10 Totally Unnecessary Deaths In Horror TV Shows
8. Beverley Katz - Hannibal
Bryan Fuller's ground-breaking adaptation of characters from Thomas Harris' novels - FBI profiler Will Graham and cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter - is justifiably critically acclaimed. Despite that, the murder of FBI Agent Beverly Katz in season 2 caused a huge outcry.
Katz' death was off-screen, the dogged agent being caught in the act while searching Lecter's home. However, her corpse was displayed in perfect vertical slices for the FBI to find. Incarcerated and powerless, Will Graham takes drastic action and persuades a second psychopath to go after Lecter - who nearly kills the good doctor.
This left an overwhelmingly bad taste in the mouths of the show's fans. Katz was an anomaly on American TV in 2013/2014 - a strong, well-rounded and interesting young female Asian character. Her presence on such a high profile network television show was significant, as was the representation that her characterisation afforded younger Asian women, who simply didn't get to see themselves on television in roles such as this.
Fans accused Fuller of 'fridging' (abusing or killing a female character, whereby their suffering is incidental except to provide a male character with motivation). Fuller confirmed this was his motivation when he admitted that Katz would have been killed in season one, except for the fact that her death wouldn't have had as much impact on Graham (or the audience, for that matter).
In a way, it's the ultimate in 'unnecessary deaths': Fuller treated Beverly Katz like an object, ending her story just to add spice to someone else's.