We don't want to clog this thread since Surprisingly Realistic Outcome is an Overdosed Trope. Before posting here, check if the example you're analyzing qualifies for summary deletion from the three criteria below by keeping this trope's rigorous definition in mind.
- Does the example involve Applied Phlebotinum (Functional Magic, Science Fiction, Artistic Licence) or a character reaction? If so, it instantly violates the definition's second bullet point's realism requirements, and you should delete it without question.
- Is the example a Discussed Trope or an instance of Conversational Troping? If so, it violates the definition's third bullet point's emphasis on only counting outcomes, and you should delete it without question.
- Considering the definitions, would the example qualify better for Deconstructed Trope or Deconstructed Character Archetype from the trope page's rules? If so, move it to the appropriate one on the spot.
If the example survived all three tests, it satisfies the second and third bullet points, so you don't need to change it immediately. If you feel like it meets the first bullet point's requirements for being surprising, you can leave it. However, if you believe it doesn't meet the first bullet point or aren't sure, talk it over in the cleanup thread before deciding.
Many Stock Phrases you'll see used in this thread describe a particular type of misuse:
- Not surprising. — The outcome described isn't a Bait-and-Switch and merely follows expected genre conventions.
- Plot happens. — The example merely describes an event or series of events but not why we would expect something different.
- Too fantastical. — The causes/outcome described included the presence of stuff Impossible in Real Life such as Applied Phlebotinum, Functional Magic, or Science Fiction, meaning they're too unrealistic by default.
- No character reactions. — The outcome involves a character reacting in a certain way or having certain emotions, which we can't gauge the realism of because people's emotional reactions vary far too much.
- Not realistic. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin, but this one requires you to write a short description for why it isn't realistic.
- Too implausible. — The outcome describes an outcome that happened because of things too unlikely to count as relatively realistic compared to what they were subverting.
- Cuttable ZCE. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Not an outcome. — The example is either a Discussed Trope, Lampshade Hanging, Conversational Troping, or happens over too much time to be momentary.
- Too unclear. — The example is too convoluted or obtuse to judge.
- Irrelevant. — The example describes stuff utterly irrelevant to the definition of SRO.
- Bad indentation. — Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Old OP
I've been noticing a lot of Surprisingly Realistic Outcome misuse lately, from instances of Gameplay and Story Segregation to Awesome, but Impractical, and I thought a cleanup thread could help out a little.
A big thing I've noticed is that it's often used for anything remotely realistic, or something that's realistic but doesn't necessarily affect the story. Another problem is that the trope seems to be cherry-picked, where any instance of reality ensuing is put there, as well as when another trope could serve the example better.
Problematic examples from one sample page, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Disney Animated Series:
"Despite his attempts Wander can't make friends with Dominator who constantly rebuffs his friendly gestures throughout season 2. Even at the end of everything, she still refuses. Sylvia even lampshades it, telling him some people are just like that."
"Spider-Man's fight against Sandman and Rhino, where Spidey uses Rhino's weight against him. rather than fighting him directly."
"Beshte gets sunburns all over his body and is easily exhausted while he is lost in the Outlands. Justified due to the fact that hippos need water to survive to avoid sunburn and overheating."
"It's heavily implied that being the leader of the Lion Guard has taken a toll on Kion's social and private life."
"Milo Murphy's Law is about a boy named Milo Murphy whose entire life is centered around Murphy's Law. In another cartoon, being The Jinx would cause people to be afraid of them, resulting in an unsocial lifestyle. That does not apply here. While everyone does watch their step around Milo, they do not hate him for it. Being The Jinx does, however, give everyone Paranoia Fuel, given that Murphy's Law can happen at any time, so chances are you might need insurance, a phone in case of emergencies, among other things. Milo himself (as well as his friends Melissa and Zack) just learned to adapt to his condition, being prepared for anything. He has lived with Murphy's Law his entire life after all. That being said, that does not mean that they don't panic all the time. Examples include Milo panicking over his monthly doctor's note, and Melissa panicking over riding a rollercoaster with Milo."
" Hiro is initially not allowed to use Tadashi's former lab, as it can only be accessed by upperclassmen who earned the privilege. Subverted in the second half of the pilot when Professor Granville decides Hiro using the lab would benefit him. On a related note regarding Granville, she is tough, but fair when interacting with the students. She might be, as Wasabi describes "a hard case", but Granville being a complete sadist and picking on Hiro would be unrealistic. She is actually a decent person."
-Edited with permission from the OP-
Edited by lalalei2001 on Aug 10th 2022 at 5:47:25 AM
HotelCalifornia
Since: Jan, 2011
#2326: Dec 6th 2023 at 4:18:31 PM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
How exactly is the As the World Turns example just "plot happens"? It's fairly common in TV shows, especially soap operas, for characters to look no worse for wear if they've been kidnapped, so them actually looking dishevelled is a valid example.
ArthurEld
Since: May, 2014
#2327: Dec 6th 2023 at 4:32:53 PM
That wouldnt be SRO, though.
That's just an Aversion of Beauty Is Never Tarnished.
#2328: Dec 6th 2023 at 6:15:45 PM
So are all my other rulings correct or does anyone else have something to add?
Edited by CelestialDraco on Dec 7th 2023 at 6:11:33 AM
#2329: Dec 10th 2023 at 7:42:48 PM
- Free!:
- When Haruka encounters Rin in their old abandoned school, they immediately start gearing up for an epic swimming match. This is interrupted when they discover why their friends were trying to stop them: the pool that hasn't been used in years has no water in it. They narrowly avert Empty Swimming Pool Dive. Valid
- In episode 5, the group wanted to go to a deserted island to train, but they couldn't go right off the bat because of their lack of money. Even Ama-chan mentioned that clubs automatically having money to go places only happens in anime and manga. Plot happens
- The Iwatobi members only had a few weeks to train before their first tournament. None of them make it past their individual prelims. Not surprising
- In Episode 12, Rei gives his spot in the Butterfly leg of the relay to Rin. The Iwatobi team wins, but they're disqualified for putting another school's swimmer on their team. Plot happens
- During the beginning of Season 2, the gang tries to market their club to the incoming freshmen, but they're not quite sure how to do it. Gou suggests (and implements) the swim team showing off their strokes and their " charm points" to get people interested. Which would be fine itself, but with the added bonus of stripping onstage to do the aforementioned actions. It only puts potential hopefuls off, and they turn their attention towards other clubs. In fact they only start getting results after Iwatobi's swim team wins nationals, showing that the team is capable and worth their time. You can't win everyone over with Fanservice. Character reaction
- For a more dramatic turn, Sousuke's shoulder injury only got worse and worse the more he pushed himself and worked harder at swimming. Even going to physical therapy didn't help much, because at that point his shoulder was beyond repair. It continued until he basically wrecked his shoulder and dashed any hope of making it back to professional swimming ever again. Not an outcome
#2330: Dec 11th 2023 at 9:11:18 AM
- Arrowverse: A.R.G.U.S. & Task Force X: Not having the resources available to a billionaire like Oliver, she tries to reuse the arrows she's just used to to kill mooks in "The Sin-Eater," despite being a wanted fugitive on a timetable. Valid
- Liza Warner: We don't have time for that Cutter.Cupid: Are you kidding me? These things are expensive.
#2331: Dec 11th 2023 at 8:54:53 PM
Found this example on My New Boss Is Goofy that I'm unsure of:
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Momose's story proves a bittersweet fact: quitting a job where the environment was hostile and your superior did nothing but harass you is a huge step in the right direction. But even with the assurance that you've moved into a company that's nothing but welcoming and healthy, getting rid of the trauma from your previous job is easier said than done.
