Horrible Judge Of Character / Live-Action TV

Horrible Judges of Character in Live-Action TV series.

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• Liz Lemon of 30 Rock has this in spades. There's her long list of horrible dates and instances of trusting the wrong men. There's the fact she counts Jenna as a friend despite the fact the woman is a hopeless narcissist. There's continuing to fail to realize the depths of Tracy's stupidity and insanity until it causes trouble. And there's her failure to realize that yes, Jack really is that amazingly selfish and shallow sometimes. Most notably, Liz is a horrible judge of her own character. She talked in high school of being the picked-on nerd only to discover she was the horrible bully putting everyone down. For example, she constantly talked to a "friend" about his being gay but he saw this as horrible insults. When she says at the reunion she just wanted to give him the courage to come out, he asks "come out of what?" and introduces his wife. To be fair to Liz he is implied nonetheless to be gay as he introduces that wife "...with whom I've raised three beautiful dogs. ... I'm so mad all I can do is Dance!" So whether the judgment is poor is in question in this case.
• Let's just say The Addams Family's unique lifestyle makes them prone to constantly trusting the wrong people (and looking at the okay ones as 'weird'). Of course, they're also badass-creepy enough to shrug off anything their guests try to do to them.
• All My Children:
  • Lily Montgomery. Out of four crushes she's had in the last two years, two were murderers and a third was a pedophile. (The fourth was just really whiny; she dumped him for a murderer.)
  • Dixie Cooney, whose insistence on believing the best about everyone led to her being one of daytime's most frequently stalked, kidnapped, and terrorized heroines—her own husband referred to her as a "walking psycho-magnet".
• Angel: In "Offspring", when Darla shows up pregnant with Angel's child, Cordelia readily defends her from Angel and tries to keep her comfortable, which comes back to bite her (literally) when Darla attacks her. After Angel comes in and saves her, Cordelia even acknowledges that she blew it.
• The Big Bang Theory: Penny. She's gotten better, but for the first two seasons, the list of how many jerks she fell for was pretty long. Penny knew they were jerks but just didn't care; it was only after dating Leonard that she couldn't put up with them anymore. She then blamed Leonard for this, accusing him of "ruining dumb guys" for her.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Genevieve thinks that Roden actually cares for her.
• Real and Chance's mother during every appearance on VH1's Celebreality series to the extent that you'd lose a liver in a drinking game over it. Liked "New York" because she was pretty, liked Rabbit because she was Christian, was wary of MILF not because she had a laundry list of emotional baggage she'd bring into a new relationship, but because she was White... until finding out she has a half-Black son. About the only good advice she ever gave during her TV time was warning her sons not to let a woman come between them.
• Dark Desire: Esteban when it comes to Zoe. While Alma and Leonardo don't trust him after the many bad things he's done, Zoe still believes he is a good person.
• The Defenders (2017):
  • Daredevil (2015):
    • Matt Murdock has a shade of this when it comes to Elektra Natchios. Matt nearly ruined his future because of how much of a bad influence Elektra was on him, with her trying to make Matt a killer by presenting him with Roscoe Sweeney, the man who ordered his father's death. Matt broke it off then, and when she returns seeking for Matt to help her and Stick fight the Hand, she proves to be as negative of an influence as before, causing Matt to self-destruct his firm and strain his friendships with Foggy and Karen. Foggy is aware of how Elektra was a negative influence on Matt. As a result, when Matt and Foggy are offered Karen's case in the season 1 premiere, and Matt insists Karen is innocent (because he can read her heartbeat) despite the orgy of evidence against her, Foggy worries that Karen is going to turn out just like Elektra.
    Foggy Nelson: All right, I'm just gonna say this once, and we can move on. You don't necessarily show the best judgment when beautiful women are involved, Matt.
    Matt Murdock: How would I even know if she's a beautiful woman?
    Foggy Nelson: I don't know. It's kinda spooky, actually! All I know is that if there's a stunning woman of questionable morality in the room, Matt Murdock is going to find her, and Foggy Nelson is going to suffer.
    • This even continues in The Defenders, where Matt continuously tries to believe that he can snap Elektra out of whatever brainwashing the Hand has subjected her to and turn her against them, only to find out too late that she has no regrets for anything she did, not even killing Stick; she just regrets that she was doing it on someone else's orders.
