Spoilers for Seasons 2 of both "SEAL Team" and "The Expanse"

So during a quiet night at work, I began catching up on my Prime video libraries. I watched the ends of the second season of both "SEAL Team," and "The Expanse." Well, SEAL Team is still in Season 2, they're just on hiatus for a couple of weeks, so I just caught up.

The last episode of both shows, featured a member of the core team of characters trapped in a precarious position in a ship with their friends unable to extricate them, and another danger to the ship requires them to prioritize the greater threat over the trapped guy's safety, especially when it becomes apparent that they might actually have to sacrifice their friend in order to achieve that safety. And there's an Asian guy helping them, who isn't normally part of the team.

Both shows featured heartfelt farewell conversations with the doomed friend, where they talk about their choices and regrets or lack thereof and they really push the idea of sacrifice and the tragic death... and in both cases, they come up with an unorthodox solution at the last moment, distract the enemy who is preventing the rescue and get him free in the nick of time.

There was one slight difference between them. "The Expanse" had the lead character trapped, so there was less chance he would get killed, but they already killed off his arguable co-lead, and they're a cable show, so they had slightly more credibility in that regard than if the hero of "SEAL Team" (a CBS show) was the one in peril. On "SEAL Team" the guy who was trapped was the one most likely to be killed off. He wasn't the hero, or the sympathetic, clean-cut new guy, he wasn't one of the two wise minority team members or the guy with the dog. He was the plucky comic relief, who's also a Texan caricature. I'm pretty sure the actor was only cast because Larry the Cable Guy was unavailable or too old to play a Navy SEAL. So he's the most expendable, while at the same time being lovable, so the audience will feel really bad. The last time they killed off a team member, he was the new guy, who was taking the spot on the team of the hero-leader, so we were all just waiting for him to get out of the way so the hero can come back.

I suppose it isn't really a cheat, because neither show has anything to do with the other, but when you watch them both on the same night you get a little of "Heeey...." going on.