Magnificent Bastard/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''If you're going to take me on, son, you're going to have to bring your game up to a whole different level.''|'''[[Trope Codifier|Lionel Luthor]]''', ''[[Smallville]].''}}

 

* Jim Moriarty from ''[[Sherlock]]''.

* Ted Roark from ''[[Chuck]]''. He is like the mix of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. So selfish and narcissistic, but oh so highly charismatic.

* Speaking of Chucks, Chuck Bass of ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' is a mixture of this trope, the [[Handsome Lech]], and the [[Upper Class Wit]].

** His [[Distaff Counterpart]] and [[Love Interest]] Blair does quite well too.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' has entertained us with many a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Such as the villainous Q. Omnipotent, yet petty; cruel but not vicious; causing devastation yet helpful at times, you really couldn't help but love the bastard(s).

** Q's villain status, however, is in question. Most of his actions as portrayed on [[Star Trek the Next Generation|TNG]] have been in some way beneficial to the resident crew or humanity as a whole. One example is how, as it has been established in canon The Borg Collective was aware of humanity long before humanity was aware of the Borg, Qs forcing a confrontation between Enterprise-D and a Borg cube served as the early warning that allowed Starfleet to avoid complete disaster.

** His [[Evil Twin|counterpart]] from [[Alternate Universe|Earth-2]] seems to be having a good run at himself, naturally enough. "Cutting out your daughter's heart to save your son because you're a Magnificent Bastard" should be a facebook group.

** Major Zod, Season 9's [[Big Bad]] is a non-Luthor example, in sharp contrast to his [[General Ripper]] [[Cloning Blues|genetic source material]]. He manages to use pretty much everyone in-show, including [[Manipulative Bastard|Tess]], and [[The Chessmaster|Amanda Waller]] and [[Government Conspiracy|Checkmate]] to fullfill his own ends, and does it all while more or less flying by the seat of his pants. He's less of a [[Chessmaster]] than Lionel was, but even more of a [[Trickster]].

* Olivia Pope, the heroine of [[Scandal]] is on the verge of being one. {{spoiler|Her [[Arch Enemy]] is a straighter example.}}

* Jack from ''[[Tru Calling]]''. His Bastardry comes from his mission: to keep the protagonist from saving the lives of the dead people who ask her to do so. His Magnificence comes in the way that he does it. Where Tru tends towards attacking the problem at its source, Jack thinks sideways, poisoning people against Tru before she even shows up. He also tends towards taunting her with little notes and snide commentary. He managed to infiltrate her inner circle with a mole, thus allowing himself to garner all manner of info on her without her knowledge. By [[Too Good to Last|the end]] of the series, he literally has 3 people connected to Tru and her gang that they are entirely unaware of. Imagine the [[Bolivian Army Ending]] when the good guys don't even know the army is ''there''.

'''Coach''': Son of a bitch. You magnificent son of a bitch! (Kisses him) }}

* Don Draper of ''[[Mad Men]]'' is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in the finest sense of the term: He can manipulate almost any antagonist or client alike into falling into a plan of his devising (just observe his [[Batman Gambit]] in "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"), and has a devilish charm which makes him impossible not to admire. Magnificent. He also cheats on his wife with a number of women, and {{spoiler|stole his identity from a fellow soldier after said soldier died in war}}. Bastard.

** Then there's his boss, Bert Cooper, who {{spoiler|found about about his past in Season 1}}, filed that information away, and used it again in Season 3 to make Don sign a contract. There's a reason he's in charge.

* Livia in the BBC adaptation of Robert Graves' ''[[I Claudius]]''. She spent years brilliantly and subtly manipulating everyone in the highest level of the Roman Empire, just to get her son Tiberius chosen as Emperor. And that's just a part of what she did.

* Catherine Packard Martell in ''[[Twin Peaks]]''. It's not just ''everyone'' who can {{spoiler|fake their own death in a mill fire, come back to town ''in drag'' to foil the plans of everyone looking to profit off the land, and then plot with their [[Not Quite Dead]] brother to seek revenge on his treacherous wife}}.

