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• Sabrina the Teenage Witch:
  • "The Crucible": Sabrina's class visits Salem, where they are encouraged to reenact the Witch Trials. Libby accuses Jenny of pettily being a witch, and then accuses Sabrina when the latter tries to defend Jenny. The class plays along as an angry mob. Sabrina then has a Freak Out and asks her aunts to bail her out, since she can't lie on the stand. They tell her that she has to solve this problem on her own and leave her in Salem.
    You'd Expect: Sabrina to realize that the reenactments are just that: reenactments. No one is going to actually get hurt, or punished, because it isn't the 1600s. Also, she just accidentally released magic in anger and it was explained as a natural phenomenon, so it's unlikely anyone is going to believe it.
    Instead: Sabrina gives an honest, heartfelt confession on the stand, preparing to accept any consequences. Harvey defends her, albeit by going Wrong Genre Savvy and saying Sabrina doesn't melt when wet or has warts.
    The Result: Mob psychology means that no one believes Sabrina is a witch, and instead they pretend Jenny is guilty. The program leaders tell Libby that they aren't going to do anything to Jenny and just imagine that she was hanged. Of course, then Sabrina trolls Libby by conjuring a monkey that only she can see, which forces Libby to admit that she was making up the accusations. This exonerates Jenny and puts Libby in the stocks until the buses come.
  • "To Tell A Mortal": Witches are allowed to tell their secrets to mortals for one day, only for the mortals to forget at midnight. As Zelda reveals in a flashback, she told one of her friends in a village that was anti-witch. They actually did have fun for a short while, since Zelda is a Nice Girl.
    You'd Expect: Said friend would have kept her mouth shut.
    Instead: The friend told the village, who in turn scapegoated Zelda and dunked her, blaming her for various mishaps.
    The Result: Even though everyone forgot by midnight, Zelda ended the friendship, and felt very traumatized by the dunking.
    • After her breakup with Harvey, Sabrina decides rather than attending college from home, she'll live like a normal freshman. The only problem? She applied too late to get any campus housing. Zelda and Hilda are worried about losing Sabrina and how she's growing up.
      You'd Expect: Zelda would tell Sabrina all about how much it costs to live outside the house in a normal apartment. We find out that Sabrina can't summon money with magic, though she can stretch it.
      Instead: They use very obvious magic to sabotage the apartments that she's visiting. When she calls them out, they try to say it was done out of love but she doesn't accept it. She then refuses to let them inside to the off-campus housing that opened up on the college waiting list.
  • "Sabrina and the Candidate": At the coffeeshop, a local city councilman named Robert Russell is hosting a rally for his election. Hilda reveals she's jacked up coffee prices for the evening.
    You'd Expect: Russell, being a genuinely Nice Guy, wouldn't insult the coffeeshop owners supporting him. They are giving him space and free press.
    Instead: He makes a jibe about the coffee being overpriced.
    The Result: An irate Hilda runs against him. She also pressures Sabrina to find dirt on Russell, and Sabrina nearly derails Russell's campaign when she mistakes his making anonymous donations to poor families as him buying votes.
  • Harvey and Sabrina were high school sweethearts who broke up after he found out she was a witch, had wiped his memory a few times, and cast spells on him without his consent. In fact, Sabrina's heart was broken so badly that it still has a crack when she visits it a few years later. During the same time period, Harvey realizes that he still loves Sabrina and has forgiven her for the whole casting spells on him. The problem is that she's decided to marry one of her coworkers, Deadpan Snarker and Jerk with a Heart of Gold Aaron. On paper, Aaron is perfect for Sabrina because he is a perfect gentleman. Harvey can tell she really doesn't love him, however, because Sabrina is flitting around frantically with wedding jitters.
    You'd Expect: Harvey would have a serious talk with Sabrina about all of this. Would it be a violation of etiquette to confess your love for your ex, whom you dumped even for a good reason? Yes? Is it better than what he actually does? Also yes.
    Instead: When Salem invites him to Sabrina's engagement party, Harvey doesn't consider that the kitty was doing it to start drama. He shows up smugly, much to Aaron and Sabrina's discomfort. Aaron's parents are also there and scrutinizing Sabrina and her maids of honor with dislike.
    The Result: While Sabrina doesn't blame Harvey for her mixed feelings and accidentally saying she loves him, she decides to work twice as hard to make sure her heart has a place for Aaron. Harvey only wins her back when he selflessly uses her magic to save Aaron when Aunt Irma turns the other man into a fish, as punishment for Sabrina lying to her about Aaron being a witch. Even so, it takes several episodes for Sabrina and Aaron to admit they aren't working out as a couple and break up at the wedding.
• The one-off Santa Sent Me to the ER had two notable instances.
  • Having gotten their fresh new pine tree home with her husband, Emily is eager to get it put up and decorated. Now, he’s going to be gone for a few hours and doesn’t want her to get up to anything crazy. Furthermore, the tree is higher than the ceiling in their living room!
    You’d think: Emily would heed his advice and hold off on her impulse. There are even a few drops of blood on the ground to indicate that impatience is going to be costly.
    Instead: Once her husband is gone, she doesn’t waste a second. While wrestling with the tree, she loses her balance, falls off the stool, and the tree comes crashing right down on her! And one of the needles goes right through her arm on top of that!
  • Accompanied on the rooftop by his boozy brother-in-law, Charlie is dressed up as Santa Claus, getting ready to come down the chimney to the family house as a surprise for their kids.
    You’d think: Charlie would discuss his plans with his wife so she would have ample warning to leave the fireplace clear for his passage.
    Instead: The Mrs. has no clue what’s going on. Without knowing what her husband and brother are up to, she positions the fireplace poker upward — right in the path Charlie is going to take. Charlie loses his footing and lands butt-first right on the blade of the poker! 'YEEEEEEOOOWWW!!!'
