The 25 Most Damaged Kids On TV

These kids are definitely not alright.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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The most memorable moments of our favorite TV shows these days are decidedly dark. We're talking moments that reduce our favorite heroes and anti-heroes to emotionally fucked up messes. But when things like the Red Wedding pop off, what really gets us, days later, is thinking about how it affects the younger members of the cast. The siblings, children, or otherwise adolescents in the wrong place at the wrong time or born into the most messed up family possible.

On certain shows, like Homeland, they're the heart and soul, the only people worth rooting for. And the writers, knowing that, love to just dash our hopes and dreams for a happy outcome and put those characters especially through hell. This is a salute to the kids and teens from some of the best series ever, who will most certainly be meeting up for that great group therapy session in TV land. Read on for the 25 most damaged kids on television.

Written by Frazier Tharpe (@The_SummerMan

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25. Travis Cobb

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24. Angela Chase

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Portrayed by: Claire Danes
Series: My So-Called Life
What's her damage: In My So-Called Life’s pilot, Angela Chase tells her English teacher Anne Frank was lucky, because she got to be in isolation with a guy she really liked, and from that line forward, with Angela as our narrator, it’s clear we’re in for one hell of an angst-ridden ride.

It's easy to see why My So-Called Life is a revered cult classic today. Angela Chase's musings about discovering her own identity, feeling lost in a sea of cliques, and feeling like a stranger in her own family are the blueprint for contemporary messed up heroines like Veronica Mars or even Hannah Horvath.

 

23. Kaitlin Cooper

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22. Joey Matthews

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Portrayed by: Kyle Catlett
Series: The Following
What's his damage: The relative emotional damage of Joey Matthews is more of an assumption on our part because of some rather unimpressive child acting and epically unimpressive writing from The Following’s crack team of scribes.

But we venture a guess that, learning his dad is not only a serial killer, but a lame one that’s pathetically obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe will keep young Joey’s therapy tab in constant use once he’s old enough to process. Plus there’s his extended exposure to the devil’s three-way that is Paul, Emma and Jacob, Carroll acolytes and the world’s worst babysitters who do fun things like teach him how to kill animals to get him on track to be a sociopath just like pops.

 

21. The Salingers

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20. Walt Lloyd

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19. Charlotte Grayson

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18. Abel Teller

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17. Becca Moody

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16. Dawn Summers

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15. AJ and Meadow Soprano

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Portrayed by: Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Series: The Sopranos
What's their damage: As mafia children, the Sopranos are occasionally exposed to glimpses of Tony’s mob business—family members dying, going into hiding, etc. But their grief mostly comes from Tony himself, like his disapproval and intimidation (or worse) of just about every guy Meadow brings home, or the way his own shitty relationship with his mother informs the way he reacts to the increasingly spoiled and apathetic Anthony Jr.

Then there was the ugliness of the Tony-Carmela split mid-series. And if you ask 50% of the show’s fanbase, they witnessed their father get got in the middle of a family dinner out, so...

 

14. Walter White, Jr.

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13. Cassidy Mackey

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12. Sally Draper

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11. Behrooz Araz

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10. Shane Botwin

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9. Carl Grimes

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8. Matt McNamara

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7. The Gallaghers

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6. The Baltimore Boys

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5. Abigail Hobbs

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4. Dana Brody

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3. Connor

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2. Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas

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1. The Stark Kids

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