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    G

• Galavant
  • In the pilot, a great hero Galavant tries to save his love Madalena from being forced to marry King Richard. Only, it turns out that Madalena would rather marry a king, becoming the most powerful woman in the land, than marry a hero. Galavant as a result goes into Heroic BSoD, being drunk all the time and leaving his squire Sid to care for him. King Richard realizes he's in over his head when he can never please his wife, who keeps comparing him to Galavant and demanding so many objects. He thinks the only thing he can do is slay the hero.
    You'd Expect: King Richard knows that Galavant has been reduced to a drunk and a year of not fighting puts a man out of shape. So he should just send an assassin with a knife for Galavant's back or poison for his next round of ale.
    Instead: Richard blackmails a princess to seek Galavant for help and tell him that Madalena regrets marrying the king, to lure him to the kingdom he just conquered, Valencia. Valencian Princess Isabella is reluctant about this, especially when seeing that Galavant for all his flaws means well. It also results in Galavant getting back into shape and working at regaining his former glory, returning him to the threat he was before Madalena betrayed him. Oops. Also it means that Galavant eventually realizes that Madalena isn't worth his affection, since she never even loved him. While Richard's plan works, it ends up getting upset by Madalena's plan, which could have been avoided if he had simply hired an assassin.
• Glee:
  • In "Preggers", Finn's strongly Christian girlfriend, the president of the school's Celibacy Club, informs him that she's pregnant thanks to an incident involving his little problem with extremely premature ejaculation and a hot tub (while they were both fully clothed).
    You'd expect: That he'd do a little research and find out that that's not physically possible, and ask Quinn what she's so afraid of that she feels the need to tell such a huge lie.
    Instead: He believes her without question. By the time "Ballads" rolls around, he decides that the best thing to do is to tell Quinn's even more conservatively Christian parents about her pregnancy. By singing 'You're Having My Baby' to her. At their dinner table. The first time he has been formally introduced to them. The scene ends with Quinn's father giving her thirty minutes - by the microwave timer - to pack her clothes and get out of the house, and is it any wonder?
  • In "Born This Way", Santana Lopez accuses David Karofsky of being gay, her proof being that she saw him check out the bottom of Sam Evans, a boy who was getting a drink of water from a fountain.
    You'd expect: He'd either deny any memory of it, or he'd claim that he was thirsty and looked to see who was at the fountain. All she really had was that she saw him look at a person who was getting a drink.
    Instead: He claims he was just looking to see what type of jeans Sam had on. Ironically, if Kurt Hummel, an openly gay teenager, had said that he was checking out the clothes another boy was wearing rather than the boy himself, it would've likely been true and many people would've had no trouble believing him. However, when a macho athlete who has never shown any sort of interest in fashion tries to use such an excuse, then, yeah, it's going to ring some bells. Or to quote Santana, "Like that's any less gay."
  • Jesse St. James has messed up badly. When he transferred from Vocal Adrenaline to New Directions and then back, he started and horribly ended a relationship with Rachel Berry, who truly loved him, under the pressure of his classmates and former coach Shelby Corcoran. When he graduates and is away from the toxic influence of his friends, he realizes that he wants to win Rachel back and truly regrets that his last act towards her was to lure her into a trap and egg her. New Directions as a whole team views Jesse as a quisling all but tell him This Is Unforgivable!, not helped by Vocal Adrenaline winning first place at Regionals in Season One while New Directions placed third.
    You'd Expect: Jesse's first act of damage control would be to apologize to everyone at New Directions and admit the truth: Shelby told him to transfer so that she and Rachel could reconcile since Shelby was her biological mother, but he did develop feelings for Rachel while seducing her. Then he would offer to do what he could to earn her trust back, as well as the trust of New Directions. He didn't just break Rachel's heart and egg her after transferring back to Vocal Adrenaline, but he also betrayed a team. As Kurt, who hates Rachel the most, puts it, only New Directions is allowed to humiliate her.
    Instead: Jesse's main goal of making amends is to kiss Rachel's butt and flatter her. As she considers forgiving him, Kurt points out that he "made breakfast" on her head and hasn't shown that he actually loves her. When Will hires Jesse to provide consultant advice on New Directions' rehearsals, Jesse spends the whole time giving legitimate criticism to everyone except Rachel. This doesn't endear him or show that he's reformed.
    The Result: While Rachel is tempted, she ultimately gets back together with Finn who for all his faults didn't betray the entire team or egg her. The team also ignores his advice, which means they do poorly at Nationals. It's not until several years later and Finn is out of the picture due to Rachel moving to New York that Jesse earns his second chance with Rachel and finally proves he has changed for the better.
• Good Luck Charlie:
  • "The Curious Case of Mr. Dabney". A football from the Duncans' ends up outside the door of the Dabneys' house. Gabe sends P.J. to sneak over and recover it. When he gets to their porch, as he is about to pick up the football, he hears Mrs. Dabney calling out from inside the house.
    You'd expect: That P.J. would immediately grab the football and get the hell out of there, rather than listen to her babbling.
