Follow TV Tropes

Following

History RedemptionRejection / LiveActionTV

Go To

OR

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has one for [[spoiler:The Governor]] in episode 8 of season 4.
-->[[WhamLine "Liar!"]]

to:

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' has one for [[spoiler:The Governor]] in episode 8 of season 4.
-->[[WhamLine "Liar!"]]-->''[[WhamLine "Liar!"]]''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Alphabetized examples.

Added DiffLines:

%%%
%%
%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
%%
%%%

Times where an antagonist [[RedemptionRejection rejects an offered opportunity to redeem themselves]] in LiveActionTV series.
----

* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** Two quarters through Day 4, a traitorous fighter pilot named Mitch Anderson has stolen a jet and has set his sights on Air Force One. Jack Bauer manages to get in contact with him and tells him that he can still walk away from everything. Anderson seems to consider what Jack says for a moment, but ultimately shuts down his comm link and blows Air Force One out of the sky.
** In the Day 7 finale as the now-rogue Tony Almeida prepares for his endgame that'll take out the man behind his wife's murder, a dying Jack attempts to appeal to whatever good is left in Tony by reasoning with him to drop his crusade. Tony responds by gagging Jack's mouth shut and arming a bomb on him that will be used to kill the man.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Grant Ward, former member of the team who turned out to be a HYDRA mole, does this twice. First, during the late first season when given the chance to let Fitz and Simmons escape (instead choosing to drop them into the ocean to drown, which he'd later retroactively claim was ''actually'' [[IMeantToDoThat trying to 'give them a chance' to escape]]). And second, late in the second season when offered another chance when circumstance forces Coulson to ask him for help, only for him to use this as an opportunity to manipulate SHIELD so him and his brainwashed lover Kara Palamas can kidnap Bobbi Morse (who they decided was at-fault for Kara's brainwashing and were using as a scapegoat for revenge). In-between these, he ''does'' make what he ''thinks'' is a genuine attempt at redemption, by turning over information about HYDRA, but the team recognise that, given he's clearly a [[TheSociopath sociopath]], he doesn't really regret any of the things he's done and is only now attempting redemption because his other choice is life in prison, and even his [[LoveRedeems love for Skye]] is just a [[EntitledToHaveYou deluded obsession on his part]], so they wisely reject it.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': After Angel ruins Jasmine's plan to create world peace at the expense of free will (and eating people), he finds her wandering distraught through LA. She chews him out, asking if her price for ending war, disease and poverty was really too high. He insists that it was, but suggests that she can still try and make the world a better place the old-fashioned way, even if she's lost her powers.
-->'''Jasmine:''' Not ''all'' of them. ''[punches him off a bridge]''
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has Londo Mollari, who is told he'll have three opportunities to choose redemption, or suffer the consequences. [[spoiler:In a possible subversion, these moments are never directly revealed, and it's arguable whether he's saved his people or condemned them.]]
* In season 4 of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', the Cylon John's mother says he isn't a mistake and offers him redemption if he could just accept himself for the boy she made. He considers it for a moment before he angrily rejects her love and prepares to pick apart her brain to extract the information he wants.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Faith expects this trope to be played out in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E19Choices Choices]]", but Willow [[DefiedTrope surprises]] her.
-->'''Faith:''' Give me the speech again, please. Faith, we're still your friends. We can help you. It's not too late.\\
'''Willow:''' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech It's way too late. You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life. I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. I mean, you had friends in your life like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer and now you're nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste.]]
* Though the drivers on ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' and related shows aren't actually villains, there have been two contestants who fit the basic premise of this trope: Colin from Season Two and Scott from Season Six made a big joke of everything and refused to learn. Colin became the first to be expelled from any Driver Rehabilitation Center in the ''world'', while Scott became the first (at least on the Canadian show) to be effectively expelled by his own nominator (who cancelled Scott's insurance, meaning Scott was no longer a valid driver).
