History WhatMeasureIsAMook / LiveActionTV

* In ''[[Series/AgentsofSHIELD Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]]'' no one raised any objections to a handful of guards just doing their jobs getting killed to get a drug they needed to [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality save one of their own team members]]. Which is especially jarring when Coulson is horrified enough just at the suggestion of killing [[spoiler: Victoria Hand]] that it makes him realize [[spoiler: Agent Garret]] is the evil mastermind.
** In this particular case, the guards were actually working for the good guys. Since Hydra had no knowledge of where the T.A.H.I.T.I. project was, those guards must have been loyal to Fury.
** Somewhat acknowledged by Coulson, who later calls the guards "good men" who "laid down their lives" to protect the drug. Granted, he never acknowledges that ''he'' helped take those lives...

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In Season 5, Gunn, losing his legal upgrade, makes a deal with Dr. Sparrow to permanently improve it by signing a Customs release form to get something out of it. That something turns out to be [[SealedEvilInACan Illyria's sarcophagus]], and her essence escapes and infects Fred, killing her and turning her body into Illyria's avatar. In the next episode, when he's found out by Wesley, Gunn confesses that he was fully prepared for something terrible to happen in exchange for Sparrow fixing the upgrade... as long as it wasn't to anyone he knew.
-->'''Gunn''': I didn't think it'd be one of us. I didn't think it'd be Fred.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': In Season 5, Gunn, losing his legal upgrade, makes a deal with Dr. Sparrow to permanently improve it in exchange for improving it, by signing a Customs release form to get something out of it. That something turns out to be [[SealedEvilInACan Illyria's sarcophagus]], and her essence escapes and infects Fred, killing her and turning her body into Illyria's avatar. In the next episode, when he's found out by Wesley, Gunn confesses that he was fully prepared for something terrible to happen in exchange for Sparrow fixing the upgrade... as long as it wasn't to anyone he knew.

** Horrifically shown in Season 5 episode 9, [[spoiler:Prometheus has recreated one of "The Hood's" kills from a flashback set early in Season 1, every single dead mook is replaced with another person, freshly killed in the same manner, the only one not dead at the new scene is the boss, who has been replaced by a very much alive [[BigBad Prometheus]]]].

* ''Series/KnightRider'': Occurred at least once where a young child was playing with a beach ball in the garden of the kidnapper, and the mook in question was entertaining her. There was no real communication - just a few minutes of play and him passing the ball back to her, but given that this guy had been ''quite ready to seriously hurt someone'' in the other room and was portrayed as a bit of a silent badass... yeah.

** Averted around the time of Season 3, where this is discussed during the [[Recap/ArrowS3E8TheBraveAndTheBold Arrow half]] of the ''Series/FlashVsArrow'' crossover. Barry asks whether Oliver killed a room full of mooks, where Oliver then clarifies he used a sedative arrows, the same one he used on Barry during their [[LetsHimAndYouFight battle]] in [[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E8FlashVsArrow The Flash side]] of the crossover.

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': The title character will slaughter any mostly harmless Mook on the way to the horrifyingly evil BigBad, but when he gets there, he usually spares the villain and preaches a BrokenAesop.

** Also Played With. In the earlier seasons (where Oliver was very willing to kill) he usually needed the high-profile criminals alive so they could reverse the damage they'd done. In later seasons, it appears that Oliver kills mooks left, right, and center while still adopting ThouShaltNotKill towards named characters, but [[FreezeFrameBonus closer analysis]] reveals that he usually uses sedative-syringe arrows.
** Horrifically shown in Season 5 episode 9, [[spoiler:Prometheus has recreated one of "The Hood's" kills from a flashback set early in Season 1, every single dead mook is replaced with another person, freshly killed in the same manner, the only one not dead at the new scene is the boss, who has been replaced by a very much alive [[BigBad Prometheus]] ]].

* ''Series/TheAvengers'': Steed and Mrs. Peel typically kill half a dozen or more mooks and henchmen without breaking a sweat (or a nail). They're quite indiscriminate, though: the BigBad usually gets killed just as unceremoniously.

* ''Series/RobinHood'': Mostly {{averted|Trope}} in the BBC series, where Robin, tired of war, deliberately avoids killing anyone, including {{Mook}}s (and the Sheriff is GenreSavvy enough to notice, so he doesn't take Robin's threats seriously). He breaks the rule several times, such as when he slaughters dozens of the Sheriff's men when he thinks that Marian is dead, or killing a few Arab assassins trying to kill King Richard.

** As part of her journey to becoming the Doctor's DistaffCounterpart, Clara Oswald in "The Magician's Apprentice" not only overlooks the fact Missy (aka the Master after a GenderBender) has just killed a number of UNIT personnel, she immediately agrees to team up with her in order to locate the Doctor.
** Another controversial and glaring example is "Resurrection of the Daleks", where the Fifth Doctor kills several Daleks personally throughout the story and unleashes a biological weapon on them at the end, but can't bring himself to shoot Davros when he has the chance.

* Brilliantly averted in ''Series/SixFeetUnder''. Even though the deaths that open every episode usually happen to characters who are never seen before or after, they're all given personalities and backstories, which usually become crucial plot points in the corresponding episode.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In Season 5, Buffy kills several members of the [[ChurchMilitant Knights of Byzantium]] in the process of protecting her sister. But she can't bring herself to kill Glory, the hellgod who wants to sacrifice her sister because he was using Ben's body, and killing Glory would kill Ben as well, and eventually [[spoiler:[[PoisonousFriend Giles]] has to do it for her.]]
--> "She's a hero, you see. She's not like us."\\
"Us?"

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': This show is almost bipolar with this trope (along with WhatMeasureIsANonHuman), not helped at all by the Doctor's personality varying wildly DependingOnTheWriter or [[TheNthDoctor the actor]]. The most obvious example is his repeated attempts to save the Master, despite easily (if reluctantly) killing anywhere from several dozen to several ''million'' nameless enemies in numerous other episodes.
** Somewhat better justified these days, since The Master is literally the only other surviving member of his race...
** Also FoeYay. They ''did'' used to be friends, after all, and both the Doctor and the Master appear to remember those days fondly.