History VillainousBreakdown / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Mavic Chen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan "The Daleks' Master Plan"]] goes from a VillainWithGoodPublicity statesman, sinister in intention but able to pass as a decent politician, into a raging ObviouslyEvil maniac as the realisation that he was too incompetent to execute his plan and he can no longer prove his worth to the Daleks finally takes hold. Even the ''Daleks'' seem horrified by his behaviour.
** Tobias Vaughn in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion "The Invasion"]] goes from his usual cold and calculating personality to launching a raging freakout at an underling (and once, to the Doctor) in [[OnceAnEpisode every single episode of the story that he's in]].
** General Carrington in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E3TheAmbassadorsOfDeath "The Ambassadors of Death"]] starts off seeming to be a fairly rational ObstructiveBureaucrat with a touch of MyCountryRightOrWrong, trying to keep the mystery of the missing astronauts an internal British matter. He is eventually revealed as a full-blown GeneralRipper trying to incite an interplanetary war against friendly aliens. When his plan falls apart, his response is to [[ImmuneToBullets pointlessly shoot]] at the aliens while insisting that they're invading. When he gets arrested, he [[ObliviouslyEvil doesn't quite seem to understand why]].
** The ending of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E4TheSunMakers "The Sun Makers"]] has the Collector, upon realizing the revolution has finally caught up with him, reduced to a babbling wreck as he slowly (and literally) goes down the drain.
** Let us not forget Soldeed from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon "The Horns of Nimon"]], who has probably the [[ChewingTheScenery hammiest]] breakdown of all:
--->'''Soldeed:''' My ''dreeeams'' of CON-QUEST!
** The Doctor intentionally annoys Skagra throughout [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada "Shada"]] in the hope of causing this to happen. It works. The clincher is when Skagra ends up trapped inside his spaceship's prison by the Ship itself, which won't let him out until he accepts just how wonderful the Doctor is. Judging by [[AnythingButThat Skagra's reaction]], that may be a while...
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors' Gate"]], the slaver leader Rorvik finds his spaceship trapped in a place between universes. Although Rorvik at first tries to deal with his situation in a rational and methodical manner, over the course of the story he gradually breaks down under stress. By the end of the story, Rorvik is ranting and raving, and he finally kills himself and his crew in a failed attempt to escape by creating a backblast with his ship's engines.
--->"I'm finally getting something done!"
** Davros sees everything fall apart in seconds at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks "Resurrection of the Daleks"]]. He releases a virus that will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness wipe out the Daleks]] and allow him to create a new army loyal only to him. Then he finds out the virus affects him as well...
--->"[[ThisCannotBe It cannot be!]] I am not a Dalek! I cannot die! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! Am! DAV! ROS!]]"
** The Borad is reduced to a wreck at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E5Timelash "Timelash"]] as within a few seconds the Doctor reveals [[TransformationHorror his reflection]] (when he has gone to the extreme of banning reflective surfaces so he [[BrainBleach never has to see it]]) not only to the Borad himself but to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe prospective bride]] Peri, who is similarly repulsed. He barely puts up a fight afterwards.
--->"Destroy it! Smash the mirror!"
** Helen A at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E2TheHappinessPatrol "The Happiness Patrol"]]. Despite seeing her CrapsaccharineWorld fall apart at the Doctor's hand in one night, she remains determined to leave and start again somewhere else, defiantly convinced that her [[DystopianEdict be happy or die]] policy is valid and love is overrated. Then she finds her PetMonstrosity [[FluffyTheTerrible Fifi]] lying fatally wounded and breaks down in tears cradling the creature.
** The Master spends most of [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the TV Movie]] in full-on MagnificentBastard mode until his plan to steal the Doctor's remaining lives is thwarted, sending him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge:
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[YouMonster You want dominion over the living, but all you do is kill!]]
--->'''The Master:''' [[ShutUpKirk Life is wasted on the living!]]
** The Dalek Emperor has one at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]] just before he is destroyed by Rose Tyler/Bad Wolf.
--->'''Dalek Emperor:''' [[AC:I will not die! ''I cannot die!'']]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]]: Lumic goes through one after the Doctor shuts down the Cybermen's emotional inhibitors, driving them into suicidal insanity.
--->'''Lumic:''' What have you done!?\\
'''The Doctor:''' [[DyingAsYourself I gave them back their souls!]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]]: The Beast, in the body of Toby Zed, goes ballistic and begins screaming about how he is unkillable when the Doctor destroys the power source keeping the planet where he was imprisoned from falling into the black hole.
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]]: The Racnoss Empress, who up until then has been smugly hamming it up, has a complete freakout when she finds out that the Doctor is ''not'', as she had assumed thanks to what Donna had decided to call the Doctor, from Mars. After all, the last time her species fought the Time Lords, they ''lost''.
** At the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]], a combination of seeing his previously unstoppable universal domination plans crumble into nothing within the space of a few minutes and seeing his old enemy restored to full health (and turned into a glowing omnipotent being at that) is enough to reduce the Master, previously a MagnificentBastard to rival any, into a hysterical wreck:
--->'''The Master:''' You can't do this. You can't do this! '''IT'S NOT FAIR'''!
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky "The Poison Sky"]]: [[InsufferableGenius Luke Rattigan]], teen genius and futurist visionary, has been working with the Sontarans to conquer Earth in exchange for giving him the technology to found a new colony elsewhere. The successive shocks of discovering the Sontarans had been using him as a puppet the whole time, were going to kill him and his hand-picked followers anyway, then having these same "followers" walk away in disgust ''while he holds them at gunpoint'' reduces him to a sobbing wreck.
** Davros, after the Reality Bomb is disabled and the Dalek fleet is set to destroy itself near the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]], has one of the best breakdowns in the series.
--->'''Davros:''' Never forget, Doctor, ''you'' did this! I name you, forever! YOU ARE THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS!!!
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: Rassilon is ''introduced'' in the middle of one of these, at the end of the Time War ("I! WILL! ''NOT!'' DIE!").
** Prisoner Zero from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] has a CreepyMonotone version when the Doctor realizes he can get Amy to lock it into its true form.
--->'''Prisoner Zero:''' No! No!
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E8TheZygonInversion "The Zygon Inversion"]] has Bonnie, the rebel Zygon leader, go through two of these. After she watches a message from the Osgoods taunting her about lying about the location of the Osgood Box, she smashes the laptop with the message on it in anger. Then she screams after learning there are TWO Osgood Boxes.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], it's clear that Rassilon, Lord President of the Time Lords, has let his ego and his pride go to his head. He's furious when his own men defect and refuse to execute the Doctor.
--->'''Rassilon:''' I am Rassilon, the Redeemer! Rassilon the Resurrected! Gallifrey is MINE!

** ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'': Grizzaka was [[HairTriggerTemper always short-tempered]], but he really goes off the deep end big time when Jellica informs him that she was only able to recover three Crystal Eyes. In fact, he gets so angry that he has no qualms about attacking her over and over again before Dai Shi arrives to reclaim his throne from him. Not too long later on, he loses it again when the Rangers finally manage to beat him after an intense, brutal, and chaotic battle against him, [[ThisCannotBe voicing his disbelief that he lost]] and screaming that no one is stronger than him [[DefeatEqualsExplosion just before he explodes]].

** ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'': Dark Specter snaps completely when Darkonda betrays him by shooting him with a super torpedo that was originally designed to destroy Earth, deciding to spend his final moments getting revenge on him for his treachery by taking the hit from another torpedo fired at the Dark Fortress and eating his Velocifighter [[TakingYouWithMe just before he perishes]].

** ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'': Grizzaka was always short-tempered, but he really goes off the deep end big time when Jellica informs him that she was only able to recover three Crystal Eyes. In fact, he gets so angry that he has no qualms about attacking her over and over again before Dai Shi arrives to reclaim his throne from him. Not too long later on, he loses it again when the Rangers finally manage to beat him after an intense, brutal, and chaotic battle against him, voicing his disbelief that he lost and screaming that no one is stronger than him before he explodes.

** ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': In "Green No More - Part II", Lord Zedd flips out and rants in disbelief when Tommy manages to destroy the Green Crystal and teleport the Dark Rangers away, and in "Changing of the Zords - Part III", he appears to be on the verge of tears after having been humiliated and had his staff broken and the Shogunzords claimed from him by Tommy and the other rangers.

-->'''[[spoiler:Evil!Will]]:''' ''[when restrained by Joyce]'' [[MadnessMantra LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!]] '''''[[VoiceOfTheLegion LET ME GO! LET ME GO!]]'''''

* ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'': "The Man Who Was Death", the VigilanteMan executioner protagonist is reduced to a cowardly wreck begging for his life when he is finally caught and gets the electric chair. This just after he spent the entire episode extolling the virtues of capital punishment.
* ''Los titeres'': Adriana Godán in this Chilean telenovela has a particularly memorable one: her plans wrecked, she regresses to childhood, revealing that [[FreudianExcuse she tried and failed to get her father's love, but he wanted a boy]], jumps into a pool and starts playing with her old dolls. Apparently, "to comb the doll" is now slang for a breakdown in Chile.

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': Has the controlled, smug [[TheChessmaster 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.]]

* ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'': Ming gets this quite a bit in Sci-Fi's show. 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.]]

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'': Major Frank Burns - the closest thing the series had to a villain - began experiencing SanitySlippage after the arrival of Col. Potter and the development of Margaret Houlihan into a more complex character. However, he still had a couple villainous breakdowns at the end of the fifth season and off-screen at the start of the sixth season.
*** The first occured when Frank learned that his former girlfriend Margaret Houlihan had gotten engaged to one Lieutenant Donald Penobscot while in Tokyo. This prompted him to run off into the Korean countryside and kidnap a Korean family at gunpoint and bring them back to the 4077th - claiming they were spies. Col. Potter has the family let go and shown to the mess tent for food and anything else they need. Meanwhile Potter takes Burns to his office and tries to talk to Burns who was so crazed he pointed an automatic weapon at Potter, Hunnicut, and Pierce. Thinking on his feet, Radar puts through a call to Burns's mother and has her talk her son down. After a few minutes of talking he drifts off to sleep.
*** The second breakdown occured off-screen at the beginning of the sixth season. After the marriage of Houlihan and Penobscott at the end of season five, Burns had gone on leave to Seoul. Burns does not return from leave as scheduled and the camp soon hears from the military police about how Burns had been running around Seoul accosting every blonde woman who resembled Houlihan. Eventually he hopped into a bath with a General Kester and his wife. Mrs. Kester did not take kindly to that and a short time later Burns was apprehended by the [=MP=]s. Held for psychiatric evaluation, he was permanently transferred out of the 4077th.[[note]]Burns actor Larry Linville had declined to renew his contract after five seasons, feeling he had done all he could with the character, so the second breakdown was used as a way of writing him out of the series.[[/note]]
* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': [[BigBad Morgana]] spends the entire series [[SanitySlippage slipping down the slope of madness]], but in the GrandFinale [[spoiler: she loses the two things that kept her even remotely grounded, Mordred and Aithusa, her army is defeated, and all she has left is an obsession to kill Arthur]]. By the time Merlin catches up to her and [[spoiler:sticks Excalibur in her gut, you'd be forgiven for thinking she'd let him do it.]]

** Bob Moon, the villain of the movie ''The Beatniks'', gets a pretty {{Narm}}ful one: "I KILLED THAT FAT BARKEEP!"
** With the series proper, Dr. Forrester has one when Joel escapes, quickly recomposing himself when Mike ends up walking up to them.
** Pearl suffers one when she accidentally activates the return to Earth mechanism on the Satellite of Love. It's actually quite the {{Tear Jerker}}. [[note]] Also a case of RealitySubtext, as her actress took the show's cancellation the hardest of the crew. [[/note]]

