Cool Motive, Still A Crime

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Here you have it. A villain or a hero in a jerk moment claims they are like this because of something that happened in their past. A Freudian Excuse can justify their actions and make them sympathetic. Surely that means they have the high moral ground.

"Not so fast!" someone else says. "Just because you had a crappy moment in your life doesn't mean you get to act like a big jerk!"

There is a moment, a Beat. Sometimes the villain or hero will realize this is true. Or they engage in an Ignored Epiphany. Regardless, the emperor has no clothes.

Freudian Excuse is No Excuse is when the work acknowledges that someone's tragic past, present trauma or so forth does not justify their actions. They're called out and told they still have to take responsibility for their actions.

This trope still applies if the character in question gives this speech to themselves. It can be a sign of Character Development or a Jerkass Realization. If the trauma happened when the character was a teen or an adult, it still counts.

Note: This is the TV Tropes name. We can change it with review.

Examples of Cool Motive, Still A Crime include:

Literature

• In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore and Harry discuss this about Merope Gaunt slipping a love potion to her crush Tom Riddle and drugging him for months. When she stopped drugging him, he ran for his life, leaving her destitute just as she was about to have their child. She died, and Tom Riddle Jr. aka Lord Voldemort was sent to a Muggle orphanage. They both acknowledge that she was in a bad situation, with her father and brother being abusive while treating her as unpaid labor and hexing any Muggle that so much as breathed on their property. Dumbledore asserts, however, that using a love potion on Tom Sr. was rape regardless of Merope's desperation. Tom Sr. had every right to leave her; if it had been a Muggle roofie, it would be just as horrific.

Live-Action TV

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer had one of Buffy's childhood crushes Billy Fordham come to Sunnydale. He's entranced by how Buffy fights vampires and finds reasons to hang with her, while Angel investigates because instinct and jealousy tell him the guy is bad news. Buffy learns that Billy was going to sell her and several innocent teens called vampire worshipers out to Spike, in exchange for becoming a vampire. Billy explains he has terminal cancer, and becoming undead is the only way he can live. Buffy expresses pity for Billy, but knocks him out and rescues the worshipers from Spike's gang. She says that she can't abide by a guy that would sacrifice innocent lives for his gain.
• Scrubs
  • Dr. Cox got this from his therapist, who then fired him as a patient. The therapist says that Dr. Cox had a hard life with an abusive father, but Cox himself refuses to put in the work or change. If Dr. Cox listened to one person, then it would show he was actually putting in the work to undo the emotional damage that makes him an ass. Dr. Cox gets a Jerkass Realization when he yells at J.D. after taking his advice to do an honest physical on Dr. Kelso, and J.D. says that he's asking Doug to replace him on rounds.
  • One new intern named Katie steals credit from Elliott and tries to manipulate her way to being seen as the best newbie. Carla sits her down for coffee and tells her off, saying the nurses see everything. Katie attempts to cry that she has emotionally abusive parents, and an alcoholic father to boot. Carla says, "Oh you poor thing," followed by "Heard it!" She says nearly everyone at the hospital has a tragic backstory, including herself and Dr. Cox. Unless Katie shapes up, the doctors and nurses will eat her alive.

Newspaper Comics

• In Calvin and Hobbes, this trope is played for laughs. Calvin likes finding any excuse to avoid responsibility for his actions and justify being an asshole. In one case, he told his dad that he felt he wasn't being supported enough and should be given more; his dad sends him outside to shovel snow and build "character". In another, Calvin quotes psychobabble that he is part of a dysfunctional family with parents who never empower him, meaning nothing he ever does is his fault. Hobbes snarks, "One of us needs to dunk our heads in ice water."

