History DeconstructedCharacterArchetype / LiveActionTV

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* ''Series/TheOriginals'', ''Series/GameOfThrones'', ''Series/{{Graceland}}'' and ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' all deconstruct TheUnfettered. The actions that Klaus, Stannis (with a dose of AdaptationalVillainy from the [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype/ASongOfIceAndFire source material]]), Briggs and Oliver take in order to defeat the villains result in the loss of several key allies. In particular, Briggs' ManipulativeBastard tendencies, as well as being a ControlFreak, resulted in him taking down the BigBad of season three through Mike, but it also ended with him being a BrokenPedestal for Mike and Johnny. Stannis's sacrifice of his daughter cost him his army. Oliver and Klaus both became TheMole, but their actions drove away both Diggle and Elijah.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' deconstructs ManicPixieDreamGirl through Castle's first ex-wife and Alexis's mother. Her first appearance demonstrates that despite her cheerful and bright personality, Meredith is very flighty, impulsive, irresponsible and even more immature than Castle. Castle describes their relationship as being like eating a deep-fried Twinkie, in that "once in a while is a treat, all the time will kill you."

* In ''Series/TheCrown2016'', Phillip's initial and only role is to be the HotConsort to Queen Elizabeth, after having given up his career, his home, his name, and his self-worth. He had no other duties besides looking presentable next to his wife and is stopped at every turn from contributing anything that he could call his own. All of this results in him feeling inferior to his wife and causing tension in their relationship, frequently partying and getting drunk with his friends because he is bored out of his mind. In later seasons, he comes to terms with his role as the British consort and his marriage grows more stable. This is shown in the very last scene of Series 4, when Princess Diana complains about her unhappy marriage with Charles to him, but he takes the moment to firmly remind her that her first and foremost duty is to Elizabeth and the Crown.
* Despite ''Series/TheGlades'' being about a CowboyCop, the first episode showed somewhat realistic consequences to having an officer who tramples all over the rules and gets away with it because of his skill and talent. Specifically, [[spoiler:his partner feels overshadowed by him, and complained about it to his wife so much it eventually destroyed their marriage. When she tried to leave him, he killed her. ''She's'' the VictimOfTheWeek.]]
* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse2018'' deconstructs GoodParents, showing that actively trying to be the perfect parent to your kids is not just unhealthy, but can actually make things worse. Hugh and Olivia Crain go out of their way to give their children as much intellectual and emotional support as they could, and turn as many activities as possible into teachable moments. These efforts begin to take their toll on Olivia, as the stress of renovating Hill House, the malevolent influence of the House, and her own existing emotional issues all combine into a perfect storm, until her desire to be the perfect parent [[spoiler: leads her to conclude that the only way to protect her children from the dangers of the outside world is to ''kill them,'' so they stay innocent forever. And in the aftermath of Olivia's own suicide, Hugh inadvertently makes it worse by refusing to tell the kids the truth, because he wanted them to remember her as a good mother. This means his older children idealize their dead mother and hate their father, while the younger ones resent him for refusing to acknowledge what they ''know'' Olivia tried to do to them.]]
* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'':
** It deconstructs the BountyHunter lifestyle, which is often shown as a glamorous, high-risk/high reward job full of danger and excitement that was popularized by Boba Fett. However as seen in the show, when the Mandalorian meets with Greef to collect his bounty, the reward is barely enough to pay for fuel and the vast majority of the bounties are all petty criminals and bail jumpers. There are high paying bounties but as one inexperienced hunter finds out, there is a good reason even experienced hunters don't take those since the chances of winding up dead far exceeds the pay. In general, bounty hunting is an extremely dangerous and morally grey job straddling the line between corrupt cops or assassins-for-hire, with people being attracted to this job are either unafraid of hunting others for money, desperate deadbeats willing to do ''anything'' for cash, or a mix of both.
** Toro is TheGunfighterWannabe who fashioned himself as a badass bounty hunter. His disinterest in money hints he is from a more privileged background and simply wants to make a name for himself. But his naivety and inexperience shows as he easily became in over his head when he chose [[TheDreaded Fennec Shand]] as his first target, someone even veteran hunters wouldn't go after and he would have ended up dead very quickly if it wasn't for the Mandalorian. He also later [[spoiler: turned against the Mandalorian and took the Child hostage]], all to gain glory and recognition. This would backfire on him and [[spoiler: the Mandalorian would kill him.]]
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': {{Creator/James Spader}}'s character Robert California is a deconstruction of the charismatic {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s he usually plays, showing how offputting someone who always succeeds, has supreme self-confidence and acts as if the rules of society don't apply to him would be. Like most of Spader's characters California is intense and hypercompetent, and the cast are drawn to and fascinated by him. However as time goes on his eccentricities become increasingly more pronounced and the people around him find him disturbing and then legitimately frightening. By his last appearances he is portrayed as dangerous, threatening and potentially mentally unwell.
* Vic Mackey and Shane Vendrell of ''Series/TheShield'' are utterly brutal deconstructions of the CowboyCop. Both are macho, tough cops willing to bend or even outright break the law in order to see justice done and more than willing to perform {{Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique}}s on suspects. Rather than make them appear admirable, the series shows that they're amoral {{Dirty Cop}}s who are no better than the criminals they catch and whose idea of justice boils down to pointless sadism and murder. Similarly, the series demonstrates that their behavior is more living out a power fantasy than anything else; Vic is an AttentionWhore and a ControlFreak who loves the job because it allows him to indulge in this, while Shane is a pathetic, mentally unstable screw-up who relishes in his power and being able to vent his frustrations by beating anyone at his mercy.
* ''Series/TheSopranos'':
** VillainProtagonist Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. On top of this, the family he runs is located in [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], meaning that he can't compete with the power of the major families [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity across the river]]. While those families work with him for mutual benefit and he is friends with a number of them, they will use their overwhelming power advantage to force better deals for themselves and, behind his back, they speak of him as a small fry. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, this family is basically on its way to extinction since they simply do not have the manpower to rebound from the MobWar they got involved in with the New York family.]] Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative narcissist who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.
** Tony is also one of the JustifiedCriminal archetype. Tony begins the series by going to therapy and expressing remorse over a lot of what he's done, but it becomes apparent as the series goes on that he's mostly looking for salvation without doing anything to earn it. Tony believes that since he feels bad about the things he's done, he deserves some form of redemption and is better than his contemporaries (despite being just as complicit as them, not to mention being ''the boss'' of his crew). As his therapist continually shuts down his NecessarilyEvil motivations, he mostly comes away from their sessions less with a desire to change his ways, and more armed with language to excuse the bad things he's done. This unwillingness to change eventually turns him into a full-blown VillainProtagonist.

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** Liz Lemon deconstructs characters like Series/MurphyBrown, [[Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow Mary Richards]], and [[Series/DesigningWomen Julia Sugarbaker]], feminist TV heroines who constantly fight to stand up for themselves and use [[DeadpanSnarker dry, sarcastic wit]] as a weapon against those they consider unrighteous. Her wit is paired with a HairTriggerTemper, an incredibly vicious, condescending, and self-righteous manner, an extreme stubborn streak, and a drive to prove herself that goes past feminism and straight into ItsAllAboutMe territory, and while she is the OnlySaneEmployee holding ''[[ShowWithinAShow TGS]]'' together, that speaks less to her stability than to the fact that everybody else on the show is even crazier than she is.
** The episode "[[Recap/ThirtyRockS3E5Reunion Reunion]]" deconstructs Liz's teenage counterpart, the "cool loser" ''a la'' [[WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} Daria Morgendorffer]] or [[Series/MySoCalledLife Angela Chase]]. Liz considered herself a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold in high school, having few friends and coping with harassment by the AlphaBitch and her GirlPosse by making witty remarks. At her ClassReunion, she discovers that everyone else saw her so-called "snarky comebacks" as mean-spirited insults and they all saw ''her'' as TheBully, hence why no one liked her. Her so-called friends were acquaintances who only hung out with her due to proximity, and the supposed AlphaBitch was actually a ClassPrincess who tried to reach out and befriend her (surprise, surprise, her friendliness was actually [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome why she was so popular in the first place]]). She even had to go to therapy to cope with the abusive remarks Liz inflicted on her.
* ''Series/TrueDetective'':
** Rustin Cohle is a deconstruction of the StrawNihilist and MisanthropeSupreme tropes, showcasing just how miserable and psychologically broken someone has to be in order to believe in those things, which his partner [[JerkassHasAPoint points out]] when he goes on his philosophical musings. He eventually overcomes it after [[spoiler: nearly dying in the final confrontation with the killer he and his partner had pursued for years]] and realizes that perhaps there is still hope to be found in his life.
** Martin Hart is a deconstruction of PoorCommunicationKills and the RabidCop tropes, the horrors that Marty sees at his job gets to him more than he'd like to admit and it's his inability to communicate with his wife that leads her to [[spoiler: eventually leave him]] (though the cheating didn't help either.) He's also a [[HairTriggerTemper quick tempered]] cop with [[CrazyJealousGuy jealousy issues]] who is prone to making hasty decisions without considering the consequences of those actions, except oops; [[spoiler: the guy he killed turned out to be the only witness to the case that he and his partner were attempting to solve, allowing the real killer to continue his reign of terror for 17 more years.]]
* ''Series/TwoOfAKind'' deconstructed PapaWolf in one episode. Ashley has a crush on her tutor but discovers he has a girlfriend and is heartbroken. When Kevin finds out, he fires the tutor thinking it would help. Instead Ashley yells at him for meddling in her private business and Carrie points out how Kevin assumed he would be helping rather than actually asking Ashley about her feelings. Kevin eventually admits it was more out of a desire to come across as a hero - and hires the tutor back.

