History TheAtoner / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Crossing", Mark Cassidy's girlfriend Kelly was killed in a car accident caused by his [[DrivesLikeCrazy reckless driving]] more than 20 years earlier. She was trapped inside the car after it went over a cliff but Mark was thrown clear. He could have possibly saved her but he was too afraid to try because of the flames. Mark was so guilt ridden that he became a priest in order to atone. Although he has spent two decades working on behalf of St. Timothy's Church and the wider community, he still feels as if he hasn't atoned for his sins.

* ''Series/{{Revenge}}'': Daniel Grayson.

** In "Nepenthe", Dr. Agnes Jurati deliberately injects herself with noranium hydride, a neurotoxin, in order to neutralize the viridium tracker she has in her system.

** [[FriendlyNeighbourhoodVampire Mitchell tries this]] and he ended up slipping too much due to his HorrorHunger, resulting in [[spoiler: murdering 20 people on a tube carriage]]. After trying to atone during the most of the next season, he realises he never will be able to overcome his blood addiction and [[spoiler: his best friend George stakes him to prevent him being used as an "attack dog" by the [[BigBad Old Ones]] in an extremely tearjerking moment]]

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': By the episode "Blood Money", it appears that [[spoiler:Jesse Pinkman]] has become one, as he tries to give away the millions of dollars in blood money. The Netflix Sequel film ''Film/{{El Camino}}'' however, illustrates with a short but [[BrutalHonesty poignant]] speech that the events he's become wrapped up in have spiralled so far out of control that its ultimately impossible for him to make any sort of amends for the crimes he's been involved with. By the end, however, [[spoiler: he is at least able to make peace with his parents and bid farewell to his friends and Brock.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Jesse]]:''' Alaska. Start over... start fresh.\\

'''[[spoiler: Jesse]]:''' Put things right.\\

** Spike throughout this show, since when The Initiative captures him. Aided in the process, at first by the fact that a chip in his head makes him [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain rather ineffective]] toward humans and later on with [[LoveRedeems deeper reasons]] adding to his motivation. He spends a lot of time undecided, going back and forth between good and evil, and the atoning results in the hell being beaten out of him fairly often. [[MoralEventHorizon At one point]] he decides he's [[AttemptedRape gone too far]] and after this [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone unsettling realization]] he just knows he wants to [[HeelFaceTurn change for real]]. [[Creator/JossWhedon As one should expect]], the package is complete with a tear-jerking [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]], because [[spoiler: he's [[TooCoolToLive too cool for this Earth to stand]]]].

** Andrew tries to become this in Season 7, after his attempt to play ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'' with Warren and Jonathan and take over Sunnydale [[{{Understatement}} went horribly, horribly wrong]] and [[spoiler: the first evil forces him to kill Jonathan]]. He means well, but has some trouble fitting in with the good guys due to his general social awkwardness.

* ''Series/ColdCase''. In the episode "Blood On The Tracks", the detectives learn that the VictimOfTheWeek wanted to be this regarding a crime he and his friends had been involved in a decade prior that resulted in another friend's death. Unfortunately, the rest of the group [[spoiler: and his wife]] weren't too keen on this and killed him to ensure his silence.

** Also O'Brien up to a point at least. After she [[spoiler: causes Cora's miscarriage]], she tones down her earlier nastiness a great deal.

** Sandor "The Hound" Clegane has been known to kill for the slightest reason. He runs down and kills Mycah, Arya's friend, and robs a devout father and his daughter who gave him hospitality, claiming that they would die in wintertime anyway. But after being beaten by lady Brienne and left for dead by Arya, he gained a new, if somewhat less cynical view on life, after being nursed by a band who worships the Seven Gods. [[spoiler: After they are murdered, and he avenges their deaths, he promises to only kill when he needs to, and when he and his companions stumble into the house he robbed, he buries the dead father and daughter. While he does his best to hide it, Thoros sees right through his facade when he's burying them.]]

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Sebastian Smythe, the main BigBad for the first half of the third season, shows signs of becoming this as of "On My Way" after [[spoiler: Karofsky's attempted suicide]].