* ''[[Damages]]'' featured a brutal [[Eviler Than Thou|winner-takes-all war]] fought between the magnificent bastard Arthur Frobisher and the magnificent ''bitch'' Patricia "Patty" Hewes.

* Richard Cross in ''[[Murder One]]''. A fabulously rich developer with a love of fine wine and Renaissance art, who has a marvellous public image through his various donations to charities. He also helps out South American drug lords just for the hell of it, and after one of these affiliations goes very, very wrong he spends the entire first season wildly improvising to keep himself and his associates in the clear, all while appearing completely unruffled and dangling his involvement in the faces of the show's heroes. It also doesn't hurt that he's played by the indescribably charismatic Stanley Tucci.

* [[Knight Templar|Holtz]] from ''[[Angel]]'' falls under this, mostly for his sheer ''efficiency''. [[Cosmic Horror|Jasmine]] spent millenia with godlike power manipulating events to come to earth, lasted less than a week, and died at the hands of {{spoiler|her most loyal servant}}. Wolfram and Hart spent five seasons with nigh-limitless resources trying to corrupt Angel and all they accomplished in the end was {{spoiler|letting him know who to kill}}. Meanwhile Holtz, had no powers [[Badass Normal|whatsoever]], was [[Villains Blend in Better|out of his own time]] and had no allies but those he created for himself. And in half a season he managed to {{spoiler|[[Manipulative Bastard|convince one of Angel's closest friends]] to kidnap Angel's son, then escaped into a hell dimension with him, raising him [[Laser Guided Tykebomb|to be Angel's worst enemy]]. Then his assisted suicide actually made things [[My Death Is Just the Beginning|worse]] between them.}}

* Spike from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was sometimes seen as this before [[Badass Decay|his infamous (and highly arguable) "Spikeification."]] However, he has a large strike against his cred in his admitted tendency to "get bored" and rush into things without thinking, something a full fledged Magnificent Bastard does not do. That being said, whenever he ''does'' take the time to plan things out, he can hang with the best of them; most notably in episodes like "The Yoko Factor", where he nearly tore the Scooby Gang apart, or the second season finale in which he seemed to realize rushing into things against [[Complete Monster|Angelus]] would not be a smart move and thought a successful plan out in advance, all behind his boss' back.

* [[Satan|The Devil]] in ''[[Reaper]]'' not only arranges for Sam to get an apartment next to a pair of rebel demons whose plan to destroy him would actually have worked, and manipulates Sam into infiltrating the rebellion with a new (doomed) plan to kill him, he also signs Sam's lease with his name and sends him clues as to what is going on that Sam, Sock and Ben can only work out moments after it is too late to do anything about it. Then repeats this plan with the few survivors of the rebellion, and is still witty, charming and diabolically [[Affably Evil|affable]]. Ray Wise's portrayal is just so good that fans now think he may actually ''be'' [[Satan|The Devil]].

* [[Affably Evil|Sheriff]] [[Satan|Lucas Buck]] of ''[[American Gothic]]'' fulfills this trope again and again throughout the series. Among the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) offenses would be his [[Mind Rape]] of Dr. Crower, beginning with forcing him to [[Break the Cutie|relive his past tragedies]] ({{spoiler|his alcoholism, its destruction of his career, and the terrible accident which cost him the life of his wife and daughter}}), which nearly makes him {{spoiler|fall [[Off the Wagon]] again}}. This then continues on to the convoluted [[Gambit Roulette]] wherein {{spoiler|he convinces Dr. Crower via a woman who claims to be his mother [[Captain Obvious|that he is the Devil Incarnate]].}} Armed with this [[Cassandra Truth]], Matt morphs into a [[Stalker With a Crush]] (only without the crush, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|unless you take it to mean wanting to crush Buck to death]]), so that in the end he gets dragged away, [[Go Mad From the Revelation|having gone off the deep end]], and [[Put On a Bus|is last seen]] {{spoiler|locked away in an insane asylum}}. Talk about a [[Downer Ending]]...but so ingeniously pulled off.

