9 TV Horror Fates Worse Than Death
5. Mike Breaks Realities - Channel Zero
Portrayed by Paul Schneider, Mike Painter is the main protagonist of the first season of Channel Zero, Nick Antosca's horror anthology series on Syfy.
The first season of the show, Candle Cove, revolves around child psychologist Mike returning to his hometown thirty years after an unknown serial killer murdered five children, with his younger brother being amongst the victims. The name of the season comes from a creepy television show Mike claims to have watched as a child that featured strange puppet pirates before being hooked off the air mysteriously around the same time as the murders.
The season is filled with strange twists and turns, as well as a plethora of harrowing scenes that Mike is forced to soldier through, ranging from discovering the decomposed body of his younger brother (which he then has to burn), to being stabbed in the arm and having to rip out an ingrowing tooth.
The first season of the show ends with Mike forced to delay the supernatural entity that is his younger brother with a game of cards they used to play as children, and ultimately is forced to accept his evil twin, and all of his terrors, whilst losing a part of himself in the younger sibling's dream world.