (John C. McGinley) overly obnoxious conceit had no such excuses.

He really was just a horse’s rear end.

To be fair, he treated everyone like crap, even if he singled out certain people more than others. Not that this viewer blamed him 98% of the time.

The snarky comments and dickish reactions came from my brain to his mouth like a creepy form of telepathy. Is anyone else that good at predicting what they’re watching?

As the aging yet still-cool generation that today’s kids consider old, it’s easy to understand why Cox constantly snapped at the younger doctors.

They really were irritating AF. To the point that this viewer cheered when the show ended.

It got too corny to make sense, especially once JD left. But as a purist, I’m not much of a fan of shows that continue on without their main character.

Especially when it alters the ambiance of the show, that’s how it was with Scrubs once Dorian left. Who was Cox without his comedic opposite but an inconsiderate jerk who started to shift to someone we liked to hate?

Nothing ruins a good show more than removing a bad character’s redeeming qualities and making them into something they weren’t meant to become.

David Rossi from Criminal Minds

Working with the worst of society makes it hard not to feel angry.

For every bad guy you put away, someone more depraved comes across your radar.

Who wouldn’t feel frustrated and downright violent when they have to look at nothing but bad things that have already happened?

And then, to make your thoughts so sick that you can get into the depraved mind has to leave some emotional scars, especially if you have to work with them and pretend to relate.

Having to get the help of a serial killer you’ve already arrested and put away that will eventually lead to a reduced sentence is enough to turn a touch of frustration into a fit of rage.

If you’ve watched the Criminal Minds: Evolution reboot, you’ve seen the emotional, physical, and psychological damage that can occur after years on the job.

As much as I love Rossi, it might be time for Joe Mantegna to find a new role.

Rossi has had temper issues in the past, but he’s dang near out of control this season because he’s working so closely with his nemesis, Voit.

It gives this viewer a very Gideon (and Hodges) vibe.

As a die-hard BAU fan, I jumped at the news that the show got a second chance at life.

It moved from airing on prime-time TV with parental ratings restraints to the less restrictive streaming method.

As someone with the mouth of a sailor, I can’t help but notice and even judge the way the scriptwriters have fouled up Rossi’s (and everyone’s) dialogue.

These days, his anger seems to be more about how many swear words he can cram into his hissy fit and less about his arguments making any leeway into resolving the source of the problem.

Squidward Tentacles from Spongebob Squarepants

We’re going in a different direction with this choice.

But if you’ve ever watched an episode of the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, you’ll agree that no one deserves to be on this list more!

Squidward is the angry neighbor next door who derives pleasure from his moments of jerkhood.

But I can’t say that if I lived next door to someone so obnoxiously happy all the time, I wouldn’t find some perverse enjoyment from deflating their bubble, too.

To live next door to the annoying pipsqueak and also have work with him? What did he do to make the sea gods hate him? Cause that’s some seriously traumatizing stuff.

But with the different vibes of today’s world, many of us find him more relatable.

Do your stint at work dealing with an overly self-absorbed society and then go home to hide away from dealing with said society.

Overly happy people annoy us; sometimes, we’re “that” one who’s always talking about how great things used to be back in “our” day.

All Squidworth wants to do is chill in his home, vibe to his music, and be left alone. Isn’t that what all of us want to do?

Dorothy Zbornak from Golden Girls

You can’t be on social media without seeing at least one Golden Girls fan.

Even if you have never seen a single episode, you’ve at least heard of it.

But for those of us who got stuck with an elderly family member on a sick day from school, the show is a source of nostalgia.

These days, it’s hard not to relate to — and even long for — the deep friendship of the four older women who share a home. And what an eclectic group of women they are!

Rose — played by the queen herself, Betty White — was the naive comedian of the group, always trying to keep things light and peaceful.

Blanche was promiscuous, frequently changing her dating partner like other women swap shoes and accessories.

She proved age isn’t what defines sexy, and your sex life doesn’t end when you hit the silver years.

Then there’s Sophia, the sharp-tongued, tell-it-like-it-is old lady we all secretly look forward to becoming.

How freeing it must be to say whatever is on your mind and not pay the consequences?

Me with no societal filter? The world couldn’t handle that, and I can’t wait.

Then there was Dorothy, played by the tall, patriotic Beatrice “Bea” Arthur, known for her signature deep voice, anger rays from her eyes, and RBF (resting biyatch face).

She was savage before it was a trend.

I may be on the minority side, but Dorothy was my favorite character back then, and my fondness remains three decades later.

Seriously, her ability to speak with just her face is a continuing source of ambition for me.

But more than that, her sarcastic wit is a comedic genius and completely warranted in a house of females with conflicting personalities.

And best of all, her bossiness gets stuff done.

Dorothy wasn’t the only angry female role Bea portrayed.

Before Golden Girls, Arthur took on the role of angry, bossy liberal Maude in the self-named series spinoff of All in the Family.

Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon

I hated The Big Bang Theory the first time I watched it. It took several seasons before I decided to try it again.

And now, I’m pretty sure I could pass any BBT trivia.

My children and I all got hooked on a show all about nerds. We are a house full of geeks, from Pokemon and D&D to anime and sword collecting.

Blame it on my ’80s and ’90s childhood, but I’ve been Team Geek since the days of Revenge of the Nerds, Weird Science, and Animal House.

I’ve harbored a small crush on Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter) since he was Darlene Conner’s boyfriend in Roseanne.

So, seeing him as the best friend of the quirky Sheldon Cooper rocked my viewer’s heart.

And then seeing Sara Gilbert join The Big Bang Theory as the romantic interest of her one-time boyfriend (on and off the screen), OMG!

It didn’t take me long to sympathize with the emotional abuse Leonard experienced at the hands of Sheldon’s unique demands.

Sheldon may express himself differently than other grumpy characters, but he has serious anger issues over the smallest things.

Every episode has a scene where Sheldon loses his temper about something that is completely irrelevant.

And nearly always, it’s up to Leonard to resolve the situation — until Amy comes into the picture.

Seeing Sheldon in a romantic relationship with someone who enables his every whim wasn’t as fulfilling as we’d hoped.

While Amy (Mayim Bialik) was good at making Sheldon more aware of his behaviors, her constant willingness to give him his way to get her way is borderline manipulative.

But if you’ve watched Young Sheldon, you’ll know he’s had a problem with anger all his life, especially as the youngest of three kids.

Mr. Floppy from Unhappily Ever After 

As you can tell from other angry characters on our list, we don’t discriminate between human and non-human.

Case in point: Mr. Floppy, a stuffed animal that comes to life as the crude imaginary friend of Jack Malloy (Geoff Pierson).

Unhappily Ever After aired in 1995, attempting to ride the coattails of the success of Married…With Children for a cleaner middle-class raunch suitable for the late-night programming audiences of the middle-aged.

But while Bundy was a depressed, possibly alcoholic middle-aged man experiencing the inevitable mid-life slump, Jack Malloy’s character embraced the stigma of mental illness.

To everyone else, Mr. Floppy was a disturbing, ratty stuffed rabbit that occupied the corner of the couch in the basement.

But to Jack Malloy, he was a living creature, voiced by a voice every Police Academy fan knows and adores — Bobcat Goldthwait.

Jack’s mental break with reality due to schizophrenia provided audiences with 100 episodes of generic Bundy vibes.

You had the same premise — unhappy middle-class working dad, desperate, criminally negligent, thirsty mom eager to have a better sex life, a stereotypical sexy half-dressed daughter (one of Nikki Cox’s less successful roles), and a loser younger son.

But instead of a penchant for strip clubs and practicing misogyny in his garage with other unhappy old guys, Jack hangs out with his imaginary friend, who has a filthy, perverse mouth and an addiction to booze and chain smoking.

It’s not exactly the kind of stuffed animal you’d want for your kids.

Or your spouse, for that matter. Inner thoughts that manifest into an angry talking toy rabbit with an addiction problem is a sick twist that received mixed support from audiences.

Ultimately, the premise wasn’t enough to hold audiences as long as Married … With Children, flopping after five seasons. The world just wasn’t ready for the sarcastic attitude of an angry, drinking, smoking rabbit and a man suffering a mental breakdown.

However, as someone with a habit of talking to dogs and apologizing to inanimate objects when I bump into them, I can see a correlation between mental illness and a kid’s toy alter ego.

Angry TV Characters Make the Best Connections

Most of us use TV as an escape from our real lives. We can disconnect from the world and get lost in fiction.

The best TV characters have well-rounded personalities with flaws and emotions that make them feel real.

We’ve listed 17 angry TV characters and what makes them so emotionally volatile. But we also flipped the script and analyzed why we can relate to these angry people for their grumpiness.

Maybe it is true what they say. With age comes anger because my middle-aged Gen X, Xennial, and Millennial generations are starting to get that “cranky old person” stigma.

And you know what? This is one Gen Xennial who’s rocking the rude.

But not to my TVF fam, ’cause we cool. So good that I want to hear from you.

What are your real feelings about angry TV characters? Do you like seeing grumpy TV characters or do you prefer the more annoying perk?

Who would you rate as TV’s angriest character?

It’s okay if they’re not already on our list. In fact, we can become bestest buds if you can provide me with a cranky character we didn’t include.

And don’t forget to follow TVF’s blog and our social media, where we get lit with all kinds of TV crazy from fellow TV addicts like yourselves.

Introduce us to someone you know who loves TV as much as we do.

Psss…BTW, are you one of the cool kids on our exclusive Fanatic fans email list? It’s pretty fun, so sign up to get all things TV right to your inbox.