    Instead: Freaked out, he jumps behind the fence, then tries to camoflauge his face with bush. Mrs. Dabney looks outside, then goes back in. After P.J. leaves, she comes back outside and pokes the football with a grilling fork, de-inflating the air out of it and making it useless.
  • In the special, "Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas", the entire character of Petunia Blankenhooper can be summed up as this. At the beginning of the special, Amy is on the phone with her, reminding her to toddler-proof her house because Charlie is at a very rambunctious age where she will grab and/or knock over anything within her reach, proven when Charlie knocks over the cookie jar.
    You'd expect: Petunia to listen to Amy's advice and keep absolutely everything out of places where Charlie could grab and/or knock them over.
    Instead: While she does put everything else away, she leaves the Christmas decorations in places that are within Charlie's reach, including a one-of-a-kind porcelain reindeer that hasn't been made in 50 years. When Bob arrives, he asks Petunia if she could put the Christmas decorations away.
    You'd then expect: Petunia to listen to Bob and put the Christmas decorations where Charlie can't reach them.
    Instead: She ignores Bob's advice and tells him that if he told Charlie not to touch them, she will leave them alone. This was the same approach she used on her children when they were young. While it may have worked on them back then, it doesn't work with Charlie, as she soon starts knocking over the Christmas decorations, including the porcelain reindeer, which Bob manages to catch before it falls to the floor and breaks. Petunia catches Bob with the reindeer and asks him what he's doing. Bob is about to explain, but Charlie interrupts him, saying "Bad daddy!".
    You'd then expect: Petunia to give Bob a chance to explain why he was holding her porcelain reindeer.
    Instead: Petunia believes Charlie and blames Bob for the trouble she caused. Later, after P.J. and Gabe return from the pool and P.J. gets sunburned, Charlie knocks over the Christmas tree. Petunia clearly sees Charlie behind the knocked-over Christmas tree.
    You'd then expect: Petunia to give Charlie a firm but fair punishment, like a five-minute time-out.
    Instead: Petunia continues to blame Bob for the trouble Charlie causes, despite clearly seeing Charlie behind the knocked-over Christmas tree. She then punishes Bob by making him stay in her room and locking it, complete with a candy cane decoration in between the two door handles.
• Good Omens: In episode 4, Shadwell goes to Aziraphale's bookshop to ask for train funds. He knows the man is inside and overhears him arguing with the voice of God. Looking through the mailslot, Shadwell sees a giant floating head claiming that the war must go on as planned, against Aziraphale's protests.
  You'd Expect: Shadwell has enough of a brain to conclude that Hastfield is where the apocalypse is taking place. Surely then, Aziraphale is an angel. That means he is on the side of good.
  Instead: He breaks in by picking the lock and accuses Aziraphale of being possessed by a demon. Shadwell then starts an exorcism, despite Aziraphale trying to get him to calm down and not step on the pentagram.
  The Result: Shadwell's exorcism destroys Aziraphale's earthly form, so he dissolves in sparkles. He goes My God, What Have I Done? on realizing he killed someone. When he flees the bookshop, he accidentally knocks over the candle and sets everything on fire. Shadwell also never received the train fare he needed to rescue his apprentice.
• The Good Place:
  • In life, it was revealed that Eleanor was a terrible person. The least-awful but Jerkass thing she did was shirk designated-driver duties with her coworkers after they go to bars. One notices that when Eleanor is in charge of picking a name out of a hat, Eleanor is never chosen. Eleanor eats up all the papers with names and claims she did in on principle.
    You'd Expect: Her coworkers would lay down an ultimatum: either Eleanor volunteers a shift, or she's disinvited. This would matter to Eleanor since socializing with coworkers helps with her career.
    Instead: They expect Eleanor will honor a rotation system since she can't fudge that.
    The Result: Eleanor finds a loophole by drinking ahead of time and being too sloshed to drive. By the time she is banned from drinks night, she doesn't care.
  • Another horrendous thing Eleanor did involved a viral story called "Dress Bitch". Eleanor asked to borrow her wealthy roommate's dress. Madison told her no because it just got back from the dry-cleaners, and that the dress is worth more than Eleanor's weekly salary. Eleanor in a fury goes to "borrow" the dress for the evening, which happens to be too small for her.
    You'd Expect: She'd carefully put it on, since it's a thousand dollar dress and she wants to wear it for a fun night. And if she can't zip it up but still wants to wear it, she can cover it with a jacket.
    Instead: She struggles with the zipper and rips it badly. Then she stuffs it back into the dry cleaner packaging, rather than confess to Madison and offer to pay for the damage.
    The Result: Eleanor's actions means that Madison mistakenly blames the dry cleaner for the torn dress, and bankrupts the dry cleaner with an emotional damages lawsuit. Then Eleanor and her roommate notice that the story goes viral, with Madison going Never My Fault at being called "dress bitch," and decide to sell t-shirts with the meme and an embarrassing photo of Madison. Michael hears the story when having to assess Eleanor's moral character and is visibly horrified. The fact that he was faking his reaction doesn't negate the horrible qualities of Eleanor's actions. And to emphasize that she messed up, Madison ends their friendship when Eleanor finally confesses.
