History Main / TooGoodToBeTrue

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': John Daggett hires Selina Kyle by promising her access to something he calls "the Clean Slate", a computer program that can erase her criminal record. When the deal goes south, he mockingly asks her, [[DidYouActuallyBelieve "Sound a little too good to be true?"]]

* In ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' Adolin is unsurprised and completely willing to believe Kaladin's claim that Amaram betrayed him and murdered his friends, noting that Amaram's completely flawless reputation suggests to him someone who's putting a lot of effort into looking good. This is at a time when his father's genuinely well meaning efforts are destroying his reputation.
* The Franchise/HerculePoirot short story ''[[Literature/PoirotInvestigates The Adventure of the Cheap Flat]]'' has a Mr and Mrs Robinson who is able to rent a flat for £80 a year, when the real rent is £350 per year. This arouses Poirot's interest and he decides to investigate. [[spoiler: Turns out that two spies were renting the flat under the fake name Robinson and they rented it out to the Robinsons in the hope that the innocent couple would be killed in their place by a mafia hitman sent after the spies.]]

'''Jeff:''' There's no such thing as Single-Malt-Platinum-Boobs-And-Billards Club?! ''[realizes]'' Oh. I guess I never said it out loud.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. In "The Cage", the crew of Enterprise discover the survivors of another Starfleet vessel, heroically surviving in {{Robinsonade}}-style, yet all in perfect health. Then their captain is LuredIntoATrap and these survivors all vanish into thin air, as they are a telepathic illusion created by the inhabitants of the planet as TheBait.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Hope and Fear," our heroes meet an alien {{Omniglot}} who helps them decode a message they received from Starfleet several episodes earlier, and it directs them to a new starship with a quantum slipstream drive that can get them across the galaxy in three months. Janeway starts to get a GutFeeling that this is just too perfect--and she's right. The alien wants to use the ship to capture the crew and feed them to the Borg.
** In "Bliss," Seven returns from a mission to find the crew excited at a wormhole that can take them right to Earth. Seven checks the logs where Janeway's initial doubts are replaced by whole-hearted acceptance. She then sees how the crew are getting messages via the wormhole from Starfleet which include such items as Janeway's ex-fiancee being single, Chakotay and the Maquis getting pardons, Neelix made an ambassador and others offered terrific jobs. It turns out the "wormhole" is a massive alien creature sending out telepathic signals to lure ships into itself to feast upon.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': After saving [[spoiler: [[IntrepidReporter Vicki Vale]]]] from Joker's thugs, [[TheJeeves Alfred]] contacts Batman with some good news in that Lucius Fox has found and identified the cure to his current affliction and gives him the coordinates to find and use it. When Batman knocks out the thugs nearby the pod-container, he uses it and it might have worked... [[spoiler: only to fall unconscious moments later. Turns out it was a trap set by the [[TheMadHatter Mad Hatter]] AKA Jervis Tetch, a man with a '''MAJOR''' penchant for both [[MindControlDevice mind-controlling hat-wear]] and the [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice in Wonderland]] fairy tale. Batman gets out of the miniature mess by literally fighting his way out of the surreal clock-falling landscape with enough hits to Mad Hatter, concluding with crushing his main mind-control hat underfoot and then delivering a knock-out punch that ensures the Mad Hatter stays down for good.]]

* At the beginning of the VideoGame/NancyDrew game ''Secret of the Scarlet Hand'', Nancy asks how the Beech Hill Museum was able to acquire a priceless Mayan artifact. The curator waves it off, saying that art dealer Taylor Sinclair is "a wizard when it comes to these deals." [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to the museum, Taylor's "wizardry" involves forging provenance documents and outright stealing those priceless artifacts.]]