The post 17 Angry but Utterly Relatable TV Characters appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Essentially, those characters go from adding value to the series to severely impacting the quality of a show that we otherwise know and love.

We compiled a list of television characters whose shows didn’t have the good sense to get rid of soon enough. Check it out!

The Faks – The Bear

Seriously, what the fak is up with the Fak obsession on The Bear?

They add some levity to situations when you have a bunch of high-strung and emotional chefs and characters with a wide array of mental health issues or trauma trying to navigate the same space.

A little of the Faks could go a long way toward lightening the series’ tone and sometimes breaking up tension.

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But it was painfully evident during the polarizing third season of The Bear that the series dished up a heaping dose of the Faks, and it was too much for many of us to bear.

When the palate cleanser requires its own palate cleanser, it’s no longer effective, right?

Kim Bauer – 24

Good grief, Kim Bauer was such a nuisance on 24.

No one managed to detract from Jack Bauer and whatever more compelling storylines he had going on than his trouble-magnet daughter.

Her side plots were like side quests that ultimately derailed the series, often throughout her reign.

Her presence often felt forced, and nothing was more grating than hearing Jack call her name because of yet another predicament she had thrown herself into.

Owen Hunt- Grey’s Anatomy

It’s not exactly an unpopular Grey’s Anatomy opinion that Owen Hunt is either one of the worst, most annoying characters or should’ve been gone long ago.

But some of us don’t have that much of an issue with Owen any more than we do with other characters in the series.

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However, while Grey’s Anatomy excels with Kevin McKidd behind-the-camera directing, as he’s often responsible for directing some of the later seasons’ best episodes, there’s not much going for Owen Hunt on camera.

It feels like they don’t know what to do with the guy and have long since run out of storylines for him.

Noreen Fitzgibbons – Sweet Magnolias

It’s quite apparent that the Magnolia triad is the heart of the series, and others must operate as supporting characters to them.

Frankly, anyone remotely close to an adversary of these ladies often posed a problem amongst fans. But if we’re being honest, Noreen overstayed her welcome after the initial drama of the first season.

Sure, she returned to the series during Sweet Magnolias Season 2 because Maddie felt Kyle needed some help.

However, the storyline felt forced, as did Noreen’s general presence overall.

The series already had a bloated cast, and there’s very little they can do with Noreen anymore, so there’s no real reason for her to be around.

It’s not even that she’s dislikable anymore, as opposed to how she may have come across in the first season, but it’s more so that the series could use any of the screentime they devote to her to focus on so many other characters who deserve it.

Stingray – Cobra Kai

It’s all fun and games until it stops being fun.

Stingray was already an acquired taste and was a character who catered more towards those who appreciated the “cringe dude humor” that Cobra Kai can do so well.

He’s an overgrown man obsessed with all things Cobra Kai and essentially made the dojo his entire personality instead of getting anything that resembles an actual life.

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But then the series quickly elevated his shtick to another level, and the frequency with which he appeared throughout the seasons became overkill.

They treated him like a fan favorite that the audience couldn’t wait to see again, shoehorning him into scenes like the bad habit he is and incorporating him in some of the most absurdly ridiculous ways that made you roll your eyes.

Seriously, why is a grown-ass man at a high school fighting teenagers? Enough!

Ani – 13 Reasons Why

Given the 13 Reason Why‘s nature, Ani’s serving as a narrator for the fourth season made little sense.

Ani was a confounding character who didn’t feel adequately written out from the beginning and had shoddy motivations for most of the season when not totally nonexistent.

She dominated a lot of the third season for a character who lacked depth and wasn’t sympathetic in the least.

And she was meddlesome and messy but not in a way that enhanced the plot.

Topper – Outer Banks

Sure, he may or may not be nice to look at for some people, but does Topper add any real value to Outer Banks outside of that?

Nope!

Drew already serves as an antagonist, and Kook will wreak havoc on the Pogues, so they stopped needing Topper to contribute that aspect to the series.

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But then they attempted to do this redemption for the character, and he became a begrudging ally for the Pogues sometimes, while also coming across as pathetic for consistently allowing Sara to manipulate and use him or take advantage of his feelings for her.

At this point, there’s no real reason for Topper to be around anymore, and it’s doubtful they’ll find anything worthwhile to do with his character.

Paige Lassiter- Virgin River

It’s not so much that Paige herself has stuck around on Virgin River longer than necessary.

It’s the impact of his presence on the series, specifically Preacher’s story arc.

She was such a non-starter and a love interest for Preacher that it was frustrating to see the tease of something more for him not come to fruition.

But then Preacher had to take care of the child while she was on the run, and he covered for her when she killed her abusive ex. Now, Paige is long gone, and Preacher is facing the possibility of this murder investigation leading back to him and all types of consequences.

Paige’s presence has severely impacted Preacher’s love life, whether it was with Julia or now with Kaia.

We still know very little about Preacher as a character because his entire storyline during the series revolved around Paige.

Elias Voit – Criminal Minds: Evolution

We can’t help but reiterate that Voit’s presence on Criminal Minds: Evolution has become overkill.

Voit is not a bad villain or anything; he’s certainly interesting in his own right, and he’s provided a lot of content and tension.

Of course, Zach Gilford is great in the role.

However, the series stalls a great deal because this single character monopolizes so much time and space in the narrative at the expense of other great characters.

Maggie MacPherson – The Lincoln Lawyer

Of all Mickey’s ex-wives with whom he has to cross paths, Maggie continues to be the most frustrating.

Outside of serving as their daughter’s mother, Maggie didn’t offer anything of interest to the series, and it was difficult to connect with or care about her when she felt more adversarial to Mickey than an actual antagonist.

Maggie just doesn’t standout on a series full of interesting and charismatic characters. The love story between Mickey and Maggie is stale, and the show has struggled to incorporate her character in a way that makes her feel overly important.

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Even when she was involved more in the first season of The Lincoln Lawyer, she still felt disconnected from everything. And it only got worse in season 2. 

It doesn’t help that her character is kind of snooze in general. If the series decided to write her out completely, nothing would really change. 

Maggie never should’ve had a significant role in the series in the first place.

Rumplestiltskin – Once Upon a Time

Throughout the Once Upon a Time, Rumplestiltskin evolved from a multidimensional villain to a one-dimensional hero and steadily switched between those roles and everything in between until the end.

While Robert Carlyle was absolutely fantastic in the role, it became evident over time that the desire to keep such a talent on the series surpassed the plot and the necessity of his presence.

After an incredibly long and complicated journey, there was little for the series to do for Rumplestiltskin after he found his son.

Sylar – Heroes

Sylar was one of the most fascinating and entertaining villains during the first season of Heroes.

Frankly, Zachary Quinto could do no wrong in the role, and in many ways, the series thrived because of his portrayal of this character.

But it still doesn’t change the fact that Sylar stuck around much longer than necessary.

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The mark of a great villain is knowing when to call it quits and maybe even sticking to that original premise in the first place.

Trying to add too much depth to Sylar and having him flip-flop between villain and hero didn’t serve the character or the series well, and it was clear the writers lost sight of what to do with him.

Felicity Smoak – Arrow

Once upon a time, Felicity was a decent character who added value to the Arrow and the Arrowverse and the plot.

But then she became a perfect example of what happens when the fans have too much say in a “favorite” character and when a relationship starts to overshadow the rest of the series.

Felicity was shoehorned into way too many plots beyond reason, which began to sour viewers’ experience of the series, even for those who may have once enjoyed the character.

And if it wasn’t enough that she had that effect on Arrow, the issue with her spilled into other series, like The Flash, as well.

Over to you, TV Fanatics! Do you agree with our list? Who do you feel is missing? Hit the comments.

The post From Favorite to Frustrating: TV Characters Who Overstayed Their Welcome appeared first on TV Fanatic.

One of the many exciting aspects of Criminal Minds returning to our screens with Evolution was that they cast Gilford in a spectacularly great role as a serial killer.

Sure, they didn’t veer too far away from a dark crime procedural staple: Baddie or Antihero helps the good guys catch more bad guys.

But procedurals work so well because they follow procedure — they know what works for them and what viewers respond to, and that formulaic component is appealing.

Voit Slayed in Criminal Minds: Evolution’s First Season … Literally

And the first season of Criminal Minds: Evolution was fantastic because of this.

We had an intelligent UnSub in Voit who wreaked absolute havoc on the unit, and thanks to the series falling on a streamer, we got this evolved version of crime show classic.

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It was a full season of getting to know this twisted killer who managed to juggle a relatively normal family life with sadistic misdeeds.

And we have an entire network of serial killers to boot, with everything intersecting and connecting in fascinating ways.

But it was genuinely intriguing to have Voit as this “White Whale” for most of the season, as opposed to the old version of Criminal Minds, which typically had the unit wrapping up a case by the time the credits rolled.

And then they finally had Voit in their clutches, and he should’ve gotten a bullet to the head, but he got a lifeline.

It made for a wonderful finale for Criminal Minds Evolution’s first season and had me clamoring for more.

It’s Too Much of a Good Thing, Y’all

But then the second season dragged in some cases and became unnecessarily convoluted in others.

Worse yet, however, was just how much Voit we got.

I never envisioned there could be such a thing as “too much Zach Gilford.”

Still, I reached my limit between Voit haunting Rossi at every conceivable turn, those interactions in prison, and him getting day passes to jerk the BAU around, smirk, and speak in riddles.

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It made sense why Voit was at the center of so much during the first season.

But they overplayed their card with him in the second season.

Make us work for it, is all I’m saying.

Steal My Heart But Not the BAU Spotlight, Babe

Gilford is clearly having fun with this role, and I truly love that for him.

