History Main / UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode

* The ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'' episode "Samosa Mama" is a CourtroomEpisode where Samosa is legitimately suspected of a kidnapping and put on trial for it, with his friends having to help in proving his innocence. That's already pretty dark for a mostly goofy series like ''Simple Samosa'', but throw in [[spoiler:Samosa being (wrongfully) almost given the ''death penalty'' for the crime while Cham Cham, Samosa's rival who sent him to court, hates him too much to have any negative reaction to it]] and it becomes quite possibly the series' darkest episode.

* ''Series/GoodTimes'' plays with this. While it was more of a comedy with dramatic overyones, it still had some stand out moments:

* In one ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, [[MrImagination Calvin]] and [[ImaginaryFriend Hobbes]] find an injured baby raccoon in the woods, who eventually dies.

* While ''Franchise/DragonBall'' is no stranger to serious plots, especially during the [[Anime/DragonBallZ Z era]], the arc that actually fits this the most is ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Dragon Ball Super]]'''s "Goku Black" arc. Centering around the Future Trunks timeline, we learn that a new villain appeared years after Future Trunks defeated the Androids, Cell, and later Babidi and Dabura. This new villain is incredibly strong, has been systematically committing genocide against the human race, and also looks exactly like [[EvilDoppelganger Goku]]. It turns out that this Goku Black is actually an insane Supreme Kai in-training from Universe 10 named Zamasu, who used the Super Dragon Balls to steal Goku's body, then used a time ring to travel to Future Trunk's timeline. Black then teamed up with his own alternate future self, who chose to use the Super Dragon Balls to wish for true immortality, and the two of them wiped out ''all life'' in the other 11 universes before turning to Universe 7. In between fights in the future timeline, we get to witness Beerus erase the present version of Zamasu from existence, down to his very soul, simply by saying "hakai" ("destroy"). Back in the future, Black's power continues to grow and outstrip the heroes, even in their god-ki powered forms. Black and Future Zamasu then choose to undergo Potara Fusion, creating Fused Zamasu, an entity that even the likes of Super Saiyan Blue Vegito cannot defeat. Fused Zamasu is only defeated by Future Trunks turning a Spirit Bomb into a sword and vertically bisecting him -- only for the story to reveal a SuddenDownerEnding in which Zamasu's immortal spirit fuses with the universe itself, kills everyone but the heroes just to torture them a little longer, and then Future Zeno erases that entire future timeline from existence to put an end to Zamasu. Meaning that every character from that timeline that the audience may have grown attached to (Future Gohan, Future Bulma, etc.) is well and truly gone as even their souls were erased. Future Trunks and Future Mai are the only survivors, and they're given an EsotericHappyEnding when Whis transports them to a version of their future where Black never existed... but alternate versions of themselves do, so they have nowhere to really go. Also, said timeline is entirely disconnected from the main one, so they'll never cross-over again.

* ''Literature/VitaNuova'': After a series of rather domestic poems about the beauty of a kind woman, the FeverDreamEpisode suddenly employs apocalyptic and spiritual imagery to describe how [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]] wished to die after facing his love's mortality.

** The storyline now called "Death of a Prince" began innocuously as Aqualad went missing on a quest for his family, Aquaman went to find him and found Black Manta had kidnapped him, Topo the octopus, and his toddler son Arthur Jr., which wasn't unusual for the time period or preceding stories. Then Manta revealed he'd encased the baby in air to suffocate and would force them to fight to the death to save him, and even after a solution was found, [[DeathOfAChild Arthur Jr. died]].

** Volume 4's extra chapter features Mei's backstory and why she's so loyal to Hahari, which inclues Mei being thrown out by abusive parents and collapsing in the snow outside the Hanazono household. When Mei wonders why Hahari even cares, Hahari encourages her to live and later took her in. Humor is still present as, before going into the tale, Mei warns everyone that it was cut from the main story because it clashed too heavily with the manga's normal tone, but is willing to do so in the extra chapter, and Hahari breaks the somber mood by revealing she did everything she did because of how cute Mei was. Mei is, predictably, overjoyed by the praise.

*** Volume 4's extra chapter features Mei's backstory and why she's so loyal to Hahari, which inclues Mei being thrown out by abusive parents and collapsing in the snow outside the Hanazono household. When Mei wonders why Hahari even cares, Hahari encourages her to live and later took her in. Humor is still present as, before going into the tale, Mei warns everyone that it was cut from the main story because it clashed too heavily with the manga's normal tone, but is willing to do so in the extra chapter, and Hahari breaks the somber mood by revealing she did everything she did because of how cute Mei was. Mei is, predictably, overjoyed by the praise.
** Chapters 134-135 is easily the soberest story in this GagSeries thus far, more than even Hahari's introduction in Vol. 3 (which was still peppered with zany jokes throughout). Most of the harem [[ShooOutTheClowns make only background cameos in the first part and are completely gone in the second]], the conflict in Shizuka's family is played deadly straight, and the few jokes are ''very'' gentle and low-key.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Chapters 134-135 is easily the soberest story in this GagSeries thus far, more than even Hahari's introduction in Vol. 3 (which was still peppered with zany jokes throughout). Most of the harem [[ShooOutTheClowns make only background cameos in the first part and are completely gone in the second]], the conflict in Shizuka's family is played deadly straight, and the few jokes are ''very'' gentle and low-key.

** "Running Zack" is loaded with this, from Zack giving a racially offensive presentation about his familial culture, to his American Indian friend who he met in the episode dying before it's ending, to the revelation that Jessie's ancestors owned slaves, which on a more light-hearted note, had her begin to make several awkward snd hilarious reparations towards Lisa, who quickly grows annoyed by these odd and unnecessary efforts.