History PoorCommunicationKills / LiveActionTV

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', the whole human[=/=]Minbari war starts because of this, mostly because they don't know each-others language or cultural traditions.
** To Minbari, it is common courtesy to show all your weapons to other soldiers, so they can see that you have nothing hidden and mean no treachery. Which on a warship means opening all gunports ready but leaving the weapons powered down. The humans noticed the first part and mistook a power spike for powering up the weapons (also, the Minbari sensors had accidentally jammed the human jump drives and their stealth was keeping the human scanners from getting a clear reading that would have shown the weapons weren't powered up) and started firing in presumed self-defense, killing the Minbari's revered leader, resulting in them declaring holy war against the human race and making no attempt to communicate with the humans, neither to tell them the reason the Minbari were trying to kill them all nor to get any explanation for the humans' actions. Ironically, Dukhat, the Minbari leader, had ordered to close the gunports to avoid this in the exact same moment the human commander ordered to open fire.

*** Later, Sheridan is sent to meet a friend of Delenn's who wants to open a back-channel of communications between humans and Minbari hosted by G'Kar. Unfortunately, Londo assumes that the Narns are scheming against the Centauri and sends a warship to attack the meeting. Sheridan, Franklin and G'Kar are the only survivors.

*** Speaking of Angel, his turning into Angelus was a result of him experiencing a single moment of pure happiness, [[CurseEscapeClause which broke the curse]] that gave him a soul. The descendants of the Romani coven that cursed Angel sent Jenny Calendar to Sunnydale for the express purpose of keeping Angel and Buffy apart but did not tell her that Angel experiencing true happiness could cost him his soul. Buffy and Giles spend a significant amount of time angry at Jenny for her duplicity and the fact that all the pain and carnage caused by Angelus could have been avoided had they been warned about the possibility of Angel losing his soul. The Romani not telling Angel about his CurseEscapeClause right after he was cursed doesn't quite qualify as this trope, however, since at the time he was so tormented by his soul that he would have ''wanted'' to lose it regardless of the consequences (and even tried unsuccessfully to go back to his evil vampire family once, as we see in a flashback in Season 2 of ''Angel'').

*** Speaking of Angel, his turning into Angelus was a result of him experiencing a single moment of true happiness, [[CurseEscapeClause which broke the curse]] that gave him a soul. The descendants of the Romani coven that cursed Angel sent Jenny Calendar to Sunnydale for the express purpose of keeping Angel and Buffy apart but did not tell her that Angel experiencing true happiness could cost him soul. Buffy and Giles spend a significant amount of time angry at Jenny for her duplicity and the fact that all the pain and carnage caused by Angelus could have been avoided had they been warned about the possibility of Angel losing his soul.
** In Season Six, Riley neglects to tell Buffy he needs the demon he's just sent her after captured alive. His new wife criticizes him for it.