He’s damn good at it too. But I still want to see my competent BAU being badass all on their own, too.

Instead, Voit lowkey had the unit looking incompetent on the regular.

Was Baby Girl channeling her Chocolate Thunder and fixing Voit with a menacing death glare awesome? Hell yeah!

Did they actually earn that moment in the finale when they’ve otherwise been running around like chickens with their heads cut off, playing into Voit’s manipulations all season? Nah.

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The BAU is spending more time tap dancing to meet Voit’s needs than anything else.

I have to suspend belief to buy into why Voit needed to be brought to the scene of something or consulted.

My guy was quite literally living in Rossi’s head rent-free all season.

Balance the Baddie Better in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season Three, Por Favor

Voit’s quickly becoming the Red Reddington of Criminal Minds.

But this isn’t The Blacklist, where we went in expecting the full series to revolve around James Spader because, well, it’s James freaking Spader.

This is Criminal Minds, which was firmly established with many characters we loved before Voit existed.

I’m thrilled about a third season, and the finale certainly hinted at exciting things to come.

Even with some inmates using our adorably floppy-haired baddie like a pin cushion, we already know his plot armor will protect him.

And we know it’ll be another full season of Voit and the tangled web of Gold Star.

If I have one request, it’s that they show a little restraint with him.

Am I alone in feeling like there’s too much Voit on Criminal Minds? Surely, you guys will let me know in the comments. Let’s have it.

The post Evolution or Overkill: Can Criminal Minds Ease Up with Voit?! appeared first on TV Fanatic.

It appears this story has ties back to Criminal Minds Season 16 in ways far greater than we ever knew.

But was the connection earned through the previous ten episodes, or did it fall into place too conveniently?

Not Enough Breadcrumbs to Solve the Seasons-Long Arc

On a per-episode basis, Criminal Minds has always had to tie together a lot of disparate information quickly and conveniently.

Its history was procedural, case-of-the-week style storytelling, which required expedience. Profiles aren’t determined in an instant as it often feels here. They take time. Shows like Netflix’s dearly departed Mindhunter drove home that point.

Related: Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9 Review

It’s a science, and it’s not always exact. Merely visiting a location to get a feel for the unsub is only the beginning. Yet our BAU agents often profile with very little to go on.

Doug Bailey was the lynchpin in the Gold Star case. As Peter B is his younger brother, it makes sense now why hearing Gold Star turned our Bailey inside out.

It also makes sense why he was so intensely disliked at the onset. He had no trust for the department he was tasked with running, and now we discover his reasoning is personal. If that was supposed to make me feel for the guy, it didn’t work.

In fact, how he let down his brother is downright painful.

The Bailey Brothers Both Fell Down the Conspiracy Theory Rabbit Hole

Bailey’s defiance of the BAU and his determination not to trust them did nobody any favors.

The BAU had been an excellent performer long before he was involved, so it’s very strange that when the person closest to him was in trouble, he turned his back on the group most likely to bring it to a suitable conclusion.

Related: Paget Brewster on What’s Driving Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2

I understand that tensions were high in the government as they concerned themselves over domestic terrorism tied to child trafficking. While I’ve never seen any evidence that the two were linked, I suppose the overall feeling was that online discourse would lead to it.

But news is always changing, and just yesterday, people were busted at Comic-Con, of all places, because of their roles in sex trafficking. If we saw more good news like this, maybe there would be fewer conspiracies surrounding trafficking. Note: It’s unlikely these are old folks being trafficked. Just saying.

The irony is that the root cause is distrust of government and media, and when the rubber met the road, Bailey was no different from his brother.

Peter thought he was helping children and others like himself who were wronged by power-hungry people. He believed whatever lies he was fed about it, putting himself on the line as a savior.

Doug, meanwhile, bought into the conspiracy that the BAU was somehow unfit to operate. It’s hard to imagine what he believed because our own experience with them is so different. They almost always save the day.

But to Doug, they were the enemy and would be the cause of his brother’s destruction. Only he could find and save Peter, just as Peter thought only his network could find and save trafficked children. Both were wrong.

Conspiracy theories come in all shapes and sizes. They don’t have to be aimed at the world at large. We have them nestled very close to our hearts. Distrust breeds contempt, and that spawns all levels of conspiracies.

The whole ordeal is just sad. So many people could have stepped in and stopped what was happening to these kids, but it was repeatedly sidestepped, from Rossi and Gideon to Jill to Bailey and, I’m sure, many others in between.

Was the Ending Earned Through Storytelling?

But, again, did the big reveal feel earned? I’m not sure.

Everything was explained in conversations that we didn’t experience. We could not move the needle toward Gold Star and the Bailey brothers being one and the same without it being spelled out for us.

Related: Criminal Minds: Evolution Renewed For Third Season at Paramount+

I prefer having the opportunity to figure out mysteries on my own, but from conversations between Madison and Bailey and one-time mentions of siblings, it wasn’t possible here.

Everyone was blindsided. Emily was targeted all season, to the point that she lost faith in herself and almost quit the BAU. Now, we discover that Madison had more information than he was willing to share about the whole debacle.

What does that say about trust in your government?

There was a short discussion about discretion being the better part of valor. You stop a secret from becoming a conspiracy by keeping it a secret. Well, you also enable a conspiracy by not being truthful.

Check out “Something Happened” by Joseph Heller. It brilliantly describes what happens when you are closed out of any conversation. It’s the perfect time to create your own story and go on wild tangents. What good does that do?

Well, enough about that. Let’s talk about other things from the finale that will affect the future.

Badass Prentice Returned, and Voit’s Demands Were Continually Met

First of all, badass Prentiss returned. Her self-doubt disappeared when she was bound to a chair. Jill was acting her part this season while Emily floundered, but no more. She’s back and fearless.

You take risks when your back is against the wall, and your life is on the line. Emily showed how that can pay off. I had missed that side of her! Here’s hoping her time of wavering is over.

I’m still not sure why Voit keeps getting so much special attention. I keep hearing that they need him, but most of what they discover comes from their own efforts.

Voit certainly didn’t need to be on the outside and traipsing along to crime scenes with the gang. A telephone call or video chat would have done just fine. Somehow, he kept getting his way by offering relatively nothing in return.

I agree with most of you that Zach Gilford is a breath of fresh air on Criminal Minds. But his presence contradicts everything the BAU stands for, so it’s hard to imagine he has a future here.

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The show has been renewed, but will the current cast remain?

One of Voit’s demands was to be released to Genpop. The guy had a cushy room with all the amenities. He was safe (and entertained) behind those doors. Why did he want to be released to the general population?

My natural guess would be suicide at another’s hands. But he’s too narcissistic for that route. Perhaps his years of manipulating others via the Sicarius network inflated him so grandly that he thought nobody would touch him.

What Does the Future Hold for Criminal Minds: Evolution?

He did want Tyler to get in his face so that he’d get a break of some sort, but Tyler sussed that out and remained calm. Did Voit overestimate his abilities? Will he be killed in the laundry incident or just maimed enough to get another free pass?

Without Voit, I’m not sure what sets Evolution apart from Criminal Minds. He has been key to discussions about online life and how it’s changed everything. It is a mystery why profilers missed the enormity of what was happening under their noses.

Tyler has applied to Quantico to be a full agent. Will that take him away from the BAU in the meantime? Will there be a time jump between seasons to accommodate such changes?

Maybe Jill will step in for a season and add a bit of sparkle. She’s sassy and strong and offers a lot of experience to the group. It could be her time to shine.

Why go to all the trouble to cast Clark Gregg when he was only used so briefly? Could he have a more significant role in a third (or 18th) season?

This season concluded without a pivot toward a new season unless it’s already in play and will be explained in another ten episodes. Hopefully, we’ll be able to tie together the central mystery with a clue or two before another finale.

I don’t need all of the facts, but a few hints along the way will make it a lot more fun.

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What do you think? Were you satisfied with this season of Criminal Minds? Did you have any clue that Bailey would tie the whole thing together because of his lack of trust in the BAU?

Please drop me a comment below with your thoughts on all of the things!

The post Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Finale Reveals The Unexpected Key to Stopping Gold Star appeared first on TV Fanatic.

The episode begins with the BAU unaccounted for in the explosion of Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9.

As Penelope frantically searches for signs of life from her coworkers, Monica receives a text message from her mother. Is she alright? The compound’s explosion is on the news.

Rossi is trapped under debris, having visions of Voit. FauxVoit wonders if Rossi wishes he’d never mentioned Gold Star so that this would never have happened.

Tara arrives with the military to help Rossi.

Emily is missing, along with all of the usual suspects.

Related: Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9 Review

Emily is tied up beside Frank Church. Jade is not dead. She’s in control. When he starts babbling about saving the children, Jade shoots him between the eyes. You go, girl!

Penelope finds footage of Emily during the blast and sees Jade and her new partner drag Emily away.

Jade is now partnered with Peter. She’s in front of Church, amazed that he’s gone. She recalls when she was first caged. Damien, in the next cell, tells her to take his hands. No matter what happens or what they do, he’s got her.

Jade asks Emily Prentiss, bound to a chair, how she pleads, but Emily needs to know the charges. Awwww! Luke Perry flashback. Jade knows every unsub who abducted and interrogated Emily.

Emily reminds Jade that in the US, she has inalienable rights. Is Jade just like the deep state she’s trying to overthrow?

Jade says they’ll show Emily her case. Emily wonders, “Who’s we?”

Tyler wonders why they took Prentiss. Rossi realizes that Emily’s been in their line of fire the entire time. It’s been one blow after another since even before Bailey died.