** Of the typical AmoralAttorney or HitmanWithAHeart. The show establishes that for a person like Jimmy or Mike, the process of becoming a sleazy ambulance chaser or a professional hitman is long and full of painful leaps and sacrifices.

* Walter White, the VillainProtagonist of ''Series/BreakingBad'', deconstructs JustifiedCriminal. The plot is kicked off when Walt is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, with the best-case scenario being he only has two years left to live. [[FallenOnHardTimesJob His jobs as a high-school chemistry teacher and a car washer]] hardly makes enough money for his family to live on, let alone pay for his cancer treatments. As a result, he decides to team up with his former student Jesse Pinkman and use his chemistry skills to cook meth to earn cash for his cancer treatments, and to leave money for his family to live on. His actions have far-reaching consequences that he couldn't even ''begin'' to imagine, as he ends up getting several people [[spoiler:including [[DeathOfAChild at least two innocent kids]] and his own brother-in-law]] killed. As the series goes on, the more clear it becomes that Walt enjoys the thrill and challenge of doing the wrong thing, and he's not using the meth cooking to provide for his family, he's using his family to keep having a reason to do it. [[spoiler: Walt himself finally admits to both himself and Skyler in “[[GrandFinale Felina]]” that he got into the meth trade [[ItsAllAboutMe because he liked the power and prestige he had as a drug kingpin, he felt so alive]], [[BecauseImGoodAtIt and he was good at what he was creating]]]]. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment The first sign that his pride, not the cancer diagnosis, is the main source of his actions shows up in "Gray Matter"]]; Gretchen and Elliot Schwarz, his former collegues, learn about his cancer via Skyler and offer him a well-paying job at their company with good health insurance. [[DontYouDarePityMe Walt rejects it even though taking the job would have instantly solved all of his financial problems without any illegal baggage]]. [[spoiler:While Walt ''does'' manage to get a hefty inheritance gathered for his wife and children, they completely disown him during [[DramaBomb "Ozymandias"]] (to the point where his son Walt Jr. legally changed his first name to “Flynn” and Skyler [[ShedTheFamilyName reverts to using her maiden name]]) so even if the police didn't confiscate his remaining drug cash if he sent it to them, they want nothing to do with it. In order to prevent his actions being AllForNothing, Walt has to coerce the Schawarz's into setting up a trust fund Flynn will recieve on his 18th birthday with the remaining drug money, in order to make it look like the money came from a philanthropist couple's act of charity. The series ends with Walt dying from a bullet wound in a meth lab after he killed off Uncle Jack's Neo-Nazi gang as revenge for killing his brother-in-law and so they'd no longer be a threat to his remaining family members, seconds before the police show up. Long story short, [[PyrrhicVictory Walt suceeded in getting that nest egg for his family, but he destroyed or at least partially ruined the lives of everybody around him in the process]] and his crimes are going to forever haunt the family that survived the series.]]

* ''Series/KamenRiderAmazons'' does this with the MonsterOfTheWeek in the Amazonz. The general MOTW serves as meaningless fodder for the Riders with only the stronger ones having any real consequence, often mindlessly following whatever BigBad is in charge. The Amazonz, however, normally able to mimic humans and live peaceful lives, the eventually regress into ravenous flesh-eating monsters when the medicinal suppressant within their armlets runs out after two to three years. Many of these Amazonz ''don't'' want to become monsters, and a few go as far as to [[HunterOfHisOwnKind hunt their own kind]] to prevent the loss of human life.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', Kirihiko is the HenpeckedHusband to his wife Saeko and usually does his best to please her. But failure after failure gets her frustrated and disappointed with him. It cumulates to the point where she [[DomesticAbuse domestically abuses]] him before [[spoiler:killing him in cold blood]].
* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has one of its main villains Parado, a video game character brought into the real world who acts like any other player would in a video game. This manifests as him being a borderline sociopath who picks fights whenever he finds it fun, only calls fairness when it makes things less boring for him while he's often okay with beating up anyone who gets in his way when they're often leagues below his power, and having an unhealthy obsession with the main protagonist because he thinks of him as a fun FinalBoss. Not only this, but his logic is less reliant on allegiance than it is with winning or losing, often willing to kill those he views as "losers", including his own kind. It's only when his "lives" are in danger that he begins to worry, losing his composure and going into a panic.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'':
** VillainProtagonist Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. On top of this, the family he runs is located in [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], meaning that he can't compete with the power of the major families [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity across the river]]. While those families work with him for mutual benefit and he is friends with a number of them, they will use their overwhelming power advantage to force better deals for themselves and, behind his back, they speak of him as a small fry. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, this family is basically on its way to extinction since they simply do not have the manpower to rebound from the MobWar they got involved in with the New York family.]] Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative narcissist who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.
** Tony is also one of the JustifiedCriminal archetype. Tony begins the series by going to therapy and expressing remorse over a lot of what he's done, but it becomes apparent as the series goes on that he's mostly looking for salvation without doing anything to earn it. Tony believes that since he feels bad about the things he's done, he deserves some form of redemption and is better than his contemporaries (despite being just as complicit as them, not to mention being ''the boss'' of his crew). As his therapist continually shuts down his NecessarilyEvil motivations, he mostly comes away from their sessions less with a desire to change his ways, and more armed with language to excuse the bad things he's done. This unwillingness to change eventually turns him into a full-blown VillainProtagonist.
* ''Series/TheWire'':
** The CowboyCop is deconstructed with Jimmy [=McNulty=], who, despite being an excellent detective, allows his free-wheeling ways to cause much destruction to both his personal life and performs numerous, possibly career-damaging moves on his way towards cracking any given case. Rather depressingly, he also continuously gets himself in hot water with DaChief (Rawls and the like) by ''not'' being a typical gung-ho cowboy cop arresting petty drug dealers, but through building cases against immunized high-level drug traffickers, which leads to embarrassment for his superiors as it makes them look ineffectual. [[spoiler:He ultimately ends up faking evidence to get the resources he wants, which costs him his job and almost winds up getting him in front of a grand jury.]]
** Herc and Carver show how their gung-ho, headcracking style of busting street corner hustlers is actually not very useful police work. Over the course of the show, Carver matures into a more competent policeman who becomes a part of his community and uses more intelligent tactics to disrupt the drug trade. Herc, not so much. He ends up getting fired after pissing off the wrong people and instead becomes the bodyguard of an AmoralAttorney.
* ''Series/TrueDetective'':
** Rustin Cohle is a deconstruction of the StrawNihilist and MisanthropeSupreme tropes, showcasing just how miserable and psychologically broken someone has to be in order to believe in those things, which his partner [[JerkassHasAPoint points out]] when he goes on his philosophical musings. He eventually overcomes it after [[spoiler: nearly dying in the final confrontation with the killer he and his partner had pursued for years]] and realizes that perhaps there is still hope to be found in his life.
** Martin Hart is a deconstruction of PoorCommunicationKills and the RabidCop tropes, the horrors that Marty sees at his job gets to him more than he'd like to admit and it's his inability to communicate with his wife that leads her to [[spoiler: eventually leave him]] (though the cheating didn't help either.) He's also a [[HairTriggerTemper quick tempered]] cop with [[CrazyJealousGuy jealousy issues]] who is prone to making hasty decisions without considering the consequences of those actions, except oops; [[spoiler: the guy he killed turned out to be the only witness to the case that he and his partner were attempting to solve, allowing the real killer to continue his reign of terror for 17 more years.]]

* Despite ''Series/TheGlades'' being about a CowboyCop, the first episode showed somewhat realistic consequences to having an officer who tramples all over the rules and gets away with it because of his skill and talent. Specifically, [[spoiler:his partner feels overshadowed by him, and complained about it to his wife so much it eventually destroyed their marriage. When she tried to leave him, he killed her. ''She's'' the VictimOfTheWeek.]]