#2332: Dec 12th 2023 at 2:04:32 PM
- Kamen Rider:
- Kamen Rider Gaim:
- Kaito and Kouta, the only two Riders who consistently use multiple forms with wildly different weapons, use their new weapons awkwardly at first due to having no combat experience or training yet. Kaito's Character Tic even reflects this, as he uses weapons in a way that they were not intended, such as slashing with a spear. Plot happens
- In several of the early Kamen Rider shows, the Monsters of the Week were often normal humans who had been kidnapped and experimented on by the bad guys. Despite this, the heroes rarely had any qualms about killing them, and the shows almost never presented this as wrong or morally questionable. When Kouta finds out that many of the Inves he's been destroying were transformed humans, and that the first one he killed used to be his friend, he's left traumatized and disgusted over what he's done. Character reaction
- Kaito's had the belief that only the strong will survive and the weak will perish for a long time. At the end of the series, even with all the Character Development he's gone through, Kaito still believes the world's like this and wants to create a new world where the weak can live in peace. As with several other examples on this page, people dropping long-held beliefs, no matter how unhealthy, is much rarer than TV would have you believe. Character reaction
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: In a deconstruction of Heroic Second Wind, Taiga goes against an enemy completely out of his league and continues on fighting long after he has been proven to be outmatched. Even getting knocked out of suit doesn't stop him. Then he gets hit and goes down with injuries that require an immediate life-saving operation. Deconstructed Trope
- In the Gemn vs. Lazer V-Cinema, Kuroto unleashes what's essentially a Zombie Apocalypse, with the incentive that every zombie killed will revive someone who was lost to the Bugster Virus. Kuroto finds himself disappointed when everyone, aside from a few desperate people, reacts how people normally would during a pandemic or disaster: by locking themselves inside their homes until the disaster blows over. Character reaction to fantastical events
- Kamen Rider Ghost: At one point, Takeru has to fight a monster that specializes in electrical attacks, so he goes with a form that uses two swords. He ends up making the fight much shorter, since he was essentially charging at it while holding two large lightning rods in his hands. Too fantastical
- Kamen Rider Zi-O: In Kamen Rider Ryuki, the ORE Journal was an online publication in the early days of the internet that relied on tips sent in by its readers. When Zi-O revisits the series twenty years later, it's revealed that the ORE Journal has gone out of business since the people who used to send in tips now just post them to their social media accounts. Technology Marches On
- Kamen Rider Revice: The title character's brother Daiji is plagued by a split personality, one good and one evil. About halfway through the show, the two personalities get temporarily split into two bodies so they can fight it out and see which one will survive, with the good side triumphing... but shooting your split personality in the head is not a healthy way of resolving your psychological issues, and the remaining personality becomes increasingly erratic and unhinged. Too fantastical
- Kamen Rider Gaim:
- Scrubs:
- The show keeps emphasizing one cardinal rule: never cross the nurses. The doctors may do the diagnoses, but the nurses are the real backbone of the hospital managing the charts and procedures. Carla likes J.D. because he means well and is roommates with her new flame Turk, but J.D. is consistently nice to her and paid severe consequences in the one episode where he told her off in a fit of anger. After that, he never gets mad at her again. Elliott is a completely other story: she tries shaming Carla for wearing a thong and hooking up with Turk during their first conversation, and when Carla was comforting her no less about casual sexism in the hospital. Later she blames a faulty procedure on Carla, throwing her under the bus, and is too oblivious to realize she had put her foot inside her mouth. Carla's anger makes it clear she has seen this nonsense before, and the nurses become hostile to Elliott for a while. She needs to make a great effort to keep her mouth shut, not steal credit or offer blame, and actually treat Carla like a human being, before they all forgive her. Plot happens
- On the other hand, in a later episode Carla argues with Elliot's preferred course of treatment and convinces her to use an alternative medication which has an (admittedly small) risk of allergic reaction. The patient does indeed suffer that reaction and Elliot yells at Carla for arguing with her. Turk candidly tells Carla that Elliot was right: Carla may be older, more experienced and the Team Mom of their group, but ultimately Elliot is the doctor and she doesn't have to listen to Carla or any other nurse. The next time they work together, Carla is much more respectful to Elliot and her decisions. Character reaction
Turk: Baby, outside this hopsital you're the boss of Elliot, and you're the boss of me, baby you the boss of everybody. But in here Elliot is the doctor and what she says goes. - On some other dramedy shows, a nurse like Carla might be expected to receive over the course of a decade long run, some Character Development involving her studying to become a Doctor and eventually becoming a peer of the Doctor main characters. Nothing even close to this happens. Carla stays as a nurse the entire run of the show, never shows any desire to attempt the arduous and expensive training required to become a Doctor, and even her non-work life characterisation doesn't really change unlike JD or Elliot, who are both young and suffering from a kind of delayed emotional development because of how the work they'd put in to become Doctors kept them from forming relationships. Character reaction
- Two episodes dealt with JD finding a patient he really liked being diagnosed with cancer and hoping the tests were wrong. At first, this seemed to be the case, but it turned out he was just imagining it and the diagnosis was correct. Not an outcome
- This is why Elliott and J.D. didn't work out at first; she was too ambitious for his liking, and he was interested in her when she kept herself away from him. Their hookups became chemical explosions, something Turk and Carla noted. This played to the logical extreme where she sabotaged her long-term relationship with Sean to jump into bed with J.D., and broke up with Sean when J.D. admitted he loved her. Over the next few seasons, they rebuilt their platonic bond, and Elliott tones down her ambitious side to focus on loving herself. J.D. in the meantime works hard as a doctor and to build a life with the people he loves. When they do consider going back together, they talk about their issues, and their baggage. Kelso then inserts himself in and tells them not to worry about what others think, figure out what they think. They get back together, with none of their conflict from before. Not an outcome
- It's revealed that Dr. Kelso hates having to be the Big Bad of the hospital, and that he is a Necessary Evil. Of course Kelso entered this field once and was a bright-eyed as J.D.; he became friends with doctors who are much nicer in old age because they lack his responsibility. As the Chief of Medicine, he has to enforce the rules of an unfair system and make sure the hospital is turning a profit. When learning one of his favorite colleagues ordered an intern to perform an outdated, potentially dangerous procedure, he fires him in the case of Cruel to Be Kind because it is harmful for the patients and they can't afford the lawsuits. He also has to make the hard decisions, like determine that a wealthy donor getting into an experimental program is more worthwhile in the long-term than denying someone whom Cox personally begged as a favor to receive the treatment; J.D. notices that Kelso is actually troubled about the decision. When he retires, Kelso Took a Level in Kindness; when he spends his time at Sacred Heart, he's doing it as a respected visitor without the responsibility. He recommends Dr. Cox for the job, but Kelso warns him and Jordan that it will not be a bed of roses and he will hate having to make the hard decisions. Dr. Cox finds this out the hard way, that J.D. now has to be his conscience, and he is angry at himself for not being able to perform one hundred percent and more understanding of what Kelso was doing. Not an outcome
