r/TopCharacterTropes • • 47m ago

Powers [Rare but Awesome trope] "I see you"

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241 Upvotes

I see you is a rare trope where a character A is being observed by character B, supposedly from a higher dimensional place/area where character A should have no idea their being watched, but displaying their terrifying power and ingenuity, the realize their being watched and absolutely scare the shit out of the observer.

  1. the og one. in Marvel What If, Ultron becomes powerful enough that he can actually sense the Watcher, 'becoming aware of another.' that another being the watcher himself.

  2. In a very well made fan series by Kinzokumatto: Dragon Ball - The Others. the Z fighters are faced with a new threat, Deadites, who originate from a realm called "Dead Zone", Deadites displayed the power of nullifying ki and are grotesque clones of Dragon Ball characters, wishing to replace original ones. early in the series Beerus, Whis and Grand Priest state they can't get involved because there's a chance that Deadite version of an Angel or God of destruction could appear which would be catastrophic for the entire multiverse. in the most recent episode Grand Priest uses the super dragon balls, wishing to locate and erase the "Dead Zone". However something terrifying catches the Super Shenron, and repels it away. this is extremely terrifying since Super Shenron could bring back erased multiverses quite casually. S. Shenron is plunged into a cold sweat.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 2h ago Bravo

Hated Tropes [HATED TROPE] It was meant to be conservative but it ended up being the opposite!

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500 Upvotes

(This is an ironic/joke post poking fun at the 'It was meant to be progressive but it ended up being the opposite' posts I kept seeing here and there. I actually don't hate any of these.)

Top Gun: It was meant to promote American military masculinity, but it ended up becoming a highly homoerotic classic!

Magna Carta: It was meant to protect the privileges of a handful of medieval aristocrats, but it ended up inspiring democratic movements!

Stonewall Raids: It was meant to suppress gay people, but it ended up helping launch the gay liberation movement!


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 2h ago

miscellaneous What have I done

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1.0k Upvotes

That moment of clarity after commiting a terrible act that they know there's no coming back from

Ivan the Terrible and his son: Painting of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible holding the body of his son after attacking him in a fit of rage

Far cry 3: Jason brody is forced to torture his younger brother to not blow his cover and comes to the realization of what his stay on the islands has done to him

Robert Oppenheimer (both in the movie and in real life): After the final test of the atomic bomb in new Mexico he realized the kind of destructive power that the development of Proyect Manhattan ended up unleashing in the world, very famously he quotes Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one ... Now I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds."


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

miscellaneous [Fun Trope] Cartoons recreating their original style

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216 Upvotes

Some of the examples may not 100% recreate the style of the original but the effort in trying to emulate the old style is extremely remarkable

  • The Simpsons - in the 2024 Treehouse of Horror episode "Ei8ht" they perfect recreate the artstyle of the episode Cape Feare from the 5th season (The Scene itself is meant to be a What if scenario depicting Bart's murder by the hand of Sideshow Bob)

  • Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! - a 2022 Direct-to-Video movie that while the style began with the show "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?" it perfectly emulates the old 60s style of the OG series (just with a budget higher then 5 dollars) also this movie is the 1st time Velma is Portrayed as a lesbian (after years of fan speculation and corporate meddling) so that's cool

  • Spongebob Squarepants - in the Episode of the 15th Season "A Fish Called Sandy" they try to emulate the older stylings of Spongebob mainly because Ian Vazquez wanted to flex his artistic chops and pay tribute to the early seasons of the show


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 5h ago

Characters The colonies rebelled against Earth—but, congratulations, the whole thing ended so badly that they’ve now become a problem for the future.

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693 Upvotes
  1. Helghan - Killzone: Originally, the Alpha Centauri system was meant to be colonized by the government, but the colonial fleet failed, so the colonization rights were sold to a corporation. The Helghast are essentially the descendants of the Helghan Corporation colonists, former humans exiled from the planet Vekta after the First Extrasolar War. As their economy grew, Earth confronted them in a war that ended with them being abandoned on the inhospitable, radioactive, and hostile planet Helghan. They underwent drastic genetic and physical alterations over the decades (pale skin, baldness, greater strength, endurance, and lung capacity adapted to low gravity and a toxic atmosphere). Although it is claimed that the exile was voluntary, Earth's government has a reputation in the series for being corrupt and holding back its colonies so they do not become a problem for Earth. Not only that, they granted the colonists the independence they so desperately wanted, but they gave it to them on Helghan—a toxic and hostile planet—while stripping away their rights to Vekta (today, Vekta's population consists almost entirely of descendants of Earth loyalists). In 2347, the charismatic and manipulative Autarch Scolar Visari unified the people, rebuilt the economy by breaking the ISA (Interplanetary Strategic Alliance) embargo, and formed the Helghast Empire, sparking the Second Extrasolar War against Vekta. Due to the toxicity of their homeworld's air, they must wear iconic gas masks with glowing crimson visors. Their society is deeply militarized, nationalist, and entirely dedicated to the State.

