Soaps have had many harrowing moments over the years.  One that still evokes an emotional response is when Liz was grabbed in the park on GH.

I appreciate how much care was put into this story when it started.  BH really acted the hell out of this story, and the production was not gratuitous or pandering.  It was shocking and sad when Lucky found her, but the scene of her being grabbed was really haunting and terrifying.  Something about the scene just after, the quiet snow and the empty bench really stuck with me.

Lots of scenes in The Loving Murders would count, but this one's up there. I'll also nominate Gabrielle on OLTL watching Garrick Grande die and then switching him with the still-living Steve McGillis (and vice-versa). I did not expect to feel so gut-punched by that one, but here we are.

The entire finale of the Loving Murders is definitely up there. It holds up today.

A scene I will never forget, but haven't seen since it aired, was in late 2002/early 2003 on OLTL, where Mitch Laurence has basically coerced Natalie into going to bed with him to save Cristian's life. Melissa Archer is shaking and sobbing violently as she tries to undress while Mitch harangues her to get into bed and do the deed. Natalie is rescued before they can have sex, but it was incredibly unpleasant to watch.

To piggyback on what @Vee said, I found a lot of Malone's OLTL return to be grimy and unpleasant to watch. I haven't seen it since first airing but I remember being very disturbed by a scene where that retcon mother of Antonio's (poor Saundra Santiago) fell on a shard of her broken water glass, and died.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

To piggyback on what @Vee said, I found a lot of Malone's OLTL return to be grimy and unpleasant to watch. I haven't seen it since first airing but I remember being very disturbed by a scene where that retcon mother of Antonio's (poor Saundra Santiago) fell on a shard of her broken water glass, and died.

A sequence that went on forever! That was really uncomfortable to watch.

I don't think the Mitch/Natalie scene was Malone/Griffith, but it could've been as they were ghostwriting a lot around January 2003.

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by Vee

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

A sequence that went on forever! That was really uncomfortable to watch.

I don't think the Mitch/Natalie scene was Malone/Griffith, but it could've been as they were ghostwriting a lot around January 2013.

Sorry, I forgot that was still Tomlin - I think I have so many awful images of Mitch's 2003 run in my head. 

I remember being like 8 when the David Kimble storyline on Y&R was climaxing, this sh!t stayed with me for years:

 

 

I posted this over in the Shortland Street recently, just wanted to post something different in this type of thread rather than the usual few clips I might have  tried to look for, and also because I wanted to try to say something positive about the desolate landscape of current soaps.

A deeply disturbed man became obsessed with a nurse, and began to think he needed to get her wife (the woman in this clip) out of the way.  He was also a clown, outside of being a doctor, which leads to this incredibly disturbing clown mask visual. Their scenes are in the last minute. It has - even if it's not as good - a bit of that Slesar vibe to it.

 

For  a  Y&R moment,  since @BetterForgotten posted one - I don't know what the visual was like, but the audio of Katherine stabbing Suzanne Lynch and the screaming and screaming really freaks me the hell out. 

I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of poor Maggie Horton on DAYS after she'd been bludgeoned to "death" (with a brandy bottle!) by the Salem Stalker.

This one's harrowing for two reasons: one, because of how the audience learns of Ciji Dunne's fate; and two, because Kim Lankford's vocal performance is Just. That. Bad.

 

Not harrowing in the sense of something brutal happening, but the music, directing, and Maureen Garret dropping that damn tray as Holly walks in on Blake and Ross in bed, and Holly's despair and confusion eating her alive in real-time. One of the best soap episode openers ever.

 

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by BetterForgotten

Just now, BetterForgotten said:

Not harrowing in the sense of something brutal happening, but the music, directing, and Maureen Garret dropping that damn tray as Holly walks in on Blake and Ross in bed, and Holly's despair and confusion eating her alive in real-time. One of the best soap episode openers ever.

 

Holly could have coped with Ross sleeping with another woman, but her own daughter?  I think that was the part that pierced her to her core.

Meanwhile, JvD never looked yummier.

Now that  Holly has been brought up, I would also add the rape scene with Roger and Holly - it genuinely makes you sick to watch. Zaslow's quiet, sure malice, and Garrett's numb terror makes  it all feel so much more real than most rape scenes on soaps.

@Khan the comment about Kim Lankford gave me a good laugh. I agree that the scene is disturbing - the slow build to us seeing Ciji's corpse is very effective.

While we're talking about Knots, I have to add Linda Fairgate's murder - the blood dripping down the shoes. You would not think one scene could kill off a 13-year old soap, but that did it. 

(I would also add Maggie's death on Falcon Crest, which absolutely traumatized me as a child, but honestly, Falcon Crest was already dead anyway)

21 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

While we're talking about Knots, I have to add Linda Fairgate's murder - the blood dripping down the shoes. You would not think one scene could kill off a 13-year old soap, but that did it.

Agree.  KNOTS was no stranger to murder, but Linda's murder was by far the most graphic.  You could tell in that moment that the show was no longer being written or produced by people who understood the show they were working on.

Frankie's murder on AW.

I mean... 

8 minutes ago, Khan said:

You could tell in that moment that the show was no longer being written or produced by people who understood the show they were working on.

There are deaths in daytime and primetime soap that sometimes feel like someone upstairs disliked the actor and wanted to add a layer of twist-the-knife and this is one of them.
 

Jill being shot in the shower. The bullet going through the glass door and all the blood flowing as Jill's body laid motionless.