- You can't be nice all the time if you are the boss. J.D. tries to be a people-pleaser when in charge of interns, only for them to undermine his authority. Turk even mentions that J.D. can't keep going around doing what other people want. Dr. Cox stops being nice after spending time with his son is making him happy, because none of the residents are paying attention to learning about life-saving lectures. They both need to be strict at times, to get the hospital work done. Character reaction
- In "My Lunch" Doctor Cox kills three patients after giving them organs infected with rabies. Earlier, he made a point to JD that once you start blaming yourself for a patient's death, it's the end. Doctor Cox blames himself in particular for the third patient who could have survived for some time, and JD tries a Rousing Speech that is a Call-Back to the earlier point. Cox simply agrees that he blames himself. Then he walks out. Character reaction
- Under Dr. Kelso, who openly didn't care what hospital employees did as long as the money rolled in and he got to enjoy the perks of his job, the Janitor was allowed to torment JD unchecked, to the point of imprisoning him in a water tower for a day. After Kelso retires he is replaced by Dr. Maddox, who actually acts like an administrator. When she sees the Janitor trip JD in the hallway, and discovers that his name badge says "The Janitor", she is furious and fires him on the spot, and when he comes in the next day as if nothing happened, she has him escorted out. Character reaction
- In that same episode, she fires "Jimmy, the Overly Touchy Orderly", since no sane manager would let anyone who consistently gropes and massages his coworkers stay in his job. Character reaction
- When Maddox herself is fired, she angrily points out that she spent a lot of time finding a house and a school for her kid and has now been left in the lurch. TV rarely, if ever addresses the many factors involved in moving to take a new job. Character reaction
- "My Story IV" shows that the hospital staff's constant antics, left unchecked, distract them from their jobs and put the patients in danger. Dr. Kelso finds out that a stint of being nice endangers everyone while bonding with a veteran, and has to be the bad guy to restore order. Plot happens
- Ed, one of the interns from the later seasons is incredibly lazy, which annoys Dr. Cox, but he's also the smartest of the new interns. He sincerely tells Dr. Cox to let him know when he falls behind. After a few episodes, however, the rest of the interns have caught up and surpassed him, while he still refuses to keep studying. Seeing that he still has no drive, Dr. Cox fires him. Character reaction
- In an early episode, Turk and Carla get sick of JD intruding on their romantic moments and kick him out of the apartment. However, once he is gone they are at a total loose end since they each spent most of their free time with JD, who happily did things with each of them that the other wouldn't. At the end of the episode, they welcome JD home, who jokes that they couldn't last a week without him, at which point they simultaneously realize that they have almost no shared interests and can't live together without a buffer, and have serious relationship problems which they spend several episodes addressing. Character reaction
- In another early episode, one of J.D.'s fellow interns named Nick seems like the perfect doctor, especially the perfect TV doctor: Nick has extremely thorough medical knowledge, cares deeply about patients, is smart, good looking, and has a great bedside manner. However, Nick has to treat a young boy and realizes that nothing he tries is working, and the boy keeps getting sicker. Nick is unable to deal with the fact that it's only a matter of time before the boy dies, and it drives him first to a Heroic BSoD and then to leave Sacred Heart. In real-life medicine, especially if you're working in a hospital, it doesn't matter how good a doctor or nurse you are, some patients can't be saved, and you have to be able to accept and deal with that. If you don't have the emotional strength/resources to be able to cope with people dying, it doesn't matter how good you are at everything else, you will break down or burn out, and such burnout is extremely prevalent in real life. Character reaction
- In a season three episode, Ben Sullivan reappears. He spent his remission traveling the world, and blithely tells his ex-brother-in-law that he hasn't seen a doctor in the two years since he was treated. Dr. Cox goes Oh, Crap! and tells J.D. to give this man a checkup now and forget all the other patients because there's no knowing if the remission has ended or not. Ben's cancer had returned, and he goes into cardiac arrest when J.D. is checking on him because he hadn't received treatment or kept tabs on it. It turns out that Ben's hallucination tells Dr. Cox this, that J.D. was not responsible for his death because Ben was the idiot. Character reaction
- When Elliot gets cut off by her father in Season Two, she gets angry with her friends when they keep offering her help and insists she can stand on her own. When the truck she was stashing all her things in gets stolen, J.D then leaves to go on a date he'd arranged earlier. When Elliot calls him out on this the next day, J.D responds that Elliot kept telling him not to come to her rescue, so he was just doing when she'd asked him to. Plot happens
- The show keeps emphasizing one cardinal rule: never cross the nurses. The doctors may do the diagnoses, but the nurses are the real backbone of the hospital managing the charts and procedures. Carla likes J.D. because he means well and is roommates with her new flame Turk, but J.D. is consistently nice to her and paid severe consequences in the one episode where he told her off in a fit of anger. After that, he never gets mad at her again. Elliott is a completely other story: she tries shaming Carla for wearing a thong and hooking up with Turk during their first conversation, and when Carla was comforting her no less about casual sexism in the hospital. Later she blames a faulty procedure on Carla, throwing her under the bus, and is too oblivious to realize she had put her foot inside her mouth. Carla's anger makes it clear she has seen this nonsense before, and the nurses become hostile to Elliott for a while. She needs to make a great effort to keep her mouth shut, not steal credit or offer blame, and actually treat Carla like a human being, before they all forgive her. Plot happens
#2333: Dec 14th 2023 at 6:31:11 PM
Can I get some consensus on my last three posts?
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2334: Dec 16th 2023 at 12:33:53 PM
I for one don't disagree with any of those. Though speaking of character reactions, I've been wondering: Does the decision to fire/prosecute someone over things that would usually be forgiven qualify as such? There's lots of that all over the place, such as:
Arrow:
- At the end of the first season, Detective Lance reveals to his superiors that he has been working with the title vigilante and assures them the hero can be trusted. He's promptly suspended and relieved of his badge and gun. In season 2, he is demoted to patrol officer and when he reveals to a superior that he is still in contact with the vigilante, he is promptly arrested.
Or:
King of the Hill
- The end of "Cops and Roberts" has Hank finally get Barry Rollins to calm down so he can explain that he mistakenly took the guy's wallet and the whole thing was just a simple misunderstanding, which he apologizes for. Of course, that doesn't mean Hank is cool with he and his friends being chased down and attacked with a baseball bat:
Officer Brown: Sir, will you be pressing charges?
Hank: Well, hell yeah!
ArthurEld
Since: May, 2014
#2335: Dec 16th 2023 at 3:24:58 PM
I don't think "law enforcement 100% looks the other way" is common enough in fiction for this trope to apply. There are as many times as it does happen as it doesn't.
If anything, criminal misconduct by LE Os and other members of the justice system are punished more in fiction.
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2336: Dec 16th 2023 at 4:08:36 PM
To be fair, it is fairly rare for officers to be disciplined for working with superheroes.
ArthurEld
Since: May, 2014
#2337: Dec 16th 2023 at 4:22:02 PM
Perhaps, but since that's purely a genre thing, I don't think it would qualify under SRO.
It's like saying superpowers function "more realistically" or "less realistically" in various works. Since they're not realistic to begin with, either way it wouldn't fall under the purview of this trope.
#2338: Dec 17th 2023 at 5:58:44 AM
And now, SRO is no longer an Overdosed Trope.
