Top 5: Character Deaths I Rejoiced Over

I guess I've got death on the brain right now.  Oh well.  On we roll!

Not every character that bites the dust is a cause for tears and consternation.  Sometimes human beings, me specifically, are just vindictive bitches and we like to see a shit character get what he/she deserves.  And other times a character is so insufferable that being spared their presence makes for a much better, or at least less annoying, show.  Fictional worlds are better off without some people, that's just the way of it.

Coover, Justified
I'm sorry his mother smashed his hand with a hammer, that was sad, but Coover was frakking awful and I clapped in triumph when Raylan shot him and he fell into the mine shaft.  Coover wasn't just loud, vicious, useless, and a potential serial killer.  He was, jointly with his brother, responsible for Loretta being kidnapped by a pedophile, which caused her father to call the cops, an act of betrayal that Mags killed him for.  And then he tried to kill Loretta.  Done.  Coover had to go.  More than a necessary act of self-defense and defense of others, Coover's end was all the justice a little girl was going to get.

Ruby, Supernatural
Back in S4, when SPN wasn't a shameful disaster, there was a demon, a seal, and Sam.  But the real demon was Ruby, the seal was Lilith, and Sam was a pawn used to release Lucifer from his prison.  So even though it wouldn't change the outcome of events, Dean stabbed the crap out of Ruby, for the pure fact that she was an evil bitch, and it was perfect.  There was much shouting in my kitchen as the lights (literally) went out in Ruby's eyes.  It was nice to see Dean vindicated in his 2-season-long campaign espousing Ruby's evilness, it was canonical within the show (because a) if you have sex with Sam you're either going to die or you're evil and b) if you're an actress on the show who happens to be dating Jared Padalecki in real life your character will be killed), and honestly, another season of the rather grating Genevieve Padalecki (I believe it was Cortez at the time) wasn't what anyone needed.   Those were the days.

Trinity, Dexter
Since Dex is a vigilante, tracking down and methodically killing the vile people who escape the law, almost every episode of Dexter has a little thrill of seeing a bad person punished.  But, Dexter dispatching the Trinity killer was especially gratifying.  A season-long game of cat-and-mouse between Dexter and Trinity, perpetuated in equal parts by Trinity's "ordinary" facade and Dexter's reactionary existential crisis, culminated in both Trinity's release from his torment and Dexter's reclamation of his life's purpose.  It really was the world set to right, and who could help but be overjoyed by that?  Everything was glorious!  (Expect for that pesky fact that, unbeknownst to Dex, Trinity had brutally murdered Rita.  Depending on your perspective, this was a double win for Dexter.  I don't see it that way, but some people do.  Poor Rita.)

Marissa, The O.C.
Marissa dying in a car crash when her crazy-pants ex-boyfriend drove her car off the road was sad.  She was a whinny dumb-ass with very little personality and even less dignity, but Ryan loved her and you just wanted the kid to be happy, so as an audience we paused respectfully for Marissa's untimely demise.  Until S4, and it became clear just what a drain on the show she was and how fun things could be without her.  Freed from Marissa's endless self-pity and univocally bad life choices, the way was clear for the hilarious scheming of her younger sister Caitlin, the surprising heartwarming pairing of Ryan and Taylor, and Summer's transformation from vapid party girl to ideological crusader.  I wonder if the show runners had known just what an improvement Marissa's exit would be whether they would have killed her off sooner?

Jimmy, Sons of Anarchy
So many happy deaths to choose from I'm almost overwhelmed.  But for me, seeing Jimmy get got was magical.  Jimmy was a double-crossing little toad, without loyalty to either cause or kin, and everyone from the muckity-mucks of the true IRA to the Russian gun dealers wanted, and in some cases needed, him dead.  What made Jimmy's termination so fulfilling was that Chibs got to do the deed.  For Chibs it was a personal act of retribution against the man who stole his wife and a preemptive strike to prevent his daughter being raped.  No way around it, Jimmy had to die, but because Chibs hastened him to the afterlife there was a sense of cosmic balance to it that left this viewer in awe.

The TV Girl