Moral Event Horizon/Live-Action TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of crossing the Moral Event Horizon in Live-Action TV include:

Battlestar Galactica (2000s remake)

  • Tory manages to talk Cally down from spacing herself and her son after learning that her husband is a Cylon... Only to take the baby, knock Cally unconscious and space her herself. When he learns what she did, he doesn't bother to ask questions, he just snaps her neck.
  • Tom Zarek is morally ambiguous character who is difficult to label as an outright villain, right up until he orders marines to execute the Quorum of Twelve when they refuse to support his and Gaeta's mutiny.
  • Cavil was already pretty evil when he planned the genocide of humanity, but in The Plan he crosses the line when he stabs the young orphan boy who's been hanging around him because he realizes he's developing sympathy for the boy, which is undermining his hatred of humans. In other words, he crosses the horizon on purpose.
    • Let's not forget Cain. She always had a twisted sense of morality, but she completely went past the moral event horizon when she finds out her lover was a Cylon, all but telling her crew to gang rape her ex-lover.

Breaking Bad

  • If Walter White didn't cross the line from Anti-Hero to Villain Protagonist in the episode "Phoenix", where he stood by and watched Jane slowly choke to death during her sleep., then he definitely crossed it in "Full Measure", where he emotionally blackmails Jesse into murdering a harmless man in cold blood, to save his own skin..
    • To be fair, in the previous episode Walter committed two murders for Jesse, saving his life. Without justifying the murder of Gail, his death has, at least temporarily, guaranteed the survival of Jesse as well as Walter.
      • And there were massively mitigating circumstances, mostly him being held at gunpoint.
  • Jane's death really is inexcusable when you consider it had the knock on effect of bringing a plane out of the sky. Even Walt realises this and tries to downplay it to assorted students and staff in a school assembly. This only makes them more horrified, and these are people who aren't even aware that it's indirectly his fault.
    • Unlike with most instances of this trope, he has not done a terrible thing and simply resigned himself to being evil. Instead, he is horribly conflicted about his actions in both situations, and is almost overwhelmed by his guilt. It depends on how forgiving the viewer is as to whether his guilt is enough. These moral complexities are part of what makes the show so compelling though, so if it were easy to designate a MEH, then the show would lose a lot of its appeal.
      • However, in Face off the line is cross pretty hard when we realize what Walt will do to win, which includes poisoning an innocent kid and carrying a bomb thru a children's hospital
  • Don't forget that in the pilot Walt, in the spur of the moment, kills Emilio and, with Jesse's help, later dissolves him in a bath tub full of acid. He also murders Krazy-8 in a much more calculated manner a couple of episodes later. It is fair to say that Walt crosses the MEH in the pilot - which is the basis for the show - and then the transgressions pile up as things go From Bad to Worse. No sooner does Walt decide to 'break bad' by cooking meth, he is forced into being a murderer, from which there is no turning back.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  • While Spike had previously killed hundreds of innocent people and tried to kill the main characters on several different occasions, it was his Attempted Rape of Buffy in "Seeing Red" that made a lot of people go, "Okay, now he's irredeemable." Even getting his soul back might have made things different in Buffy's eyes, if only a little bit, but it was hard for some viewers to accept.
    • This example is particularly interesting in that Spike himself saw it as a Moral Event Horizon; it made him realize that, without a soul, he was an amoral bastard who would hurt even someone he claimed to love. He didn't want to be a monster like that anymore; regaining his soul was his attempt to backpedal over that horizon, becoming a person with a conscience who would never hurt Buffy that way again.
  • Whenever a villain tortured a member of the Scoobie Gang, they tended to be seen as having gone just plain too far. Such as when Angelus tortured Giles to get information, and when in Angel, Faith tortured Wesley for no reason at all. Bearing in mind that Angelus was an actual villain, whereas Faith was just an Anti-Hero...
  • Faith did what she did to deliberately invoke the Moral Event Horizon and get Angel to kill her for her crimes. It didn't work since Angel had rather personal understanding of what she was going through, and instead spared her and gave her a chance of redemption.
    • The show, we should probably note, didn't actually show this event in a "crossing the moral event horizon" sort of way. Faith, in later seasons, comes back and is helpful to the team again. Even Wesley forgives her, sort of, eventually (mainly because he came to understand the allure of the dark side.)
  • Word of God says that Angelus' murder of Jenny Calender in S2s Passion was important for the purpose of displaying how evil Angelus had become. Note that before that act, Angelus had murdered at least 4 people since being turned, but had not yet committed an offense so grievious to the audience (and the Scoobies) that it became a serious question as to whether or not it was even possible to redeem Angel, and even if it was would anyone (besides Buffy) want to do it?
  • Some might say that an over-arching theme of the show is that there is always a way around the Moral Event Horizon -- any evil can be redeemed given the will to try.