• Saturday Night Live: Many of the one-time and recurring skits are built around this premise – characters acting like complete idiots, driving the humor. Examples:
  • "Celebrity Jeopardy!": As the recurring skit became popular, the writers developed the ongoing gag where the questions were made ridiculously easy that only a complete idiot would get them wrong (e.g., "The Beatles White Album is this color."), yet the contestants invariably answer incorrectly with off-the-wall responses. Category names would obviously hint at what the exact answer was (e.g., "The Number After 2"), but yet the contestants would come up with completely incorrect answers. Another example is host Alex Trebek (Will Farrell) asking, as the Final Jeopardy! clue, the contestants to write down either a name or simply any number ... and the answers are invariably wildly off-the-wall.
• In the third season of Search Party, Dory and Drew are on trial for murdering Dory's Stalker with a Crush Keith, something which they're very much guilty of. District Attorney Danziger presents a confession that was Caught on Tape and which Dory tried to destroy in the season premiere, but due to the damage that Dory caused, half of the courtroom thinks she's saying she "murdered" Keith, and the other half thinks she's claiming to have "pancaked" (supposedly a sex act involving pancakes) Keith.
  You'd Expect: Danziger to point out that Dory tried to destroy the tape after she was arrested for murder, and that there's no logical reason why she'd have gone to such lengths to destroy a taped confession of her performing a weird sex act on someone.
  Instead: She makes a largely baseless (but correct) accusation that Dory murdered her former downstairs neighbor, who recorded the tape in question. Dory's lawyer immediately objects, and the judge gets annoyed enough that he rules the tape inadmissible, all but destroying Danziger's case.
• Sechs Auf Einen Streich:
  • In Prinzessin Maleen, probably to avoid being too sympathetic in the audience's eyes, Walpurga brings her downfall on herself by several bouts of utter idiocy:
    • She needs to get married to inherit her wealth. However, she plans to kill her future husband Konrad because she has no wish to be tied to a poor Landgraf.
      You'd Expect: Her to do so gradually to avoid suspicion.
      Instead: She plans to kill him right on the wedding day.
    • Afraid of being found out to be ugly before the marriage is finalized, she sends Maleen as her stand-in to the wedding ceremony. However, Konrad grows suspicious when Walpurga doesn't remember what "she" said on her way to the church and doesn't have the gift he gave "her". Mind: when Walpurga reveals her face, he is only briefly startled before talking to her normally.
      You'd Expect: Walpurga to confess at once that she switched places with a maid for fear of her own face repulsing him and the guests. She can see that Konrad doesn't mind her ugliness and will be sympathetic towards her. Of course, their marriage will still be dissolved once Konrad finds out the maid is his fiancee whom he thought dead, but they'll surely help Walpurga with her own inheritance troubles or at least treat her with respect.
      Instead: Walpurga blurts out increasingly unconvincing lies and tries to have Maleen executed for stealing and to get Konrad poisoned. She is found out and banished and loses all her possessions.
  • In Das Märchen von den zwölf Monaten, The Frost Prince allies himself with February to bring down the rest of the twelve months and Queen Klara who keeps the calendar going. They are gradually poisoning the queen, and only a few hours remain until the calendar goes haywire for good. The last ingredient in a medicine that can cure Klara has to be provided by February (the last winter snow).
    You'd Expect: The Prince to treat February with respect and kindness at least until the calendar has safely collapsed.
    Instead: When there is still time to prepare Queen Klara's medicine, the Prince gloats that he doesn't plan to share his power and that February will be just his servant. That becomes the last push towards February's Heel–Face Turn, and he helps prepare the medicine; Klara is cured and defeats the Prince.
• Every single character on The Secret Life of the American Teenager is prone to at least one bout of this. For example:
  • The "Ben wants to marry Amy" arc. There are a million reasons why this is an absolutely moronic idea, not the least of which is that they have zero chemistry together.
    You'd Expect: Amy or, really, anyone not Ben to see sense.
    Instead: Amy, overcome by emotion, leans towards accepting the proposal. Ben's father doesn't see why two very much in love teens can't marry, but Amy's father at least retains a level head.
• Seinfeld contained numerous instances of this.
  • Example: George discovers that Elaine has a friend who knows Marisa Tomei and believes that George is just her type. Unfortunately, he is engaged to Susan.
    You'd expect: George would break up with Susan, meet with Marisa, and they would start a glorious romance that would eventually lead to a happy marriage. (But this is Seinfeld after all.)
    Instead: George has a secret meeting with Elaine and makes up a lie about her non-existent boyfriend (importer/exporter Art Vandelay) to cover up for the real reason he is going out: Marisa Tomei. Then when he does meet with her, he tells her that he is "sort of" engaged. She slaps him in the face and walks away infuriated. Even worse, Susan realizes the lie when she asks George what Art imports and exports, but the stories do not match.
    You'd also expect: Susan would instantly call off the engagement realising George is a lying cheat.
    Instead: She stays with him (after punching him in the face) and is eventually killed by the toxins in the cheap envelopes picked out by George. Immediately afterwards, George calls Marisa Tomei, but she hangs up on him.
• Sherlock: In "The Six Thatchers", Sherlock has discovered the mastermind behind the plot and heads off to confront them, as does Mary. John has the good sense to contact Lestrade to bring in police backup.
  You'd expect: For Lestrade to send an armed response unit. The mastermind is known to be heavily involved with a black ops team i.e. the sort of people who always carry guns and aren't afraid to use them.
  Instead: Lestrade shows up himself with a handful of officers, none of whom are armed. When the mastermind pulls a gun on Sherlock, the police are literally powerless to intervene, and Mary is killed taking the bullet for Sherlock.
• Siren (2018):
  • The series starts off with a fishing boat crewman (Chris) and a Mermaid (Donna) being abducted by the Federal Government, the former for clandestine healing, the latter to be subjected to human experimentation.
    • You'd Expect: Xander and/or Ben to contact a Lawyer, invoke Whistleblower Protections, and file an information request regarding the fate of their friend.
    • Instead: They keep quiet and instead plan to break into a government facility and break Chris out.