Live-Action TV T to Z
- Ted Lasso:
- In the Big Game at the end of Season One, aging former great Roy Kent pushes himself past his limits to chase down and tackle a young upstart. He succeeds, but also blows out his bad knee and has to leave the pitch. At the start of the next season it's revealed that he had to retire because he could have been crippled for life if he tried to keep playing. Indeed, in a later episode when he tries to run he aggravates his knee again to the point he can't even bend it and can only slowly hobble along in pain. Plot happens
- In Season Two, former Jerk Jock Jamie Tartt convinces Ted that he genuinely wants to become a better person and is brought back to Richmond AFC. This causes significant friction within the locker room, as the other players have not forgiven him for single-handedly getting the team relegated back in Season One, not to mention all the bullying he subjected them to. Jamie tries to make a sincere and heartfelt apology but they still refuse to accept it as they have no reason to believe he's changed. He only earns their respect when he takes part in Sam's protest against the team's top sponsor, actually sticking his neck out for somebody else. Character reaction
- In professional sports, the differences between the tiers of teams in even single leagues can cause issues with players & coaches not being suited to a better or worse position than they were previously in. Not only is Ted completely inexperienced in football coaching, he is also inexperienced in coaching professional players. He ends up getting the club relegated, he also struggles to find the way to motivate his pro players compared to his former amateur college gridiron players. Plot happens
- Richmond were relegated the season before by Manchester City. In the next they go on a deep FA Cup run, including defeating Tottenham in the quarter final. They get drawn in the semi-final against Manchester City and a revenge plot is built up. Richmond get annihilated 5-0. An underdog team is the underdog for a reason and being highly motivated to win doesn't mean you can't lose. Valid
- Teen Wolf:
- Stiles always gets up to some serious shenanigans like stealing police property and kidnapping one of his fellow students... which then causes his dad, the town Sheriff, to lose his job. Valid
- Scott always misses out on school due to being a werewolf... which causes him to have terrible grades and risk being held back a year. Too fantastical
- The Beacon Hills police, specifically Sheriff Stilinski, have a lot of trouble closing cases due to most homicides having to do with the supernatural - which the police obviously have no experience with. At the start of season 3B, Agent McCall is looking to impeach the sheriff due to his seeming inability to do his job. Too fantastical
- In "The Fox and the Wolf":
Sheriff Stilinski: I don't know how you guys do it. You're all so strong. You're fearless. Hell, you manage to keep your grades up.Allison: Well, I'm failing Econ. Not an outcome- Thanks to all the damage it took in Season 3, the hospital is starting to have money issues. Not an outcome
- Likewise, Sheriff Stilinski is having trouble paying off the debt he owes to Eichen House in Season 4 after Stiles was placed there in the previous season. Plot happens
- Lydia's mother is getting a job as a teacher and plans to sell off her mother-in-law's weekend house due to money issues caused by her recent divorce. Not an outcome
- An assassin is poised to shoot Stiles, and Agent McCall is forced to shoot him first. In the next episode, we see him going through the procedures to prove that lethal force was necessary in that situation, and he has to leave town for review. Plot happens
- All the supernatural dangers take their toll on newly turned werewolf Liam, who suffers from anxiety and nightmares as a result. Too fantastical
- The latest season has everyone in town being used by a shapeshifter and having their fear of the unknown heightened. When Liam is suspected of being a creature, he spends most of the day being harassed by his fellow teammates before being brutally beaten in front of his classmates for a long time with no one stopping it until the coach intervenes. Too fantastical
- Meanwhile, Scott learns that the newest hunter hates the werewolves due to an incident in season five: After seeing the Beast kill a bunch of people in a bus, Scott and the others went after it...and didn't check for survivors. As such, she was left to fend for herself until the sheriff arrived. Character reaction
- In the series finale, Monroe ends up escaping and moves on to create a worldwide organization of hunters against the supernaturals, targeting innocent people in the process. Why? Because Scott and his friends still have their Thou Shalt Not Kill rules in play, and they left her alive. Not surprising
- The Alpha twins tried to join Scott's pack after falling out with Deucalion. However, there was no quick forgiveness: Scott and Stiles were unsure whether to trust them, and Lydia broke up with one of them after his part in Boyd's death. Issac was the one who hated them the most, and even tried to murder them at one point to avenge both Boyd and Erica. Meanwhile, no one has forgiven or trusted Peter. Character reaction
- In 30 Rock, Tracy is extremely proud of his tendency to "drop truth bombs"; essentially calling people out on racism, rudeness, or other personal failings (real or perceived). Midway through season one, Jack points out that this tendency is why he can't get any work outside of TGS; he can't get through any serious negotiation or arguments without accusing someone else of bigotry, with the result that no one wants to work with him and movie backers blacklist in retribution for him being so rude and blunt to them. Character reaction
- A recurring theme throughout the series is Liz attempting to mimic Murphy Brown, viewing it as the ultimate ideal of feminism, only to have reality come cruelly crashing down on her when it turns out that the real world doesn't function like a female empowerment sitcom from the nineties. Her Establishing Character Moment has her attempting to make a dramatic stand against a man cutting in line at a hot dog stand and expecting to be praised, only to instead make herself look like a weirdo throwing a childish fit over something completely trivial. Character reaction and not an outcome if it's a recurring theme
- In the season 2 finale, Pete shoots the head page in the leg with an arrow to help out Kenneth, whom the page was attempting to restrain to keep him from submitting an important paper. In the first episode of season 3, the incident is brought up and it's revealed that Pete actually got into a lot of trouble for basically assaulting the guy and had to go through two months of anger management and community service to keep his job. Valid
- Kenneth's feud with head page Donny began when Jenna destroyed Kenneth's jacket, and in order to get a new one, Kenneth had to beat him in a "page off". Every page gathered in a basement to watch them, but just before the contest could start, Pete walked in to shut it down and simply ordered the head page to replace Kenneth's jacket. Valid
Pete: What, are you kidding me? This is a billion dollar company! Demerits? Donny, give Kenneth the damn jacket!
