History HeelFaceRevolvingDoor / LiveActionTv

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': Downplayed trope. While not evil, [[ConMan Neal Caffrey]] is still a criminal on work release who doesn't always know if he wants to go straight, and struggles with obeying the law even when he wants to. He starts out the series not wanting to run from the law anymore but not truly reformed, gradually decides he wants to go straight, becomes convinced that he isn't capable of being anything but a criminal, and then [[spoiler: either ends up [[RecruitingTheCriminal consulting on security]] or becoming a thief again, depending on your interpretation of the evidence Peter finds at the end of the series finale.]]

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': Downplayed trope. While not evil, [[ConMan Neal Caffrey]] is still a criminal on work release who doesn't always know if he wants to go straight, and struggles with obeying the law even when he wants to. He starts out the series not wanting to run from the law anymore but not truly reformed, gradually decides he wants to go straight, becomes convinced that he isn't capable of being anything but a criminal, then [[spoiler: either ends up [[RecruitingTheCriminal consulting on security]] or becoming a thief again, depending on your interpretation of the series finale.]]

** As it turns out [[spoiler:the good guy's she's taking volkoff off from the inside]]

** [[spoiler: Regina]] enters the revolving door in Season 2, desperately trying anything to win back [[spoiler: her surrogate son]]. Howewer, as of the Season 4 finale, she is undeniably a hero now.

** In Season 9, Gadreel's allegiance is all over the place. He starts out as a guardian in Heaven, then he lets Lucifer inside the Garden of Eden and is punished for his crime. After his unexpected release he tries to atone by [[spoiler:helping Dean save Sam]], only to be convinced by the conniving Metatron to join his new army. He joins the Winchesters again, but [[spoiler:the vengeful Dean is [[HeelFaceDoorSlam having none of it]]. Gadreel eventually helps Castiel infiltrate Heaven but fails and commits suicide in a final act of atonement.]]

* ''Series/AmericanGothic'': [[FemmeFatale Selena Coombs]] certainly seems to be riding one of these, or perhaps a seesaw. Aside from the moments when we see the weakening of her evil resolve and the good heart shining through (particularly the episode "Potato Boy"), the last several episodes of the series involve her repeatedly switching sides. It's hard to tell exactly who she's lying to at any given moment--Buck, Dr. Peele, or Caleb.

** The two main villains of the series- Gul Dukat and Kai Winn both started out as smug, power-hungry backstabbers, and then went through a series of character arcs which gradually made them more sympathetic until they were AntiVillains and almost good guys in their own right, and then both immediately turned 180 and became even more evil and vile than before, ending up as devil-worshipping cultists. Winn eventually [[spoiler:experienced RedemptionEqualsDeath]], but Dukat [[spoiler:became TheAntichrist]]. One of the writers said that, expecially in Dukat's case, this was intended to make them better villains, showing that they had the capacity to be good, decent people- they just consciously chose not to be.

** Nathan Petrelli also fits this trope, as he is also constantly shifting sides. In Volume 4, [[spoiler:he went from being the BigBad before shifting back to the good side again.]] On one hand, Nathan cares deeply about his family and does his best to protect them, particularly his brother Peter and daughter Claire, but his methods and ambitions often alienate them, as Nathan [[WellIntentionedExtremist believes he is doing what's "best" in his view]] ... until he sees the light, becomes the TheAtoner once again, and does another HeelFaceTurn (frequently prompted by Peter and/or Claire).

** HRG fits this trope as well. He is constantly shifting, so we are never entirely sure which side he is on save his own. We know his agenda is to protect his family, particularly Claire, which would put him on the good guys' side, but the methods he uses have alienated his family. HRG also finds himself unable to satisfy himself with settled, stable life, stating, "There are only so many crossword puzzles I can do," which provides another motivation.

** HRG fits this trope as well. He is constantly shifting, so we are never entirely sure which side he is on save his own. We know his agenda is to protect his family, particularly Claire, which would put him on the good guys' side, but the methods he uses have alienated his family.
** Nathan Petrelli also fits this trope, even better than HRG. In Volume 4 [[spoiler:He went from BigBad to [[strike: good guy]] slightly less of a bastard guy.]]

** The two main villains of the series- Gul Dukat and Kai Winn both started out as smug, power-hungry backstabbers, and then went through a series of character arcs which gradually made them more sympathetic until they were AntiVillains and almost good guys in their own right, and then both immediately turned 180 and became even more evil and vile than before, ending up as devil-worshipping cultists. Winn eventually [[spoiler:experienced RedemptionEqualsDeath]], but Dukat [spoiler:became TheAntichrist]]. One of the writers said that, expecially in Dukat's case, this was intended to make them better villains, showing that they had the capacity to be good, decent people- they just consciously chose not to be.

* ''DarkOracle'': [[SmugSnake Omen]] suffered badly from this, due to a bad case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder combined with a desire for {{Revenge}} and an unfortunate tendency towards partnering with those who were stronger and more evil than him. He's a villain at first, manipulating Cally as part of a plot for revenge on Doyle. He then tries to help Cally get rid of the comic book (partly out of a crush on her and partly out of a desire to hurt her EvilTwin, Violet) and gets trapped in comic world for his trouble. He returns, and helps BigBadWannabe Vern trap Lance in the comic world, pretends to help Cally get him out while secretly working for Lance's EvilTwin Blaze whom he actually frees, and then ''finally'' pulls a HeelFaceTurn and [[spoiler:dies helping Cally free Lance and get rid of Blaze and Violet]]. Jeez man.

* ''PrisonBreak'': John Abruzzi. Also Mahone whose loyalties remain murky up until the end of the series.

* ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Max did this is one episode, taking Justin's side, then Alex's side, then back, depending on who looked most likely to win the weekly conflict at that exact moment. He also announced to both siblings when we was doing this.
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'':

** Has Rumplestiltskin, whose unresolved personal issues and guilt over his chronic cowardice, trying repeatedly to redeem himself with Belle, who becomes his MoralityPet. [[spoiler: After her memory is wiped,]] his focus returns solely to [[spoiler: finding his son]]. After finding out that [[spoiler: Henry is his grandson, making a good majority of the main cast his family as well]], his motives and intentions become increasingly more ambiguous. In the first half of season 3, he travels with Emma, Snow, Charming, Regina, and Hook to rescue Henry from [[spoiler: His father,]] Peter Pan, and later takes him down, [[spoiler: killing himself in the process]]. In the second half, he is brought back by Neal and is controlled with the dagger by Zelena, who uses him to do her bidding, before marrying belle in the season finale. In season 4, he puts on an act of being changed, while really conspiring to cleave himself from the dagger, which would cost several lives to do so. After his plan is discovered, Belle uses the dagger to force him to leave town, but he later returns, and works with the queens of darkness to turn Emma, the savior, dark while trying to find the author of the book to write a new story in which villains get a happy ending. It turns out this was all to prevent the darkness from taking him over completely. The Apprentice removes it, but it leaves him in a coma, and the darkness breaks free, trying to take over Regina, before [[spoiler: Emma uses the dagger to force it to take herself as the new host, becoming the new dark one]].

In Season 5, Gold spends the majority of the first half of the season trying to be a better man after becoming mortal and powerless, again, before [[spoiler: secretly enchanting Excalibur to transfer the darkness to back to himself upon Hook's death, becoming not just the Dark One (again), but the most powerful Dark One to have ever lived]].
** [[spoiler: Regina]] enters the revolving door in Season 2, desperately trying anything to win back [[spoiler: her surrogate son]].
** And now we have [[spoiler: Zalena]] in Season 5. If might have something to do with [[spoiler: her pregnancy]]. There's also the whole chronology thing between Camelot and the present.

** Although Castiel is unarguably trying to be the good guy, he appears to have been trapped in this revolving door since his first appearance. He starts out as the angel that rescued Dean from Hell, but then it's revealed the angels have plans for Dean and expect him to do exactly as they say even when their plans are morally ambiguous to say the least. Castiel starts to have doubts and sympathize with Dean, eventually twisting the rules to help Dean. But then he gets dragged off to Heaven and forced back into line, betraying Anna and setting Sam free to go start the Apocalypse, before he betrays Heaven for good and sides with Dean a couple of episodes later. He spends most of the fifth season on the Face side of things, but appears to have jumped back into the revolving door as of season 6. [[spoiler:He makes a deal with Crowley, but he does so in order to fight Raphael and prevent the apocalypse from re-starting. In order to carry out his plan though, he is forced to lie to and manipulate the Winchesters while carrying out some pretty morally ambiguous schemes. He undoes some of the worst ones though rather than risk the Winchesters, but ultimately finishes the season on a Heel note, having absorbed millions of souls from Purgatory and declared himself the new God. He seemed to come back to himself within an episode or so of the seventh season and asked for forgiveness only to be taken over by Leviathans who then, a few episodes later, appeared to liquefy him. About halfway through the season, he turned up again with amnesia. He got his memory back and took the broken wall in Sam's mind onto himself, effectively bringing Sam back to normal, but landing himself with an incredibly messed up head. As of the end of Season 7, he seems to be on the Face side, having made a HeroicSacrifice. As of the middle of Season 8, he's apparently back to Heel, being BrainwashedAndCrazy for Naomi. In the episode "Goodbye, Stranger", he leaves both sides behind and goes off on his own. Expect this section to expand continually.]]

** Has Rumplestiltskin, whose unresolved personal issues and guilt over his chronic cowardice, trying repeatedly to redeem himself with Belle, who becomes his MoralityPet. [[spoiler: After her memory is wiped,]] his focus returns solely to [[spoiler: finding his son]]. After finding out that [[spoiler: Henry is his grandson, making a good majority of the main cast his family as well]], his motives and intentions become increasingly more ambiguous.

** And now we have [[spoiler: Zalena]] in Season 5. If might have something to do with [[Mood-Swinger her pregnancy]]. There's also the whole chronology thing between Camelot and the present.

** And now we have [[spoiler: Zalena]] in Season 5. If might have something to do with [[Mood-Swinger "her pregnancy"]]. There's also the whole chronology thing between Camelot and the present.

** And now we have [[spoiler: Zalena]] in Season 5 who might be on this path because of [[spoiler: her pregnancy]]. Of course some of this might have to do with the whole chronology thing between Camelot and the present.

** And now we have [[spoiler: Zalena]] in Season 5 who might be on this path because of [[spoiler: her pregnancy]]. Of course some of this might have to do with the whole chronology thing between Camelot and the present. But mostly she's just a psychopath...

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In-universe example. In the episode with the holonovel about the Maquis mutiny, Tom Paris switches sides whenever it's convenient. Holo-Chakotay wises up fast [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything and sends him off to a position where he doesn't matter to the story.]]

* ''Series/BeingHumanRemake'': While Aidan is currently TheAtoner, flashbacks reveal that he has gone through multiple bouts of being this and the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire before JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and becoming a remorseless bloodsucker again.

* ''{{Oz}}'': Chris Keller.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Throughout Season 2, the intention to carry out a full redemption with [[spoiler: Ward]] is very apparent to the fans. Those who can't wait and those who are against it. The teams that refuses to forgive him would fit into the latter category.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'':