Took A Level In Kindness / Live-Action TV

---

Took a Level in Kindness in Live-Action TV.

---

• Deke Shaw from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. goes from being a pragmatic, usually self-centered survivor of the apocalypse who reluctantly helps the S.H.I.E.L.D. team return to their present time, to taking more of an empathetic role with the team when he accidentally goes back in time himself. In a place where he no longer has to deal with the subjugation of the Kree, he tones down his hard-nosed approach, and even has a few naive, almost childish reactions from the new experiences of living stress-free.
• Howard from The Big Bang Theory started as a jerky Casanova Wannabe, then after he got with Bernadette, he became much more kind and caring.
• Blackadder Goes Forth: Captain Blackadder is not the nicest man in the trench, but he cares enough for his men, specially compared to his ancestors, taking in mind that Edmund in Black Adder the Third killed seven people, whereas this Blackadder only killed a pigeon, although he faced a court martial for it.
  • Captain Darling, in the final episode, after Melchett sends him to the front line.
  • Lieutenant George in the same series, when compared to Prince George from the prior one. Prince George was a repulsive, piggish and obnoxious brat with an overactive sex drive, whereas Lieutenant George is more of an naive and Spoiled Sweet over-grown schoolboy who treats the war like a jolly good jape.
• The Brittas Empire: Gordon Brittas was initially characterized as an arrogant Bad Boss who drove people mad with rules and had occasional Politically Incorrect Hero moments. Come Series 2 and his character was tweaked slightly - he's still a Pointy-Haired Boss with the occasional Innocently Insensitive moment, but it's made clear that he doesn't understand that he's hurting people and his positive intentions (such as the fact that he genuinely cares about his staff and the customers) show up more often.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • That woman you might have seen chilling in prison on another show before breaking out to save a villain? Who's treated by some of the characters as so cool and nice now? Faith. Yeah, that Faith.
  • Zig-Zagged with Cordelia in Season Three when Xander cheats on her, effectively ousting her from the Gang. Cordelia attempts to return to her old ways, but Harmony has usurped her position and shut the door. Cordelia returns to aid the Scoobies in the Season Three Finale. Her move to Angel cements her growth as a caring person.
  • Kennedy as of the Season Nine comics. In the final TV season, as well as most of Season Eight, Kennedy was a bitchy, confrontational Jerkass who freely admitted to being a "brat." At the end of Season Eight, Willow dumps her after being Brought Down to Normal, and throughout Season Nine, she's considerably more mellow and kind, particularly around Buffy. As she explains, a significant chunk of her bitchiness revolved around Willow and has mellowed out considerably since the break-up; she even comes right out and says that Willow dumping her was the best thing that ever happened to her.

• Class of '07: After she's accused of murdering Sandy and the others all relate how she mistreated them in the past, Saskia admits her misdeeds, seeking their forgiveness. Following this, she stops bullying and manipulating them (mostly), making a conscious effort to act nicer.
• Cleverman: A downplayed example, as Koen starts out as a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk but eventually becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. With much cajoling.
• Community:
  • Abed, who started out with a Sheldon Cooper-like Lack of Empathy, but slowly shows more and more care towards his friends.
  • A mix of this and Took a Level in Jerkass with Pierce. In the first season, Pierce was an ass, but his role was mostly as comic relief. In season 2, he becomes an outright villain, but he also becomes more sympathetic and develops more of a Freudian Excuse.
  • Troy was a bit of a Jerk Jock in Season 1, but in later seasons he's the nicest character on the show.
  • Jeff Winger starts off as a walking Evil Lawyer Joke, a guy who is lazy, vain, and ruthlessly devoted to getting what he wants. Over the course of several seasons, he learns to respect others around him more due to his relationship with the study group, becoming less manipulative and increasingly takes the role of a leader who will go go lengths to protect his friends and help others.
• Control Z:
  • Isabela after her secret is revealed and her popularity drops shows a friendlier side with social outcasts like Alex and Sofia whom she ignored before.
  • Natalia as well in the second season when she starts repairing her relationship with María and genuinely develops feelings for Javier.
