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Do something, Joel! This aggressive niceness is making me feel really uncomfortable!
A common Sit Com plot where the total ass learns his lesson, turns sweet and benevolent – and becomes absolutely intolerable, making the other characters yearn for the original personality. Eventually the character in question will revert to normal, and the reaction will either be relief, or realization that he really is worse in his obnoxious form.
A subset of Flowers For Algernon Syndrome. This becomes worse if the cast caused this change intentionally, because Pygmalion Snap Back means the Jerk Ass returns to his jerky nature and has an ax to grind.
This can also refer to a situation where the Jerk Ass is replaced, much to the relief of the other characters... at first. It turns out that the replacement is either much worse, or is so nice that nobody can stand them. Luckily, the regular Jerk Ass will be reinstated, but nobody will ever mention this again.
In Real Life, psychotherapists refer to this reaction as 'change back' messages (though that applies to all sorts of beneficial changes, not just a jerk becoming nice). They encourage individuals in psychotherapy to resist the pressure to change back, which usually either ends a dysfunctional relationship or prompts the other person to undergo beneficial changes as well. Incidentally, this is a major part of Family Systems Therapy.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- In an episode of Ranma 1/2, Ranma gets hit on the head, thinks he's really a girl, and disavows fighting. Later Akane says, "Change back. I don't care if you are rude and insensitive and inconsiderate. I know I complain all the time, but sweet and innocent just isn't you."
- in the first season of Zero no Tsukaima, type A Tsundere Lousie drinks a love potion. Hilarity Ensues as the rest of the cast try to undo her Clingy Jealous Girl transformation.
- In Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, during a Hot Springs Episode, the springs detoxify the mentally unbalanced class into normal, well-adjusted people. Itoshiki demands the class be returned to their disturbed selves...which they do become by the end of the episode.
- Don't forget the end when the students throw Itoshiki in the hot springs... and he DISSOLVES. Apparently he was made of pure toxins. He's back in the next episode with no explanation, of course.
- He stayed at the bottom of the spring because he lost his robe when they threw him in. Last thing you see is him curled into a ball before the credits.
- In volume 7 of The Wallflower, a strange woman gives Yuki a basket of mushrooms, which, once eaten, turns Sunako into a "lady". However, once they realize that she has absolutely none of the domestic kinds of skills that she had before (being able to clean, do laundry, cook, etc.), they quickly find a method to turn her back.
- Nenji of Nanaka 6/17 wrestles with this dilemma when his nagging anti-social childhood friend suffers amnesia that renders her with the personality of a six-year old who, tiresome as she is, is far more sweet and lovable than her adult self.
- It was the entire plot, really, and revolved around Nanaka's childhood wish to become an adult. What actually happened was that Nanaka became an "adult" by being a very responsible, if somewhat nagging and anal-retentive woman. When her childhood friend and love interest became so fed up that he broke off his relationship with her over it, she didn't exactly have Laser Guided Amnesia from the concussion, but mentally regressed in shock back to her childhood age so she could once again at least be friends with her old friend. Only in becoming a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who is completely dependent upon him did Nanaka make him realize how much he really needed her. If you want me to tell you what the moral of that story was... It's... umm... that in order to get the guy, a girl can't be sane, she needs serious mental issues and a jealous, clingy nature to win him over!
- In the Love Hina manga, after Motoko is humiliatingly defeated by her older sister in combat, she resolves to be more feminine, and takes over most of the household chores. However, she attacks them with the same zeal and discipline that she put into her swordsmanship training, and soon makes everyone miserable. It takes an emotional breakdown and another fight with her sister (with backup from Keitaro and his cursed sword) to set things right.
Comic Books
- Slightly inverted in an issue of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. Everyone on Mobius refers to Tails as 'The nice but boring one.' So he went to see a hypnotist to make him 'Cooler'. As a result he becomes an even bigger Jerk Ass than Sonic, even willing to let a balloonist fall to his doom while he had his fur worked on, and hung out with woman. Sonic had the hypnotist snap Tails out of it, just after he picked a bar fight.