Firefly

  • Viewers can usually tell when a villain is about to die horribly when they threaten Kaylee or River. Dobson threatened both of them in the pilot, and it did not end well for him.
    • And let's not forget in the final episode when Jubal Early subdues Kaylee by threatening to rape her.
  • Jayne comes very close to crossing it in "Ariel," when he tries to sell Simon and River to the Feds. He almost gets Thrown Out the Airlock by Mal, but that turned out to be a Secret Test of Character, which he just barely passed.
  • In "War Stories," Niska crosses the line when he kidnaps Mal and Wash and starts torturing them to death. This brings the wrath of the rest of the crew directly down on his head.
    • Made even worse when we realize Mal actually dies from it and he brings him back to life so he can continue torturing him. Complete Monster, indeed.

Game of Thrones

  • Theon Greyjoy crossed the MEH in the second season, when he killed and maimed two boys so he could terrify the people of Winterfell into obeying him by claiming the bodies were the missing Bran and Rickon Stark
  • Jaime and Cersei arguably crossed it in the first episode, when Cersei convinced Jaime to push Bran out a window. Joffrey definitely did when he was responsible for Ned Stark's death.
  • Joffrey crossed it when he has Ned executed. Especially since he first made it look like he was going to do the exact opposite.
  • Viserys putting a sword to his pregnant sister's belly. No coming back from that.
  • Locke confirms what sort of person he is pretty quickly when he prepares to rape Brienne (only stopping because Jaime bullshits him about her value as a hostage) and then cutting off the chained and helpless Jaime's sword hand, even after he'd made his point quite effectively, apparently just because he resented Jaime's aristocratic overconfidence in his own authority and the reputation of his father, and enjoyed the role reversal.
  • Rast crosses it the moment he stabs Lord Commander Mormont in the back. The fact Mormont fought till his very last breath and then Rast the asshole stabs him over and over again when he's down demonstrates what a low-down coward he really is.
  • Ramsay's moment that he crosses the line would be when he falsely gave Theon a way out just so he can psychologically break him. It only gets worse from there, as the entirety of Theon's torture scene serves to prove how much of a monster Ramsay is, as his sadistic acts of violence against Theon are purely for his own enjoyment. Even though he's well across the line by Season 5, his rape of Sansa, complete with forcing "Reek" to watch is often seen as being even worse than what he did to Theon, and has pretty much convinced anyone who gave him a Draco in Leather Pants treatment that there is nothing redeemable about him.
    • Ramsay goes on to make these actions look mild in comparison when he goes on to stab his father to death and shortly after murdering his stepmother and half-brother by feeding them to the hounds. Much later on in the season he kills Rickon Stark, a child, by shooting him in the back as he's running towards his brother, Jon. Needless to say This Is Unforgivable! for Jon.
  • Littlefinger threatens Ros by revealing that he serves up disobedient and nonperforming prostitutes to thrill-killers who torture them to death. From this point, it's clear that Littlefinger isn't just another schemer; he's evil to the core. As the show progresses, it turns out that this is only one horrible crime of many up his sleeve.
  • The Red Wedding is one long crossing for Roose Bolton and Walder Frey. Walder had Robb Stark and all of his bannermen massacred just because he didn't marry Walder's daughter, and Roose turned on his fellow northmen and personally killed his own king. One could argue that Tywin Lannister's organizing the whole thing might itself make him applicable for this, though he at least has pragmatism as an excuse.
  • Balon Greyjoy chooses to abandon his own son after he receives his genitals and a ransom demand, saying that "he isn't a man anymore," despite Theon's entire predicament being due to a desperate wish to win love and acceptance from his father. Even scumbags like Walder Frey treat their kids better than this guy. His refusal to save Theon and his snide little insults at his lack of manhood angers Yara so much that she calls him out on his behavior and begins preparations for a rescue mission.
  • The overlords of Meereen fly far over the moral event horizon before they even appear by crucifying over 163 slave children to mile-posts on the way to Meereen, just to piss Dany off. Made worse as the first girl sacrificed visibly resembles Dany herself, making this slight at her seem even more intentional.
  • The Sparrows at first seem like some of the most good people in the show, wanting to help out the common people in whatever way they can and prepared to sacrifice anything of their own to do it. Then they get the power of the Faith Militant and it turns out they're far more Westboro Baptist Church than Christian missionaries.
  • Both Melisandre and Stannis finally cross the point of no return and become true villains when they have Shireen burned alive in an attempt to ensure their victory over House Bolton. Numerous viewers, including long-time fans of Stannis, have turned on him for this act, and some are going so far as to root for the Boltons over him.
  • The Night's Watch brothers who are involved in the betrayal of Jon Snow. Particularly Olly, whom Jon was kind enough to take under his wing.
  • It was thought by many that the Brotherhood Without Banners crossed it in Season 6 when they slaughtered peaceful followers of the Seven who wouldn't pay their protection racket - but as it turns out, these men are not representative of the whole Brotherhood, and their decision to go rogue is promptly dealt with by Beric and Thoros in the next episode.
  • Cersei had made a lot of evil choices over the course of the show but she solidifies herself as irredeemable in the Season 6 finale with the Green Trial, where she commits mass murder. Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor with wildfire and not only kills all the Sparrows, but also her uncle, cousin, the entire Tyrell family save for Olenna, and dozens of innocent people. Even the apparent Pet the Dog moment when she tries to spare Tommen backfires. Her actions cause him to commit suicide, and, as if to hammer in the point home, after six seasons with her love for her children being her most redeeming quality, Cersei coldly brushes off her remaining child's death.

