Basic Trope: The parent is marrying an obvious villain whom, though, only the child sees through.
- Straight: Alice is marrying Bob Evulz, who easily manipulates her and is clearly only interested in his evil plan. Alice’s son Charlie sees through him at once, but Alice pays no attention to Charlie’s warnings.
- Exaggerated: Bob beats, humiliates and insults Alice at every turn, he raids towns on a daily basis and gruesomely kills his enemies – all in front of her. Nevertheless, she thinks him the perfect gentleman and sends Charlie to his room for saying one word against Bob.
- Downplayed: Bob isn’t evil per se, it's just that Charlie and him mutually dislike each other.
- Justified:
- Alice is madly in love and will overlook any flaws of Bob, and she puts Charlie’s worries to the natural prejudice against stepparents.
- Bob is mind-controlling Alice.
- Bob genuinely likes Alice and acts nice towards her, so she can’t imagine him being evil to others.
- Inverted: Dylan proposes marriage to Ellen and then reveals to her that he’s the father to Bob Evulz.
- Subverted:
- Alice is playing at Obfuscating Stupidity. She has a plan of her own to defeat Bob that for some reason (such as getting him off guard) involves getting engaged to him.
- Bob is niceness itself towards Charlie who feels ashamed of his suspicions.
- Bob isn’t a villain, just masquerading as one for espionage reasons or likewise.
- As Alice knows, Bob is Obliviously Evil and she is willing to make a minor sacrifice to ensure that he gets the guidance he needs.
- Double Subverted:
- …But Bob out-gambits her and the marriage takes place.
- …And then Bob tries to send him on a suicide mission.
- But he ends up Becoming the Mask.
- Parodied: Alice has a string of Card-Carrying Villain husbands, and for her kids it’s more like: "Okay, mom, who’s it this time – a dark lord, a zombie leader or simply a rich brat?"
- Zig-Zagged: Alice wants to marry Bob Evulz. Charlie sees through him and talks her out of it. But then Bob returns and wins Alice over again, and tries to butter up to Charlie by being nice. Charlie’s having none of this, and Bob finally sends him Off to Boarding School. Then Alice starts to see sense and demands he brings Charlie back…
- Averted: Alice marries a good man. Or Alice has no children.
- Enforced: "We need Charlie to become a mature hero when he saves his mother! The best way to do it always involves an evil parent wannabe!"
- Lampshaded: "Alice is wax in my hands, but her son... yeah, smart kids are always the heart of the problem."
- Defied:
- Alice promises Charlie she'll never even date anyone without his approval.
- Bob decides he'll only seduce childless women.
- Discussed: "Charlie, why are you so nasty to Bob? It's not like he's a supervillain from your comics!"
- Conversed: "Why does nobody except for the kid see through this?"
- Implied: "My stepfather?.. Let's not talk about it. Mom always saw good in everyone."
- Played For Laughs: Charlie is spoiled rotten. Bob Evulz hints he won't allow him more than five ice creams per day, and Charlie is terrified and runs to Alice to talk her out of it.
- Played For Drama: Charlie and Bob's mutual hatred, along with Bob's manipulation of Alice, leads to Charlie's relationship with his mother becoming strained. Perhaps forever.
