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| - Oh no! They killed off your favorite character! It's all right -- this is a TV show, he'll be back next week, right? Not if the victim was the subject of a Really Dead Montage, he won't. Not if somewhere between the Famous Last Words, the anguished shouts of How Dare You Die on Me! and the uncontrollable sobbing while holding the body, a sad rock or Celtic ballad and two minutes of happy scenes from past episodes starts playing. A Really Dead Montage can kill a character far more effectively than the shot to the chest, drop off a cliff, or, in extreme cases, graphic decapitation could ever hope to do. You can Retcon, Hand Wave, Reset Button, or All Just a Dream a character out of just about any kind of messy end, but the Really Dead Montage means Killed Off for Real, no coming back. Especi
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| abstract
| - Oh no! They killed off your favorite character! It's all right -- this is a TV show, he'll be back next week, right? Not if the victim was the subject of a Really Dead Montage, he won't. Not if somewhere between the Famous Last Words, the anguished shouts of How Dare You Die on Me! and the uncontrollable sobbing while holding the body, a sad rock or Celtic ballad and two minutes of happy scenes from past episodes starts playing. A Really Dead Montage can kill a character far more effectively than the shot to the chest, drop off a cliff, or, in extreme cases, graphic decapitation could ever hope to do. You can Retcon, Hand Wave, Reset Button, or All Just a Dream a character out of just about any kind of messy end, but the Really Dead Montage means Killed Off for Real, no coming back. Especially if they play Kansas' "Dust In The Wind" as it rolls. Also available in Permanently Put on a Bus flavor, when the character doesn't die but is really, really gone. For subtlety, this can take the form of a Happier Home Movie, usually filmed up close at an angle for extra creepiness. The only thing that can override a Really Dead Montage is the First Law of Resurrection -- however, considering the authors went to all the trouble of planning a Really Dead Montage in the first place, they probably don't want to invoke the First Law of Resurrection later. If the character returns nonetheless, the Really Dead Montage itself qualifies as a particularly conspicuous Premature Eulogy. Examples of Really Dead Montage include:
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