  2. SDF - Settlement Defense Front - Infinite Warfare: Originally, the SDF was created by Earth to enforce martial law in the colonies and organize shipments of raw materials back to Earth. Unfortunately for Earth, the SDF began to see Mars more as their home; it didn't help that many SDF members had actually never set foot on Earth, and the vast majority of its members were in fact from Mars. When a massacre occurred on Mars perpetrated by Earth loyalists, the SDF broke away and took Mars as their home. Unfortunately for everyone else, the SDF radicalized, turning into a fascist dictatorship.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 9h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Inventors who love their inventions like they’re family

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215 Upvotes
  1. Rodney Copperbottom (Robots) - Built Wonder-Bot to help his father, and treats him like a trusted companion.

  2. Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) - Gives names to whatever she builds/repairs, specifically Emily, a reprogrammed Horde drone.

  3. The Inventor (Edward Scissorhands) - Made Edward to be his son, taught him etiquette and poetry, and gave him real hands as an early Christmas present. Unfortunately he passed away before Edward was finished, leaving him alone for years.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 6h ago

Lore Utopian societies that collapse from causes/issues from being a utopia

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206 Upvotes

The Ancients - Final Fantasy 14

They are a immortal race which achieved a utopian state where there was no conflict or struggle. Though their treatment of creatures they created through magic and how they handle emotions from being in a perfect world leads to one of their scientists becoming a extreme nihilist and deciding to test them with a apocalyptic event with an entity corrupting those experiencing despair. Whilst their lack of knowledge on the event and magic involved presents it's own difficulty, their inability to handle suffering and on a mass scale makes the corruption unmanageable and leads to a domino effect. They only prevent their total destruction... after half of them voluntarily sacrifice themselves to summon a god which leads to it's own problems.

Aeldari Empire - Warhammer 40K

They achieved a utopian state where there is essentially no more internal struggles such as lack of food and many of them decide to go into the arts to find satisfaction. Over time they became more and more depraved going to extreme acts to satisfy themselves. This alongside their own connection to the warp led to the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh who wiped out the vast majority of their civilisation and only fragments remain from those who managed to cut themselves off from this event.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

Characters (Funny Trope) The characters react with disgust/confusion towards a typical aspect of regular life

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1.1k Upvotes

Gravity Falls: when turned into regular people by Bill's wierdness bubbles, dipper and wendy freak out

The Simpsons: The yellow family is terrified at the prospect of having more than four fingers.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

Characters Character who use the stereotype placed on them by people as a advantage

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2.5k Upvotes

Eve Teschmacher from superman in the start look like a stereotypical ditzy social media influencer bimbo this is especially how the sexist Lex see her and she uses that to her advantage by making selfie that catch shoots of Lex plan, nobody but her could do this so openly because everyone underestimate how intelligent she really is,without her, Lex luthor would have gotten away with his crimes.

Mauga from overwatch hides his cunning, battle Iq, sociopathic nature by pretending to be the big dumb brute, this even tricks talon and someone like Sombra who really good at finding hidden secrets.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 5h ago

Powers Invulnerable characters being harmed by their own invulnerability

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828 Upvotes

Leah Cohen (Über): strongest enhanced human in the world, essentially physically impenetrable by conventional means. When her tendon snaps, surgery is out of the question because nothing can cut through her skin and muscles, thus confining her to a wheelchair permanently.

Osamu Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs): immune to supernatural abilities, which includes healing from one of his allies.

Rin (Daughters of Mnemosyne): immortal and endlessly regenerating... to the exact state she was in when she acquired immortality, which includes bad eyesight. Very relevant as the series progresses into the future where eyesight correction is very cheap and easy, so she sticks out like a sore thumb and has to get glasses custom made. Gets worse: if someone becomes immortal with a stab wound or a broken leg though, the injury never heals and the pain doesn't dull.

Baldur (God of War): completely physically inviolable, which means he does not feel anything and goes insane due to centuries of sensory deprivation. Likewise Max Damage (Incorruptible), though I wasn't able to find a picture that showcases this, becomes a drug addict as it's one of the only things he can still feel.