  • Almost as soon as Ryn first crawls out of the water onto land, Mermaids and Mermen start committing crimes and causing legal trouble.
    • You'd Expect: Ben and/or Maddie to eventually wisen up and contact a Lawyer to represent Ryn and the rest of her clan.
    • Instead: Ben and Maddie decide to keep up The Masquerade and keep the Mermaids a secret, telling only Maddie's father (the sherriff) and local shopkeeper Helen Hawkins (who was already in the know due to being the descendant of a Mermaid).
  • Ben & company's upholding of The Masquerade frequently uses lame excuses or non-answers in response to legal questions over Mermaids (and Mermen) stealing or breaking things, or even assaulting or killing people.
    • You'd Expect: Ben to contact a Lawyer to represent Ryn and the others, and provide plausible explanations that don't involve Mermaids (eg. self-defense, a shipment of refugees, escapee from a Federal Black Site, etc.).
    • Instead: Ben and Maddie continue to uphold the Masquerade, relying on Hero Insurance as a form of Plot Armor, even when it costs Maddie's father his position as Sherriff of Bristol Cove.
  • Decker is in command of the facility where Donna is being experimented on and where Chris is in recovery, and is having ethical concernes about his superiors' behavior.
    • You'd Expect: Decker to contact a Lawyer and invoke the Whistleblower Act, tearing down the cover-up about Mermaids to ensure the rights of sapient beings are protected.
    • Or Better Yet: Decker could have contacted a Lawyer immediately, conducted tests to confirm that Donna was sapient, and then called in more lawyers to ensure the fair treatment of Mermaids.
    • Instead: Decker meekly obeys his Navy superiors and continues experimenting.
    • Even Worse: Donna manages to escape on her own, and Decker's attempt to resolve the situation peacefully gets both of them killed.
  • Ben, Xander, and Xander's father have just discovered an abandoned fishing boat in the ocean.
    • You'd expect: Them to call the Coast Guard immediately and then get the hell out of dodge.
    • Instead: They linger and investigate until Donna and her hunting party attack, which results in the senior McClure's death.
  • Xander McClure has just found out that the Merman who murdered his father is back in town, and has his gun with intent to kill. Ryn has just defused the situation with Donna and Katrina, but Xander is still armed and out for blood.
    • You'd expect: Ben to shout "GET DOWN!" or try to defuse the situation verbally.
    • Instead: Ben engages in a Gun Struggle with Xander that gets Donna killed by a stray bullet.
  • The inciting incident of season 2 starts when an oil company starts doing loud sonar tests to find off-shore oil, displacing Ryn's entire mermaid clan from their homes. The clan need to return to the sea periodically, or suffer adverse health effects.
    • You'd Expect: Ben to contact a Lawyer and file a Noise Pollution lawsuit against the oil company, citing more mundane effects of noise pollution (eg. sea lions being forced out of the water, risk of injury or death to scuba divers, adverse effects on Bristol Cove's tourism industry, etc.).
    • Instead: Ben keeps Ryn and her clan sheltered in a cabin, without directly confronting the oil company.
  • About half of the problems the protagonists in the series face could have been averted if someone had wizened up about the counter-productivity of the Masquerade and contacted a Lawyer instead. Just think of the legal drama that could be promised from the show's premise.
• Smallville: In Red, Clark goes to patch things up with Lana due to his Red Kryptonite induced behavior. He states not being himself, with Lana assuming that his feelings for her weren't genuine.
  You'd expect: For him to say he was on drugs. It would technically be true, and pretty much explain everything.
  Instead Clark says that he can't explain his actions.
  • In the season two finale of Smallville, Clark meets his biological father, through the A.I in the spaceship he came to earth in as a baby. Jor-El tries to force him to leave Smallville forever, so Clark tries to find the key to the spaceship to destroy it. He succeeds, but the energy wave from it turns over the truck Jonathan and Martha are in, and causes Martha to miscarry the baby she thought she never could have. At the hospital, Jonathan tells Clark that it's his fault, and his actions have consequences.
    You'd Expect: That Clark would realize that A. This is all completely true and that he needs to own up to his actions and accept them, and B. His father is in extreme grief over the loss and probably will apologize or say something to amend the situation is some way.
    Instead: Clark accepts that this is his fault, but assumes that what essentially was an EXTREMELY unfortunate coincidence as a sign all he'll ever bring to anyone who cares about him is pain and misery, runs away from his friends and family (You know, the former willing to help him and the latter going to want to be with him in light of this tragedy) for what is presumably the rest of his life, and gets a RED KRYPTONITE ring to wear to numb his guilt and pain. In case you didn't know, Red Kryptonite lowers inhibitions; makes you act like your high. This bites EVERYONE in the ass, as Jonathan makes a deal with Jor-El to get powers in order to force Clark to come home, said deal involving giving Clark to Jor-El in order to "make him accept his destiny" (Read: Brainwash him into submission) and the powers put stress on Jonathan that leads to him having a fatal heart attack in Season 5.
  • In Pariah, Alicia Baker is suspect of attacking both Lana and Jason. Even Clark suspects her, so he talks to her after the second attack. Unknown to him, Alicia was locked in an interrogation room with the sheriff during the second attack, so she couldn't have done it.
    You'd Expect: That Alicia would at least tell Clark that she was in fact locked with the sheriff in during that second attack, thus taking away every trace of suspicion towards her.
    Instead: Alicia makes a demand that means that she and Clark will go to the sheriff and explain everything, but only if Clark agrees that he will tell about his powers to the sheriff. Naturally he can't do that, so he still suspects Alicia, only to later talk with the sheriff himself, only to find Alicia dead by the time he wanted to apologize to her.
  • In Dichotic, Clark has just knocked out a guy who he knows has the ability to be in two places at once. He knows the guy was going to fake Lana and Chloe's suicides. Clark rescues Chloe, but not Lana.
    You'd Expect: Clark to look immediately around for Lana.
    Instead: He stops to stare about the unconscious guy's body and only notices Lana when she screams.
