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Most major characters are designed with goals and ambitions that they are expected to achieve, or at least attempt doing so. The story often impedes their journey, raising barriers and tossing roadblocks, events that serve to accentuate the delicate contours of character growth and evolution.
Simple though it might appear on TV, the fact remains that it’s extremely difficult for characters to lose everything they stand (or have worked) for. Not every character squanders the chances given to them, nor do they consistently make bad decisions. As such, it requires a sophisticated combination of terrible choices and unavoidable misfortune to end up with nothing.
10 Breaking Bad — Walter White Is Blindsided By His Own Success
Walter White’s mask of timidity is cast into the unforgiving New Mexico desert (along with anyone with enough guts to stand in his way). He earns himself a terrifying reputation as a calculating meth lord who runs his empire with a heartless hand.
Unfortunately, Walter is blindsided by his success, to the point that he fails to notice how much he has already lost in the course of satisfying his egomania. He goes guns blazing towards his fate only because the people he loves the most want nothing to do with him anymore.
9 Travelers — David Mailer Is Too Kind For His Own Good
David Mailer is one of the kindest people on Travelers, a show that’s already filled to the brim with humanitarians and martyrs. He finds his calling as a social worker early in life, going out of his way to take extra care of the people that depend on him.
David extends his compassion to Marcy, a decision that he never regrets, retrospectively or otherwise. However, it’s his association with the Traveler program that leads to his death by radiation poisoning. At least the rebooted timeline ends with a version of David alive and happy, so it’s not a total loss.
8 Westworld — Maeve Millay’s Battles Are Mostly Performative
Maeve Millay is introduced as a brothel owner in Westworld park, programmed to comprehend the emotional subtleties of every human visitor to the Mariposa Saloon.
She uses her manipulative skills to ensure her freedom, spending most of her time seeking the daughter (whose disappearance is the one thing she cannot forget). Maeve’s rise and fall over the show’s three seasons prove that the fight has still not gone out of her, but at this point, her battles are mostly performative.
7 The Man In The High Castle — John Smith Cannot Escape His Life’s Downward Spiral
John Smith fights for the U.S. during the Second World War but immediately accepts his new role under the conquering Nazis in order to ensure the safety of his wife and son. However, his various promotions within the Reich change his personality so much that he’s willing to accept Thomas’ euthanasia.
John Smith’s position as the Reichsmarschall of North America gradually leads to the erosion of his family ties, with Helen Smith’s defection to the Resistance signaling the end of his career (and his life).
6 Killing Eve — Villanelle Is Yet To Learn What It Means To Be Alive
Villanelle has played the bloodthirsty assassin for so long that the only two things on her mind are killing people and redefining fashion. Each encounter with Eve Polastri deepens her infatuation with the MI5 agent, bringing her impulsivity to boiling temperatures.
Villanelle isn’t exactly a character who’s lost everything as much as someone desperately trying to gain something, anything, a shred of what it means to be alive, to be human. She is yet to find it.
5 Disenchantment — Princess Tiabeanie is all alone
Tiabeanie might be born a princess, but her life is packed with disappointments. King Zøg believes her to be an unworthy successor, while Queen Dagmar has far more menacing plans for her daughter.
She does become Queen of Dreamland eventually, but her two best friends, Luci and Elfo, are dead and kidnapped by Ogres, respectively—Bean is all alone, just as she once feared she would be. Season 3 is probably going to resolve her situation, though.
4 Silicon Valley — Richard Hendricks’ Career Burns Bright & Fizzes Out
Richard Hendricks’ development of Pied Piper’s pathbreaking algorithm is why he’s considered one of the brightest stars in the Silicon Valley sky. Along with his tiny start-up, he faces odds far greater than him and triumphs over them with incredible willpower.
Unfortunately, Richard realizes that “self-improving” his patented program with the help of AI will have devastating results on world security, so his team has no choice but to sabotage their own launch. Richard ends up at Stanford, serving under his ex-bestie, Big Head, as the Gavin Belson Professor of Ethics in Technology. Everything he once stood for turned out to be a giant slap in his face.
3 Fleabag — Fleabag Is Thrown Into Rock Bottom
Fleabag, as the main character is known, is fierce, independent, and, most importantly, unable to read the room in any given scenario. This naturally generates easily avoidable conflict in her life, but she seems to take pleasure in carving out her own path, regardless of what everyone else thinks she should do.
At the end of Season 2, Fleabag successfully seduces The Priest, but is left with nothing when his faith remains unshaken. Still, it’s not a sad ending, because Fleabag is determined to claw her way out of rock bottom, as she has on many occasions prior.
2 On My Block — Cesar Diaz Is Trapped In A Life He Never Wanted
Cesar Diaz is extremely intelligent, but his conscription into the family business—the Santos gang—troubles him greatly. His friends work hard to extricate him from his “responsibilities,” a show of love that repeats itself consistently throughout the series.
Nevertheless, when Monse starts attending school on the other side of the country, Ruby and Jamal find their own niches to inhabit, leaving Cesar high and dry. He is currently the leader of the Santos, trapped in a life he never wanted in the first place.
1 Veep — Selina Meyer Destroys Her Friends To Become POTUS
Selina Meyer’s dreams of ascending to the United States’ Presidency are fraught with complications, most of which she surmounts with her trademark lack of a moral compass. She sacrifices nothing of herself but expects her entourage to support her constantly.
Even Gary, the only person who truly cares for her, is cruelly thrown to the curb just so Selina can win the 2020 National Convention. She realizes far too late that her victory means little without her allies, but at least she has Jonah as a veep she can dump all her problems on. Until his inevitable impeachment, of course.
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