* ''Series/YTheLastMan'': When Roxanne's Amazons surrender to opposing forces, she goes on an epic ClusterFBomb rant right out of town. It was at that point that she lost credibility among her girls.
* ''Series/YesMinister''[=/=]''Series/YesPrimeMinister'': Although not exactly a villain (more of a neutral, amoral antagonist), [[TheHumphrey Sir Humphrey Appleby]] is usually smug, cool and collected. When he's in charge, that is, which is most of the time. However, when events occur that he did not expect, or someone actually manages to get one over him, his typical response is spluttering, panicked incoherence (not helped by his SesquipedalianLoquaciousness). See 'The Skeleton in the Cupboard', where an old cock-up he made comes back to haunt him. Or 'The Key', where a threat to his job (and power-base), coupled with being deprived automatic access to the Prime Minister, leads to him desperately climbing out of his window and up a drainpipe in order to see him.
-->'''Hacker''': We will still be able to destroy Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad...\\
'''Humphrey''': Yes, BUT THAT'S '''ALL!'''

*** The second breakdown occured off-screen at the beginning of the sixth season. After the marriage of Houlihan and Penobscott at the end of season five, Burns had gone on leave to Seoul. Burns does not return from leave as scheduled and the camp soon hears from the military police about how Burns had been running around accosting every blonde woman who resembled Houlihan. Eventually he hoped into a bath with a General Kester and his wife. Mrs. Kester did not take kindly to that and a short time Burns was apprehended by the [=MP=]s. Held for psychartriac evaulation, he is permanetly transferred out of the 4077th.[[note]]This was because Burns actor Larry Linville had declined to renew his contract, feeling he had done all he could with the character.[[/note]]

** In the BottleEpisode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]" Major Kira discovers an ailing Cardassian passenger to be the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName infamous]] [[PuttingOnTheReich labor camp director]] [[CompleteMonster Gul Darheel]], and arrests him. What ensues is a [[LargeHam hamtastic]] performance from the captured RetiredMonster, as he extolls his genocidal actions against his Bajoran prisoners as virtuous and 'clean', practically dancing on their graves and reveling in his evil. Ranting at length in such an unhinged manner would qualify as a breakdown itself until [[spoiler:it's revealed he's ''not'' Gul Darheel, but Amin Marritza, his filing clerk. [[InelegantBlubbering Amin breaks down into sobs]], [[AccompliceByInaction decrying himself a coward for not stopping the horrors, despite obviously being powerless to do so]]. So, consumed with guilt, he posed as Gul Darheel and got himself caught by the Bajorans, hoping that his summary execution would force Cardassia to admit its atrocities against Bajor. Kira refuses his pleads to play along, stating that 'enough good people have already died'.]]

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Rumplestiltskin absolutely flips when he thinks that [[UnwittingPawn Belle]] was [[HoneyTrap working for Regina/The Evil Queen in a plot to take away his powers.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' saw the Governor gear up his people to attack the Prison where Rick and his group were sheltering. He convinced them it was necessary to destroy Rick's group because they were conspiring to destroy the Governor's group. After the attack is repelled, the Governor's group turns on him, demanding to know what the point of the attack was. The Governor, who has been going through a season of LaserGuidedKarma, flips out and guns down everyone that's not fanatically loyal to him, which is most of his people.

* Pablo when he finds out that Raúl has been harboring [[spoiler:Gerry from the police for murdering Luis]] and starts violently beating him up in retaliation.

--->'''Faith:''' [[PunctuatedPounding I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad!]] [[BerserkerTears I'm bad! Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad.]] [[TearsOfRemorse Please. Angel, please, just do it. Angel please, just do it. Just do it.]] [[TearJerker Just kill me. Just kill me.]]

** The usually cool, calm, and collected [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] [[IHaveManyNames Saffron/Bridget/Yolanda]] suffers this in "[[Recap/FireflyE11Trash Trash]]" during a confrontation with her ex-husband when she and Mal are caught in the act of stealing from him.

** [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]] spent almost the entire series gleefully indulging in some of the most horrific acts of violence that the show had ever seen, which is one hell of an accomplishment in [[CrapsackWorld this setting]]. [[{{Sadist}} From sadistic torture to rape, flaying people alive, hunting women for sport, and feeding people (including his stepmother and newborn half-brother) to his vicious hounds]], Ramsay kept his confidence that karma would never catch up to him. He finally loses his cool when his wife who he had domestically abused and raped nightly has him chained up in a kennel and she finally releases his hounds, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard which he had starved for a week in hopes of feeding Jon Snow to them]]. His orders for them to back down start off defiant but become more panic-stricken as the seconds roll by and he realizes that his sadism won't save him this time. [[AssholeVictim His eventual]] [[DevouredByTheHorde begging does]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath nothing to help]].