** Honorable mention also goes to the number Buck pulls on the orderly in "Eye of the Beholder", Carter in "Damned If You Don't", and the talk show host in "Resurrector" he forces to kill his wife...{{spoiler|[[Faking the Dead|or at least, he thinks he does]]}}.

** Whatever Avon did though; Servalan did better, and in high heels.

* Joey Heric from ''[[The Practice]]'' gleefully eludes justice for one blatant murder after another with his expert manipulation of the legal system, confounding both the district attorney's office and his own defense firm with theatrics, misdirection, and at times even the truth. His ability to shed reasonable doubt into just about everything he does is so uncanny, he can even imply responsibility for crimes he's legitimately not involved in and still have people conviced he might have something to do with it.

** As of the episode "Earth" on ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', Dr. Rush is this. And we love him all the more for it.

*** Since the second season, Rush has kicked the magnificent bastardry into overdrive. Not only does he {{spoiler|crack Destiny's master code ''without telling anyone''}}, he also manages to divert suspicion away from him by using {{spoiler|Chloe as a scapegoat}} and ''then'' {{spoiler|manipulating Chloe into helping him with her subconcious knowledge ''all while'' making it seem like he actually cured Chloe.}} Respect, Doctor Rush.

** Hyde actually ''does'' fill this role around Fez and Kelso throughout the series.

*** Of course, it's not as if manipulating [[Funny Foreigner|Fez]] and [[Brainless Beauty|Kelso]] is very difficult...

* Stringer Bell from ''[[The Wire]]'' is one of these. Soft-spoken, well-dressed and bespectacled, he is in actuality a shrewd, Machiavellian power-player in the Baltimore drug trade.

** That being said, he isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is and when he attempts to establish himself as being above the drug game, he runs straight into the ''real'' magnificent bastard of ''The Wire'', Senator Clay Davis, who is a blatantly corrupt, money-grubbing politician and goes throughout the entire series completely unscathed because he's ''that'' charismatic and good at politics.

** Strangely, one of the biggest ones in the series is one of the few examples of a good guy being a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Lester Freamon is, without a doubt, the most intelligent character in the series. He's a cop [[The Chessmaster|who moves everyone, whether they be criminals, politicians, or fellow cops, on the board like they were chess pieces.]] He even outwits Clay Davis. He's also manipulative, just not in a negative way and plays himself off as a harmless old detective that won't give much trouble. But if he's after you, your days as a free man are numbered.

* Malcolm Tucker from ''[[The Thick of It]]'' and [[The Movie]], ''[[In the Loop]]''. As the Prime Minister's chief spin doctor he has made a whole ''career'' out of [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastardry]], and MP Hugh Abbot even coined the term "Malciavellian" to describe his particular brand of it. He gets by on his frankly terrifying degree of charm, which he greatly enjoys abusing. Considered a bastard even by the standards of other spin doctors, his colleagues can't help but grudgingly admire him:

'''Malcolm Tucker:''' ''"[[Insult Backfire|Scruples? What are they]]? Those low fat Kettle Chips?"'' }}

** Even his choice of [[Bastard Understudy|understudy]] is bastardly: he appointed the [[Violent Glaswegian]] Jamie, knowing that he lacked the charm and intelligence that would be required to overthrow him.

{{quote| "He gave the combination to a dyslexic fifth grader. ''The man is an [[Magnificent Bastard|EVIL GENIUS!]]''}}

* Hugo deVries in the ''[[Inspector Morse]]'' episode "Masonic Mysteries". Basically spends the entire episode ten steps ahead of ''everyone'', jerry-rigs Morse's home stereo to play really awful Opera (''[[Up to Eleven|LOUDLY]]''), sets Morse's house on fire with Morse inside, frames Morse [[Everything Is Online|using the Internet]], ''and'' delivers some utterly fantastic [[Just Between You and Me|monologuing]] and [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkery]] to boot. The fact that he's being played by [[Large Ham]] Supreme [[Star Wars|Ian McDiarmid]] is really just gravy at this point.

