History SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome / LiveActionTV

** Clark hides his superpowers from Lana because he's afraid she won't accept him. This causes a the couple to reoeatdky break up due to a lackof honesty, and Lana even dates Lex because of it. Just like in real life, if you keep hiding the truth from your partner, it'll only lead to trouble in the end.
** When Lana decides to leave Lex, he blames her feelings for Clark. While that's partly true, Lana leaving Lex is more because Lex created problems between her and Clark and even hired a hypnotist to break them up. He manipulated Lana into thinking he's a good guy that Clark didn't trust, taking advantage of her vulnerable state. Lex then tricked her into a relationship and even faked a pregnancy to trap her into marriage by injecting hormones. Manipulating your partner like this will lead to a breakup and, in Lana's case, a huge grudge against Lex.

** Clark and Lana's relationship is like a rollercoaster ride. Clark hides his superpowers from Lana because he's afraid she won't accept him. This causes a lot of problems, and Lana even dates Lex because of it. Despite warnings from Clark's mom and Chloe about the importance of honesty in relationships, he keeps hiding the truth. Eventually, when Clark decides to be honest with Lana about his secret, she surprisingly accepts him without hesitation. It shows that Clark's fear of rejection was unfounded. Just like in real life, if you keep hiding the truth from your partner, it'll only lead to trouble in the end.
** When Lana decides to leave Lex, he blames her feelings for Clark. While that's partly true, Lana leaving Lex is more because Lex created problems between her and Clark and even hired a hypnotist to break them up. He manipulated Lana into thinking he's a good guy that Clark didn't trust, taking advantage of her vulnerable state. Lex then tricked her into a relationship and even faked a pregnancy to trap her into marriage by injecting hormones. Manipulating your partner like this leads to breakups and, in Lana's case, a huge grudge against Lex.
** While Lionel Luthor sees Clark as a surrogate son and ally, he remains a manipulative figure whose actions, supposedly for the greater good, often bring emotional and physical harm to Clark. However, reality shows that hurting your ally in such ways is bound to erode trust. Lionel does this by forcing Lana to marry Lex and even kidnapping Clark, trapping him in a Kryptonite cage. Such actions naturally cause Clark to lose faith in Lionel.

** Clark and Lana's relationship has multiple false starts and break ups due to Clark's constant refusal to be honest with Lana about his secret of being a superpowered alien and fear she will reject him. This predictably drives a constant wedge between them and results in Lana beginning a relationship with Lex while on the rebound from Clark. Clark's own mother and Chloe call him out on this repeatedly as dishonesty in a relationship will result in that relationship inevitably breaking down. When Clark is finally honest with Lana. She immediately accepts him, proving his fear of her rejecting him was AllForNothing.
** When Lana announces she is leaving Lex, he blames this on her feelings for Clark. While there is some truth to this, Lana leaving Lex is more a result of Lex putting seeds of discord between her and Clark and then hiring a hypnotist to split them up. He then manipulated and brainwashed Lana into believing that he is a good misunderstood man that Clark never trusted just as he did with her. Taking advantage of Lana's vulnerable state that he caused, Lex manipulated her into pursuing a relationship with him. Then successfully faked a pregnancy by having Lana injected with hormones to trap her into marriage. Manipulating your partner in such a horrific way, will lead to your partner breaking up with you and in Lana's case having a massive grudge against Lex.
** Although Lionel Luthor becomes Clark's ally and views Clark as LikeASonToMe, he still continues to be a ManipulativeBastard whose actions for the GreaterGood cause Clark emotional and physical pain. Reality Ensues, as hurting your ally in such ways is predictably going to cause him to lose faith in you, which Lionel does by forcing Lana to marry Lex and kidnapping Clark and having him put in a Kryptonite cage.

** Clark and Lana's relationship has multiple false starts and break ups due to Clark's constant refusal to be honest with Lana about his secret of being a superpowered alien and fear she will reject him. This predictably drives a constant wedge between him and Lana and results in Lana beginning a relationship with Lex while on the rebound from Clark which has disastrous consequences. Clark's own mother and Chloe call him out on this repeatedly as dishonesty in a relationship will result in that relationship inevitably breaking down. When Clark is finally honest with Lana. She immediately accepts him, proving his fear of her rejecting him was AllForNothing.

** Clark and Lana's relationship has multiple false starts and break ups due to Clark's constant refusal to be honest with Lana about his secret of being a superpowered alien and fear she will reject him. This predictably drives a constant wedge between him and Lana and results in Lana beginning a relationship with Lex while on the rebound from Clark which has disastrous consequences. Clark's own mother and Chloe call him out on this repeatedly. When Clark is finally honest with Lana. She immediately accepts him, proving his fear of her rejecting him was AllForNothing.
** When Lana announces she is leaving Lex, he blames this on her feelings for Clark. While there is some truth to this, Lana leaving Lex is more a result of Lex putting seeds of discord between Clark and Lana and then hiring a hypnotist to split them up. He then manipulated and brainwashed Lana into believing that he is a good misunderstood man that Clark never trusted just as he did with her. Taking advantage of Lana's vulnerable state that he caused, Lex manipulated her into pursuing a relationship with him. Then successfully faked a pregnancy by having Lana injected with hormones to trap her into marriage. All of which understandable causes Lana to break up and develop a deep hatred for Lex.