  • In the first season finale, Eleanor reaches a horrifying "Eureka!" Moment as she, her "soulmate" Chidi, Tahani and Jason argue which two of them should go to the Bad Place: they're in the Bad Place because they are all torturing each other. This means that Michael and Shawn, the supposed angels of the Good Place, are actually demons.
    You'd Expect: Eleanor would play dumb and find a solution that allows everyone to keep torturing each other to buy some time.
    Instead: She smugly announces to the group and Michael that they're all in the Bad Place and no one is going on a train there. She forgets that Michael by this logic is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and has power akin to being an angel.
    The Result: Michael does a reboot, wiping everyone's memories, and keeps doing it every time one of the quartet figures it out, totaling about eight hundred times. The only reason Michael doesn't do this continuously is because he comes to care for them and learns ethics from Chidi.
  • Meanwhile, we have Michael. He proposed to his boss Shawn about creating a new form of torture, by pretending that this circle of hell is The Good Place. The torture comes from humans being around each other. Shawn points out that it wouldn't work because humans by nature are unpredictable, and capable of change. There are too many "variables" in his words. Nevertheless, Shawn is willing to give Michael's a shot since the older tortures are getting stale, and he enjoys seeing his underlings fail so that he can "retire" them.
    You'd Expect: Michael to study humans intently. Shawn makes it clear that he does not tolerate failure..
    You'd Also Expect: Knowing Vicky's Attention Whore tendencies, Michael would give her a big part no matter how many times he has to reboot. It's revealed she enjoys torturing Chidi the most and it would make sense to pair them each time the reboots happen.
    Instead: Michael smugly sets up the Good Place torture neighborhood, brings in the four new souls, and plays the part of a Nervous Wreck who wants to save all of his new human friends from the crises that plague them in this so-called utopian afterlife. His biggest mistake is pairing up Eleanor with an ethics professor as her soulmate, and giving Eleanor an incentive to truly perform a Heel–Face Turn as Michael starts framing her for the neighborhood chaos. Vicky is only brought in when Eleanor confesses to being the chaos magnet in the Good Place, to play the "real" good Eleanor Eleanor who ended up damned by accident. When he reboots the first time, he gives Vicky a bit part, much to her annoyance.
    The Result: Michael's plan lies on the assumption that humans are static beings. People aren't, which any keen observer would know. Each time the reboot happens, Eleanor changes for the better, as do the other humans in this Good Place, because of their friendships and bonds, and because Eleanor tells herself to find Chidi so that he can teach her to be a good person. Chidi is forced to confront that his focus on being good meant that he caused harm for his friends, colleagues, and family; Jason in the meantime faces consequences for his lack of intelligence and empathy; and Tahani learns that doing good deeds for selfish reasons doesn't earn you brownie points no matter how many lives you save or families you feed. Eleanor is heartbroken to find out that in one reboot she came to love Chidi, which he reciprocated, and Michael erased that during an attempt to thwart him. After 802 times of Michael rebooting the neighborhood, Vicky blackmails Michael to take control of the neighborhood and the other demons mutiny because they hate pretending to be good people all the time. Oh, and when Michael becomes more human during his Enemy Mine with Eleanor and her friends, he suffers a Heel Realization about why torturing people truly is bad when they rely on him for trust.
  • Shawn is bad at setting up useful incentives for those under his authority. At the end of season one, Shawn threatens to retire Michael if his plan fails a second time.
  • You'd Expect: If Shawn actually intended to follow through on his threat, he should have monitored Michael in some way so that he would be sure to know if Michael screwed up again. If he didn't intend to follow through, then it might have been wiser not to make a threat he didn't mean.
  • Instead: Shawn leaves Michael to carry on without oversight for over three hundred years and believes Michael's reports on the project without question or confirmation.
  • The Result: As soon as his second attempt falls apart, Michael's only options become "lie to Shawn indefinitely" or "suffer gruesomely for eternity". Eventually, he becomes desperate enough to bargain with his human prisoners, ultimately resulting in his becoming friends with them, having a crisis of conscience after Janet starts glitching from a broken heart, and helping them escape from the Bad Place. Shawn, who finds himself at risk of negative attention from his own superiors when Michael's deceit is uncovered, is totally shocked by this turn of events. Michael even lampshades this when Shawn confronts him about his betrayal; he admits that he cribbed all the torture reports on the four humans from Stephen King novels, so Shawn was obviously not paying attention to them and praising the details.
  • "The Trolley Problem": As part of the Enemy Mine with Michael, Chidi is giving an ethics lesson. He's discussing the trolley problem, which is do you let five people die or sacrifice one person to save those lives. Eleanor goes for the utilitarian method — save five people by letting one die — but Michael, being a demon, thinks you have to make sure everyone dies and suggests beheading the sixth person. He's displeased to find that all the humans, even Jason, have done better in ethics than he has.
    You'd Expect: Chidi to not antagonize Michael, who has tortured him, wiped memories of the torture, and gaslit him. That would be akin to Bullying a Dragon, and even if Chidi is right, he's been tortured as it is.
    Instead: Chidi says that he knows more about ethics due to it being his life's work.