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': A few characters, including [[BadassNormal Bennet]] and Nathan in season 2. And now, as of volume 5, [[spoiler: Sylar]]. [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor But we're skeptical on how long that'll last]]. And now [[ScrewedByTheNetwork we'll never know]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': [[spoiler: Gentoku]] spend the ten years prior to the story's start in a HatePlague-induced psychosis that made an originally kind, upstanding man into a paranoid sociopath. After the effects wore off by accident, he became immensely guilt-stricken and decided that since he is in so deep already, he might just as well keep on digging. When [[HeartbrokenBadass Ryuga]] and [[ShellShockedVeteran Kazumi]] came to ask for help, he initially refused because of what he did to [[PlayingWithSyringes them]], [[TheLostLenore directly]] or [[CivilWar not]]. Also, working together with them would imply he is not beyond saving, another thing he couldn't deal with. [[spoiler: They [[PowerOfFriendship won him]] over after some more convincing.]]

** When Galadriel meets Halbrand, he is running away from his past and genuinely seems to want to start anew in Numenor. Galadriel encourages him to follow his destiny and return to Middle-Earth. [[spoiler: He agrees, which is ironic, because he is her arch-enemy Sauron in disguise. It was her friendship that inspired him to try and regain power, and he sincerely does think of them ruling together as atonement for his past. Galadriel doesn't agree.]]

** Reese is also trying to atone for his years spent as a government assassin. His work caused him to abandon his girlfriend and later prevented him from [[spoiler: saving her from her abusive husband]].

* Several of them in ''Series/OnceUponATime'', most notably Regina, aka The Evil Queen, and Killian Jones, aka Captain Hook, both of whom had legitimately sympathetic backstories, and made a HeelFaceTurn due to [[LoveRedeems love]], then join the heroes to try and make up for their pasts. Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin was also a case of this in season 3 [[spoiler: until his own death, and painful resurrection, followed ''immediately'' by the death of his son drives him back to being a villain]].

* ''Series/TheOutpost'': Talon's mentor, The Smith, makes it clear that part of why he's training her is as a means of atonement for his own past sins. Specifically, [[spoiler: the part he played in the massacre of her people]].

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': As [[Recap/RevolutionS1E3NoQuarter episode 3]] reveals, [[spoiler: Miles Matheson did some pretty brutal stuff and was probably more brutal than Sebastian Monroe at first. He executes two men who he believed murdered some travelers despite Monroe's objections. He seems to regret some of his actions which led to his leaving the Republic and him assisting the rebels]]. In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E7TheChildrensCrusade Episode 7]], [[spoiler: Miles help in saving a group children from being "re-education" by the Monroe militia, because the town's parents were all killed back when Miles was in charge]]. As [[Recap/RevolutionS1E14TheNightTheLightsWentOutInGeorgia Episode 14]] reveals, [[spoiler: Miles had a protege named Alec Penner until he handed them over to Texas for failing to assassinate the Texan president]]. As [[Recap/RevolutionS1E17TheLongestDay Episode 17]] reveals in a flashback, [[spoiler: Miles is known as the Butcher of Baltimore, and that he supposedly tortured Rachel to death for tricking him]]. As the [[Recap/RevolutionS1E20TheDarkTower first season finale]] reveals, [[spoiler: when Monroe killed a rebel and his entire family for hurting Miles, Miles realized that Monroe had gone too far. He tried to kill off Monroe, but he couldn't do it. Subsequently, Miles and Nora Clayton left the Monroe Republic]].

** Tess Mercer's character arc for the tenth season is basically this. After a HeelFaceTurn at the end of season nine, she spends the beginning of season ten mostly staying out of the way, and the rest of the season as the new [[MissionControl Watchtower]], helping the good guys while clearly hoping that she can at least try to make up for the things she'd done before. [[spoiler: By the end of the season it also seems at times like she's trying to atone for her [[LongLostRelative surprise Luthor bloodline]]]].

