What An Idiot / Live Action TVV To Z

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V

• Veronica Mars:
  • The murderer of Lilly Kane has been found and is in jail awaiting justice.
    You'd expect: Logan Echolls, who was in love with Lilly and hates the murderer, to do everything he can to see the murderer behind bars.
    Instead: In an extraordinarily misguided act of "loyalty" to his dead girlfriend, Logan destroys the evidence and the murderer goes free.
  • Veronica is neck and neck with another student for having the highest GPA in her class, which will earn her the Kane Scholarship, allowing her to attend Stanford on the Kane family's dime.
    You'd expect: She'd do her best to earn the scholarship, and only sacrifice it if something truly important got in her way.
    Instead: She deliberately walks out on a test, thereby forfeiting the scholarship, in order to see the verdict in Lilly's murder trial. Just to hear the verdict read, mind you — there was no way she could affect the outcome, and the verdict would be all over the news seconds later. She decided it was worth giving up her dream of going to Stanford just to see the look in the murderer's eyes when he was convicted ... oh, except that, due to her boyfriend's idiocy, he got acquitted.
• Victorious:
  • Generally, Trina is seen as a Giftedly Bad Small Name, Big Ego performer, Hated by All, and a Jerkass to boot, with no one wanting to spend time with her. In fact, Sikowitz reveals the only reason she was let in was that he was the only teacher judging her audition and he was hopped up on fermented coconut juice. With that said, she's revealed to be excellent at martial arts and is physically coordinated.
    You'd Expect: Considering the amount of naturally talented students that struggle with the curriculum, that a teacher would have nudged Trina towards channeling her martial arts into dancing or stuntwork. It's a miracle that she isn't kicked out for her lack of pipes, until Helen becomes the new principal and bluntly says Trina is expelled after seeing her terrible audition. Also, you'd think her classmates would be more Brutally Honest, including her own sister.
    Instead: Jade is the only one who outwardly says that Trina has no talent. Everyone else humors her because she bullies her way into making people watch her stuff and praise it. Tori has the excuse that she has to live with Trina, but no one else does.
    The Result: Trina is Her Own Worst Enemy. She blows a recording opportunity when lying that she composed and recorded the song that Tori performed as a birthweek gift. People laugh at her attempts to put on a solo show, and musical professionals ignore her attempts to brown-nose. It gets to the point that when Trina's stunt is sabotaged, Everyone Is a Suspect, including Tori.
  • "The Birthweek Song": Tori is stymied while trying to find a birthweek gift for her older sister. Jade snarkily suggests getting Trina "talent," while Andre helps her write a song. Tori performs it live, complete with backup dancers. Trina loves the song, but doesn't realize it was her present because it didn't cost anything.
    You'd Expect: Tori would either chew out Trina for expecting every gift to cost monetary value with her parents' encouragement, or take Trina up to their room before berating her for being an Ungrateful Bastard.
    Instead: She shoes her parents, Andre, and the backup dancers outside with an umbrella in the pouring rain.
    The Result: Everyone else gets soaked and Trina doesn't learn to be grateful.
  • Robbie has become an unofficial tech guy for his grandmother's new Internet. He hates it and brings Cat along for emotional support. When his grandmother asks, Robbie assures her that Cat is just a friend and they're not dating.
    You'd Expect: His grandmother to take this at face value and just stick with berating Cat for her hair color. Robbie at this point has no reason to lie to her.
    Instead: At her next tech emergency, she invites a shy girl named Brenda to talk to Robbie before he can handle the problem and fixes chicken for them.
    The Result': Robbie gets fed up, with the matchmaking being The Last Straw. He destroys her Internet, announces that it's been cancelled, and runs off with Cat in tow before his grandmother can stop them.
  • "Jade Dumps Beck": The B plot is that Trina makes Robbie see an early preview of her one-woman show so he can review it for the school paper. He takes notes but is dismayed at how terrible it is. Much as he'd like to trash Trina, she trashes him several times when he tries to politely stall and say that in good conscience he can't review her show because he doesn't want to hurt a friend, especially one that will shove his face into boiling-hot soup and damage his clothes using a locker.
    You'd Expect: After Trina shoves his face into some soup he's eating for lunch, that Robbie would call the teacher for help, or tell the guidance counselor that Trina is bodily threatening him. The teachers could tell Trina to suck it up: either she gets a bad review, or none at all. She's going to face a lot of critics in her life, and some will not be intimidated.
    Instead: The adults do nothing and Robbie doesn't think to summon them for help, forcing Robbie to take Andre's advice.
    The Result: Trina spends the entire week bullying Robbie, and bodily threatening him when on Andre's advice he says that the story is great as a comedy.
    Fortunately: Due to everyone laughing at her show, Trina considers the solo act a success.