  • In "Precipice", Clark knows Lex is looking for a mentally unstable, violent man.
    You'd Expect: Clark to use is x-ray vision on the empty trains to find Lex.
    Instead: He wastes time looking around, resulting in Lex almost dying. Then, after hearing Lex, he decides to use his x-ray vision.
  • "Velocity", Clark learns that Pete has been street racing, and that street racers are using kryptonite as a substitute for nos. Pete ends up owing his mechanic a lot of money, and Clark makes a plan that involves Pete beating his mechanic in a race. Clark's plan also involves him using his heat vision to sabotage the mechanic's car. While doing this, he learns that the mechanic has rigged Pete's car to blow if it hits 100 mph.
    You'd Expect: Clark to go and tell Pete about this, so Pete could switch to using Lex's Porsche, since Clark can still help him cheat.
    Instead: He walks right in, confronts the guys, with kryptonite all over the place.
    The result: Clark is predictably weakened by the kryptonite, knocked out, and put into Pete's car.
  • In "Sacred", Clark uses his super speed to steal the stone from Isobel's hand.
    You'd Expect: Clark to keep on running, since Isobel doesn't have super speed.
    Instead: He stops to look at it, then to look at Isobel, giving her enough time to blast him and take the stone.
• Spellbinder: After Paul returns from the parallel world, he learns that Ashka, the villainious Spellbinder therefrom, has sneaked into his world and bamboozled Paul's scientist dad into upgrading some of the Spellbinder technology (which Paul is relatively familiar with by that point), so that she could use it to take over her homeworld. Ashka is an otherwise perfectly normal-looking woman, and Paul already learned that his dad is adamantly unwilling to believe his stories about the parallel world.
  You'd Expect: that once his dad starts extolling on the "project" he's working on, Paul, who is usually a remarkably resourceful fellow, would interject and describe to his dad the details of the technology he's working on. Since it is extremely unlikely that Paul could learn about it in this world, his dad would have to at least entertain the possibility that his son might be telling the truth.
  Instead: He throws a temper tantrum, keeps babbling about the Spellbinders and screams at Ashka, giving his father an impression that he's simply jealous of her and not right in his head. As a result Paul is alienated from his father, the "project" continues, and Ashka gets herself a super-power suit.
• Squid Game:
  • In the first episode, Seong Gi-hun finds out that his mother noticed him stealing from her credit card and changed her PIN code, which used to be Gi-hun's birthday, to prevent him from taking her last savings to gamble at the horse races.
    You'd Expect: Her to have changed it to anything that isn't a date of somebody Gi-hun knows or anything that he may guess easily.
    Instead: She changed her password to the birthday day of Ga-yeong, Gi-hun's daughter.
    The Result: A desperate Gi-hun predictably empties her last savings and loses it all in less than a day thanks to a chance encounter with a pickpocket. Days later, she is forced to refuse medical treatment for her diabetes as Gi-hun canceled her health insurance, and ultimately dies from her illness.
  • On that note, Gi-hun goes to his ex to beg for the money to pay for his mother's surgery, saying Please, I Will Do Anything!. She says she doesn't have 2 million won her account, and her new husband would never lend the money to someone like Gi-hun. It turns out he would, on the condition that Gi-hun never sees Ga-yeong out of respect for her emotional well-being; this earns him a punch in the face. Gi-hun walks away without taking the money, which is an idiotic moment already since he could take the money, give it to his mother to pay for her surgery, and then reenter the games to ensure that she would have some time.
    You'd Expect: That considering how much Ga-yeong loves her grandmother and vice-versa, that they would at least check on her from time to time. Or dial her phone to see how she's doing. That would lead to her telling them Gi-hun went missing for a few days, again, and they could cut out the middleman and offer her the money, out of respect for Ga-yeong. They would at least know that it won't be gambled away. And if they don't want to pay, they could ensure that Ga-yeong gets a bit more time with her beloved grandmother.
    Instead: Neither of them does this while preparing to move to the United States.
    The Result: Gi-hun's mother dies alone in her apartment while succumbing to a diabetic coma, waiting for Gi-hun to return. He's too late by a few days and arrives with the prize money.
  • In the second episode, Gi-hun and Kang Sae-byeok are dumped out of their van, blindfolded, stripped to their underwear, with their hands and feet tied. Sae-byeok manages to cut herself free and puts her clothes on, but refuses to do the same for Gi-hun because she knows he's going to demand the money she stole from him earlier. Gi-hun swears on his mother that he'll forget about the issue, and she finally agrees to cut him loose, starting with his wrists.
    You'd expect: Gi-hun unties his ankles and maybe puts some clothes on, before shaking her down for his money.
    Instead: He gets up, awkwardly hops towards her with his feet tied together, and immediately goes back on his word, demanding that she give him his money back.
    The Result: He falls on his face, and can do nothing as Sae-byeok laughs at him and leaves him in the dust.
  • In the same episode, Gi-hun tries to go to the cops and tell them about what happened with the games. They don't believe him because there's no proof, complete with the business card number leading to a disconnected line, but one detective named Hwang Jun-ho takes an interest. He notes it matches the pattern of his older brother In-ho disappearing a few years ago, at which he found a similar business card in In-ho's vacated apartment. That and trailing Gi-hun after the latter refuses to help him investigate leads him to an unmarked van.
    You'd Expect: Even though there's no time to make a phone call, and he's off-duty, Jun-ho should notify someone he trusts via text message about what he's going to do, with an If I Do Not Return advice so they can follow up on him. Sure, it may get him fired if he survives, but at least someone will know what happened to him and finish his work in the worst-case scenario.
    Alternatively: He can take photos of the truck, to start his record, and play the Long Game while conducting an official or unofficial investigation so that he can get some backup support. If he waited another year to gather some necessary supplies (e.g. portable phone chargers, a HotSpot or portable WiFi device, an unmarked gun or knife, etc.), then he at least would have a fighting chance.
    Instead: He tells no one about this dangerous mission before sneaking into the van and pretending to be an extra player.
