History Main / ThirdActStupidity

* This happens in ScoobyDoo and the Witch's Ghost. The gang go to help a man named Ben Ravencroft clear his ancestor's name because she was accused of being a witch. Once they find her book, he reveals that she was one. As he tells them that he's going to release her from the book, get magic powers, and [[CrushKillDestroy basically destroy all]], they only give him the "You won't get away with this" speech and [[WhatAnIdiot WAIT FOR HIM TO SUMMON HIS POWERS!!]] Of course, they're not going to tackle him before he reads the book aloud, otherwise the movie would be over.

* Hugo Strange in ''BatmanArkhamCity''. He spends most of the game and the prequel comics matching wits with Batman, who has a lot of trouble genuinely messing with his plans because Strange has studied him so thoroughly. In the last third of the game, [[spoiler: Strange takes a hostage over a video screen, forcing Batman to stay still while he lectures him and his goons fill the room. Instead of forcing Batman to not fight back for the sake of the hostage, Strange just lets him go, allowing Batman to knock out all of his men. And despite how familiar he is with Batman's tactics, when Batman begins climbing the tower to his control room and his thugs can't locate him, Strange just assumes he's fallen off.]]

* This happens in ScoobyDoo and the Witch's Ghost. The gang go to help a man named Ben Ravencroft clear his ancestor's name because she was accused of being a witch. Once they find her book, he reveals that she was one. As he tells them that he's going to release her from the book, get magic powers, and [[CrushKillDestroy basically destroy all]], they only give him the "You won't get away with this" speech and [[WhatAnIdiot WAIT FOR HIM TO SUMMON HIS POWERS!!]]

** It wasn't the taunt that was Zuko's mistake. He taunted Azula for the specific purpose of drawing out her lightning attack. You can even see Zuko preparing to redirect the lightning. What was Zuko's mistake is that he underestimated how lucid Azula still was. Even in her VillainousBreakdown, she still thought clearly enough to realize that targeting Katara, not Zuko was the best move.

** It wasn't the taunt that was Zuko's mistake. He taunted Azula for the specific purpose of drawing her lightning attack. You can even see Zuko preparing to redirect the lightning. What was Zuko's mistake is that he underestimated how lucid Azula still was. Even in her VillainousBreakdown, she still thought clearly enough to realize that targeting Katara, not Zuko was the best move.

* In ''[[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender's]]'' finale, Zuko tells Katara that he can beat Azula alone, which turns out to be true and is about to one-hit Azula the same way he did a few episodes back with his father (and at that time he was unprepared). Then he makes the mistake of taunting her. Katara makes the mistake of standing too close to the action. Result? Azula fires at Katara and Zuko is taken out of commission shielding her from the lightning, leaving Katara to finish what he started.
** Though the desire to fight Azula alone is justified in a number of reasons; firstly, the one-on-one firebending duel (Agni-Kai) is part of Zuko's culture and winning it would offically make him Fire Lord on the spot (and thus able to recall a certain army) and two) due to Sozin's Comet in the sky, water-benders like Katara where at their very weakest, and fire-benders had their powers super charged.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'': Zeheart Galette seemed to get more and more stupid and crazy as the third generation went on, culminating in [[spoiler:ordering Fram Nara into a suicide attack that didn't work, and then killing some of his own men (granted, the person in question really deserved it, but the [[CharacterDerailment original Zeheart would never have done such a thing]]). He then took to a Mobile Suit battle in a blind rage and got killed in ten seconds, despite having both a machine and the piloting skills to make him a match for the main characters.]]

** Azula herself falls into this. For Book 2 and about half of Book 3, she ''the'' MagnificentBitch of the show. She was a ChessMaster who took the Dai Li right from their previous leader (who they had unwavering loyalty to) and even [[TheBadGuysWin killed Aang in the Book 2 finale]]. After she's betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee, she starts becoming increasingly insane, leading to her VillainousBreakdown in the finale. After she's put in charge of the [[TheEmpire Fire Nation]], she banishes everyone in the palace, including the Dai Li, her guards, and her advisors due to her paranoia. If she was never betrayed, she probably wouldn't have been beaten by Zuko and Katara.