  • "Tori The Zombie": Tori agrees to be Cat's zombie model so the latter won't fail her makeup class. Trina finds out that Cat used superglue which is not supposed to go on human skin and she needs to perform in a play the next day. When Tori heads to rehearsal as her sister and Cat get the solvent, Jade suggests that she should perform as Tori's understudy.
    You'd Expect: The director Sikowitz would go with this.
    Instead: Sikowitz and Tori insist she does the play with the zombie face.
    Fortunately: The play's writer praises them for such a creative interpretation of her play.
  • In "Survival of the Hottest", the gang goes to Venice Beach on the hottest day of the year, and Cat has to go to the bathroom upon arrival.
    You'd expect: Someone else to go with Cat to the bathroom to at least watch her.
    Instead: She goes alone.
    You'd then expect: Cat to bring her cell phone with her.
    Instead: She doesn't, and gets no response when Tori tried to call her.
    Then: After Cat leaves the bathroom, she meets a cute boy who asks her to hang with him.
    You'd expect: Cat to politely refuse as she needs to check on the others.
    Instead: She happily agrees and spends all her time with the boy and his friends, kicking off the plot of the episode.
  • "Freak The Freak Out": Trina has had her wisdom teeth taken out. Her parents leave for a trip and put Tori in charge of caring for Trina, who apparently had a bad experience with the surgery. She's moaning in pain constantly and complaining with garbled speech.
    You'd Expect: Trina to just stand still for anyone taking care of her.
    Instead: She attacks anyone who tries to give her medicine or rinse out her gums.
    The Result: Tori resorts to tying her up and duct-taping her mouth, and every subsequent babysitter leaves as soon as they can.
  • In "Tori Gets Stuck", Tori has to donate a second pint of blood for Robbie after Jade stole the first one she donated (long story). Eventually her blood has been removed and put in a bag. Robbie enters the room, pleased to see her having gone out of her way for him again.
    You'd expect: That Tori would hold on to the bag of blood to make sure nothing would happen to it. Considering she already had to donate one pint of blood, she would have to be extra careful with this one.
    Instead: Tori holds it up, and Robbie takes it from her. He imagines that he's holding "liquid Tori" in his hands, and then holds it up to the light in the room, but drops it, which splatters it all over the two of them. Tori is then forced to give up a THIRD pint of blood, which is pretty dangerous. And by the end of the episode, she feels drowsy and faint when she tries to do her part in the school play.
  • Beck, one of the most popular guys in school, is dating Jade, an Alpha Bitch and bully. Quite a few people, including Tori, ask What Does He See in Her? as Jade takes Beck for granted, gets violent if there's a hint that another girl likes him, and doesn't even show him basic consideration. It comes to a head when Beck and Jade have a serious fight while participating in a romantic quiz game show for Sinjin's project, and Beck openly states he's not happy with the state of their relationship. They get voted Worst Couple, and Beck is concerned and angry because the other two couples weren't even couples.
    You'd Expect: Jade to seriously consider Beck's concerns. The last time they broke up, he handled it quite well while dating someone else and she became a sobbing wreck. Beck this time is willing to talk to her and figure out where they went wrong.
    Instead: Jade tries to dismiss Beck's desire to talk, and threatens to break up with him by giving him an ultimatum.
    The Result: Beck breaks up with Jade due to the ultimatum, starts dating again, and only gets back together after a few months because he realizes that he likes that they disagree. Jade has a hard time finding a rebound date because everyone is scared of her.
  • "Wok Star":
    • When the school refuses to put on Jade's disturbing play about a girl drowning in a well, Tori accidentally gets Jade a sponsor, Wing Lee who owns a local restaurant, On One Condition: Jade has to incorporate Ms. Lee's "talentless and irritating" teenage daughter in the play. Jade blames Tori for this turn of events, even though as the other kids point out, Jade wouldn't be performing her play if not for Tori. She's especially worried that her dad is coming for one performance and he's not supportive of her career in the arts.
      You'd Expect: Tori would let Jade deal with it. The girl's a Jerkass even on her good days, and she's being an Ungrateful Bastard who doesn't even consider Tori a friend.
      Instead: While playing UNO with their friend group, Tori and the others come up with a Zany Scheme to keep Ms. Lee from attending a show where her daughter Daisy, who is a Nice Girl, will not make an appearance that Jade's father can watch and appreciate. Hilarity Ensues.
    • Meanwhile as part of this Zany Scheme, Daisy is waiting for her cue.
      You'd Expect: Jade and Tori would have told Daisy for this one performance they're humoring Jade's Control Freak of a dad and that Daisy would steal the show (which technically isn't a lie) and have her wait backstage.
      Instead: They leave Daisy dangling on her wire and harness for the part Ms. Lee wrote into the play. As Ms. Lee arrives too late to see the show, she hears Daisy calling out that she's ready.