    The Result: Michael, after getting an evil glint in his eye, makes Chidi live through the trolley problem, and multiple variants of it, to mess with him. Chidi gets covered in blood and gore every time, and kicks Michael out of his ethics class briefly when Eleanor realizes what Michael is doing.
  • In Season Three, the Judge allows Team Cockroach a second chance at life on Earth, where they can truly earn their spots in the Good Place without being influenced by knowing their actions will be judged. Each of them tries post near-death experience to become a better person, but circumstances and temptation lure them back to their old ways. A reformed Heel–Face Turn Michael on observing his friends realizes that they can't succeed alone, separated on different continents, so he goes down to Earth to nudge them towards each other. Janet warns Michael that the Judge told them not to interfere, but eventually goes along with his scheme because she also wants Team Cockroach to succeed.
    You'd Expect: Michael would take precautions and disguise himself better when making the nudges.
    Instead: Michael goes for Paper-Thin Disguise and puts on four different identities to convince everyone to come together in Australia. He tells Janet that the judge is too busy watching television to pay attention to the test.
    Predictably: The Judge finds out, and gives him a What the Hell, Hero? because his meddling is messing up the timeline. She sentences Michael and Janet to return to the Bad Place, even though it guarantees eternal torture for them, and exiles them when they bail to Earth.
  • Meanwhile, Shawn is annoyed and angry that Michael outsmarted him, saved the human, and escaped to the Judge's refuge. He finds out about the test. Shawn knows that the system is so black and white that no one has entered the Good Place since 1497, based on what he later boasts to Michael.
    You'd Expect: Shawn would either rat out Michael to the Judge since that would disqualify Team Cockroach by default and land Michael in hot water, or play The Long Game and wait for everyone to die a second time since the system is rigged against most humans succeeding.
    Instead: He sends Trevor to Earth to sabotage the group. Then when Trevor fails by some bad luck of the Judge busting him as well, Shawn decides to create a portal to Earth and forcibly drag everyone back to the Bad Place.
    The Result: Shawn underestimates how dangerous Janet can be, even without her powers. She starts a bar brawl with the demons to protect all the humans, while Jason clonks as many as he can with pool balls and Tahani knocks out one with a pool cue. Michael tag-teams with Janet to send the demons to the Judge via his portal key, and finally sends Shawn to confront her as well. And Shawn's comment on how the humans' families and Doug Forcett are doomed motivates Michael to investigate the system and find the rigging.
  • During said fight, Janet is a One-Woman Army who is fending off several demons at once. With that said, she can be overwhelmed and outnumbered. Val nearly marbelizes her if not for Jason's timely throw with a pool ball.
    You'd Expect: The other demons would follow Val's example and try to marbelize Janet, or do what Chris did and grab the humans while Janet is occupied. Chris came very close to dragging Chidi and Eleanor back to the Bad Place by brute force.
    Instead: Two demons grab Janet and force her halfway through the Bad Place portal.
    The Result: Janet gets her powers back when she grasps the afterlife aura and uses them to thrash the rest of the demons, including Shawn. It also allows her to store the humans in her void, albeit by killing them.
  • The Soul Squad has arrived at the Good Place....in the mailroom. Michael tells the humans to pretend they won a contest while he talks with the Good Place Committee. Tahani wants to help Jason and Janet after learning they were married in the first reboot, and Janet still has feelings for Jason. Janet has to pose as a Neutral Janet, which she hates because she's had a rough time storing four humans in the void.
    You'd Expect: Tahani would realize now is not the time. As Michael puts it, the fate of all humanity is at stake.
    Instead: She tries to pull Iwant My Beloved To Be Happy and get Jason and Janet to talk about their feelings.
    Predictably: Jason and Janet aren't ready to confront their past, which Jason doesn't remember, and their cover is blown when the three of them start crying. The only positive benefit is it helps Michael realize that unintended consequences send people to the Bad Place.
  • At the end of season three, the Judge gets a Jerkass Realization about how it is hard to be a morally good person after spending thirty years as a human. She decides to redo Michael's experiment, with four new humans, to see if the fake Good Place would improve their point totals. Shawn has been Easily Forgiven apparently for breaking the rules and says that Michael didn't measure point totals. Gen acknowleges he's right, and Chidi admits the only way to know is to measure them.
    You'd Expect: Given she knows everything that she would choose the four humans themselves. Michael and Janet at least have good intentions on their side for breaking the rules. Shawn just cares about his ego.
    Instead: She gives the Bad Place permission to choose four humans whose point totals were equal to that of the original Team Cockroach. There are limitations, like no serial killers, warmongers, rapists or people who are irredeemable, but given Eleanor is a jerk, that still creates some leeway.
    Predictably: Shawn finds a loophole by choosing humans that the Soul Squad knew in their lives so they will skew the experiment. Everyone is shocked and saddened when Chidi's ex Simone is chosen, and Chidi decides to erase his memories so as not to compromise the new neighborhood.
• Gotham: Barbara Keen manages something along these lines in her every appearance, but special mention probably goes to badgering her boyfriend into revealing secret details of an active police investigation, giving out keys to her cop fiancee's residence in a mob-owned town, and 'leaving town' to flee from the police drama by... staying in town. With another policeman. Note that the backstory indicates she has dated cops almost exclusively, and doesn't have unfamiliarity with the situation as an excuse.