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]], the Doctor and [[spoiler:the now-HalfHumanHybrid Dalek Sec]] try to redeem the Daleks by creating a new, non-evil race of Daleks, which would have ended their genocidal war with the rest of the universe. The other Daleks reject this idea, violently.
* Barney from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' uses this trope quite often. Practically OnceASeason there's an episode that focuses on how shallow, selfish, and cruel his life as TheCasanova is. By episode's end it looks like he's about to learn [[AnAesop an important lesson]] and be more considerate of women from now on ... and then, without fail, Barney will explain that, no, seducing an endless stream of anonymous bimbos really ''is'' all he wants out of life.
-->'''Lily:''' So you made a life-changing decision not to change your life at all?\\
'''Barney:''' [[CatchPhrase True story.]]
* ''Series/{{Jessie}}'': Emma tells Bryn they can still be friends if she could just start being nice to people. However, Bryn refuses and throws cheesy nachos at Rosie before escaping.
* Mr. Eko from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' had a tragic backstory about being kidnapped and made into a child soldier, becoming a criminal, and feeling responsible for causing the death of his brother, Yemi. His main StoryArc on the Island was trying to talk to Yemi's ghost. As it so happens, Yemi was a Catholic priest, so their eventual meeting takes the form of a confession. Eko must be ready to ask for forgiveness, right? [[spoiler:Of course, as it turns out, "Yemi" is actually the Smoke Monster/Man In Black in disguise, and he promptly kills Eko after this. So any future chance of redemption is lost right then and there.]]
-->'''Mr. Eko:''' I ask for no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now, I would tell him that, when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother's life. I am not sorry for this. I am ''proud'' of this. I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given nonetheless. And with it, I did my best.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** Rumpelstiltskin is ''almost'' de-powered by [[spoiler:Belle's TrueLovesKiss]]... but of course, he has a bit of a freak-out and rejects it. Quite possibly regrets that pretty hard. The same thing happened [[spoiler:when he gave up a chance to travel to another world with his son]], for the exact same reason.
** In the flashback sequence of "The Cricket Game", Snow lets Regina out of prison and offers the chance to leave all her evil deeds behind and start fresh, and Regina takes the opportunity to attempt once again to kill Snow. She even lampshades the concept, pointing out it's '''never''' that easy. No one ever just gives up that much hatred. This is contrasted against the present scenes in Storybrooke, where Regina [[TheAtoner really does want redemption]], but understandably Snow and Charming [[ReformedButRejected are unwilling to give her another chance.]]
** Both Rumpelstiltskin and Regina ''do'' ultimately find redemption by Season 3. [[spoiler:Regina sticks with it. Rumple...[[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor not so much.]]]]
* A recurring theme in ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Frequently, a prisoner will waste an opportunity at redemption because they simply don't care about doing so. Perhaps the most stark example is the prisoner "Poet", who manages to get a book contract on the basis of his poetry and is granted early parole (a rarity in the series; many of the convicts are hardened criminals and murderers with life sentences). He immediately uses his new income to buy drugs and is sent back to Oz after he shoots his drug dealer at a book signing event.
--> '''Hill:''' To be saved, you have to ''want'' to be saved.
* ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'': In an attempt to end the conflict peacefully, Princess Shayla tells Master Org that it isn't too late to change, since Cole forgives him for [[spoiler:killing his parents]]. Master Org doesn't care about this and goes on with his plans to destroy the Rangers.
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has one for [[spoiler:The Governor]] in episode 8 of season 4.
-->[[WhamLine "Liar!"]]
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': Xena had a number of chances to redeem herself before her actual HeelFaceTurn, but she rejected them. Her most notable was in the land of Chin when she rejected ''two'' chances from Lao Ma in one day. The first time was when she let her rage over Borias' betrayal consume her desire for redemption with the leader. Later that day, when she had the chance to make peace with the leader, she instead kills him and offers Lao Ma the chance to rule together. Lao Ma relunctantly beats the crap of her and has her unconscious body dragged out the kingdom.

----

Top