    • A misjudgment of character is what gets James Wesley killed. After the whole fiasco with Union Allied, Wesley makes the mistake of thinking that Karen can be silenced by bribery. It instead further motivates her into going after Fisk. When Wesley finds out about Karen's visit to Fisk's mother, he drugs her, takes her to a warehouse, and threatens her with a loaded gun that he leaves on a table between them. While he keeps the gun closer to him than to her, he focuses on her friends and family rather than the immediate risk of her killing him. He also makes the mistake of thinking that like everyone else he's ever strong-armed into doing something, she's afraid of Fisk, which she isn't. He's also completely oblivious to the fact she's been drinking so heavily recently, as alcoholics are more resistant to sedatives, and Wesley is relying on Karen's diminished state to protect himself. When Wesley is distracted by the sound of his phone ringing, Karen grabs his gun from the table and points it at him. Despite knowing the gun is loaded, Wesley maintains his poker face because he thinks Karen is a scared little girl who's too afraid to pull the trigger, his research apparently having overlooked that she was taught by her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend how to use a gun, and more importantly, she shot him with it in defense of her brother.
    James Wesley: Come on. Do you really think I would put a loaded gun on the table where you could reach it?
    Karen Page: I don't know. [pulls back the hammer] Do you really think this is the first time I've shot someone?
    James Wesley: Miss Page— [Karen calls Wesley's bluff and shoots him in the right shoulder. He stares at her with a look of "What the fuck?" just in time for Karen to empty six more rounds into his chest, killing him instantly]
    • The whole reason Karen takes an interest in Frank Castle during the second half of season 2 is that she's trying to convince herself that she was justified in killing Wesley. She believes that deep down, Frank was a good man, albeit heavily troubled and traumatized, despite everyone — Matt, Foggy, even Frank himself — telling her that he legitimately ENJOYS killing people. Her reaction to witnessing Frank using her as bait to lure two of the Blacksmith's men to a diner so he can brutally kill them is the realization that she's horribly wrong about her assumption that Frank is a person capable of redemption.
    • Leland Owlsley believes that Wilson Fisk's attachment to Vanessa Marianna is clouding his judgment and distracting him, causing him to act illogically. Later, after trying to have Vanessa killed by poisoning, he approaches Fisk trying to blackmail him. Leland's ploy relies on the same questionable judgment; Fisk reacts logically to being blackmailed... Right after Fisk notices his tells and pokes holes in his excuse using logic, it all ends with Fisk throwing him down an elevator shaft.
    • Nelson & Murdock gets a case of this as a whole in the start of season 2 when they run into Grotto, a low-level Kitchen Irish grunt who just escaped a Punisher attack. Grotto greatly downplays his role and convinces them all that he's little more than a low-level thug who simply does some delivery work. He does it so well in fact, that Matt's lie detector abilities fail him. Matt is appropriately horrified when Frank Castle makes Grotto admit he has murdered under orders from his superiors and killed an old woman when she wouldn't keep quiet.
    • In season 3, Ray Nadeem is a down on his luck FBI agent who is deeply in debt and desperate for a promotion to pay for his sister-in-law's cancer treatments. By luck, he is assigned to make a milk run to Rikers to collect information from Wilson Fisk. Fisk offers Nadeem information on an Albanian syndicate in exchange for Vanessa getting leniency, appealing to Nadeem being a family man who does anything for his loved ones. The information turns out to be reliable, which is all part of Fisk's plan to gain Nadeem's trust. Nadeem has no idea that Fisk is manipulating his trust, and in fact has been doing so for several years, having cut off his family's health insurance years ago to drive him into debt, and make him desperate enough to make the informant deal work that he won't notice obvious red flags that Fisk has malicious intentions. With his credibility established to Nadeem, Fisk pays Jasper Evans to shank him, crafting a fiction that he's been branded as a snitch within the prison walls, and convincing Nadeem to vouch for him to be moved to a penthouse suite in the Presidential Hotel. (A coincidental attack on his motorcade by the Albanians, which is foiled by Dex, conveniently furthers the narrative.) By episode 5, Nadeem has enough trust in Fisk that Fisk is able to convince him that Matt was an accomplice of his and that Nelson & Murdock did dirty work for Fisk, and Nadeem doesn't consider how unlikely it would be that Matt, who was part of the firm that took down Fisk in the first place, was secretly working for Fisk this whole time; nor does he consider the possibility that Matt is someone Fisk might have a personal vendetta against. It's only when Matt and Karen track down Jasper Evans, and Evans is subsequently killed by Dex in an attack on the Bulletin on Fisk's orders, that Nadeem starts to realize that Fisk is playing him.
