Epiphany Therapy: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''By the honor of pep talks!''"|'''[[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Chick]]''', on ''[[She Ra Princess of Power (Animation)|She Ra Princess of Power]]''}}

 

 

After a while, it may be felt that the character has to lose this flaw. In [[Real Life]], deep-seated psychological traumas take years to deal with and cure even in the best case scenario, and most require a lifetime of treatment. In fictionland, however, [[There Are No Therapists]]; fortunately, [[Freudian Excuse]], [[My Greatest Failure]], the [[Heroic BSOD]], [[In the Blood]], and [[Dysfunction Junction]], no matter how extreme, can be cured with a simple [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech]], growing [[Bored With Insanity]], a friend telling them to [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|cop on]], confiding in someone about your [[Bad Dreams]], the [[The Power of Love|strength]] or [[Love Redeems|redemption]] offered by love, or a [[Sickeningly Sweet]] [[Sidekick]] showing them that [[The Power of Friendship]] cures all wounds. The writers thus resolve the issue over the course of a single episode (or movie) and call it [[Character Development]], often at a cost of [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]].

* ''MASH'' relied rather heavily on this trope at times. In ''Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?'', Captain Chandler was in serious need of an epiphany. He doesn't get it, but another victim who was unable to save his younger brother in battle, literally went into amnesiatic shock and couldn't remember a thing. His memory only returned after Dr. Freedman, Hawkeye and B.J. hypnotise him and stage a battlefield scene. And then, of course, how could we forget {{spoiler|Hawkeye himself, during the finale? It takes around half an hour into the episode before Dr. Freedman is able to force Hawkeye into remembering what triggered the nervous breakdown.}}

* Lt. Barclay on ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' had a paralyzing fear of transporters, as revealed in the episode "Realm of Fear". Of course during that episode his fear is compounded when he discovers a living organism within the transporter field. The same story had O'Brien reveal that he once had a fear of spiders, but now kept a pet tarantula (which I suspect Keiko insisted he ditch before they moved to ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'').

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'', {{spoiler|Shotaro}} after being driven insane with fear by the Terror Dopant, causing him to scream his head off at even the slightest noise, {{spoiler|Philip basically telling him goodbye forever while leaving him a cryptic message on how to reverse it, Shotaro not only reverts to normal, but allows him to breakthrough his instinctive fear of Ryubee/Terror, which had been planted during their first meeting and prevented him from confronting him throughout the series.}}

* [[Myth Busters]] host Adam Savage has struggled for years with a well-known fear of bees, much to his annoyance as it made him the guinea pig for multiple phobia myth experiments. Until they tested a myth of bees glued to a laptop flapping their collective wings to make it fly. Working with a single bee in their lab, he learned to admire their individual strength and by the final test, he admitted being completely over his fear.

* ''[[The Sopranos]]'': Tony frequently experiences epiphanies in therapy, but they never "take". He always reverts back to form, sooner or later.

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': When Marshall's very-much-loved fiance just up and left him one night to go to San Francisco, he spent a long time crying, sitting in his apartment in his underwear, and trying to contact her. The rest of the gang supports him and does various things to try and help him get over her, but to no avail. During a talk about the matter with Ted, Marshall has an epiphany and decides that he's going to stop being so pathetic and start living again. Ted narrates that then it didn't happen, because "that's not how life works." Next morning, something reminds Marshall is reminded of Lily and he's right back to pathetic. But a couple of weeks later, he takes the first step towards moving on, and Ted narrates that the only thing that can fix a broken heart is time.

* Parodied on ''[[Malcolm in The Middle]]''; when Hal thanks a psychiatrist for curing his sons, the guy starts spluttering that they've turned up many problems that need to be discussed - but they're out the door already.

 

[[Category:Psychology Tropes]]

[[Category:Epiphany Therapy]]