      The Result: When Ms. Lee finds out, she tells off Tori for letting her daughter "dangle" and promises revenge in the near future. She eventually gets it when she opens up a sushi place and makes Tori and Robbie work off an expensive sushi meal they can't pay for when Robbie forgets his wallet.
  • "Andre's Horrible Girl": As the earthquake is striking Los Angeles, most everyone in Nozu is taking cover for safety, except Hope Quincy, who we see more concerned for her birthday presents.
    You'd expect: That Hope would take cover beneath the hallway, or do SOMETHING other than stand below an arch.
    Instead: She doesn't even see that, and the Japanese symbol falls off the wall and knocks her out, leaving her with a concussion. Ouch.
  • In "The Wood" Jade gets her dad's boss to lend them a junkyard car to wreck for their reality show.
    You'd expect: The boss to give them the color, model, location, and license plate number of the car,
    Instead: He just tells them which parking lot it's in and Jade and Tori end up destroying Festus' car which could easily be mistaken for a junker car. This results in Lane kicking the producers off the campus and the show gets moved to another school.
  • "The Breakfast Bunch": Vice Principal Dickers insists Tori and the gang utter not one more word. Jade utters, "Word," prompting Dickers to give her more Saturday detentions, one after the other, until she ends up with three more.
    You'd expect: Tori to keep silent and leave Jade alone.
    Instead: She tries sticking up for Jade.
    The result: Dickers now gives more Saturday detentions to Tori, whether she wants it or not; when this is all over, she has five more.
• Viva La Bam:
  • In "Where's Vito?" Don Vito and Ryan Dunn are on the run with Bam's Hummer, while they are eating out in the restaurant, Phil calls Don Vito.
    You'd expect: Don Vito keeping his mouth shut about his location so Bam can't find him, and he and Dunn could relax a bit.
    Instead: Don Vito blabs about his and Dunn's location to his brother, unaware that Bam is right next to Phil the entire time, under the pretenses that Phil is his brother and wouldn't tell on him, not even to his own son.
    The result: Bam and crew immediately go to said restaurant, forcing Ryan and Vito to hightail it fast. Dunn himself told him how dumb it is to believe Phil would value him over his own flesh and blood.

W

• The Walking Dead:
  • In "Chupacabra", Daryl Dixon comes stumbling out of the forest badly injured and limping after his unsuccessful attempt to find Sophia. Andrea notices something in the distance and alerts Rick and the rest of the group, and Rick tells her to wait while he deals with what he thinks is a walker. Andrea is itching to prove herself with a gun, however, and takes aim at the walker in the distance (over Dale's calls to put her weapon down).
    You'd Expect: That she would do what everyone's already told her. Andrea has no proficiency with a rifle, there's sunlight glaring down the scope, she can't see her target clearly, and there are already four men who are standing directly in front of her target (therefore putting them in danger if she misses) and aren't doing anything to put it down.
    Instead: She takes the shot anyway, almost kills Daryl (she grazes him in the side of the head) and gets yelled at by Rick from a distance.
  • The first episode of Season 2 features the group hiding amongst a big car pile-up as a large horde of zombies walks by. Sophia is discovered and flees to the woods, chased by two eerily quick walkers, and Rick gives chase to help her. Catching up to her, he finds a safe hiding spot for her to stay in while he handles the zombies.
    You'd Expect: That Rick tell Sophia to stay safely hidden while he handles the walkers and he comes back for her.
    You'd Also Expect: That he try to kill the zombies right where he was. Or run back towards the road where the group could safely dispose of them now that the horde had passed by. Really, a number of options were available.
    Instead: Rick points in some direction and tells Sophia to run back to the group while he drives the zombies away to kill them. While he's off killing the zombies, Sophia follows his instructions. This results in her getting lost, dying and being zombified offscreen, all because Rick couldn't be bothered to think straight for two seconds.
  • Late in Season 5, the group has found the town of Alexandria and is getting acclimated to their new surroundings. Aiden, the man in charge of scouting runs for the town, is asked to take several of Rick's group out and "show them the ropes", not knowing what Rick and the others have fought over the last two years.
    You'd Expect: That since he doesn't know these people too well (and got a member of his last scouting group killed for being reckless), he'd talk to the group and find out who among them has scouting skills, tell them about the dangers of the job and (if they have experience) defer to their authority.
    Instead: Aiden starts by bragging about his military training, then elects to bring Noah (a new member of Rick's group who can't run) as part of the scouting party. He then reveals to Glenn, Tara and Noah that he's strung up a walker for target practice and nearly gets killed (when the walker escapes) before they intervene and rescue him. Then, Laser-Guided Karma hits hard when he attempts to insult Glenn and gets socked in the face and reprimanded by his mother (the woman in charge of Alexandria), who even thanks Rick for getting his group to beat up her son. Eventually, Aiden gets himself killed when a scouting run predictably goes wrong and a better adapted survivor replaces him. It's a wonder the Alexandria residents were surviving before Rick and the others came along.
