Spoiler! Character Death (spoilers for latest DH episode)

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

A friend of mine posted this on FB in response to my comments regarding the last episode of Dollhouse:

Still, he did keep up with his tradition of killing off two characters in the last episode; one instantly for shock value, and one in a drawn-out sacrifice at the end. The validity of my theories grows...

I can't believe I never noticed this! It's so true.

What do you all think of this little "trend" of Joss'?

Buffy: Anya dies for shock value, Spike sacrifices himself to save the world
Angel: Wesley dies all drawn-out (sort of) and Lindsey is killed for shock value.
Firefly: Shepard dies slowly and Wash is killed for shock-value.
Dollhouse: Paul is killed for shock value and Topher allows himself to blow up to save humanity.

The theory seems to fit.

 

[MinwaraYana]

Wow, I never noticed it too. Now I'm going WOW. And now Joss is gonna be obvious in his new projects. 😀

 

[Tasha]

WAow great point! This is so very true > Ha. How did we not notice this? Does Joss himself even notice? HA.

 

[ubi4soft]

Well, with this theory we could speculate that for S8 Joss is planning to kill Satsu for shock value and Dawn to save humanity.
Nice catch.

 

[Emzzie]

WOW! I never noticed that but that is a very cool point! As Tasha said, I wonder if Joss even realizes he is doing that?

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I bet he does. I mean, it can't be a coincidence.

I've been thinking though; I don't know if Angel fits into this theory. I mean, didn't Gunn die in NFA? It was implied he only has a short time left, right?

 

[InsaneMystic]

I'm not sure on the canonicity of After The Fall... if it is canon, then Gunn

Spoiler

"sorta" died - he became a vampire in the comic.

 

[anyatara]

I wish I hadn't clicked into this thread, stupid me wanting to know spoilers. 😛 (I haven't watched the last episode of DH yet).
I agree, I don't think it's just ironic that Joss does that. It's pretty cool, though. I wonder if there's any specific pattern with the characters he chooses to kill off? Hmm, I'm going to be pondering over this, now.

 

[Chris2]

I had noticed this, actually. I think Doctor Horrible is the only one that doesn't fit - Penny is killed for shock value, but there's no sacrificial death.

 

[MinwaraYana]

I just noticed that what happened in Dollhouse's The Hollow Man is also like this. But it's not series finale, by the way.

Mellie - Shock value
Boyd - Sacrifice

 

[Foster]

You know, no matter how many times he does this to us the shock death always manages to surprise and shock me and the sacrificial death always has me either down or thinking about it for the next few days, ha. So apparently his method works- at least for me anyway!

 

[Flannen]

You know, no matter how many times he does this to us the shock death always manages to surprise and shock me and the sacrificial death always has me either down or thinking about it for the next few days, ha. So apparently his method works- at least for me anyway!

It works for me too. I'm STILL so angry about Paul's death. I don't think I will ever get over it. I cried when both died but for very different reasons and with very different tears! 😛

 

[Foster]

It works for me too. I'm STILL so angry about Paul's death. I don't think I will ever get over it. I cried when both died but for very different reasons and with very different tears! 😛

See it took me a little while to even DECIDE an emotion for Paul's death. I think it was only at the end of the episode that I stopped going 'Wh-eh-w...did that just happen?'. And then Topher's death distracted me from my shock 🙁

 

[Tasha]

Yeah Paul died so quickly. LMfao i couldn't stop crying either. hahaha. :'(
and Topher, wee shame for him. <3

MAN JOSS just HAD to kill off my two favourite characters ! pfft.
I was actually sad when Boyd died too, even though he was a bad guy.
And even though i disliked Mellie, it was still sad to see her die. Right infront of Paul aswell. :'(

Paul and Mellie or Paul and Echo? MmMmMmmMmMmmm too tough. I never liked Echo+Paul together until the last episode.

 

[Chris2]

Honestly, when Paul died, my reaction was just "Huh. Whatever." I suppose I never really got invested in him as a character; nor in many other Dollhouse characters actually. The only death that had much impact for me was Topher's, although Boyd's might have if they hadn't already derailed his character so badly.

I don't know if there are any other examples of this trend of Joss'. I suppose if you count Becoming as a single two-part episode, you could argue that there's Kendra (shock) and Angel (sacrifice). And there's definitely a sacrificial death in The Gift, but nothing for shock factor - you'd be really pushing it to count Ben.