    • Nadeem's efforts to break out from under Fisk's grasp only cause him to make another misjudgment of character. After finding out that the Bulletin attacker is Dex, he breaks into Dex's apartment with Matt to look for evidence. The infiltration goes awry when Dex comes home early and shoots at them, and Nadeem is wounded. Nadeem decides to go with OPR Agent Winn to his boss, SAC Tammy Hattley, with his suspicions about Dex. However, he fails to consider the fact that where there's one dirty cop, there's probably more that come with him. Sure enough, Hattley turns out to have been in Fisk's pocket this whole time. She kills Winn with Nadeem's gun, and then Felix Manning turns up to threaten Nadeem into doing dirty work for Fisk under the threat of being framed for Winn's murder. Nadeem thus finds himself having to spend a day doing grunt work with Dex, rounding up other criminals Fisk is extorting protection money from, and then serving as Dex's getaway driver when Dex is dispatched by Fisk to kill Karen to avenge the death of James Wesley.
  • Luke Cage (2016):
    • Before Luke Cage was framed, he had no idea whatsoever that Willis "Diamondback" Stryker was his half-brother. Nor did he know that Willis resented him so badly that he would eventually ruin his life. He also didn't know that Reva was a willing participant in everything that went on at Seagate, and pleaded with her to escape before she got dragged into his problems. Everything with Willis leads to him having trust issues after escaping, and everything to do with Reva makes him realize it is time to move on with his life.
    • Mama Mabel Stokes allowed her brother-in-law "Pistol" Pete in her household and didn't realize he was betraying the family and sexually abusing Mariah until it was too late.
    • Misty Knight has complete and utter faith in her partner Rafael Scarfe and doesn't believe he's a Dirty Cop until it's too late to save him. She also jumps to the worst conclusions as far as Luke is concerned (although this is somewhat understandable given that the first she knew of Luke was that he worked as a bartender at Cottonmouth's nightclub, and as a result may have thought he worked for Cottonmouth). She only accepts that Luke is a good guy after she learns who Willis Stryker is. After roughing up Claire in custody, her commanding officer makes her sit down with a therapist to talk her problems out, and he calls her on her misjudgments:
    Misty Knight: I apply foot to ass. And match lead for lead. I put murderers in handcuffs. I don't just seek justice. I stalk it. And that much should go in my record!
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: With your resume, you could have been downtown years ago. Hell, you could've been a Fed! You chose to stay in Harlem.
    Misty Knight: I know this place. I know the players, and I can make a difference here.
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: Or use some of those old-school connections to make a little money on the side, like your partner.
    Misty Knight: I didn't know anything about Scarfe, or anything he was doing. He didn't buy new clothes, no new watch, no new girlfriend, no loose cock, nothing!
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: But he'd been working for Cottonmouth for years.
    Misty Knight: And I trusted him! So I didn't see it, and neither did anybody else in this damn department! So why do I get singled out for it?
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: Because you're the closest to him. [Misty shakes her head] It's written all over your face. Not seeing it bothered you, didn't it?
    Misty Knight: 'Cause seeing is my thing, right? That's what made me such a good point guard. 'Cause I could see everything in my head. I knew exactly where people were gonna be, so I put the ball right where it needed to go.
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: But you couldn't see Scarfe for what he was? Or were you blinded by your emotions?
    Misty Knight: [scoffs] You wouldn't say that if I was a man!
    Dr. Gabe Krasner: Oh, that is not true.
    Misty Knight: Bullshit! Male cops can screw cop groupies in the back of their unmarked RMP, and you guys cheer. They get drunk, they fight each other in the parking lot and it's called "blowing off steam." There's always a double standard.
    • Mariah Dillard initially goes into business with Diamondback by rationalizing that as Luke is their common enemy, they'll make good partners. She quickly gets buyer's remorse as Diamondback shows a habit of using bloodthirsty tactics that lead to unnecessary carnage. After Diamondback kills a police officer and then improvises a Hostage Situation when trying to kill Luke and Misty at Harlem's Paradise, Mariah and Shades decide that he is out of control, and turn against him.