** One word: Playbook. [[That Is All]].

** And in "The Ducky Tie" it's revealed that Barney actually uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlovian_conditioning Pavlovian conditioning] on his friends so he can con them more easily in the future.

** {{spoiler|Gus further cemented his Magnificent Bastard status by singlehandedly decapitating the Mexican drug cartel who was disrupting his business, and whose Don had killed his business partner 20 years ago. He does this through his gift bottle of tequila to poison the Don and the rest of the upper management of the cartel. To get them to drink, he ''poisons himself first'' and then excuses himself to meticulously vomit out the poison. Do not screw with Gus Fring.}}

* Jim Keats of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]''. Starts out as a nerdy [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] obsessed with rules and regulations, charming his way into CID, and at the end of 3.01, pulls one of the fastest (practically nonverbal) [[Face Heel Turn|Face Heel Turns]] in history. He continues to gain the trust of the team - particularly Alex - and all seems well until the end of 3.04, where he {{spoiler|cradles the dying Louise in his arms and seemingly acts as an Angel of Death for her.}} He gets a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|hell]] of a lot darker and more sinister in 3.06, when {{spoiler|he lets Viv die alone and frightened, cheerily whistling as Viv - who has sinned in allowing a gun into a prison and covering it up, thus facilitating a riot - screams in terror.}} It's finally revealed in 3.08 that Keats is {{spoiler|quite possibly [[Satan|the Devil himself]], and when the truth of the world is revealed - that everyone is dead and Gene is supposed to help them move on - [[Villainous Breakdown|loses his shit in fairly spectacular fashion.]] He ''breaks the world''. He even manages to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|headbutt Gene]] and proceed to deliver a terrifying [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]] to him. While he doesn't win - Alex fixes the world by helping Gene believe in himself and his team again, then crosses over instead of joining Keats - he does slink off into the night promising Gene they'll meet again.}}

* {{spoiler|Brian Moser}}, the Ice Truck Killer, in ''[[Dexter]]''. He finds Dexter, leaves little notes and messages for him via his kills, and even {{spoiler|gets engaged to his sister}}, all in order have a beer with him.

** Carly Corinthos from ''[[General Hospital]]''.

* On ''[[The Tudors]]'', Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell definitely apply, as does Edward Seymour. ([[Truth in Television]] for Wolsey and Cromwell; harder to say for Edward, who has trouble following through when he most needs to.) Note that these guys are each involved in each other's takedowns - and were allies before that. This is more pronounced for Wolsey and Cromwell - Cromwell owes his start in royal service to Wolsey. Edward and Cromwell were allies of convenience; no way it was going to last on this show.

** Klaus has far and away eclipsed Katherine in his magnificent bastardy. Made all the scarier by the fact that {{spoiler|he's now immortal}}

* In the HBO series ''[[Rome]]'' we get a load of these. Mark Antony is perhaps a bit less [[The Chessmaster|Chessmastery]], but he gets his share of the scheming, even if it bites him in the arse in the end. He is only defeated by the more calculating and manipulative Octavian, who in turn inherited his position from Caesar, who was so magnificent in his bastardry that this adoptive son of his was going to further some of his plans even after his death. Pompey is seen as more of a former magnificent bastard, although in reality he was just as magnificent a bastard as Caesar to the end. Then there's Atia, the ultimate one, who uses manipulation, assassination, torture and her charms, not to mention sexual prowess, to have her way, and that's where Octavian probably gets it in the first place (they're all family with Caesar and through that, Mark Antony, which makes Antony's and Atia's relationship interesting, although Romans had a different view on sex and family). Servilia of the Junii, Atia's rival proves herself as malevolent a manipulator as Atia after Atia exposes her affair with Caesar, causing him to break off the affair. Aware that Caesar has a dark secret, she [[Les Yay|seduces Atia's daughter]] and persuades her to [[Brother Sister Incest|seduce her brother]], Octavian in order to find it out (the secret is that Caesar has epilepsy). The plan fails and Atia hires a band of thugs to beat up Servilia in broad daylight. Aware that Atia ordered the hit, Servilia persuades her son Brutus to murder Caesar, costing Atia her political power. While Atia survives and Servilia ultimately commits suicide after Brutus's death, Atia acknowledges her as a worthy opponent. Even Titus Pullo, an archetypal [[Boisterous Bruiser]] at first glance, does a bit of magnificent bastardry on a smaller scale, though being the closest thing to a protagonist besides Vorenus he is more like a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]], and most of the time he's not quite on the ball as to be a true example. He gets an honourable mention.

