Jerkass Woobie/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

** And from [[Angel|the Spin Off]], we have several, but one of the most noted is Connor. This is the kid that grew up in a hell dimension, his father figure lied to him about the nature of his real father, he was driven mad with revenge, and was seduced into the service of an [[Eldritch Abomination]]. Sometimes, you just want to give the little guy a hug, but he was also known for being ''unbelievably [[Ax Crazy]]...''

* Mini from the third generation of ''[[Skins]]'' is turning out to be this. Yes, she is the [[Alpha Bitch]] with major [[Manipulative Bastard|Machevellian]] tendencies and is bitchy, passive aggressive, and very [[Sugar and Ice]]. On the other hand, she has an insane longing for control and stability in her unstable life, eating disorders (and probably some sort of anxiety problem), her best friend slept with her boyfriend, her boyfriend took her virginity (painfully), and she generally just seems like a sad, sick girl playing at confidence. On top of it all, her friendship with Franky - the one truly authentic person in her life - has gotten complicated because {{spoiler|Mini has developed a [[Les Yay|crush]] on her}} while Franky [[All Love Is Unrequited|only has eyes for Matty.]] YMMV, though. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Some people]] just see her as a jerkass.

** Admiral Cain could possibly be considered this; she fits the "simultaneously want to punch her and feel really sorry for her" part, at least. She witnessed the genocide of her entire species and then found out that [[Honey Trap|her girlfriend was an artificial construct created by the genocidal robots who were responsible]]. She was [[Revenge Before Reason|about to sacrifice what, as far she knew, was the last surviving human community in the entire universe in a pointless, essentially impotent gesture of revenge]], [[Bad Boss|killed her own second in command for questioning her tactics]], was a fan of [[Cold-Blooded Torture|questionably ethical interrogation techniques]], and generally [[Ax Crazy|appeared to be a few cards short of a full deck]], but under the circumstances, [[Freudian Excuse|it's sort of understandable]]. Particularly, [[Rape as Drama|what she all but says she wants the interrogators to do to Gina]] takes on new dimensions when you consider how she probably felt about finding out that she'd been (presumably) [[Rape Tropes|unknowingly]] sleeping with somebody who was willingly aiding in the attempted and nearly successful genocide of her entire species (not to mention the [[Squick]] factor of her having every reason to think that Gina is closer to a robot that happens to be made out of flesh than what we'd consider human).

** A MUCH less extreme example is Kara Thrace, aka "Starbuck" (at least in the [[Jerkass]] department, in [[The Woobie]] department she easily matches anyone in the show). She can be a real bitch a lot of times but seeing her backstory and what happens to her, it's practically impossible not to want to give her a hug MANY times throughout the series.