* PlayedWith in the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "The Vacation Goo." Francine finds out that every family vacation was just a simulation Stan created, and she demands that he take the family on a real vacation. He actually does take the family on a cruise ship, but Francine becomes convinced it's fake after seeing several unlikely sights, including Stan and Hayley getting along, Steve hooking up with an attractive woman, and Roger being on the ship (he wasn't invited, but one of his personas got a job there). Some of these are real, though some are just them trying to act cheerful to make her happy.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Touma gets ''extremely'' suspicious when he wins a lottery prize for an all-expenses-paid vacation in Italy for two. Given his [[TheJinx legendarily bad luck]], he thinks this could only be happening if everything is going to go horribly wrong. Which, of course, it does.
* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': As part of Kururi getting IdentityAmnesia, while visiting the capital, he runs into Iris, who yells at him angrily (this having been because Iris had a dream where Kururi was running away from her). And so Kururi runs and hides like a fugitive, thinking from Iris' reaction that he must have done something evil or perverted to her in the past. Wanted posters are left out for Kururi assuring that they mean him no harm, but Kururi thinks it's a trick meant to kill him.

** ''Manga/PhantomBlood'': Johnathan grows concerned as Dio begins showing acts of respect towards him over the years despite the early animosity, and upon finding a letter indicating Dio poisoned his father, realize he's now doing the same to George.
** ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'': Josuke voices his doubts to Okuyasu about how all the meals from Antonio causes bizarre effects to heal his body. Subverted in that while Antonio is a Stand User, he's really a benevolent chef.
** ''Manga/GoldenWind'': As the group is about to take off in a private plane, another of Diavolo's elite guard, Carne, arrives to kill them. Mista immediately guns him down with ease, but Giorno feels that something is amiss considering how quickly things subsided. Giorno's suspicions come true when it turns out killing Carne [[DeathActivatedSuperpower activated]] his Stand and its now roaming the plane to consume them.
** ''Manga/StoneOcean'': After supposedly defeating Johngalli A, Jolyne begins noticing how several events during the battle were just too off. Her handcuffs suddenly vanishing, finding a hidden passageway, and [[Manga/StardustCrusaders Jotaro]]'s injuries immediately healing clued Jolyne that she's actually trapped in an illusion conjured by Pucci's Whitesnake.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': The help Leon offers to his fellow poor noble boys in the Academy earns this reaction.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Usually from Akira's VirtualSidekick Alpha.

** When the high strung villainess Chloe desperately tries to butter up Akira, she sends him an email sounding way too generous, which makes Alpha send a copy paste reply like she does to any other {{Spammer}}. This results in a sleepless Chloe tracking down Akira in hysterics.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Leap of Faith", Applejack says that line after her grandmother buys Film and Flam's tonic.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': "Edge of The World" starts with King, Eda, Luz, and Hooty welcoming King's father and his two younger siblings to the Owl House. King eventually realizes it's a dream because it's Too Good To Be True.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!" this is how Candace finds out that [[spoiler:the events of the episode are AllJustADream -- she realizes that things are getting too good to be true when Jeremy proposes to her]].

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' movie, Agent Smith gives a HannibalLecture about how this trope thwarted the machines' earliest efforts to build a Matrix that was intended to be a utopian Heaven-on-Earth for humanity because humanity just wasn't buying it: "It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire [[LivingBattery crops]] were lost." He speculates that this distrust for perfection is inborn.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toogood.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Double fantasy!!]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' when the Coachman takes Pinocchio and the other boys to PleasureIsland, Jiminy Cricket walks around observing the place which seems to be a child's paradise: you can eat whatever you want, play carnival games and go on rides, smoke and drink alcohol, and destroy the place, all without interference from authority figures. As he sees all this, Jiminy thinks "there's something phony about all this". He's right; Pleasure Island is a trap for unsuspecting boys who are encouraged to behave badly so they will transform into donkeys, and the Coachman can sell them into slavery.

-->'''Henry Gupta''': Bond's got a perfect record. He's crossed ever T, dotted every I...
-->'''Elliot Carver''': Which means?
-->'''Henry Gupta''': Government agent. I call it Gupta's Law of Creative Anomalies; if something looks too good to be true, it usually is.