  • Gerry evidently progresses at this by the second season, coming to genuinely regret his mistreatment and murder of Luis, even visiting his tomb and leaving in it his dog tags as a way to apologize for hurting him, even refusing to help Raúl locate the avenger if he brings a gun, as he doesn't want more people to get hurt because of him.
• When he first appeared in the Criminal Minds episode "Profiler, Profiled", Detective Silenski was a racist, condescending Smug Snake who spent the majority of his screen time insulting and belittling the BAU. When he reappears in "Restoration", he's cleaned up his act considerably.
• The Defenders (2017):
  • This is how Jeri Hogarth's character arc progresses. In season 1 of Jessica Jones (2015), she's a ruthless corporate lawyer who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, and is willing to use Kilgrave to get her spouse to agree to lesser terms in the divorce. She realizes the wrongness of her actions when this backfires, resulting in Wendy getting killed, Jeri getting viciously cut all over her face, and Pam getting thrown in jail for killing Wendy in self-defense. By the time season 2 of Daredevil (2015) rolls around, we learn that Jeri hired on Marci Stahl and other Landman & Zack attorneys who escaped indictment when Wilson Fisk was arrested, and in the season 2 finale, she personally approaches Foggy Nelson to offer him a partner position. By Iron Fist (2017), she's a much more cynical person, who turns out to have tended the Rand family's graves for the last 15 years, and helps Danny Rand reclaim his identity upon his return to New York City.
  • Marci Stahl starts season 1 of Daredevil as a member of Landman & Zack, and both looks and acts like Regina George if Regina George became a lawyer. Foggy manages to break through to her by reminding her that she used to have a soul, and this causes her to turn on her partners, who are complicit in Wilson Fisk's criminal activities. Jeri Hogarth hires her, and when we see Marci in season 2 of Daredevil, she's become a much nicer person.
  • In Season 1 of Daredevil, Mitchell Ellison is depicted as rather unsympathetic, to mislead the viewers and Ben Urich into thinking that he is Wilson Fisk's mole at the Bulletin. When Karen approaches him in season 2 to get his backing on the Frank Castle story, she's expecting him to see her as a replacement for Ben, and is surprised when Ellison instead proves much more helpful, genuinely shows concern for her and expresses great regret over not having backed Ben's work. A freeze-frame of an assignment board in "Seven Minutes in Heaven" shows that he also has revamped the editorial priorities to focus on important events instead of fluff pieces.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor. Yeah, you might know them now as a goofy, fun-loving eccentric who likes to save innocents, but their first incarnation wasn't nearly as nice when they started out. His very first story featured him kidnapping two humans because he didn't want them exposing his secret, and he often showed no qualms about killing people they encountered. Part of the change was definitely deliberate, as the writers wrote him becoming softer and kinder over his run, but part of the change is due to the change of the show's premise. When the Doctor started out he was a mysterious presence to intrigue the viewers and the show's real protagonists, the companions Ian and Barbara, whereas now much of the Doctor's backstory is known, and he often functions as the main hero.
    • Note that the Jerkass persona can be chalked up to Early-Installment Weirdness: the Doctor is only downright malicious in his first three stories and softens up afterwards upon getting talked down and proven wrong by Ian and Barbara, and his negative traits almost entirely disappear by the end of his first series. William Hartnell spends most of Season 2 playing an eccentric loveable grandfather figure who is constantly giggling and calling people "my dear boy". As evidenced in "The Waters of Mars", nasty things happen when the Doctor doesn't have a companion. Maybe the First Doctor needed Ian and Barbara's influence to take a level. One Eleventh Doctor comic featuring Barbara and Ian had the Doctor explicitly say that they were his influence to become a prosocial force rather than just a selfish old man with a time machine.
    • It is made rather explicit in the new series that the Doctor needs his companions as a sort of Morality Chain. Amy Pond lampshades this after the Doctor's first instinct is to go for the kill to punish a war criminal who reminds him too much of himself. "This is what happens when you're alone for too long."
    • His Third incarnation had one of the most dramatic changes in character. Stewing in his exile, he was a grouchy Insufferable Genius who has to depend on the generosity of the Terrans he has to bunk with. However, when his exile was lifted, the Doctor becomes the most charming gentleman of his incarnations.
