History PlayingWith / CombatPragmatist

* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': Alice is sold as a strong fighter because her drive to shoot first (oftentimes literally) borders on NoNonsenseNemesis... and then she gets kicked out of the TournamentArc because she jumped the gun and knocked out her opponent before the match officially started. The lesson to be learned is that there is one time and place for fighting "smart" and a different one for following every cliché in the fighting media book.

** "You cheated!" "You challenged me to a fight. You let me have the first punch. I knocked you out with that punch. I won." "[[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers Do not give me that 'in a real battle there are no rules' crap!]] It was a proper challenge, in a boxing ring, with a referee, with ''rules'' that we agreed on four days earlier! I punch you, you punch me, with heads and hands protected, no hits below the belt, first one to fall loses! [[EyeScream Blinding me with sulfuric acid]] is ''cheating''!"

** Even trickery in combat is a field in which there is AlwaysSomeoneBetter and Alice [[OutGambited will run into]] that [[AssassinOutclassin better trickster]] sooner or later.

** The episode spends twenty-nine minutes and fifty seconds following the summoning of the ghost of Bob Mann, [[WorldsStrongestMan the greatest warrior who ever lived]], and convincing him to go hurt Alice, who works for the IRS... followed by [[AntiClimax ten seconds]] of Alice [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroying Bob]] by tossing a cupful of hot coffee to his face and [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl hitting him with a folding chair]] before going back to eating her lunch.

** Karen decides not to play fair and shoots Alice. BigBad [[TheQueenpin Dahlia]], who sees Alice as a WorthyOpponent, has Karen killed and apologizes to Alice for her Dragon's lack of dueling etiquette.

** NoNonsenseNemesis

** "Well, [[SenseiForScoundrels Bob]], congratulations on teaching Alice 'how to win'.

** Alice is the DeliberatelyBadExample to Wynonna, who is a LawfulStupid StandardShonenHero but gets things done in the long term because she creates pacts between factions while Alice's murders and humiliations only reinforce the CycleOfRevenge.

* '''Enforced''': The writers originally wanted Alice and Karen to have a long, drawn out, climactic sword duel, but due to time and/or budget restrictions, they replaced it with a much shorter scene where Alice just shoots Karen.

** NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction

** "[[VirtueisaWeakness Since when]] has being [[HonorBeforeReason a paragon of honor]] ever worked out for anyone?"

** "Since when has being [[HonorBeforeReason a paragon of honor]] ever worked out for anyone?"

** Karen asks Jane to get Alice's children and stand by the sidelines with a shotgun to their head and then tells Alice that if she so much as ''thinks'' of playing dirty, Jane will kill the kids one by one as a "penalty" each time she breaks the rules.

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%%* '''Played For Horror''': ???

* '''Conversed''': Two characters watch the scene play out in a movie and discuss how practical Alice is.

** The episode spends twenty-nine minutes and fifty seconds following the summoning of the ghost of Bob Mann, [[WorldsStrongestMan the greatest warrior who ever lived]], and convincing him to go hurt Alice, who works for the IRS… followed by [[AntiClimax ten seconds]] of Alice [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroying Bob]] by tossing a cupful of hot coffee to his face and [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl hitting him with a folding chair]]. The people who summoned Bob are utterly flabbergasted at how easy their plan failed.