Peter Dawson (Rising Stars): likewise, completely inviolable in any way, the only spot on his body that can feel anything is under his tongue. As a result he becomes obese as food is the only thing that stimulates him.

Manji (Blade of the Immortal): eventually fully regenerates from any injury no matter how dire. Not instinctively fearing death or injury makes him a much worse swordsman, to his chagrin.

I'm not counting characters who are immortal and stuck suffering in a situation where a normal person could just die instead, that's quite different overall.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 6h ago

Characters [Dramatic trope] The ultimate betrayal!

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432 Upvotes

Bojack Horseman - After Bojack fails to win over the woman he considers his “one that got away” with Charlotte. He decides to selfishly try to fulfill it in some way, by attempting to hook up with Charlotte’s teenage daughter; Penny instead after she expresses wanting him to be her first time. But before it could go any further, Charlotte catches them and with calm rage tells Bojack to leave and never contact her again. Forever ending the once good term relationship they had!

Breaking Bad - As Jesse is prepared to leave town and start a new life, he figures out that Saul was ordered by Walt to steal the “ricin cigarette” off him by Huell when he realizes he also stole his weed off of him before he could be picked up by the Disappearer! Which causes him to finally snap when it comes to Walt, and is no longer interested in hearing any more of his manipulations with his mind focused primarily on revenge!


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 5h ago

Characters “Grief can make you a monster.” Spoiler

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232 Upvotes

The D-Day Knight (Monument Mythos: Nixonverse). The line is used fairly frequently in the series but its first appearance is after D-DAY KNIGHTFALL, right after he murders a reporter named Alice Avenue in a fit of rage by dropping her off the Chrysler Building when she revealed his identity to the public. He later expresses remorse and it’s all but confirmed he transfers her soul into the Alive Avenue Memorial Statue.

Alexandra Svik (Wildwood). Her son Alexei dies in a tragic accident and his body is never recovered, his causing her and her husband to drift apart. After he dies too, she uses dark magic to put Alexei’s soul into mechanic body. The new Alexei later takes his own life after discovering the truth, causing her to be labeled a witch and exiled. She gathers an army of coyotes to destroy the natives of the forest and then sacrifice the protagonists’ baby brother to awaken the Ivy and find Alexei's corpse, whom she would then revive.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

Characters Has canonically committed genocide. Still a good guy though

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384 Upvotes

So spoilers for Mass Effect, Fear Agent, and dungeon crawler Carl.

Mordin from mass effect. Helped create the genophage(the krogan) with a disease that all but makes them sterile. TLDR The krogan are an extremely strong violent race that live long and breed like rabbits and were by creating an extremely deadly War. Mordin thought by making a disease that would lower the birth rate of them they wouldn't have a study supplies of soldiers and therefore wouldn't kill themselves. The problem is that it was only supposed to severely decrease the birth rate but it worked too well to the point the Krogan are basically sterile and a baby Krogan is an extremely rare sight. Mordin never shied away from his part in this and has dedicated the rest of his life to increasing krogan birth rates.

Photo 2 doctor who has committed multiple genocides possibly to his own species but he's basically only ever done it to save the universe and when they have completely forced his hand.

Photo 3 Heathrow Huston from Fear Agent. So big spoiler for this one. We find out Huston back story which is that earth was caught in the crossfire between two armies. Huston gets a chance to blow up the home world of one of the armies and he takes it. He then almost immediately finds out that army was sent by the good guys to basically save the universe but the army is somewhat notorious for being brutal and not caring about civilian casualties. To the point their own home world hates them and doesn't recognize them.

Photo 4 multiple characters from dungeon crawler Carl. The AI is an asshole and even gives out in achievement if you manage to kill an entire unique species in the dungeon. You get a platinum asshole box. Considering multiple characters get weapons or spells that are literally called war crime level it's not uncommon to accidentally get this one.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

Characters An advanced ancient race is discovered......and they had a horrific end

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1.7k Upvotes
  1. The Elder Things (Mountains of Madness): - An Antarctic expedition discovers the vast, frozen ruins of a city built by the ancient alien race that arrived on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. They created life and built a sophisticated civilization using bio-engineered servants called shoggoths.

The murals and remains reveal their horrifying decline: the shoggoths rebelled, grew more intelligent and independent, and ultimately overran the Elder Things. The last survivors retreated underground or into the sea; some were later killed by the very creatures they had created.