• In the season premiere of Warehouse 13, H.G. Wells asks MacPherson about the crystal necklace around his neck.
  You'd Expect: He'd tell her it was a present-day fashion trend. After all, she'd been bronzed for roughly a century and had no way of know "what's hip" today.
  Instead: He tells her what the necklace is for and pays the price later. For God's sake, James, you're supposed to be WAY SMARTER THAN THAT!
• Wednesday: Joseph Crackstone, being the bigot that he is, condemns Goody Adams for being an Outcast and sentences her to death, believing she is a sin to God and is doomed to burn in hell.
  You'd Expect: For Crackstone to chain Goody up in the barn like all the other Outcasts. Easy enough. That way, she won't be able to escape once the barn is set ablaze.
  Or: For Crackstone (or any of his pilgrim followers) check to make sure there is no way that anyone can escape the barn. Sure, maybe the pilgrims don't want to spend all the time chaining Goody up, but at least they'll know she won't have a way out whether chained or unchained.
  Or for the matter: Just kill Goody on the spot. If Crackstone hates her and her sin so much, why won't he just do it already? She's an unarmed kid who's vastly outnumbered by a bunch of bigots armed with torches and pitchforks.
  Instead: Crackstone just simply has her thrown into the barn and sets it ablaze after condemning her, not even bothering chaining her up or checking to make sure there is no way anyone can escape.
  The Result: Goody is able to escape through a secret passage, all because she is free enough to find a way out of the flames.
  To Make Matters Worse: Goody ends up being the one to kill Crackstone, and live long enough so that her descendant, Wednesday, can do it all over again centuries later.
• The Weird Al Show: "Time Machine" has Weird Al travel back in time with his newly-created time machine to try and get a birthday present for Harvey, in the process re-experiencing the events of the day he'd already gone through before.
  You'd Expect: Al to realize that since he is time-traveling to earlier points in time, he shouldn't be that surprised that he's re-experiencing what he's already done.
  Instead: Al forgets that he's gone back in time when re-experiencing the events and gets confrontational towards everyone he's interacted with, resulting in such consequences as the electric company cutting his power when he responded to receiving a final notice by calling them on the phone just to insult them as well as Bobby the Inquisitive Boy becoming disillusioned towards Al when he claimed to have already answered his question and shows him an educational video that had nothing to do with what he asked.
• The West Wing: In the episode "The State Dinner", Toby and Sam are tasked with writing a toast to the visiting Indonesian President for a state dinner in his honor. Toby wants to include strong, confrontational language denouncing Indonesia's history of human rights abuses — however, he also is meeting with an Indonesian official after the toast to try and persuade him to help release Toby's friend, a French activist being held in an Indonesian jail for organising anti-government protests.
  You'd Expect: That Toby would err on the side of diplomacy, decide to not risk insulting the person he needs to help his friend and decide not to include the confrontational language, or at least follow Sam's suggestion of tempering it with more diplomatic language to blunt the potential insult.
  Instead: Toby insists that the confrontational language is included in full, with no moderation at all. True enough, the Indonesian official is offended by the confrontational toast and the perceived insult to his President, knows exactly who wrote it, and refuses to help Toby out. Toby's friend is presumably left to rot in jail.
• White Collar: In the episode "Wanted," Peter, Diana, and Clinton are searching for Neal's whereabouts. Using audio evidence from a recorded phone call, they use process of elimination and narrow Neal's location down to Cape Verde. They do this off the books because an FBI agent named Collins is also after Neal (on Agent Kramer's orders), and is out for blood.
  You'd Expect: Peter and everyone to be discreet. They'd keep their investigation as bare bones as possible, and not leave any notes that could tip Collins off in case he decides to execute a search warrant on any of their houses. Remember, they're trying to help Neal.
  Instead: Peter puts a big red circle around Cape Verde on a map, and leaves the map at his house. Collins executes a search warrant. Collins finds the map, sees the hard-to-miss circle around Cape Verde, and goes after Neal with the full intention of killing him.
  • Wimzie's House: In one episode, the kids play Opposite Day. Grandma Yaya helps them with it, explaining the idea is to do the opposite of what you normally would. Loulou gets confused, naturally with "no" means "yes" and having dessert before lunch.
    You'd Expect: Grandma would establish some ground rules: let Wimzie's parents Rousso and Graziella know that it's Opposite Day. Also if the adults have a serious question, it's okay to answer normally. Taking the game too far can lead to some Poor Communication Kills.
    Instead: She doesn't and only establishes it after the fact.