  • Iron Fist (2017):
    • Danny has utter faith and trust in Harold Meachum from the moment he finds out Harold is alive. However, Ward cautions Danny to be careful as Harold only cares about himself. And sure enough, after Danny helps drive The Hand out of Rand Enterprises, Harold has Danny framed up for their activities to get him out of the way.
    • Colleen Wing is under the impression that the Hand are a force of good, who provide a safe place for runaway and orphaned minority kids to live and helps them get good jobs in society. For a while, she tries to convince Danny that what he's learned about the Hand in K'un-L'un should not be seen as fact. She is devastated when Bakuto proves Danny's suspicions right and has her own students attempt to kill her.
  • The Punisher (2017):
    • Frank Castle considers the Marines who served alongside him as his second family, even going so far to admit to David that there were indeed times he thought he'd rather be fighting with them out there on the battlefield rather than being with his own children. Which is why his relationship with Billy Russo deteriorates as badly as it does when Frank discovers Russo is allied with the people who killed his family.
• Patricia, from House of Anubis, proved to be one after she teamed up with Rufus Zeno to find Joy. This was after she saw him watching through the window and after he broke into her bedroom while everyone was asleep. She trusted him to the point of smuggling him out of a hospital after Victor made him catatonic. She was repaid by getting kidnapped.
• Kerry Mucklowe from This Country. She idolises her uncle, Steve "Nugget" Nuggins, for being "such a laugh" while everyone else recognises his japes as the actions of a sociopath. She attends a talk by "an inspirational local businesswoman" and signs up to her money-making scheme, blissfully unaware that it's a pyramid selling scam. Most sadly of all, she is fiercely loyal to her father and so desperate to believe that he loves her that she is in complete denial over his obvious disdain for her. She also dearly wants to believe he's a good, honest man, to the point where she's the only one person who fails to notice his obvious criminal tendencies.
• Dexter:
  • Most characters on the show except Doakes and the title character. And this is not a good thing, considering their job as detectives in the Police Department. Dexter seems much more competent than them and actively sabotages police investigations when he finds out the killer. They don't even realize that a Serial Killer is working with them for the police. Very few people see Dexter for who he really is, including his girlfriend (later wife) who sees him as the perfect man.
  • Dexter is normally one of few characters who averts this trope but in season 4 he is way too willing to trust people like Trinity if he thinks he could learn something about coping from them.
• Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor is unrelentingly idealistic towards his enemies, no matter how blatantly evil they are. This is especially true regarding the Master, whom the Doctor once said was beautiful and said he'd be honored if he were to travel with him ... this same guy who has tried to take over or destroy whole planets (or even the universe), not to mention trying to kill the Doctor in horrific fashion over and over again. For whatever it's worth, the Doctor and the Master were pretty close in their youth in Gallifrey, and the Master did appear to be generally pleasant if a bit shy as a child... before he gazed into the Untempered Schism and was turned by the Time Lords into the lunatic we all know and fear.
• Game of Thrones:
  • In spite of all his other mistakes, Eddard Stark could have succeeded if he had not trusted one particular person despite that person hating him for marrying their childhood crush (and that's not even going into their whole duel with his eldest brother which humiliated them). What Could Possibly Go Wrong? This comes partially from his wife's equally horrible misjudgment of the same character precisely because he was her Unlucky Childhood Friend. But of course, unlike the audience, neither of them were privy to his Sexposition Info Dump on his motivations.
  • Sansa is this at first. This may be a family trait; "I trust her, even though she tells me not to" could almost be the words of House Stark. She completely fails to see the parts of people she doesn't want to see, especially with regard to Joffrey. While the life in the court makes her a bit warier and she becomes disillusioned about Joffrey, it remains to be seen if her trust in Shae, and Tyrion by extension, is a good call. This trait has pretty much vanished by Season 5 — such as the way she interacts with Myranda, not fooled for a second by the latter's Bitch in Sheep's Clothing act and she is also one of the few people who always seems uncomfortable around Littlefinger and sees the inner good in the Hound. Although she, and Littlefinger apparently, seriously misjudge how crazy Ramsay is and Sansa only sees his Mask of Sanity crack just before the wedding.