** It is revealed in the Season 7 finale that [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark really do fell in love with each other and secretly married in Dorne. While it did disproved the fact about Lyanna being kidnapped and raped by Rhaegar and confirmed that Jon Snow (or Aegon Targaryen) is the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, [[LoveRuinsTheRealm the whole love affair still led to a civil war]] that affected several houses for a long run. Had Lyanna or Rhaegar told their families about it instead of running away together and eloping somewhere else, many deaths could have been prevented]].
** Tywin taught Tommen that a wise king listens to his advisers, however, Cersei and the small council made no effort to advise him on running the kingdom and refused to make him a part of their plans and affairs. So when Tommen attempted to confront the High Sparrow on his own, he found himself swayed by his charm and his platitudes and ended up allying the Crown with the Faith Militant. Now under the High Sparrow's guidance, Tommen makes new acts and decrees without consulting his mother or the small council.
** Curiously [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in series 8. [[spoiler: While other issues contributed as well Daenerys' SanitySlippage is in part caused by increasing Paranoia as her advisors become aware of the secret of Jon's parentage and begin plotting against her.]]
* In ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'' Season 3 episode "45-Degree Angle", Dr. Shaun Murphy, the autistic protagonist, leads his first solo surgery and asks one of the nurses to hand him an instrument, but when the nurse hands him the requested instrument at the incorrect angle, he kicks her out of the operating room. Dr. Lim then orders Shaun to apologize to the nurse, which Shaun is hesitant to do, then tells him that he didn't do things right himself and that he needs to "make this right" without clariyfing to him exactly what she means. So instead, [[LiteralMinded Shaun]] approaches the nurse while she's having lunch and tries to show her what she did wrong and how to hand him the instrument the correct way, which leads the nurse to storm off and later file a compliant against him, and Lim to sternly tell him off for not apologizing, even threatening to fire him if the incident or anything else of the kind happens again, and it's only ''at that moment'' that she gives him the information he needed earlier.
* This is what kicks off the entire mess of ''Series/GoodOmens''. The pregnant wife of an American diplomat is about to give birth in a convent where the nuns (working for Hell), plan to swap her child for the Antichrist that Crowley is going to deliver so he grows up in an influential political family as the first step to Armageddon. But then a couple called the Youngs show up, the wife also in labor and things get out of hand. When Crowley comes by, Mr. Young tells him "the birth" is happening in Room 3, meaning his wife but Crowley assumes that it's the American woman and takes the Antichrist to that room. Then, Sister Mary mistakes Mrs. Young for the diplomat's wife and makes the switch of that kid for the Antichrist. She and Sister Theresa then exchange winks which each totally mistake what the other is thinking and Mary not grasping she just gave the Antichrist to the wrong family. Then, some demons wipe out the entire convent before double-checking on things. Crowley and angel pal Aziraphale (not wanting the world to end) work together to try and keep the diplomat's son from going evil, unaware they're working on the wrong kid. Thus, these mistaken assumptions all pile up on each other and nearly end the entire world.
* Scores of examples on ''Series/GossipGirl'' with the characters just failing to make the logical connection of talking rather than jump to the wrong conclusions.
** The best example may be when Lilly visits Serena's school and hears some girls talk about how Serena has been having an affair with her teacher, Ben. Concerned, Lilly reports Ben to the school board, expecting them to just fire him and hush it up. Instead, they want Ben prosecuted for statutory rape. Wanting to spare Serena a trial, Lilly forges a statement from Serena on what Ben did and he goes to jail. This later causes Ben's sister, Juliet, to embark on a wild scheme of revenge on Serena that nearly ruins her. When Juliet snaps she's paying Serena back for ruining her brother, Serena cuts her off by saying she has no idea what Juliet is talking about. After Lilly is forced to confess what she did, Serena drops the bomb: The "rumors" were just that, Ben never laid a hand on her, despite her best efforts. Serena openly lampshades how Lilly didn't even bother ''asking her daughter'' if the rumors were true before destroying an innocent man's life.

* In ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel'', Paladin's business card can cause some confusion over his profession that can occasionally lead to rather unfortunate mix-ups. More often than not the confusion is resolved without anyone dying, but every now and then... This is actually what gets him started as a hero in the pilot, he was tricked into fighting a "notorious killer" who was actually also a good guy and ended up taking on the dead man's quest after learning the truth.

** In episodes 2.09 and 2.10; Mohinder utterly failed to tell Noah that he didn't need Claire, just a pint of blood to save a life and stop a plague rather than kidnap her. Instead he made it seem like he had done a FaceHeelTurn and was going after this BoyfriendBlockingDad's daughter and bringing about the season's TearJerker episode.
** Peter and Hiro ended up in a fight because neither was all too keen on examining why each was doing what they're doing by defending and attacking Adam respectively. And these are people who can ''[[TalkingIsAFreeAction stop time!]]'' Hiro and Peter could have had talked it out while sipping tea in Tokyo and come back with the whole thing handily resolved, were it not for "With great power [[DeusExitMachina goes]] all intelligence".

** In an scene written for the show a group of deserting British sailors (their ship's crew was besieging the Spanish) [[MeleeATrois captured by Dominican rebel slaves]] (ItMakesSenseInContext), and so the rebel commander rows out to the sailors' original ship, to bargain with the captain to leave the island in peace (with one of their sailors at gunpoint). The ships' Royal Marines train their weapons on the rebels, and the Captain is asked whether they should open fire. He replies with "Fire?", the others understand it as "Fire!" and [[ShootTheDog shoot the rebels and their hostage]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero declaring an outright war]] between the ship's crew and the rest of the rebels. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVo7OpOv__Y&feature=relmfu Seen here]].