Rossi visits Voit at Club Fed. Voit has a nice corner room with large windows, a TV, fresh water in a pitcher, and a coffee maker. He’s living the life of Riley.

Can Voit confirm the last Gold Star actor? Voit isn’t interested in helping, but Rossi persists. Why has Prentiss been stalked over the rest? It began the moment Voit first mentioned Gold Star to Bailey.

Jade shows Prentiss a video of Bailey. Pete B is Peter Pailey, Doug Bailey’s younger brother. He holds Prentiss responsible for what Voit did to his brother. Voit laughs, and elsewhere, Prentiss finally meets Pete.

Related: Paget Brewster on What’s Driving Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2

Prentiss remembers a conversation with Bailey before a raid. They chatted about their siblings, but he changed the subject rather than offering more information.

Pete thinks Voit is a false flag to cover up the BAU killing Bailey to keep his mouth shut about Gold Star and Pete.

Pete is shocked that Voit made a deal with the FBI director, but it serves his purposes. Voit’s deal goes all the way to the top — how convenient. Prentiss says she didn’t mean it like that.

The new director, Madison, who has not been seen since the Evolution premiere, is finally back.

Pete was offered an experimental diversionary project while in juvie. He was the first Gold Star subject. Pete would tell his family that his job was to break up child trafficking rings run by the country’s elite. Pete had no details, which drove a wedge between him and Bailey.

Monica is confused. Why classify Gold Star and then hand it to BAU to solve? Bailey asked them to classify it so that he had time to find his brother. He thought the BAU would find Pete first and kill him.

Madison tells them to toss the Hail Mary if they have it. He’ll cover for them.

Vincent visits Monica representing Voit and looking for immunity. What a piece of garbage. He wants her to take the offer to the BAU. Voit knows where Prentiss is but wants to be released to Genpop. They can’t afford to say no.

Voit is on his way back to the BAU. Why did he have to be there to help? Other than that, he is a bright spot on the cast these days.

Flashback to Pete and Bailey talking about trafficking. Madison walks in on them horsing around, and Pete thinks it’s funny.

Pete promises Bailey he’s on the right side, but Bailey counters that the last threat assessment said child abduction conspiracy theories are a growing domestic terror threat. Pete rolls his eyes.

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Pete says if he’s wrong, he’ll admit it. But what if Bailey is the one who’s wrong?

(As an aside, it’s funny that the left is now waist-deep in conspiracies, such as believing that Trump tried to assassinate himself.)

Prentiss profiles Pete. She says that anybody can be a source these days, especially if they validate what someone already thinks. Needless to say, he distrusts the media.

Jade repeatedly shocks Prentiss in an attempt to get her to say Damien’s name. Instead, Emily bites through her tongue.

This smartass Prentiss is much different than the one who was easily duped into an arrest and wanted to quit her job.

Bailey was trying to connect with Pete, but there was an interloper creating deep fakes of the videos. Voit has the GPS coordinates for where Pete is probably holed up with Prentiss. Voit wants to be let out again to go on the hunt.

Voit wants Tyler to accompany him. Tyler wonders what happens if he hurts Voit and realizes that he’s been chosen because it will be easy for Voit to get under his skin, ultimately setting Voit free.

When they finally get out there, it goes down as expected, with Voit getting on everyone’s last nerve. Voit brings up Tyler’s brother, which is a step too far for Garcia. She removes her glasses and steps right up into his face.

Voit was visually freaked out. Finally, someone can get a reaction out of him.

Next with Voit is JJ after he mentions BAUgate. She discovers that the deep fake videos are of his wife. He was filming her without her permission. Voit is once again quite moved.

Emily tells Pete how her opinion of Bailey changed. She feels responsible for his death, but it was Voit who pulled the trigger. Jade pulls out her gun again, but she holds back on killing Emily. They need the whole team here.

Jade pulls out a kill kit and begins setting things up so that one wrong move will kill them all. All they have to do is open the door.

Related: Criminal Minds: Evolution Renewed For Third Season at Paramount+

Penelope finds a security camera and hacks into it. It doesn’t give them a good enough look, and Rossi asks for the door to be opened. At the last minute, Alvez stops them.

JJ remembers Voit’s finger gun, and from that, Rossi realizes it’s a trap.

In a strange turn of events, there is a remote access video projector in the room with them, so Penelope hacks it and tosses a video of Voit admitting to killing Bailey on the wall.

Jade uses her handy dandy deep fake software to verify it’s authentic, and Pete realizes the jig is up. He doesn’t mind dying, but not over a lie.

He hands her his gun. There is a gold star bullet in there. Pete frees Emily, and the posse arrives. Jade holds the gun to her temple. She has a final speech to give, though.

Jade believed all the bullshit because the alternative was worse. (Not sure that’s the best message for conspiracy theorists!) Emily promises to listen to Jade, and they’re both led away in cuffs.

Prentiss wrote a passive-aggressive after-action report, so Madison visits her. She wants to know if it was worth it. Were all the dead bodies worth the deal with Voit?

Madison says that not everybody knows what it takes to be a leader. Discretion is the better part of valor. You stop a secret from becoming a conspiracy by keeping it a secret.

Prentiss is worried that Jade and Pete will get life while Voit gets out in five. She’s got a deal for him.

The deal is that they get to see their loved ones. For Pete, it’s his parents. For Jade, it’s Neela.

Tyler has submitted his resume to Quantico.

They’re having a “Hooray, you’re alive” party at Garcia’s. Tara and Monica announce they’re back together.

Related: 13 Characters Who Hit Rock Bottom

Tyler is worried about Voit and his desire to be in Genpop. When Prentiss arrives, Rossi sees Voit lurking behind the door.

Voit is doing laundry at the prison and scouring for chemicals when two fellows arrive. One of them has a shiv. He splashes one of them in the face with the chemicals, and a fight ensues. Will he die?

Don’t forget to check out our Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 10 review, too!

The post Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 10 Recap: Save the Children appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Characters who hit rock bottom often leave the biggest and longest-lasting impact on our memories and emotions. We’ve picked 13 characters who experienced major turmoil, sending them off the rails.

Whether they struggle with drugs, alcohol, or unresolved emotional trauma, there are numerous factors that can cause a character to find themselves at their wit’s end.

Here are our favorite 13 characters who found themselves hitting bottom after going through a trying time.

Hitting rock bottom looks different for everyone. Some people end up in rehab for substance abuse or mental breakdowns.

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Others make drastic life changes, quit their jobs, give up their long-term careers, or leave long-term relationships.

It’s not uncommon to see someone flame out after a serious life event damages their psyche or after they’ve had the last straw pulled in a series of problems.

These are 13 characters who hit rock bottom, how it happened, and what they did with their lives after everything fell apart.

After you read our selections, be sure to take a few moments to tell us the details of your favorite screwed-up character. There are plenty of them!

Fiona Gallagher – Shameless

Being the eldest sibling in a large family can strain the relationship dynamics during normal situations. When you find yourself barely an adult and responsible for numerous underage siblings, it’s no surprise that you grow up fast.

No one felt that strain more than Shameless favorites Fiona Gallagher (Emmy Rossum) and her younger brother, Philip (Jeremy Allen White), who we affectionately call ‘Lip.’ Having two failed parents is usually enough to split kids up into different homes.

But Fiona played the heroine in her own story, coming to the rescue of the Galagher children as legal custodians when their parents failed to be proper providers.

Instead of getting to enjoy her youth, Fiona found herself busting ass and hustling to make ends meet. It’s no surprise that we often saw her trying to cut loose with alcohol, rushing into intimate relationships, a fear of commitment, and, occasionally, drug use.

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After one time of giving in and doing cocaine, Fiona found herself in legal trouble and at risk of losing all of her younger siblings when the baby ended up overdosing on cocaine that Fiona was doing.

That defining moment of realizing how similar she was to her parents’ irresponsibility was enough to kick Fiona’s get-right into high gear.

She stayed sober, bought an apartment building, and moved into her own place. She eventually chose to live her own life and leave behind the responsibilities of raising her siblings.

D’arcy Bloom – Resident Alien

D’arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund) is your typical basketcase with repressed trauma she treats with booze, drugs, and promiscuity.

On Resident Alien, she leans too heavily on her best friend, Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), and she often crosses that thin line of obsession.

When Asta starts spending more time with Harry and keeping his alien secret, D’arcy’s downward spiral begins.

Her rock bottom happens when she decides to show how much she loves her best friend by taking Harry’s place as the one who places the weapon to stop the end of Earth.

Related: Resident Alien Renewed for Season 4 – But There’s a Catch

She becomes even more heroic when she rescues the baby Ben and Kate don’t know is real. Her redemption arc will be exciting when RA returns for Season 4.

Kevin Pearson – This is Us

Justin Hartley is currently stealing hearts as the elusive, closed-off tracker, Colter Shaw on Tracker. But before that and post-Green Arrow in Smallville, he played the troubled actor Kevin Pearson on This is Us.

As a kid, he had many issues that made this momma want to make some major attitude adjustments. Bravo to Mandy Moore for her patience.

Those narcissistic tendencies followed him into adulthood, leading to him becoming a pompous, self-centered a-hole who couldn’t manage his own life.

He held back his twin sister, Kate (Chrissy Metz), for years, leading to her developing serious weight problems and health issues.

His breakdown started when he turned 36 and had a meltdown on live TV that led him to quit his acting job as “The Manny.”

His spiral continued as he ended up addicted to pain pills after knee surgery, which led to getting a DUI in the second season. It was his rock bottom when he ended up driving drunk with his niece in the back seat.