I, Claudius

  • I, Claudius is a series populated by devious conniving bastards who get away with some pretty horrible acts, but one of the worst dog-raping examples is provided by Praetorian Guard captain Macro when his predecessor Sejanus falls out of favor with the Emperor. Macro kicks off a bloody purge of everyone even remotely connected with Sejanus. Rome's streets run red, but the icing on the cake is when he orders the death of Sejanus's (very) young daughter. An officer reminds him that it's unlawful to execute a virgin. His response? "Well, make sure she's not a virgin when you execute her, now GET ON WITH IT!"
  • This troper remembers a female character rushing in to see Claudius and crying that the little girl was raped, and the boy forced to put on his 'manly gown' before being killed. Either way, it's a horrid fate for innocent children.
  • The fate of Sejanus's daughter is Truth in Television.
    • And a Real Life Truth in Television for the entire Roman Empire. Children were always raped before execution - even infants (and yes, entire families were executed regularly). Of course, this was a society where slave children were considered fair sexual game for their owners.
      • In Rome at that time, it was illegal to execute a virgin or a boy. Sejanus's daughter was raped, and his son forced to put on his adult-hood clothes, just so it would be legal to kill them.
      • Lampshaded when Claudius hears the news and suffers a Heroic BSOD, lamenting that Rome was "finished."

Power Rangers

  • In Power Rangers Samurai second season Super Samurai episode "Trading Places" the Monster of the Week Switchbeast goes around city and turns innocent people into various objects. The point of this plan is that unsuspecting humans will get rid of those objects, unaware that there are human souls in them. This would have resulted in a lot of people being killed (including Rangers, Bulk and Spike) if Mike and Emily didn't defeat Switchbeast. That was the entire point of Switchbeast's plan: to have as many innocent people turned into objects and would have been disposed and destroyed by unsuspecting humans. Usually Nighloks want to make misery, but this time they wanted to kill innocent people.
  • In the eyes of Dayu, Big Bad Master Xandred crosses this when he sets her harmonium ( which was a gift by Deker, when they were married and it was LAST remnant of her love for Deker, who was cursed and lost his memory of her) on fire and attempted to have her memory erased. She even says "I knew you were evil, but this!"
  • Lightspeed Rescue's Queen Bansheera actually has four such moments, and it's no coincidence that she also has four minions, each much more sympathetic than her:
    • Her first is when Olympius, her son, ends up stuck in the local equivalent of Hell; she opts to leave him there for being useless enough to get stuck there in the first place, and seems to take perverse pleasure in doing it, too.
    • Then, to get her full body back, she drains the life from her Dark Chick, Vypra, in a horribly painful-looking way. Although some viewers were probably content with not having to put up with Jen Yen's acting anymore.
    • Her third moment is the most extreme. The Brute Loki is grappling with the Rangers, and he drops his bazooka, which lands at the Noble Demon Dragon Diabolico's feet. With the Rangers occupied, Bansheera takes over Diabolico's mind, with him resisting all the while, and has him pick up the bazooka and fire it at the Rangers. While they're dogpiling on Loki. She had previously convinced Loki to lead the assault by calling him her "favorite" subordinate, so this may actually have been a planned Uriah Gambit rather than just a crime of opportunity.
    • Finally, to round out the minion-screwing-over, she has Olympius (who got out of Hell after all and bizarrely remained loyal to the Queen) kill Diabolico (who had logically decided Screw This, I'm Outta Here after witnessing all of the aforementioned acts) and revive him as a mindless zombie, forcing the Rangers to kill him.
  • Venjix from Power Rangers RPM crosses this territory when he DESTROYS 99% OF HUMANITY. Also when he gains control of all the hybrids he experimented and hid in Corinth there are children among them and they don't even look a year over ten. Everything Venjix does qualifies for this trope.
  • While they are not as bad as Venjix, Alphabet Soup crosses the line at some point, either it is when kept super intelligent people imprisoned for their entire lives under the belief they've got some horrible illness that'll kill them if they step foot outside, or when they allowed Venjix to escape by not letting Dr. K install the firewall to stop the virus from spreading or finally when they tried to assassinate Dr. K to cover up Venjix's origins.
  • Power Rangers Lost Galaxy's Final Big Bad Trakeena crossed it when attempted to attack Terra Venture escape pods with Stingwinger suicide bombers.

