10 TV Characters Who ONLY Appear In The First And Last Episode

The long-running nature of some TV shows means that earlier and latter seasons become completely

different beasts. Some characters are elevated from recurring status to being essentially co-leads

whereas original leads become bit players or leave the show altogether. That said, what about

characters who leave the show after the pilot has aired and return for the series finale

I'm Cy, this is WhatCulture.com and these are 10 TV characters who only appear in the first

and last episode. Number 10, John, Parks and Recreation. The early 21st century saw the rise

of documentary style comedies with tongue-in-cheek tones and while some achieved relative success

almost none, aside from The Office, achieved the notoriety that Parks and Recreation did across

its seven season run. Its main cast were definitely the big draw but its cameos had their own appeal

as well, ranging from Joe Biden to John Cena and even Genuine. One cameo, however, served a unique

narrative purpose, despite not being as prominent as the aforementioned. During the core cast's

farewell in the finale, a man walks into the park's department office and asks if a broken swing in

the park would be fixed. In addition to giving Leslie one last act as deputy director, the man

played by John Daly, was featured in the pilot as an inebriated drunk who Leslie tried to get out

of the park's slide. Daly's character evolution from a humorous slob to a concerned citizen was

a heartwarming display of how much Pawnee and its people had grown since the show's beginning

Number nine, Deliveryman, Frasier. The Cheers spin-off enjoyed as much praise and notoriety

as its predecessor and gave Kelsey Grammer's Fraser Crane a chance to start over in his hometown

of Seattle as a radio show host alongside being caretaker to his father after he left Boston

following the end of his marriage to Lilith. His eponymous radio show served as an interesting narrative device

that helped differentiate the show from Cheers and gave it a different style of comedy due to Crane's high-society-minded

also known as stuffy sensibilities, having more time to shine. This mindset often clashed with his father Martin's working-class sensibilities

in multiple episodes, and one could argue that their initial misunderstandings were embodied by Martin's rather off-putting Eames chair

a source of comedic jabs throughout the show's run. That said, the chair is tied to a minor role most fans missed

until years after Frasier ran its course. The delivery man who brought the chair in

is the same person who picks up the chair in the finale. Played by the late Cleo Augusto

his appearances demonstrate how much Martin and Frasier's relationship has changed over the years for the better

Number 8, Josh Wilson, Weeds. The mid-2000s Showtime dramedy may have gone out with a whimper, but for a time in its first few seasons

Weeds was a compelling sometimes uneven and darkly humorous exploration of Nazi Botwin venture into selling marijuana to support her family after her husband untimely demise A large number of characters came and went across its run and while some characters had completed arcs by the time they left the show

others were not afforded this luxury. This is the case with Justin Chatwin's Josh Wilson, son of Neyland's dimwitted Doug Wilson

The eldest Wilson child was introduced in the pilot as a pot dealer, and once Nancy discovered that he sold the drug to children

she threatened to out his sexuality to his father. After the pilot, the character was not seen to the series finale

where it was revealed that he eventually became a lawyer and married a painter named Alan

Once Weeds was picked up for a full season, it was revealed that some contracts were not renewed

and this included Chatwin's explaining his disappearance from the rest of the show

Number 7, Yori Nakajima, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn't quite live up to its lofty expectations

but still delivered a mostly interesting exploration of America's deeply flawed socio-political structure

and the dynamic between the titular duo was both fun to watch and emotionally satisfying

Sam and Bucky each got detailed arcs throughout the six-episode run and as much as Sam's had more focus, Bucky's was impactful in a more personal fashion

The former Hydra assassin had intentions to make amends for his past crimes throughout the season

and although his approach lacked grace in most of his interactions, his friendship with Yuri Nakajima was a nice bit of humanizing for the super soldier

Unfortunately, it's revealed that the friendship was born out of Bucky's desire to atone for his role in killing Yuri's son, RJ

As seen in the pilot, this loss hardened Yuri, and his friendship with Bucky was one of the few things the Elder held in any regard

In the show's final episode, Bucky came clean to Yuri, and whilst this meant that Bucky had completed this part of his atonement journey

the revelation visibly hurt Yuri. His role in the show may have been minor, but it showed Bucky and the audience the fallout of his past actions

as involuntary as they may have been. Number six, Tom Hanks. Sort of

Veep. HBO's satirical comedy was a roaring success and helped solidify Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a comedic icon

for those who may not have experienced or grown up with Seinfeld during its run

Her role as Vice President Selina Meyer saw the VP being pitted against the off-screen President Hughes

as her attempts to gain political influence and the hurdles facing this became more and more amusing

The show itself was hilarious and incisive with its political commentary and managed to keep its high quality throughout its run

with intriguing storylines, great character work and guest appearances. One such appearance, in a figurative sense of the word

was beloved actor Tom Hanks whose potential death was discussed in the pilot

as an event that would detract from VP Myers' very public use of an offensive word

It seemed like a throwaway joke, but actually pays off in the series finale

Here, in a 24-year flash forward, Hanks is revealed to have died and his passing overshadows Selina's own