    The Result: They find Rousso's calculator, which he needs for work. When Rousso comes to the kids asking if they've seen the calculator, they naturally say "NO!" in unison, not knowing that he was Locked Outof The Loop. Wimzie realizes they took the game too far when she hears her dad is going to the store to buy another calculator, though fortunately he figures it out ahead of time.
• The Witcher (2019)
  • With invasion from Nilfgaardian Army approaching quickly, Calanthe and Eist rush to prepare their forces to drive them back, determined to defend their home and granddaughter Ciri. Then Geralt arrives, deciding to take responsibility for his invoking of the Law of Surprise by offering to take Ciri to safety until the battle concludes and, in the event that Cintra falls, will take care of her and keep her safe.
    You'd Expect: Them to take Geralt, who's martial prowess and skill they have witnessed firsthand, up on his offer and put Ciri in his care for the time being, especially seeing as he's offering to bring her back after the fact and, considering his initial attitude to wanting to take care of a child, would likely do so with little hesitation.
    Instead: They try to kill him and later try to send him away with a body double, fully confident that they can repel the invasion. Geralt is understandably angry when he finds out but chooses to leave for the time being. Eist then asks him to stay away, only for Geralt to reply that if he learns that Ciri is in danger he will come back.
    You'd Then Expect: Eist to just let him go. With that offer, he and Calanthe get to keep Ciri and if something does go wrong against the Nilfgaard invasion (which it does), they can rest easy knowing that a One-Man Army like Geralt will rush over to act as Ciri's guardian.
    Instead: Eist captures Geralt and has him locked up, prompting him to escape only after the invasion starts.
    As A Result: Geralt can't get to Ciri in time and they can't find him when they need him amidst all the chaos, forcing Calanthe to send her with only an old Druid and a single knight for protection, both of whom are killed and leaving Ciri to travel in an aimless journey to find the Witcher herself.
    Even Worse: Considering Calanthe's initial attempt at defying the Law of Surprise, they really should have known better than to say Screw Destiny.
  • Instead of using his obvious magical advantage in his fight against Cahir, Vilgefortz depleted his chaos by insisting on conjuring swords after Cahir kept disarming him.
  • After the birth of an elven child, Francesca and her people have decided to renege on their deal with Nilfgaard and instead focus on rebuilding their race.
    You'd Expect: They'd meet in secret to discuss a way they can break away from their promise with the empire.
    Instead: The elves just choose to skip training the next day, and Francesca straight up tells Fringilla that the deal is off. Apparently they expect that there will be no repercussions.
    Even Worse: The elves are only allowed to live in Cintra because of their bargain. The Emperor of Nilfgaard is arriving the next day, and very much has the authority to evict their entire race (or worse). This would put the elves right back where they started, except now they've spat in the face of a powerful empire that could crush them at any time.
    As A Result: Because Francesca has no concept of cause and effect, the elves lose their greatest hope to an assassin and end up doing Nilfgaard's dirty work for free.
• Wizards of Waverly Place:
  • While they're attending WizTech, Alex finds out that teacher Evilini is going to use a sports event to drain Justin of his magic since the winner goes to Volcano Land, where wizards can be drained. Justin at first thinks she's Crying Wolf because she's spent most of their time playing pranks on him, but she proves it by bringing a Volcano Land employee to school. Alex tells Justin he needs to lose the Twelve Ball tournament.
    You'd Expect: That if Justin realized his teacher was evil, that he shouldn't confront her. He can quietly forfeit the match, or lose on purpose without telling anyone.
    Instead: He goes to confront Evilini about how he knows her scheme and that he's planning to quit the tournament.
    Predictably: Evilini casts a spell on Justin forcing him to stay in the tournament and play to win. Justin does so, with a look of happy terror.
  • Meanwhile for Evilini, only Alex knew about her plan. Thus, Alex ratted her out, despite saying she was supportive of the plan.
    You'd Expect: She would curse Alex as well since Alex is a Wild Card.
    Instead: She sits back and watches smugly as Justin under magic is forced to win the Twelve Ball tournament and go to Volcano Land.
    The Result: Alex goes Cornered Rattlesnake, remembers the truth-telling spell that Professor Crumb used on her, and casts it on Evilini. Evilini starts Evil Gloating aloud, goes Oh, Crap! when everyone hears her, and gets arrested.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: An early episode has Johnny announce a contest the station is running, but he mistakenly announces the total prize money for the year as the weekly prize.
  You'd Expect: Johnny to admit his mistake on the air and report the correct prize amount.
  Instead: They set up the contest so that no one could possibly win. Inexplicably, someone wins.
  Then: Someone shows up to claim the prize.
  You'd Expect: The station staff to confirm his identity before paying up.
  Instead: They confirm the identity of the second person to show up claiming to be the winner. You guessed it. The first person was a fake.