- Guy Gardner is pretty much the biggest jerk in the world in Justice League International. Until he gets clocked by Batman and got a bit of head-trauma, which resulted in a Guy who said things like "Gee, I don't want to let the guys down!" The JLI loathed Guy enough to not really wish him back to the lecherous, arrogant jerk he was, but nice!Guy kinda creeped out/annoyed most of them.
- They had quite a bit of fun with this: every time Guy Gardner hit his head he would switch. Once he was under a desk, hit his head, switched back, then not 5 seconds later, after he says that he never wants to go through that again, he hits his head again.
Film
- In the movie Shallow Hal, Jack Black gets hypnotized by Tony Robbins, gaining the ability to see the Inner Beauty™ of anyone he hadn't met before the hypnosis. He is blissfully unaware that this is happening, though. His buddy, a distraught
George Costanza Jason Alexander, confronts Tony Robbins and asks him to take the whammy off him. When Robbins asks, "Is that what he really wants?", Costanza Alexander replies, "I don't care what he wants! It's what I want! I want my friend back!"
Literature
- This is basically the entire plot of the Discworld short story The Sea and the Little Fishes, where Granny Weatherwax gets even with her blowhard fellow witch Mrs. Earwig by being... nice. Unnervingly so.
- Also happens in one Bastard Operator From Hell story. A perfectly organised comms cupboard makes the titular character stop being a bastard. Eventually the PFY can't stand it and sabotages it to get his caustic friend back.
- In the first part of the James Bond novel Thunderball, Bond is required to go for a health checkup to a special clinic. They make him stop smoking and drinking, and he starts eating weird health food. Bond eventually warms to the idea because he feels a lot better living healthily. Although M is the one who originally sent Bond to the clinic, he ends up being unnerved by the new Bond. In the end, once push comes to shove, they get their jerk back.
Live Action TV
- Likewise, Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld, when his girlfriend wanted him to be more in touch with his emotions.
- Wings: Roy undergoes de-jerkification with help from Joe but is back to normal by the end of the episode thanks to being partnered with Lowell during a game of Trivial Pursuit.
- Malcolm In The Middle had Reese become gentle and kind, but when Malcolm starts getting bullied after losing his brother's indirect protection, he decided he would rather have the ass.
- Inversion: Malcolm himself had an episode where he bit his tongue and resisted the urge to insult everyone for being idiotic, but everyone liked this new persona, and he often got his way. Unfortunately, Malcolm developed an ulcer in only a few weeks due to his gross superiority complex and his inability to express it.
- Partial subversion in M*A*S*H: Hawkeye stops drinking and becomes precisely the sort of self-righteous busybody he's fought throughout the series (as opposed to the self-righteous cynic that he usually is), until the others practically beg him to get back off the wagon. However, this is clearly noted to be a result of his withdrawal and once he gets through that phase at the end of the episode, he returns to his regular self except that he drinks much less for the rest of the series.
- Another M*A*S*H episode uses a variant of the second version: Hawkeye temporarily swaps places with his counterpart from the 8063rd and Charles Winchester is at first delighted, but the substitute (played by George "Goober" Lindsey) proves to be so irritating that Winchester ends up helping B.J. get him booted out and Hawkeye brought back.
- Yet another variation comes in the episode "Der Tag": Colonel Potter asks Hawkeye and B.J. to be nice to Frank Burns, who subsequently gets fall-down drunk following a night of poker with his new "buddies" (who can't stop loathing Frank and are thoroughly disgusted with themselves over the charade).
- Subverted on That 70s Show, when Red had a dream about his own (empty) funeral. He decided to be kinder and socialize more, but then, after having another dream where his funeral was crowded with annoying people, he went back to his old ways.
- In one of the final episodes of the show, Hyde, following a marijuana induced freak out, cleans himself up, stops doing drugs, exercises, eats healthy, and becomes generally insufferable to all of his friends. Cue a hilarious inversion of your standard drug intervention at the end where they convince him to resume smoking pot.