    The Result: While Jun-ho certainly prove his badass qualities and dedication to finding out what happened to his brother, he's taken down when the Front Man tracks him and shoots him just as he's about to send the evidence he found so far to the police.
• Stargate Atlantis series finale: "Enemy at the Gates". The people at Atlantis find out that the Earth gate opens to the wraith ship attacking Earth.
  You'd expect: them to send through a gate buster nuke and "make that ship go away".
  Instead: they send through a team (I repeat, to a wraith ship swarming of life-sucking alien soldiers) on an extremely dangerous mission to overload the ZPM powering that ship.
  • And speaking of that episode: in the show, as well as real life, there is a treaty that says Antarctica will never be used for military purposes. In the show, Antarctica is home to a heavily-armed abandoned outpost of the Precursors.
    You'd Expect: the outpost would be grandfathered into the treaty. This would keep it under multinational control, and everything safe under ridiculous amounts of ice.
    Instead: the SGC is forced to remove the control chair in compliance with the treaty. They then put it in Area 51, thus under exclusive US control, and in an above-ground bunker with no AA batteries. When the Wraith do show up, all it takes is a kamikaze run by a couple of Darts to destroy the chair and disable Earth's last line of defense.
  • In the same episode, John Sheppard is brought back to Earth from Another Galaxy to use the weapon's chair to defend the planet.
    You'd expect: That he'd be carted off and strapped into the chair the second he arrives so he can protect the planet and incidentally the chair itself using the impressive weapons it controls.
    Instead: He's allowed to clamber into a fighter plane to be shot at by Wraith Darts, while the chair is left unmanned and (as noted above) undefended by even conventional weapons in a shack in the Nivada desert.
• Stranger Things:
  • In "The Body", after roughing up a state trooper named O'Bannon and uncovering what appears to be a conspiracy, Sheriff Hopper begins to suspect that there's more to the Will Byers story. He knocks out a state trooper, breaks into the morgue, and discovers that Will's apparent corpse is actually a realistic looking dummy filled with cotton.
    You'd Expect: Armed with this undeniable evidence that things surrounding Will's disappearance are NOT what they seem, Hopper would show this evidence to the media, to the real coroner, anyone. If anything, the evidence could help unravel the conspiracy.
    Instead: He shows absolutely no one, tries to singlehandedly break into the Department of Energy facility, gets himself drugged and gaslit, and loses the evidence.
  • In "The Bite", the kids are at Hopper's cabin and see The Mind Flayer approaching in the distance.
    You'd Expect: They would grab any useful supplies they can find and drive away to a more secure location before it arrives, so that they can figure out an actual strategy for fighting it.
    Instead: They hole up and try to fight it head on, with only a small wooden cabin for fortification and a shotgun, an axe, and El's powers the only available weapons.
    The Result: The Mind Flayer quickly destroys the cabin and bites El, injuring her badly enough to take her out of commission for the Final Battle in the next episode and ultimately resulting in the loss of her powers, and she's barely able to hold it off long enough for them to just have to run away and regroup anyway.
  • In "Vecna's Curse", Mike and Eleven are out for a date at a skating rink. As Eleven is skating, Angela's gang all start bullying Eleven while the DJ plays a mocking song. Will explains to Mike that El hasn't been telling him everything and that she's often bullied by these girls.
    You'd Expect: Mike would go over there, confront Angela and her gang, and protect Eleven from getting hurt.
    Instead: He just stands there for several moments, then finally goes over to the DJ and asks him to stop the song, all while the bullies continue to torment El. This allows things to get further out of control, with one of the bullies throwing a drink on El, who runs from the room in tears.
• The climactic episode of season 2 of Suits before the hiatus.
  • During the partner's meeting about the subject of firing Harvey, Mike suddenly comes in and presents the file that ultimately dooms Hardman. It was a signed affidavit that says that Hardman did knew that a client's manufactured car did have a defect but under the supervision of Hardman, hides it.
    You'd Then Expect: In a room full of lawyers that at least one of them would have actually taken the time of 3 seconds to confirm that it was indeed signed, especially Hardman.
    Instead: Everyone just took Mike's word for it, even Hardman. Then it was later confirmed that it was indeed signed, but not by the client but by Mike himself as he had even said that nobody actually does check those kinds of files.
• Supergirl (2015):
  • "Pilot": The DEO are trying to stop a series of Kryptonian criminals. Supergirl, meanwhile, is ready, eager to help, and happy to prove herself, albeit inexperienced.
    You'd Expect: They offer to train her, work with her, and help her.
    Instead: They tell her to go get someone coffee. Instead of having Alex make contact with her like a normal person (since they knew who she was already), they ambush her, shoot her full of tranqs and strap her to a table...
  • "For The Girl Who Has Everything": Supergirl is incapacitated by the Black Mercy, so Martian Manhunter uses his shapeshifting powers to impersonate her.
    You'd Expect: Him to simply have her take a sick day, using the DEO to forge a note from a doctor if necessary.
    Barring That: Martian Manhunter would use his telepathic abilities to act in the way that Kara's friends and coworkers expect her to behave.
    Instead: He and Alex come up with a nonsense reason for why he has to go to Kara's job, where he's his usual grumpy self and winds up screwing up tasks and seriously jeopardizing Kara's job by needlessly antagonizing Cat Grant.
  • "Reality Bytes": Transphobic jerk Gregory Bauer wants Dreamer to retire from being a superhero because she's transgender. Dreamer had just thrashed a Dominator with a little help from Supergirl, who softened him up, and the footage had just gone viral.
    You'd Expect: Him to try to find some stealthy, subtle way to force Dreamer into retirement.
    Barring That: He'd at least avoid attacking other transgender people to try to force Dreamer into retirement.
    Instead: He lures Dreamer's roommmate into a romance using a fake online persona so he can attack her with the intent to force Dreamer into retirement. And he attacked the roommate because she claimed to be best friends with Dreamer! Naturally, this leads to him being confronted by a very angry Dreamer. And when that happens:
    You'd Expect: Him to be prepared with a weapon that could hurt Dreamer, just in case he actually confronted her.