** Season 8 eventually reaches the breaking point where she watches Daenerys and Drogon burn down King's Landing to the ground with all of her forces decimated. By then, she is forced to leave the collapsing Red Keep. When she reunites with Jaime one last time, she breaks down into tears, begging that she wants their baby to live. And despite reaching the escape route, it's already blocked by fallen debris. She and Jaime eventually accept their fate and hold on to each other as the rocks fall onto them.

** Joseph Cardero has a truly spectacular one in "Heartbeat", where he completely loses it and goes to town on his apartment with a hammer. It culminates in him [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide by]] [[BuriedAlive burying himself alive behind a brick wall]], [[KarmicDeath the same way he killed his victim.]]

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': [[spoiler:[[BigBad Blood Stalk/Evolt]]]]. He's an example in that he is ''very'' rarely prone to these, [[FauxAffablyEvil being typically relaxed, borderline lazy]] as [[TheChessmaster he goes along bringing his schemes to fruition.]] So, whenever he actually hits [[SpannerInTheWorks a snag in his long-term plans]]...well, when he snaps, he fucking SNAPS, making these breakdowns [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness all the more noteworthy]]. [[spoiler: [[KarmicDeath The most prominent of these]] [[ThisCannotBe is in the finale.]]]]

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Rumplestiltskin absolutely flips when he thinks that [[UnwittingPawn Belle]] was [[HoneyTrap working for]] [[MagnificentBastard Regina/The Evil Queen]] in a plot to take away his powers.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': [[MajorlyAwesome Major]] [[BigBad Zod]] was never exactly stable, what with being an AxeCrazy LargeHam with a HairTriggerTemper. He spent most of the season slowly deconstructing, as stress and his inability to cope with his failures enroached on his sanity. He was able to keep in under control for most of Season 9 however, recovering whenever he slipped up. In the season finale, "Savior", however, he lost it, following his army's defection. He pulls Blue K knife out from under his coat, jumps on Clark and engages him in a KnifeFight, ranting at the top of his lungs the entire time.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

** [[spoiler: After being given the same Kree serum that brought Coulson back to life, John Garrett goes into meltdown with a massive side of soliloquy, shifting from calm speaking to mad ranting. When he recovers from the first attempt to kill him in the season one finale, he loses it even more only to be swatted permanently by Coulson in mid-rant]].

** Ward isn't the most stable individual, but most of the time he's able to keep himself composed remarkably well, to near DissonantSerenity levels. However in season three when he learns that [[spoiler: Team Coulson has his younger brother, who's giving them information]], he '''loses his shit''' in a spectacular fashion, roaring like a lunatic before hurling his communicator into a wall so hard it ''explodes''.

** The Master has one in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E2TheHarvest The Harvest]]" after he senses that Luke - the key to his plan to free himself - has been killed.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Shaw was a CIA agent who was level-headed, calm, and dedicated to the job, and had an aversion to guns and killing, like Chuck. After finding out from the Ring Director that Sarah,[[spoiler: his new love interest]], under CIA orders, killed his wife (who had gone undercover and seemingly turned to the ring), he turned to the Ring, and set his sights on killing Sarah. He took her to Paris, with the intention of killing her, but Chuck found them and seemingly killed Shaw. When Shaw returns later in the season, he attempts to discredit Chuck and get him arrested, but when that fails, tries to kill him, and had killed Chucks father. It also doesn't help that he uploads the Intersect, which has been known to cause insanity in its host. When he returns in season 5, he kidnaps Sarah, and while carrying out his plan to [[spoiler: update his Intersect even more,]] he reveals he will kill Chuck, Sarah's husband, as she killed his wife, then proceeds to [[spoiler: make out with her against her will]]. Keep in mind this is the woman who killed his wife.
* ''Series/ColdCase'': George Marks, the SmugSnake serial killer undergoes this in the season 2 finale. Lilly refuses to let George get to him, and after confronting him with his mother's crime she rips apart his god complex saying that all George is is a scared little boy whose mommy never loved him. George proceeds to lose his cool and screams at Lilly to shut up repeatedly. After watching him walk away in a previous episode, witnessing him loose his cool was kind of satisfying.
** In the season 1 finale, the villain Jim Larkin keeps his cool until they reveal that they have DNA evidence linking him to the crime, at which point he completely drops the facade and screams about how both of his targets were supposed to have died that night.

* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': Has a [[https://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]]. It's [[DaydreamSurprise internal]], but still. Another in season 2: "It is OVER WHEN I SAY IT IS!"

** Scorpius suffered his own at the end of Season Three, when [[HeroicSacrifice Crais sacrificed himself to destroy Scorpius' commmand carrier]]. It involved a stunned and somewhat [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd Cutler Beckett-esque]] stroll through his exploding ship, wandering through hordes of evacuating Peacekeepers until he encountered John Crichton, wearily explained he had no plans for revenge, and vanished—until the next season. Notably, it's the only time ''in the entire series'' that we ever see Scorpius well and truly ''defeated''.

** In the season 2 finale Zoom completely loses it when he realizes that [[spoiler: Flash has led the [[ClockRoaches time wraiths]] to him.]] It's pretty disturbing; seconds beforehand he was practically daring Flash to kill him and laughing off everything the heroes did, but when [[spoiler: the time wraiths]] show up he immediately just starts ''screaming''.
** In the season 3 finale, Savitar realizes that due to the StableTimeLoop being broken by [[spoiler: Iris' life being saved]], he's doomed to be [[RetGone erased from existence]]. At first, he maintains his composure as he carries out a backup plan to merge with the Speed Force and truly become a god, but when that's foiled he ''snaps'', declaring his intention to spend what little time he has left killing everyone Barry loves.
** The Thinker spends the entirety of season 4 staying one step ahead of the heroes, and justifiably smug over it. Then, in the season finale, he's finally foiled as [[spoiler: Ralph's consciousness retakes control of his body, ejecting the Thinker]]. The megalomaniac spends his last moments ranting about how it's not possible for the heroes to have outwitted him, and while his VirtualGhost is more composed, he still essentially {{Rage Quit}}s by triggering a ColonyDrop that could potentially cause an extinction-level event, purely out of [[EvilIsPetty spite]].

* ''Series/TheFollowing'': Joe Carroll has an ''epic'' one in the first-season finale. The cult he invented is basically one big murderous performance art project, and his control-freak nature will not permit the project to go any way other than the way he wants it to. When that starts to happen, well..."freakout" doesn't quite do justice to his reaction.

* Professor Hugo Strange suffers a rather dramatic one in the season 2 finale of ''{{Series/Gotham}}''. As his plans completely fall apart, his employers abandon him, and his experiments begin running loose, he steadily breaks down into terrified sobbing and rambling. At the episode's end, the self-assured MagnificentBastard who had caused unending terror for the heroes is reduced to pathetically begging for leniency as he's carted off to jail.

* Damian Darhk gets a subtle one in the ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' episode [[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS2E5Compromised "Compromised"]] after [[Comicbook/BlackCanary Sara]] hits him with a BreakingSpeech revealing his future - his ultimate defeat and the loss of his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loved ones]]. His smug demeanor quickly breaks down, but unfortunatly for the Legends, he rallies quickly and decides to attempt to ScrewDestiny.