** Teal'c wants very much to atone for his actions as the servant of the BigBad. This is especially true when he is put on trial for a killing he did as a {{Mook}}. Even though the trial is completely unfair, Teal'c refuses to escape and is determined to take the punishment as a way of making it up to one of his victims somehow. Fortunately, the Goa'uld attack the proceeding and Teal'c defends the innocents so wholeheartedly and that his accuser forgives him. Daniel Jackson, in defending Teal'c at the trial, practically has to pull teeth just to get Teal'c to admit '''''anything''''' in his own defense, such as why he chose an old crippled man when he was order to kill one of the crowd as an example (Teal'c knew that the people of the village could escape to tunnels when attacked by the Goa'uld but they wouldn't leave anyone behind, so he killed an old crippled man so the rest of the villagers could survive later.)

** John Winchester [[spoiler: trades his life for his son Dean's life, in part to atone for his failings as a father, which were legion. This backfires when Dean, who still idolizes his father, sells his soul to save Sam.]]
** Dean Winchester [[spoiler: spends what to him feels like 40 years in Hell between the 3rd and 4th Season, and after three decades of torture breaks and becomes an ExaltedTorturer himself. He later agrees to work with the angels to stop the apocalypse to atone for this.]]
** Sam Winchester [[spoiler: is manipulated by Ruby into killing Lilith. He thinks it will prevent Lucifer from being released from his cage. Lilith's death turns out to be the event that frees Lucifer, and Sam is later willing to suffer a fate worse than death to return Lucifer to his cage.]]
** Castiel [[spoiler: works with Crowley to obtain 50,000 souls from Purgatory and uses them to make himself powerful enough to defeat Raphael and prevent him from restarting the Apocalypse. Sam and Dean consider this a massive betrayal, even if Castiel's intentions were good. The souls corrupt Castiel, he goes power-mad and tries to become God. After smiting thousands, he dies trying to prevent the Leviathans from being released on Earth. He is later brought back so he can continue to atone for his actions. He absorbs all of Sam's memories from Hell, something which causes him to go insane.]]

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': Teddy can never settle down with Dolores because he first must atone for - actually they didn't bother to program what he felt guilty over. After many years of being motivated by undefined guilt they finally gave him reason for it, his involvement with the murderous Wyatt. [[spoiler: This turns out to be based on long-erased memories of helping Dolores/Wyatt in a massacre of Hosts in an attempt to close the park down]].

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': This trope is the show's premise. Xena spends the entire series atoning for her misdeeds, [[spoiler: and dies to achieve redemption]].

* ''Series/{{Matrix}}'': Steven Matrix.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'': Patrick Jane is a combination of this and CrusadingWidower.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': Teddy can never settle down with Dolores because he first must atone for - actually they didn't bother to program what he felt guilty over. After many years of being motivated by undefined guilt they finally [[BelatedBackstory gave him reason for it]], his involvement with the murderous Wyatt. [[spoiler: This turns out to be based on long-erased memories of helping Dolores/Wyatt in a massacre of Hosts in an attempt to close the park down]].

** Tomin gets like this in ''Film/TheArkOfTruth'', after realizing how the Priors are twisting the religion of Origin to excuse genocide. Teal'c gives him some advice on how to live with himself despite the things he's done in the past: he should concentrate on helping other people, fighting so that others can be saved. While he may never achieve personal redemption, "that is the least you can do."

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': By the episode "Blood Money", it appears that [[spoiler:Jesse Pinkman]] has become one, as he tries to give away the millions of dollars in blood money.

** In "Tone Death", OneShotCharacter Linda Weinberg [[spoiler:crashed a stolen car while driving drunk and fled the scene, letting her passenger, Robyn, take the blame for the crash. However, she also applied a tourniquet to Robyn's leg to keep her from bleeding to death before running away. While Robyn was in jail, Linda started a non-profit charity to help ex-cons, specifically to try and help Robyn improve her life in the hopes it would make up for what Linda did to her.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Captain Roy Montgomery, as revealed in the season 3 finale. [[spoiler:He was a DirtyCop at the start of his career and ultimately became embroiled in the conspiracy that ended in the death of Johanna Beckett, Kate Beckett's mother. He alone of the three officers involved had a change of heart, devoting himself to being the best damn cop he possibly could, which included mentoring Beckett, "the finest homicide I've ever trained, bar none." He finally gets a RedemptionEqualsDeath scene when he dies taking down a five-man hit squad that was coming after Beckett]].