** Several episodes actually are this trope. Any kind of small detail about the patient or their family members not revealed, generally ends with the patient having at least one near death experience.
--->'''House:''' It's a basic truth of the human condition, that everybody lies. The only variable is about what. The weird thing about telling someone they're dying is that, it tends to focus their priorities. Find out what matters to them.

* When, towards the end of the first season of ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', the dying king Viserys gets a dose of pain relieving drugs, he starts answering a question his daughter asked him hours ago. He says that he really does believe in the dream of the first Targaryan emperor Aegon, the Song of Ice and Fire, and that he wants her to take charge after he's death. Unfortunately, in his drugged state he doesn't realize he's saying this to his new wife, with whom he had a son they also named Aegon. Not knowing about the original question, she takes this to mean the king wants to change his desired heir from his daughter to their son. And since the king dies that night, the queen reluctantly starts a bloody succession dispute, believing she is enacting her husband's dying wish.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': There's an episode where Barney runs the New York City marathon without any prior training. He finally feels the effects while riding the subway a little later: his legs lock up and he can't stand. Eventually, a pregnant woman, an old lady and a little boy in crutches enter the crowded train and ask for his seat. Instead of just explaining that his legs don't work, he simply mutters, "I'm sorry. I can't." Now, New York being New York, it's possible no one would have believed him, but the explanation would have been better than the vague thing he actually did say.
* In the ''Series/{{Intelligence|2014}}'' episode "Delta Force", Gabriel's old Delta Force friend Norris committed a series of political assassinations because [[spoiler:his CIA handler somehow misinterpreted a very terse message from D.C. saying that the U.S. was in favor of Bolivian presidential candidate Javier Leon as "eliminate Javier Leon's competition"]].

*** ''[[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]'' all had near-identical situations: a member of the secondary cast[[note]]Ryo Ashihara[=/=]Gills, Yuji Kiba[=/=]Horse Orphenoch, and Keisuke Nago[=/=]IXA, respectively[[/note]] is friends with the main character while wrongly thinking that their Rider identity is evil because of some crime or deed[[note]]Ashihara believes Agito killed the woman he loved, Yuji believes Faiz is a pawn for Smart Brain, and Nago believes Kiva is an OmnicidalManiac[[/note]]. The protagonist never thinks to reveal his identity in order to defuse the situation, which lets the tension build. In the end, [[spoiler:everything is resolved peacefully when the secondary character learns the hero's identity by accident, since he knows that the hero is a good person and therefore realizes that his hatred of their Rider identity was misplaced.]]
*** There are a couple of minor tweaks to this formula. In ''Agito'', Ashihara arrived only after Shouichi had just destroyed the MonsterOfTheWeek that really killed his girlfriend, so all he saw was Agito with her. It wasn't really hard for him to believe the truth later on, since it makes more sense than Shouichi of all people killing her. In ''Faiz'', it's the fact that the Rider Belts get passed around like Halloween candy, and one character actively uses the Faiz Gear to try and sow discord because he hates both Takumi and Kiba. This particular part even results in Takumi letting Kiba have the Faiz Gear for a couple of episodes. ''Kiva'' had an incident where Wataru half-admits it (Nago asks "Where did Kiva go?!" and Wataru wordlessly points at himself), but Nago just brushes it off as a bad joke; [[spoiler:also, it's later revealed that there the Kiva who was active in the 1980s really was an OmnicidalManiac (and Wataru is his RedeemingReplacement), so Nago's suspicions weren't completely unfounded]].

* ''Series/Numb3rs'': Present in David's bad neighborhood backstory: he was so convinced that his HotBlooded friend Ben Ellis was the one that started a fight that got Earl Day, the third member of their ThreeAmigos, shot that he never visited Ben in prison, which means he never learned that the normally calm Earl had confronted a guy who was messing with his girlfriend, and the guy [[DisproportionateRetribution responded by shooting him]], but Ben took a plea bargain because he knew no would believe him. David only learns it when his and Ben's paths cross in "Contenders", and they eventually make peace.

