History MoralEventHorizon / LiveActionTv

** They did follow up on it. Apparently, Nikita spent quite a while choosing that target, making sure it was someone Division wanted dead that was also a bad person.

*** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]] on whether Damon got better. In more recent episodes, we've seen him killing an innocent bystander who stopped her car to see if he was okay, and we've also seen him [[RapeIsOKWhenItIsSciFi compelling Andi into having a sexual relationship]].

*** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]] on whether Damon got better. Just when this troper thought that Damon was indeed getting better...he ended up killing an innocent bystander because he was having some sort of existential crisis. And then [[RapeIsOKWhenItIsSciFi he's been compelling a news reporter into having a sexual relationship with him]]. He has a long way to go before he 'gets better.'

** The producers purposely used this trope with the Man in Black, saying that they meant his [[spoiler:causing Sun, Jin and Sayid's deaths]] to mark him as irredeemably evil. ''Then'' the show offered his FreudianExcuse StartOfDarknesss flashback.

** Samuel Sullivan: Depending on whether or not you subscribe to AMillionIsAStatistic, he either crossed it when he destroyed an entire town in a sinkhole or when, to regain the carnival's leadership after this depraved act, he pretended to surrender himself to Noah Bennet, then had Eli shoot up the carnival, killing Lydia (the only other carnie who knew he killed Joseph) and framed Noah for the whole thing. Samuel on other occassions had sinkholed a police station and a mansion but the people there were sufficiently "demonized" that those were KickTheDog moments in contrast with the massacre of a town full of people.

* If Walter White of BreakingBad didn't cross the line from AntiHero to VillainProtagonist in the episode ''Phoenix'', where he [[spoiler: stood by and watched Jane slowly choke to death during her sleep.]], then he definitely crossed it in ''Full Measure'', where he [[spoiler:emotionally blackmails Jesse into murdering a harmless man in cold blood, to save his own skin.]].

* The two main tormentors of Seira in Japanese drama ShokojoSera, [[DeanBitterman Director]] Mimura Chieko and TheLibby Maria. Seeing how they are counterparts for Miss Minchin and Lavina in ALittlePrincess, it was no surprise. Having a huge inferior complex for Seira's deceased mother who she was classmates with, Mimura Chieko absolutely despises Seira for being [[LikeFatherLikeSon too much like her mother]] and often [[KickTheDog slaps her]] when Seira stands up to her when no one else does. She is brutally cold when telling Seira about her beloved father's death and does nothing to lessen the pain, letting Seira know right off the start that she could kick her out of the school (leaving the poor girl without any shelter or food) and does so eventually.

* In {{Sons of Anarchy}}, Jax Teller's attempt to create a permanent break with girlfriend Tara by [[spoiler: sleeping with porn starlet Ima]] served as a Moral Event Horizon for many. Regardless of his reasons or if he begs for forgiveness in the future, it's hard to believe Tara could ever forgive him. Too, while fans may be able to accept a Jax who kills people, runs guns and sometimes drugs and generally walks on the wrong side of the law, [[spoiler: blatant infidelity]] is an irredeemable act.
* In series 9 of {{Spooks}}, we've been treated to watching [[spoiler: Lucas']] life falling to pieces as he tries to keep his shady past a secret in the face of ever-increasing blackmail from [[spoiler: Vaughn]], but he crossed the Moral Event Horizon fully in episode 6 when he [[spoiler: hangs up a 999 call when Daniella lets slip she knows about Albany, sentencing her to bleed to death as he lies about the ambulances being on their way]].

* ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' is generally more concerned with redemption, though Rick even lampshades his own: "It's too late. I already shot someone."

* [[{{ptitleypuldya7}} Eddie [=McDowd=]]] almost did cross this in the pilot episode when he almost killed a dog ''by causing the car it was hiding to explode''.
* In the [[HoratioHornblower Horatio Hornblower]] mini-series, Jack Simpson crosses the line by trying to murder the titular character and another midshipman during a raid. He was [[CompleteMonster despicable]] before that, but shooting one of your shipmates in the head just after setting adrift the jollyboat that another one is lying unconscious in? That's just evil, even if they both survived. Especially as the latter case resulted in said shipmate being presumed dead by his friends, captured by the enemy, and imprisoned for what appears to be a couple of years.

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', while Spike had previously [[AMillionIsAStatistic killed hundreds of innocent people]] and tried to kill the main characters on several different occasions, it was his AttemptedRape of Buffy in "Seeing Red" that made a lot of people go, "[[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Okay, now]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he's irredeemable.]]" Even getting his soul back might have made things different in Buffy's eyes, if only a little bit, but it was hard for some viewers to accept.
** Of course, the fact that Buffy had herself gone and actually [[spoiler: raped ''Spike'' (successfully, make note)]] [[DoubleStandard meant]] [[RapeIsOkWhenItIsFemaleOnMale nothing]] to [[HumansAreBastards a lot of viewers]]...
*** This may be due to [[DisContinuity me wanting to forget everything past season 5]], but when was the sex between them ever non-consensual?
*** When Buffy was invisible in "Gone", she forced Spike into sex after he repeatedly declines as she'll only be with him when no one can see her (in this case literally). She then forces herself on him until he can't resist himself anymore. Even after he attempts to throw her out a SECOND TIME, she blows him, something Spike calls "cheating".
** This example is particularly interesting in that Spike himself saw it as a MoralEventHorizon; it made him realize that, without a soul, he was an amoral bastard who would hurt even someone he claimed to love. He didn't want to be a monster like that anymore; regaining his soul was his attempt to backpedal over that horizon, becoming a person with a conscience who would never hurt Buffy that way again.