    You'd Also Expect: Him to realize that calling her a twisted freak is only going to get him in a world of hurt.
    Instead: He is armed with only a pocket knife, and when Dreamer defeats him easily, he still thinks it's a great idea to provoke her. He only survives because Supergirl arrives to talk Dreamer down. Maybe his bigotry affected his common sense.
• Supernatural:
  • "Nightshifter": It's a long story involving nutcases, mandroids, shapeshifters and hostage situations so let's just cut to the chase here, shall we? They're looking for the shifter, the police have got them surrounded, a guard has a heart attack and needs to leave, Sam is going to get the guard out while Dean is going to take out the shifter but then Ronald gets hit with a bullet and dies.
    You'd Expect: Them to carry on as normal. Dean can take out the shifter and Sam can let the guard out, seeing as how he's not the one wanted for almost every crime under the sun.
    Instead: Sam tells Dean to help the guard out while he goes after the shifter. Dean gets his face on the 11 O'Clock News, they're even more royally screwed to hell than they were before and, in the next episode, Sam/the show has the gall to blame Dean for all of it.
  • In Season 8, Dean breaks out of Purgatory with a new friend, Benny the vampire, whom Sam immediately distrusts.
    You'd expect: Dean to tell Sam that he trusts Benny because Benny saved Cas' life. Sam knows just how important Cas is to Dean, and Cas is his friend as well. Even though it probably still wouldn't get him to trust Benny, it would still get him to understand why Dean does.
    Instead: For no explained reason whatsoever, Dean dances around the question until it becomes a sore spot, and then a wedge, between him and Sam.
  • In the Season 10 finale, Death wants Sam dead, and tells Dean to kill him.
    You'd expect: Death to trust Dean already has the tools to kill a regular human, or give him a gun or knife or any other mundane weapon, or just cut out the middleman and make Sam drop dead on the spot with a snap of his fingers.
    Instead: Death gives Dean his own scythe, perhaps the only weapon in existence capable of killing him, and stands conveniently within reach of Dean as he prepares to swing it, resulting in his extremely avoidable death.

T

• The 10th Kingdom:
  • Everyone is trying to raise money at the casino in Kissing Town to buy the magic mirror at the auction so that Virginia and her father Tony can go home to New York, and Wolf wins more than enough money.
    You'd Expect: Wolf gives Virginia the money, making the woman he loves happy, maybe asking if he can come with her, OR he keeps entirely quiet about the money (give it away, put in in the bank, whatever) to make sure she has to stay in fairyland.
    Instead: Wolf tells Virginia and Tony that he lost all his money, and their offer of 5,000 gold pieces is outbid by the queen's huntsman. Wolf then obviously blows a fortune on his date with Virginia by renting a gorgeous tux, having music composed especially for her, giving her a romantic carriage ride with lots of flowers, renting an entire restaurant just for them, and giving her a magical singing engagement ring to propose marriage. When Virginia asks how he paid for all this, Wolf admits that he won 10,000 gold pieces the previous night, making Virginia understandably furious.
  • Wolf. When she confronts him...
    You'd Expect: Wolf does his conman routine, lies through his teeth, and says that half of Kissing Town owes him favors.
    Instead: See above. The one time in the miniseries he doesn't even try to come up with a good lie.
  • The main characters have the Huntsman temporarily indisposed through a series of lucky shots.
    You'd Expect: Them to at least think about finishing off a man who murdered hundreds of innocent people in cold blood. Or at the very least to take his magic crossbow.
    Instead: They simply run off, ensuring that he comes after them again as soon as he recovers.
• 13: Fear Is Real, "Alone": Adam is specifically told by Ted and Nasser that Erica is the killer, and from then on sticks to them like glue. When the group is taking showers, Adam realizes that the others are wearing boxers, and that he didn't bring any.
  You'd Expect: Adam to either shower nude, wait for Ted or Nasser to finish and go back to the room together, or at the very least try to sneak back to his room if he's going alone.
  Instead: He rushes up to his room as noisily as possible, alerting Erica to his presence and resulting in his getting "killed off."
• Take Me Out
  • In Series 3, Episode 5, model Damion Merry reveals that he dated media personality Jodie Marsh, causing a number of girls, including Lucy Harrold, the girl that Damion would've picked had she left her light on, to turn their lights off. (This was before the concept of "love at first light" was introduced).
    • You'd Expect: Damion would keep his mouth shut and select one of the girls willing to give him a chance, and if he had to say something, he would save it for the confession cam.
    • Instead: He mindlessly and inconsiderately blabs to Lucy that not only would he have picked her, but he would've done so solely because he wanted to date a brunette and that Lucy was the "most attractive" out of the lot, causing all of the other girls to absolutely loathe him and making his eventual date with Chelsea, the girl he eventually ends up with, into an awkward situation.
    • For Added Stupidity: Even during the date, he keeps making discourteous remarks in the vain attempt of trying to be funny, though to be fair, it's not like the date was going to work out especially well either way.
• Tales from the Crypt
  • In "Three's a Crowd", Richard's wife Della and best friend Alan are planning a party for Richard to tell him ( that they're going to be parents!) Sadly Richard thinks they're having an affair and this results in him snapping enough to kill them both.
    You'd expect: That Della or Alan would come clean and tell him ("You're going to be a father, we wanted to surprise you, please don't kill us!")
    Instead: They don't say anything, even when it's clear that he's going to kill them. Result? One of the saddest endings in the series.
• Taxi:
  • Reverend Jim has to retake his driver's test.
    You'd Expect: Him to at least know the basics of driving since he does that for a living.
    Instead: He takes the written test, looks at the first question, and whispers "What does a yellow light mean?"
    So: Bobby whispers "Slow down."
    You'd Expect: Reverend Jim to recognize this is what a yellow light means.
    Instead: He repeats the question, only slower.
    Then, You'd Expect: Bobby to clarify his previous answer.