• The Great British Bake Off: Channel 4 is widely considered to have made a huge gamble by buying the rights to GBBO without first securing any of the four hosts. Now Mel, Sue, and Mary have left, it looks like they have spent >£25 million a year on a tent and Paul.
• Greek: The main sorority house is given a national consultant, Lizzi, who's there to oversee the house's recovery after a newspaper scandal takes them down a few pegs. In a slightly passive-aggressive fashion at the first meeting, she intimates that she does have disciplinary power over the house.
  You'd Expect: Casey, the president, would at least work with Lizzi, or even confront her when some decisions Lizzi makes might not get the house's damaged social standing back.
  Instead: Casey sulks silently to Ashleigh and lets Lizzi run roughshod over the house without actual protest. What power she does have is that which goes behind Lizzi's back, with nearly disastrous consequences...nearly every time.
• Grimm: After Captain Renard breaks a spell on Nick's girlfriend Juliette, they become obsessed with each other as a side effect. Renard goes to Monroe for help, emphasizing that the connection is probably magical and that he wants it broken. When Renard brings Juliette to the shop for consultation, they lose control and start kissing; Monroe sees them and recognizes Juliette.
  You'd Expect: that when he tells Nick, he would be sure to explain the whole situation, making clear that it's a magical effect and they want to be disentangled.
  Instead: Monroe just tells Nick that he saw Juliette kissing another man. As an afterthought, he suggests that it might be related to the spell she had on her...but since he doesn't say why he thinks that, it comes off as grasping at straws. Unsurprisingly, Nick gets entirely the wrong idea.
• Henry Danger: In "Love Muffin", after freeing Ray from his love-induced trance with the episode's antagonist Gwen, they prepare to arrest her but she persuades them to let her go, otherwise she'll text a picture of Captain Man and Kid Danger to everyone in Swellview, exposing them of their identities.
  You'd expect: Henry and Ray to Take a Third Option and destroy Gwen's phone, take her phone away and delete the photo, or erase her memory.
  Instead: They let her go, as requested.

    H

• Heroes
  • At the end of Season 1, the Company captures Sylar. They inject him with a virus that suppresses his powers. That's a pretty smart idea. But then there's the question of what to do with him afterward.
    You'd expect - That they would keep him in a cell in one of their facilities, with armed guards, scientists to run tests on him, and security systems that would work to prevent his escape, and inform them if he succeeded.
    Instead - They put him in a shack in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to prevent him from just walking out, and only one guard. She proceeds to have her own What an Idiot! moment when she carefully demonstrates her powers of illusion to the psychotic power-stealing serial killer, then does nothing as he acts threateningly towards her and shortly attacks and kills her. Finally, the Company apparently has no way of telling whether Sylar has escaped, as he is able to walk away from the shack for three days without any pursuit.
  • Near the end of season 1, where Mohinder has captured Sylar (whom he knows is a multiple murderer), taken what DNA information he needed from him, and then tried to shoot him in the head. Sylar stops the bullet, escapes, tortures Mohinder... Then, later, Peter shows up, and in the confrontation, Sylar and Peter are both rendered unconscious.
    You'd expect - Mohinder would use this opportunity to put a few bullets in Sylar's brain, like he already tried to do.
    Instead - Mohinder scoops up Peter's unconscious (seemingly dead) body and just leaves Sylar there, to eventually wake up and resume his killing spree.
  • Season 2: Peter stands before a giant door, with a needlessly complicated lock mechanism, behind which lies a deadly virus he's intent on destroying. Adam, who Peter's been working with, claims to have the same goal, but really wants Peter to open the vault so he can release the virus. Peter has been warned repeatedly by people he logically should trust, including Hiro — who helped him save New York before.
    You'd expect - Since Peter can phase through walls he would just do so. By leaving everyone else outside, and destroying the virus himself, he could have completely eliminated trust as a factor. Or used telepathy to read Adam's mind to confirm his intentions.
    Instead - He uses telekinesis on the lock, almost squeezing his brain out in the process. Because phasing through the door would have been less interesting. Adam subsequently walks into the door and Peter blindly waits outside the door for him, not bothering to verify he's going to destroy the virus.
    Furthermore - Adam's only power is immortality. How did Peter expect him to destroy the virus - stab it with his sword?
  • Season 3: Tracy and Nathan come to see Suresh, and Tracy shows Suresh her power. Suresh knocks them out with a sedative, but they're not the idiots. Later on, Nathan and Tracy are strapped to operating tables. When Mohinder says he feels like he's becoming a monster, Tracy offers her hand for comfort...
    You'd expect- Mohinder to use the marvelous intellect he used in acquiring a degree to deduce that Tracy isn't just trying to comfort him.
    Instead - Dr. Suresh reaches out for Tracy's hand and falls to the floor actually surprised when she freezes his forearm.
  • The ending to Season 3, to the point of being completely ridiculous. Sylar kills Nathan, but is then tranq'ed. Everyone is now in a room with an unconscious Sylar and a dead Nathan.