He got sober for a while, but like most addicts, he relapses during times of stress. His drinking also impacted Kate’s high-risk pregnancy.

She required an ambulance to get her to the hospital during pre-term labor because he was too drunk to drive. His drinking led to several failed relationships.

Related: Tracker Season 2: Everything We Know So Far

Danny Perez – The Good Doctor

Fans of The Good Doctor are still mourning after the cancellation of The Good Doctor after seven seasons.

While we said goodbye to most of the cast at the end of The good Doctor, a few of our favorites left before the last episode, the death of Asher Wolke (Noah Galvin) was possibly one of the most traumatizing scenes of the season among all shortened seasons.

But before Asher died, we said goodbye to another of our favorite doctors. Danny Perez (Brandon Larracuente) was the show’s redemption arc, following the trope of a doctor struggling with addiction.

He arrived in the sixth season as a first-year surgical resident in recovery from an opioid addiction. We learned about his addiction when he and Dr. Jordan Allen fell in love.

His rock bottom happened with a heroin drug overdose that led to the loss of his job. Allen saved his life by discovering him in time, but it strained their relationship.

He spent time in rehab before earning his job back on probation. His character left the show after he was in a serious accident, and Jordan treated him with opioids despite his wishes, ruining his sobriety.

In the series finale, we saw him ten years in the future, and it turns out he and Jordan reunited and married. Happy endings do happen after bad things!

Hannah Asher – Chicago Med

Chicago Med is another show with the addicted doctor trope. This time, the doctor was a female and an OB/GYN.

Related: How Technology Changed TV Tropes Forever

Fans met Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) on Chicago Med in the throes of her heroin addiction. She hid it well at first and only got discovered because Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) was moonlighting at a safe injection site where she was using.

It was a scary time watching her in active addiction while treating patients. Nightmares are made of doctors mishandling medical cases while under the influence.

It’s even more terrifying that she was dealing with mothers and their babies — often before they were unborn.

After an OD causes Hannah to come into the ER and everyone learns she’s an addict, she leaves Chicago to work on her recovery. Fans were thrilled to see her return after two years of sobriety.

She maintains her sobriety and has helped Sean Archer make amends with his addict son, which has helped keep him clean and sober.

David Rossi – Criminal Minds

Not all situations where someone hits rock bottom occur due to drug use. David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) is a brilliant yet tortured FBI agent on Criminal Minds.

But when you work on the cases he does, and you deal with the awful people he does, it’s expected that you have some mental trauma.

Rossi has been through a lot of stuff, from multiple divorces to losing the love of his wife shortly after remarrying her the second time.

Getting held hostage and nearly dying at the hands of a psychopath, Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Related: 19 Most Moving Mental Health Stories on TV

And as if that isn’t enough to make any man a bit messed up, Voight is helping the FBI, particularly the BAU, by taking down an elusive killing organization.

We really saw Rossi break mentally in Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 6 when the voices in his head turned into full-blown hallucinations. The entire season has put major emphasis on David’s PTSD.

It’s only going to get better when he addresses the issues. He’s made small steps, but we don’t know if he’ll recover fully.

Or if the strain of the BAU is too much after all these years, and he’s done like his predecessors Hodges and Gideon. Both former BAU agents experienced their own mental torments and mental struggles.

Gregory House – House

Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is the doctor who started the trope of addiction. Sure, he had a bum leg, and that made it easy to score legally obtained pain pills.

This was the pre-opioid epidemic when doctors didn’t have such tight restrictions on how they prescribed powerfully addictive narcotics.

But even for the times, it seemed outrageously easy for House to score pills. Despite his brilliance, House had the worst bedside manner, making zero effort to comfort or educate his patients.

Under the guise of research and treatment for his chronic leg pain, House engaged in various self-destructive experiments, allowing himself to be a guinea pig as a form of self-punishment.

Related: 13 Deeply Flawed Characters We Can’t Get Out Of Our Heads

Due to his drug use and disregard for personal safety, House experienced cardiac arrest, overdoses, and frequent hallucinations.

Throughout the eight years the show was on the air, he had multiple rock-bottom moments, including going to prison at the end of Season 7.

In House Season 8, we saw him fake his own death to avoid going back to prison so he could spend time with his best friend, who was dying.

It was a total mess and over-the-top, troped-out narcissistic brilliance that would never happen in the real world. Making it great to get lost in the disbelieving scenarios.

Josephine Petrovitch – Chicago PD

If you’re up to date on Chicago PD, you know all about the crazy changes that have taken place recently.

Burgess is dealing with PTSD after getting shot. Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) left in Season 9, leaving behind a heartbroken Hailey (Tracy Spiridakos), who also left in the Chicago PD Season 12 finale.

Upton experienced some emotional trauma of her own as she had to keep Voight’s secret, cover a murder, and deal with the abrupt departure from her romantic partner without answers.

She punished herself through exercise, an addictive behavior profiled by the newest member to assist the CPD, Jo Petrovic (Bojana Novakovic).

Petrovic occupied more episodes as a behavioral analyst than some of our regular series characters, and the fans did not react warmly to her. She was offputting from the start, giving us the typical cop we love to hate.

Related: Jesse Lee Soffer Joins Cast of FBI: International

Despite being good at her job, she had a problem with alcohol, a secret that was easy to spot from the start if you’ve lived the experience. Despite taking an oath to protect the city of Chicago, she often put them at risk by drinking and driving.

Her rock bottom happened when she crashed her car into a brick wall while drunk out of her mind and trying to respond to a case.

If Upton hadn’t found her at the scene and done some nasty coverup work, we have no doubt it would have been the end of Petrovic’s career. Even after Upton blackmailed Petrovic into rehab, she didn’t take treatment seriously.

Coming face to face with her destructive behaviors made Upton evaluate her life and see the similarities before she hit rock bottom, too. Although her departure from CPD might count as a life crisis to some.

JJ Deveraux – Days of Our Lives

JJ Deveraux (Casey Moss) arrived in Salem in 2013 as an angry kid who felt abandoned after getting shipped off to boarding school following his father’s death.

He started exhibiting destructive tendencies as a way to express his pain, often turning to alcohol and weed to cope.

Once his mom moved on with a new boyfriend, Dr. Daniel Jonas, he focused his anger on the intruder. His aggressive mannerisms continued to worsen despite interventions from those around him, landing him in jail for breaking a store window with a chair during an outburst.

He spent the night in the slammer because his mom wouldn’t bail him out. Things worsened a few weeks later when he started hanging out with Theresa Donovan as an act of rebellion against his mother.

Related: TV’s Most Complicated Father-Son Relationships

When Theresa OD’ed on drugs, JJ had to rely on his mom’s boyfriend to save her life and keep himself out of trouble. In exchange for helping Theresa and keeping it a secret, Daniel requires JJ to get sober and stay out of trouble.

Sometimes, as seen here on Days of Our Lives, it takes someone who cares enough not to give an addict their way to make an actual impact.

Danny Cho and Amy Lau – Beef

In Beef, Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) share a feud that unravels their lives and destroys relationships.

The two enemies meet through an unfortunate road rage incident, which sets a series of petty revenge attempts in motion as each person tries to get over the other.

Amy is a successful, self-made entrepreneur who is living her best life. Danny is less satisfied, going around with a massive chip on his shoulder.

Once his anger gets set on his opponent, neither becomes willing to call a truce that would end the absurd beef.

In the end, the pair reach rock bottom when they destroy themselves and each other’s lives.

Although darkly entertaining, the scenarios that led to their lowest points were immature and outrageous. But at least they hit rock bottom together as they discovered their true selves.

Jubal Valentine – FBI

FBI fans have loved Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) from the start, despite or maybe because of his various traumas.

Related: FBI Season 7: Everything We Know So Far

We’ve seen several storylines revolving around Jubal’s personal life, from his struggles with alcoholism to having a chronically ill son.

The traumas are mostly ignored, only randomly popping back into play when they need some extra character drama.

Jubal’s rock bottom was especially hard to watch because he seemed like he had full control of his addiction enough not to relapse.

He threw away ten years of sobriety when he caved in from the stress of worrying about his son’s illness. Once he relapsed into drinking again, he started to do it on the job.

It’s another case of powerful government officials misusing their power position while under the influence. Luckily for fans, those around Jubal noticed his slip before any real damage could be done.

As a professional alcoholic, Jubal was able to reign in his addiction without having to go to rehab. He reached out to his sponsor, looped in his intimate circle, and returned to his AA support group.

Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz – 9-1-1

Throughout Eddie’s time on 9-1-1, he’s been the responsible single father to his son, Christopher. Before firefighting, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) served in the Army and came home as a decorated veteran.

Post-service, Eddie battles complicated feelings about his time in the military and what he experienced while deployed.

To say he has a touch of PTSD is an understatement. Despite that, he’s fantastic at his new career of firefighting. However, he resigned from being a firefighter during his rock bottom period.

Related: 9-1-1 Post-Mortem: Ryan Guzman Talks Eddie Relying on Buck & Eddie’s Season 7 Journey

After receiving devastating news about his former Army comrades, he, in an act of frustration, hits everything in his room with a baseball bat.

Having a strong best friend like Buck to talk through helped ease some of his guilt and trauma. And he enrolled in therapy to get rid of his demons and find inner peace.

Although he’s been on the mend, his recent actions with his dead wife’s doppelganger look-alike have led to destroying his new relationship.

It also caused problems with his son, who moved in with his grandparents in the 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 10 finale.

Annalise Keating – How to Get Away with Murder

Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) is a powerful and badass criminal defense attorney and law professor with an enthusiastic group of law students willing to do anything to be just like her.

