History YMMV / BleakExpectations

* EvilIsSexy:
** There must be a reason so many characters find Mr. Benevolent attractive...
** Invoked with the brief Mrs. Benevolent, whom Mr. Harshsmacker points out is "well hot".

* AcceptableTargets: Well, for the British.
--> '''Gently Benevolent''': Like all children outside France, I was not born evil.
** Parliament gets roasted, both in the figurative and the surprisingly [[KillItWithFire literal]] sense.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Ripely's opinion of Sweetly Delightful.
** Almost everything about Flora Dies-Early.

* FoeYay: Pip for Mister Benevolent
--> '''Pip''': Oh there's ''hardly any'' attraction there
** Taken even further in the appendix to the novelization, where it's revealed that at the age of 90, long after the death of Ripely, Sir Philip and Mister Benevolent (well over a hundred, but thanks to dabbling in the dark arts still appearing in his forties) set up a home together in Worcestershire. For the next twenty years or so they're rumored to be traveling the pan-dimensional universe together -- though, the text implies, they "may just have stayed in Worcestershire, really, really quietly, without anyone noticing."

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Sweetly Benevolent née Delightful is killed off-screen at the beginning of series four. She would've been a fun new villain in counterpoint to the (at that time) reluctantly evil Gently Benevolent, or as a DarkMistress when Benevolent was inevitably re-eviled. Instead, the role is given to Pippa Bin.

** Poppy Bin's death. Made even worse when the Hardthrasher of the week claims she's probably in Hell, despite claiming just seconds ago she'd be going to Heaven, just to be a dick. Heck, even Sir Phillip Bin admits he's still broken up about it, decades later.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Poppy Bin's death. Made even worse when the Hardthrasher of the week claims she's probably in Hell, despite claiming just seconds ago she'd be going to Heaven, just to be a dick. Heck, even Sir Phillip Bin admits he's still broken up about it, decades later.

** Harry killing Judge Hardthrasher by crapping out one of his livers.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The Chinese Restaurant scene from the second season, as well as Mr. Benevolent's Fagin imitation.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Sweetly Benevolent née Delightful is killed off-screen at the beginning of series four. She would've been a fun new villain in counterpoint to the (at that time) reluctantly evil Gently Benevolent, or as a DarkMistress when Benevolent was inevitably re-eviled. Instead, the role is given to Pippa Bin at the expense of considerable CharacterDerailment.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Sweetly Benevolent née Delightful is killed off-screen at the beginning of series four. She would've been a fun new villain in counterpoint to the (at that point) reluctantly evil Gently Benevolent, or as a DarkMistress when Benevolent was inevitably re-eviled. Instead, the role is given to Pippa Bin at the expense of considerable CharacterDerailment.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Poppy Bin's death. Made even worse when the Hardthrasher of the week claims she's probably in Hell, despite claiming just seconds ago she'd be going to Heaven, just to be a dick. Heck, even Sir Phillip Bin admits he's still broken up about it, decades later.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Ripely's opinion of Sweetly Delightful.

** Taken even further in the appendix to the novelization, where it's revealed that at the age of 90, long after the death of Ripely, Sir Phillip and Mister Benevolent (well over a hundred, but thanks to dabbling in the dark arts still appearing in his forties) set up a home together in Worcestershire. For the next twenty years or so they're rumored to be traveling the pan-dimensional universe together -- though, the text implies, they "may just have stayed in Worcestershire, really, really quietly, without anyone noticing."

** Taken even further in the appendix to the novelization, where it's revealed that at the age of 90, long after the death or Ripely, Sir Phillip and Mister Benevolent (well over a hundred, but thanks to dabbling in the dark arts still appearing in his forties) set up a home together in Worcestershire. For the next twenty years or so they're rumored to be traveling the pan-dimensional universe together -- though, the text implies, they "may just have stayed in Worcestershire, really, really quietly, without anyone noticing."

** Taken even further in the appendix to the novelization, where it's revealed that at the age of 90, Sir Phillip and Mister Benevolent (well over a hundred, but thanks to dabbling in the dark arts still appearing in his forties) set up a home together in Worcestershire. For the next twenty years or so they're rumored to be traveling the pan-dimensional universe together -- though, the text implies, they "may just have stayed in Worcestershire, really, really quietly, without anyone noticing."

* DracoInLeatherPants: Well... in the fourth series, Gently Benevolent starts wearing leather pants, and by some ''strange coincidence'' this is also the series that calls most attention to how good-looking he is and where women seem to be falling for him all the time.