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Dennis is one of the OnlySaneMan, namely by showing what kind of person they'd have to be to hang around a group of insane assholes. While Dennis is the one who is most adjusted socially, it's because he's a [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] {{Narcissist}} who uses his friends to make himself look better to other people and as pawns for his own amusement, tricks women into having sex with him by being charming and acts as TheFace to get the gang's schemes rolling.
* ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'': Alison provides a perfect deconstruction of the AlphaBitch and TheFriendNobodyLikes. Her behavior gained her and the Liars the disdain of 90% of the town, and she has multiple enemies in the A-team that want her dead. By season 5, the Liars themselves wonder why they ever put up with her and do everything they can to get her arrested when they suspect her of murder. In fact, Alison is so hated that [[spoiler:when she was hit in the head with a rock and presumed dead, her ''own mother'' buried her to cover for her attacker!]]
* ''Series/TheOriginals'', ''Series/GameOfThrones'', ''Series/{{Graceland}}'' and ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' all deconstruct TheUnfettered. The actions that Klaus, Stannis (with a dose of AdaptationalVillainy from the [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype/ASongOfIceAndFire source material]]), Briggs and Oliver take in order to defeat the villains result in the loss of several key allies. In particular, Briggs' ManipulativeBastard tendencies, as well as being a ControlFreak, resulted in him taking down the BigBad of season three through Mike, but it also ended with him being a BrokenPedestal for Mike and Johnny. Stannis's sacrifice of his daughter cost him his army. Oliver and Klaus both became TheMole, but their actions drove away both Diggle and Elijah.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** Emma is the AgentScully, but her skepticism is borne of lack of trust due to past abandonment issues.
** Henry aspires to be a KidHero but his need to [[IJustWantToBeSpecial live a more exciting life]] causes him to needlessly risk his life.
** Regina is a WellDoneSonGuy who is never able to free herself of wanting to please her mother Cora. She blames Snow White for the death of her first love even though it was Cora who killed him.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' deconstructs the SpacePeople trope with the introduction of the "Travelers." As cool as it sounds to be a people that lives their entire lives on ships in interstellar space, by the time of the show it's proven to be a cultural dead end. Without access to planetary resources they're unable to build new ships. The ships they do have are aging clunkers kept running with scavenged parts, and none of them are replaceable. Their population growth has to be strictly controlled because they only have so much living space. They keep to themselves so much that most other civilizations aren't even aware of their existence, or else consider them untrustworthy scavengers who'll do anything to survive. They are slow to form alliances or expose themselves to situations that could lead to open conflicts, because they have so much to lose. Many have simply abandoned the Traveler lifestyle and integrated themselves into terrestrial societies.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': {{Creator/James Spader}}'s character Robert California is a deconstruction of the charismatic {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s he usually plays, showing how offputting someone who always succeeds, has supreme self-confidence and acts as if the rules of society don't apply to him would be. Like most of Spader's characters California is intense and hypercompetent, and the cast are drawn to and fascinated by him. However as time goes on his eccentricities become increasingly more pronounced and the people around him find him disturbing and then legitimately frightening. By his last appearances he is portrayed as dangerous, threatening and potentially mentally unwell.

* ''Series/TwoOfAKind'' deconstructed PapaWolf in one episode. Ashley has a crush on her tutor but discovers he has a girlfriend and is heartbroken. When Kevin finds out, he fires the tutor thinking it would help. Instead Ashley yells at him for meddling in her private business and Carrie points out how Kevin assumed he would be helping rather than actually asking Ashley about her feelings. Kevin eventually admits it was more out of a desire to come across as a hero - and hires the tutor back.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'':
** The episode "Studies in Modern Movement" deconstructs the "Loony Friends" part of the LoonyFriendsImproveYourPersonality trope. After the strait-laced Annie agrees to move in with the eccentric Troy and Abed, she tries to go along with their zany antics and off-the-wall kookiness, but gradually gets more and more frustrated with their eccentricity and the selfishness, obliviousness, and annoying behaviour it leads to. The point is clearly made that while the Loony Friends may seem cool, wacky and fun in small doses and from a distance (such as the twenty-odd minutes you spend watching them on television), if you had to spend any meaningful amount of time up-close and personal with them they'd quickly become insufferably selfish and annoying if they weren't willing to tone things down a bit.
** Jeff Winger deconstructs this from the other side. Yes, the Loony Friends gradually help improve his personality... but only because it turns out that for all his pretensions towards normality and his condescending attitude towards them, he's actually way more messed up than they are. He also deconstructs the [[BunnyEarsLawyer "whacky lawyer who wins all his cases through courtroom antics"]] type by showing that a person who can win any argument and acts like the rules don't apply to him would probably be very hard to put up with in everyday life.
** Pierce Hawthorne can be considered a deconstruction of the "wacky old person" character. His [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior insensitivity]] makes him seem like a {{Jerkass}}, his FairForItsDay [[RacistGrandpa outlook]] gets him ostracized, and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends his attempts to fit in]] turn him into an unlikeable AttentionWhore. He can also be seen as a deconstruction of typical sitcom ButtMonkey characters like [[Series/ParksAndRecreation Jerry]], [[Series/BrooklynNineNine Scully]], and [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Zoidberg]]; usually the oldest character in the group, lots of self-esteem issues, considered out of touch and uncool, and almost always the butt of everyone else's jokes to the point of being a ChewToy. Pierce shows how this sort of treatment can eventually foster serious resentment from whoever's on the receiving end until things get ugly. Pierce lashes out at the group in increasingly mean-spirited, disturbing ways, in large part because of this treatment (he even says as much). [[JerkAss Not that he doesn't bring it on himself most of the time]], but he isn't really antagonistic until the group's treatment of him gets worse.
** Shirley is essentially the [[WomenAreWiser sensible wife]] out of a wholesome family sitcom who's forced to interact with people who are neither her children nor her ManChild husband and who thus don't regard her as inherently more moral than them.
* ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' does this with its characters.
** The main protagonist, Kouta, just received a belt that allows him to transform. But since he knows nothing about the beings threatening their world, he just uses it to play in street games for money. What's more, since he just received his powers, he's absolutely terrible at fighting, meaning someone more skilled than him can easily kill him. And when he survives, he isn't determined to get stronger and beat the guy who nearly killed him, he's traumatized and nearly stops fighting altogether.
** Kaito is a deconstruction of the "Cool Jerk" archetype. Even though he has the charisma to attract and befriend many people, his resentment and cold personality drive away anyone who could be his friend. Also, while most Secondary Riders slowly warm up to the protagonist and later become straight-up heroes, Kaito's held on to his beliefs for a long time and, simply put, is not ready to give them up anytime soon.
** Micchy is the secondary rider who's young, wants to help his friends, and has a crush on his friend, Mai. All of these traits are portrayed as negative: the fact that he's young means that he can be easily corrupted; his loyalty to his friends means that he'll commit horrendous acts for them; his crush on Mai is at first portrayed as positive, but as time goes on, his loyalty to Mai borders on {{Yandere}}, causing him to snap when she gets mad at him, blaming Kouta for his problems and eventually culminating in him almost killing Kouta out of rage.
** Mai in the later episodes is the deconstruction of [[spoiler:the LivingMacguffin. The trope is taken to its logical conclusion, outright saying that Mai's become the Kamen Rider equivalent to Eve. Meanwhile, the reactions from both of Kouta's rivals are either desiring Mai as a prize to be won rather than a person or being so devastated that she's become nothing more than an object now that he doesn't bother fighting for her. Only Kouta has no minding towards Mai's status as a Macguffin.]]
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', Kirihiko is the HenpeckedHusband to his wife Saeko and usually does his best to please her. But failure after failure gets her frustrated and disappointed with him. It cumulates to the point where she [[DomesticAbuse domestically abuses]] him before [[spoiler:killing him in cold blood]].
* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has one of its main villains Parado, a video game character brought into the real world who acts like any other player would in a video game. This manifests as him being a borderline sociopath who picks fights whenever he finds it fun, only calls fairness when it makes things less boring for him while he's often okay with beating up anyone who gets in his way when they're often leagues below his power, and having an unhealthy obsession with the main protagonist because he thinks of him as a fun FinalBoss. Not only this, but his logic is less reliant on allegiance than it is with winning or losing, often willing to kill those he views as "losers", including his own kind. It's only when his "lives" are in danger that he begins to worry, losing his composure and going into a panic.
* ''Series/KamenRiderAmazons'' does this with the MonsterOfTheWeek in the Amazonz. The general MOTW serves as meaningless fodder for the Riders with only the stronger ones having any real consequence, often mindlessly following whatever BigBad is in charge. The Amazonz, however, normally able to mimic humans and live peaceful lives, the eventually regress into ravenous flesh-eating monsters when the medicinal suppressant within their armlets runs out after two to three years. Many of these Amazonz ''don't'' want to become monsters, and a few go as far as to [[HunterOfHisOwnKind hunt their own kind]] to prevent the loss of human life.
* ''Series/ZNation'' shows what happens when someone like Murphy is forced to be TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:to say he doesn't handle it well is an understatement, seeing as how he keeps screwing over everyone trying to protect him, indirectly got several people killed, caused another apocalypse, and turned Cassandra into a feral zombie hybrid only for her to die at the hands of Ten-K.]]
* ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' deconstructs the RookieRedRanger, a trope the franchise spawned, with Casey. Unlike Theo and Lily, he wasn't chosen for being an experienced student but because of his latent talent and how he stood up to Jarrod. As the least experienced in combat and in his weapon, he's looked down on by Theo while Lily treats him like a little brother. It bothers him enough that he gets extra training from RJ. Although he's made leader to make him less wary, he gets upset when RJ becomes a Ranger, feeling that his position is challenged. Theo and Lily outright reject his belief that Jarrod can be redeemed, forcing him to go one his own and prove them wrong. In the end, he ends up losing his lack of confidence in himself and plays the trope straight.
* Julius Caesar in ''Series/{{Rome}}'' deconstructs TheChosenOne. He validates his extralegal actions by getting approval from the gods. He gains this by bribing the [[CorruptChurch head pontiff]]. This, among many actions, upsets Lucius Vorenus who believes in the sanctity of Roman institutions.

* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' deconstructs (what else?) the PsychoExGirlfriend trope. Our protagonist and title character, Rebecca Bunch, latches onto her ex-boyfriend Josh Chan because she's deeply unhappy with her life and wishes to return to the days when they were happy together. Add in a borderline-abusive childhood, some improperly-managed mental health issues, and a friend [[WrongGenreSavvy who thinks she's in a romcom]], and you've got a recipe for disaster. To her credit, Rebecca does occasionally have flashes of self-awareness where she realizes how screwed up her actions are, but they never last for long.

* In ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'':
** Anytime an untrained bystander attempted to do [[BadassBystander something heroic or resolve the situation]], it either makes things worse or disrupt Team One's efforts to deescalate the situation, such as in the episode "Grounded" where Parker would have been able to talk down the hostage takers peacefully if a passenger hadn't tried to be a hero.
*** Also deconstructed in "Day Game" when ex-cop Gil deliberately engineered a hostage situation in order for him to heroically show up and defuse the situation, so that he prove specifically to Parker that he was SRU material after Parker had denied his attempts to join SRU in the past. Unfortunately for him, things got out of hand and Gil ended up accidentally shooting the hostage.
** MamaBear is taken apart in "Severed Ties" and "Custody". In "Severed Ties", the mother kidnapped her children after both were HappilyAdopted by two separate families so the three of them could be a family again but when one of the girls suffers a severe allergic reaction, she did not want the police or paramedics involved as she was determined she alone could protect them. In "Custody", a woman loses custody of her children to her ex-husband and kidnaps them to flee the country. When the team stopped her, she pulls out a gun, seeing them as a threat to her children.
** ColdSniper is deconstructed by Ed who tends to keep his emotions in check when it comes to his job and avoid talking about the difficult and traumatizing cases he has dealt with. However as time goes on, Ed is far more affected by it than he thinks, suffering from PTSD from previous kills he had to do and soon having daily panic attacks the longer he refuses to talk openly about it.
* Walter White, the VillainProtagonist of ''Series/BreakingBad'', deconstructs JustifiedCriminal. The plot is kicked off when Walt is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, with the best-case scenario being he only has two years left to live. [[FallenOnHardTimesJob His jobs as a high-school chemistry teacher and a car washer]] hardly makes enough money for his family to live on, let alone pay for his cancer treatments. As a result, he decides to team up with his former student Jesse Pinkman and use his chemistry skills to cook meth to earn cash for his cancer treatments, and to leave money for his family to live on. His actions have far-reaching consequences that he couldn't even ''begin'' to imagine, as he ends up getting several people [[spoiler:including [[DeathOfAChild at least two innocent kids]] and his own brother-in-law]] killed. As the series goes on, the more clear it becomes that Walt enjoys the thrill and challenge of doing the wrong thing, and he's not using the meth cooking to provide for his family, he's using his family to keep having a reason to do it. [[spoiler: Walt himself finally admits to both himself and Skyler in “[[GrandFinale Felina]]” that he got into the meth trade [[ItsAllAboutMe because he liked the power and prestige he had as a drug kingpin, he felt so alive]], [[BecauseImGoodAtIt and he was good at what he was creating]]]]. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment The first sign that his pride, not the cancer diagnosis, is the main source of his actions shows up in "Gray Matter"]]; Gretchen and Elliot Schwarz, his former collegues, learn about his cancer via Skyler and offer him a well-paying job at their company with good health insurance. [[DontYouDarePityMe Walt rejects it even though taking the job would have instantly solved all of his financial problems without any illegal baggage]]. [[spoiler:While Walt ''does'' manage to get a hefty inheritance gathered for his wife and children, they completely disown him during [[DramaBomb "Ozymandias"]] (to the point where his son Walt Jr. legally changed his first name to “Flynn” and Skyler [[ShedTheFamilyName reverts to using her maiden name]]) so even if the police didn't confiscate his remaining drug cash if he sent it to them, they want nothing to do with it. In order to prevent his actions being AllForNothing, Walt has to coerce the Schawarz's into setting up a trust fund Flynn will recieve on his 18th birthday with the remaining drug money, in order to make it look like the money came from a philanthropist couple's act of charity. The series ends with Walt dying from a bullet wound in a meth lab after he killed off Uncle Jack's Neo-Nazi gang as revenge for killing his brother-in-law and so they'd no longer be a threat to his remaining family members, seconds before the police show up. Long story short, [[PyrrhicVictory Walt suceeded in getting that nest egg for his family, but he destroyed or at least partially ruined the lives of everybody around him in the process]] and his crimes are going to forever haunt the family that survived the series.]]
* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** Liz Lemon deconstructs characters like Series/MurphyBrown, [[Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow Mary Richards]], and [[Series/DesigningWomen Julia Sugarbaker]], feminist TV heroines who constantly fight to stand up for themselves and use [[DeadpanSnarker dry, sarcastic wit]] as a weapon against those they consider unrighteous. Her wit is paired with a HairTriggerTemper, an incredibly vicious, condescending, and self-righteous manner, an extreme stubborn streak, and a drive to prove herself that goes past feminism and straight into ItsAllAboutMe territory, and while she is the OnlySaneEmployee holding ''[[ShowWithinAShow TGS]]'' together, that speaks less to her stability than to the fact that everybody else on the show is even crazier than she is.
** The episode "[[Recap/ThirtyRockS3E5Reunion Reunion]]" deconstructs Liz's teenage counterpart, the "cool loser" ''a la'' [[WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} Daria Morgendorffer]] or [[Series/MySoCalledLife Angela Chase]]. Liz considered herself a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold in high school, having few friends and coping with harassment by the AlphaBitch and her GirlPosse by making witty remarks. At her ClassReunion, she discovers that everyone else saw her so-called "snarky comebacks" as mean-spirited insults and they all saw ''her'' as TheBully, hence why no one liked her. Her so-called friends were acquaintances who only hung out with her due to proximity, and the supposed AlphaBitch was actually a ClassPrincess who tried to reach out and befriend her (surprise, surprise, her friendliness was actually [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome why she was so popular in the first place]]). She even had to go to therapy to cope with the abusive remarks Liz inflicted on her.
* In ''Series/TheCrown2016'', Phillip's initial and only role is to be the HotConsort to Queen Elizabeth, after having given up his career, his home, his name, and his self-worth. He had no other duties besides looking presentable next to his wife and is stopped at every turn from contributing anything that he could call his own. All of this results in him feeling inferior to his wife and causing tension in their relationship, frequently partying and getting drunk with his friends because he is bored out of his mind. In later seasons, he comes to terms with his role as the British consort and his marriage grows more stable. This is shown in the very last scene of Series 4, when Princess Diana complains about her unhappy marriage with Charles to him, but he takes the moment to firmly remind her that her first and foremost duty is to Elizabeth and the Crown.
* ''Series/BlackMirror'' deconstructs AssholeVictim in several of its episodes, particularly in "White Bear", "Shut Up and Dance", "Hated by the Nation", "White Christmas", and "USS Callister". The jerks have done things that make them unsympathetic, such as being [[{{Jerkass}} a rude person overall]], [[TheBully being mean to somebody who is lower than them on the social totem pole]], or cheating on their spouses. In some instances, they willingly committed legitimately horrible and inexcusable acts ([[spoiler:such as [[WouldHurtAChild murdering an innocent kid]], or [[PaedoHunt possessing and masturbating to child pornography]]]]). However, the events that the assholes are forced to go through are so utterly horrific that any sense of schadenfreude is drained right out from the viewers. Meanwhile, [[KnightTemplar their tormentors]] (those that have designated those characters assholes) [[HeWhoFightsMonsters are very clearly little better than those they attack and humiliate]], especially because they often use pretensions of vigilante justice to [[YouAreWhatYouHate justify who they choose as the victims of their own horrible actions]]. Long story short, those episodes force viewers to question their perceptions on revenge, vigilantism, and punishment, and they force viewers to wonder if the asshole victims truly deserve what happens to them [[JerkassWoobie despite what they've done]].
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' deconstructs ManicPixieDreamGirl through Castle's first ex-wife and Alexis's mother. Her first appearance demonstrates that despite her cheerful and bright personality, Meredith is very flighty, impulsive, irresponsible and even more immature than Castle. Castle describes their relationship as being like eating a deep-fried Twinkie, in that "once in a while is a treat, all the time will kill you."
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' frequently deconstructed VigilanteMan with several of its unsubs. [[DependingOnTheWriter While the level of deconstruction varies,]] what remains constant is that vigilantes are ultimately killing to make themselves feel better, not much different from the show's typical SerialKiller. Furthermore, there is ''always'' innocent collateral damage to their rampages, either because of MisplacedRetribution, an incorrect assumption about someone's guilt, or simply someone getting in their way. The very first vigilante the team dealt with was ultimately a schizophrenic who thought killing his victims would make the voices go away, and it's entirely up in the air whether or not his victims were truly guilty. Regardless of how the general public feels about them or [[AssholeVictim how deserving the victims are]], the BAU cannot ignore or condone their actions, and have to treat them as they would any other murderer.
* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse2018'' deconstructs GoodParents, showing that actively trying to be the perfect parent to your kids is not just unhealthy, but can actually make things worse. Hugh and Olivia Crain go out of their way to give their children as much intellectual and emotional support as they could, and turn as many activities as possible into teachable moments. These efforts begin to take their toll on Olivia, as the stress of renovating Hill House, the malevolent influence of the House, and her own existing emotional issues all combine into a perfect storm, until her desire to be the perfect parent [[spoiler: leads her to conclude that the only way to protect her children from the dangers of the outside world is to ''kill them,'' so they stay innocent forever. And in the aftermath of Olivia's own suicide, Hugh inadvertently makes it worse by refusing to tell the kids the truth, because he wanted them to remember her as a good mother. This means his older children idealize their dead mother and hate their father, while the younger ones resent him for refusing to acknowledge what they ''know'' Olivia tried to do to them.]]

