Yank the Dog's Chain: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Corsair]]'', Canale eventually feels like he has a place in Preveza and thinks that Ayace might actually love him and that they can be happy together, and he manages to confront some of his issues from his past. However soon as [[Bastard Boyfriend|Ayace]] suspects he is going back to Sesaam, he becomes [[Crazy Jealous Guy|enraged]] and rapes Canale, making him feel utterly betrayed.

* ''[[Billy Bat]]'' gives us {{spoiler|Lee Harvey Oswald}} who, because of his [[I Just Want to Be Special]] nature, gets yanked around by both the Bat and a [[Government Conspiracy]] to the point where he doesn't have any idea what the right thing to do is. By the end of his arc, it looks like he's done the right thing by trying to live a humble life and allowing [[The Hero|Kevin Yamagata]] to [[Heroic Sacrifice|give his life]] saving {{spoiler|President Kennedy}}. But wait! {{spoiler|Kevin isn't dead, and it turns out the Bat never wanted him to save Kennedy in the first place. JFK is shot, [[Foregone Conclusion|as history demands]], the police are rushing into the building, and Oswald is with a girl who saw members of the previously mentioned conspiracy setting up for the assassination. In a [[Bittersweet Ending]], the only way to save the girl from being eliminated is to let the police find him and take the fall for the assassination while she makes her escape.}}

* In ''[[GE - Good Ending]]'', it happens to Utsumi, the main protagonist, more often than he really deserves. Poor guy just can't get a break.

* In [[Bakuman｡]], this happens to the heroes on a few occasions concerning their goal of getting an anime. They manage to tie with their rival Eiji's manga at the height of their first manga's popularity, but Mashiro is hospitalized for overworking, and their manga is ultimately canceled. Their third manga manages to meet the editor in chief's standards, but parental concerns prevent it from getting an anime.

* Recently in ''[[X-Men]]'', {{spoiler|Magneto saved Kitty Pride from her [[Fate Worse Than Death]]...only for her to immediatly get a ''second'' such fate because now she's stuck in her "phased out" form, unable to interact with the world in any way without outside assistance.}}

* Sometimes, the pirates in ''[[Asterix]]'' think they can actually take down the ship they see. Or Can They? Nope! ''They'' are on board. It can be Phoenician, Egyptian, or Roman, but it's all the same.

 

 

* Pretty much the B-plot of every Travis McGee novel, with the exception of the books where it's the A-plot.

* Happens repeatedly to the protagonist of ''Master of the Five Magics'' by [[Lyndon Hardy]]: each time he risks it all to learn of a new kind of magic, a rival swoops in and gloms all the profits, leaving him with nothing but a clue to the next style of magic-use.

* Everything will be going well by the end of an [[Aubrey-Maturin]] book only for everything to be mediocre ''at best'' by the start of the next.

 

* The utterly miserable second half of [[The Sarah Jane Adventures|"The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"]]. In the the thirty-three years since she left the Doctor, she never found anyone, until now. Even the first half of the story is bittersweet, as it feels too good to be true if her track record is any indication of what's to come; you can tell they're [[Star-Crossed Lovers|star-crossed]]. This doesn't make the ending any less tragic.

* [[This Is Sparta|Ronnie]]. [[This Is Sparta|from]]. ''[[Eastenders]]''. Every single time it looks like she's going to have a happy ending, the producers cruelly snatch it away from her practically going "Neener neener!", be it a potential reconcilement with Danielle being ruined by [[Shaggy Dog Story|Danielle getting ran over and killed instantly]] or her being caught out when she goes to mad lengths to get a child again. It looks as if recently she's finally having an honest to god child again and all's well... but in true Soap fashion (As revealed in television magazine spoilers), said baby stops breathing and may have suffered cot death barely a day after being born, pushing Ronnie way past her [[Despair Event Horizon|limit]]. That is if she hasn't already been punted over it before now.

** A particularly cruel example: in the episode "Timeslides", a bit of minor fiddling with time restores Rimmer to life. In his joy he starts running around, touching things, eating things -- and accidentally eats an explosive-filled cheese sandwich intended for Adolph Hitler, which [[Made of Explodium|explodes]].

** He gets [[Genre Savy]] to this in 'Back to Earth' where {{spoiler|when speaking to the writer of the show, he demands he be written a girl who he can fall in love with, marry and after the big night, NOT find out that she's his long lost sister}}.

* At least one victim in ''[[Criminal Minds]]''. The unsub tells her over an intercom that if she can find her way out of the vast complex he's dropped her in by sunset, she gets to live. She gets literally within ''sight'' of the open door to freedom, but the sun is setting and the door slams in her face before she can get out. {{spoiler|Of course, the team save her anyway, but still.}}

* In Season 1 of ''[[Spartacus]]'', Dominus finally keeps his promise to find the title character's wife only to {{spoiler|deliver her moments from death.}}

** And of course, once Jack and Ianto are really getting adorable, and we get to see some of Ianto's personal life... {{spoiler|he dies, too.}}

*** ''Torchwood'' LOVES this trope. A few episodes into ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day|Miracle Day]]'' Dr. Juarez decides to officially join up with Team Torchwood. It even looks like Rex might start to take their relationship a little more seriously... {{spoiler|so at the end of the episode she gets shot. Twice. And burned alive. IN FRONT OF REX.}}

== Real Life ==

* After four, terrible years and thirteen millions of people dead, they called [[World War One]] the "War to End All Wars," meaning that after this kind of war humanity would finally throw away their warlike nature and world peace now would come and expand. [[It Got Worse|If they only knew]]...

* Ireland. After centuries of being oppressed, they gain independence, and experience a massive economic boom, leading to them become one of the most developed countries in the world. Then when the recession hit, they became the most indebted country per capita in the world.

** In a similar case was the Philippines in the 1970s it was one of the fastest growing economies in Asia second only to Japan, then when the Marcos administration took over it all spiraled downward.