• Wolf Hall
  • George Boleyn detests Thomas Cromwell, so he and his father attempt to influence Henry against him. It works, and after a church service Herny loudly and publicly screams into Cromwell's face. Cromwell only just manages to withdraw without Henry ordering his death, and he's pretty shaken up afterwards.
    You'd Expect: George to keep his mouth shut.
    Instead: He tracks down Cromwell to gloat and remind him of "his place," thus tipping him off as to who put the thought in Henry's mind. George then fails to understand what Cromwell means by saying "I will profit from this lesson" and walks off satisfied. His father also gloats at the council meeting the next day, not reading the signs that Henry is embarrassed over the incident and probably further convincing him to make amends.
  • Anne and Henry have fallen out in a big way, and her lutenist Mark Smeaton is called to Cromwell's house after dark to be interviewed about it.
    You'd Expect: Mark to be extremely careful with everything he says and not trust Cromwell's story about wanting to reconcile Anne and Henry, especially since she's suspected of infidelity and as Mark himself says, Cromwell has been hanging around with her enemies. It wouldn't have helped, mind. But...
    Instead: When Cromwell asks why the queen is unhappy, Mark says it's because she's in love. With himself.
    Afterwards: When Mark tries to take it back, Cromwell points out that they hadn't even started intimidating him yet; he just blurt it out all on his own.
  • George Boleyn stands trial, accused of treason and incest with Anne. Cromwell hands him a bit of paper and says not to read it aloud, only to answer if he recognizes the words on it.
    You'd Expect: Being on trial for his life, for him to read what the words are and answer no.
    Instead: He reads it and then speaks the words out loud: insults against Henry's manhood. Then he realizes the court is not laughing with him and hastily says that they aren't his words and he doesn't own them. Cromwell's reply? "You do now."^note As with Mark, this would not have actually helped—Cromwell had more up his sleeve. But George certainly made it easy for him.

X

• Xena: Warrior Princess
  • Mavican is an up-and-coming warlord who dreams of killing Xena and gaining Ares' favor. Ares gifts her with a challenge in a pocket dimension where Xena appears in the day and Gabrielle appears at night and whoever survives gets out. Every time Xena tries to kill her, Mavican disappears. It appears that only Gabrielle is capable of killing her, even with traps set up by Xena before sunset. And she's capable of killing either person she wants. In the climax, Xena traps them both in a cave and threatens to take them both down into a pit below while hanging onto some vines.
    You'd Expect: That Mavican laughs in her face and lets go. A fall from that height will likely kill her, and set her back to a safe location. The worst case scenario is that Xena survives the fall and Mavican will have to wait until Xena/Gabrielle starves to death.
    Instead: She caves and calls for Ares to open a portal out of the scenario. Unimpressed with her cowardice, Ares only allows Xena out, leaving Mavican trapped in the cave for the rest of her life.
  • Kun's army is trying to prevent K'ao Hsin and her new friends from destroying their black powder supplies. While Gabrielle and Joxer are battling their forces, they see that Xena and K'ao Hsin are fighting their boss Pao Ssu in their black powder camp.
    You'd Expect: That Kun will do everything in his power to make sure NOT to fire any explosives in that camp.
    Instead: They fire missle after missle at Xena and K'ao Hsin in the hopes of hitting them. Not only do they miss every shot, they also end up hitting Pao Hsu, destroying their only supply and killing the only person willing to give them the information on how to make the powder.
  • In 'Eternal Bonds' The Greek Gods' personal armies has Xena, Gabrielle and a dying Joxer cornered in an open field. Among them are the legions of Artemis with their trademark arrows.
    You'd Expect: That the armies would surround the trio, allowing Artemis' troops to shoot arrows from afar. Xena can catch a few, but there's only so many she can stop at once. Gabrielle has only shown to catch an arrow once and that was out of pure instinct.
    In Addition: When Xena hangs the baby Eve by rope, that every available archer would shoot at the baby, their intended target.
    Instead: Mook Chivalry rears its ugly head as every soldier lines up to get slaughtered by the duo of Xena and Gabrielle. Not one archer boths to shoot either Xena, Gabrielle or the dying Joxer. Only once did an archer decide to try and shoot the hanging Eve, which was split by Xena and redirected towards the other two leaders. By far the worst display of army tactics in the show's history.
  • Athena has Xena and Gabrielle under siege in Xena's hometown of Amphipolis by some of the finest warriors in the ancient world. After some days under siege, Xena walks out of town holding a cloth she claims holds the baby Eve. She lays it down for Athena to kill the child.
    You'd Expect: That the goddess of wisdom would check the cloth to make sure that Eve is actually wrapped around it. Xena is well known for trickery and misdirection so such a ploy is expected.
    You'd Also Expect: That Athena wouldn't pull back her forces until she's at least sure that the child is indeed Eve.
