10 TV Shows That Redeemed Hated Characters In A Single Episode

1. David Brent - The Office (U.K.)

The Episode: The Office Christmas Special

Perhaps the biggest storytelling difference between the American and Brit versions of The Office is that Ricky Gervais' nightmare boss David Brent is far less of an aloof idiot than his stateside counterpart Michael Scott (Steve Carell), and far more of an intentional, mean-spirited a**hole.

And that was the entire point of the character, of course, to be a realistically loathable boss you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. And so, Gervais faced quite the challenge when he inevitably attempted to semi-redeem Brent in the show's series finale, The Office Christmas Special.

But Gervais pulled it off in one spectacularly unforgettable sequence where Brent tells his obnoxious co-worker Chris Finch (a brilliant Ralph Ineson) to "f**k off" after he disparages his date.

The brown-nosing Brent of the past was replaced with an assertive, reinvented one, who went on to wring some actual laughs out of his employees in the final moments of the series. What a result.

You can argue that the follow-up film, David Brent: Life on the Road, somewhat undid this "happy ending" of sorts for Brent by reverting him into a cringe-factory. But let's be honest, nobody as grating as Brent was ever going to change their entire personality.

He's certainly a good deal more tolerable by the end of the Christmas Special, anyway, and seems to have learned something about being less of an insufferable moron.