    You'd expect - HRG to say "Hey, Claire has magic bring-dead-people-back-to-life blood. I should know, seeing as it did so for me. Let's inject Nathan's body with some and toss Sylar into a wood chipper."
    Instead - The group decides to have Matt hypnotize Sylar into being Nathan and just pretend that Sylar is dead.. Naturally, this works exactly as well as you expect.
  • Season 4: Peter has stolen the Haitian's power neutralizing ability and uses it to get the drop on Sylar, managing to nail-gun his hands to a table. Peter has Sylar dead to rights and knows that he killed Peter's brother and father and Claire's mother and untold others.
    You'd Expect: That he'd put a nail into Sylar's brain and then pitch him into a volcano.
    Instead: He tries to bring Nathan's personality to the surface even though Sylar already proved in that season alone that it couldn't take.
    Bonus! He completely neglects using the Haitian's memory-wiping powers to suppress Sylar again, which would make a tragically idiotic plan only largely idiotic. Or at least not to stop erasing Sylar's memories until there is nothing left, which the Haitian did in Season 1 with the guy that attempted to rape Claire.
    Double Bonus! "Nathan" realizes he can't control Sylar and decides to commit suicide. He does this by jumping off a building despite knowing that Peter/The Haitian's power only works in close proximity and Sylar has super-healing. Naturally, Sylar regains his powers mid-fall and survives it, walking away to mock Peter.
  • A less serious example: Hiro discovers a man about to jump off the roof of his company's building because he was fired for copying his butt at a company party.
    You'd Expect: That Hiro could just intervene normally to get the guy re-hired at the company that Hiro owns.
    Instead: Hiro keeps traveling back in time to physically prevent the guy from copying his butt, but the guy just does it a week later.
• Highway to Heaven, "Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind". Johnathan and Mark drive their car into a crater left by a falling meteor, then walk out of the crater. A young boy, whose grandfather believes in aliens asks them if they're aliens.
  You'd expect: That being an angel would make you prone to telling the truth. In which case, Johnathan should have said, "No. We crashed our car in the crater."
  Instead: Johnathan tells the boy that they're aliens and gives the boy a piece of meteorite and tells him it has magical powers. Later in the episode, the kid gets into trouble with other kids because he thinks he has magical abilities, but realizes he doesn't have the rock with him. The Aesop: believe in yourself.
• Hogan's Heroes, the episode "War Takes a Holiday": Major Hochstetter of the Gestapo has captured the four head members of the entire Underground in Europe. He knows that Stalag 13 is home to the most idiotic commandant in the Third Reich and the most creative and resourceful POW they have in captivity.
  You'd expect: He take them immediately to Berlin or to some secure location where they'll never be heard from again.
  Instead: He takes them to Stalag 13, the place he suspects or even flat-out knows is a Cardboard Prison.
  So: He does place a massive armed guard including one with an MG42 to kill anyone even thinking about approaching where the prisoners are held, after Hogan and his men very nearly smuggle them out. So, Hogan hits on another plan... hijacking a nearby radio station and having Kinchloe make a fake announcement that the war is over. Apparently in World War II according to Hogan's Heroes, the rules state that all prisoners must be freed immediately on the end of the war.
  You'd expect: Really? Anything but what actually happened. At the very least, they'd be holding onto the prisoners until they got clarification on what exactly to do with them and arrangements were made for repatriation.
  Instead: Hochstetter believes this ruse. He does check with higher-ups, but the phone line has been hijacked by Newkirk, who buffalos him. This is the same Hochstetter who has been the victim of Hogan's shenanigans numerous times and should have had his guard up any time he was within 100 miles of Stalag 13. Especially with Hogan gaslighting them by claiming it's all a trick.
  AND THEN: Hogan convinces him to let the prisoners go. AND to let the prisoners take Hochstetter's car!
  And so: Hochstetter only barely gets out of this situation with his career and life intact when his superiors find out about his colossal screw-up. Why couldn't the Nazis have been this moronic in Real Life?
• Home and Away: Vengeful bad guy Dodge has staged his own disappearance in order to frame Simon for murder. He makes a taunting phone call to Simon's house, realising too late that he's leaving a message on Simon's answer phone (an old one with a tape recorder). Simon's friend Travis is in and hears the call.
  You'd expect: Travis to immediately take the tape out of the recorder and deliver it to the police.
  Or at least: That he would switch off the recorder/unplug the phone if he wasn't sure how to get the tape out without damaging it.
  Instead: Travis runs off to find Simon and the local policeman, leaving the tape in the fully-functional recorder. By the time they all get back, another call is being recorded over the top of Dodge's message. (Fortunately, the whole thing causes Dodge to panic and give the game away).
• House
  • In one episode, House needs the medical history of a patient who'd been living at a convent and asks the nun running the place for her history.
    You'd expect: Said nun to simply give him the patient's history, telling him that the woman joined their convent when she was fifteen.
    Instead: She tells House that said woman was born in the convent because her religion believes anyone who finds religion is reborn, completely ignoring that a doctor needs actual physical history, not her religious beliefs.
