Death in Fiction is Still a Cop-Out

I have written elsewhere (and often) about how death in fiction is a cop-out, 90% of the time. There are exceptions. But most of the time, killing off a character is a failure of imagination, an adolescent shriek of "look at my deep thoughts!" 

It's obnoxious.

*Spoilers*

The end of Professor T, Season 3, is a great example of what I mean, and it points to the difference between truly mature writing and adolescent writing. 

At the end of the season, Professor T's cop prodigy dies (or is nearly killed--the scene is presented as a death with Professor T and the fiance hovering over her body and Professor T reverting to his OCD behavior). 

I wasn't sad. I just sighed. Then, I really sighed because I'd lost respect for the writers but I happen to like Ben Miller...so now what do I do if there is another season? 

And I realized the difference between this type of "ending" and the show Bones. 

Years ago, I read a review (I wish I could remember the reviewer's name!) that stated that with Bones, whatever happens, you know people will keep going. Vincent gets shot. The characters mourn, put up a plaque, and remember him. Sweets is killed. His on-again/off-again girlfriend goes on to have his baby. Brennan and Booth evoke his name quite often. He isn't forgotten. Hodgins becomes wheelchair-bound, adjusts, and becomes the literal king of the lab.

But shows like Professor T--and Ballykissangel--treat a death like the ultimate resolution, as if all of the episodes and the characters' arcs have been leading up to...a moment of shock. 

It is VERY adolescent. It is also a great example of "killing off one's gays"--that is, killing a character JUST so other people can react to it and the reader can have a moment of social awareness.

There were other, far more interesting ways, to get Professor T to revert to his OCD behavior. Death was a cop-out.