    • His Twelfth incarnation starts out as a cold, cynical Pragmatic Hero who openly wonders if he is "a good man" anymore. A few seasons worth of Character Development and he's mellowed into a much kinder, if still irascible, man.
  • Romana decides to spontaneously regenerate to serve as a symbolic change for her doing this. Her old self was smug and a bit of a pain, but when the Fourth Doctor's influence on her character made her realise this was not a good way to be, she regenerated into a new body in which she was a lot more amiable and something of the Doctor's Distaff Counterpart.
• Downton Abbey:
  • Lady Mary and Lady Edith in the second series. They spend much of the first season competing with and sabotaging each other, but become friendlier over time. They agree to bury the hatchet in the third season.
  • O'Brien becomes much nicer due to residual guilt from the horrible thing she did to Cora in the first season.
  • Tom Branson after the third season. At the beginning of the series he is full of hate and narrow minded, caring more about the revolution in Ireland than anything else and deliberately causing confrontation wherever he went. He seemed to hate the Crawleys simply becuase they are rich. By the end of the series, he is kind and wise , and the one person that everyone goes to for advice or to confide in. He looks close to tears in an episode where his political friend upsets Robert at dinner. Interesting example as it's heavily implied that this new kindness is caused by him giving up after he crosses the Despair Event Horizon when Sybil dies.

• Farscape:
  • D'Argo started off as a stubborn Jerkass with no sense of humor who spent his time yelling at the rest of the crew and threatening them with bodily harm. He mellowed out halfway through the first season and settled into being a sarcasm Boisterous Bruiser and The Lancer and best friend to Crichton, who he previously loathed.
  • This was Crais' character arc after his Heel–Face Turn. He went from an Ax-Crazy Insane Admiral to a far more pleasant Wild Card Jerk with a Heart of Gold who, while still kind of a jerk, was far less mentally unstable and genuinely cared about Talyn.
• In Fate: The Winx Saga, due to having to isolate herself because of her powers, Musa's quite antisocial at the start of the series. Through her friendships with the girls and the romance with Sam, she opens up and becomes much kinder.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Osha. Compare the Osha that tried kidnapping Bran to the Osha that would willingly give her life for him and Rickon. That's one hell of a difference.
  • After House Bolton's defeat, Robett Glover states he regrets not helping Jon Snow and House Stark in their greatest hour of need. He asks for forgiveness, and Jon Snow tells him that there is nothing to forgive. Afterwards, he along with other Northerners declare Jon Snow the new King of the North.
    Robett: There will be more fights to come, but House Glover will stand behind House Stark...and I will stand behind Jon Snow... *draw his sword* THE KING IN THE NORTH!
  • Jaime, especially in his interactions with Brienne, and in Season 4, his more introspective and softer demeanour takes people by surprise. Indeed, when he lapses back into his former swagger, as demonstrated by his confrontation with Loras in "The Lion and the Rose", he fails miserably.
  • When returning in Season 6, Sandor is still pretty cynical but is less of a Jerkass and tries to leave his past behind him to lead a normal life. Even when he returns to being "the Hound" while he's partly motivated by revenge he's also at least partly motivated to avenge the innocents he was living among, pushing him more in an Anti-Hero direction than before.
  • Daario certainly mellows out and acts relatively less hedonistic once being recast. The arrogant bad boy characterization is toned down considerably.
  • In Season 5, Stannis is generally mellowing out and becoming more of a people person, whether its praising Sam and encouraging him, being respectful to Jon Snow or taking a more active role in Shireen's life. Then he burns Shireen alive.
• The Good Place:
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist Eleanor starts out as an unrepentant Jerkass, but she slowly grows into a better person in an effort to learn ethics in order to hide her identity from the people in charge of the Good Place.
  • Michael invokes this via Near-Death Experience when sending the humans back to their lives on Earth. Eleanor (now back to her jerkass characterization in the pilot) is rattled enough by being saved from her death to legitimately make an effort to become a better person, which was Michael's intention.
• Over five seasons, both Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl have gradually become kinder and more accepting. Both are still quite sarcastic and snarky, but they're no longer deliberately malicious or cruel. At least Chuck isn't. Blair followed this trope until somewhere during season four when she turned around and Took a Level in Jerkass instead.
