That’s right, Tom actually dies in a few episodes. "Tom and Jerry" being just a cartoon (albeit, at times, a darn dark one), actual death is never shown on screen. For example, in the episode titled “Buddies Thicker Than Water”, pictured above, his death is merely implied as we are left with the image of him lying in the freezing snow, unconscious.

(In the interest of fairness, Tom did throw Jerry out first earlier in the same episode.

Death, although a rare occurrence in a life even as dark as Tom’s, is handled remarkably lightly throughout the series. His undeniably painful demise in the episode “Mouse Trouble" for example is, as illustrated above, casually played off as a mere inconvenience.

Granted, he should be thankful for being admitted to heaven in the first place as that is not the case in every episode.

Throughout this episode, Tom tries his hardest to obey his master’s command and keep the royal dinner table clear of mice. Outnumbered 2 to 1 (Jerry is aided by his little cousin), however, Tom fails and is executed by guillotine.

Yes, Tom’s head is actually cut off at the end. Because he couldn’t catch the mice.

The only thing even more disturbing than an episode of a children’s cartoon ending with the slaughter of a cat is the way the tragedy is completely undercut by one of the two mice who briefly observe the procedure.

”C'est la guerre,“ he shrugs, brandishing the end of a sausage stolen from the very same dinner table Tom died trying to protect.





The following episodes end on a note that is, in an admittedly subtler way, as dark as anything else in “Tom and Jerry”.

Near the end of “The Duck Doctor” (above), Tom, imperilled by a falling anvil, quickly gives up trying to dodge it and digs his own grave, readying himself for dying (instead of taking a step or two to the left). Choosing death over struggling in a seemingly inescapable difficult situation? Such an eerily perfect illustration of how suicidal thoughts develop in reality.

The suicide in “The Mouse from H.U.N.G.E.R.” is, in a way, the complete opposite. For the duration of the episode we see Tom trying to protect a vaultful of cheese using elaborate traps ranging from minefields to guillotines. As faith would have it, he fails and Jerry, his car stuffed with a life supply of cheese, drives away into the sunset. But instead of, say, trying to come up with better traps and sharper guillotines, Tom simply lays down, plays funeral music on a magnetophon, grabs a flower and closes his eyes. A quiet, non-violent death.