    Instead: He repeats "Slow down."
    Result: Reverend Jim repeats the question even more slowly.
• Tinka Og Kongespillet: In episode 20, Ingi is about to release Fileas from the Tower of Loneliness, and asks him if he'll marry her and make her queen as promised.
  • You'd Expect: That Fileas would at least play along until he gets what he actually wants.
  • Instead: He not only flat out admits that he has no intention of keeping his promise, but mocks her for thinking he would.
  • As a Result: Ingi decides she's finally had enough of putting up with him, leaves him locked up in his cell and decides to just rule the kingdom herself.
• Titans (2018):
  • In "Hank and Dove", The Titans learn that Jason Todd is not only alive, but he is the Red Hood that's been targeting them. While they speculate as to how this is possible, Hank gets a phone call from Jason, asking him to come help him. He then has Hank do increasingly random things, such as strip naked in an abandoned gym and swim across a dirty pool.
    • You’d Expect: Hank, who had earlier threatened to beat Jason to death, to perhaps be a bit more cautious. This is the guy who just played them all pretty bad yesterday, so he clearly knows how to play them and is out to make their lives as miserable as possible. Plus, they were already played pretty bad by Deathstroke—one of the reasons that Jason went down the path he did in the first place.
    • Instead: He doesn't suspect a thing and winds up with a bomb in his chest that his teammates have to make a Sadistic Choice over getting it out. He noticeably Lampshades how stupid he was to do this.
    • As a Result: Hank doesn't make it and blows up thanks to Dawn.
  • The same episode sees Dawn make a pretty stupid decision in regards to Hank's situation. If Red Hood doesn't get $50 million in gold bars, Hank dies. Dick refuses to play along with his game and has Conner work on a disabler for the device, while the rest of the team tries to slow down his heart so the bomb doesn't go off as quickly. Dawn insists that the team just give Jason the money, but Dick tells her that it's exactly what Jason wants them to do and that they can get Hank free on their own.
    • You’d Expect: Dawn to just listen. The Titans have gotten out of worse situations before, and just yesterday did playing Jason's game cause serious consequences for them. Besides, Conner has Super-Speed and is very intelligent, so he can get that device made before things get too dire. Besides, doing anything else could get them on Barbara's bad side even more than they already are.
    • Instead: She robs the gold truck and hands off the loot to Jason. He then decides to give her another Sadistic Choice: Use the gun he gave her to kill him, or Hank will blow up. Dick then shows up to tell her that Connor has it worked out and keep her from crossing the line.
    • You’d Expect: For her to think for a minute about this. Jason just died (or so it appeared) two days ago, and it's very doubtful he's eager to go back into the ground. Why would he suddenly give her a gun after he had her steal $50 million in gold bars if he isn't going to be around long enough to enjoy it?
    • You’d Also Expect: That she let Conner turn off the bomb. The moment it gets turned off, Hank is free and Jason has no leverage.
    • Instead: She pulls the trigger... which turns out to be the detonator to the bomb.
    • As a Result: Hank dies.
• Titus
  • Juanita, Titus's mom, is a psychopath (in the most literal sense of the word), but frequently gets out of mental hospitals, claiming that she's changed each time. Since Juanita has tried to kill Titus and his dad every time she gets out, Titus is naturally nervous about even being in the same room with her. The other characters frequently tell Titus to give his mom another chance, either because "it's your mother" or because it looks like Juanita really has reformed.
    You'd expect: That Titus would stick to his guns and stay hostile towards her, seeing as how she has a long history of violence, or at the very least, realize when Juanita is trying to sucker them into believing her story.
    Instead: Titus accepts that Juanita has changed for the better... only to be assaulted, drugged or abused by his mother. It's mentioned a few times on the show that this has been happening since Titus was born. And yet, he never learns.
• Top Chef: One chef is serving a crowd. She is aware that she will have to prepare her dish in advance because she won't be able to do so on site.
  You'd Expect: She would choose a recipe that would work in advance: crème caramel, cakes, cookies..
  Instead: She makes beignets in advance.
  Result: The judges give her a mediocre review.
  Even worse: She says outright she wishes she could have made them to order, but couldn't because of the challenge. The judges call her out in that if she was already aware of the glaring flaw in being unable to make beignets fresh, then she should have just done something else.
• Top Gear
  • During the Stretch Limos episode, the presenters are given the challenge of driving into a roadblock and getting away from it as quickly as possible, while the other two hosts shoot at their limo with paintball guns. Host James May has designed a limo that's essentially two cars joined at the rear, and can be driven at either end. Oh, and the other two hosts are Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, and they're all rather fond of goofing about.
    You'd Expect: James to remember just who his co-presenters are, stay in his car and do a J-turn to escape, as the challenge instructions suggested.
    Instead: He gets out of the car, and tries to get into the other end and drive it from there. Predictably, Clarkson and Hammond shoot at him instead of the car, and one of them shoots him in his "gentleman's area". And when he does get into his car, the steering wheel comes off seconds after he hits the gas, so he ends up driving into the grass.
  • During the Hatchback episode, the presenters play "Supermarket Sweep" with their cars; i.e. they drive around a race track inside a supermarket with penalties for damage at a rate of 1£ = 1 sec. James realises the only way to win is to drive as carefully as possible, as even minor damage yields minutes of penalties; he hits a shelf and obliterates a can of SPAM, but is mostly clean. Jeremy Clarkson, being Jeremy Clarkson, drives as fast as he can, doing large amounts of damage. Then it's Richard's turn.
    You'd Expect: After watching the other two, Richard would realize that James had the right idea and should take it as slowly as possible.
    Instead: Richard tries to outdo Jeremy.
    Result: He finishes the course on his side.
• The end of The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "The Jeopardy Room" has two KGB agents, Commissar Vassiloff and Boris, roaming the room of a failed assassination plot via telephone bomb. While planning their next move, the phone rings.
  You'd Expect: That they would remember that the phone is rigged with a bomb that they themselves planted and not answer it.