  • Catelyn is actually quite astute, warning Robb about crossing the Greyjoys (she turns out to be absolutely right about Theon) and the Freys. But she makes several terrible errors of judgment with dangerous consequences (usually, in her defense, not without some good reasons).
    • She fails to see Tyrion as the Token Good Teammate of House Lannister at least partially because she completely trusts Littlefinger, which is an even greater mistake.
    • Speaking of Littlefinger (the aforementioned Unlucky Childhood Friend) she has absolute trust in him, but he is behind pretty much everything bad that happens in the series. She vouches for him before her skeptical husband, leading directly to Ned's capture and execution.
    • Even though she doesn't fully trust Walder Frey, she has absolute faith that Walder Frey would never let any harm come to her. However, breaking Sacred Hospitality is practically unheard of in Westeros so it's not unreasonable that she would never dream that he would stoop that low, though her book counterpart is fully aware of his sneakiness.
    • Also of her sister. Catelyn seemed to trust in her absolutely when she blamed the Lannisters for Jon Arryn's death and believed that Tyrion would receive a fair trial if brought to her. In her defense, she hadn't seen her in quite some time. It's not until they meet again does she realize how crazy her sister has become.
  • Notably averted with Arya, despite it being her family's Fatal Flaw early in the series. In contrast to her father, mother and older brother and sister who all trust the wrong people (Ned and Catelyn - Littlefinger, Sansa - Joffrey and Cersei, Robb - Theon and to a lesser extent the Freys) Arya is savvy from the get-go and immediately dislikes the Lannisters, particularly Joffrey. She's also suitably guarded while surviving on her own, the only person she does trust with her identity — Gendry — is one of the rare good people in Westeros and her suspicions of people like Melisandre are quickly justified.
  • Grand Maester Pycelle invokes this trope for any eavesdroppers in "Fire and Blood" when he describes Joffrey as the most promising king he's served. He also did this in the backstory when he advised Aerys II to open the gates for his true master's Cavalry Betrayal.
  • Cersei Lannister, to a fair extent. Like her father, she'll never see anything positive about Tyrion, even if it's dancing in front of her, which often makes her vastly underestimate him, even as she fears him by distorting what he's capable of, as well. She started to wise-up about Joffrey, but had been in denial for years about how unstable he actually was (answer: VERY) — this very denial caused soooooo many problems, it's unreal. And, then there's her tendency to belittle anybody who has faith in anything other than power or gold, which caused her to massively misread the High Sparrow, for one. Listen to her tone when she says she has nothing to fear from him because "he's a religious man". It screams "an idiot I can use because he's religious" in subtext. Rather badly judged, there, Queenie. Almost as bad as deciding that you've managed to cow a tail-tucked Lady Olenna Tyrell...
  • Joffrey Baratheon appoints his grandfather Tywin to the position of Hand of the King, apparently without realizing that Tywin Lannister is not the sort of man who will put up with Joffrey's Stupid Evil antics. Joffrey also seems to enjoy Littlefinger, seemingly unaware that Littlefinger is not a man to be enjoyed or remotely trusted (this is a global mistake, in all fairness). He is also, unlike his mother, completely unaware that Margaery is playing him like a fiddle.
• Ghostwriter: From the "Just in Time" story arc, Mrs. O'Boyle, the Canellans' housekeeper in 1928. She's convinced that Frank must be guilty of a silver theft and that "Millard Fillmore Smith" is just a salesman trying to earn a living and can't possibly be the thief. Wrong on both counts. Even finding out that the latter ripped her off does nothing to change her opinion.
• Gossip Girl: Serena van der Woodsen judges a person's character based on one very simple criteria: Whether or not they like Serena. If somebody claims to like her she is convinced they must be a genuine, nice person even if they've admitted to purposely seducing her to con her mother and her mother's friends out of a lot of money. People she has previously hated, like Carter Baizen, are suddenly wonderful people once they show interest in Serena. This way of judging the world does come back to bite her in the rear on more than one occasion.
• In Happy Endings, this is slightly inverted and played with — Jane states she has pretty solid "bitch-dar" and then quietly remarks to herself "You are not fooling me one-armed surfer girl."
• Heroes:
  • Dr. Mohinder Suresh possesses the uncanny ability to always somehow manage to make the absolutely worst possible choice in any given situation, a talent that has him repeatedly end up siding with and helping the bad guys (frequently without even realizing it). There's an increasingly popular Fan Wank that says this ability is his real Hero Power.