It served as a perfectly hilarious summary of Selina character a person whose wins were often short or overshadowed by other notable events

Number 5, The Cloud9 Baby, Superstore. NPC's recently concluded sitcom experienced some growing pains early in its run

but was able to eventually fine-tune its storyline and ensemble to deliver a wholesome and heartwarming peek into the lives of the Cloud9 employees

and their lives outside of the chain store. Some may have balked at its your workmates are your family members approach in several instances

but the show was savvy enough to have a lot more on its mind rather than b HR proclamations

It was able to be critical of the challenges and inequities in the workplace and still foster genuine relationships between its characters

Its series finale luckily stuck the landing by adhering to what was so endearing in the first place

while being topical at the same time. In addition to this, its callbacks to earlier seasons and episodes were pleasant in their retrospective approach

One such callback is Amy's encounter of an unsupervised child sitting on a potty in one of the store's aisles

It turns out that this is the same child, and in a similar outfit from the pilot, only much older

It's an amusing moment that serves as a nostalgic source of comfort or nightmare fuel for actual retail workers

before the cast eventually moved on to other phases in their lives

Number four, Anatoly Sitnikov, Chernobyl. Although a good number of artistic licenses were taken in the Chernobyl miniseries

its depiction of the horror and desperation following the worst nuclear disaster in history

made for both compelling and harrowing viewing upon its release in 2019

It wisely took a restrained approach to said depiction in a way that didn't paint caricatures of the people involved

but also ensured that the terrifying scale of the disaster was understood by viewers

who may have only had a cursory understanding of what happened in 1986

This was seen in the treatment of main characters such as, and I'm going to butcher these

Valery Legasov and Vasily Ignatenko, as well as minor ones. One such individual was Anatoly Sitnikov

the power plant's deputy chief operational engineer, who took note of the immediate scale of the devastation following the plant's meltdown

Unfortunately, he was ignored by his superiors at first, until it became clear that Anatoly Dyatlov, the station's chief engineer

was ill following extensive radiation exposure. Against his will, Sitnikov inspected the fallout of the exploded reactor

and was bombarded by a lethal dose of radiation. He was later seen in a flashback in the last episode

that detailed everyday life in Pripyat before the accident that would change his life

alongside many others for the worse. Number three, Nancy Ryan, When They See Us

Released in 2019, When They See Us received near unanimous praise from viewers and critics alike for its uncompromising depiction of the injustices

the Central Park Five endured after being falsely prosecuted and imprisoned for the 1989 assault of jogger Trisha Mellie

The case and consequently the show is a seminal example of the devastating impact racial and class criminal profiling has on people of color and or working class individuals One character that both bookended the crime drama and signaled the shift

towards achieving the five's freedom was the assistant district attorney Nancy Ryan. Played by

Famke Janssen, the assistant DA was initially assigned to the case when it was believed that

Mele would die from her injuries. Once this was determined to not be so, the case was assigned to

now controversial prosecutor Linda Fairstein. Years later in 2002, Ryan and New York DA Robert

Morgenthau began the process that would see the Five exonerated after sufficient evidence was

provided to prove their innocence. Ryan's part in the miniseries is understandably not its focal

point, but Janssen acquitted herself well as one of the driving forces that gave the Five their

freedom back. Number two, Freddy Hammett, The Night Manager. The 2016 adaptation of John LeCarre's

first post-Cold War novel honored the source material by respecting its espionage roots while

adding its own spin on the narrative. This led to a well-told six-episode saga and one of the best

adaptations of LaCarre's work in any medium. Tom Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine may be the series lead

but he wasn't forced to carry the show as he was more than capably aided by the likes of David

Harewood and a rarely better Hugh Laurie as series antagonist Richard Roper. The simmering conflict

between Pine and Roper is driven by the involvement of the volatile hotel owner

Freddy Hamid, and his partner, Sophie Allekin. Sophie immediately sees Jonathan as an ally in her mission to bring down Hamid

by exposing his dealings with criminals such as Roper. Unfortunately, this was her undoing

as Hamid found out about their budding relationship and assaulted Sophie before having her killed

Her death sees Pine's further involvement with bringing down Roper, and in the final episode, the hotelier slash former spy

enacts his vengeance by killing Hamid once he learns the reason behind Sophie's death

And number one, Vera Keller, The Pacific. Although not quite as gripping as Band of Brothers, and admittedly that's a high bar to clear

The Pacific still delivered the requisite heart, wartime thrills and introspective storytelling one would expect

in an HBO prestige drama backed by the likes of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks

As its title suggests, the miniseries focused on the United States Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific War

i.e. the section of World War II that was largely fought on territories surrounding the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean to a limited degree

Despite this wide narrative scope, the show was still able to focus on a core cast of characters

one of them being Private Robert Leckie, as played by James Badge Dale

One of his most defining traits was his relationship with his childhood friend slash first love Vera Keller

Despite her mother's warnings, Vera grew closer to the rebellious Leckie until his eventual draft into the war following the Pearl Harbor tragedy

Despite her limited appearances, Vera's romance with Robert was one of the series' stronger emotional components

and symbolized what every soldier had gone overseas to protect