** He snapped for real when Keamy [[spoiler:killed his adopted daughter Alex]] in season four.

** The normally flat, emotionless Captain Neville eventually resorts to slapping Danny upside the head to keep him quiet, like in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E2ChainedHeat episode 2]] and [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]]. [[Recap/RevolutionS1E10NobodysFaultButMine Episode 10]] had an outraged Neville promising revenge on Miles when the guy outwitted him. [[Recap/RevolutionS1E11TheStand Episode 11]] had Neville beat up his son Jason and throw him out when he refused to follow orders. [[Recap/RevolutionS1E13TheSongRemainsTheSame Episode 13]] had Neville go into one when he realized that Jason is not only working for the rebels but he tricked him into divulging information about his mission. [[Recap/RevolutionS1E16TheLoveBoat Episode 16]] had Neville fly into a raging tantrum when Charlie, Nora, and Jason led a mutiny and helped Dr. Ethan Camp and his family to escape. [[Recap/RevolutionS1E17TheLongestDay Episode 17]] has Tom Neville go up to his son Jason and actually try to get him to shoot his own father, and then laughing about how he'll never be rid of him when Jason doesn't do it. The [[Recap/RevolutionS1E20TheDarkTower first season finale]] has him promise Jason that he'll spare Rachel and Charlie, but as soon as those two get into the special room in level 12 to get the power back on, Neville decides to just try to break into the room and kill them all.

* ''Series/{{Slasher}}'': When the Executioner's plan finally goes awry in the season 1 finale because Sarah discovered his true identity he starts sobbing like a little boy after stabbing her.

** Lucifer is usually able to seem [[AManOfWealthAndTaste quite sophisticated]], but he becomes much more [[EvilIsPetty openly mean]] after he confronts Michael for the Apocalypse: being annoyed at the interruptions, he snappishly removes Castiel's head, and then beats up on Dean with his fists. Similarly, after being locked in the Cage, he is no longer thinking about becoming free and bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt; rather, his appearances in Season Seven are just about inflicting psychological tortures on Sam.

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': The show isn't usually known for this trope, but Zagreas has a rather epic breakdown after Xena manipulates the evil giant Gareth into destroying his army. It can also be seen as a surrogate to how most warlords feel about Xena's HeelFaceTurn and how hard she's made their lives. It fit the nature of the episode in general.

--->'''Walt''': '''WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? WE'RE A FAMILY!!'''[[note]]He screams at Skyler after she pulled a knife on him for thinking he killed Hank and escaped[[/note]] [[OhCrap We're]] [[HeelRealization a]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone family...]]

--->'''Walt''': '''WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? WE'RE A FAMILY!!'''[[note]]He screams at Skyler after she pulled a knife on him for leading Hank to his death[[/note]] [[OhCrap We're]] [[HeelRealization a]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone family...]]

* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}} episode "Mind Games", Gibbs has to deal with Kyle Boone, a serial rapist/murderer he'd busted years earlier who is now on death row. Just a few days before Boone's execution, a new body pops up with his M.O., revealing that there's a copycat. It turns out that Boone's lawyer is also his accomplice/apprentice, and he's kidnapped Agent Cassidy to add to their list of victims. As for Boone, his endgame is to make Gibbs angry enough to personally kill him and thus ruin his own life. His plan, however, goes sideways when Gibbs puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger, only to reveal that the gun is unloaded, which starts Boone's breakdown. It then goes into overdrive when Cassidy shows up alive with [=DiNozzo=] telling Boone that his lawyer/accomplice is dead; Boone is dragged ''literally'' kicking and screaming to his execution.

** In " [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E21TheDrumhead The Drumhead]]", the ''Enterprise'' is host to a series of ever-more-paranoid hearings and trials searching for a saboteur or spy. The spearhead of these trials, a respected jurist who is the daughter of an even-more-respected jurist, is pushing for Starfleet-wide witch hunts, all looking for supposed traitors. When she calls Picard to the stand, he opens by quoting ''her father'', pointing out that these accusations without cause are destroying the Federation that she claims to love more assuredly than if there actually was a traitor. She ''begins ranting'', damning Picard for having the gall to quote her father, and displays her paranoia to such an extent that the head of Starfleet Intelligence, who had been there to observe, actually ''leaves the room''. When ''the guy whose job is to be paranoid'' thinks you are going too far, you know you've broken.

** Though it's arguable [[BlackAndGrayMorality who's the good guy in the series]], Hank Schrader gets one of these in "[[Recap/BreakingBadS4E7OneMinute One Minute]]". After he discovers that news of his wife being in a car crash was faked (to allow Walt and Jesse to escape an RV they were hiding in), [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he tracks down Jesse at his house and assaults him]], outraged that they knew some of his important personal details. He ends up being thrown out of the DEA as a result.