- Also subverted on Friends, when Chandler makes a New Year's Resolution not to be sarcastic. His personality really doesn't change, but he finds that he has to snarkily comment on his friends' various foibles.
- Played stright with Monica's alcoholic boyfriend Fun Bobby. He's awfully dull when reformed and sober. "there is a reason Fun Bobby is so fun."
- On Red Dwarf, "Queeg", Holly is replaced by the super-strict emergency backup computer Queeg, leaving the regular cast to beg for good ol' Holly to come back. It turns out that Holly was Queeg, teaching them An Aesop.
- Partially subverted when Rimmer leaves Red Dwarf to become Ace in Series 7, Lister starts missing him and has to be reminded of Rimmer's smeggery by Kryten by creating an interactive carnival ride based around Rimmer's psyche and diary entries, resulting in Lister stating, "I never want to see or hear from that scum-sucking, weasley, lying smeghead for as long as I live."
- In Dexter , Quinn tells Masuka, the Lovable Sex Maniac, that the reason nobody came to his speech on his newly-published work is because of how perverted he is. As a result, Masuka starts dressing nicely and cleans up his act. This freaks out Debra immensely. It's only after they stand up for him in front of Miguel's brother that he eventually returns to his normal self, lampshadded by Debra's triumphant "And he's back!"
- On the Dick Van Dyke Show, when Buddy gets himself fired, Rob and Sally get an actor to replace him, instructing the actor to be ten times worse than Buddy in his abuse to Mel (Rob and Sally are seeking specifically to invoke this trope), causing Mel to scream, "GET ME BUDDY!"
- Taken to an extreme and partly subverted on The Drew Carey Show when Lewis has a religious experience and fancies himself a holy man. The thing is that he's as much of a Jerkass while devout as he is normally, and in fact goes moreso, to the point of decrying official religions as not holy enough and declaring himself a new prophet. When confronted by his friends who he's been berating for their sinful ways, he shouts, "If God doesn't like it, he can tell me so!" ...whereupon he's struck by lightning. "Could have been just coincidence!" The next two direct strikes convince him, though, to the point that he breaks down and says "Fine! Fine, I'll smoke, I'll drink, I'll masturbate! If someone will help me, I'll do all three at once!"
- In Titus, Papa Titus decides to give up drinking. Sober, he realizes what a horrible father he's been and spends all his time crying, never leaving the house. He also ignores attractive women, causing them to think there's something wrong with them. The other characters goad him into starting to drink again, and he does, but then gets angry at the things they said and starts playing mindgames to get revenge.
- In the US version of The Office, Dwight is fired and replaced by Andy, who is just as annoying and doesn't even have Dwight's various eccentricities that made him so much fun to wind up. Jim: "I miss Dwight. Congratulations universe, you win." A bit of a twist as when Dwight returns Andy stays in the office, becoming a little more likable in the process.
- Another episode has Dwight becoming a nice guy after suffering a concussion. Averted in that the rest of the office doesn't necessarily want "old Dwight" back, so much as that they realize his newfound friendliness is a manifestation of a serious condition that needs medical attention.
- Subverted in an episode of House in which House tricks the other doctors into thinking he has syphilis, which can cause personality changes. The rest of the cast then tries to treat him with penicillin, thinking that the syphilis is what made him a DrJerk - as if the syphilis itself isn't enough of a reason. He, then, in order to mess around with them, pretends to be nicer, but also purposefully acts like a way more crappy doctor. Cue the chorus.
- Same thing happens when Foreman recovers from a near death experience and decides to spread sunshine around, since he's grateful to be just alive. House torments him (What's new?) to get him back to his familiar ways, because his doctor skills are not so useful when he's happy. (The moral of this show seems to be, 'If you're not miserable, then you're a bad doctor.') In the end, Foreman himself realises he can't go on being nice, and snaps back to normal.
- There was also that time House switched to methadone, and while he was happier and pain-free, his diagnostic skills are seriously compromised as a result of being nice (he puts MRI dye in a dehydrated kid to please the parents, resulting in him almost killing the boy), and he's back on Vicodin by the end.