** Clark and Lana relationship has multiple false starts and break ups due to Clark's constant refusal to be honest with Lana about his secret of being a superpowered alien and fear she will reject him. This predictably drives a constant wedge between him and Lana and results in Lana beginning a relationship with Lex while on the rebound from Clark which has disastrous consequences. Clark's own mother and Chloe call him out on this repeatedly. When Clark is finally honest with Lana. She immediately accepts him, proving his fear of her rejecting him was AllForNothing.
** When Lana announces she is leaving Lex, he blames this on her feelings for Clark. While there is some truth to this, Lana leaving Lex is more a result of Lex putting seeds of discord between Clark and Lana and then hiring a hypnotist to split them up. He then manipulates and brainwashed Lana into believing that he is a good misunderstood man that Clark never trusted just as he did with her. Taking advantage of Lana's vulnerable state that he caused, Lex manipulated her into pursuing a relationship with him. Then successfully faked a pregnancy by having Lana injected with hormones to trap her into marriage. All of which understandable causes Lana to break up with Lex and develop a deep hatred for him.
** Although Lionel Luthor eventually becomes Clark's ally and views Clark as LikeASonToMe, he still continues to be a ManipulativeBastard despite being on the good side. The worst cases of this are forcing Lana to marry Lex and kidnapping Clark and having him put in a Kryptonite cell. All of these actions result in Clark losing faith in Lionel and rejecting him at the worst possible time.

** Although Lionel Luthor eventually becomes Clark's ally and views Clark as LikeASonToMe, he still continues to be a ManipulativeBastard. The worst cases of this are forcing Lana to marry Lex and kidnapping Clark and having him put in a Kryptonite cell. All of these actions result in the Clark and his allies losing faith in Lionel and rejecting him at the worst possible time.

** Clark and Lana relationship has multiple false starts and break ups due to Clark's constant refusal to be honest with Lana about his secret and fear she will reject him. This predictably drives a constant wedge between him and Lana and leads Lana beginning a relationship with Lex while on the rebound from Clark which has disastrous consequences, Clarks own mother and Chloe call him out on this and when he is honest with Lana. She immediately accepts him, proving his fear of her rejecting him which was his excuse for not telling Lana the truth was AllForNothing.
** When Lana announces she is leaving Lex, he blames Lana leaving him on her feelings for Clark. While there is some truth to this, Lana leaving Lex is more a result of Lex putting seeds of discord between Clark and Lana and then hiring a hypnotist to split them up. He then manipulates and brainwashed Lana into believing that he is a good misunderstood man that Clark never trusted just as he did with her. Taking advantage of Lana's vulnerable state that he caused, Lex is able to manipulate her into pursuing a relationship with him. Then he successfully faked a pregnancy by having Lana injected with hormones to trap her into marriage, which understandable causes Lana to break up with Lex and develop a deep hatred for uim.

** ''Series/PowerRangers'': In "A Blue Streak", Lucas takes Wes's sports car out for a spin, but is pulled over and ticketed by the police, who don't accept his driver's license from the future, thinking it's a fake, and he's ordered to attend a driving school so that he can acquire a driver's license in the present-day.

** In ''[[Series/PowerRangersMysticForce Mystic Force]]'', most of the Ranger team works at the same store so when they have to go fight a monster it's left for the owner/manager to run by himself. To cover their constant disappearances, he ends up hiring one of the Ranger's former enemies to pick up the slack which leads to tension in the workplace.
** In ''[[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers Beast Morphers]]'' Commander Shaw discovers that one of her employees has blackmailed one of the Rangers into a position where she could sabotage another Ranger in an attempt to take his job as head of the science division. She immediately fires the employee and has her removed from the premises.

** Throughout the series as a whole, it's shown (her best friend Ann point blank says it) Leslie is depicted as a "steamroller" someone who only hears what she wants to hear, and ignores any criticism. At one point, she is narrowly elected to the City Council -- she wins by a single digit quantity of votes. She immediately goes about fighting for what she believes in (very loudly), pushing legislation she believes in, and ignores criticism from the townspeople, claiming she "knows better". She constantly fought her fellow council members and ignored voters. This is all very fun and charming for viewers, who, of course, are already rooting for Leslie. But she ends up getting recalled after a well-funded campaign targets her as a result of her actions. The fact is, in politics, you have to make allies and get along with your constituents. If you believe so strongly in your beliefs that you push forward in the face of extreme resistance from powerful special interests and advocate for legislation that is wildly unpopular with voters, that's fine, but there are going to be consequences -- no politician can survive long while living on the wrong side of public opinion. Ron even reveals to Leslie that he tried to have her fired ''four times'' because she either ignored his orders or went behind his back to do whatever she wanted. Although Leslie is [[HypercompetentSidekick highly competent in her field]], Ron was still her boss and Leslie's actions were textbook insubordination.