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' tends to deconstruct every high-school stereotype in the book.
** Cookie is your typical BlackAndNerdy GadgeteerGenius, right? Not exactly. During the show, we see that despite Cookie’s intelligence, he is barely able to function in the real world. He always tries to think up the most outlandish ways to succeed in school and always backfires. Eventually, he realizes that in order to get by, he needs to start thinking rationally and give up the high-tech solutions.
** The typical mean kids on campus, AlphaBitch Missy and [[TheBully Bully]] Loomer. They just seem like your typical jerks at first, but as the series progresses, they get to grow. By Season 3, Missy has lost a lot of her popularity and most people at Polk recognize she’s just a jerk and nothing more. Nowadays, she’s mostly crushing on Ned and trying desperately to remain relevant. Short story: mean girls on campus are rarely ever popular in real life. As for Loomer, he and his gang spent the start of the series pulling pranks on Ned and Cookie. At first, it seemed to be ForTheEvulz, but as the series goes on it’s clear [[JerkassWoobie he’s just a troubled kid taking out his frustration on everyone else]].
** Most of the [[SadistTeacher mean teachers]] on the show may seem stereotypical at first, but as we grow with them, we realize they aren’t that bad and genuinely care about their students. Even [[DeanBitterman V.P. Crubbs]], who by season 3 seems to be the only staff member at Polk who appears to prioritize self-interest, mentions that all he wants is to keep the school from running like a madhouse. During the finale special, we see Mr. Sweeney tell Ned that although he did terribly in his science classes, he was still one of his favorite students because he always took school seriously and put in every ounce of effort to help both himself and other students do their best.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'':
** Of the typical AmoralAttorney or HitmanWithAHeart. The show establishes that for a person like Jimmy or Mike, the process of becoming a sleazy ambulance chaser or a professional hitman is long and full of painful leaps and sacrifices.
** It also deconstructs CainAndAbel. Jimmy [=McGill=] (the future [[AmoralAttorney "Saul Goodman"]]) and his older brother Chuck [=McGill=] are two brothers who alternate between showing genuine concern for each other and attempting to sabotage each other. Because Jimmy is the protagonist and an underdog, initially it seems like Chuck is supposed to be the "bad brother" and TheResenter, but over the course of the series, it becomes clear that both [=McGills=] are quite prone to petty jealousy, underhanded schemes, and their criticisms of each other are not unfounded. [[spoiler:In the end, it's Chuck who dies in a house fire [[DrivenToSuicide that he himself started]], with the implication that his last fight with his brother caused a relapse of Chuck's mental illness.]]

