Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In any [[Cop Show]] where the protagonist is a [[Cowboy Cop]] especially prone to causing mayhem in the process of catching the bad guys, episodes will often end with their boss dragging them into their office. [[Da Chief]] will then proceed to go down [[The Long List]] of regulations the [[Cowboy Cop]] has bent or broken, capping the list with the one heroic thing they did that will make the boss give them a begrudging congratulations instead of the axe.

 

See also [[The Extremist Was Right]].

{{examples}}

* A variation in in ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. In Master Makarov's first appearance, he admonishes everyone in the guild for various misdeeds (including Natsu for blowing up several fight scenes). Just as it looks like he's about to give them all severe punishment, he says something that boils down to "Screw the Council! True Fairy Tail mages don't need to be intimidated by authority!" And the crowd goes wild.

** They also invert it. When the council goes over a list of violations by Fairy Tail, including many, ''many'' counts of propety damage, and associating with the criminal Jellal, not to mention all the things they did ''before'' the new council was selected, one of them mentions that the guild ''did'' stop a dark guild from taking over an ancient magic that would have turned the whole country into a giant magic war zone. The other members then decide that this is ''also'' a violation, because they didn't wait to get permission to save the day.

* Episode 5 of ''[[Digimon Savers]]'' has a perfect example: Satsuma is ''furious'' at the team for disobeying his orders, to the point Kudamon does most of the scolding for him. When it seems like he's going to unload on Masaru and Tohma in particular...he quietly congratulates them for making it back, smiling to Kudamon's confusion. {{spoiler|This could be explained by the fact the last time ''he'' went to the Digital World it was a disaster. Knowing his team did it successfully gave him hope that Digital Dives could actually work.}}

 

{{quote|'''Ross:''' "I agree to One. Simple. Test. And you trash a shuttle, wreck Vegas and reveal yourselves to the public in a way we cannot hide or go back from... and for what? For what, Mr. Richards?"

'''Reed Richards:''' "That's a hand-held death ray, General. Pretty easy to reverse-engineer and produce."

'''Ross:''' "... I love you, boy." }}

 

 

* In ''[[Kindergarten Cop]]'': Kimble is being questioned by the school principal after the former beat up a student's abusive father:

{{quote|'''Miss Schlowski''': Now Mr. Kimble, I have checked, and there's ''no record'' of you teaching anywhere in Florida, or in the US, for that matter. Now, let's see... I thought that introducing a ferret to the class was a terrible idea, but the children seem to ''[[Ridiculously Cute Critter|like it]]''. I thought that the whistle and drills were ''outrageous''--

'''John Kimble''': It was all I could think of--

* Used in the first ''[[Rush Hour]]''.

{{quote|'''Cpt. William Diel''': Two men were shot, one man lost a pinky!

'''Inspector Carter''': We've still got a little bit left.

'''Cpt. William Diel''': What you did was dangerous, and completely against policy! And on top of that

... You did a good job!

'''Inspector Carter''': ...Say what? }}

** This is a subversion, as Diel actually thinks Carter screwed up royally (which he did), and invokes the trope solely to flatter Carter into accepting a humiliating assignment.

* Done in all three ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'' movies.

* ''[[Undercover Brother]]''. [[Da Chief]] gives the title character a piece of his mind.

{{quote|'''Chief:''' Didn't you cause about a bazillion dollars worth of damage? And I sure as hell ain't covering for you! I don't give a damn how sexy you look floating down in your little pants! And as for the rest of you...I just want to say how very proud I am of all of you. Undercover Brother, the world is safe once again thanks to you.}}

* In the [[Disney Channel]] original movie ''[[Motocrossed]]'' (inspired by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Twelfth Night]]''), a teenage girl takes the place of her twin brother (who broke his leg) in a motocross championship. After winning, she reveals herself to be a girl. While there's some question as to the legality of her win, there [[Aint No Rule]] about the winner being female, and the fact that she registered under the name "Andy" (her brother's name is Andrew) means that she can't be called on that (her name is Andrea). Then comes out the CEO of the sponsoring factory, who at first appears to be outraged at the girl tricking everyone. She then promptly praises her for winning in a "man's sport" and signs on the entire family.