- Liz "exposes" a new writer who is very provocative and sexy, because Liz thinks she's hurting the idea of female comedy writers. It's very quickly shown that the new writer had changed her identity because of an insane ex. The expose was made public and the ex quickly finds & sends death threats to the office, causing the writer to have to leave and completely change her identity again. Plot happens
- In addition to the reason listed above, Tracey Jordan can’t get work outside of TGS is the same reason whenever Jenna DOES get work, it is very schlocky, B list projects that her coworkers have no interest in: they are not good actors. Just because you are famous, that does not mean you’re going to get the best of best projects. There are lots of other actors out there that are much more talented, and do not bring the personal baggage and drama that Tracey and Jenna do. Plot happens
- The Thundermans:
- Max and Phoebe get into a fight with a trio of delinquent girls. One of the girls snaps a broom over her knee to make an Improvised Weapon for herself and her friend. Max tries to do the same, and only succeeds in hurting his knee, doing no damage to the broom. Valid
- "Four Supes And A Baby" uses a stock-sitcom plot of Max, Nora, and Billy accidentally kidnapping Phoebe's date's baby brother thinking it the doll Nora brought with her. Naturally they go through the antics to make the switch without him noticing. After they make the switch, it's revealed that Phoebe's date was turned off by her erratic behavior she displayed while stalling him and dumps her. Phoebe then proceeds to tell the truth of what happened, he's only more furious at them she withheld something that serious even if it was an honest mistake. Deconstruction and character reaction
- On Timeless, Rufus complains that "I'm a black and literally no place in American history will be awesome for me." Sure enough, in their very first mission to 1937, he has to ride the back of the bus and gets attacked by racist cops. Too implausible
- In 1865, black soldiers quickly figure out Rufus isn't really a soldier because his costume looks too new and he can't come up with details on his military past. Plot happens
- Rufus is able to save the life of Andrew Johnson in the past. When he gets back to the present, he discovers that it was credited to a white soldier instead. Plot happens
- While Rufus is prepared for the racism of the past, Lucy is often taken aback by the blatant sexism of periods. When she tries to open a bank account in the 1920s, she finds that's impossible without a husband or father with her. In the 1960s, she's stuck posing as a secretary and putting up with snide remarks of her male boss which the other women just accept as the way of life. Even in places as late as the mid-1970s, Lucy is thrown by how poorly a woman is treated. Not an outcome
- Rufus stands up to Rittenhouse by saying he won't be their spy, saying they can't do anything to him as he's the only one who can pilot the time machine Lifeboat and they need him. Rittenhouse's reply is to order Mason to start training a replacement pilot. Character reaction
- The team realize Rittenhouse plans to disrupt the 19th Amendment being passed. They're surprised when Emma agrees to help them. Emma may be a loyal Rittenhouse agent but she's also a woman and isn't going to agree with a plan that can rob her of equal rights. Character reaction
- Like the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon example above, a villain from the Dekaranger movie was pragmatic enough to shoot Dekagold soon after transforming, with the implication if she hadn't done so at that time, she would've died. Character reaction
- In a The Tracey Ullman Show skit, a woman is alerted to the fact that her outgoing answering machine message is terrible. So she hires a band to record an elaborate new one. The next day, all of her "messages" are a series of clicks and dial tones, because of course everyone who called got fed up waiting for the song to end and hung up. Character reaction
- Twenties: Hattie and Ida become lovers, while being very different from each other. Often this would still be shown to work out swimmingly even so. However, they struggle due to their differences, with Ida also wanting to keep their relationship a secret initially. They later break up. Character reaction
- 24:
- Throughout the series, Jack suffers all sorts of injuries and somehow manages to keep fighting the good fight in spite of it. In the final episode of Day 8, he's accumulated several wounds throughout the course of the season such as a stab wound in the gut and a gunshot in the shoulder and is about to be executed by one of Charles Logan's enforcers. He rouses up enough strength to make an escape attempt and starts fighting the guy off... and his injuries prove too much for him keep up with the man, who simply takes advantage of it to overpower him. It's only through Chloe and President Taylor's literal last-second intervention that he gets saved. Detrimental Determination
- Also, in Day 8, he murdered a Russian foreign minister. Understandably enough, the Russians want their own revenge on Jack, and on the final episode of Day 9, having mobilized their entire force against him, they succeed at capturing him. Character reaction
- At the end of Day 6, rogue Chinese agent Cheng Zhi is taken prisoner by CTU, but defiantly shouts that the Chinese government won't abandon him and will get him out as he's being led away to confinement. In Day 9, we discover that his country did indeed abandon him. It doesn't matter if you were previously a loyal operative to your government, if you start resorting to heinous acts that could be considered acts of war like collaborating with a known terrorist like Philip Bauer or kidnapping and torturing the Secretary of Defense's daughter, your country is going to immediately consider you a traitor and write you off like it's nothing. Unfortunately, Cheng refuses to take any responsibility for this and decides to orchestrate a war between the U.S. and China in retaliation. Character reaction
- The Twilight Zone (1959): In the episode "Spur Of The Moment", a young girl is torn between her "boring" fiance, an investment banker, and her carefree ex, her first love. So she pulls a Runaway Bride to marry the carefree love... and the Flash Forward shows that he's an abusive drunk who's driven the family business and home into the ground because of his incompetence. Plot happens. The carefree lover could have turned out to be a great guy.
- Normally, it doesn't matter how beaten up a hero gets in a Tokusatsu show, as he will be all better in the next episode. Not so in Ultraman Nexus, where Tragic Hero Himeya Jun constantly gets injured when fighting as Ultraman against giant monsters, which causes him to get weaker as the series progresses. Another example of this trope is that certain episodes focus on the victims of monster attacks, who are actually fairly traumatized because of said attack. Not an outcome and character reaction
- The Umbrella Academy (2019):
- Viktor Hargreeves has been on mood-stabilizing drugs for an anxiety disorder since childhood, up until Leonard steals his prescription and talks him into doing without it as part of a Confidence Building Scheme. The resulting personality shift is initially framed as a good thing, for as the drugs wear off, Viktor becomes more openly emotional and more confident; and it looks like his life is finally going to improve. Unfortunately, Going Cold Turkey on mood stabilizers results in Viktor suffering from some very negative side-effects including aggression, poor judgement, panic attacks, crippling fits of grief and guilt, even violence. Consequently, the apparent "loner coming out of his shell" plot takes a hard-left turn into the logical consequences of over twenty years of unnecessary drugging and several days of hard withdrawal. Not an outcome
- Number Five frequently subjects himself to DIY surgery for various superficial wounds, seemingly ignoring pain through sheer willpower - all the more startling considering his apparent age. However, in the finale of "The Day That Wasn't," Five narrowly escapes a massive explosion at close range and attempts to power through the logical side-effects in the next episode as he always does... only to end up collapsing with a shrapnel wound to his chest and having to be taken home for emergency medical care; no matter how determined you are, there's a limit to how much the human body will put up with before it simply breaks down. Also, you know, there's more to explosions than just fireballs. Detrimental Determination
- The Vampire Diaries:
- No one is close with Klaus, and Rebekah is still hated by most after running Elena off the road and turning her into a vampire. Heck, even Damon is in a similar position: while most tolerate him, Caroline still hates him for his past behavior to the point where she violently opposes his relationship with Elena, and has even nearly ended her friendship with the latter twice. Character reaction
- It also shows how the losing party of a Love Triangle responds to the outcome: While Stefan stated that he was happy for Damon and Elena and even helped them stay together, in truth he carried a lot of resentment for YEARS. This came out in the open in season eight. Character reaction
- Veep:
- Taking a woman who's a self-centered egotist clearly out of her league and her staff of borderline incompetents and elevating them to the White House automatically means plenty of chaos for the United States. Cuttable ZCE
- When Jonah becomes a congressman, his hair-trigger temper and general incompetence soon alienate his colleagues and turn him into a joke. Character reaction
- In season 6, Selina tells Ben she's planning to run for President again. Ben has to brutally lay it out for her: As far as the press and the public are concerned, Selina is the second-least effective President in history (and that's only because William Henry Harrison died a month into office). The party consider her such an embarrassment that not only will they never support her in another run but they don't want her anywhere near the next convention and prospective candidates are pleading not to have Selina endorse them. And no rich donor is crazy enough to take a chance on her as an independent. It's his blunt talk that makes Selina realize her dreams of returning to the White House are just that. Not an outcome
- In the sixth season finale, Selina's diaries are released to the public. Rather than detail all her humiliations, the media instead focuses on how Selina was the one who crafted the Tibetan freedom deal that President Montex took credit for. Instantly, the press and public turn on Montez, her approval ratings plummet and the Nobel committee move to take back her Peace Prize. Meanwhile, Selina is now seen in a much more positive light which lays the groundwork for another run at office. Character reaction
- Victorious had an episode where the gang has to make a video for a school project, only to get distracted by their social media followings. Eventually, they manage to pull themselves together and try to finish their project, thinking they can still get a good grade. Turns out, putting off a project until the last minute doesn't produce the best results. Cuttable ZCE
Edited by CelestialDraco on Dec 17th 2023 at 9:12:28 AM
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2339: Dec 17th 2023 at 12:45:53 PM
In both sports and action, "character shrugs off injuries which should realistically have them out of commission" is common enough that it seems like those would be in a gray area between "valid" and "plot happens".
