Pragmatic Villainy: Difference between revisions

** The Female Changeling gets an instance of this near the end of the series. The Dominion have just gained the Breen as allies, who have a weapon that totally disables any ship it hits. This decisive advantage allows the Breen to defeat a combined Federation/Klingon/Romulan armada, including the ''[[Cool Starship|Defiant]]''. Once everyone's stuck in escape pods, the Changeling orders them spared. Not because she cared, but because their effect on morale to their enemies was worth far more than their deaths. Then again, given Sisko was among those in the pods, she might not that thought that through entirely.

** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' uses this trope as a [[Take That]] against the Kazon villain race from the first season. When an off-hand comment about them is made in front of Seven, she recalls how the Borg ran into one of their colonies. ''They refused to assimilate the colony because it would detract from their perfection.'' They didn't even have desirable physical qualities. Even the Talaxians got praise for that.

** An earlier episode had someone spared because the taste of steroids in his blood disgusted the vampire. Also, they were [[Magic-Powered Pseudoscience|special]] steroids that were slowly turning him into a fish, so it's understandable.

** Mayor Willikins was equal parts [[Affably Evil]] and this trope.

* ''[[The Wire]]'' plays this straight in Season 2 when The Greek and Vondas contemplate {{spoiler|killing Frank Sobotka}}, not out of genuine malice but rather because police are using damning evidence of his corruption in order to [[Heel Face Turn|turn him for the prosecution]] [[He Knows Too Much|against them]]. Vondas convinces The Greek it would be more pragmatic just to buy {{spoiler|Frank}}'s loyalty (and silence) by manipulating {{spoiler|Frank's son Ziggy}}'s murder trial and preventing a conviction. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, Frank had already made a deal with the FBI by then, and both The Greek and Vondas find out from a "friend" in the FBI while Frank is on his way to meet with them. [[Tear Jerker|Frank is shown with his throat sliced open in the beginning of the next episode.]]}}

{{quote|'''The Greek:''' "Your way... ''It won't work."''}}