    The Result: House's patient nearly dies before he discovers the problem is a copper IUD that was never removed (she's allergic to copper) because he didn't have an accurate medical history.
  • This occurs in the second episode, with a boy (Dan) who is adopted (he doesn't know this).
    You'd expect: Dan's adoptive parents to quietly advise House of this when Dan is being admitted, so that their medical history is not used as background for Dan's own history - after all, an incomplete medical history would be safer than an inaccurate one.
    Instead: The parents say nothing of the sort, allowing House and his team to proceed with diagnosing Dan based on wholly incorrect assumptions. When confronted with the truth of the paternity, they give an excuse to the effect of: "He's our son, who cares what the DNA says!". They did give the birth mother's medical history, not the adoptive mother's, but it's still a pretty huge omission.
    As a result: The team blunder through several incorrect diagnoses until House uncovers the truth using surreptitious DNA tests. The final diagnosis ends up being entirely based on a piece of the birth mother's history that wasn't directly in the file, but the link might have been caught sooner if House had realized the woman he was speaking to wasn't the biological mother.
    To make matters worse: Dan was already aware (and didn't care) that he was adopted, having worked it out due to learning that a cleft chin, which he had but his adoptive parents didn't, is a dominant inherited trait. Meaning that if either he or his parents had just talked to one another about it, he'd have been diagnosed and treated far sooner, with less danger to his life (he almost walked off a roof due to hallucinations).
• House of Anubis:
  • In one Season 3 episode, the Big Bad of the season Robert Frobisher-Smythe was found in Fabian's room on the floor, dying and begging for Fabian's help.
    You'd expect: Fabian to see through this obvious trick as he knows Frobisher-Smythe is evil, and abandon him in the room while he goes to get help.
    Instead: Fabian agrees to help him, and takes Frobisher-Smythe to the gatehouse, where people are turned into sinners.
    And then: Frobisher-Smythe asks him to complete his research when he's dead. Fabian is delighted and agrees, seeming to forget completely that he's talking to the Big Bad...and then, Frobisher-Smythe ends up revealing his evil nature, and tricks Fabian into expressing the sin of pride, which of course gets Fabian turned into a sinner.
  • In another episode that same season, Jerome, Patricia, Joy and Alfie are stuck in the gatehouse together to work on an 'extra credit' project that Patricia and Alfie know is actually a ceremony to reawaken Robert Frobisher-Smythe. They try to explain this to their friends and hope to stop the ceremony, even bringing up the mysteries of the past two seasons.
    You'd expect: That Jerome and Joy would listen to their two best friends, and remember everything they have been through in the past two seasons.
    Instead: They refuse to listen and even make fun of their supposed paranoia, right up until it's too late. They have to go through with the ceremony.
• How I Met Your Mother: In "Say Cheese", it's Lily's birthday and she gets very annoyed when Ted brings a new date. Apparently Ted does this a lot, and the group has called him out for it.
  You'd Expect: Ted would learn or have learned after Strawberry ruined Marshall's graduation dinner.
  Instead: Ted still brings Amanda to Lily's birthday party. Amanda at least is a cake decorator and volunteers to add the finishing touches to the cake.
  You'd Expect: Amanda would just do a nice, neutral message since she doesn't know anyone.
  Instead: She gets Lily's name and age wrong on the cake.
  The Result: Eventually Marshall blows up at Amanda, who made an honest mistake, rather than at Ted since it was really his fault. Amanda is upset and runs off in tears, and Ted rips into Lily for being a brat and a hypocrite since he met her when Marshall brought her to their first college picture.

    I

• I Love Lucy
  • "The Diet": A big one from Ricky. Lucy wants to audition for being Ricky's dancing partner at his nightclub. He agrees to let her try to audition but warns her that it's stiff competition, there will be no nepotism, and she has to fit into a size 12 outfit. Regarding the third condition, Lucy rips the outfit when she tries it on; she then asks Ricky that if she can fit into the outfit, can she get the part?
    You'd Expect: Ricky would say no, in Cruel to Be Kind fashion. He knows that Lucy is a stubborn Determinator about her dreams to get in show business.
    Instead: He chuckles and says that sure, she can try. Ricky then hires another girl that can dance and fit into the dress.
    You'd Then Expect: Ricky would put a stop to the excess dieting, exercise, and steaming that Lucy does for the next week to lose twenty pounds in ten days. He knows that Lucy is being stubborn. It gets to the point where she's thinking about food all the time and pretends to be the family dog to get some pieces of steak from under the table. He loves Lucy, and anyone with half a brain can see that this behavior isn't healthy, physically or emotionally.
    Instead: He goes about his life and doesn't comment on Lucy eating celery sticks or Ethel stopping her from getting even a forkful of mashed potatoes. Rinse and repeat about ten days of this.
    Predictably: Lucy uses her diminishing reserves of energy to knock out the dancer that Ricky hired, tie her up and lock her in a closet, steal the dress, and go onstage. She shows Ricky that she can do the routine and become a showstopper. Then the Surprisingly Realistic Outcome occurs...she collapses backstage, and Ricky has to call for a doctor and paramedics on a stretcher. Ricky goes My God, What Have I Done? for not stopping this, telling Lucy she needs to be on three weeks of bedrest due to suffering malnutrition. It turns out eating only celery sticks and exercising endlessly is a great way to wreck your health. Lucy only has enough strength to gesture to Ethel to open the closet where the Bound and Gagged dancer girl is.