Most of those look good, although:
Ted Lasso:
In the Big Game at the end of Season One, aging former great Roy Kent pushes himself past his limits to chase down and tackle a young upstart. He succeeds, but also blows out his bad knee and has to leave the pitch. At the start of the next season it's revealed that he had to retire because he could have been crippled for life if he tried to keep playing. Indeed, in a later episode when he tries to run he aggravates his knee again to the point he can't even bend it and can only slowly hobble along in pain. Plot happens
24:
Throughout the series, Jack suffers all sorts of injuries and somehow manages to keep fighting the good fight in spite of it. In the final episode of Day 8, he's accumulated several wounds throughout the course of the season such as a stab wound in the gut and a gunshot in the shoulder and is about to be executed by one of Charles Logan's enforcers. He rouses up enough strength to make an escape attempt and starts fighting the guy off... and his injuries prove too much for him keep up with the man, who simply takes advantage of it to overpower him. It's only through Chloe and President Taylor's literal last-second intervention that he gets saved. Detrimental Determination
In both sports and action, "character shrugs off injuries which should realistically have them out of commission" is common enough that it seems like those would be in a gray area between "valid" and "plot happens".
ArthurEld
Since: May, 2014
#2340: Dec 17th 2023 at 1:30:27 PM
Yeah but that's not surprising realism, that's just not using other tropes like Made of Iron.
Sports also falls into a weird area where, while it's still common for the protagonists to win despite worse coaching, poor equipment and less staff, it's not so common to automatically be SRO when it does.
I think its best judged on a case by case basis. The Ted Lasso one doesnt count because all of season 1 had been about (among other things) the fact that Roy, while still a talented player, was simply too old to keep performing at his past level of excellence, and that he was also too old to bounce back from injury.
It's a joke, but still a valid example that in one scene where Roy headbutts a fellow player in a dark club, he brings up that he doesnt know who it was since he doesnt "see so good at night anymore". Another scene has Nate tell Roy he is simply not as fast or strong as he once was, and Roy doesnt contest this at all.
His injury doesn't feel surprising to the audience because it's been clear that sooner or later something like this would happen.
#2341: Dec 17th 2023 at 2:52:38 PM
Here's the rest. Thought I posted everything with the last post.
V to Z
- Vikings often cheerfully runs on Rule of Cool and having larger than life figures, but sometimes this trope shows up.
- The first battle scene in the show is a neat demonstration of what would happen if a medieval force tried using Hollywood Tactics. A local lord hastily gathers together some men and tries to attack a viking raiding party coming back from a successful raid. They do this by firing a single volley of arrows at the vikings and then wildly charging without either a formation or a plan instead of, say, trying to flank the vikings or advance in a shield wall. The vikings, on the other hand, fight together as a unit using legitimate tactics appropriate for the time. The "battle" is intense for a few minutes but in the end it's almost laughably one-sided; the vikings wipe out the entire Saxon force except for a few commanders who flee on horseback while only suffering two dead. Curb-Stomp Battle
- After the show's first battle Eric, one of Ragnar's best warriors, swears vengeance on King Aelle of Northumbria because his brother was one of those that died in the fight. Sounds like a natural setup to an ongoing plot, especially since those familiar with the sagas know that King Aelle was famously an enemy of Ragnar. Nope, Eric dies just a couple of episodes later, in a completely unrelated conflict with other Norsemen. Surprisingly Sudden Death
- On that note, one might think that Ragnar's early followers from that first raiding crew would continue playing a role in events as time went on, especially since many have a name, a distinct appearance, and/or enough personality quirks to be memorable. Instead they are quickly whittled down one by one, as they keep being thrown into conflicts at home and battles abroad again and again. In the end they were a bunch of ordinary guys from one of many viking raiding parties, and not all of them have big destinies ahead of them. Not an outcome
- Both sides fighting in the Siege of Paris in the end of the third season run headlong into this trope. The Norse assemble a huge army and try to take Paris by force... and find out that Storming the Castle is a really bad idea which results in them suffering horrendous casualties with nothing to show for it. Afterwards the Franks in Paris get hit with this as the Norse settle in for a traditional siege, looking to either find a treacherous way to get inside the defenses or to starve the city into submission. Soon hunger and disease (as a result of people and their livestock being forced into prolonged close proximity within the confines of the city) are ravaging Paris, including the army that would defend it from another assault by the Norse. In the end despite winning the only major battle of the siege, the Franks have to resort to paying the Norse to lift the siege and leave, because attempting to wait out the Norse might result in riots within the city, the plague getting even worse, or the Norse learning just how bad the conditions inside the walls are and getting encouraged to launch another (more successful) assault that would sack the city entirely. Plot happens
- Happens from time to time on Walker, Texas Ranger. Usually, a child or teenage character did something really bad, mostly in a bout of panic, and become so guilt-ridden, they eventually fess up to what really happened. Character reaction
- Season 6's "Test of Faith" detailed Ricardo Lopez, an eighth-grade teacher and one of Walker's former "Kick Drugs" karate students, being murdered by gang members and Walker substituting for him while investigating his murder. One of Lopez's students, Malcolm witnessed the gang kill him and, being too scared to tell the police, brought a gun to protect himself in case they retaliated and started carrying it in his backpack. When one prospective new member of the gang responsible for Lopez's murder is about to shoot Faith Hollister, another student trying to curb gang violence at the school, Malcolm accidentally did the job for him while trying to stop him, but Faith survived and has to undergo rehab to walk again since the bullet hit her spinal column, and Malcolm, after confessing what happened to Walker and tipping him off to the perpetrator, gets off with community service, because he wasn't even old enough to buy a gun in the first place, having purchased it from an unlicensed seller. All in all, had Malcolm just reported Lopez's murder to the police in the first place, Faith wouldn't have gotten hurt. Plot happens
- In Season 7's "Lost Boys", Bobby Landrum, the best friend of Carlos' nephew, Jesse Estrella, hides a gun used for the murder of a Dallas Police detective in Jesse's dresser drawer, and when the owner of the gun, the perpetrator responsible for the murder, demands it back, Jesse's problem goes from bad to worse when his mother and Carlos find the gun first, leading up to him taking the blame for the murder and his mother being kidnapped by the murderers, even the defense attorney was in on the whole thing. Had Bobby just let the police catch him, upon which maybe they'd give him a chance to explain what happened, Jesse wouldn't have taken the blame. Bobby ends up confessing after the fact, the real killers are apprehended, and he and Jesse get 300 hours of community service at the HOPE Center. Plot happens
- Watchmen ended with Rorschach mailing his journal detailing Ozymandias' conspiracy to his favorite publication, The New Frontiersman. Fast forward to the Series set thirty years later, and pretty much everyone dismissed his writing as the ramblings of a deranged Serial Killer published by a right-wing rag for shock value and conspiracy theories. The only ones that did take Rorschach's message at face value were a bunch of racist Western Terrorists called the Seventh Kavalry who misinterpreted it as a white supremacist manifesto, something that Rorschach would have hated were he still alive. Character reaction
- In general, Wednesday is an exploration of how most people would realistically react to a personality like Wednesday Addams.