    Instead: She believes Xena's word and brings back her forces, readying the killing blow.
    The Result: Ares comes in for the save due to a deal made with Xena and fights Athena while Gabrielle leads a counter attack on the idle forces, decimating Athena's army and killing her champion in the process. Xena later reveals that the 'baby' is actually a doll. Fooling Ares is par the course but Athena?
  • Also in the fifth season, the Fates state that Xena's death will mark the beginning of the end for the Olympian Gods, mostly at the hand of her then-unborn daughter.
    You'd Expect: Them to do everything in their power to keep Xena alive and well for as long as possible (such as giving her some Ambrosia).
    Instead: They go out of their way to hunt her down and try to kill her, Gabriel, and Joxer multiple times. Surprisingly, even Apollo, the god of wisdom, goes along with this plan.
  • You are a Greek God and want to kill her Xena's daughter Eve. Xena also recently gained the ability to kill gods thanks to Eli.
    You'd Expect: That the gods use their well-established ability to remain unseen by any mortal and shank Eve in her sleep. Or simply teleport behind her and do the same thing.
    Instead: They try to kill her with more conventional ways such as energy blasts and their weapons while fighting while facing her, allowing Xena opportunities to kill them.
  • In the season 6 episode "When Fates Collide", Caesar tampers with the Looms of Fate and creates a world where Xena is his empress and wife and they rule Rome together. But things fall apart when Xena finds out about her past life thanks to Alti. Later, Alti does the same to Gabrielle in an attempt to kill her under Caesar's orders. Gabrielle survives the attack, but both she and Xena have been captured. Caesar orders for Xena to be cruxified the next day.
    You'd Expect: That at least Alti suggests that Gabrielle should also be cruxified. Alti should at least know that Gabrielle knows about the tampering and can undo everything. Caesar likely wouldn't mind for the two to be executed in a similar way to the previous reality and he originally wanted her dead to begin with.
    Instead: Neither Alti nor Caesar suspect anything from Gabrielle and she goes free the next day.
    The Result: Gabrielle uses her newfound knowledge to destroy the looms and the warped reality along with it.

Y

• Yellowstone:
  • Midway through Season 2, Intrepid Reporter Sarah Nguyen (a contributor to a New York-based current affairs magazine) has everything she needs to write an explosive story on John Dutton and his iron grip over the local authorities (which has led him to wield an inordinate amount of power in the region). She cajoles Jamie Dutton (John's son, who previously contributed quotes to the story in anger over his father's actions) into meeting with her in a secluded backwoods area in an attempt to confirm some information, and Jamie acts dismissive and near-hostile, telling her he can't give her any more information and regrets participating in the story because it will destroy his family's reputation.
    You'd Expect: Being a reporter who is now fully aware of the possible threat that the Duttons are, and what they can do to people who know too much, she would politely leave the meeting as soon as possible, get out of the county and finish her story, as it becomes clear from her words that there's nothing else she needs to do beyond confirming some information with Jamie — and if he can't provide it, she can omit that information (or find an alternate source) for her story.
    Instead: She drops any pretenses and tells Jamie (who's getting more and more angry with the situation) that she's going to ruin his reputation and his family's, that the Duttons should not own so much land, and that she's going to ensure everything Jamie has worked for is torn apart — in effect, threatening one of her own sources. She then slowly walks away from the now-livid Jamie, who rushes her before she can get into her car, smashes her head against it and chokes her to death, just before conscripting Rip and Walker to help him frame the death as a boating accident. As an acknowledgement of this, Christina (Jamie's girlfriend) does what Sarah should have done when she confronts him a couple episodes later — she meets him in a public space (a coffee shop), tells him she knows the same things Sarah did and is worried there may be reprisal against her, and ensures leverage against Jamie by telling him she's having his child.
  • Early on in Season 4, it's revealed that Chester Spears, the "party planner" for the Montana Free Militia that organized the assassination attempts against the Duttons (which, ultimately, are an example of this, given that none of the attacks killed their respective targets and only led to the entirety of the attacking party being wiped out) is still in the local area, having apparently decided to stay behind and gamble some/all of his winnings at the Broken Rock Casino.
    You'd Expect: Given how it's not a secret that John survived his injuries, and that his family is on high alert for further attacks, and given that he sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a number of other locals (particularly because he's a loudmouth ex-Army vet who is bragging about his exploits at the local casino while enjoying his fortune), he would wise up at some point during the two-month Time Skip that ultimately opens the season and get as far away from Montana as possible, even if he knows there's no chance of any reprisal coming for him.
    Instead: He starts bragging (while slightly inebriated) about his involvement in the hits to a dealer, which gets picked up on by Mo and the security detail at the casino, who are still on high alert after the attack. Spears is ultimately placed under guard, held captive by Mo (in his family home's shed) for several days bound and gagged, and then delivered as a "present" to the vengeful John, who drives him out to the "train station" and ultimately shoots him dead.