 

** Harry goes through this all the time; when the adults and faculty of the school refuse to listen to him, he invariably winds up needing to save the day himself, often breaking a ton of rules in the process. He might get punished along the way, but never suffers at the end of the book. The earliest example is probably when he, Ron, and Hermione defeated a giant Troll loose in the school halfway through Book 1. As Harry stopped listening to the teachers so much in the later books (and the teachers likewise realized it's a good idea to pay attention when Harry says someone wants him dead), the series started to move away from this.

*** Pretty heavily lampshaded, too, especially by Snape. Verges on [[Jerkass Has a Point]].

* Commander Blaine gets one of these at the beginning of ''[[CoDominium|The Mote in God's Eye]]'' for leading his [[Space Marine|marines]] in a coup de main against a rebellious planet's [[Deflector Shields|shield generator]]. If he had failed the admiral would have had no choice other than orbital bombardment, killing most of the population and dooming what remained to a slow death by starvation. In the end, Blaine's action was successful, so he was promoted and given command of a battlecruiser.

** One character in that series (in fact, I think it's the one delivering this particular chewing-out) says that officers are, instead of following whatever stupid idea comes to mind, supposed to follow The Book, which he then categorizes as "largely a bunch of stupid ideas that worked."

* As seen below, the latest [[Star Trek]] novel (''Before Dishonor'') had {{spoiler|several original characters, including a Vulcan, stage a mutiny after Picard ignored the Admirals yet again. They were...forgiven. So, yeah}}.

** {{spoiler|Picard himself was pretty much forgiven when his actions helped save the Earth from a Borg attack. By the end of the novel, Ambassador Spock (who was aboard the Enterprise during the novel) recommended that Starfleet pass a new General Order stating that in the event of a Borg invasion, Starfleet should automatically defer to Captain Picard.}}

* The backstory for two of the characters in ''[[Humanx Commonwealth|The Tar-Aiym Krang]]'' was that they faked a malfunction aboard their ship in order to attack AAnn forces which were about to invade and enslave/depopulate a world the Commonwealth wasn't officially bound to protect. At their court martial:

{{quote|Ensigns Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex were ordered stripped of all rank and dismissed from the service. As a preliminary, however, they were to be awarded the Church Order of Merit, one star cluster. This was done. Unofficially, each was also presented with a scroll on which those citizens of the colony planet known as Goodhunting had inscribed their names and thanks ... all two hundred and ninety-five thousand of them.}}

* Done in the [[Dale Brown]] novel ''Shadows of Steel''.

 

* From the 1970s [[Police Procedural|police drama]] ''[[McCloud]]'', where Chief Clifford would give McCloud one of these about [[Once an Episode]].

* Several episodes in various incarnations of ''[[Star Trek]]'' have the Captain/Commander/Admiral berate the underlings for breaking regulations, who of course escape demotion by having saved the day. A notable subversion occurred in an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', where Lieutenant Tom Paris acted contrary to the captain's wishes to do the Right Thing... and got chewed up and demoted to Ensign for his troubles. This stuck for several episodes, and was worth a small ceremony when he was reinstated, which was remarkable in a franchise known for its liberal application of [[Snap Back|snapbacks]] and the [[Reset Button]].

'''General''': [[You!]]!

'''''President'' Sheridan''': Funny thing about retiring. You no sooner pick out the places you want to go on vacation than someone comes at you with another job offer. }}

* This is practically the whole reason for Cuddy's existence in ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''. Except she's less threatening and more yappy, like a small dog. However, she is a well-developed character in her own right, even if House goes behind her back and rarely takes her seriously.

** House always manages to avoid getting fired when he does crazy, irresponsible stuff to patients. He cures 90% of his patients so he gets away with it with nothing more than this trope.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''"The" D'Artagnan:'''}} I ordered you confined to the garrison... and you disobeyed my orders yet again, knowing it would assure your expulsion from the Musketeers... and ([[Beat]]) you saved my life.