* One of the first lessons a trapper learns in ''Literature/SixthOfTheDusk'' is that ''nothing'' comes easy on [[DeathWorld the islands]]. If something seems easy, it's a trap. The same goes for [[spoiler:the technology "left behind" by the Ones Above, which turns out to be an elaborate BatmanGambit]].

* In episode 3 of season 1 of ''Series/DeathInParadise'' all of the evidence points to one person. Naturally, Richard feels it's all too neat.

* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "The Polish Affaire", a man and woman who were lovers in the Balkans before the war are reunited when he escapes from a forced labor camp and hides out in her garden. It turns out that his choice of hiding place owes nothing to luck, nor even the fact that he was transferred to a labor camp so near her; the escape was stage-managed from the beginning, and not for either of their benefit.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In the episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]", Jeff says he can't stay long for Troy and Abed's housewarming party because he has an invitation to an awesome new club.
-->'''Jeff:''' Look at this place. It's like it was designed for me.\\
'''Abed:''' It was. I made that in Photoshop and mailed it to you a month ago so you'd keep tonight open on your calendar.\\
'''Jeff:''' There's no such thing as Single-Malt-Platinum-Boobs-And-Billards Club?! ''[realizes]'' Oh. I guess I never said it out loud.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E111PrintersDevil Printer's Devil]]", Douglas Winter, the editor of the failing newspaper ''The Dansburg Courier'', hires a new star reporter and linotype operator Mr. Smith, who manages to turn the paper's fortunes around in two weeks. It turns out that Mr. Smith is the Devil who [[DealWithTheDevil wants his immortal soul]].

* ''Series/SexLife'': When Billie first met Cooper, she was taken aback by how nice, perfect, clean-cut, and sweet he was to her. In her own words, she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and reveal something bad underneath. But it never happened, much to her surprise.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!" this is how Candace finds out that [[spoiler: the events of the episode are AllJustADream -- she realizes that things are getting too good to be true when Jeremy proposes to her]].

--> '''Applejack:''' When somepony's says something's too good to be true, it usually is.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Room for Ruby", Steven couldn't see Navy wanting to join the Crystal Gems and live on Earth after their past encounters, but it was PlayedForLaughs. Lapis doubted that Navy could immediately adjust to life on Earth with no problems, especially when Lapis still getting used to Earth is a major theme of the story. Both Steven and Lapis are shown to be right. Navy's betrayal wasn't a ForegoneConclusion.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ArchiesWeirdMysteries'' episode "Reggie or Not", Reggie states this after Veronica was ripped off for a designer dress at a low cost. This also turns out to be this episode's Aesop.
-->'''Reggie:''' Wake up and smell the rip off, Ronnie. If something sounds too good to be true, ''it is''!
* ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic'': [[spoiler:After the Season 2 finale, the Local Heroes find themselves as agents of the Planet Protection Group, working to stop supervillains from taking over the city with the Cosmic Stones scattered across the world. Jo and Papa G manage to pick up that the whole situation seems too idealized, and eventually find out that it is: When the Local Heroes were thrown into a portal by Fantos, he threw them into a LotusEaterMachine world where they won the fight against him and Erodius. On the fake Earth, Kid gets to live out all his fantasies where he fights supervillains from his comics, meets his favorite band and reunites with his dead parents.]]

-->'''Kathleen''': Come on, baby, you can trust me! You said it yourself, I'm...
-->'''Bob''': Too good to be true.

* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': As part of Kururi getting IdentityAmnesia, while visiting the capital, he runs into Iris, who yells at him angrily (this having been because Iris had a dream where Kururi was running away from her). And so Kururi runs and hides like a fugitive, thinking from Iris; reaction that he must have done something evil or perverted to her in the past. Wanted posters are left out for Kururi assuring that they mean him no harm, but Kururi thinks it's a trick meant to kill him.