** In a later episode [[CrazySurvivalist Ron]], who has recently gotten married, decides to go completely off the grid when he starts receiving junk mail at his wife's address. He spends the episode erasing every trace of himself, only for his wife to furiously track him down and tear into him for destroying his cellphone and making himself unreachable when she had a flat tyre and was stranded for hours at the side of the road. She tells him that he can't just vanish every time he gets paranoid, especially since Ron is now her daughter's stepfather and they have a baby on the way.

** Throughout the series as a whole, it's shown (her best friend Ann point blank says it) Leslie is depicted as a "steamroller" someone who only hears what she wants to hear, and ignores any criticism. At one point, she is NARROWLY elected to the City Council. She IMMEDIATELY goes about fighting for what she believes in (very loudly), pushing legislation she believes in, and ignores criticism from the townspeople, claiming she "knows better". She constantly fought her fellow council members and ignored voters. In any other show, her legislation would be a success and the people would thank her? Nope. What happens? She gets recalled. The fact is, in politics, you have to make allies and get along with your constituents, and, shockingly, LISTEN TO VOTERS! Ron even reveals to Leslie that he tried to have her fired ''four times'' because she either ignored his orders or went behind his back to do whatever she wanted. Although Leslie is [[HypercompetentSidekick highly competent in her field]], Ron was still her boss and Leslie's actions were textbook insubordination.

* ''Series/TheWire'': In the episode "Model Kombat" of ''{{Series/Workaholics}}'', Blake and Adam are about to fight. Adam throws ashes into Blake's face, blinding him, but Blake prepares to fight anyway, in a ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'', complete with flashback from wise advice from a blind man. Of course, Blake misses Adam by a mile and hits Jillian in the face, giving her a nosebleed.

** Teenagers Robin Scorpio and Stone Cates consummate their relationship. However, Stone is soon diagnosed with AIDS. Despite pleas from viewers, Robin also tests positive for HIV. Writers understood the ramifications of having a legendary, beloved character who the viewers had watched grow up have a potentially fatal disease, but any other diagnosis would have been irresponsible and unrealistic--Robin and Stone had unprotected sex numerous times (she was a virgin, he had previously tested negative, so they were only using the Pill for contraception). The odds of her not contracting HIV were unlikely.

** Mike, whose parents were killed by a drunk driver, represents a kid who killed a man in a hit and run. As there are extenuating circumstances he's able to get his client a plea deal for a reuced charge and community service, but as soon as the guy signs the deal he reveals that he was high when he hit the guy. Mike secrelty tells this to the prosecutor, hoping she'll throw out the deal and send his client to prison, but she refuses and enters the plea deal. When Mike confronts her she tells him that by telling her his client was igh he broke privilege and she couldn't act on that information even if she wanted to.

** Throughout the series as a whole, it’s shown (her best friend Ann point blank says it) Leslie is depicted as a “steamroller” someone who only hears what she wants to hear, and ignores any and all criticism. At one point, she is NARROWLY elected to the City Council. She IMMEDIATELY goes about fighting for what she believes in (very loudly), pushing legislation she believes in, and ignores criticism from the townspeople, claiming she “knows better”. She constantly fought her fellow council members and ignored voters. In any other show, her legislation would be a success and the people would thank her? Nope. What happens? She gets recalled. The fact is, in politics, you have to make allies and get along with your constituents, and, shockingly, LISTEN TO VOTERS! Ron even reveals to Leslie that he tried to have her fired ''four times'' because she either ignored his orders or went behind his back to do whatever she wanted. Regardless of their philosophical differences on the role of government and Leslie being a HypercompetentSidekick, Ron was still the boss and Leslie's actions were textbook insubordination.

* ''Series/{{Wednesday}}: The series's opening scene features the title character siccing a school of piranhas on her brother's bullies, injuring at least one of them, in a scene that is 100% BlackComedy. The very next scene reveals that the boy was maimed as a result, forcing Gomez and Morticia to pull their daughter from school, as his parents had threatened to press attempted murder charges.

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'':
** It turns out that when you take an emotionally traumatized human child who's just seen her parents murdered by Klingons, and then have her raised by Vulcans who suppress all emotions, it leaves her completely incapable of processing emotions in a healthy way, and prone to irrational behavior when Klingons suddenly appear.
** Similarly, modifying a person of one species to be able to flawlessly impersonate a member of another, even to medical scans, is depicted as highly damaging to the person and very much non-reversible, accounting for why less invasive cosmetic methods are used in series set later.
** Despite the amazing potential of the spore drive, its continued use would require repeated genetic engineering of sentient beings, something that Starfleet and the Federation are highly biased against. Rather than using it as a learning moment to move past their biases, they choose to cover up the existence of the drive and look for other technologies.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** In the series premiere, Picard goes off on live television about Starfleet's failure to follow through on rescuing the Romulans from the supernova of their star. When a couple days later he goes to Starfleet Command to ask that they give him a ship for a personal mission, he gets called out for "sheer fucking hubris" and reminded that Starfleet had problems both logistical and political that made continuing the rescue effectively impossible.