10 Saddest TV Character Exits That Made You Cry

10. Jill Tracy - Scrubs

This is the kind of layered emotional impact that Scrubs was so great at.

Jill was a recurring character, slightly annoying in her fun and quirky ways. Like most characters of that ilk, a lot of her best work came either bouncing off JD's enthusiasm or enraging Dr Cox. Prior to her final appearance, she was a known suicide risk, so when she's brought in with no clear cause of death, they assume this attempt was successful and Cox uses her organs on several of his patients. However, they soon find out she in fact died of rabies, as do all but one of the transplant recipients.

Cox is devastated but in a touching reversal of their peer/mentor relationship, JD reassures him it was the right thing to do. Those patients needed organs quickly. If Cox hadn't operated, they'd have died anyway. Then things get really bad.

Cox's final patient, a man who 'could've waited a month for a kidney' dies as well. After resuscitation fails, Cox has a meltdown, destroying everything in the room and slipping into alcoholism. Jill's death plays the tear jerking long game as we see the strong, proud Dr Cox crumble into nothing over and over again.