History CruelMercy / LiveActionTV

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E6EscapeClause Escape Clause]]", a hypochondriac sells his soul to the devil for immortality. He starts thrill-seeking, but his wife dies trying to stop him from jumping off a building. [[spoiler:He's convicted of murder and tells his lawyer to get him sentenced to the electric chair, but his lawyer manages to talk the judge down to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever life in prison instead]].]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place to Visit]]", a robber wakes up in an afterlife -- and quickly realizes that, through his companion, can wish for absolutely anything, ever... and gets bored after a while... [[spoiler:and realizes that he's in Hell]].
** Combined with a FacingTheBulletsOneLiner in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]". [[spoiler:The Chancellor, trapped in a room with a bomb by the man he sentenced to death [[IllegalReligion for believing in God]], finally screams "In the name of God, let me out!" Thus, he is released just before the bomb explodes... only to be sentenced by the same government he served for his cowardice and invoking the name of God.]]

* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': In "The Last Death of Henry Morgan" Henry is faced with a seemingly impossible choice. He can't allow Adam to go free because the fellow immortal would simply continue his sociopathic murder spree and continue attacking those Henry cares about. At the same time, he can't kill him because Adam would just resurrect somewhere nearby. He has the ''pugio'' dagger that Adam thinks ''may'' be able to kill permanently, but there's no guarantee he could take out Adam in a fight, and Henry is an ActualPacifist who finds the idea abhorrent, and it would prove Adam's argument that Henry will eventually become a killer just like him. But Henry is a doctor, and therefore [[spoiler: knows exactly where to inject a bolus of air to cause Locked-In Syndrome, leaving Adam fully awake but paralyzed and unable to communicate so he can't kill himself and can't tell someone else to kill him. With modern medical technology and regular payments of the bills, he can be kept alive in that state indefinitely, which could be a very long time when you can't age.]] Henry does softly tell Adam that they'll figure out a way out of this stalemate eventually — "After all, [[IronicEcho we have eternity together]]."

* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': In "The Last Death of Henry Morgan" Henry is faced with a seemingly impossible choice. He can't allow Adam to go free because the fellow immortal would simply continue his sociopathic murder spree and continue attacking those Henry cares about. At the same time, he can't kill him because Adam just resurrect somewhere nearby. He has the ''pugio'' dagger that Adam thinks may be able to kill permanently, but there's no guarantee he could take out Adam in a fight, but Henry is an ActualPacifist and it would prove Adam's argument that Henry will eventually become a killer just like him. But Henry is a doctor, and therefore knows exactly where to inject a bolus of air to cause Locked-In Syndrome, leaving Adam fully awake but paralyzed and unable to communicate so he can't kill himself and can't tell someone else to kill him. With modern medical technology and regular payments of the bills, he can be kept alive in that state indefinitely, which could be a very long time when you can't age. Henry does softly tell Adam that they'll figure out a way out of this stalemate eventually — "After all, [[IronicEcho we have eternity together]]."

At the end of "The Last Death of Henry Morgan" Henry leaves Adam alive rather than trying to kill him permanently with his pugio. However, since he's induced Locked-In Syndrome it is showing mercy to the rest of the world, but definitely not to Adam.

* In the series finale of ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'', Henry is faced with a seemingly impossible choice. He can't allow Adam to go free because the fellow immortal would simply continue his sociopathic murder spree and continue attacking those Henry cares about. At the same time, he can't kill him because Adam merely resurrects somewhere nearby (and prove Adam's argument that Henry will eventually become a killer just like him). But Henry is a doctor, and therefore knows how to cause Adam to have a stroke that will leave him paralyzed and unable to communicate so he can't kill himself and can't tell someone else to kill him, but still aware. With modern medical technology and regular payments of the bills, he can be kept alive in that state indefinitely. Which is a very long time when you can't age and die.

* ''Series/ScreamTVSeries'': Emma chose to send Kieran to be murdered in jail vs shooting him on the spot and killing him quickly. That's unnaturally cruel action for a final girl, and that's even without regarding her implied StartOfDarkness.

* A ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode ended with the wife of a man who blew up a helicopter (killing all six passengers, including his wife's alleged paramour) begging the court to not use the death penalty. When it was revealed that the wife was the {{Chessmaster}} who set the whole thing in motion by faking the affair, the attorneys asked why she begged for mercy for her husband. The answer: she wanted him to live a long life knowing he was powerless and trapped.