Karma Houdini/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

**** This, thankfully, doesn't apply to the episodes other villains. The dad of the first {{spoiler|real}} victim is sent to jail for witness tampering, so he's unable to enjoy the money he made off of his sons molestation, and the grandmother of the "second victim", who not only ruined the case by lying about her granddaughter's molestation, but had been keeping her sick to the point where she literally had only a month to live, is charged with fraud and attempted murder.

*** A good (and not rich) SVU example is Darius. He sets up [[The Plan]] to seek revenge on his family and ensure that he gets away with at least one murder. He still fully expects to go to jail, but he knows he won't get nearly as much time as he should. In the end he is found not guilty and walks away scot-free. That said, it was a [[Pyhrric Victory]], as revelations from the trial - namely that {{spoiler|Darius was a product of father/daughter rape}} - left Darius even more emotionally screwed up than before.

** A far worse example from the Buffyverse would be Drusilla. Even after killing slayer Kendra and forcibly turning Darla into a vampire again, she was never staked and is still at large as both series closed.

** Russel Winters in the ''[[Angel]]'' pilot "City Of..." openly brags about being a [[Karma Houdini]] who can, as he puts it, "do whatever I want". Then Angel asks him "Can you fly?" {{spoiler|Unlike some movie vampires, he can't, especially not in the sunlight.}}

** The protagonists go through considerable trouble to make vampire Willow into one of these. Even after she tries to murder dozens of innocent people succeeding with few, the Scooby gang just let her leave back to her own world, even giving goodbye hugs and advice "try not to kill people". The hand of karma is swift in her case, as she gets staked seconds after her return, but not for the lack of trying.

** Wolfram and Hart is the last example of this from the spin-off series ''Angel''. Despite the horrors they commit, the Armageddon they have planned, the misery and devastation they have sowed, all of the team's efforts are only enough to inconvenience them, leading to a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]. To be clear, this refers to the Senior Partners and the organization as a whole, not individual employees. Almost every single evil employee ended up paying for their actions in one way or another.

* In ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'', the exit story of Major Frank Burns is so horrible - for everybody save himself. After acting as the ultimate jerk for five seasons, he got promoted and got his own command - stateside!!!

** Amusingly, the exit story of Major Burns in the book and movie is '''also''' an example of sorts, in the other direction. After Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke pester him into flipping out and trying to kill them, Major Burns gets hauled away in a straitjacket. After that, Colonel Blake calls them in, tells them flat out that he knows what they did, but the only disciplinary action he's going to give them is not making Trapper chief surgeon for another week because it would look bad. Mostly because he can't afford to lose more people who actually know what they're doing, granted...