  • "The Fur Coat":
  • Ricky borrows a $3500 mink coat for an act at his club, but when Lucy sees it, she thinks it's an anniversary present for her. She loves it so much she never takes it off, even when she goes to bed.
    You'd Expect: Ricky would an Apology Gift, go to Lucy, and explain the misunderstanding. Yes, she'd be disappointed given her tantrum when she initially thought Fred had bought the coat for Ethel but Ricky never bought anything like that for her, but then he wouldn't be out of $3500.
    Instead: He engages in a Zany Scheme that is equivalent to any of Lucy's, to have Fred dress as a burglar and steal the coat.
    To Make Matters Worse: Lucy completely understands when Ethel explains the truth, and then becomes mad at Ricky for lying to her.
  • Not having the heart to tell her the truth, Ricky makes an arrangement with Fred for Fred to dress as a burglar, break into the Ricardos' apartment and "steal" the coat. But coincidentally, a real burglar breaks into their apartment on the same night.
    You'd Expect: For Ricky to confirm that the burglar is actually Fred and take a hint that he is a real burglar, given that he was rummaging through the Ricardos' valuables, isn't exactly talking like Fred, holds a gun up to Ricky, and never once "drops the act", even when only Ricky is present. To add to that, a real burglary has been recently reported in the neighborhood, which is in fact what gave Ricky the idea to have Fred pretend to be one.
    Instead: Ricky assumes that the burglar is Fred, foolishly points out the mink coat Lucy is wearing (which the burglar paid no attention to until Ricky pointed out how much it was worth) and hands the burglar the coat after he threatens to shoot Lucy. It's only when Fred arrives and scares the burglar away that Ricky catches on. If not for that, the coat could have actually been stolen.
    The Result: The next morning, Lucy vents to Ethel about how disappointed she is in Ricky for being a Dirty Coward, and Ethel is forced to fess up that the whole thing was a Zany Scheme. Lucy then becomes mad at Ricky for lying to her, since it's shown she would have understood if he had explained it was a rental for the club and decides to use a mink fur imitation to troll him. She has Ethel wear the imitation and cuts it up in front of him, causing Ricky to faint. Only then does she reveal the scheme, and Ricky brings a real anniversary gift for her.
• Series/Insatiable: Patty gets kidnapped in the final episodes by Roxy and Stella Rose, as they want to sabotage her attempt at competing at the Miss American Lady contest. Patty managed to escape from them and make it back to contest in time. Over there, she gets a weird text message from Magnolia that she can help her win the contest and that they should meet.
  You'd Expect: As Patty was just kidnapped by a rival, she would have an healthy amount of suspicion of anyone who tries to 'help' her with . Especially when it comes from someone who has proven to be a person who only cares about winning and sabotaged Patty earlier.
  Or at least: If Patty still wants to follow through, that she at least takes Brick and Nonny with her, since again: she just escaped from an kidnapping.
  Instead: Even though she thinks its weird Patty just speeds of, by herself. She runs into Christian all by herself, which eventually results in Patty killing Christian.
• The Inbetweeners: Given how much time all four characters spend holding the Idiot Ball, there's plenty to choose from. The best (or worst) example is in the Warwick episode. Simon and Tara are at the point in their relationship where they want to have sex, but can't do so in either of their parents' homes. Therefore, they plan to go and visit her sister who's at university (in Warwick) and have sex at her place. Upon hearing Simon doesn't really have a "plan", the other boys opt to tag along to help him out.
  You'd Expect: Simon would have more confidence in himself and just go to Warwick with Tara; or, if he had to take anyone else, he'd opt for Neil as he's had more sexual experience than the others combined. Furthermore, Simon also knows Jay is a bullshitter and is likely trying to sabotage his chances of getting laid.
  Instead: He brings the others along. It starts badly when Neil bags the front seat in the car (obliging Tara to sit in the back with the other two) and gasses everyone with his farts. Once they get to Warwick, Will and Neil start drinking with Tara's sister's housemates, while Simon listens to Jay's very questionable advice. Oh, and Jay attempts to seduce a female housemate.
  The Result: Simon's frustration with the inevitable consequences of Jay's advice scares Tara. This combined with a series of events involving the others lead to the boys getting kicked out by Tara's sister, and Tara dumping Simon. Who remains a virgin until the movie.
• Iron Fist (2017): Danny Rand has made his way back to New York City after 15 years in K'un L'un. He decides to go seek out Rand Enterprises to reintroduce himself to the Meachums.
  You'd Expect: That Danny would stop at a local shelter to get himself cleaned up and presentable with some donated clothing beforehand.
  Instead: He doesn't. As a result, Ward and Joy rebuff him because even though he's saying things they ought to remember (like Ward's bullying), he comes off as an insane homeless acrobat, called "Cirque de Psychopath", and they're not willing to believe him.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WhatAnIdiot/LiveActionTVGToI

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