The best part of watching a TV show is when your favorite characters are on the screen, right? Well… what about when a character leaves for good and gives space and opportunity to new scenarios?
Just like in real life, people come and go, whether they are good or bad, making a difference in one’s life. With that said, here are four TV shows that became better when a character said their goodbyes.
WATCH OUT! BIG SPOILERS AHEAD!
- Outlander
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Outlander is a TV show based on the famous time travel novel series of the same name written by Diana Gabaldon. The story is about a former World War II nurse, Claire Beauchamp Randall, who travels accidentally from the 20th century to the 18th through a circle of stones in Scotland, leaving her husband, Frank Randall, behind. She comes across a group of highlanders and meets James “Jamie” Fraser. After marrying Jamie to protect herself from the sadistic Captain of the British Army, Jonathan “Black Jack” Wolverton Randall, she finds herself falling for the redheaded highlander. But, because of the Jacobite Rising and its end, Claire had to go back to the 20th century.
Frank might be different than his ancestor, Black Jack, in almost everything, but the whole Outlander fandom hates him. After traveling, again, through time to protect her and Jamie’s unborn baby, Claire meets with Frank and tells him everything, hoping he would take her back and raise the baby together. Frank accepts, but he imposes conditions, such as: moving to another country and never searching for Jamie ever again. She accepts all the conditions without a doubt, thinking that the father of her child died in the Battle of Culloden.
Twenty years passed and their relationship was worse than ever. But everything changed when, on an unfortunate night, Frank died in a car accident leaving a widow Claire and her daughter Brianna. The time traveler was able to go to Scotland and search Jamie’s whereabouts after the combat. When she found out that the love of her life had survived the battle and was working in a print shop in Edinburgh in 1766, she decided to tell her daughter everything and go back in time again.
Even though Randall forbade, for twenty years, any word or mention of the highlander, his death was a blessing for both the TV show and Claire. Her journey in the 18th century had begun again, making the whole story more and more interesting, a thing that didn’t happen when Claire was with Frank.
- Reign
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France, royalty, love, and lots of secrets. Those are the adjectives that characterize this history-based TV series. The story revolves around Mary Stuart’s life, from her arrival at the French Court until her death. We know that, throughout this period, she had to face many enemies, and challenges that threatened her husband’s, Francis Valois, reign, and hers.
You might think that we are going to show you a big enemy, such as her cousin, Elisabeth Tudor, Queen of England, or maybe some radical protestants, but, in reality, the bad guy we want off the screen is her father-in-law, King Henry of France.
Since the beginning, Henry is shown as an ambitious King who cares only about power. When he finds out that Mary has the right to rule over three nations, Scotland, France, and England, he is eager and determined to conquer the latter, but not everything goes according to his plans. After diving into madness because of his ambition, he starts to threaten the whole kingdom and the only solution was his death. He was killed by an infection, after his son, Francis, hit his eye with a lance.
Henry’s death was a relief to everyone, especially for the fans, because it made room to see Mary and Francis ruling France and facing many problems together.
- Anne With An E
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Anne Shirley is an orphan girl who is adopted by two siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Even though the Cuthberts wanted a boy to help on their farm, they fell in love with the redheaded chatty girl. Soon enough, Anne adapted to her new life in Green Gables, dreaming of having a perfect life full of imagination and kindred spirits.
One of the challenges Anne had to face, besides her rivalry with Gilbert Blythe, was her school teacher, Mr. Phillips. He was very strict with his students, verbally or physically humiliating some of them, like Anne and her friend, Cole. Besides his rude behavior, he used to court one of his students, Prissy Andrews, to whom he proposed. When she found out that he didn’t want her to enroll in a college, she left him at the altar.
After the wedding fiasco, he disappeared, making the whole fandom scream with joy. His farewell gave Avonlea the chance to hire their first female school teacher, Miss Muriel Stacy, who was different from him in both personality and professionalism. With Miss Stacy, the students learned more interesting things from unorthodox methods and had the chance to prepare for college.
- Friends
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So no one told you she was going to be unbearable, hun?
After many seasons with our six favorite characters, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross, someone showed up and disrupted the whole friendly and happy atmosphere.
This someone is Emily Waltham, the English niece of Rachel’s boss. Rachel was supposed to go with Emily to the opera, but she had a date and asked Ross to take the English woman in her place. They got along very well and Ross even confessed his feelings towards her, but she had to go back to England and to her boyfriend, Colin.
When Waltham realized she, too, had feelings for Ross, they started a long-distance relationship. But Ross, feeling bothered that his girlfriend has to travel back and forth to New York, suggests that they get married after only six weeks of dating. Despite a bit of reluctance from Emily, she accepts the proposal and starts planning the wedding.
Things start to go from bad to worse when Ross, while saying his vows, says Rachel’s name instead of Emily’s, but they still get married.
However, their cute and great relationship turned into a toxic one, once Waltham only agreed to move to New York if Ross stopped seeing Rachel for good. He soon realizes that he is being manipulated and that he wouldn’t be able to cut ties with his friend.
The marriage obviously ended, leaving fans happy that the toxic Emily was out of the picture for good. Even though Ross was the one to make Emily develop trust issues, her actions towards the group almost disrupted the amazing harmony and friendship.
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The article above was edited by Anna Bastos.
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