Just The Brutal Parts: TV’s 10 Most Violent Deaths

#9. Warren on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Most of the violence on Buffy was of the campy variety, in that it was both not scary and inexpensive looking. Shockingly, Kelly Kelly didn't bring in the big bucks for the WB. But by season six, Joss Whedon & Co. occasionally splurged on a neat-looking special effect, like that time Dark Willow went all Xipe Totec and flayed Warren, who, to be fair, did have it coming after that whole Buffy Bot thing. Plus, oh yeah, killing Tara. It's an especially horrific image from a show that only a few episodes earlier had devoted an entire song to mustard-stained shirts.

Next: Sons of Anarchy

#7. Kenneth MacDonald Henderson on Six Feet Under

Or, why I hate elevators. Every episode of Six Feet Under began with the death of a random stranger, to the show's viewers at least, whose corpse would eventually make it to Fisher & Sons Funeral Home. Outside of SFU's series premiere, which set off the events of the entire show, the most notable of these cold open deaths occurred in the final episode of season four: four people are stuck in an elevator, one climbs out, and while assisting a pregnant woman...well, just watch. This scene, and that "Itchy & Scratchy" where Scratchy has his fur torn off because he's stuck on an escalator, are the best pro-walking advertisements ever.

RIP Kenneth MacDonald Henderson.

Next: Spartacus

#5. Patrick Keenan and Antonio Nappa in Oz

Here are but a few ways the inmates and employees of Oswald State Correctional Facility were murdered:

• Incinerated
• Tortured and dismembered
• Hanged from a basketball goal in the gym
• Throat slashed with a razor blade
• Pushed down an elevator shaft
• Electrocuted to death while in the bathtub

And so on. The writers of Oz needed to be clever in their death scenes because there were so many — well over 200 in only 56 episodes. I'm going with Patrick Keenan and Antonio Nappa because they were murdered in two totally different, yet equally brutal ways: the former had his skull crushed with a barbell, and the latter (played by Mark Margolis, a.k.a. Tio from Breaking Bad) was pricked with a needle and infected with AIDS by Mr. Eko before being smothered to death with a pillow. George Michael said it best:

Next: The Wire

#3. The Wee Baby Peacock on The X-Files

THIS episode. I was nine years old when "Home" first aired, which was old enough to watch The Simpsons on Fox but young enough to be totally terrified of X-Files promos, especially when they involved mutant babies born out of incest being buried alive. It wasn't until two years ago that I finally saw "Home," set in Pennsylvania, and it was just as horrifying (and great) as I feared (and wished). Even its origin story is messed up:

"Home" marked the return of writers James Wong and Glen Morgan, who had left after the second season to create Space: Above and Beyond. After returning to the series, the duo decided to write a shocking story to "start off with a bang." The episode was inspired by a tale in Charlie Chaplin's autobiography, about the time he stayed at a tenement home while touring in a British musical theatre. After dinner, the family took him upstairs to meet their son - and pulled him out from under a bed. The son had no arms and legs and flopped around while they sang and danced (Via)

"Home" is why babies should be illegal.

Next: Deadwood

#1. Tracee on The Sopranos

Tracee just wanted to make Tony Soprano some bread. That simple action, a thank you to her Bada Bing boss for suggesting that she take her son to the doctor, set off The Soprano's most violent chain of events. Over the course of season three's "University," the following happens: Tracee gets pregnant with Ralph Cifaretto's baby, Tracee asks Tony whether she should keep the kid, Tony suggests she have an abortion, Tracee insults Ralphie in front of the other mobsters for laughing at her when Silvio pushed her around for taking time off work, Ralphie and Tracee have a threesome with a police officer, Ralphie consoles Tracee outside the Bing, Ralphie calls Tracee's unborn daughter a "c*cksucking slob," Tracee slaps Ralphie, and finally, Ralphie viciously beats Tracee to death in a parking lot. This is TV's most violent death not only because it happened to a woman, but also because Tracee was a decent person. Unlike The Wire's Devar, a bad guy whose death we rooted for, the worst thing Tracee ever did was get involved with hothead Ralphie, who would later, well, y'know.