The Wire

  • Stringer Bell leads the pack by ordering the murder of D'Angelo Barksdale in prison, then negotiating a drug deal with Prop Joe behind Avon's back at D'Angelo's funeral.
  • Walker is shown to be an all-around bastard, but crosses the Horizon when he breaks Donut's fingers rather than attempt to arrest him.
  • Valchek counts. He orders an investigation into Frank Sobotka over a personal fued which ultimately leads to Frank's death at the hands of The Greeks. Valchek doesn't seem particularly bothered when this happens, handwaving that "That's what happens when you lay down with gangsters."
  • Method Man's Cheese Wagstaff crosses it when he sells out his uncle, Proposition Joe, to Marlo Stanfield, leading to Joe's murder.

Other Shows

  • In case his psychotic Machiavellian behaviour hadn't tipped you off, the TV version of House of Cards (British series) ends with the murder of Roger O'Neill and Mattie Storin by the Villain Protagonist Francis Urquhart MP, all in pursuit of the leadership of the Conservative Party and thus Prime Minister-ship. After this, the character is hard to see as anything other than sheer, concentrated evil. But stylish evil.
  • In the miniseries Holocaust, Erik Dorf crosses the Moral Event Horizon when he orders Karl Weiss tortured. He knows that Karl Weiss is the son of the man he once trusted as a friend, yet he still does it. Karl ultimately dies as a result of the torture. Before Dorf was sort of sympathetic, but after this, it became extremely hard to sympathise with him.
  • In the Korean Drama Shining Inheritance, Eun Sung's stepmother is first seen as a somewhat strict, money worried woman, but not so bad. Then, in several episodes she has thrown both of her step-children out onto the streets, without giving them a penny of their newly-deceased father's life insurance, and using lack of money as an excuse while she had enough money to buy both her and her daughter a large apartment and left her mentally disabled step-son, who she had found when lost, at an orphanage halfway outside town because she didn't want trouble AND basically arranged things to her advantage, lying to Eun Sung and manipulating her and saying they should act like strangers for the sake of her reputation because if the boy her daughter liked found out she kicked Eun Sung out of the house, he might get a bad impression of her. Oh, did I mention this all happened in 6 or so episodes? And the woman is still proud to live?
    • Also, until episode 15, Seung Mi, though not liked by a number of fans, didn't have a mob after her. Then, she lied about Eun Sung's circumstances, making him think Eun Sung was a liar and con artist, even though Eun Sung had done so much for her -- and her reason was simply to not let Hwan think badly of her -- this started several hundred conspiracies for her quick and painful death.
  • The Shield had always played fast and loose with the moral event horizon concept with Vic Mackey, what with him shooting a fellow cop in the pilot and all. But his decision in the second to last episode to betray his only remaining friend, Ronnie, by turning state's evidence against him and his cold proclamation that he would have no problem whatsoever LYING to Ronnie about his impending arrest, ultimately pushed Vic towards the point of no return for many fans.
    • Also of note, Shane Vendrell from The Shield had his own Moral Event Horizon moment when he murdered his best friend Detective Curtis "Lem" Lemansky, to ensure he did not turn against the Strike Team after being busted by IAD. Though the writers later tried to backpedal on this point of no return, by way of having Shane defend his actions by having Shane successfully own Vic's ass by way of lampshading Vic's own murder of a fellow police officer, for many fans it cemented Shane as the show's main villain for its final two seasons.
  • We all knew Martin Keamy from Lost was bad news from the get go, but he firmly crossed the line to Complete Monster in "The Shape of Things to Come", where he coldheartedly murdered Ben's daughter, just for the sake of proving he wasn't fucking around. Needless to say, he is quite possibly the only Lost character to ever cause Ben Linus to lose his cool.
    • If you think Locke's father hasn't crossed this by Season 3, "The Man From Talahassee" will obliterate that theory. He throws his own son out an eight-story window, shattering his spine. He also murders the son of one of his con victims for threatening to expose him, then continues the con anyway until forced to flee from the police.
    • The producers purposely used this trope with the Man in Black, saying that they meant his causing Sun, Jin and Sayid's deaths to mark him as irredeemably evil. Then the show offered his Freudian Excuse Start of Darkness flashback.
  • The last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has the Female Changeling deal with Cardassian saboteurs by nuking Lakarian City; the resulting death toll is two million. When the Cardassian fleet learns of this, they perform a Heel Face Turn, and begin firing on the Dominion and Breen ships. How does the Female Changeling react to this?