{{spoiler|'''D'Artagnan:'''}} Well, nobody's perfect. }}

 

* Subversion: The beginning of the [[Adventure Game]] ''[[Space Quest]] VI'' features the hero, Roger Wilco, stripped of the rank ([[Insignia Rip Off Ritual|and uniform]]) of [[The Captain|starship captain]] for everything he did in the last game; the recognition of him saving the universe in the bargain is only enough to [[Reset Button|return]] him to his [[Status Quo Is God|iconic position of janitor]].

* Laharl gives one of these to Etna in ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]'' after she uses him as bait in a plan to one-up her blackmailer, nearly getting him killed in the process. Laharl's justification is not that she preformed a heroic deed, but rather for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|pulling it all off with style.]] Her diary entry states she was expecting to be killed for betraying him, but she's glad he had the maturity to understand the situation and did what the king would have done.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'': After eating one of his trademark "Sandviches," the Heavy will sometimes yell "You're a loose cannon, sandvich! But you're a damn good cop!"

* In [[The Elder Scrolls Four]], after you complete the final quest for the Fighter's Guild, the Guildmaster tells you that for your reckless actions, you are to be stripped of your position as her second in command... and that she will be stepping down to offer you her title.

{{quote|'''Tolwyn''': Blair! You have a lot to answer for, pilot! Disobeying orders, dereliction of duty, theft of Navy property, endangerment of personnel… Nice work… Colonel Blair. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m proud to serve with you on this ship, Maverick.}}

* The quote from Mulan was used after the Shan Yu battle in The Land of Dragons in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] II''.

** In [[Dragon Age II|the sequel]], {{spoiler|it's [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|pretty much the opposite]] }}.

* The ending of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' can do this depending on the player's actions, juxtaposing the number of people helped versus the number of people ended by The Courier. This can end up [[Crossing the Line Twice]] when a homicidal Courier may leave a carpet of bodies (or [[Ludicrous Gibs|body parts]]) behind them as they murder their way through almost every group they meet, but nonetheless ends up, say, saving Hoover Dam in the end and being rewarded with a medal.

 

* A reversed version from ''[[Fillmore!]]'':

{{quote|'''Vallejo:''' Principal Folsom isn't sure whether to give you guys a commendation or to give you detention. On the one hand, you put Stainless away. But on the other hand, you destroyed an entire shipment of brushed steel stalls, you ruined a month's supply of macaroni, and you allowed the most notorious graffiti vandal in the history of the school to escape.}}

** Considering that Fillmore does more damage than the perp in ''[[Running Gag|every single episode]]''...

{{quote|'''Proctor''': Well, let's see here Mr. Samson. On the driving portion you totaled every car but the one you were driving. On the pistol range you ''refused to use a gun'', and -- heh heh, here's my favorite -- on the written you drew the little guy with wings from the Led Zeppelin records.

'''Brock''': Icarus. So, uh, what are trying to tell me here, little man, that you don't like Zep?

* In ''[[Justice League]]'', where [[Green Lantern]] chews out Supergirl for nearly getting them all killed when she was expecting to be praised for her actions.

{{quote|'''Supergirl''': So, aren't you going to give me the "You did good" speech?

'''Green Lantern''': You're headstrong, unprofessional, and reckless. If you ever jeopardize yourself or your teammates again by [[Leeroy Jenkins|running off half-cocked without a battle plan]], I will personally see that you are [[Turn in Your Badge|kicked out of the League]], and I don't care who [[Superman|your cousin]] is. And incidentally... you did good. }}

* In ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'', [[Batman]] delivers one of these in episode four. Particularly notable for coming from ''Batman'', who in a lot of media is obsessively controlling to the point of being unable to deal with any deviation from his orders, no matter how justified. He scolds the team for not obeying his order to not interfere, and then praises them for reacting well once contact with the enemy inevitably changed the game.

'''Kid Flash:'''Uh, what?

'''Batman:''' No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you ''react'' to the unforeseen is what determines success. }}

{{quote|'''Apu:''' He slept, he stole, he was rude to the customers. Still, there goes the best damned employee a convenience store ever had.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Last of These Is Not Like the Others]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]

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