As the title suggests-
CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE
Please take care of yourself and skip this episode if engaging with this topic is harmful for you.

#372: Inspired by a key moment in Final Fantasy VI, Josué brings a powerful and vulnerable discussion to the GT Radio team about how suicide is portrayed in media—and how rarely it's talked about with depth and nuance. This episode takes a serious and honest look at the discomfort, stigma, and silence surrounding suicide, drawing from personal experiences, media examples, and professional perspectives in mental health care.

Josué, Link, and Lara explore moments in TV, film, video games, and even comedy where suicide is either central to the narrative or mentioned in passing. From the shocking moment in Final Fantasy VI to a recent episode of Doctor Who, they discuss how tone, genre, and audience expectations affect how suicide is framed and perceived. The team reflects on the blurred lines between heroic self-sacrifice, martyrdom, and mental illness, and how morality often shapes our comfort with these stories.

Lara shares insights from her work as a therapist, screening clients regularly for suicidal ideation and dealing with the reality that suicidal thoughts are much more common than many people realize. The team reflects on the challenges of discussing suicide with friends, clients, or family—and how many of us never learned how to talk about death, let alone suicide, because of cultural avoidance.

This episode unpacks the casual way younger generations joke about suicide online, often using coded language like “unalive,” and how humor can be both a red flag and a coping mechanism. The group also discusses the differences between portraying suicide in horror, animation, or action genres versus avoiding it altogether in mainstream media, especially in franchises like Disney, Marvel, or Harry Potter.

Whether it's veterans in film, characters in anime, or storylines in classic dramas, this conversation brings a rare honesty to how suicide is (and isn’t) depicted—and why creating space for these conversations matters.

Characters / Media Mentioned:

• Final Fantasy VI
• Doctor Who
• 13 Reasons Why
• Life is Strange
• Beverly Hills, 90210
• Scott Pilgrim
• Chrono Trigger
• Wonder Egg Priority
• Battlestar Galactica
• Spider-Man (Insomniac video game)
• Batman: Arkham series
• The Last of Us
• Scent of a Woman (1992 film)
• Midsommar
• South Park
• The Heart, She Holler (Adult Swim)
• Daredevil
• House M.D.
• Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame
• Hallmark Channel movies (e.g., Sacrifices of the Heart)

Themes / Topics Discussed:

• Suicide and Mental Health
• Cultural Stigma
• Heroic Self-Sacrifice vs. Suicide
• Morality and Death
• Death in Media and Genre Differences
• Mental Health in Games
• Humor as Coping
• Content Warnings
• Media as Conversation Starter
• Suicide Prevention and Therapy
• Death Salons and Open Dialogue

Relatable Experiences:

• Coping with a Loved One’s Suicide
• Suicide Ideation and Mental Health Struggles
• Talking to Friends or Family About Mental Health
• Working as a Mental Health Professional
• Making Jokes to Mask Pain
• Growing Up Avoiding Conversations About Death
• Watching Media as a Way to Process Emotions

Discuss this episode with us on the Geek Therapy Forum, or connect through our Discord, Mastodon, and other social links at geektherapy.org.

Is there a piece of media that helped you better understand or talk about suicide?
How can we make it easier to talk about suicide—especially with kids and teens?