20 Most Shocking TV Character Deaths EVER
7. Poussey Washington - Orange Is the New Black
Orange Is the New Black was never at a loss when it came to flawed but beloved characters, and Poussey Washington was one of the show's best.
Initially a source of comic relief alongside her best friend Taystee, Poussey was one of Litchfield Prison's most joyful and humanistic souls, offering kindness to those in need whilst sometimes having her good nature manipulated by the more powerful women that surrounded her (such as the coldblooded Vee).
Like every woman on Orange Is the New Black, Poussey contained multitudes, and for all her setbacks seemed poised to end the series with a deserved happy ending; potential that was cut short in the controversial episode "The Animals," when she's accidentally suffocated by an inexperienced guard.
It's a brutally visceral scene (one more unsettling with every passing year), made to highlight the injustice taking place in the prison, and that it happens to the show's most unimpeachable, hopeful soul only makes it that much more of a gut-punch. A riot would follow, and justice for her murder is eventually served two seasons later.