  • Sandra Bennett gets a moment like this when first meeting Sylar. This a man who is creepy, with the eyes of a killer, made all the creepier when he adopts a southern accent. Even when he's being sweet he's still creepy. What does Sandra say to him? "Well, aren't you sweet!"
  • Peter Petrelli also counts. He trusts almost everyone he shouldn't, whether it be Nathan, Adam, his mother, whoever. It's usually because he naively thinks people are good, but it gets a bit ridiculous.
  • Maya may be worst of all, though: she is flat out told that Sylar killed his own mother, but continues road tripping/making out with him anyway. Later, when she finds out Sylar has murdered her brother, she's completely shocked and devastated.
    • In her defense, he was the only person aside from her brother who treated her nicely since discovering her ability. And when he's called on it and admits it, he words that situation to appear that it was an accident, and makes no mention of the rest of the body count he's racked up. While it doesn't sound convincing to the audience, Sylar's good enough at lying for her to buy it as well as making his situation similar enough to her own. She does eventually wise up to his true intentions in "Powerless" after he threatens her.
• iCarly: Carly, Sam, and Freddie all suffer from this, falling for or befriending jerky guys and manipulative girls.
• In Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a woman helps a serial killer escape prison because she's convinced he's innocent. Then, after she gets Off on a Technicality on those charges, she does it again with a different serial killer, this time because she believes he's a "changed man" and is just too fragile to be in prison. That serial killer also ends up taking another, much more dangerous serial killer with him in his escape.
• LazyTown: Milford trusts each and every fake persona Robbie Rotten comes up with in order to swindle him.
• Lost: John Locke is so frequently blinded by his need to be special and needed that he ends up getting duped both off-island and on by anyone who tells him that he is important.
• Merlin: A genetic trait for Pendragons, apparently. Uther and Arthur are completely clueless that Morgana is plotting against them in season three, despite the fact that sinister smirking has become her default facial expression. Happens to Arthur again in season four when his uncle Agravaine becomes his most trusted adviser, despite the fact that Agravaine is VERY Obviously Evil.
• Sharona Fleming in Monk, to the point where she willfully ignores evidence of the person in question's bad character. In the first episode alone, she went on a date with a guy who was pretending to be a lawyer, until Monk deduced that he was lying, and she got mad at Monk. She's of the opinion that lying about yourself is the normal way to start a relationship, which might explain why she's a single mother.
• King Louis from The Musketeers, oh so very much. While his trust in the Cardinal in Season 1 isn't too bad since the Cardinal does care for him and does have what he believes is the greater good for France, he doesn't listen to any of the Musketeers warnings about Milady possibly being a criminal, even though he met her working for the slavers that kidnapped him! He later considers Rocheforte the only person he can trust, when Rocheforte is the one secretly responsible for the recent assassinations at court, poisoning Louis and is trying to usurp his throne and steal his wife. He also considers appointing his brothers (one of which he knows has committed treason against him) as his son's guardians, despite both brothers actively undermining him and planning a war to take the crown after Louis' death and have no qualms having said son killed as soon as it's convenient. Basically if there's clearly the wrong way to judge a person or situation, Louis will do so.
• NCIS: Kate suffered from this to an extent; it only happened a few times, but it is especially notable in her case both because it was the negative side of her trusting nature, and because it was probably her Fatal Flaw. Since she was unable to shoot the man who would later kill her because of his 'kind eyes'.
• The O.C.: Marissa, in the Oliver story-line of Season One. Her later dalliance with Volchok doesn't count because she is fully aware he is bad for her. She is aware that he is "bad" by most people's standards but actively defends him as misunderstood to everyone, until he cheats on her, humiliates her, and uses her to steal money.
• The Office (US): Michael Scott has two means of judging a person's character: by their appearance, and/or their willingness to be his friend (or even have lunch with him).
  • Toby becomes wracked with guilt after George Howard Skub is convicted of the Scranton Strangler murders and devotes himself to preaching his innocence. He visits him in prison and is promptly strangled so hard, his vocal cords are crushed.
• Power Rangers Ninja Steel has a unique case with Galvanax who favors treacherous Madam Odius over his right-hand man Ripcon, who suspects that Odius is working behind Galvanax's back. When one of Odius's plans is exposed, she manages to frame Ripcon for it simply by telling Galvanax it was his plan, with Galvanax believing her over Ripcon and having him sent to his death against the rangers. Not only did this cost Galvanax his most loyal subordinate, but it allowed Odius to continue her treachery undetected.