  Instead: Boris picks up the receiver and by the time Vassiloff tries to stop Boris, both are blown to bits. For added points of irony, the person who made the call was the very same person they tried to kill.
• Tweenies: In the episode "Videotape", Milo can't rewind Fizz's dancing tape properly, so Fizz goes to Judy to sort it out.
  You'd Expect: Fizz to wait til the tape is properly ejected from the computer.
  Instead: Fizz pulls the tape out of the computer quickly, resulting in the tape coming out of the cassette, permanently damaging the tape.

U

• The Umbrella Academy:
  • The series starts with Reginald Hargreeves adopting seven out of forty-three babies that were mysteriously conceived and born on the same day. He finds out that six out of these seven have superpowers and tries to make them into a hero team. Due to his emotional abuse, however, they all move out and leave after their brother Ben dies. Reginald wants to give his children a reason to reunite and prevent the apocalypse.
    You'd Expect: If he's lacks the capacity to apologize to them for what he did, such as locking up child-Klaus in a mausoleum to hear all the ghosts and lose his fear of them, he would fake his kidnapping, if he's going to fake a crime and give them a reason to unite. That way he still can engage in Xanatos Speed Chess.
    Instead: Reginald kills himself, and makes his death look like a murder. This means tampering with the android mother he built for the kids because Grace was programmed to interfere in medical emergencies.
    The Result: The kids notice Grace is malfunctioning, and suspect that she might have killed their father by accident. Diego makes the decision to shut her down after she sews a cross-stitch through her hand and doesn't even notice. What's worse, when they learn the truth about what Reginald did, they nearly split apart again, and the apocalypse happens because it turns out Vanya had powers all along and she snaps from her family's unintended emotional abuse, gaslighting from her vengeful boyfriend, and withdrawal from her meds. Nice going, Reginald.
  • It's eventually revealed that Vanya did have powers, but Reginald convinced a child-Allison to make Vanya believe she was ordinary. Leonard learns this from Reginald's journals, which Klaus tossed in the trash. He's planning revenge.
    You'd Expect: The best revenge would be isolating Vanya from her family and stopping there. It would be much worse for Allison if she knew her sister was getting involved with a stalker and not doing anything about it. She is dangerous, has never been able to control her powers.
    You'd Also Expect: Telling the truth to Vanya would have the same effect; if he shows her the notebook and reveals that Reginald lied to her and Allison Rumored her, saying that he noticed Klaus tossing away what looked like incriminating evidence. Vanya would also sympathize with Leonard's story, that he was humiliated by Reginald as a child.
    Instead: He washes away her meds and goads her to reawaken her powers so as to destroy her family.
    The Result: Vanya kills him when she realizes what he's doing.
  • Allison meanwhile has refused to use her powers after using them on her child causes her husband to divorce her. She remembers what she did to Vanya.
    You'd Expect: After their father dies and they have some time that Allison confesses to the entire family. That way if Vanya freaks out, they can at least tackle it together and prevent her from hurting anyone. When the truth comes out, Klaus and Diego have a Heel Realization change their attitude because they know what it's like being the focus of their dad's emotional abuse.
    Instead: She keeps quiet until trying to convince Vanya that Leonard/Harold is bad news and doesn't love her sister.
    The Result: While Allison tries to weakly defend that she was just doing what their father ordered and she didn't know any better due to being four, Vanya lashes out and slashes her throat by accident.
  • In Season Two, it's the 1960s. Five made a Deal with the Devil with the Handler, out of necessity in his mind when a past Reginald refuse to help them. He kills the board and lets her take over the Commission. She gives him a briefcase with an hour limit, which will ostensibly return the Hargreeves to 2019. He goes to rally the siblings and tells Vanya there is no taking anyone from the past with them, though she says she wants to say goodbye to the family housing her. Five gets annoyed but lets her go.
    You'd Expect: He would follow her to make sure she does that. Five knows that Vanya had previously caused the apocalypse and loves Sissy, the host's wife, and their son Harlan.
    Instead: Five goes back to the alley to wait for everyone.
    The Result: Vanya convinces Sissy either they go or Harlan will end up in an institution per Carl's blackmail. If Five were there, he could have transported out Vanya and quickly explained the situation to Sissy. Sissy makes the idiotic mistake of leaving a note for Carl, who uses his connection with the cops to set up a roadblock. Cue Vanya missing the time limit because she gets knocked out, arrested, and shipped to an FBI ability for demonstrating her powers. Oh, and this causes the world to nearly end again.
  • Carl has found out that the new amnesiac nanny has been kissing his wife. He has an offer: give her the car and a few hours to pack and leave, or he's sending Harlan to an institution.
    You'd Expect: He would sit them both down before Harlan's doctor appointment and tell them the ultimatum. It's only fair to Sissy that she knows the circumstances.
    Instead: He makes Vanya drive him to a ranch, where he likens lesbianism to foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. The only reason she doesn't run him over or kill him with her powers is that she is still amnesiac and in control of her emotions.
    The Result: After the disaster of a day, Sissy confronts Carl when he thinks he is entitled to sending Harlan to an institution and getting Vanya arrested while assuming marriage counseling and a vacation will fix all of that. She pulls a shotgun on him, and in the struggle their son, who received some of Vanya's powers, redirects a bullet that would have killed him into Carl. Your own stupidity killed you, man.
• In one episode of Unbeatable Bonzuke, a contestant on Sponge Bridge makes it past the first zone with ease.
  You'd expect: For him to move right onto the next zone only failing if he falls off the boards.
  Instead: He celebrates by doing a backflip right off the platform disqualifying him!
• One might get this feeling after yet another accident involving a rodeo on the show Untamed & Uncut. It makes another good (or possibly bad) idea for a drinking game. If one day, you find yourself watching an Untamed & Uncut marathon (or if it's simply many episodes in a row), take a drink every time an accident involving a rodeo comes up. Before you know it, you'll be as drunk as Dionysus on St. Patrick's Day.

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