History VillainousBreakdown / LiveActionTV

* In StarTrekTNG the Drumhead the villain (an officer seeking to create a witch trial to advance her power) has one after Picard quotes her father. She starts screaming and ultimately finishes by saying "I've taken down bigger men then you!!!" After realizing that she played right into Picard's hands she simply breaks down and stammers completely.

* [[spoiler: The Rogue Power Jasmine]] from ''{{Angel}}'' ''flips out'' [[spoiler: after the heroes break her power over humanity making everyone sees her as a hideous monster. She tries her very hardest to kill Angel, all the while ranting and screaming about how she sacrificed so much to offer humanity peace and love. Now she only wants to kill all humans after being rejected. In the end she's reduced to begging Connor for help. The disillusioned Connor finishes her off instead]].

* In the ''{{Columbo}}'' episode "Dagger of the Mind," Lt. Columbo [[spoiler: plants evidence implicating a Shakespearean actor in a murder, causing him to go mad]]. But it's [[FramingTheGuiltyParty okay]].

** Faith has one herself in the spinoff show, [[AngelTheSeries Angel]], where she [[spoiler: carries out an elaborate charade to [[SuicideByCop get Angel to kill her]]]].

* Ming gets this quite a bit in Sci-Fi's ''FlashGordon''. The best is the series finale, when [[spoiler:all of the heroes join forces to bring down Ming's regime once and for all. Aura opts to ally herself with her brother and betray her father at least, but still can't resist trying one last time to explain to him how she still loves him despite all he's done and begs him to just surrender. Ming looks moved and acts like he's about to stroke her face. Cue a few scenes later when Flash runs in to find Ming strangling Aura, muttering how he should have killed her as a baby. He then releases her and goes full nutty trying to chop Flash up with a sword.]]

** In "The Conscience of the King", actor Karidian's daughter Lenore [[spoiler: after revealing she had killed seven of the nine witnesses who knew her father as Kodos the Executioner]] ran out to the stage with a phraser, trying to kill Kirk, one of the witnesses. The mad glint in her eyes pretty much told us that she lost her mind. And when [[spoiler: she accidentally killed her father]], she broke down into tears and later on, she insistantly believed that [[spoiler: her father was still alive and still performing]].

** [[spoiler:[[OrIsIt Or]] ''[[OrIsIt did]]'' [[OrIsIt she]]]]?!

* Robespierre in the BBC adaptation of ''TheScarletPimpernel'' is almost always chillingly calm and formal, even if he's ordering mass executions or plotting to violently crush insurrections. Merely getting flustered and impatient is a sign that he's about to retaliate with drastically excessive force, and when the Pimpernel's antics finally make him lose his shit you know everyone's gonna be in for a rough time.

** Walter has a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel rather terrifying]] at the end of ''Crawl Space'', complete with [[LaughingMad insane laughter]]

* "WhiteCollar" has the controlled, smug [[Chessmaster Chessmaster]] Vincent Adler being crushed to the brink of tears when [[spoiler:all the treasure he spent his life searching for blew up in front of him.]]

* In ''{{Farscape}}'', the BigBad of a particular season or plot arc will always suffer one of these at some point; Captain Bialar Crais of the first season began cracking up almost immediately after we met him, and went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for the accidental death of his brother, which wasn't to end until Peacekeeper High Command removed him and he was [[HeelFaceTurn forced to become a hero]].

* The usually cool, calm, and collected [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] [[IHaveManyNames Saffron/Bridget/Yolanda]] from ''{{Firefly}}'' suffers this in the episode Trash during a confrontation with her ex-husband when she and Mal are caught in the act of stealing from him.

'''[=YoSaffBridg=]:''' [Lowers the gun she'd been pointing at him] Don't look at me like that. [Raises the gun aand points it at him angrily] ''I SAID DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!!''

'''[=YoSaffBridg=]:''' [Lowers the gun she'd been pointing at him] Don't look at me like that. [Raises the gun after a second and points it at him angrily while screaming] ''I SAID DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!!''

-->'''Dr. Moyer''': '''''My''''' machines''!

* {{Dexter}} has a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQzg53mDl9E&NR=1 pretty good one]] in Episode 9 of Season Three, when he learns that he's been [[spoiler:manipulated by Miguel Prado after believing the man to be his friend]]. Of course, it's internal, but still.

* ''DoctorWho'':

* In ''ThePrisoner'' episode "Hammer into Anvil", No. 6 makes the new No. 2 have one of these, convincing him there is a plot against him with some irregular acts and fake messages, ultimately ending with No. 2 getting rid of everyone, accusing them of being traitors, before collapsing into tears; No. 6 convinces him to resign.

* In the final episode, [[spoiler:Marlo seems to have won, taking a plea bargain and earning his freedom with all the money he's accumulated, on the condition that he leaves the game. Almost immediately he realizes that he can't live as a civilian, picking a pointless fight with some gangsters and screaming to an empty street corner that he's still a force to be reckoned with.]]