* Midway through season two of ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'', the title character becomes a deconstruction of the [[invoked]] CanonSue after she [[spoiler:is resurrected by Lucifer and]] gains powers far in excess of any other witch. For a brief moment, she completely upends the established rules of the setting, performing powerful magic without the trade-offs and sacrifices required of other witches, and the villains clearly regard her as a threat to their power. In other words, Sabrina is acting like [[SelfInsertFic a self-insert in a bad fanfic]]. [[spoiler:But wait. Isn't there a figure in Christian eschatology who we are told will perform great, magical feats resembling those of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and amass an army of followers, all in service to {{Satan}} (and make no mistake, Sabrina and her fellow witches are all [[HollywoodSatanism Satanists in the classic horror movie mold]])? Yup. ''Sabrina is TheAntiChrist.'' Turns out that Sabrina's newfound Sue-ish characteristics include TheReveal of the requisite special lineage -- in that her father is Satan, and he [[ApocalypseMaiden "chose" her to destroy the world]], much to the horror of all her friends and [[AntiAntichrist Sabrina herself]]]].
* Johnny Lawrence in ''Series/CobraKai'' deconstructs the [[TheEighties '80s]] high school [[TheBully bully]] stock character that he helped codify and popularise back in ''Film/TheKarateKid'', first by showing why he was that way, and then how his adult life turned out. Johnny wasn't a bully just because he was an asshole who liked pushing weaker kids around; he was a lonely child and the victim of verbal and emotional abuse from his [[WickedStepfather stepdad]], resulting in low self-esteem and a lot of pent up aggression he had no way to release. Cobra Kai gave him a circle of friends and a father figure in John Kreese, and karate made him feel powerful and provided an outlet for his anger, so he quickly fell into a gang mentality with Cobra Kai and acted out with his violent bullying of others. Furthermore, once he graduated, he found that his adolescence as a delinquent left him completely unprepared for adult life. As a JerkJock in a high school that was [[AdultsAreUseless unable or unwilling]] to moderate his extreme behaviour, Johnny reigned supreme as the alpha bully of West Valley High School, but as an adult he quickly found that, since he had largely neglected academics, he was unqualified for anything but low-paying menial work and that in the real world, you can’t just threaten and intimidate people without consequence. This, along with the loss of his Cobra Kai support network, and his humiliating defeat at Daniel’s hands left him as a broken, depressed JadedWashout at the start of the series. It’s subsequently revealed that most of the original Cobra Kai crashed and burned in a similar way to Johnny, because the aggressive “strike first, strike hard, no mercy” attitude drilled into them as teens crippled any attempts to function in normal society.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'':
** Captain Bialar Crais deconstructs ItsPersonal and InsaneAdmiral. After his brother is killed by John Crichton when his brother's ship accidentally crashes into Crichton's, he takes his Command Carrier to pursue Crichton throughout the Neutral Territory to kill him, expending his resources and ignoring orders from his superiors to give up his chase. His increasingly irrational behavior causes his crew to hate him, and the second he encounters Scorpius, another Peacekeeper of the same rank, he gets relieved of his command for going against orders and wasting resources over his grudge. Crais later admits that much of his anger was fueled by his frustration over his failing career, meaning he was just using this to play the hero.
** John Crichton deconstructs TheCaptain and FishOutOfWater. Crichton is good at stopping the crisis of the week and keeping the crew together, but the stress of the constant threat of death causes him to develop PTSD. As well, he often will abandon whatever he is doing when he sees a chance to get home, and is as prone to selfishness and cruelty as the rest of the crew, and while he is good at appearing unflappable and openly unaffected by numerous horrific experiences, he’s clearly traumatized and it causes severe SanitySlippage. As well, being new to the strange universe he finds himself in means that Crichton is dismissed as an idiot for not grasping the basic tenets of space life, and his unfamiliarity with the universe and constantly being thrusted into unusual and highly dangerous situations does not help his mental state.
** Stark deconstructs TheMillstone. He often causes the crew trouble and makes situations for them even worse, but this is because he has genuine mental problems, and he has extremely powerful psychic abilities, meaning that his paranoid [[FreakOut freak outs]] result in extremely dangerous situations.
** Scorpius deconstructs Darth Vader [[{{Expy}} expies]] and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. While externally he fits the archetype, being a disfigured enforcer of a tyrannical regime clad entirely in black armor with a tragic backstory, Scorpius relies more on his wits and intelligence than brute force. He keeps his men loyal by being a BenevolentBoss, and he only uses YouHaveFailedMe or YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness when in a very desperate situation or when someone makes a very big screwup. However, his tendency to backstab those he allies with results in almost no one trusting him aside from Captain Braca, and Crichton and Moya’s crew quickly get used to him trying to backstab them and prepare for it, meaning that even when he is genuinely aiding them, they are more likely to betray him than he is to betray them.
* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' is a vicious deconstruction of sitcoms, so the usual character types seen in those shows get taken apart and looked at with a critical eye.
** The eponymous Kevin himself is one for the "[[BumblingDad immature doofus]] LazyHusband" prevalent in many a DomCom, showing just how exhausting and insufferable such a person would be to deal with in real life over an extended period of time. Kevin is a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] ManChild who, at best, [[InnocentlyInsensitive is genuinely oblivious]] to the destructive effect his actions have on other people, and at worst, is a petty and mean-spirited bully whose goofy behavior is [[ObfuscatingStupidity partly an act]] to [[TooFunnyToBeEvil get away with his more deliberately malicious actions]]. His {{Zany Scheme}}s have wreaked utter havoc on his household's finances, has [[MoneyDumb recklessly blown money]] on frivolous purchases, and has even drained their savings on a GetRichQuickScheme. He treats his wife Allison more like a maid and [[ParentingTheHusband a surrogate mom]] than a partner while his friends are more like [[YesMan butt-kissers who have to go along with everything he does]]. Meanwhile, Allison's initial attraction to him during the start of their relationship and marriage has completely evaporated away over the years, not helped by how his antics have taken up all her time and energy, leaving her isolated and with no way of having any life of her own. And when Kevin ends up [[spoiler:inadvertently driving away his social circle as Allison's attempts to break free from his "sitcom world" have ripple effects on the others, he's revealed at the bottom of everything to be an utterly monstrous and violently abusive (but ultimately pathetic) lout who only got away with his actions for as long as he has by bulldozing other, weaker willed people]].
** Allison is one for the CloserToEarth sitcom wife. On the surface, she seems like the typical snarky but ultimately devoted and supportive wife; underneath, she's deeply unhappy and utterly tired of having to act as the [[OnlySaneMan "voice of reason"]] only to be dismissed as a "nag" when she tries to get Kevin and his friends to not do something stupid for more than five minutes. And when she finds out he drained their savings, she ''snaps'' and finally decides enough is enough. But since she's unable to just divorce him thanks to him controlling all their money and isolating her from having a social life of her own (thus leaving her with no one to really turn to for help), she decides she has to resort to less savory methods (first attempting to kill him, then faking her own death) to finally be free of him.
** Patty deconstructs not one, but ''two'' character trope types.
*** TheSnarkKnight: Patty's disdainful of everyone and everything around her, but also holds a bit of self-contempt due to her own resignation from being stuck in the drudgery of Worcester. It's deconstructed in that it's clear Patty's miserable, only participates in Kevin's shenanigans because they're funny, and failed to consider their destructive consequences in addition to contributing to the abusive and toxic environment Allison's put up with for the last ten years.
*** OneOfTheBoys: Patty starts off the series as the "token woman" of Kevin's friend group, expressing little sympathy or patience for whatever Allison is going through despite knowing full well what kind of person Kevin is, even [[FemaleMisogynist frequently making snide comments about Allison's "girly-girl" personality type and interests]]. It's deconstructed in that Patty herself is also mistreated, insulted, and put down by the guys as much as Allison is. And after Allison calls her out for failing to consider the harmful consequences of Kevin's antics (like getting her fired from a really nice career because he thought she was [[MistakenForCheating having an affair with her boss]]), Patty is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified with herself]] as she realizes how she enabled Kevin's abuse of Allison because she thought it was funny.
** Kevin's father Pete is not so much the CoolOldGuy dad usually seen in sitcoms so much as he's an enabler who has completely failed to raise his son properly. And even then, as the second and final season reveals, he's got limits, such as not being so willing to forgive Kevin for [[spoiler:shutting a car door into his hand (without even apologizing for it) and interfering in his relationship with his new girlfriend Lorraine]].
** Neil gets the most as the BumblingSidekick and YesMan. He's even more immature than Kevin is, which is heavily implied to be the result of some kind of mental disorder, and it's made clear that he's just as much a victim of Kevin's abuse as Allison and Patty are, with Allison even noting how Kevin laughs when Neil bleeds and a flashback showing Patty having to get painkillers for him when he injured himself during a stunt gone wrong. He's also very dependent on Kevin's very conditional approval and while Kevin is closer to him than he is to Allison, Kevin is repeatedly shown to not care for Neil's UndyingLoyalty. He's taken apart even further in the second season after he spends the first season finale trying to [[spoiler:attack Allison when he finds out about her plot to kill Kevin]], where it's revealed that he is a bit more perceptive than he lets on (though he's still not the brightest bulb), has a drinking problem, and a lifelong problem of [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength not knowing his own strength]]. Getting his eyes forcibly opened (metaphorically speaking) to Kevin's toxicity also forces him to see how little his so-called best friend cares for him and ultimately reaches his own breaking point as well.
* ''Series/{{Barry}}'':
** The titular character deconstructs HitmanWithAHeart. Yes, Barry is sympathetic, but he's trapped in a profession that doesn't leave much room for a heart of any kind (not to mention a profession that a truly moral person wouldn't take up in the first place).
** Sally deconstructs the MoralityPet LoveInterest. While Barry considers Sally to be one of the primary things motivating him to change as a person, Sally doesn't know that he views her as such, and is made uncomfortable on the occasions when he makes it more obvious. Furthermore, Sally is consistently shown to be a very selfish person with her own mountain of personal problems, which, combined with her lack of insight into Barry's past, often causes her to unintentionally be much more harmful to his emotional well-being than she is helpful. Barry places a lot of pressure on her to provide him with emotional support; pressure that she is neither aware of nor equipped to deal with.
* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'': Bayliss deconstructs the WideEyedIdealist and NaiveNewcomer. While he initially plays the archetype straight to the hilt, it becomes increasingly clear that his naïveté and idealism is very much a product of his own self-righteousness and his way of coping with an abusive childhood that left him with deep-seated emotional problems and identity issues.
* ''Series/TedLasso'' deconstructs several archetypes found within inspirational sports dramas.
** Ted himself is a deconstruction of ThePollyanna archetype. Ted is so relentlessly optimistic and so generous with his love for others that he barely takes care of his own issues, thinking that all the love and cheerfulness will bear him through any problem. Season 2 is about him acknowledging the fact that no, some of those issues don't get fixed through positive thinking, and needs to be a little selfish and vent some of his negative emotions not just so that he can become healthier, but so that he can be a better friend and coach. [[spoiler: TheReveal that his father committed suicide when Ted was 16 also exposes how a traumatic event created someone ''deeply terrified'' that he can't help others, resulting in frequent panic attacks when he seems to fail.]]
** Rebecca Welton deconstructs the RichBitch schemer hoping to sabotage the hero's progress. Rebecca's initial goal is to destroy AFC Richmond in order to screw over her ex-husband, no matter whose career is ruined in the process. It quickly becomes apparent that the years of emotional abuse from [[ManipulativeBastard Rupert]] has destroyed her self-confidence and her ability to trust others. Its repeatedly shown that she was a fun-loving, generous person with a variety of friends and frequent charity work, before her husband's abuse gradually wore her down. Her villainous acts barely affect the intended target and only make ''her'' more miserable as well. Even after she becomes a DefrostingIceQueen and makes a HeelFaceTurn, she still struggles to be vulnerable and honest with her friends.
** Coach Beard becomes one to the HypercompetentSidekick with an ExpansionPackPast. Beard is a valuable asset to Ted's coaching style, keeping him on-track to actually ''win'' football games as well as improve individuals. His life outside of work seems to be adventurous and thrilling. However, his ADayInTheLimelight episode demonstrates major insecurities tied to success, with his supposed hyper-competence emerging from an aggressive need to avoid failure. His numerous flings are all toxic and unfulfilling. His funny [[NoodleIncident Noodle Incidents]] are indicated to be self-destructive cycles where Beard seeks out dangerous, thrilling situations so that he can punish himself for his perceived failures. And he's ''aware'' of these issues, which only makes the cycle worse.
** Nate's Season 2 arc reveals himself to be one for the bullied ExtremeDoormat assistant archetype. Nate's story in season 1 begin as a shy, but capable kitman whose talents are discovered by the kindly Ted. Slowly, Nate begins to [[GrewASpine grow a spine]] and become a valued member of the team, even by players that used to bully him. However, Nate's meekness doesn't translate to being ''nice'' after gaining confidence. When Ted works hard to make Nate feel validated and confident, Nate's desperation for that validation results in him lashing out at any sign of disrespect. His experiences with bullying from his father and the team has created a young man who internalized fear with power and desperately chases the high of validation, at the cost of his new friendships.
* Mabel's friend Zoe in ''Series/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding'' who had mysteriously died prior to the start of the series deconstructs AssholeVictim and ManicPixieDreamGirl.
** AssholeVictim: From the little scenes we see of her, she is a very conceited and elitist person and only died because [[spoiler: she was trying to shove Theo but accidentally tripped and fell over the building roof.]] However, her death only made things worse and the fallout ended up destroying the friendship between the remaining members of the Hardy Boys gang.
** ManicPixieDreamGirl: Towards [[spoiler: Theo]] as she was one of the few people who could and was willing to speak to them, even flirting with him, resulting in [[spoiler: Theo]] developing a crush on her. But Zoe could be very nasty when angered and [[spoiler: Theo]] finds out the hard way when she laughs at their heartfelt romantic confession and she started insulting them when they tried to give advice to her.