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender has this from time to time.
  • Heroes and Fire Nation individuals frequently acknowledges that Zuko is a tragic Anti-Villain. Anyone whose father burned their face and exiled them for refusing to face them in an Agni Kai would have issues. Zuko becomes very conflicted when helping Azula take over Ba Sing Se and letting her kill Aang leads to his exile behind rescinded. He shouts during "The Beach" that he should be happy because he got what he wanted. Instead, he spends most of the vacation grumping and getting jealous over guys talking to Mai. She calls him out for this during the campfire scene, and he tries to justify it by saying his life was hard. Mai and Ty Lee respond that it's no excuse for being a jerk during their vacation time.
  • Quite ironically, Azula says that she resents that her mother thought she was a monster. "She was right, but it still hurts!" Azula responds cheerfully. Azula pretends that by being aware of her issues, it means that she has complete control over her actions. Azula's hallucination of Ursa in the series finale says she loved Azula, always, as Azula's sanity frays following Ty Le and Mai's betrayals. The Search would confirm that Ursa loved Azula when she begged to take both Azula and Zuko into exile after helping Ozai kill Azulon.
  • Later when Zuko attempts to switch sides and join Team Avatar, most of them say no. Toph is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because she sensed he was telling the truth from her lie detector abilities. She also sympathizes with the fact that living as part of a rich elite family means conforming to arbitrary rules, having been in that situation. Katara says sarcastically let's give him an award for not being as big of a jerk. She reminds Zuko at the end of the episode, when he's accepted on probation as part of the Gaang, that she's watching him for any backsliding
• BoJack Horseman has a running motif for most of the characters that try to lean on their tragic backstories:
  • BoJack himself has a few moments. He hopes that by opening up to Diane about his traumatic childhood, after she encourages him to give a real story for his ghostwritten biography, that it means they have become closer. Instead, it makes Diane realize he is a big jerk, and she puts that in her book One Trick Pony. Later, Todd after suffering two seasons of abuse from BoJack hits his Rage Breaking Point in "It's You" after learning that BoJack slept with his crush Emily. BoJack blames it on the drugs and Oscar stress while apologizing. Todd spells it out: BoJack can't keep blaming his actions on his addictions or bad childhood. In the end, it's him. He has to take responsibility for his actions. "Fuck man, what else is there to say?".
  • BoJack at his mother's funeral acknowledges that Beatrice Horseman had a hard life. She had him when she was too young to know better, and didn't have the resources that his generation did to talk about independence, mental health, divorce, or self-actualization. As he discusses while popping pills, that his mother suffered does not excuse the way that she treated him as a kid, or how she poisoned Hollyhock with diet pills to "help" her lose weight.
• Infinity Train has heroes and villains which discuss this trope. Facing it allows their numbers to go down.
  • Tulip is a jerk, who resents her parents for divorcing. She blames them for ruining her life. Then a tape in the Cat's Car gives her the courage to see what really happened, without her Nostalgia Filter or catastrophizing; her parents were actually fighting all the time, she just blocked it out and ignored the red flags. During the actual scene where they break the news, they also were as broken up over the separation as she was, and it wasn't their intent to ruin her life. Tulip leaves the tape with a Jerkass Realization that she needs to go easier on her parents when she gets home.
  • When Tulip sees Amelia's tape, she acknowledges that it is traumatic to lose the love of your life.

Amelia had a breakdown after Alrick died, planning to jump off the roof of their complex if not for the Train. Tulip, however, also calls out Amelia for turning Atticus into a Ghom for the crime of helping Tulip achieve her quest and protecting One-One. She says that change is possible, but it has to come with facing the future.

• • Season 3 brings us Grace, the leader of the cultist children the Apex. Simon traps her in a loop of her worst memories when believing that Grace betrayed him by lying about Hazel's origins. Hazel left with a reformed Amelia because she felt the worst Amelia would do is experiment on her, while Simon clearly had murderous intentions towards the "null" Hazel. Grace had neglectful parents that gave her everything they wanted but refused to see her was she was; she shoplifted to get their attention. They didn't even notice when the Train entered indoors and she boarded it. A Hazel hallucination calls out Grace for how she used her fear of neglect to gain power over the other kids, and let Simon kill Tuba, Hazel's protector. She says Grace's past was no excuse for the pain she caused in the present.
• 'The Legend of Korra would continue this trend with some of the heroes and villains:
  • When we learn Amon's real backstory, that his father abused him and his brother Tarlok by training them to become weapons against the Avatar, Korra says she has never heard such a sad story. Mako and she resolve nevertheless to use this information to stop Amon and save Republic City, because he's trying to wipe out all the benders.
  • Lin and Suyin are on opposite sides of the spectrum, but they agree on one thing: that their mother hated her rigid life as a Beifong was no excuse for how she treated them. They wanted a mom; instead, they got an absent parental figure that let them do what they wanted. Suyin tells Korra that she rebelled out of a need for Toph to actually step up and be a mom, to get her approval or any sign of attention. (Lin herself says that this was no excuse for Suyin's delinquent behavior and holds a grudge against her for the scar on her cheek.) While Suyin and Toph talked this out offscreen and reconciled, Lin is much brusquer when confronting her mother in season 4; Toph reverts to her irreverent behavior, and Lin tells her that bullshit is why they never talked for several decades. Toph herself is forced to acknowledge she was not a good parent, though she is proud of both her girls.
  • Sweet Opal in a flashback said this about Kuvira according to the graphic novel Ruins of the Empire. When they were kids, Suyin took in Kuvira after the latter's parents dropped her off at Zaofu. Kuvira and Opal were taking turns with a dollhouse, and Kuvira destroyed it out of spite when Opal said it was still her turn. Opal told Suyin, who asked Kuvira for an explanation. Kuvira had none and stalked away. Suyin said they should stay patient with Kuvira because of her parents not wanting her, and she's now a sister to Opal. Opal scoffs and says lots of people at Zaofu are orphans, and they aren't jerks like Kuvira. She goes on to say Kuvira's parents probably gave her up because of her behavior. It was true, but Kuvira overheard and felt devastated.