• You (2018):
  • Joe Goldberg has kidnapped his ex-girlfriend Marienne Bellamy and imprisoned her inside his signature glass cage in an abandoned bomb shelter. Nadia Farran, one of Joe's students from his cover identity of Professor Johnathan Moore, snoops around his apartment and finds Marienne. Nadia prepares to dial 999 but Marienne begs her not to out of fear that Joe will escape again.
    You'd Expect: Nadia to ignore Marienne's idiotic pleas and call the police. Meanwhile, she can take photos of Marienne in the cage and get a recording of her telling everything Joe did.
    Instead: Nadia and Marienne enact a complicated plan in which Marienne fakes her suicide and Joe leaves her body out in the open, allowing Nadia to revive her. Fortunately for Marienne, the plan works and she escapes back to Paris with Joe none the wiser. Very unfortunately for Nadia, however, Joe catches on to her, murders her boyfriend and frames her for it and for Rhys Montrose's murder.
  • Crooked billionaire Tom Lockwood learns that the man his daughter Kate is dating is actually Serial Killer Joe Goldberg.
    You'd Expect: Tom to have Joe killed or arrested, reveal his true nature to Kate afterwards and manipulate her into returning to New York with him.
    Instead: Tom forces Joe to assassinate a mayoral candidate for him. Joe then kills Tom and stays with Kate.

Z

• Zeke and Luther:
  • In "Double Crush" the boys meet a BMX girl named Dani and they end up competing for her.
    You'd Expect: Them to both act mature in hopes of winning Dani's affection.
    Instead: They screw up each other's time with her, spread lies about eachother, and then say they enjoy riding bikes even though it's clear they have never ridden one before while forgetting to know Dani. This makes her annoyed and she tells them off for it. Thankfully the boys at least admit it and apologize.

  • In the episode “Inside Luther’s brain”, from the Jeopardy-like game show: Brain Busters, there’s the final round where you can wager as many of your points. Ginger and Lisa have 590 points, while Zeke and Luther only have 10 points.
    You'd Expect: For Ginger to wager no more than 569 points in the case that the girls answer incorrectly, they will end up with 21 points which will still be more than 20 (which the most points the boys can get if they answer correctly).
    Instead: Ginger wagers all of her teams points justifying it by “wanting to crush the boys by as many points as possible” despite knowing Zeke/Luther are capable of outdoing her at times. And Lisa answers the question wrong after being distracted by Zeke.
    Result: Ginger and Lisa end up getting 0 points while Luther finally gets a question right and doubles his and Zeke’s score of 10, to win the game.

• Zoey 101: "Spring Break-Up": After the girls lose one of the events because Zoey didn't receive the combination, she discovers that her Techmate is missing. Then they find out that Chase took it (because he accidentally sent Zoey a message that he meant to send to Michael, and he really didn't want Zoey to see it. He had to delete it before she could). When the girls confront Chase, they claim he cheated, but he says that he didn't. Zoey tells him that if he just tells her why she took her Techmate, she will believe that he didn't cheat.
  You'd expect: That Chase would just make up some lie, and say that she dropped it and was going to bring it back to her after the event was over, or something like that.
  Instead: He refuses to tell her, leaving her and the other girls mad at him. In the last event, when both teams are tied, he lets her team win out of guilt.
  • In another episode, Paige at PCA, Quinn attempts to test out a gravity chamber that she made. She asks Lola for her cell phone so she can test it out.
    You'd expect: That Lola would refuse, caring for the safety of her phone, and ask Quinn if she has something she can use to test the chamber with herself.
    Instead: She gives it to Quinn without hesitation, and as it is used in the chamber, it gets smushed, and makes a mess of silver glue-ish material on the table. Then, when Paige comes in later, she uses a magnetic device that works in the chamber with no problems.
  • In "The Great Vince Blake", the girls decide to replace the vending machine snacks with a product called "Moon Bars" that are very healthy, but taste horrible. During this time, Quinn and Mark are working with cacti containing a delicious, low calorie, and addictive goo.
    You'd Think: She wouldn't even bring up the goo, and think of a safe option.
    Instead: She injects the Moon Bars with cactus goo and doesn't tell them the goo is addictive until the very end after students start going mad for them.
  • In "Fake Roommate" the girls new RA is revealed to have stolen things from everyone's dorms.
    You'd Think: She'd come up with a halfway convincing lie since she made no effort to hide what she stole such as she had found the stuff lying around and she didn't know where the lost and found was.
    Instead: She claims she's on a reality show called "Take The Stuff" and when no one believes her she breaks down and reveals she's a kelptomaniac. Naturally she gets fired.

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