Things first start to go wrong when a group of four students become intertwined in a murder coverup.

Although the FBI and DA couldn’t prove it at the time, they suspect Annalise in several crimes, including the death of her husband, Sam Keating.

By the sixth season, Annalise has fallen far from her powerful perch, overindulging in alcohol and drugs after learning of the death of Emmett.

Her rock bottom occurred when she woke up in the hospital after her bender. After admitting she has a problem stemming from her recent life choices, she ends up in rehab.

Related: How to Get Away With Murder Cast: Where Are They Now?

Which Character Breakdown is Your Top Pick?

While we’ve picked 13 of our most memorable characters who hit rock bottom, there are plenty of people we didn’t get to feature. We’re excited to hear who you’d add to the list. What TV character had your most memorable breakdown?

Give us your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to follow TV Fanatic to keep up with our awesome news, editorials, and reviews.

The post 13 Characters Who Hit Rock Bottom appeared first on TV Fanatic.

We had the pleasure of talking with Paget Brewster, who brings the indomitable Agent Emily Prentiss, a role she’s played on and off for the last 18 years, to life.

Brewster shared insights into the intense season before its thrilling conclusion.

Reflecting on the season’s start, Brewster discussed Emily’s emotional journey. “At the beginning of the season, Emily was still reeling from what had happened with Rossi and Bailey’s death.

“Part of her emotional reaction to the loss of Doug Bailey is she becomes obsessed with connecting everything to Gold Star, to the point where she’s guilty of confirmation bias, where she’s unable to see crimes as being outside of this conspiracy. And so she’s really tested professionally.

Related: Unmasking the Puppet Master on Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9

“But then, as the season goes on, we sort of find out, no, there are tentacles of Gold Star in these storylines, and so she’s somewhat vindicated. Still, she makes some choices, and Rossi makes some choices during the season that are morally ambiguous or questionable.

“I think it’s a reaction to their backs being up against the wall with Voight and this deal that the director of the FBI, Madison, has made with Voight that they all disagree with.

“They have to go run things by this serial killer they despise, but they need his help. So they’re all personally and professionally pushed to the limit in this season in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen before,” she explained.

The Gold Star conspiracy is a central theme this season, creating a complex web for Emily and the BAU team to unravel. The obsession with Gold Star leads to morally ambiguous decisions, especially when dealing with Elias Voit.

“They’re all personally and professionally pushed to the limit in this season in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen before,” she added.

Brewster also delved into the psychological struggles and human failings faced by the characters, particularly Rossi and Prentiss.

“Rossi is struggling with having been buried alive. He has PTSD and he is not addressing it. He was afraid for his life, and he’s just trying to tamp it down. But that’s every workplace. If human beings are involved, mistakes will be made,” she shared.

This human element is what makes the characters so relatable and the storytelling so compelling.

This season, Prentiss has faced numerous challenges, questioning her own decisions and dealing with the uncertainty of the Gold Star conspiracy. Brewster found joy in portraying this complexity.

“It’s fun because I’m safe with this team to do it. On another set with people I’m not so close to… but right now, it’s such a great time, and we’re so thankful, and we trust each other. I feel safe to be all of those things because it’s our team, and we really rely on each other a lot,” she said.

One particularly memorable moment for Brewster was Emily’s unexpected intoxication and self-doubt.

Related: Christine Lahti Talks About Her Wild Ride on Evil

When asked about this lighter yet significant scene, Brewster laughed. “That was great. That was really fun. I think Prentice has been drunk before,” she mused, recalling an early episode in which Prentiss visits Vegas for a Sin to Win experience.

While Brewster enjoys wine, she’s unfamiliar with marijuana. “I really was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to pull that off because I just don’t have a lot of experience with it.

“I probably should have eaten a pot gummy, filmed myself, and done the lines. I’m now realizing that’s probably what I should have done,” she joked.

Despite the intense and dark themes of the season, the camaraderie and mutual respect among the cast and crew shine through.

“Our fans are extraordinary. And what really shocked a lot of us was when we were on Netflix for a long time during the pandemic, people found the show.

“And I mean, I think it’s why we got picked up to go to Paramount Plus because it was, ‘Oh wow, this show still has legs.’ But we got really young vocal female audience members, and they’re everywhere, and they’re so nice and supportive,” Brewster noted.

As we wrapped up our conversation, it was clear that the cast’s passion and dedication, along with the intricate and emotional storytelling, continue to make Criminal Minds: Evolution a standout series.

Like you, we can’t wait to see how this thrilling season wraps up and what lies ahead for Agent Emily Prentiss and the BAU team.

Be sure to watch the Criminal Minds season finale on Paramount+ — it’s bound to be an unforgettable ride.

The post Paget Brewster on What’s Driving Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Dramas often include moving stories about people’s challenges with PTSD, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues, and many comedies also center around the maladaptive ways characters deal with life.

Sadly, some characters — just like people in real life — don’t realize they need help. They screw themselves up during episode after episode, breaking our hearts.

Mental Health Should Always Be Treated Seriously on TV

Characters’ Need for Therapy Shouldn’t Be A Joke

There are as many comedic characters who desperately need therapy as there are dramatic ones, but let’s be clear about one thing: having a mental health condition isn’t a joke.

Related: Days of Our Lives: Why Social Messaging Matters

Every character’s mental health issue is one that someone in real life has, and it’s important that shows avoid stereotypes or mocking mental health conditions for a cheap laugh.

Fortunately, there are plenty of shows that handle issues sensitively — even if sometimes the characters’ unhealthy behavior can lead to entertaining situations.

Kevin Pearson Had Multiple Mental Health Issues

His Low Self-Esteem And Unresolved Issues Led To Alcoholism And Other Destructive Behavior

This Is Us’ Kevin Pearson was severely underused, especially considering his mental health issues.

Kevin’s low self-esteem and belief he wasn’t good enough were exacerbated by his father’s untimely death. He got married at 18 only to blow up the relationship, after which he jumped from one woman to another without thinking about what he really wanted in a partner.

His alcoholism led to him sobering up without having any real sense of what to do with his life, and his lifelong resentment of Randall led to the two not speaking for a year.

If anyone in TV Land desperately needed therapy, it was Kevin, but sadly, he never got it throughout the course of the series, even though Randall’s mental health issues were explored in depth.

Days of Our LIves’ JJ Deveraux Didn’t Get Therapy Even After A Suicide Attempt

The Soap Missed An Opportunity For Strong Drama

When JJ Deveraux returned to Salem in 2013, he’d been kicked out of boarding school for weed possession and was acting out in all sorts of ways because of his father’s death.

Related: 7 Ways Days of Our Lives Could (And Should!) Be Using JJ Deveraux

JJ was spiraling out of control and unintentionally repeating history by acting destructively out of guilt over disappointing the people he loved — something Jack Sr had spent most of his adult life doing.

Even after JJ’s pain and anger culminated in his arrest for throwing a chair through a bookstore window, nobody even suggested therapy. Instead, JJ was treated as a criminal who acted out for no good reason.

The Fourteenth Doctor Was So Worn Down He Had To Retire

His Final Episode Indicated That Bigeneration Would Allow Him To Heal

Doctor Who‘s post-2005 Doctors have all seen a lot of disturbing stuff, so it’s no wonder this character desperately needs therapy.

Companions have died, worlds have ended, and the Doctor has to deal with the fact that their own people are dead, and they are largely responsible.

The Fourteenth Doctor was so worn down with guilt and depression that when he bi-generated instead of regenerated, Fifteen suggested that he needed to take some time to rehabilitate himself.

Fourteen is living the retired life, hanging out with the Nobles and taking Rose on unauthorized joy rides, but he could probably use some therapy — if he can find a therapist who can understand his dilemma as a time-traveling alien who is thousands of years old.

The Good Doctor’s Shaun Murphy Had A Traumatic Childhood

Shaun Could Also Use Some Help Dealing With Relationships

The Good Doctor’s Shaun Murphy ran away from his abusive father at a young age, only to see his older brother die right in front of him.

Related: The Good Doctor Renews Debate About TV’s Portrayal of Autistic Characters

That would mess anyone up, autistic or not. No wonder Shaun attached himself to Dr. Glassman.

As an adult, his stubbornness and insistence on having everything his own way annoyed others and nearly derailed his relationship with Lea. The series attributed these behaviors to his autism, but therapy could have helped him change them.

Law & Order: SVU’s Amanda Rollins Resisted Therapy

The Atlanta Transplant Had A Gambling Addiction

To be fair, Rollins tried therapy… sort of. After testifying in a rape trial, she got as far as the waiting room in a therapist’s office before deciding it wasn’t for her.

Related: Law & Order: SVU Season 25 Episode 11 Review: Did SVU FINALLY Pave the Way for Rollins to Return Full-Time?

Sadly, Rollins left SVU without having dealt with her past trauma, her dysfunctional relationship with her family, or anything else that contributed to her gambling addiction and other destructive behavior.

When she returned for a guest spot, she was in a happy marriage, but she couldn’t figure out what to do with herself now that she’d quit her job. Therapy could help her figure it out.

All In The Family’s Archie Bunker’s Worldview Was Shaped By His Upbringing

The Iconic Character Satirized Bigoted Views But Was Utterly Relatable

While politics might have ruined many modern shows, All in the Family offered America Archie Bunker: a blue-collar worker who held many absurd and narrow-minded ideas yet was still a three-dimensional character who came across as sympathetic at times.

In one famous scene, Edith explains to Mike that Archie was forced to drop out of high school to help his family and that his antagonism came from jealousy that Mike can do things that Archie will never get to do with his life.