** You missed the best part: after Ankh agrees to handing over sixty percent of his winnings, Kougami pulls the lid off a box in front of him, ''revealing a cake signed with that number, and shouts "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"''. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Damn.]]

** Don't forget Kazari. Absolutely no one considered him to be the biggest threat. Then he started talking with Dr Maki. He then managed to trick Eiji and Ankh into stealing a majority of their medals, including one of Ankhs. [[It Gets Better]]. He also manages to trick Uva and Gamel into going ahead, and then seriously injuring Mezuru and taking all but ''one'' of her medals. For those of you who don't know what this means, its the closest equivalent to ripping out her organs and leaving her with ''barely'' enough to live. [[Running Gag|It gets better]]. He then pins it on Eiji to Gamel into order to keep him busy and get a few more Cores (Eiji got a few back as well). And when Mezuru goes to Uva to explain this situation and get help, Uva gets the idea to go after her. [[Rule of Three|It gets better.]] Kazari then loads Gamel so full of Cores that he goes insane and kills himself to heal Mezuru. Mezuru, loaded with Medals of both her and Gamel, as well as two of Uva's thrown in at the last minute then turns into a huge monster so strong that it took Eiji as GataKiriBa ''and'' [[Big Damn Heroes|a Cell Burst from Birth,]] [[Dynamic Entry|his premire by the way]], to take it out, and Kazari just watches and takes most of the Cores, with Ankh and Uva only able to steal like three. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Magnificent doesn't cover it.]] He then manages to very nearly steal ''all but one of Eiji's medals.'' Granted, Ankh loaded the case with cells and Ankh stole on of his own medals back, but Kazari still managed to regain all but one of his own. That one being of course, Eiji's Tora Medal.

** Nikita herself, in her dealings with Division, Oversight and Gogol. Her former handler/teacher and lover, Michael, shows some signs of this as well. Her adversaries - Percy, Amanda and, to a lesser extent, Ari Tasarov - are this as well.

* Torrence, the [[The Charmer|charismatic]] [[The Sociopath|sociopath]] played by Eddie Izzard in 2009s [[The Day of the Triffids]] starts of as a pretty Magnificent Bastard but suffers [[Villainous Breakdown]] when his plans start to go awry, revealing himself to be more of a [[Smug Snake]], albeit a very high-functioning one.

* Alex Russo from ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' often has her moments as this due to how sly and manipulative (and good at it) she can be.

* Morgan Pendragon from the Starz television series [[Camelot]] is the [[Self Made Orphan|daughter]] of [[Complete Monster|the former king]] and the [[Succession Crisis|legitimate heir]] to the throne of England. [[Ambition Is Evil|Ambitious]], [[Insufferable Genius|intelligent]], ruthless and a [[Manipulative Bitch|great manipulator]] with a talent for the [[The Plan]], she'll stop at nothing to become queen and gets most of the English people on her side, given the fact that in this show, [[The Scrappy|King Arthur]] is apparently useless. Morgan is seemingly intended to be a villain but her incredible [[The Charmer|charisma]], the fact that she's actually more relatable than the supposed protagonists and being played by [[Eva Green]] mean that most of the fans are cheering her on. In fact, most of the people on the show are even cheering her on.

* "Fred" from ''[[Unforgettable]]'' not only manipulates three separate people into being killers (one a serial), he ''chooses'' to out himself Carrie and her team, knows they're utterly unable to pin a single thing on him, and cheerfully implies he'll look forward to more fun and games.

* The aliens in ''[[The Twilight Zone|The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street]]''. {{spoiler|They manipulate their targets into turning on each other}}.