• Here Come the Brides: Aaron Stempel, the main villain of the first season, undergoes this in the second. By then, it has become obvious that the brides are here to stay, and thus Stempel concedes that he has lost the bet and so eases up on the antagonism.
• Homicide: Life on the Street: Tim Bayliss starts off as an almost unbearably self-righteous and whiny Rabid Cop. By Season 3, he's mellowed out into a Nice Guy, and more attention is drawn to his compassion and sensitivity. A large part of this is because, for the first two seasons, Bayliss's colleagues treated him like crap for being the rookie, which of course made him more prone to lashing out and he was having his trauma from the sexual abuse he experienced during his childhood dredged up by the Adena Watson case. In the third season, he had moved past his failure to solve the case and mostly been accepted into the unit, resulting in him gaining a better temperament.
• When they aren't busy taking levels in jerkass, the characters of House of Anubis definitely had their moments.
  • The prime example will have to be Patricia, who was originally a total bitch to Nina (for thinking she hurt Joy somehow, mind you) but, after learning to trust her, became much nicer, despite still being rather tough and sarcastic. Even in other seasons, when she finds new people to hate, she never goes to the same level she did for Nina, showing she did in fact change.
  • Jerome. Oh, Jerome. At first a manipulative and uncaring, he eventually showed a much better side to Mara when she got to know him, and this put him on the path to becoming a better person. Case in point- in the first season, he allied with Rufus out of jealousy of Sibuna's closeness. In the second season, he started helping Rufus again- to rescue the kidnapped Trudy and find the stolen gem. He took another level in jerkass in season three though.
  • Joy, when she joined Sibuna in the second season. She helped them to rescue Nina just because Fabian asked, even though she and Nina were rivals, and then took a lightning bolt for Fabian, nearly dying in the process.
• Kamen Rider:
  • Kamen Rider Ryuki
    • Ren AKA Kamen Rider Knight was stoic Jerkass biker who passed no opportunity to demean Idiot Hero Shinji whenever he could. At the end of the series, he started to care for Shinji so much, he actually cried when Shinji died after being stabbed by a Mirror Monster
    • Shuuichi Kitaoka AKA Kamen Rider Zolda started as one of the more powerful antagonists. He slowly turned to an Aloof Ally, which later evolved to him having a grudging sort of friendship with the protagonists.
  • Aikawa Hajime from Kamen Rider Blade started off as an emotionless fighting machine whose only purpose seemed to be defeating the Undead. He acted very aggressively to the other Riders and didn't seem to care if innocent people got caught in the crossfire. His only redeeming quality was his devotion to Amane. As the series progresses, he turns into a much kinder and calmer man who learns to fight to protect, rather than to destroy. This change is attributed to the fact Hajime is actually the Joker Undead, who can take on the form and characteristics of any Undead he defeats. As he defeated and took on the form of the kindhearted Human Undead, he gradually started Becoming the Mask.
  • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
    • Hiiro Kagami started as cold Doctor Jerk with minimal care about patients that was only limited to their physical health and no care for his coworkers whatsover. He warmed up to Emu Hojo and they formed Bash Brothers as time passed.
    • Taiga Hanaya took such a major level in jerkass prior to the start of the story that he became his own antithesis, but would eventually turn into Jerk with a Heart of Gold over the course of the series thanks to his allies.
    • Nico Saiba is one of the reasons for the above example and yet is also an example herself. She was initially as nasty as Taiga if not nastier and settled down in his office to get him to beat Emu up over her petty grudge. Seeing what the Doctor Riders have to fight against and what they fight, she gradually developed into Taiga's surrogate little sister with genuine concern. On the other hand, her WomanChild tendecies remained largely intact so she would still push him around and yell at him for minor things from time to time.
• In the early seasons of Little House on the Prairie Nellie's the alpha bitch and Willie's a brat. Both become much nicer as they grow up.
• In the first season or two on Lost, Sawyer is a sleazy, abrasive jerkass. As Kate deduces this is largely a form of self punishment: he wants to be hated the way he hates himself. He gets over this gradually and becomes a trustworthy member of the island community.