* ''Series/OneOfUsIsLying'' has two examples in the second season:
** Maeve deconstructs the TagalongKid. While she helps them alot, she is rarely credited for her efforts and is kept in the dark a lot, especially by her sister Bronwyn and her girlfriend Janae. Whenever she gives an opinion at any meeting the Murder Club has, she is routinely ignored. This increases her resentment so that she goes rogue and [[spoiler: teams up with the Big Bad (Fiona, Nate's tutor) to keep everyone out of jail by framing TJ. She does it once again when she realizes that their plan to frame her for Jake's death won't work without her fingerprints on the gun, so she tricks everyone in order to get Fiona to hold the weapon. It works, but it also results in her and Addy being trapped on a burning boat, Cooper getting injured trying to save them, and Bronwyn getting stabbed by Fiona. In the end, everyone is not on speaking terms with her.]]
** Vanessa is a big deconstruction of the AmateurSleuth. [[spoiler: After Jake's disappearance/death, she uses her platform on social media to investigate what happened, only to really humiliate and harass Addy and the rest of Murder Club. She obviously does all this to hurt them as well as put the spotlight on herself. She ends up being used by Giselle, a stalker of Jake's, as well as Simon Says, the new BigBad, to pass on false and incriminating evidence. She doesn't care who gets hurt until Giselle's death. When SimonSays kills Giselle, she is blamed for it and becomes scared that Murder Club killed Giselle and will kill her next. She goes offline for a while, only to learn that no one took her investigation seriously. When TJ is framed, she doesn't help him until her disdain for Murder Club drives her to do so. Throughout her investigation, she keeps finding clues but also comes to the wrong conclusions all of the time. When Cole informs her that Jake did in fact kill Simon, she loses faith for a moment before taking advice from a priest the wrong way and continuing. This results in her going from being a pawn of Simon Says to the next target and Murder Club resorts to kidnapping her and telling her the truth to keep her safe. When the situation is over, Vanessa goes on television to uphold Murder Club's story while taking all of the credit. In the end, Vanessa achieves very little and just makes things worse.]]
* John Mitchell and Hal Yorke from ''Series/BeingHumanUK'', along with the many other good vampires in the show, deconstruct the idea of the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire. Despite how much a vampire may wish to be this and become TheAtoner, it is very much apparent that vampires are an inherently destructive and predatory race, and any attempt to be otherwise is doomed, as the hunger always wins. If anything attempting to control their psychological addiction to blood just leads to their relapses being even more bloody and violent than usual, and these relapses can be caused either by extreme emotional stress or due to one mistake. It's also pointed out that since they're immortal, it's only a matter of time before they slip up since they literally can't control their bloodlust for an eternity.
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Although the show gradually leans completely into the pulpy and supernatural shenanigans that regularly occur in the ''Batman'' comics, the show's version of [[Characters/HarleyQuinnTheCharacter Harley Quinn]], Ecco aka "Mummer", is a deconstruction of the MadLove DarkMistress, where it almost seems like a TakeThat against the MisaimedFandom surrounding the character. Ecco is just as insane as the Joker himself, with none of the childlike innocence or borderline sitcom shenanigans that make so many versions of Harley endearing. Even her MsFanservice qualities are significantly dialed down to show what such a person would realistically be: an unkempt, mentally ill PsychoSupporter. Despite her attempts to win his affection, those feelings are never really reciprocated since Joker is far more focused on his obsession with [[ArchEnemy Bruce Wayne]]. Her undying love for a murdering psychopath, to the point of spending 10 years of her life waiting for his return, [[spoiler:gets her killed while carrying out one of his schemes, as said psychopath dismisses her death with a callous "plenty of other fish in the sea".]]

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'' deconstructs GoodParents, showing that actively trying to be the perfect parent to your kids is not just unhealthy, but can actually make things worse. Hugh and Olivia Crain go out of their way to give their children as much intellectual and emotional support as they could, and turn as many activities as possible into teachable moments. These efforts begin to take their toll on Olivia, as the stress of renovating Hill House, the malevolent influence of the House, and her own existing emotional issues all combine into a perfect storm, until her desire to be the perfect parent [[spoiler: leads her to conclude that the only way to protect her children from the dangers of the outside world is to ''kill them,'' so they stay innocent forever. And in the aftermath of Olivia's own suicide, Hugh inadvertently makes it worse by refusing to tell the kids the truth, because he wanted them to remember her as a good mother. This means his older children idealize their dead mother and hate their father, while the younger ones resent him for refusing to acknowledge what they ''know'' Olivia tried to do to them.]]

** The episode "[[Recap/ThirtyRockS3E5Reunion Reunion]]" deconstructs Liz's teenage counterpart, the CoolLoser ''a la'' [[WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} Daria Morgendorffer]] or [[Series/MySoCalledLife Angela Chase]]. Liz considered herself a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold in high school, having few friends and coping with harassment by the AlphaBitch and her GirlPosse by making witty remarks. At her ClassReunion, she discovers that everyone else saw her so-called "snarky comebacks" as mean-spirited insults and they all saw ''her'' as TheBully, hence why no one liked her. Her so-called friends were acquaintances who only hung out with her due to proximity, and the supposed AlphaBitch was actually a ClassPrincess who tried to reach out and befriend her (surprise, surprise, her friendliness was actually [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome why she was so popular in the first place]]). She even had to go to therapy to cope with the abusive remarks Liz inflicted on her.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Although the show gradually leans completely into the pulpy and supernatural shenanigans that regularly occur in the ''Batman'' comics, the show's version of [[Characters/HarleyQuinnTheCharacter Harley Quinn]], Ecco aka "Mummer", is a deconstruction of the MadLove DarkMistress, where it almost seems like a TakeThat against the MisaimedFandom surrounding the character. Ecco is just as insane as the Joker himself, with none of the childlike innocence or borderline sitcom shenanigans that make so many versions of Harley endearing. Even her MsFanservice qualities are significantly dialed down to show what she really is: an unkempt, mentally ill PsychoSupporter. Despite her attempts to win his affection, those feelings are never really reciprocated since Joker is far more focused on his obsession with [[ArchEnemy Bruce Wayne]]. Her undying love for a murdering psychopath, to the point of spending 10 years of her life waiting for his return, [[spoiler:gets her killed while carrying out one of his schemes, as said psychopath dismisses her death with a callous "plenty of other fish in the sea".]]

** VillainProtagonist Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. On top of this, the family he runs is located in [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], meaning that he can't compete with the power of the major families [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity across the river]]. While those families work with him for mutual benefit and he is friends with a number of them, they will use their overwhelming power advantage to force better deals for themselves and, behind his back, they speak of him as a small fry. Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative narcissist who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Although the show gradually leans completely into the pulpy and supernatural shenanigans that regularly occur in the ''Batman'' comics, the show's version of [[Characters/HarleyQuinnTheCharacter Harley Quinn]], Ecco aka "Mummer", is a deconstruction of the MadLove DarkMistress, where it almost seems like a TakeThat against the MisaimedFandom surrounding the character. Ecco is just as insane as the Joker himself, with none of the childlike innocence or borderline sitcom shenanigans that make so many versions of Harley endearing. Despite her attempts to win his affection, those feelings are never really reciprocated since Joker is far more focused on his obsession with [[ArchEnemy Bruce Wayne]]. Her undying love for a murdering psychopath, to the point of spending 10 years of her life waiting for his return, [[spoiler:gets her killed while carrying out one of his schemes, as said psychopath dismisses her death with a callous "plenty of other fish in the sea".]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' deconstructs HunterOfMonsters, placing a heavy emphasis on how much that life sucks: hunters typically make money by hustling pool and poker and credit card fraud, often end up with criminal records, generally end up emotionally traumatized to some degree due to the things they've seen and experienced, and when they die, which they probably will sooner rather than later, there's a good chance no one will know how to dispose of their body properly (if it's even recoverable) but other hunters.

** Jason Carver in Season 4 is a deconstruction of TheHero, and of teenaged detectives like Archie from ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' and several characters from modern {{Teen Drama}}s. He certainly seems to think he is the hero, and so do many others. And if Jason was the protagonist, he’d be like Archie. However, since ''Stranger Things''[='s=] cast are all outsiders and nerds, the exact opposite of Jason and many other TeenDrama protagonists, the only things he appears to be good at are basketball and self-indulgent speeches, none of which makes him a good detective, yet he still believes he has the right to lead his friends on a manhunt. That, and his "investigation" basically amounts to vigilante justice, torturing Eddie's friends for information, and presumably planning to murder Eddie, things that would probably be considered justified or at least understandable. Plus the RousingSpeech that Archie likes to do all the time on ''Riverdale''? It’s turned on its head as Jason uses it to whip Hawkins up into a frenzy by tapping into the Satanic Panic rhetoric big in the day. And ultimately, it turns out that Jason's completely out of his depth, as he [[spoiler:winds up dying a pretty UndignifiedDeath via being caught in the crossfire of the portals opening and being burnt and torn apart]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has one of its main villains Parado, a video game character brought into the real world who acts like any other player would in a video game. This manifests as him being a borderline sociopath who picks fights whenever he finds it fun, only calls fairness when it makes things less boring for him while he's often okay with beating up anyone who gets in his way when they're often leagues below his power, and having an unhealthy obsession with the main protagonist because he thinks of him as a fun FinalBoss. Not only this, but his logic is less reliant on allegiance than it is with winning or losing, often willing to kill those he views as "losers", including his own kind. It's only when his "lives" are in danger that he begins to worry, losing his composure and going into a panic.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazons'' does this with the MonsterOfTheWeek in the Amazonz. The general MOTW serves as meaningless fodder for the Riders with only the stronger ones having any real consequence, often mindlessly following whatever BigBad is in charge. The Amazonz, however, normally able to mimic humans and live peaceful lives, the eventually regress into ravenous flesh-eating monsters when the medicinal suppressant within their armlets runs out after two to three years. Many of these Amazonz ''don't'' want to become monsters, and a few go as far as to [[HunterOfHisOwnKind hunt their own kind]] to prevent the loss of human life.