• Power Rangers Operation Overdrive: Norg the Yeti. One of the bad guys barges in and takes over his arctic home, and Norg is just so happy to meet a new friend and would you like a snow cone? This dynamic lasts all season until the villain finally orders his Mooks to "take care of" both Norg and a Damsel in Distress - said damsel has to spell out the Trouble Entendre to Norg before he gets it.
• In the Mega Man episode of Retro Game Master, Arino says that Dr. Wily seems like a nice guy.
• Smallville: Lana Lang. Even the usually savvy Chloe Sullivan does this on occasion towards Ian and Davis Bloome. Maybe Love Makes You Dumb.
• Chakotay in Star Trek: Voyager has this problem. He laments that he had not one but two double-agents on his Maquis ship (one being Tuvok and the other Seska, a deep-cover Cardassian spy), and while Seska had duped Tuvok as well, Chakotay still acts out unwisely over his inability to detect her. Later on, he shows a general propensity to trust aliens that he ought not to, being too optimistic that rational conversation can bring the adversary of the week over to his side. This happens with the dreamer aliens that trap the crew and later with Annorax, a time-erasing villain who tries to make Chakotay his apprentice.
• Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Despite claiming to be The Profiler, he repeatedly misreads The Federation in general and The Sisko in particular. This includes underestimating the fact that Humans Are Warriors.
• All of Team Free Will struggles with this mightily in Supernatural. In season 4, Sam trusts Ruby, a demon, and she gets him hooked on demon blood and uses him to free Lucifer. In season 6, Castiel and Crowley team up behind the Winchesters' backs, and after a series of double-crosses, they end up unleashing the Leviathan, hyper-intelligent, primordial beings that feed primarily on humans, but will eat any species in a pinch. In season 10, Dean trusts Crowley, the King of Hell, and Cain, the father of murder, and ends up with the Mark of Cain, a supernatural mark that slowly corrupts his soul through violent murder and eventually turns him into a demon. There are many more examples, but this really could be its own page.
• Happens on several occasions in Walker, Texas Ranger:
  • "Forgotten People": Trivette's old friend, Joshua Patrick Leonard, and his daughter, Paula, were this to Dr. Janet Monroe, a corrupt nursing home administrator and the lead villain of the episode, who is seeking to put variations of an Alzheimer's drug banned by the FDA on the market and was using the nursing home as a front for an illegal testing facility where her elderly patients are the guinea pigs, and as a result of her experiments, nine patients died. Trivette becomes suspicious as to what's going on at the nursing home when Josh tries to tell him what's going on, and his suspicions are confirmed via an autopsy when Monroe and her staff of rogue doctors and ex-con orderlies kill Josh to prevent him from exposing their operation. After C.D., a retired ranger, was sent in undercover to prove this, plus a search warrant granted by the DA's office after performing autopsies on the nine patients that died, the families of the patients still alive, including a new friend C.D. made who was also undercover for the same reason, are soon made aware of Monroe's scheme, and she is imprisoned along with her staff.
• White Collar: Neal Caffrey. He prides himself on being good with people, and for the most part, he is, but sometimes he makes really stupid decisions about who he should trust. This is the man who fell for the woman he conned, lied to her in order to get information, told her the truth, entered a serious relationship with her, and worked with her to find a legendary diamond, only to find out that she had been playing him the entire time.
  Mozzie: You, women, and business do not mix well!
• Possible inversion in X Company as Franz Farber thinks that Forst is trying to undermine his position as commander. It's hard to tell if Forst is trying to be his friend and is just spectacularly bad at it, or if Forst is actually trying to sabotage him. In the mind of a Nazi, arranging to have your commanding officer's child sent to a camp for defectives would actually be an act of kindness, not malice. Which is chilling, to say the least.
• Young Dracula: In one episode, a friend of Vlad's grows into a full vampire and undergoes a Face–Heel Turn that causes Count Dracula to say Even Evil Has Standards. Vlad is completely oblivious to this, even after an Evil Monologue or two. He has his reasons since he's very worried about turning evil when he becomes a full vampire and desperately wanted to believe that his friend had gone through the transformation without any personality change.

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