11 Grim TV Moments You Won't Watch Again

11. Warren Mears Meets Dark Willow - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy was a landmark for television - a show that centered around a powerful female heroine who could hold her own, a show, that toyed with expectation and a show that had a sincere, heartfelt lesbian relationship (and landmark onscreen kiss) onscreen. That being said, it was never a show known for its violence. The vampire effects were intentionally silly, just vague explosions CGI dust. Other creature designs were played for laughs more than scares.

Warren Mears, the de facto leader of the evil trio of demented teens deadset on bringing down The Slayer, is the rare exception to the rule. After a failed assassination attempt on Buffy hits best friend/amateur Witch's Willow's love Tara with a stray bullet, it represented a turn in tne and cruelty the show had yet to explore. Willow, at this point representative of all that is good in humanity, almost instantly abandons it, succumbing to her worst temptations and sending her on a path of vengeance that could potentially end the world.

Mears certainly deserved his fate, but his unsympathetic torture and sudden flaying while tied to a tree is both gorier than expected while still being precisely the kind of violent act the show needed at the time: Buffy was through screwing around. Things were getting serious.