Additionally, a lot of Archie’s prejudices and anger came from feeling like the life he’d always known was slipping away and that life in America was changing too rapidly — something modern audiences can identify with, as well.

Archie would never have willingly seen a therapist, which is unfortunate because this character desperately needs therapy. His issues deserve understanding and resolution rather than condemnation.

Sheldon Cooper Most Likely Had Undiagnosed Autism

His Annoying Behaviors Could Have Been Modified By Therapy

When The Big Bang Theory began, many autistic viewers were thrilled by Sheldon Cooper.

Related: The Big Bang Theory Cast: Where Are They Now?

Sheldon’s difficulty understanding sarcasm and social cues, his hatred of change, and his need to cling to routines at all costs felt familiar to those of us on the spectrum.

Young Sheldon suggested that Sheldon was assessed and found to be neurotypical, but autism understanding in the late 1980s and early 1990s was nothing like it is today, so it’s likely someone like Sheldon would not be diagnosed until adulthood, if at all.

Therapy would have helped him learn how to function better in a neurotypical world and how to detach from his mother, but then the series wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.

Will Trent Went From a Traumatic Childhood To A Traumatic Career

Growing Up In Foster Care Set Him Up For A Lifetime of Trauma

Will Trent’s experiences in foster care were so traumatic that he blocked out many of the memories until recently.

In some ways, he’s been very successful as an adult — neither his dyslexia nor his trauma has stopped him from working with the Georgia Bureau Of Investigation, where he deals with horrific cases that add to his trauma.

Still, he fits the tired TV trope of the brilliant detective whose personal life is a mess. suggesting that this character desperately needs therapy.

His relationship with Angie, whom he’s known since childhood, is a case in point: that’s been ruined, and he could use some help understanding what went wrong and what to do differently in the future.

Stella Walker Has Been Through The Wringer

The Teenager’s Resentment of Her Dad’s Absence Is The Least Of Her Problems

If there ever was a character who desperately needs therapy, it’s Stella.

Related: Walker Renewed for Shortened Season 4 at The CW

Throughout Season 3, Violet Brinson delivered a layered performance, showing Stella’s PTSD and guilt when she believed she and Sadie had killed Witt.

To make matters worse, Witt wasn’t dead. He’d disappeared because his mother had threatened him. Learning that was even more shocking and upsetting for Stella.

Chicago Med’s Crockett Marcel Needs Therapy During His Leave of Absence

He Was In Bad Shape Before He Decided To Leave

Crockett Marcel is leaving Chicago Med, likely because he is having such a hard time dealing with the death of both a patient and the patient’s father.

Marcel has always been a complex character. When he first joined Gaffney Medical Center, he was flirting with every woman imaginable to hide his fear of intimacy, and that fear nearly ruined his first serious relationship.

His infant daughter died of leukemia, which fueled his desire to make a difference for his patients but also turned him into a workaholic who was constantly trying to distract himself from his pain.

Any healing he does now will be off-screen, but he definitely needs some therapy.

The Bear’s Carmy Berzatto Is A Character Desperately In Need of Therapy

Anxiety and PTSD Are Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

Profound grief, crippling anxiety, and a traumatic childhood is a recipe for disaster. At least that’s the case with Carmy.

Related: The Bear: The Vitriolic Response to SydCarmy ‘Shipping is Getting Weird

Since we met him, Carmy has been struggling and barely keeping his head above water and emotions in check.

But with the increased stress of kicking off The Bear, his personal relationships have hit a new low as his self-destructive ways have gotten the better of him. Carmy may need a little one-on-one couch time.

Hailey Upton Has Been Falling Apart At The Seams

This Cop Was Addicted To Dangerous Situations

Hailey Upton is perpetually in crisis mode, so it’s no surprise that she left Chicago PD at the end of season 11.

This character desperately needs therapy. She’s been falling apart for at least three years while doing everything she can to pretend she’s fine.

It’s shocking that she didn’t get department-mandated therapy for any number of slip-ups and related issues, especially when they affected her job.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that after nearly dying, losing Voight, and still struggling with Halstead abandoning her, she’ll consider it wherever she lands after her exit.

Harper Stern May Have A Personality Disorder

A Difficult Childhood Contributes To Her Problems

Harper Stern is someone who very well could have a personality disorder.

Related: Industry Season 3: Premiere Date, Cast, Plot, and Everything Else We Know So Far

She’s certainly a narcissist, calculated, and manipulative, and she doesn’t exactly play well with others.

We know there’s more to her past and that she had a rough background. All of that and more is enough reason for us to think this character desperately needs therapy.

Maybe His Bad Luck Is Due To His Mental Health Issues

Does it matter who we ship on The Summer I Turned Pretty when the best ship of all is Conrad and therapy?

He battles a great deal of that First Child Syndrome, where he tends to put so much on his shoulders and the welfare of others ahead of his own. Usually.

His mother died, and he hasn’t coped with that in the best way, and now he lost his first real love to his brother.

Maybe things will fare better for Conrad if he has the space to work on himself.

The Rookie’s Tim Bradford Deserves A Real Therapist

He Has a Ton Of Regrets That Are Getting In His Way

Technically,  Tim did consult a therapist through the department and genuinely embraced the process after a bit — but she turned out to be a plant who was working with the villainess Monica.

Related: 13 Television Characters With Evil In Their Veins

We’d love for Tim to have another shot with a legitimate therapist to unpack some of his regrets regarding his military days and make peace with his difficult childhood because of his father.

Maybe it will lead him back to Lucy.

Yellowstone’s Jamie Dutton Needs Therapy Even More Than His Sister

Being The Black Sheep For Years Has Left Him Broken

Where do we start?

Yellowstone‘s Jamie Dutton is a bastard child of addict and abusive parents, taken in by John Dutton, who held him to different standards than his own kids (the whole family could use therapy, honestly!)

Jamie never felt like part of the family because he wasn’t. His coping mechanisms have ranged from bad decisions to murder, with every possible level in between.

Although this character desperately needs therapy, the reality is that it’s probably too late for it to set him straight, though it wouldn’t hurt to try.

When Calls The Heart’s Henry Gowen Is Dealing With The Aftermath of a Disaster

He Seems To Be Coping Better Than He Actually Is

While it seems like Henry has finally found his place in Hope Valley, he’s still withdrawn and suffering in the wake of Coal Valley’s devastating mining disaster that he could have done more to stop.

Related: When Calls the Heart Season 11 Report Card: A Lackluster Season With a Few Bright Spots

Like others on this list, Henry coped with various misdeeds that further alienated him from his community and fueled his self-hatred. Henry has come a long way, but the community can only do so much to help him reconnect.

Unfortunately, even though this character desperately needs therapy, we’re not sure that the field of psychology had come far enough in his time for him to seek help.

SEAL Team’s Jason Hayes Needs To Get Back Into Therapy ASAP

He Stopped When He Was Deployed, But He Is Not Okay

SEAL Team began with Jason seeing a therapist, but deployments, family matters, and the belief he was above it cut into the process.

As an active “operator” in the war on terror, Jason has seen more than most. He’s also lost his wife, which is almost unfathomable when it was she who believed every tour might be his last.

Irony aside, Jason might want to revisit the notion that talking with someone removed from his daily strife could point him in a different direction.

(Honorable mention: All of Bravo Team need similar treatment!)

Criminal Minds: Evolution’s David Rossi Is A Character Desperately In Need Of Therapy

His Refusal To Leave The FBI Despite Advanced Age Is Only One Issue

As an FBI agent, Rossi is long in the tooth. He’s in his mid-70s and still operating in the field. WHAT?

Related: Must-Have TV Guests for Our Independence Day Party

After being kidnapped and left for dead in one of Elias Voit’s underground bunkers, Rossi began hallucinating about Voit.

Rossi’s psyche is constantly plagued by the diabolical mastermind, which was exacerbated when Voit became a functioning member of the BAU. You can’t make this stuff up, but you can go to therapy to work through it.

Over to you, TV fanatics.

Which characters do you think could use a couple of sessions on a therapist’s couch?

Hit the comments and let us know!

The post These 19 TV Characters Desperately Need Therapy appeared first on TV Fanatic.

If you need a recap, you can visit the link above, but to be honest, it was even hard jotting down all of the pertinent details.

When a BAU agent has an idea or theory, nothing can stop them from spinning a good yarn in support of it!

The Puppet Master Is Unmasked

Just like the BAU, we were blindsided by the reveal of the puppet master behind Gold Star. If his motives were supposed to be transparent, I may need a little help grasping his intent.

In ways only TV and movies allow, Penelope produced an algorithm that connected about two dozen disparate individuals with a mercenary group run by a limited corporation called Aida.

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How or why are they using kids to do their bidding?

You can imagine the benefits of using youthful, unrecognizable faces to conduct atrocities based solely on how easily they can be manipulated.

Indoctrinating Kids While They’re the Most Vulnerable

Look at it like this. The brains of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 undergo significant changes, particularly in the prefrontal cortex.

That’s the area that is involved in decision-making, impulse control, and complex thought. This time in their lives is marked by increased risk-taking and emotional variability.

Brain development continues into your 20s, with the prefrontal cortex being one of the last areas to mature. This part of the brain is essential for planning, prioritizing, and understanding the consequences of actions.

Criminal Minds may not have meant to do it, but they’ve tapped into an ongoing discussion about such issues that is going on in America daily.

It would seem that indoctrinating people would be much easier if you could catch them during their developmental phase. How you influence someone during that phase of growth is sure to have long-lasting consequences.

When you think of the number of children who witness and experience painful events during those formative years, it’s enough to break your heart right in half.