* In ''[[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender's]]'' finale Zuko tells Katara that he can beat Azula alone, which turns out to be true and is about to one-hit Azula the same way he did a few episodes back with his father (and at that time he was unprepared). Then he makes the mistake of taunting her. Katara makes the mistake of standing too close to the action. Result? Azula fires at Katara and Zuko is taken out of commission shielding her from the lightning, leaving Katara to finish what he started.
** Though the desire to fight Azula alone is justified in a number of reasons; firstly, the one on one firebending duel (agni-kai) is part of Zuko's culture and winning it would officioally make him fire lord on the spot (and thus able to recall a certain army) and two) due to Sozin's comment in the sky, water-benders like Kitara where at their very weakest and fire-benders had their powers super charged.
** Azula herself falls into this. For Book 2 and about half of Book 3 she ''the'' MagnificentBitch of the show. She was a ChessMaster who took the Dai Li right from their previous leader (who they had unwavering loyalty to) and even [[TheBadGuysWin killed Aang in the Book 2 finale]]. After she's betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee she starts becoming increasingly insane, leading to her VillainousBreakdown in the finale. After she's put in charge of the [[TheEmpire Fire Nation]], she banishes everyone in the palace, including the Dai Li, her gaurds, and her advisors due to her paranoia. If she was never betrayed she probably wouldn't have been beaten Zuko and Katara.

* ''{{Charmed}}'' Zankou, S7's Big Bad is smart enough to come up with some cold-blooded torture that weakens the sisters' confidence enough so he can steal the Book of Shadows. Then in the finale his IQ seems to plummet and the sisters manage to goad him into doing something stupid so they can attack him. It was a shame because he was one of the few worthy opponents they had up to that point.

* Harmon Rab and Sarah Mackenzie of ''{{JAG}}'' are often guilty of this. When it came time for the episode climax, they would often confront the bad guy alone. They are partners, but they seem to forget that when it comes to ''one of the very reasons law enforcement has a partner system''.

This is when for most of a work, the hero or the villain has been reasonably smart in his/her/its actions (YouCantThwartStageOne, y'know.) But if that character acts just as smart in the climax, it would be [[CurbStompBattle over in a minute]]. Time for this SubTrope of IdiotBall.

Compare LoweredMonsterDifficulty, WhyDontYouJustShootHim, ThirdActMisunderstanding.

This is when for most of a work, the hero or the villain has been reasonably smart in his/her/its actions. But if that character acts just as smart in the climax, it would be [[CurbStompBattle over in a minute]]. Time for this SubTrope of IdiotBall.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an odd example: both the protagonist and antagonist are geniuses playing XanatosSpeedChess three layers deep. The climax depends on neither of them having a plan ''D.'' It might seem unfair, but really, with the amount of prep time and AppliedPhlebotinum they had access to, they really should have.

* Quite a few thrillers end this way.
** The original ending of ''APerfectMurder'' (the remake of ''DialMForMurder'') was an aversion of this. [[spoiler:The wife shoots her husband for trying to have her killed, and fakes a struggle. Since she had evidence he planned to have her killed, the police shrug it off, and she actually commits the perfect murder.]] But it was decided that the audience couldn't morally identify with her, and then we had the wife doing this trope.
* ''OnceUponATimeInMexico'': The FemmeFatale spots her ex-boyfriend wounded in the street from a distance; the sensible thing to do would be to snipe him, as she was perfectly capable. But instead she goes down to talk to him, so that they could have a dramatic final exchange and [[spoiler: so that Sands could shoot her]].
* None of the characters in ''[[{{Film/Hellboy}} Hellboy II]]'' make intelligent decisions in the third act, which lead to [[spoiler: the villain getting the MacGuffin and the LoveInterest dying]] (although critics felt it didn't hurt the overall film).
* The movie ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' when the BigBad has rendered the hero completely helpless and has him on the floor at his feet... but then walks away to deal with another problem. The hero of course recovers and saves the day.

* Double-subverted in ''ArtemisFowl'': Artemis specifically refers to the "third stage of operations" as the time ''not'' to get careless, and then [[spoiler:sends Juliet downstairs to check on Holly, who has regained her magic. [[JustifiedTrope Although he didn't know it at the time]].]]

* Harmon Rab and Sarah Mackenzie of ''{{JAG}}'' are often guilty of this. When it came time for the episode climax, they would often confront the bad guy alone. They are partners, but they seem to forget that when it comes to ''one of the very reasons law enforcement has a partner system''.
** Especially since they are lawyers and not {{NCIS}} agents. Mac was a Marine, and a badass one at that, but still.

* Part of the fun of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' was [[ZigZaggingTrope zig zagging this]]. He's seem like a fool, and even seem to fall into this, but it's all an act.
* The BigBad in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' special "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime The End Of Time]]" tells the Master in the most insulting terms that the moment his plan (which the Master is an essential part of) succeeds, the Master [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness will be killed]]. While the Master is standing next to the machine that forms another essential part of the plan. He also passes up numerous opportunities to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shoot the Doctor]] despite having previously shown a willingness to kill people for disagreeing with him; and the Doctor ''isn't'' part of his plan.

** In the original series story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainofMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", the Doctor defeats and captures Morbius by the middle of the last episode, deciding to remove his brain and return it to the Time Lords. It's fairly logicalfor him to threaten Solon, the MadScientist responsible for giving Morbius his new body, into doing the job for him. It's less logical for him to leave Solon alone to do the job and go and check on Sarah in a room with a lock on the door. To the surprise of no-one but him, Solon locks them in and revives Morbius.