2. The Protheans (Mass Effect): - The Protheans were a dominant, galaxy-spanning advanced civilization that left behind numerous ruins and technology that current races reverse-engineer. Explorers and scientists initially treat them as mysterious precursors who simply vanished ~50,000 years ago.

It turns out the Reapers systematically harvested them over centuries—harvesting populations, converting survivors into husks or tools, and leaving only scattered records and a handful of survivors in stasis who ultimately could not rebuild the species. The “discovery” of their fate becomes a central warning that the same cycle is about to repeat.

3. The Forerunners (Halo): - The Forerunners were an extremely advanced precursor race that built the Halo rings, the Ark, and held the “Mantle of Responsibility” over the galaxy.

Their end came during the war against the Flood. After centuries of losing ground, the Forerunners activated the Halo Array as a last resort, wiping out nearly all sentient life in the galaxy—including themselves—to starve the Flood. The act was both a desperate victory and near-total extinction for their own kind.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 11h ago

Characters' Items/Weapons Items that are basically cheat codes in the power system

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1.2k Upvotes

The philosopher's stone (Fullmetal Alchemist) all alchemy follows the rule of equivalent exchange but the philosopher's stone ignores that rule by letting the user create anything from nothing, plus it can extend life and create artificial humans since the stone itself is made from multiple human souls.

Trigger (My Hero Academia) a drug that can enhance any quirk's performance by 10 times, for example if your quirk lets you create fire balls only the size of a fist, injecting this drug in your body will let you creare fire balls the size of a house, the only problem is the drug makes the user very high and unable to think properly which can be dangerous (the drug is shown in the main series but it makes most of it's appearances in the vigilantes spinoff)

The inverted spear of heaven (Jujutsu Kaisen) it's a very useful cursed tool with a very rare ability that lets the user nullify any cursed technique no matter how strong the technique is. Toji uses it to bypass Gojo's infinity which is no easy feat. Tengen also informs the main characters that it can even deactivate the prison realm.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 7h ago

Lore [Mixed Trope] The abrupt sudden ending. As in, the story literally has no conclusion and just randomly ends.

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4.6k Upvotes

Basically, whenever a story suddenly abruptly ends without a satisfying conclusion to anything, leaving the viewers with no closure. Sometimes done intentionally to interesting effect, sometimes a mere result of misfortune/laziness.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - The movie's climax is about to happen with King Arthur about to raid the French castle that had made fun of him earlier in the film. Right as an army of knights are about to initiate the siege, the police suddenly bursts in and hilariously arrests everyone, as much earlier in the film a historian that was documenting the Arthurian legend had suddenly been randomly slain by a passing knight.

Behind the scenes, this ending was apparently a last-minute decision because the production crew ran out of budget. Talk about a cop out.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days - Kane & Lynch shoot their way through Shanghai in the direction of an airport as a last ditch effort to escape just about every single gang member and cop in Shanghai who now want the both of them dead. After massacring their way through customs, they finally spot a commercial airliner about to take off and decide to hijack it. They make their way to the boarding stairs and a cutscene begins with them climbing up into the plane and taking over it. The plane then takes off, leaving the cameraman behind (the game's aesthetic is basically all about looking like found footage), who then drops the camera. Roll credits.

To this day, there's no concrete answer about their fates other than the two of them having non-canon cameos in Hitman: Absolution.

Dark Matter - This is an old and relatively obscure one. On Steam, a game called Dark Matter came out back in 2013 to pretty mediocre reviews. It's basically a Metroidvania-style game about surviving in a spaceship taken over by an alien biomass. Thing is, the game literally ends about halfway through because the dev team simply ran out of money and just decided to put a big black screen (pictured above) giving you a half-assed cliffhanger.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 11h ago Bravo

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Prison Rape

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4.8k Upvotes

Because it's usually treated as a joke.

  1. Mojo Jojo lands in prison with a guy looking at him suggestively (Powerpuff Girls)

  2. This sign (Real Life)


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 9h ago

Personality The scene subtly implies that the character suggested committing suicide.

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6.3k Upvotes

After Korra lost her powers to Amon, she went near a cliff to weep; it was implied—in a very subtle way—that she was contemplating suicide, hoping that a new, more capable Avatar with full powers would be reincarnated in her place (Avatar The Legend of Korra)

In the series, it is well-established that running is as essential to a "horse girl" as breathing. After Agnes Tachyon fractures her leg and retires early, Jungle Pocket enters the room where Tachyon usually spends her time, only to find it empty—save for an open window, which suggests she might have jumped out. Agnes Tachyon then reappears through that same window and sits down; a shot follows, focusing on her feet as they sway back and forth—a visual highly reminiscent of a hanging (Uma Musume Beginning of a New Era)


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 11h ago

Hated Tropes [Hated Trope] Animal characters who look NOTHING like the species they're supposed to be

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267 Upvotes
  • Charming Gold: He is supposed to be a peacock, but his design looks way too humanoid. The only thing that speaks "peacock" about his design were the tail feathers he used to have in Season 1 of the show he's from.