Female Changeling - "I want the Cardassians exterminated."
Weyoun - "Which ones?"
Female Changeling - "All of them. The entire population."
Weyoun - "That may... take some time."
Female Changeling - "Then I suggest you begin at once."

    • Kodos the Executioner from The Conscience of the King had murdered half the population of a colony world, having convinced himself it was the only way to alleviate a famine.
  • Captain Ransom in Star Trek: Voyager easily crossed this line when he started murdering aliens as a fuel source for his ship. I Did What I Had to Do is nowhere near a sufficient excuse, and the fact that he seems to realize this at some level is the only thing that keeps him out of Complete Monster territory.
  • In Supernatural, the angels (minus Castiel) used to be Jerkass-personified, even if they were (arguably)well-intentioned. And there could be some (flimsy) rationale behind their motives as presented in the Season 4 finale. But they showed that Light Is Not Good in the season 5 premiere, when they threatened to cripple Bobby for life, removed Sam's lungs, and gave Dean Stage 4 stomach cancer, all to give him incentive to work with them. For what it's worth, Dean tells them to fuck off, each and every time.
    • The Trickster/Gabriel, appeared to cross this for some people in Mystery Spot when he pretty much tortured Sam to insanity by killing his brother repeatedly but, in an unusual example, reversed everything and later became an ally, even if he was the sort of ally they wanted to punch. And who died for them.
  • In All in The Family, David Dukes guest stars as a young man who, while posing as a police detective, wins Edith's trust as he comes into the house and describes a rapist that is terrorizing the neighborhood ... and it turns out that person is none other than himself! The live audience can be heard groaning as he crosses the MEH.
    • In a later interview, Dukes said it was hard to get the tone right for a comedy show. He wanted people to understand how things can turn very quickly and it wasn't going to be a funny experience.
  • On Arrested Development the matriarch Lucille has gone back and forth on how much she really cares for her family. It was Michael's job to try and keep the family together and the company afloat, and a lot of it was done for his parents' approval. In the final episode, when Michael learned his son George Michael was missing he was prepared to leave an elitist party to go looking for him, and Lucille scolds him for considering it, saying it would be rude to the guests. Michael, realizing what kind of person she really is, said "I've made a huge mistake." and left the party anyway.
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Being a half-Gedoushuu who spends much of his time in his natural human form, Fuwa Juzo is subjected to many What Measure Is a Non-Human? topics, thinking he might make a Heel Face Turn (he even likes Genta's sushi). His sword Uramasa is made from his family who wanted him to stop being a Blood Knight that lives in slicing people with it. Then, when Akumaro tried to use his human emotions to use Uramasa to create a Hell on Earth, Juzo instead slices him off and reveals that he prefers to be a full-blooded Gedoushuu and doesn't care one bit for his family's pleads, all he wants is to use Uramasa to give him the pleasure of killing people. From that point on, he has cemented his place as one of the series' Complete Monster, willingly.
    • Juzo's successor in this role is Basco ta Jolokia from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Again the twist is that the expected twist of him really being not so bad never happens. Though presented as a traitor and villain who'll stab anyone in the back to get what he wants, he typically has a human face, and he's a lot of fun to watch. So surely he'll show his former friends some mercy when just about to strike the final blow, or realize that there are more meaningful things than serving his own greed, right? Well, surprise: it turns out he's a traitor and a villain who'll stab anyone in the back to get what he wants. Including putting a bomb on his cute monkey-beast partner Sally and pushing the button to try to get rid of the Gokaigers, which is the moment that really makes you hate the guy. With this, he's revealed as actually being the evilest bad guy in the series (Compare this to the actual Big Bads, where Oiles Gil just wants to prove he's competent, Damaras is a Noble Demon, Barizorg's brainwashed, etc. Would any of them pull something like that?)