• Reese from Malcolm in the Middle starts out as your typical Big Brother Bully, but ends up treating his brothers better over time and becomes a nicer person in general.
• Merlin:
  • Arthur's Character Development is arguably this. Gwen and Merlin are the main cause of it. This is in sharp contrast to his sister, who Took a Level in Jerkass.
  • Mordred could also potentially be seen as an example of this. When we last see him in series two he kills two knights (who, to be fair, are trying to kill him) and then smiles before telling Merlin that he will "never forgive and never forget". When we next see him in series five, he's all grown up, saves both Arthur and Merlin, seems to bear no ill will toward Merlin and says things like "The love that binds us is more important than the power we wield."
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Bulk and Skull start as generic high school antagonists to the main characters. They begin to show some depth in the following seasons, developing a more friendly rivalry with them and showing some heroic aspirations themselves. By the Grand Finale of Power Rangers in Space, they lead the people of Angel Grove in an I Am Spartacus moment to protect the Rangers from Astronema.
• Motherland: Fort Salem: Petra Bellweather warms up considerably to Raelle after the latter manages to bring Abigail home from the suicide mission. Initially she had viewed Raelle and Tally, Abigail's squad mates, as just impediments keeping her from success. Her relationship with Abigail also improves when she grows more understanding of her and less pushy about her success, becoming much warmer to her daughter over time.
• Ziva David from NCIS has in the past couple of seasons evolved softer qualities including a big sister instinct for McGee. Though it may be those aspects of her personality were always there and she needed to feel at home on the team.
• Luke and Taylor on The O.C., originally a Jerk Jock and an Academic Alpha Bitch respectively, both become likable characters.

• Once Upon a Time puts an interesting spin on this, where characters when introduced are very kind and caring, but subsequent episodes show them to have been cruel and petty in the past.
  • When introduced Snow White's mother, Queen Eva, seems like an archetypal version of The High Queen. It's then shown as a teenager she was a Rich Bitch Spoiled Brat, who took an opportunity to humiliate Cora just because she could. Twice even. This bit her in the ass hard.
  • Snow White herself was a bratty child once too, with a high sense of superiority. Her mother scolded her for it, and insisted it change. By late Season 3 she freely admits she was a bratty child, which Regina instantly agrees with.
  • Jefferson, The Mad Hatter, is shown to be friendly man and loving father, who is totally screwed over by Regina. It then turns out that years ago, he quite cheerfully participated in the Break the Cutie and Corrupt the Cutie that Regina was subjected to, which turned her into the Evil Queen. This has the added bonus of her treatment of him come off as rather karmic.
  • Eventually both Regina and Rumplestiltskin get this, as Love Redeems.
  • Robin's relationship with Alice causes her cocky and rebellious attitude to tone down quite a bit, and by the time the Seattle curse is cast she's shown to have become a much nicer person.
• One Tree Hill: Nathan Scott over the course of season one, and Brooke Davis over the course of seasons one and two. They end up two of the nicest people on the entire show.
• The Outpost: Talon started off as a cold, cynical, loner-type of Anti-Hero who only really cares about herself, until she makes a few friends, in which she brightens up over time, becomes more willing to help other people, and ends up being chosen as leader of the outpost.
• Larry "The Kube" Kubiac on Parker Lewis Can't Lose, who went from a typical bully to a far nicer character that mostly got along with Parker and friends as early as the middle of the first season. One episode even shows that he only plays up the "Bully" role because that's how most people view him, but he's actually a pretty good guy.

• Primeval:
  • In Season 2, Caroline, who's been hired by Leek to spy on Connor and Abby, is extremely vicious towards Rex, has a rivalry with Abby which boils over once her true colors come to light, and at first is completely unrepentant once she's busted. After being traumatized by seeing the full scope of Leek's creature army and getting an idea of what she's gotten herself into, however, Caroline is sincerely apologetic to both Connor and Abby, admitting that she hates herself for what she's done to them and to Rex, and she goes out of her way to help Rex of her own accord as atonement for what she did to him.