** The best example may be when Lilly visits Serena's school and hears some girls talk about how Serena has been having an affair with her teacher, Ben. Concerned, Lilly reports Ben to the school board, expecting them to just fire him and hush it up. Instead, they want Ben prosecuted for statutory rape. Wanting to spare Serena a trial, Lilly forges a statement from Serena on what Ben did and he goes to jail. This later causes Ben's sister, Juliet, to embark on a wild scheme of revenge on Serena that nearly ruins her. When Juliet snaps she's paying Serena back for ruining her brother, Serena cuts her off by saying she has no idea what Juliet is talking about. After Lilly is forced to confess what she did, Serena drops the bomb: The "rumors" were just that, Ben never laid a hand on her. Serena openly lampshades how Lilly didn't even bother asking her daughter if the rumors were true before destroying an innocent man's life.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': This was what lead to the murder in in "Cloudy... with a Chance of Improvement". The killer was a news show host whose marriage was on the rocks. He believed his wife was having an affair with his co-worker due to her suspicious behavior. In reality, his wife was attending meetings with a marriage counselor which she didn't tell her husband about and by the time he discovered this it was too late.

** In episodes 2.09 and 2.10; Mohinder utterly failed to tell OverprotectiveDad Noah that he didn't need Claire, just a pint of blood to save a life and stop a plague rather than kidnap her. Instead he made it seem like he had done a FaceHeelTurn and was going after this OverprotectiveDad's daughter and bringing about the season's TearJerker episode.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Daphne and Simon won't fight and remain hostile for over the course of 2 episodes if only Simon were honest to Daphne from the beginning about [[spoiler:his wish to never have children and the reason behind it]] and Lady Bridgerton gave enough informations about how the children are conceived.

* In ''Series/{{UFO}}'', one episode has Foster being saved by an alien after he's injured. However, the explosion in which he was hurt also destroyed his communication device. He and the alien manage just fine, communicating with gestures, but once he's rescued, things don't work too well. Foster tries to tell his rescuers to save the alien, but they can't hear him. Finally, one of them gets the idea of pressing the faceplate of his spacesuit to Foster's. Foster tells him, "There's an alien. Help him - he's a friend." Unfortunately, the only word that gets through is "alien". They figure he's been attacked and shoot the alien, while Foster can't tell them to stop.

** M.M.'s family life falls apart because his wife dumps him to prevent him from endangering their daughter with his job, and he spends most of Season 3 butting heads with TheExsNewJerkass Todd who's a die-hard Homelander fan and takes M.M's daughter to his rallies. Despite knowing how powerful [[EvilInc Vought]]'s stranglehold on pop culture is, M.M. makes no effort to show Todd any of the evidence they have on Homelander to protect his daughter from his influence and instead just decks him, horrifying his daughter. M.M. later realizes he's being an idiot, and after a heart-to-heart with Frenchie resolves to be more open with his daughter.

** Rex gets aggravated by the tendency of Gwen and Jack to run off and try to handle things on their own instead of just asking for help. He lampshades this trope when Gwen receives a message through the special contact lenses that [[spoiler:her family is being held hostage until she brings them Jack.]] Given the fact that the bad guys could only see whatever Gwen could see or receive a transcript of what was said while Gwen was looking at someone, she could easily have told Rex and Esther (and, you know, Jack, before [[spoiler:kidnapping him]] what was going on without tipping her hand.

* In the TV movie ''Film/TheUnexpectedMrsPolifax,'', the title character has been meddling in a CIA operation. CIA chief Carastiers tells his underling to convey a message to their man abroad to "take care" of her. The underling tells the agent that "she's sanctioned" and to take Polifax out. He tells his boss he conveyed the message and the agent will call "once it's done." At which point, Carastiers clarifies how he meant "take care of her" as in keeping a watch on her before putting her on a plane back home and his underling has just ordered the assassination of an innocent American senior citizen.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Daphne and Simon won't fight if only Simon were honest to Daphne about his [[spoiler: wish to never have children]] and Lady Bridgerton gave enough informations about how the children are conceived.