- The series's opening scene features the title character siccing a school of piranhas on her brother's bullies, injuring at least one of them, in a scene that is 100% Black Comedy. The very next scene reveals that the boy was maimed as a result, forcing Gomez and Morticia to pull their daughter from school, as his parents had threatened to press attempted murder charges. Valid
- While Wednesday is genuinely fond of Enid, for most of the series she also treats Enid with the same casual callousness and disregard as she does everyone else, seemingly without a second thought. Episode 8 features Enid finally growing sick of Wednesday's constant mistreatment and disrespect of her, angrily calling her out for being a bad friend and moving out of their shared dorm room. The same episode has their residential advisor chiding Wednesday for her inability to own up to her own part in her and Enid's friendship falling apart. Character reaction
- Wednesday's self-isolation means that most people are just as wary and distrustful of her as she is with them, resulting in her having very few allies throughout the first season. Character reaction
- Considering The Windsors is an over-the-top, wacky parody that's rarely ever realistic at all, there's a rare example of this trope in action when Harry's switched places for a day with a doppelgänger of his who happens to be the country's leading brain surgeon. Harry, who's dumb as rocks, gets roped into performing a surgery, though receives convenient help from the ghost of King George III's doctor Francis Willis
. Except, medicine was, obviously, a lot less advanced back then, and even if he actually could've given any advice at all, it still wouldn't have made Harry qualified, and the patient dies pretty much immediately. Too implausible
- The case of one episode of White Collar revolves around the estate of a recently deceased eccentric billionaire who left two wills, each appearing to leave one of his feuding sons everything while also containing the first clues of an elaborate treasure hunt he put together which leads to his real will. Both of his sons flatly refuse to deal with his nonsense and have decided to sue each other and let the courts figure it out. Character reaction
- The Wire did this often:
- Most notably with Omar's arc in the final season. An injured man going on a one-man revenge spree against the most powerful drug gang in Baltimore is unlikely to end well for him, regardless of how badass or determined he is. After using every shred of street guile he had and sometimes just his fearsome reputation to continue attacking and harassing Marlo Stanfield's drug empire despite his injury, Omar winds up getting shot in the back by a young kid with a gun who wanted to become famous for killing the legendary Omar and claim the bounty Marlo had put on Omar's head. It gets worse after Omar is dead: despite being a street legend, his death is barely a blip to anyone who matters. The BPD detectives who knew him aren't very shocked or moved by his death. The newspaper bumps his death because they don't have room. Even at the morgue, Omar's toe tags get mixed with someone else's at first. Surprisingly Sudden Death
- On the restored DVD series, David Simon gives a commentary in "Homecoming" saying that both it as well as "Dead Soldiers" were made because the show's creators became very concerned when seeing that Omar had become too heroic in viewers's eyes, especially those under 21. Knowing the huge favor and commercialism that anti-heroes have these days, the show did not jump at the temptation to milk Omar's popularity for constant audience indulgence or marketability. The creators actually cared about the audience's mind and put in effort to question the validity of Omar's honor. This shows when Bunk sees kids at the scene of Tosha's death imitating the shootout and taking turns "being Omar". Irrelevant
- In the episode "Model Kombat" of Workaholics, Blake and Adam are about to fight. Adam throws ashes into Blake's face, blinding him, but Blake prepares to fight anyway, in a Shout-Out to Bloodsport, complete with flashback from wise advice from a blind man. Of course, Blake misses Adam by a mile and hits Jillian in the face, giving her a nosebleed. Valid
- The infamous WKRP in Cincinnati episode "Turkeys Away". Arthur Carlson wants to give away live turkeys for Thanksgiving. That's great! How's he going to do that? By tossing them out of a helicopter. That's... not great. Why? Domesticated turkeys can't fly. The end result is one of the greatest moments of this trope on live-action TV. Not surprising. Isn't it common knowledge domesticated turkeys can't fly?
Arthur Carlson: As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!
- Yellowjackets:
- The group finds an abandoned plane. In "Flight of the Bumblebee" Laura Lee decides she will fly it out and find help. Her only "experience" is reading the flight manual and watching someone else fly. Everyone cheers as she takes off... only to explode into a fireball while her horrified teammates watch. Valid
- Shauna's a pregnant teenager who has not had any prenatal care and has spent the last six months on, or beyond, the brink of starvation. In "Qui" she gives birth while attended by teenagers whose only expertise is a health class, a sibling's experience, and a first aid course. Of course her baby doesn't make it and she almost dies herself. Not surprising, going by how it's worded
- Yellowstone emphasizes the New Old West nature of the setting by highlighting several of these outcomes, as a way to emphasize how out-of-their-depth some characters are in the modern world:
- Midway through the first season, developer Dan Jenkins agrees to a handshake deal with John Dutton's avowed enemy, Thomas Rainwater, in order to build a joint casino and housing development for Paradise Valley. They're both absolutely giddy over the prospect of destabilizing John's hold on Yellowstone and Rainwater's assistant writes up the contract... only for the ensuing contract negotiations to break down when Jenkins' banker tells Rainwater's team that the paperwork they drew up is nonsensical gibberish that doesn't actually explain what they want to build, is heavily lopsided in favor of the Broken Rock tribe (to such an extent that the investor all but evokes the "Indian giver" stereotype by pointing out that it will mean the tribe could sucker Jenkins out of his land holdings), and Rainwater's legal team themselves all but treat Jenkins with thinly-veiled contempt for being an "outsider" who has no idea what he's doing in Montana. The only reason Jenkins still agrees to it (despite initially trying to get a better deal for himself) is due to the fact that his project is a money pit and he's overleveraged himself so far that he has no choice but to ally with an unproven leader in order to get the project completed on time. Plot happens
- Hendon arrests a pair of horse thieves and plans to drive them back into town. He decides to shake them up by putting them in the back of a trailer with their hands bound. Hendon then drives at high speeds with sudden braking and swinging the trailer around to send the guys slamming about (based on a real-life police punishment called a "rough ride"). Parking back at the local horse ranch, Hendon jokes to his fellow cops on "the two have learned their lesson." He opens the trailer doors... only to find the duo's bloodied bodies, one with a broken neck and the other from internal injuries. Too late, Hendon realizes that unlike a cartoon, being tossed around an enclosed metal container at high speeds can seriously damage a body. Valid
- Being good, even great, at a competitive sport that demands the utmost physical performance isn't going to help you very much, as Jimmy Henstrom discovers (with near-fatal consequences) in Season 3 and 4. He's convinced that he has what it takes to perform in professional bull-riding, even having Lloyd spot him the cash so he can enter a competition (which he wins against all odds). Despite other characters telling him it might be a bad idea, he persists — and gets physically injured not once, but twice, spending several weeks in hospital in the first case and nearly breaking his neck in the second. All this does is rack up hospital bills (which John is forced to pay) and leave him as a pariah at the ranch, who's eventually shipped off to Texas to get his act together. And he would have persisted in this field, had Rip not convinced him it was a bad idea by showing him that there are competitive bull-riders who've been participating since they were kids — someone coming into the field as an adult isn't going to have the same experience or training, no matter what they do. Not surprising. Other characters told him it might be a bad idea and it happens over too much period of time for it to be considered momentary.