* Rustin Cohle from ''Series/TrueDetective'' is a deconstruction of the StrawNihilist and MisanthropeSupreme tropes, showcasing just how miserable and psychologically broken someone has to be in order to believe in those things, which his partner [[JerkassHasAPoint points out]] when he goes on his philosophical musings. He eventually overcomes it after [[spoiler: nearly dying in the final confrontation with the killer he and his partner had pursued for years]] and realizes that perhaps there is still hope to be found in his life.
** Martin Hart from the same show is a deconstruction of PoorCommunicationKills and the RabidCop tropes, the horrors that Marty sees at his job gets to him more than he'd like to admit and it's his inability to communicate with his wife that leads her to [[spoiler: eventually leave him]] (though the cheating didn't help either.) He's also a [[HairTriggerTemper quick tempered]] cop with [[CrazyJealousGuy jealousy issues]] who is prone to making hasty decisions without considering the consequences of those actions, except oops; [[spoiler: the guy he killed turned out to be the only witness to the case that he and his partner were attempting to solve, allowing the real killer to continue his reign of terror for 17 more years.]]

** Vanessa is a big deconstruction of the AmateurSleuth. [[spoiler: After Jake's disappearance/death, she uses her platform on social media to investigate what happened, only to really humiliate and harass Addy and the rest of Murder Club. She obviously does all this to hurt them as well as put the spotlight on herself. She ends up being used by Giselle, a stalker of Jake's, as well as SimonSays,the new BigBad, to pass on false and incriminating evidence. She doesn't care who gets hurt until Giselle's death. When SimonSays kills Giselle, she is blamed for it and becomes scared that Murder Club killed Giselle and will kill her next. She goes offline for a while, only to learn that no one took her investigation seriously. When TJ is framed, she doesn't help him until her disdain for Murder Club drives her to do so. Throughout her investigation, she keeps finding clues but also comes to the wrong conclusions all of the time. When Cole informs her that Jake did in fact kill Simon, she loses faith for a moment before taking advice from a priest the wrong way and continuing. This results in her going from being a pawn of SimonSays to the next target and Murder Club resorts to kidnapping her and telling her the truth to keep her safe. When the situation is over, Vanessa goes on television to uphold Murder Club's story while taking all of the credit. In the end, Vanessa achieves very little and just makes things worse.]]

** VillainProtagonist Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. On top of this, the family he runs is located in [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], meaning that he can't compete with the power of the major families [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity across the river]]. While those families work with him for mutual benefit and he is friends with a number of them, they will use their overwhelming power to force better deals for themselves and, behind his back, they speak of him as a small fry. Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative narcissist who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

** VillainProtagonist Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative narcissist who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

*** He's also one of the JustifiedCriminal archetype. Tony begins the series by going to therapy and expressing remorse over a lot of what he's done, but it becomes apparent as the series goes on that he's mostly looking for salvation without doing anything to earn it. Tony believes that since he feels bad about the things he's done, he deserves some form of redemption and is better than his contemporaries (despite being just as complicit as them, not to mention being ''the boss'' of his crew). As his therapist continually shuts down his NecessarilyEvil motivations, he mostly comes away from their sessions less with a desire to change his ways, and more armed with language to excuse the bad things he's done. This unwillingness to change eventually turns him into a full-blown VillainProtagonist.

** He's also one of the JustifiedCriminal archetype. Tony begins the series by going to therapy and expressing remorse over a lot of what he's done, but it becomes apparent as the series goes on that he's mostly looking for salvation without doing anything to earn it. Tony believes that since he feels bad about the things he's done, he deserves some form of redemption and is better than his contemporaries (despite being just as complicit as them, not to mention being ''the boss'' of his crew). As his therapist continually shuts down his NecessarilyEvil motivations, he mostly comes away from their sessions less with a desire to change his ways, and more armed with language to excuse the bad things he's done. This unwillingness to change eventually turns him into a full-blown VillainProtagonist.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': {{Creator/James Spader}}'s character Robert California is a deconstruction of the charismatic {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s he usually plays, showing how offputting someone who always succeeds, has supreme self-confidence and acts as if the rules of society don't apply to him would be. Like most of Spader's characters California is intense and hypercompetent, and the cast are drawn to and fascinated by him. However as time goes on his eccentricities become more increasingly more pronounced and the people around him find him disturbing and then legitimately frightening. By his last appearances he is portrayed as dangerous, threatening and potentially mentally unwell.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': {{Creator/James Spader}}'s character Robert California is a deconstruction of the charismatic {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s he usually plays, showing how offputting someone who always succeeds and acts as if the rules of society don't apply to him would be. Like most of Spader's characters California is intense and hypercompetent, and the cast are drawn to and fascinated by him. However as time goes on his eccentricities become more increasingly more pronounced and the people around him find him disturbing and then legitimately frightening. By his last appearances he is portrayed as dangerous, threatening and potentially mentally unwell.

* ''TheOfficeUS'': {{Creator/James Spader}}'s character Robert California is a deconstruction of the charismatic {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s he usually plays, showing how offputting someone who always succeeds and acts as if the rules of society don't apply to him would be. Like most of Spader's characters California is intense and hypercompetent, and the cast are drawn to and fascinated by him. However as time goes on his eccentricities become more increasingly more pronounced and the people around him find him disturbing and then legitimately frightening. By his last appearances he is portrayed as dangerous, threatening and potentially mentally unwell.

* Tony Soprano, the VillainProtagonist of ''Series/TheSopranos'', deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. Additionally, his personality is a far cry from the wise and honorable NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters like Vito Corleone. At his core, Tony is a manipulative sociopath who only gets worse over time as all his various justifications for his lifestyle and his claims of honor are revealed as hollow or simply the excuses of a self-serving hypocrite. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

* Tony Soprano, the VillainProtagonist of ''Series/TheSopranos'', deconstructs TheDon. Tony is not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where tougher racketeering laws give Tony nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that TheMafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, infighting within the various families, and drugs. All these attributes make Tony Soprano one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' frequently deconstructed VigilanteMan with several of its unsubs. [[DependingOnTheWriter While the level of deconstruction varies,]] what remains constant is that vigilantes are ultimately killing to make themselves feel better, not much different from the show's typical SerialKiller. Furthermore, there is ''always'' innocent collateral damage to their rampages, either because of MisplacedRetribution, an incorrect assumption about someone's guilt, or simply someone getting in their way. The very first vigilante the team dealt with was ultimately a schizophrenic who thought killing his victims would make the voices go away, and it's entirely up in the air whether or not his victims were truly guilty. Regardless of how the general public feels about them or [[AssholeVictim how deserving the]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch victims are]], the BAU cannot ignore or condone their actions, and have to treat them as they would any other murderer.

** The eponymous Kevin himself is one for the [[BumblingDad "immature doofus husband"]] prevalent in many a DomCom, showing just how exhausting and insufferable such a person would be to deal with in real life over an extended period of time. Kevin is a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] ManChild who, at best, [[InnocentlyInsensitive is genuinely oblivious]] to the destructive effect his actions have on other people, and at worst, is a petty and mean-spirited bully whose goofy behavior is [[ObfuscatingStupidity partly an act]] to [[TooFunnyToBeEvil get away with his more deliberately malicious actions]]. His {{Zany Scheme}}s are destructive more than not and it's shown how his household is financially struggling due to [[MoneyDumb his reckless spending habits]]. He treats his wife Allison more like a maid and [[ParentingTheHusband a surrogate mom]] than a partner while his friends are more like [[YesMan butt-kissers who have to go along with everything he does]]. Meanwhile, Allison's initial attraction to him during the start of their relationship and marriage has completely evaporated away over the years, not helped by how his antics have taken up all her time and energy, leaving her isolated and with no way of having any life of her own. And when Kevin ends up [[spoiler:inadvertently driving away his social circle as Allison's attempts to break free from his "sitcom world" have ripple effects on the others, he's revealed at the bottom of everything to be an utterly monstrous and violently abusive (but ultimately pathetic) lout who only got away with his actions for as long as he has by bulldozing other, weaker willed people]].

** Sally deconstructs the MoralityPet LoveInterest. While Barry considers Sally to be one of the primary things motivating him to change as a person, Sally doesn't know that he views her as such, and is made uncomfortable on the occasions where he makes it more obvious. Furthermore, Sally is consistently shown to be a very selfish person with her own mountain of personal problems, which, combined with her lack of insight into Barry's past, often causes her to unintentionally be much more harmful to his emotional well-being than she is helpful. Barry places a lot of pressure on her to provide him with emotional support; pressure that she is neither aware of or equipped to deal with.