  • In volume three of Heroes, you're being subtly led to believe that you've been too quick to judge Sylar. When Peter Petrelli gains Sylar's ability for a while, he goes from saintly nurse to Ax Crazy and nearly kills his own mother on sight out of the hunger for power before restraining himself, which makes you wonder, especially since to get that power Peter had to go to a future where Sylar is an upright family man and has undergone a total Heel Face Turn. You also get to see that Sylar was so remorseful over murdering his first victim that he tried to commit suicide. He goes to Elle, whose father he killed, to plead for forgiveness and even goes through what seems to be a Love Redeems subplot with her. Then he randomly decides he's had enough of being a nice person and kills her all because of random soap opera shenanigans that barely have anything to do with her. At this point you concede the point the writers were trying to make - that is, that this man is not right in the head. You also want him to die.
    • Samuel Sullivan: Depending on whether or not you subscribe to A Million Is a Statistic, he either crossed it when he destroyed an entire town in a sinkhole or when, to regain the carnival's leadership after this depraved act, he pretended to surrender himself to Noah Bennet, then had Eli shoot up the carnival, killing Lydia (the only other carnie who knew he killed Joseph) and framed Noah for the whole thing. Samuel on other occasions had sinkholed a police station and a mansion but the people there were sufficiently "demonized" that those were Kick the Dog moments in contrast with the massacre of a town full of people.
  • In the Veronica Mars S2 finale, it is revealed Cassidy blew up the bus at the beginning of the season. This could have been forgiven but then he blows up the plane where Papa Mars supposedly was and just in case that wasn't evil enough, in an spectacularly absurd moment he is RetConned into being Veronica's rapist from S1.
  • Gene Hunt of Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes fame has probably crossed this line somewhere in his assaulting of suspects, liberal use of the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique, and stitching up innocent people. Where and when, and indeed if he has is highly subjective depending on your view of criminals. Jim Keats, however, gets a pretty clear one in Season 3 when he appears to forcibly harvest Viv James' soul, obviously a horrific experience for the latter. It is later implied poor Viv did not go to a good place.
  • The two main tormentors of Seira in Japanese drama Shokojo Sera, Director Mimura Chieko and the Alpha Bitch Maria. Seeing how they are counterparts for Miss Minchin and Lavina in A Little Princess, it was no surprise. Having a huge inferior complex for Seira's deceased mother who she was classmates with, Mimura Chieko absolutely despises Seira for being too much like her mother and often slaps her when Seira stands up to her when no one else does. She is brutally cold when telling Seira about her beloved father's death and does nothing to lessen the pain, letting Seira know right off the start that she could kick her out of the school (leaving the poor girl without any shelter or food) and does so eventually.
    • Just as bad (or possibly worse), Maria is a Rich Bitch who likes the fact that she has control over all her classmates. But when Seira comes into the picture, she takes every effort to make her life miserable for easily stealing away her popularity. When Seira loses her fortune, she delights in making Seira grovel on the ground, donating huge amounts of money to the school and thus gaining enough power to make Seira her own personal slave maid. She would also purposely spill soup on Seira and throw tomatoes at her when Seira was already at the lowest point of her life. And in a heartwrenching Hope Spot for Seira, Maria makes her believe that there was a slimmest chance that Seira could be Juliet, something Seira has dreamed of for the longest time. Of course, Maria gets to be Juliet and forces Seira to work extra hours in the kitchen, not allowing her a chance to even be in the play.
  • Not really applicable to the title character in Dexter, but for Miguel, definitely the murder of Ellen. Total violation of The Code.
  • Percy in Nikita has been a borderline Complete Monster since the series started, though many of his actions could be considered Necessarily Evil. However, he most definitely crossed the MEH with the recent revelation that Kasim, the terrorist who killed Michael's family, was a Division agent who did so on Percy's orders in order to both infiltrate Al-Qaeda and make Michael so desperate for revenge that Percy was easily able to recruit him.
  • In Sons of Anarchy, Jax Teller's attempt to create a permanent break with girlfriend Tara by sleeping with porn starlet Ima served as a Moral Event Horizon for many. Regardless of his reasons or if he begs for forgiveness in the future, it's hard to believe Tara could ever forgive him. Too, while fans may be able to accept a Jax who kills people, runs guns and sometimes drugs and generally walks on the wrong side of the law, blatant infidelity is an irredeemable act.