- Season 5 delves deep into what happens when a seemingly-insignificant virus impacting part of the Dutton's herd becomes a major problem: all the money in the world isn't going to help you when the situation becomes a logistical nightmare. John is forced to make an "executive decision" after several cattle are found to have brucellosis, a fungal bacteria that, if found out by the state, will lead the authorities to instantly euthanize the entire herd (regardless of whether the virus has only transferred to a few cattle) because of the potential spread. As such, the entire ranch is divided into two groups, with Rip, Colby, Ryan and others having to functionally uproot their entire lives in the course of a single night and move with the herd to Texas to keep it out of harm's way, at great professional and personal cost — they need to stay with the herd for several months (if not more than a year), the situation puts an immediate strain on Rip and Beth's marriage, and Ryan is forced to dump Abby, the singer he'd met and begun a relationship, after realizing his "dream job" as a cowboy just dropped into his lap. More overtly, the move will functionally bankrupt the ranch within a year, with the only reason it doesn't come off as being the end of the ranch completely (due to the cost housing and feeding the non-impacted cattle in another state) is due to Beth finally realizing they can sell the non-infected cattle to the Four-Sixes Ranch, which will process and sell them at wholesale down the line for far more than they were ever worth on the open market. Plot happens
- Young Sheldon:
- When George has a heart attack in "Poker, Faith and Eggs" Georgie steals Meemaw's car and drives to the hospital (along with Sheldon and Missy). Even though Georgie drives slow, he still ends up hitting multiple trash cans and swerving all over the road. Driving too slow can be just as dangerous as driving too fast. Unsure
- In "David, Goliath, and a Yoo-Hoo from the Back" Sheldon accidentally starts a fight between school bullies Jason Davies and Tommy Clarkson, Sheldon steps in to defend Tommy with a slingshot a la David and Goliathnote . The slingshot is ineffective and Sheldon is chased down and stuffed in a locker overnight as a result. Plot happens
- George teaches Missy how to throw a baseball and she eventually gets good enough that she earns a spot her school's baseball team. She's not the star player that the story sets her up to be because even though she's a great pitcher, she's terrible at batting because George never taught her to bat. Valid
- In "A High Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels", the refrigerator starts making a noise which only Sheldon’s hypersensitive hearing can pick up. His father refuses to get it serviced because it’s otherwise working perfectly, so Sheldon decides to repair it himself, something the average TV Child Prodigy could do easily, but Sheldon simply dismantles the fridge to find the faulty part and is unable to rebuild it. Also, while Sheldon usually gets a lot of slack for his behaviour, in this case his parents are furious with him because he needlessly cost the family a lot of money by being unable to tolerate a mild annoyance. First part sounds valid
Edited by CelestialDraco on Dec 17th 2023 at 5:11:45 AM
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2342: Dec 17th 2023 at 3:36:04 PM
My understanding there is that the danger of driving too slowly comes from obstructing the flow of traffic. Swerving around hitting trash cans isn't necessarily more realistic than staying on one's lane.
Looks good to me, though as for this one:
Young Sheldon:
When George has a heart attack in "Poker, Faith and Eggs" Georgie steals Meemaw's car and drives to the hospital (along with Sheldon and Missy). Even though Georgie drives slow, he still ends up hitting multiple trash cans and swerving all over the road. Driving too slow can be just as dangerous as driving too fast. Unsure
My understanding there is that the danger of driving too slowly comes from obstructing the flow of traffic. Swerving around hitting trash cans isn't necessarily more realistic than staying on one's lane.
rmctagg09
The Wanderer
from Brooklyn, NY (USA)
(Time Abyss)
Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#2343: Dec 20th 2023 at 4:22:28 PM
I removed a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome embed from Characters.Fire Emblem Fates Corrin since I felt it wasn't surprising enough to be an example, only for Lord Twibil to put it right back, so I'm looking for second opinions before I bother trying to place it back because that would make it an edit war.
#2344: Dec 21st 2023 at 11:47:31 AM
Since SRO isn't an Overdosed Trope anymore, shouldn't the introduction be changed?
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2345: Jan 5th 2024 at 8:00:32 PM
How do you mean? I don't see anything in the introduction referencing the "Overdosed Trope" thing. Unless someone already took care of that.
Bonkfast
Since: Oct, 2014
#2346: Jan 9th 2024 at 1:01:23 AM
On the Western Animation page, all for the '03 Teen Titans show.
Starfire saving Val-Yor didn't end his racism. Instead, he tells her that she is one of the "good ones", a compliment that neither Starfire nor the other Titans took well. Character Reaction
Despite having a Story-Breaker Power and being easily capable of handling the entirety of the H.I.V.E. Five at once with no real trouble, Kid Flash does not have unlimited energy and will get tired eventually. Madame Rouge deals with him by repeatedly hunting him down until he's too exhausted to fight back or run away, and it takes a Heel–Face Turn from Jinx to save him. Too fantastical. Said Story-Breaker Power does not exist in real life.
The series finale. The Brotherhood of Evil has been beaten, and the Titans have returned home. However, things are not neat and tidy. There's a new villain around, and Terra's seemingly back. The episode ends without either plotline having been resolved. In addition, they've been gone for a long time and many things have changed around town in their absence. Not really that surprising, especially the new villian. It's just a case of And the Adventure Continues and in both cases, it's things that don't exist in real life (giant blob monsters that take on the properties of things they touch, and Terra having been turned to stone because of her geokinetic powers interacting with lava and now somehow being revived except it may not actually be her or may have caused amnesia).
In "For Real", Aqualad uses his hydrokinesis to make water shoot out of the Titans' kitchen sink. When the episode cuts back from the commercial break, he's shown with a wrench fixing the pipes. Too fantastical. Hydrokinesis does not exist in real life. Perhaps it fits better as a Brick Joke ?
In "Kole", when the titans come across some hungry velociraptors and have Beast Boy communicate with them, however, his Animorphism allows him to turn into animals and talk with them, but not to actually control them, nor does it grant him any social affinity with them, all this gets them is confirmation that yes, they do want to eat them. Too fantastical and a character reaction
Robin and Terra's fight in "Aftershock, Part 1" on both ends. On Robin's end, he's a Badass Normal going up against a girl with superpowers. On Terra's end, she attempts to fight Robin (who was trained for several years by Batman compared to Terra's minimal time with Slade) in hand-to-hand many times instead of simply using her powers. This ends up making the fight seem much closer. One character stronger than the other, not really that surprising, and does Batman even exist in this universe/continuity?
Edited by Bonkfast on Jan 9th 2024 at 7:41:38 AM
DoctorWTF
Since: Jul, 2020
#2347: Jan 11th 2024 at 6:48:01 PM
Agreed on all counts.
#2348: Jan 13th 2024 at 5:06:48 PM
Is this an example of SRO (from VideoGame.Yakuza Like A Dragon)?
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Enforcer job's weapons are much harder to find in stores than other jobs, as the others wield Improvised Weapons like wine bottles, umbrellas, and baseball bats, while you wouldn't expect shops in a modern-day city to casually sell riot shields. You'll need to look in underground casinos or black markets.
Coachpill
Can shapeshift (probably)
from Washington State, grew up on Long Island
Since: Aug, 2022
Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
Can shapeshift (probably)
#2349: Jan 13th 2024 at 5:15:54 PM
Not really, I don't think. The Yakuza code could be equally realistic/unrealistic based on what it applies to (like how the code is said not to apply to racing), and this just being their M.O. feels functionally the same as that. It'd probably count if they had to move their operations due to the reasons mentioned above, but the game indicates that this is how it's been done from the beginning.
Silver and gold, silver and gold
#2350: Jan 15th 2024 at 7:33:15 AM
Found this on My New Boss Is Goofy and I'm unsure of it.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Momose's story proves a bittersweet fact: quitting a job where the environment was hostile and your superior did nothing but harass you is a huge step in the right direction. But even with the assurance that you've moved into a company that's nothing but welcoming and healthy, getting rid of the trauma from your previous job is easier said than done.
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