20 Most Intense TV Scenes Ever

8. The Body - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy Joyce Summers death The Body
Mutant Enemy Productions

While Buffy frequently dealt with an array of terrifying monsters, there's nothing quite so scary as the sight of Joyce Summers' lifeless body on the sofa, being discovered by her eldest daughter.

Picking up where the previous episode left of, The Body moves slowly but deliberately towards confirming everyone's worst fear, that Joyce is indeed dead. The way it plays out, an uncut three-minute sequence without any music, as Buffy tries in vain to revive her mother, is bleak, disorientating, and above all else emotionally shattering.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.