From Bad to Worse

""Shit just got real...""

- Marcus Bennett, Bad Boys II

"Kavar: I think the situation has gotten even worse.

Queen Talia: Worse? How is that even possible?

Kavar: It can always get worse. An old student is returning. I fear for us all..."

- Knights of the Old Republic 2

Things are bad. In fact, it's all going to hell. Your family's been murdered. Your Humongous Mecha ran out of juice at the worst possible moment. An army of flesh-eating orcs is about to storm your castle. People are Dying Like Animals left and right. We're talking May Sweeps stuff, series finale situations. It's as bad as you've ever seen and just when you'd thought the shit had gone down, just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse...

It gets worse. Much worse.

To qualify for this trope, a terrible situation must have some final perfect push over the edge. Sometimes characters within a story, usually when recounting dramatic events to others will, when asked "And then?" say, "It got worse," right before the narrative cuts to the events in question.

Very often the result of a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. Usually gives that final push that crosses the Godzilla Threshold.

From Bad to Worse usually results in Downer Ending. If the characters somehow prevail, the result is Earn Your Happy Ending.

Cue the Rain is a Sub Trope for when this comes in the form of a sudden downpour. See also Rock Bottom, where it's the characters who are Tempting Fate by thinking things can't get worse just before they do. No relation with It Gets Better, which is not about events in the story, so much as the quality thereof.

Warning: spoilers ahead.


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