  • In series 9 of Spooks, we've been treated to watching Lucas' life falling to pieces as he tries to keep his shady past a secret in the face of ever-increasing blackmail from Vaughn, but he crossed the Moral Event Horizon fully in episode 6 when he hangs up a 999 call when Daniella lets slip she knows about Albany, sentencing her to bleed to death as he lies about the ambulances being on their way.
    • And if that's not enough, the next episode reveals he was knowingly responsible for both the bombing of a British embassy, killing 17 people, and the murder of a friend to steal their passport and identity. Not much chance of coming back from that...
  • Morgana in Merlin spent from a year away from Camelot in the company of her half-sister and returned as The Mole, having performed a Face Heel Turn in the interim. Over the course of the third season, her plots to bring down her father and half-brother have intensified in brutality, but it's not until Queen of Hearts that she crosses the line and ends up framing her servant and former best-friend Guinevere for witchcraft. Why? Because she had a dream that Gwen would one day become Queen of Camelot. Up until that point, fans were capable of some degree of sympathy for Morgana's Well-Intentioned Extremist views, but after seeing her smiling to herself as a terrified Gwen is hauled away to be burnt at the stake, the general consensus became: "the bitch must die!"
    • If the above incident wasn't enough to convince all viewers, then Morgana's actions in the two-part season finale surely must have finished the job. For example, at the beginning of part two, after becoming Queen of Camelot, Morgana has the Knights of Camelot stood before a firing squad, saying that they will obey their new Queen or pay the price. The Knights refuse and declare their loyalty to Uther and Arthur, Morgana gives the signal... and the firing squad turn and start shooting the nearby crowd of civilians. This is the same Morgana who frequently used to stand up to Uther for being cruel to his subjects.
    • Uther from that same series passed the horizon before the series even started. He committed the "Great Purge" in which he hunted down and killed anyone with magical blood, even drowning children of magical parents in fear that they inherited magical blood.
  • Degrassi is generally more concerned with redemption, though Rick even lampshades his own: "It's too late. I already shot someone."
  • In a 2-part episode of Sonny With a Chance, Penelope crosses this by framing Sonny for stealing, accusing her of plagarism, turning her friends against her, getting her booted off So Random, leaving Chad, Nico and Grady in a plane in a stormy sky without any parachutes, and for the icing on the cake, tries to kill Sonny with a bomb.
  • In season 3 of Ru Paul's Drag Race, Mimi Imfurst left a bad taste in everyone's mouth because of her melodramatics, whininess, inability to sew, and lack of professionalism but hoisting up India Ferrah despite her screams to be put down during the lip synch definitely cemented her scrappy status.
  • Eddie McDowd almost did cross this in the pilot episode of 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd when he almost killed a dog by causing the car it was hiding to explode.
  • In the Horatio Hornblower mini-series, Jack Simpson crosses the line by trying to murder the titular character and another midshipman during a raid. He was despicable before that, but shooting one of your shipmates in the head just after setting adrift the jollyboat that another one is lying unconscious in? That's just evil, even if they both survived. Especially as the latter case resulted in said shipmate being presumed dead by his friends, captured by the enemy, and imprisoned for what appears to be a couple of years.
  • Lex Luthor killing his father in the Smallville episode appropriately named "Descent."
  • In the sequel series of Beverly Hills, 90210 Adrianna Tate-Duncan crosses the MEH in the most recent episode when she tampers with her bipolar former friend Silver's medication as part of an escalating war over their mutual love interest Navid. Her previous actions, such as sending a naked picture of Silver to the entire school and poisoning her with tainted tap water, were bad enough, but once she's willing to endanger Silver's health and sanity over a boy, it's hard to see Adrianna as anything but a monster.
  • In Chuck, Vivian Volkoff betraying her father Alexei Volkoff and leaving him to die, taking a bioweapon with her, which she fully intends to use. The significance of this stems from the fact that up to this point, the audience was led to believe that she was taking over the family business in order to get her father back, but this event and her dialogue during the act show that she's in it for the power and her hatred of Chuck for what is now essentially no reason.
  • Ed Peletier of The Walking Dead was certain nobody's favorite character, constantly abusing Carol and Sophia just to show his dominance. Nobody was sad when he was the first of the group to be killed off when the camp was invaded by Walkers and he was off sulking in his tent because Shane had beaten the shit of out him earlier in the day. However his Moral Event Horizon moment doesn't get revealed until the season two premier when Carol states that he was looking at his own daughter, suggesting he was ready to sexually abuse her as well.