- Night Court performed an extended version of this trope during most of its 8th season and the early part of its 9th season with a subplot where Leisure Suit Larry Dan Fielding became a virtuous do-gooder after being placed in charge of a charitable organization. Even after he left the charity job behind, Dan still remained nice, thoughtful and respectful to women... until he was slapped by a woman who had hoped to enjoy the pleasures of the old Dan. The slap awakened the long-repressed lecherous urges of the Old Dan who proceeded to give the woman what she wanted... and then some.
- There was also once a flashback scene where it's revealed that Dan (real name Reinhold) was actually a prudish gentleman, until a sophisticated (but slutty) Southern Belle takes his virginity, resulting in his subsequent chicanery.
- Used in How I Met Your Mother when Barney tries to sleep with Robin again: after Lily points out that nice guy Ted dated Robin for a year, Barney spent the whole dinner being nice and polite, even ignoring other women. Of course, this had the opposite effect, freaking Robin out and she spent half the dinner trying to get him 'act like Barney' again.
- Father Ted - episode New Jack City. Smelly drunk Father Jack develops Hairy Hand Syndrome and is shipped off to an old priests home. His replacement is a terrible bastard which causes Ted and Dougal to mount a rescue mission. With hilarious results!
- Dinosaurs - In one episode, Baby Sinclair is named king of the dinosaurs and taken away to 'fulfil his destiny'. While the entire family is noticably upset, Earl especially has trouble returning to a life without Baby to say "Not da mama!" and hit him with a frying pan. Robbie tries to subsitute, but just can't do it right.
- In an episode of Stargate Atlantis, McKay has a alternate reality counterpart show up. The entire cast seems to get along with
the new Rodney Rod (even his sister), until he returns to his reality. They invite the original over to their table in the mess hall and tell him the alternate was kinda creepy and he would never be replaced.
- Frasier once got rid of his agent Bebe, an extremely successful but comically amoral Heroic Sociopath often compared by the other characters to Satan, in favor of a nice, mellow and family-oriented agent who turned out to be utterly incompetent. In the end, he had to swallow his pride, and his scruples, and ask Bebe to come back and clean up the mess his new agent made of things. She did so with gusto, and he learned better than to ask how (murder and blackmail may or may not have been involved).
Newspaper Comics
- In Bloom County, Steve Dallas was a Leisure Suit Larry Jerkass Strawman conservative who, somewhere around the last year of the strip's run, had his brain reversed by aliens, turning him into a bleeding heart liberal feminist nice guy with a perm. He remained this way for months with no indication this wasn't just a permanent change. In the series denouement, however, his longtime girlfriend dumped him, and in his despair he put his sunglasses back on, and instantly returned to the iconic Steve Dallas, and has remained so in all of the strip's spinoffs.
Radio
Video Games
- In Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II, the player can acquire an item called "HK Protocol Pacifist Package", which can turn the ruthless, sadistic and bloodlusting assassin droid HK-47 into an unbearably polite pacifist. The player character then hastily removes the package, much to the droid's gratitude.
- HK himself is an example, being partly disassembled and stored in a compartment on the Ebon Hawk at the beginning of the game. It's possible to not even get HK into your party, you have to do some work to get replacement parts for him, and then choose to repair him.
- Which you will do if you have any sense of humor.
- Mega Man Star Force: The "EM meteor" in two episodes of the anime makes Omega-Xis act overly polite and gentlemanly, as well as causing him to make some... odd comments initially. Naturally, this drives Geo insane, and makes it a lot harder to actually fight for various reasons... Though this is only part of the hilarity of the two episodes, as every other EM being is affected in different ways. Hilarity Ensues.
Webcomics
- In Order Of The Stick #58
 , Vaarsuvius magically increases Belkar's wisdom to enable him to use a healing spell scroll. With his increased wisdom, Belkar regrets his violent ways - until the wisdom increase is dispelled to bring back the old Heroic Sociopath, since they need him for a fight.
Western Animation
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