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Designated Monkey: Difference between revisions
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* Ross Geller from ''[[Friends]]''.
* The titular character of ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' became this trope more and more as the show went on. His wife, Debra, sometimes got this treatment at the hands of Marie, but at least in those cases, the show made it clear that the audience was supposed to side with Debra over Marie. When Ray became the Designated Monkey at ''Debra's'' hands, it was often for very shoddy reasons, yet it seemed like the show wanted the audience to root for Debra (at the very least, the studio audience seemed to be rooting for her, even when she made Ray a [[Butt Monkey]]).
* Colin Mochrie from ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' is an unusual example due to the fact he is absolutely capable of defending himself against the writers, the comedians [[And
* J.D. from ''[[Scrubs]]'' became this in season six. The writers put him through an incredible amount of torment (losing his girlfriend, losing his unborn baby, becoming homeless, getting a DUI on a technicality, and getting a disease that causes him to pass out frequently, which is to say nothing of the innumerable times he's been tormented and abused by people around him) and made it very clear that they had no sympathy for his plight (the storyline ends with him learning to not complain so much to his jerkass friends). This reached breaking point when the season ended with the girlfriend who left him revealing she lied about the miscarriage to escape their relationship and the show playing it entirely on HER side, admonishing J.D. for being rightfully spiteful. Needless to say, this was when a lot of fans, including this troper, abandoned the series.
* From her introduction, Faith in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is this. A seemingly cool character who steals Buffy's friends, tries to take over her role as slayer, [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|and sneaks her food.]] It turns out Faith's life sucks which she covers up through sex and partying, in contrast to Buffy's better upbringing. She correctly feels she never fits in, then tries to kill Angel, thinking he was evil. This causes such a rift that Faith is very much on the outside.
** She then sleeps with Xander, the resident [[Butt Monkey]], and at the time it's [[Played for Laughs]] before Willow finds out and it's [[Played for Drama]]. When Xander tries to help Faith after she accidently kills someone [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|it]] becomes [[Nightmare Fuel]]. During this time Faith becomes evil, not just evil but frightening. The writers have her commit one evil act after another to portray her as a vicious, sadistic character, foregoing their original plan to have Faith so distraught over what she'd done that she's [[Driven to Suicide]].
** Later on its revealed that Faith's attempt to cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] was actually an attempt to commit [[Suicide by Cop|Suicide By Slayer (or Angel)]]. Faith is talked out of her suicidal despair by Angel, willingly goes to jail in contrition for her crimes, then this trope is averted in ''[[Angel]]'' season 4 where she returns to save the rest of the cast from Angelus and in general be completely awesome and save the day...
*** ... only to get dumped right back into this trope head-over-heels as soon as that story arc finishes and she transfers back to ''Buffy'' season 7, where despite being one of the most humane and level-headed people in the cast (at least by comparison) everything she does turns out wrong, while Buffy (who is, quite frankly, being a total [[Jerkass]] this season) has everything she does turn up roses, even to the point of 'Hey, let's repeat the exact same plan that went disastrously wrong last time, and that Faith suggested we do the opposite of this time, but have her idea completely flop and my idea unaccountably work!'
* [[Jerkass Woobie|Lucy]] [[Freudian Excuse|Payne]] from ''[[DCI Banks]]'' - possibly [[Invoked Trope|invoked]]. She's far from innocent, as her first appearance shows, {{spoiler|having helped a [[Serial Killer]] kidnapping, torturing and killing children. Her own [[Dark and Troubled Past]] may not yet convince you to find her sympathetic.}} But then there's this moment where {{spoiler|she seems to have a [[Villainous BSOD]] at the end, and you wonder whether she could make a [[Heel Face Turn]]... [[Heel Face Door Slam|NOPE!]]}} In her second - and last - appearance, it gets revealed that, {{spoiler|hardly in jail, she has gone through the worst prisoner abuse, ending in a state of [[And I Must Scream]]... and after her premature discharge (she arguably isn't a threat anymore to anyone, even at her worst wishes),}} she still receives so much hatred that {{spoiler|she gets killed, and [[No Sympathy|nobody seems interested]] in helping the police find the murderer.}} [[What a Senseless Waste of Human Life|Ouch!]]
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
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