    • Shane crosses a MEH when he shoots Otis in the leg, leaving him to be eaten alive by walkers. If not that, then he's definitely crossed it when he snaps Randall's neck in cold blood and attempts to frame the boy for attacking him, to justify it.
  • Frank Gallagher of Shameless is a morally reprehensible man who would rather pursue constant means of scamming people out of their money in order to feed his alcohol addiction, than to take care of his six children who are left to fend for themselves. He's done a lot of horrible things, including sleeping with an underage girl and attempting to sell one of his children for money. In the context of the show, however, even these actions are presented as things that he might still come back from. However, when he cons a dying woman into agreeing to marry him in order to get her pension when she passes away, then conceals from her the fact that a heart transplant has become available for her, allowing her to die from her disease in order to get her money that is an offense that would make him irredeemable in the eyes of many viewers.
  • Super Sentai
    • In Engine Sentai Go-onger, Big Bad Yogoshimacritein crosses the line when he shoots at the Rangers through his sympathetic subordinates Kitaneidas and Kegalesia, resulting in their deaths. He ended up shooting himself in the foot by doing this, however, as they hang on just long enough to destroy the source of his powers.
  • Recurring NCIS antagonist Ari crossed the MEH when he murdered Caitlin Todd, not to further any mission objective, but purely to cause pain to Gibbs and the team.
    • We later learn that Ari's father, Mossad Director Eli David, had crossed the event horizon decades ago when he deliberately raised his son to be such a monster. It turns out not to be the worst thing Eli has ever done, either.
  • Most of Walker, Texas Ranger villains are complete monsters and they tend to Kick the Dog half a dozen times before the episodes are over, but some villains really show their cruelty and cross the line. Examples:
    • Lazarus, vicious and merciless killer for hire from 4-part Story Arc is already shown as cruel and remorseless assassin, killing undercover cops in a lot of violent ways and showing no remorse for it, but he really crosses this line when he kills an innocent young boy off-screen and after that doesn't feel anything.
    • Johnny Blade from episode "The Lost Boys" just kept crossing the line: first he organizes the heist and kills a cop. Then he gives the gun to one of his accomplices and the same accomplice hides in his friend's house. After learning this Johnny threatens and innocent young teenager Jesse(the same friend who Johnny's accomplice hides the gun in his house and Carlos' nephew) to remain silent about his crimes and give him his gun back or else he will kill his mother. But he doesn't just stop there. Later Jesse is arrested and thought to have killed the cop and later Johnny kidnaps his mother and forces Jesse to take all the guilt guilt for his crimes and falsely confess or else he will kill his mother. But after Jesse does so, Johnny orders his lawyer and his henchmen in prison to kill Jesse, even after he took all the guilt and attempted to make his mother commit suicide. This was so evil, that judging from the look on his henchmen faces, they seemed disturbed by it. Luckily he is defeated and his accomplices are arrested.
    • Recurring villain Victor La Rue crosses this in all of his episodes: he attempts to rape Alex and in "The Trial Of La Rue" he takes the courtroom hostage, kills the judge, taunts Alex and his actions range from death threats for a sandwich, televising his crimes, terrorizing a divorced couple at a custody hearing, and killing people at random and worst of it is when he said that he would kill an innocent little girl.
  • Dan Scott of One Tree Hill murdering his brother Keith in cold blood, and then pinning it on Jimmy Edwards, who had taken a gun into Tree Hill High & ultimately killed himself. Much like the Spike example in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is notable as Dan feels the guilt of what he did & tries to attone for his actions.
  • Gatehouse crosses this in the third episode of The Shadow Line. When he was introduced, it was as an ambiguous and slightly sinister character, but definitely the lesser of two evils when compared to the obviously psychopathic Jay Wratten. But then he murders Andy Dixon, an innocent man set up as the Fall Guy for a murder he committed, and his mother and pregnant girlfriend just to ensure no witnesses remain, and it's clear that he's in fact a very ruthless and dangerous man. He becomes the main antagonist for the remainder of the series.