  • James Lester gradually goes through this over the course of the series. In Season 2, when Abby is believed to have been killed, he doesn't seem to be at all fazed by the loss itself so much as the fact Cutter has made a serious screw-up as team leader. Come the last couple seasons however, Lester is a lot more caring towards the team when the chips are down, even if he usually tries to hide it.
• This is the premise of Schitt's Creek which follows the once-weathly Rose family after they lose all their money and move to a small rural town.
  • Johnny might be the most polite of the Roses at first, but he's still condescending and critical until he defends the town and his friends Roland and Jocelyn in his epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech to his former friends.
  • Moira is snooty, arrogant and makes suicide jokes the moment she arrives in town. She never truly adjusts, but she does gain affection for the town and its residents, showing compassion for and becoming friends with Jocelyn. When she does insult the town in later seasons, she's genuinely sorry for hurting people even if she isn't lying.
  • David does not hide his disgust and contempt for the town's aesthetics, insulting everything around him. He's rude, critical and condescending, even as he befriends Stevie immediately. He eventually opens his own store in the town and in the penultimate episode realizes that his Best Friend, his husband and his business are all in the town. He has an I Choose to Stay moment.
  • Alexis is the most outwardly friendly of the Roses, but she deliberately breaks up Mutt and Twyla so she can have Mutt, shattering her fiancé Ted's heart. All of this is done thoughtlessly rather than maliciously, and Alexis learns to be a kind, empathetic person who puts others first.
• The Shannara Chronicles: Being around Amberle and Wil gradually changes Eretria from a selfish thief to a loyal and trustworthy friend.
• The eponymous Sherlock becomes somewhat less of an arsehole between series 2 and 3, especially where Molly Hooper and the Watsons are concerned. This is in contrast to Mycroft, who still remains cynical.
• Single Drunk Female: Well, jerk-to-nice girl plot, or back to nice girl, anyway; this is effectively the Myth Arc of the series, in part, with Sam becoming much nicer when she sobers up after being more of a jerk while drinking. Part of AA involves making amends to people whom you've harmed, which she's shown doing.
• Stargate-verse:
  • Dr. Rodney McKay was introduced as a Jerkass insufferable genius in SG-1, acting as a hate sink for the audience to detest. When he became one of the main characters in the spinoff Atlantis, he still retained that arrogant and obnoxious personality, but gradually became more and more sympathetic, risking his life on multiple occasions to save others and genuinely bonding with the team.
• Star Trek:
  • The Klingons went from bad guys to Good Is Not Nice between TOS and TNG. The final TOS movie shows us how. However, it's disputable how much they've changed really when it comes to conquering: they're chummier with the Federation, but they may well be no different to other races.
  • Daniels later confirms a full reformation of the Klingons part when he tells Archer that they'd become official members of the Federation by the 29th century.
  • From a specific episode of the original, Elaan from "Elaan of Troyius".
  • When introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Encounter at Farpoint", Q is an adversarial omnipotent entity who holds humankind in contempt and would love nothing more than to see the race wiped out. Over time, however, his interactions with Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise cause him to develop a fondness for humanity. While he still remains fairly unpleasant to be around, his demeanor changes from a Jerkass God to a Trickster Mentor (who still enjoys making Picard squirm from time to time).
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
    • Jack the genetically modified savant is introduced in "Statistical Probabilities" as a borderline sociopath who threatens to snap Sarina's neck if Bashir doesn't fix an annoying sound in his quarters. In his second appearance in "Chrysalis", he and the rest of his savant crew go to considerable trouble to smuggle Sarina back onto the station to force Bashir to finally cure her catatonia. While still hyperactive and sharp, he's mellowed out considerably. His one moment of rudeness is insulting Sarina's marble-mouthed speech after she's cured, but he promptly leads a singalong to solve the problem, much to everyone's delight. All that time at the Institute between episodes must have done some good.