*** Whenever a villain tortured a member of the Scoobie Gang, they tended to be seen as having gone just plain too far. Such as [[spoiler: when Angelus tortured Giles to get information]], and when in ''Angel'', [[spoiler: Faith tortured Wesley for ''no reason at all''. Bearing in mind that Angelus was an actual villain, whereas Faith was just an AntiHero...]]
*** Faith did what she did [[spoiler:to deliberately invoke the MoralEventHorizon and get Angel to kill her for her crimes. It didn't work since Angel had rather personal understanding of what she was going through, and instead spared her and gave her a chance of redemption.]]
**** The show, we should probably note, didn't actually show this event in a "crossing the moral event horizon" sort of way. Faith, in later seasons, comes back and is helpful to the team again. Even Wesley forgives her, sort of, eventually.
**** Speaking of which, Spike is treated as having crossed over. Well Faith [[RapeIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale tried to rape]] and kill Xander before having her head bashed in with a shovel. Dissonance much?
* On the ''JerrySpringer'' Show, Springer once had Neo-Nazis as guests, who were actually so offensive, the audience went full circle from boo-ing to absolute silence, and Springer, often composed during the oddball antics of some of his guests, himself told them to shut up, as well as telling August Kreis that he'd "like to beat the crap out of him".
** This is even more understandable when you realise that some of Springer's ancestors died in the Holocaust.

** Actually, considering the traitorous hand she had in [[StartOfDarkness making him the conscience-devoid killer he was,]] the motives are pretty plain if you look for them. His murder of her has elements of a HeelFaceDoorSlam, but it can be considered a very tragic one. And it may be justified in that she might well have eventually had the same death of trust and come after him for his own transgressions against her. To be fair, neither of them was right in the head. Factor in the hunger/paranoia his ability causes, and you can find at least as much justification for his insanity as hers. Neither one of them could have truly trusted the other, not for long, not after what happened between them. Thinking otherwise was foolish, and Sylar is the type to realize that first.

** In volume 3, after carefully toeing the line for two seasons, [[BadassNormal Noah Bennet]] fianlly crosses it. After having Sylar, who victimized Noah's daughter Claire, placed as his partner, Noah begins attempting to find ways to bump Sylar off. Enter Stephen Canfield, a repentant murderer with the ability to create vortexes, who was placed in Level Five and just wants to live a normal life, now that he's out. After having an entire episode devoted to him, where he desperately tries to avoid Bennet and reconnect with his estranged family, only to have them not show up for the meet, Bennet holds a gun to Stephen's head and orders him to kill Sylar with one of his vortexes, or he'll be imprisoned back in Level Five. With nothing left to live for and Claire begging Noah to stop, Stephen [[TakeAThirdOption takes the third option]] and commits suicide by throwing himself into his own vortex, dying rather than being forced to kill again. This incident finally destroys what little relationship was left between Noah and Claire- any and all interactions they have for the rest of the show's run range from awkwardly civil to downright hostile.

** Herc: [[spoiler:after being thrown off the force, abuses the goodwill of other police to get information for corrupt criminal attorney Maury Levy]].
*** Since the other officers were entirely aware of Herc's [[spoiler:new career]], YMMV on whether this really counts as crossing the MEH.

** Kenard [[spoiler:killing Omar.]]
*** [[spoiler: We all loved Omar, but let's be fair - he lived by the sword; he died by the sword. Kenard had no reason to spare him. Unless you argoing with that ANY murder crosses the MEH - which I wouldn't disagree with but would definitely make this trope page far too long.]]

** Clearly The Man in Black would have done, and did do, anything to complete his mission. Major spoilerage here... [[spoiler: Just the first stages, posing as Christian to convince Ben and then Locke to turn the wheel, thereby activating his timebomb, eventually resulted in the deaths of three main characters (Charlotte, Juliet and Faraday). And that was just the beginning.]]
*** The Man in Black's goal, [[spoiler: getting off the island]], doesn't seem so bad right? [[spoiler: But then multiple different characters mention that him getting off the island will result in the ''end of the world.'' It's unclear whether they mean he will personally kill all life, or if it is just some side effect of his exposure to the heart of the island. [[FridgeHorror But think about]]: that either means he is an OmnicidalManiac or he is so obessed with escaping the Island that he just doesn't care.]]