How Jade and Damien’s Love Conquers All

Jade and Damien, at least, were pawns in adult games. What nobody in charge counted on was what might happen if two or more subjects forged an even greater bond than the one they forced upon them.

Frank Church is a grating man. Nothing about him is even remotely charming, despite Penelope calling him out as a man heavy on the rizz. We can agree to disagree on that, Garcia. You need charm to be charismatic, and Church doesn’t fill that bill.

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The guy is a cold-hearted psychopath with no redeeming qualities. He assaults children to foster his cause, believing he’s got all the answers.

Jade and Damien died, but they did it on their terms and due to the love that drove them. In light of their suffering and crimes, they would have never gotten a traditional happy ending. But dying knowing that you found profound love ain’t so bad in the end.

By ignoring how greatly a positive impact between two subjects could alter their trajectory, Frank Church screwed himself.

Gold Star Falls Apart

We don’t know what’s ahead, but Jade set in motion events on Criminal Minds: Evolution that Church may not be able to rectify.

With the help of a 16-year-old runaway named Neela (I think), to whom she showed compassion, Jade helped the others escape.

As it turns out, if you mind-frak a bunch of kids, you have to count on them not talking amongst themselves. That Church managed that for so long is a real shocker. Once Jade and Neela compared notes, Jade realized that her nightmares were of the living variety.

She had an escape plan for herself that did great damage to Church’s control of the situation. With the BAU on hand, it’s unlikely he can corral the kids and carry on with his plans.

But there is an outlier named Peter who is still in the wind. Church will undoubtedly reach out to him to help close the gap. If Neela trusted Jade, then Peter might be able to swoop in and undo that. Or, he can just kill Neela, so she takes her nightmares to the grave with her.

I expect this story will end this season, opening a new chapter of investigation for Criminal Minds Season 18, should one be in our future.

Elias Voit Prepares to Serve His Sentence

Elias Voit is on the precipice of prison time. Unfortunately for us, he’s going to Club Fed, a minimum-security prison that will be easy for someone like him to escape.

He’s now working almost hand in hand with his attorney, Vincent, and I need to know if there are any rules about attorneys in that regard. Is it that easy to turn an attorney into your lackey without consequence?

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Rossi hopes Voit will be killed in prison, but the likelihood of that happening in minimum security, where everyone has it easy if they just go with the flow, is unlikely.

Vincent even arranged for Voit to spend his time under his given name, Lee Duval, minimizing potential threats. If the media didn’t release his birth name while covering the story, they didn’t dig far enough.

But will Criminal Minds: Evolution be able to let go of Elias Voit so easily? He’s been a part of this new story since the beginning.

Is his addition what sets Evolution apart, or is it the longer arcs that make the difference?

Setting Up Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3?

Voit being behind bars will make little difference to his participation in the story.

What’s clear after “Stars & Stripes” is that he’s still got a vast network working with Sicarius. Vincent could be running it for all we know.

With as many potential outliers as Jill introduced with the multiple Stuart Houses that were explored and the details found in the bunker that pointed to the BAU being the hottest targets in town, there is plenty for Voit to do.

Can the BAU just drop what they saw in that bunker? We don’t even know if JJ’s safe after being exploited with deep fake sexploitation videos.

With only one episode remaining, there is still much to discuss as viewers and agents. Where does it all end? Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 10 may provide answers, or it could just lead us straight into the next adventure.

The post Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9 Review: The Pupper Master Is Unmasked appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Jade is reliving killing Damien. She’s playing metal music because, of course, she is. She’s got a gun on the seat beside her when she’s pulled over by a cop.

When he sees her license and registration, he asks her to get out of her car and cuffs her. Another girl enters the equation and shoots the cop. Jade does her thing with the pencils.

Somehow, Voit’s lawyer is still allowed to see him. They’re not discussing the case at all but how he can help Voit with his Sicarius plans. Voit is going to be moved shortly to serve his seven-year sentence.

Jill was sure her profile would work with Damien and admits she purposefully kissed David so he would know what was up. She didn’t know Damien and Jade had a suicide pact.

David has names for two more Gold Star candidates: Dana H. and Peter B.

Director Madison is honoring Voit’s plea agreement. He’s going to Club Fed. Voit can easily break out of there.

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Penelope has created an algorithm looking for connections. She’s in peak Penelope mode when Luke arrives. Her creation, Penny, has found the connection between a bunch of people to Aida, Ltd. They’re a private security company once hired by the US Government.

Frank Church is a noted name. Aida is a mercenary group.

They get word of the cop killing. He’s alive. Jade has escalated her sadism by leaving him alive. Tara has ideas about her mindset, and Emily thinks she was helped by someone else.

Rockville, Maryland

Jade and her new friend, the aforementioned Dana H., have arrived at the location of another of Voit’s bunkers. Jade is still skeptical of trusting Voit, but she opens the hatch anyway. Inside is a crime board filled with BAU information.

Dana says that she, Jade, Aiden, Peter, and Damien are found family who chose each other. Dana trusts nobody else but Jade, and Jade agrees. Looking at the board, they realize they need help. they need to go home.

David and Tara visit the State Trooper. He is incredibly angry, but he knows Dana has joined Jade. He wishes he were dead, but Rossi stops that line of thinking. He’s got a long road of recovery ahead, but there is always hope.

He wants those girls killed, but Rossi says there is a bigger picture. Jade told the cop that she never meant to hurt anyone. She just wants to go home and find peace. If they follow her, the street will flow with blue blood.

Jill has a very confusing thought about how the Gold Star kids might be reacting. They have been gaslighted into believing that everyone is an enemy except each other, when in reality they don’t know friend from foe.

That suggests that going home isn’t a good idea.

There are plenty of other Stuart House sites to choose from that may fit the bill of “home.”

Alvez and JJ check in with news of another kill kit and tire tracks that indicate Jade and Dana are nearby. Given what happened to Trooper Sands, local law enforcement will be out for blood.

But the locals don’t listen to JJ and Alvez, and now a couple of them are dead.

The BAU sees the kill board. They are now the targets.

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Rossi confronts Voit, who is quite the smartass, which makes me wonder why on earth anyone believes him. It’s nuts.

Rossi tells him GenPop is no place for a serial killer. Fellow inmates build prison cred by killing serial killers like him. Except he’s being prosecuted and sentenced under his birth name, Lee Duval, and nobody knows who that is.

Emily and Tyler get ready to interrogate Frank Church, who is more of a salesman than a soldier of fortune. He’s been pitching specialized mechanics.

Frank, like so many people who get invited into an interrogation room, is an incredible smartass. He brings up Gold Star. He also evokes Brian Garrity as the guy who first introduced him to Gold Star.

Frank is a misogynist, too.

Rebecca steps in with word from Director Madison to shut down the interrogation. Apparently, he’s acting to protect the BAU. Bailey had told Madison about the white paper weeks before Voit mentioned Gold Star.

Whoever ran Gold Star leaked the information as a warning. They wanted to make it look like the BAU leaked it. They’re being tasked with grooming the killer.

They get one swing at Frank Church, and if they miss, they bring the bureau down with them.

The gang discusses Frank later, and Penelope says he has rizz. I respectfully disagree. Jill calls him a malignant narcissist. True that. He’s like a cult leader who could easily be both savior and destroyer of the Gold Star kids.

Driscoll State Forest, Delaware

Jade and Dana arrive at a compound where Frank conducts his business. It’s a Youth Training Center by name.

Frank is shocked that Aiden and Damien are dead. Frank sends Jade to the dorm and speaks alone with Dana. He wants intel. She still has questions, but she won’t get answers. Frank just shot her in the back of the head.

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Jade is confused about the purpose of all of this. The doctors Damien killed, and the cops she killed were personal. This new batch of kids has no knowledge or experience with any of that. Frank placates her by saying what they did struck at the heart of the conspiracy (exact words Jill used earlier).

He says that once Dana brings Peter home, they can move on to the next phase. But since Dana is dead, what does that mean?

The training site is filled with padded cells, bringing back bad memories for Jade. Frank placates her again, claiming he liberated Stuart House.

Penelope has uncovered a 16-year-old named Neela, who is seen on camera with a deputy. She’s at the training center talking with Jade. Jade is a hero in her eyes.

They discuss their nightmares. Neela recalls being trapped with weird goggles over her eyes. She’s restrained, doggy-style. When the goggles slip off just enough to see his face, it’s Frank. He’s sexually abusing kids, and it’s beginning to dawn on Jade that it’s not a dream.

Later that night, she recalls telling Damien about her nightmares. She had it worse than any of them. She has never seen “his” face, she thinks because the face she sees is Mr. Church. Damien wondered if that was exactly who she saw.

Church told them they could make them see things that aren’t true. When Jade tries to wake Neela, she discovers she’s not in her bed. Upon investigation, she finds Neela unconscious and being moved by a wheelchair.

Jade is on the move after being trapped herself. At the same time she’s escaping, the BAU arrives at the gates.

Church couldn’t care less about the warrant. Put Neela back in the ward with Jade. He’s in for a surprise!

Jade is gathering Neela and asking her to get everyone down to the access road on the south end.

She’ll be right behind them.

Emily and Rossi realize that Church would be willing to fire on federal agents. Church just learned the kids are gone.

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When Tara says she sees movement in the back, Prentiss walks forward. Nobody fires. Jade is still inside. She’s setting things up to explode, maybe?

She tells Neela to keep running. She has to save the children. Jade is ready to die for this. She thinks of Damien as she blows the place to hell.

The post Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 2 Episode 9 Recap: Stars & Stripes appeared first on TV Fanatic.