    • The Ferengi that are introduced on the station start out as typical Ferengi: Quark, the owner of the station's bar, is a cutthroat capitalist while his brother Rom also aspires to be rich and take over his brother's bar, and is shown to be rather racist. Quark's nephew, Nog, is also introduced as The Napoleon; short for his age, loud-mouthed, and chauvinistic. Over the course of the series, their rough edges are smoothed out. Quark is shown to be not as cutthroat as others of his race, and while he is still interested in getting rich, he has business practices that are considered downright philanthropic, from offering credit to customers to giving vacations to his employees. Rom eventually gives up on becoming an ideal Ferengi to pursue his true calling as an engineer before being named the next Grand Nagus. And Nog becomes the first Ferengi to enter Starfleet, and is shown to be a model officer, even having a ship named after him in the Distant Sequel season of Star Trek: Discovery.
• Steve in Stranger Things. He gets redeemed at the end of the first season, and in season two is portrayed as much more mature and kind, even becoming a mentor figure to Dustin.
• Ted Lasso: Jamie Tartt started the series as an arrogant Jerkass. So much so that he was kicked out of the team until he could clean up his act. He comes back, and when he does, Jamie actually becomes a kind, respectful member of the Greyhounds.
• Troy: Fall of a City: For the first few episodes, Paris is a selfish, immature, man-child who starts the war because he's horny and then runs away from any real responsibility. However, after his duel with Menelaus he goes on a spiritual journey that results in him becoming much more serious, focused, and dutiful.
• The Twilight Zone (1985): In "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium", the title character David Wong is rude, obnoxious, self-centered and condescending. He is completely disinterested when Mrs. Whitford tells that she is in search of lost time. When the mice that she believes represent this lost time scatter, she breaks down in tears on the floor. David is entirely unsympathetic and makes no effort to help her. He similarly mistreats an elderly man who wants to regain his children's respect. When Melinda confronts him about his callous behavior, he admits that he is looking for his compassion, which he gradually lost because of the racism that he and other Asian-Americans have to suffer on a daily basis. After David helps her to find her sense of humor, Melinda is able to locate his compassion as well as his integrity and the details of his happiest childhood memory, a family picnic. David realizes all of the mistakes that he has made and decides to take over the management of the Lost and Found Emporium with Melinda's help. The two of them then help Mrs. Whitford and the elderly man find what they are looking over.

• Black Directive was the Big Bad of Ultraman Leo, and was an extremely despicable villain who wiped out the whole MAC team. Come his return in Ultraman Orb, he is a gentle bar owner who treats his establishment as a Truce Zone, and while he does make one last bid to Take Over the World when Nova acts up, he gives up as soon as Orb defeats the Saucer Beast and opens a ramen shop.
• At the start of Weird Science, Chett Donnelly epitomizes Big Brother Bully, as he regularly insults and injures his little brother, Wyatt. Gary was a frequent target of bullying, too, and Chett never hesitated to make lewd comments at Lisa. All of this was to make it quite pleasing to see him suffer various magical pranks and abuse. Over time, though, he displays more sympathetic traits that develop his character, such as how Parental Neglect shaped his behavior (a recurring theme), bonding with Wyatt over a love of wrestling ("Men in Tights"), his desire for a family member he can relate to ("Dead Can Dance"), and his brief time as an actual superhero ("Rock Hard Chett"). After learning Lisa is a genie, he becomes much more sociable and nicer to the group, if still insulting at times. He also demonstrates genuine feelings for Lisa.
• Why Women Kill: Simone starts out as a haughty, shallow woman who's very rude to most people. However, over the course of the series she grows into a much nicer person, and even becomes a philanthropist.
• The Wilds:
  • Ivan goes from an abrasive and judgmental teenager whose own character flaws sometimes blind him to the suffering of other people, even those who have more social privilege than him, to someone who becomes more tender and empathetic to the needs of others. By the end of the second season, Ivan seems to have become Vitriolic Best Buds with Kirin despite everything.
  • Scotty initially begins with an Us vs. Them mentality in regards to the group and wants to hide food away from everyone but Bo. However, he gradually starts to become a team player and becomes more mindful of his best friend.
• In Wizards of Waverly Place, the case is arguable for Alex since she grew more evil, but she does grow more responsible and bit more caring too. An example is when she is put into Larytate's Happy Helpers's she finds are a joke and actually turns the club into something that actually is helpful.
• Young Sheldon: Missy becomes much less bratty starting in season five, likely as a result of both maturity and her family's struggles humbling her. She still likes to tease Sheldon, however.

---