* In ''30Rock'':
** Jack Donaghue is something of an antagonist from the beginning, but his moral event horizon comes when Tracy Jordan tells him the grill he endorses is dangerous and injures people. Without missing a beat, Jack starts naming countries where he should sell it instead. At first Tracy seems to be on board with the idea, but later, we see Whoopi Goldberg in an infomercial. Tracy refused to sell the product, but Jack stuck with it despite the danger it posed.
** Liz Lemon has one when she is told she needs to cut some of her staff. She complains that the employees are like family and friends, but then finds out the guy she likes isn't as interested in his girlfriend any more. The girlfriend also works on the show, so Liz fires her. This is bit of character derailment and the first sign of evil in Liz, who was otherwise an upstanding person.

* In ''30Rock'', Jack Donaghue is something of an antagonist from the beginning, but his moral event horizon comes when Tracy Jordan tells him the grill he endorses is dangerous and injures people. Without missing a beat, Jack starts naming countries where he should sell it instead. At first Tracy seems to be on board with the idea, but later, we see Whoopi Goldberg in an infomercial. Tracy refused to sell the product, but Jack stuck with it despite the danger it posed.

* In ''30Rock'', Jack Donaghue is something of an antagonist from the beginning, but his moral event horizon comes when Tracy Jordan tells him the grill he endorses is dangerous and injures people. Without missing a beat, Jack starts naming countries where he should sell it instead. At first Tracy seems to be on board with the idea, but later, we see Whoopi Goldberg in an infomercial. Tracy refused to sell the product, but Jack stuck with it despite the danger it posed.

* In the ''VeronicaMars'' S2 finale, it is revealed [[spoiler: Cassidy]] blew up the bus at the beginning of the season. This could have been forgiven but then he blows up the plane where Papa Mars supposedly was and just in case that wasn't evil enough, in an spectacular WallBanger he is {{RetCon}}ned into being Veronica's rapist from S1.

* [[{{ptitleypuldya7}} Eddie [=McDowd=]]] almost did cross this in the pilot episode when he almost killed a dog ''by causing the car it was hiding to explode''.

* In season 3 of Ru Paul's Drag Race, [[PunnyName Mimi Imfurst]] left a bad taste in everyone's mouth because of her melodramatics, whininess, inability to sew, and lack of professionalism but hoisting up India Ferrah despite her screams to be put down during the lip synch definitely cemented her [[TheScrappy scrappy status.]]

* [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]]: In season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, [[PunnyName Mimi Imfurst]] left a bad taste in everyone's mouth because of her melodramatics, whininess, inability to sew, and lack of professionalism but hoisting up Delta Work definitely cemented her [[TheScrappy scrappy status.]]

* ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' is generally more concerned with redemption, though Rick even lampshades his own: "It's too late. I already shot someone."

* Morgana in ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' spent from a year away from Camelot in the company of her half-sister and returned as TheMole, having performed a FaceHeelTurn in the interim. Over the course of the third season, her plots to bring down her [[spoiler:father and half-brother]] have intensified in brutality, but it's not until ''Queen of Hearts'' that she crosses the line and ends up framing her servant and former best-friend Guinevere for witchcraft. Why? Because she had a dream that Gwen would one day become Queen of Camelot. Up until that point, fans were capable of some degree of sympathy for Morgana's WellIntentionedExtremist views, but after seeing her smiling to herself as a terrified Gwen is hauled away to be burnt at the stake, the general consensus became: "the bitch must die!"

* Morgana in ''{{Merlin}}'' spent from a year away from Camelot in the company of her half-sister and returned as TheMole, having performed a FaceHeelTurn in the interim. Over the course of the third season, her plots to bring down her [[spoiler:father and half-brother]] have intensified in brutality, but it's not until ''Queen of Hearts'' that she crosses the line and ends up framing her servant and former best-friend Guinevere for witchcraft. Why? Because she had a dream that Gwen would one day become Queen of Camelot. Up until that point, fans were capable of some degree of sympathy for Morgana's WellIntentionedExtremist views, but after seeing her smiling to herself as a terrified Gwen is hauled away to be burnt at the stake, the general consensus became: "the bitch must die!"

* In ''HowIMetYourMother'', it became nearly impossible to take Marshal's goofy behavior at face value after the episode where we see him yelling horrible abuse at a basketball team of kindergartners.
** Oh c'mon. That was both exaggerated and clearly played for laughs.

*** When Buffy was invisible in "Gone", she forced Spike into sex after he repeatedly declines as she'll only be with him when no one can see her (in this case literally). She then forces herself on him until he can't resist himself anymore. Even after he attempts to throw her out a SECOND TIME, she does something Spike calls "unfair".

*** [spoiler: We all loved Omar, but let's be fair - he lived by the sword; he died by the sword. Kenard had no reason to spare him. Unless you argoing with that ANY murder crosses the MEH - which I wouldn't disagree with but would definitely make this trope page far too long.]

* Quite a few people cross the line on [[TheWire The Wire]].