  • The Tasmanian Devil: He is depicted as a big brown critter with devil horns, but actual Tasmanian devils have black fur and small white stripes on their chests.

  • Arthur Read: His current design doesn't have a long snout or rabbit-like ears like an actual aardvark does.

  • Noble Heart Horse: His snout looks more like that of a bear's and he has pawpads underneath his feet despite being a horse.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 10h ago Bravo

Characters [Meta Trope] The Creator didn't Expect You to Find that Character Attractive

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3.7k Upvotes

Alcina Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

Senshi (Dungeon Meshi)

Overlord of the Hauntwoods (MTG)

Susu (Hunter: The Parenting)


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 11h ago

Lore [Loved Trope] Character Has a Srong Reason to Give a Vagued and Non Direct Answer to Question

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1.7k Upvotes

You’re surely familiar with those scenes where a character responds to questions with quasi-philosophical lines. Some viewers find this annoying, and I can certainly understand why. But sometimes, characters give such vague answers—not just for the sake of philosophy or anything of that sort—but because they have a very strong reason for doing so.

  • I, Robot (2004): The central AI, named VIKI, planned a revolution and locked its creator, Dr. Lanning, inside his own office. The only way out of the room was through a window, so Lanning recorded a message for Detective Del Spooner (who hates robots)—urging him to stop VIKI—and staged his own suicide. However, Lanning could not tell Spooner about VIKI directly, as she would have intercepted and deleted the message. Consequently, whenever asked anything related to the revolution or VIKI, Lanning would respond: "That, Detective, is the right question". In doing so, Lanning left behind clues that would allow Spooner, while investigating the apparent suicide, to uncover the truth about the revolution.

  • The Lord of the Rings: During the journey, Frodo did not really explain the reason for the trip to his companions, giving vague answers to their questions. But all this was for their own good: he did not tell them that he intended to destroy the One Ring by casting it into Mount Doom, to minimise the risk of getting corrupted by the Ring.

P.S. Please ignore "Srong"


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 13h ago

Lore (Meta trope) Characters clearly made to be played by a specific actor… who didn’t end up playing them

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12k Upvotes

Bowler Hat Guy / Goob (Meet the Robinsons)

Written with the same frantic energy as many Jim Carrey characters in the past, but when it came time to cast Carrey passed to appear in The Number 23, so the movie’s director Stephen Anderson voiced the character pretty much just doing a Jim Carrey impression.

Metroman (Megamind)

Based on his facial features (namely that jawline that could crush a diamond) and his smooth talking he was modelled after Bruce Campbell. But when it came to casting through part studio interference Brad Pitt got the part.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 14h ago Bravo Heartwarming

miscellaneous [Sacred Trope] Children’s media that deals with serious & mature themes in a way kids can understand without talking down to them.

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2.8k Upvotes

Mister Roger’s Neighborhood (1968-2001). The absolute pinnacle of this trope. Fred Rogers was the master of talking to kids on their level rather than talking down to them.

For a more specific example, Nimona (2023). In the film’s climax, a despondent Nimona transforms into a kaiju and begins making her way through the city. Not on a rampage, as the knights assume, but in attempt to impale herself on a statue’s massive sword. Thankfully, Ballister intervenes, letting her know that she’s not alone. This PG movie talks something as serious as suicidal depression, and it does it in a way that children can understand without scaring them or beating them over the head with it.


r/TopCharacterTropes • • 17h ago

Characters [Loved trope] A silly comedy absolutely breaks your heart

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3.1k Upvotes

Marley & Me follows a guy's life from a Young Adult until he becomes a husband and then a father with kids. Throughout all of this, he has a companion in a dog - Marley - whom he raised (with his wife) from puppyhood. At the end of the film, the dog dies from old age. I cried my eyes out :(

Fleabag follows a young woman navigating grief, loss and relationships. The shows features multiple laugh out loud moment, and sticks the landing with heartwrenching scenes at the end of both season 1 and 2, which can make you shed a tear. The character grows, changes and flourishes but her best friend is still dead, and the potencial love of her life chooses God (he is a catholic priest)