* In ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', when Captain Smollet told Long John Silver and the crew to go ashore and take as long as they needed to get provisions, Polly Lobster noted that, since they had the TreasureMap, it was "giving the treasure to [them] on a silver platter!". Silver concurred, before adding "Never trust a silver platter". Sure enough, Smollet had been warned by Jim of Silver's planned mutiny and planned to set sail once the pirates were ashore. However, Silver took out an insurance policy - by shanghaiing Jim.

* In ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', when Captain Smollet told Long John Silver and the crew to go ashore and take as long as they needed to get provisions, Polly Lobster noted that, since they had the TreasureMap, it was "giving the treasure to [us] on a silver platter!". Silver concurred, before adding "Never trust a silver platter". Sure enough, Smollet had been warned by Jim of Silver's planned mutiny and planned to set sail once the pirates were ashore. However, Silver took out an insurance policy - by shanghaiing Jim.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': In the AlternateTimeline ''Marie Route''. Leon's ImpoverishedPatrician comrades, a fractious bunch, react like this to Marie offering to be TheMatchmaker for them to find them nice girls to marry. This is because it's LadyLand, and any of these poor nobles who doesn't find a wife [[ChristmasCake before 20]] is destined to be CannonFodder or worked like a slave as a HenPeckedHusband to a much older woman, and Marie's doing this for the ComicallySmallBribe of cafeteria pudding, when the poor nobles are used to RichBitch demands of expensive goods that [[UngratefulBastard get pawned the next day.]] They accept, and a RagTagBunchOfMisfits political faction forms starting there.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Return of Jafar}}'', Abis Mal is offered tons of treasures in exchange for using his third wish to set Jafar free from genie servitude. Initially, [[MoneyFetish Abis Mal is elated by all the treasure]]. But just as he's going to make the wish, Abis Mal remembers that Jafar has been a complete JackassGenie the entire time they've known each other. If Abis Mal sets Jafar free, what's stopping Jafar from making all his treasure disappear the moment he's loose? Indeed, right after Abis Mal asks this question, Jafar makes an ImpliedDeathThreat.

* In the first ''[[Film/TheMatrix Matrix]]'' movie, Agent Smith gives a HannibalLecture about how this trope thwarted the machines' earliest efforts to build a Matrix that was intended to be a utopian Heaven-on-Earth for humanity because humanity just wasn't buying it: "It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire [[LivingBattery crops]] were lost." He speculates that this distrust for perfection is inborn.

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* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Chemistry", Bruce Wayne (and a lot of Gotham's wealthy elite) have apparently found their perfect soulmates. Bruce Wayne realizes almost too late that these ideal mates everyone on the ship—including himself—has are just far too perfect in every way to be real. As Susan herself points out when he tells her that he should have realized a whirlwind romance like theirs was just too easy, "Love isn't supposed to be easy. Even I know that, and I'm a vegetable!"

* Kain Blueriver in ''Anime/LostUniverse'' gets offered a rather well-paid and seemingly easy job by Rail Claymore, but turns it down suspecting there's more to it than Rail is saying. After Rail spills the beans (he wants them to escort a key witness in a trial of a mob boss, [[HeKnowsTooMuch that is sure going to be targetted before the trial]]), Kain mentions that Rail could have fooled him had he offered half the sum he mentioned, but his grandma always told him [[GenreSavvy to watch out for deals that seem too good to be true.]] They end up having to take the job anyway because Millie signs the contract without asking.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'': This is one of many [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed character flaws]] present in Homura Akemi, as it is how [[spoiler:she realises the idealised Mitakihari was a LotusEaterMachine. Yes, even in an ideal world created ''by her own mind'' she cannot rest happily]].

* ''Literature/RunWithTheWind'' has the Kansei University dorm, the current residence of the main characters. It has lodging, meals and the rental price is relatively cheap. Sounds like a bargain, right? Unfortunately, it turns out the full name of the dorm is Kansei University ''Track and Field'' dorm. Being in the track team is ''obligatory'' for all tenants.