Karma Houdini/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

** And Jack did get to shoot him before he got shipped off to the Tok'ra.

** It helps that Maybourne went from being a cowardly [[Jerkass]] and [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] to being an amusing [[Lovable Traitor]] that hedges into [[Magnificent Bastard]] territory. Besides, next to Simmons, Maybourne is positively cuddly.

** At least until {{spoiler|he's forced to kill his own brother, his friend and the only person who understands him}}. Karmas a bitch.

*** And then when {{spoiler|his wife is murdered just as he's finally getting in touch with his humanity, leaving him as a single parent.}} Dexter may have actually endured ''more'' than his share of karma.

* The TV adaptation of ''[[House of Cards (British series)]]'' switches out the book's ending of a [[Redemption Equals Death|redemptive suicide]] for the [[Magnificent Bastard]] Francis Urquhart, in exchange for his murdering the unlikely love interest, and going on to be Prime Minister for two more series.

** The author tried again in the sequel; in the novel ''To Play the King'', Urquhart is Prime Minister but is still ultimately defeated at the end. In the TV adaptation, Urquhart comes out unquestionably on top.

* Subverted in ''[[The Wire]]'': After everything he's been responsible for over the last three seasons, {{spoiler|Marlo avoids a jail sentence entirely and gets to keep all his money and connections, with the seemingly minor stipulation that he's not allowed to return to dealing drugs on the streets}}...but it turns out that {{spoiler|he can't imagine any other life, so this is actually a fitting punishment for him}}.

** Played straight with {{spoiler|Stan Valchek}}, the most useless and venal character in a useless and venal hierarchy.

* HBO's ''[[Oz]]'', being tilted toward the cynical side of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], had several unrepentant criminals escape any kind of justice for their evil deeds. Notably, Jason Cramer got his murder rap overturned (he'd decapitated his lover and mailed the guy's body via FedEx) and waltzed out of the prison scott-free.

** Conversely, genuinely repentant Miguel Alvarez runs afoul of the vindictive head of the parole board who tells him to his face that he will ''never'' be paroled though they will continue to go through the motions every year.

** Also, he {{spoiler|had some ability (Empathic Mimicry) used on him that forced him to feel all the pain he's caused other people. Which is a lot. Sure, he's not dead, but he's definitely suffered for his crimes.}}

*** Doesn't count. He doesn't suffer permanent consequences, and is right back to being, well, Sylar.

** It became a full blown [[Shaggy Dog Story]] in Chapter Three (first half of Season 3) when {{spoiler|Sylar discovered he had the ability to steal powers through Empathy AND through cutting people's heads open to look at their brains, trying to reform and getting a girlfriend. Then we had a nonsensical flashback episode which dismissed any culpability Sylar had for any of his past crimes since he was pushed into killing more people by his current girlfriend (Elle Bishop) and by Noah "HRG" Bennet.}} Of course all of this was [[Retcon|Ret Conned]] by the end of the chapter and Sylar {{spoiler|killed Elle, went back to his wicked ways with even MORE power and was dead for about five minutes before being brought back, fresh as a daisy for Chapter 4}}

** And then Sylar received full-blown [[Joker Immunity]] in Chapter Four (second half of Season 3) when {{spoiler|he suddenly went back to his Season One motivation of wanting to be the most special person in the world and/or President of the USA after spending half the season angsting over his biological father. Newly motivated, he picked up even more superpowers, gaining the ability to become anyone using a combination of shape-shifting and the power to instantly learn the history of anything and anyone by touching them. He somehow convinced the violent, anti-social and anti-mutant government-sponsored assassin heading the US Government's "specials containment team" to partner up with him.}}

* Despite his [[Heel Face Turn]], Paul Kellerman from ''[[Prison Break]]'' arguably has too much blood in his past to deserve what is probably one of the sweetest ends a character from that series can get, and this is without having needed to go through nearly as much adversity as the rest of the cast.

** T-Bag also counts. While he may not have gotten the "classy" end that he really wanted, the fact remains that almost all of his villainous peers got what's coming to them in one form or another, while he gets to go back to the relative comfort of his Fox River lifestyle that he basked in the start of the series. The fact that he ultimately outlives {{spoiler|Michael Scofield}} is a testament to this injustice.

* Servalan in ''[[Blake's 7]]'', presumably.

* In ''[[Doctor Who]],'' back in the first season, (as in, ''[[The Sixties|the first]]'' first season) when they drop in on The Aztecs, the Bad Priest ends up in charge and the Good Priest is exiled. Also, the Doctor's girlfriend gets her heart broken...

** A few episodes have had the classic horror-movie "that creature is no threat to us!" character who immediately gets eaten or whatever, but often the Doctor saves the contrarians along with everyone else. The 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned" subverts it with a plot where nearly every likable character dies, but rude, unhelpful, selfish coward Rickston Slade not only survives the disaster, but turns out to have financially benefited from it. One character even comments on this to the Doctor, saying it's not fair, but you can't choose who lives and who dies.

* Denise in the ''[[Torchwood]]''' miniseries ''Children of Earth''. The politician who {{spoiler|suggested that the elite protect their own and select the lowest achieving schools}} gets to be in charge at the end.

** Then there is Caprica-Six herself. Baltar started out only knowing that he was guilty of letting a hot blonde spy poke around illicitly in the Defense Mainframe to give her company an edge. Six knew that her actions would lead to untold deaths. She was obviously conflicted, hence mercy-killing that baby in the marketplace, but still went through with it. Her attempt to make up for it failed spectacularly on New Caprica, leading to even more human suffering, though Cavil and Tigh shoulder a lot of the blame for that. {{spoiler|She gets to spend life on Earth as a farmer with Baltar and his dreamy hair.}}

** Cavil/One qualifies. Personally responsible for wiping out two entire Cylon lines (Daniel/Seven out of [[Cain and Abel|jealousy]] and D'Anna/Three because ''one of them'' was too close to remembering who the Final Five were and his role in why the other Skinjobs didn't remember). Instigated the Colonial Holocaust out of a twisted sense of justice for his Cylon ancestors. Not to mention the stuff he did to Ellen and Saul Tigh. His fate? {{spoiler|Goes the gun-in-mouth route when an attempt at a truce goes pear-shaped, with only Ellen explicitly knowing the full story. And she never tells anyone else, on screen.}}

** Oddly (given the character's history), Sharon Agathon in regards to her murder of {{spoiler|Natalie}}. She does spend about an episode and a half in the brig, but that's hardly adequate punishment for the cold-blooded murder of an unarmed woman.

* A subversion worth mentioning occurs in ''[[My Name Is Earl]]''. While making up for a bathroom robbery, Earl has to work at a fast food restaurant where the boss is a distinct [[Karma Houdini]]. He has a successful life, a beautiful devoted wife, a beautiful devoted mistress, many awards, and is successfully embezzling a fortune out of the store, whose employees he routinely tortures for petty mistakes. Earl is horrified that karma has not punished him yet, but is sure it will eventually. When it becomes apparent that karma is not going to punish him and he continues to push Earl's buttons, Earl snaps and punches him in the face, knocking him out. Karma swoops in and while he's in the hospital both women visit him at the same time and find out about each other. The wife destroys all his trophies and awards and in the process finds out about his embezzling and reports it, sending him to jail, and allowing the man Earl was trying to help in the first place, become the new manager and everybody is happy. Debatably, Karma was trying to teach Earl that he can't just rely on karma to fix everything all the time, but the only lesson Earl learned was that karma could use his fist as a weapon.