* ''{{Charmed}}'' Zankou, S7's Big Bad is smart enough to come up with some cold-blooded torture that weakens the sisters' confidence enough so he can steal the Book of Shadows. Then in the finale his IQ seems to plummet and the sisters manage to goad him into doing something stupid so they can attack him. It was a shame because he was one of the few WorthyOpponents they had up to that point.

* ''Series/Charmed'' Zankou, S7's Big Bad is smart enough to come up with some cold-blooded torture that weakens the sisters' confidence enough so he can steal the Book of Shadows. Then in the finale his IQ seems to plummet and the sisters manage to goad him into doing something stupid so they can attack him. It was a shame because he was one of the few WorthyOpponents they had up to that point.

* Harmon Rab and Sarah Mackenzie of ''{{JAG}}'' are often guilty of this. When it came time for the episode climax, they would often confront the bad guy alone. They are partners, but they seem to forget that when it comes to ''one of the very reasons law enforcement has a partner system''.
** Especially since they are lawyers and not {{NCIS}} agents. Mac was a Marine, and a badass one at that, but still.
* Quite a few thrillers end this way.
** The original ending of ''APerfectMurder'' (the remake of ''DialMForMurder'') was an aversion of this. [[spoiler:The wife shoots her husband for trying to have her killed, and fakes a struggle. Since she had evidence he planned to have her killed, the police shrug it off, and she actually commits the perfect murder.]] But it was decided that the audience couldn't morally identify with her, and then we had the wife doing this trope.
* Part of the fun of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' was [[ZigZaggingTrope zig zagging this]]. He's seem like a fool, and even seem to fall into this, but it's all an act.
* ''OnceUponATimeInMexico'': The FemmeFatale spots her ex-boyfriend wounded in the street from a distance; the sensible thing to do would be to snipe him, as she was perfectly capable. But instead she goes down to talk to him, so that they could have a dramatic final exchange and [[spoiler: so that Sands could shoot her]].
* The BigBad in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' special "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime The End Of Time]]" tells the Master in the most insulting terms that the moment his plan (which the Master is an essential part of) succeeds, the Master [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness will be killed]]. While the Master is standing next to the machine that forms another essential part of the plan. He also passes up numerous opportunities to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shoot the Doctor]] despite having previously shown a willingness to kill people for disagreeing with him; and the Doctor ''isn't'' part of his plan.
** In the original series story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainofMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", the Doctor defeats and captures Morbius by the middle of the last episode, deciding to remove his brain and return it to the Time Lords. It's fairly logicalfor him to threaten Solon, the MadScientist responsible for giving Morbius his new body, into doing the job for him. It's less logical for him to leave Solon alone to do the job and go and check on Sarah in a room with a lock on the door. To the surprise of no-one but him, Solon locks them in and revives Morbius.

* None of the characters in [[{{Film/Hellboy}} Hellboy II]] make intelligent decisions in the third act, which lead to [[spoiler: the villain getting the MacGuffin and the LoveInterest dying]] (although critics felt it didn't hurt the overall film).
* Yoshiyuki in DaCapoII develops this during the Koko route. While he's never super perceptive about love, in this route he basically goes out of his way to be as incompetent as possible about the matter until the point the stupidity starts to edge into {{jerkass}}ery. The most likely reason is that there's no real dramatic story set up for Koko; she loves Yoshiyuki, pretty much always has and has nothing seriously wrong with her life.
* The movie ''Underworld'' when the BigBad has rendered the hero completely helpless and has him on the floor at his feet... but then walks away to deal with another problem. The hero of course recovers and saves the day.
* Double-subverted in ''ArtemisFowl'': Artemis specifically refers to the "third stage of operations" as the time ''not'' to get careless, and then [[spoiler:sends Juliet downstairs to check on Holly, who has regained her magic. [[JustifiedTrope Although he didn't know it at the time]].]]
* In [[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender's]] finale Zuko tells Katara that he can beat Azula alone, which turns out to be true and is about to one-hit Azula the same way he did a few episodes back with his father (and at that time he was unprepared). Then he makes the mistake of taunting her. Katara makes the mistake of standing too close to the action. Result? Azula fires at Katara and Zuko is taken out of commission shielding her from the lightning, leaving Katara to finish what he started.
* In [[{{Disney/Hercules}} Hercules]], Hades has managed to get Hercules to agree to give up his super-strength in exchange for Megara's survival and safety. So, what does Hades then do? While he's taking over Mount Olympus, he sends a giant Cyclops to attack Hercules, who will no doubt be with [[LoveInterest Megara]], thus making it highly likely that she will be harmed in the crossfire. And since the deal is immediately nullified if she's harmed, he has effectively insured that his plan will fail.