History Main / TakingTheHeat

Compare to SilentScapegoat and TheScapegoat. Contrast IWontSayImGuilty.

** Straight example in the episode "Kung Fu Crabtree". Crabtree is convinced that Wu Chang, who came to Tornto looking for his sister, is innocent of murdering a Chinese diplomat. Unfortunately, the case keeps getting stacked against him. In the final interview Crabtree has a EurekaMoment [[spoiler: that the sister was perfectly positioned to commit the murder, at which point Wu Chang confesses. To Crabtree's frustration, there doesn't seem to be anything he can do about this, especially as being hanged in Toronto is better for Wu Chang than the death awaiting him in China.]]

** Straight example in the episode "Kung Fu Crabtree". Crabtree is convinced that Wu Chang, who came to Tornto looking for his sister, is innocent of murdering a Chinese diplomat. Unfortunately, the case keeps getting stacked against him. In the final interview Crabtree has a Eureka moment [[spoiler: that the sister was perfectly positioned to commit the murder, at which point Wu Chang confesses. To Crabtree's frustration, there doesn't seem to be anything he can do about this, especially as being hanged in Toronto is better for Wu Chang than the death awaiting him in China.]]

* Multiple subversion of some sort in the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Belly Speaker". Slightly unbalanced [[{{Ventriloquism}} ventriloquist]] Harcourt, who [[ConsultingMisterPuppet does most of his talking through his dummy, Mycroft]], confesses to the murder of his father, but Murdoch finds inconsistant evidence, helped by Mycroft's stream-of-conciousness babble. [[spoiler:He eventually realises the murderer was the ''real'' Mycroft, Harcourt's long lost twin brother, and Harcourt is taking the heat. But shortly after releasing "Harcourt" he realises that ''this'' was Mycroft, who killed Harcourt and took his place at the age of ''ten'', and who confessed to throw suspicion off ''himself'']]. Got all that?

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'':

* DetectiveConan recently featured a rather a rather sad case that was a two-part episode. The president of a small-time entertainment company was having some problems with a TV station's manager. The manager had been extorting him, and then wound up dead as the result of poison. The company president was discovered to have hidden some evidence, then tried to take the rap for the crime until Conan-via-Kogoro revealed the true culprit. [[spoiler: It was his office assistant. The two loved each other, though neither had confessed their feelings to the other yet; the assistant had murdered the TV manager because she knew he was causing problems for the company president. She then called the president, told him what she did, and committed suicide. The president hid her body in the trunk of his car, hid the evidence that she had committed the crime, and got ready to take the blame in order to preserve her good name. However, Conan had deduced this much as well, and the man ended up going free.]]
** Another example from the [[spoiler: Night Baron Virus]] case: Ran thought that [[spoiler: the karate champion she fangirled upon]] was the murderer, but he was planting evidence ''against himself'' to divert attention from the true killer, [[spoiler: his BrokenBird girlfriend. He ''was'' arrested too, but ''because'' he took the heat.]]

* Attempted by [[spoiler: Aya Misaki]] in ''OniisamaE''. [[spoiler: Manipulated by two elder Sorority girls, Aya's GirlPosse steal and almost burn the singature books requesting for the dissolution of the Sorority. Aya then takes the blame for the two girls when they're confronted, but after she leaves the school, the girls reveal what truly happened to Kaoru, Junko, Nanako and Tomoko.]]

** SherlockHolmes: a character caught red-handed with a gold circlet refuses to talk, because the real culprit is his stepsister. And he's in love with her. Curiously, Holmes interprets his stubborn silence as a sign of innocence - otherwise he would have made up an alibi.

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', in the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya Fey tries to take the heat for Godot having murdered Maya's mother, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really...]] It's kind of confusing.

** In ''Dual Destinies'', [[spoiler: Simon Blackquill took the heat for Athena and framed himself for her mother's murder. Athena truly was innocent, though the circumstances of the murder were such that she would have been convicted of it. He got himself convicted and spent seven years in prison for her - and by the time she finally clears his name, he is ''a day away from execution.'']]

In a classical whodunnit, it will usually turn out that Alice is innocent after all, and Bob was acting on a misapprehension. (Whether Alice is more flattered by Bob's care or offended that he was able to think she'd done it will vary from case to case.) Some authors have gone for the double-whammy, where Bob tries to take the heat for Alice while Alice tries to take the heat for Bob, [[TakeAThirdOption and in fact neither did it]].

* Played silly in ''GhostTrick'', where both Missile and Sissel treat Missle's taking the blame for breaking Lynne's headphones (to protect Kamilla) as the noble act of a warrior. [[spoiler: One might consider it foreshadowing for the way Jowd confesses to his wife's murder to protect Kamilla, who accidentally killed her with a birthday contraption.]]

** NeroWolfe, a major part of the plot of ''The Second Confession.'' The first confession, signed by a patsy, is phony. Wolfe makes him tear it up, and elicits a second confession from the real murderer.

A crime has been committed, usually a murder. In the subsequent investigation, [[AliceAndBob Bob]] seems to be going out of his way to ''make'' himself a suspect. He may confess right at the start, or just draw attention to himself by refusing to co-operate with the investigators, even when it would appear to be in his interests to do so. Or he may not make himself known immediately, but will suddenly show up at the cop shop two-thirds of the way through, ready to confess, even though he's never been a suspect. Why? Because he's TakingTheHeat for Alice.

* The miniseries ''{{Blackpool}}'' did a beautifully-executed subversion: After one of the detectives makes it clear that he has it in for the main suspect, the suspect's son confesses to the murder. Everyone immediately realises that he's TakingTheHeat for his father, and he's let off with a warning about wasting police time. [[spoiler:And then it eventually turns out that he ''did'' do it, albeit in self-defence.]]

* In ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', in the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya Fey tries to take the heat for Godot having murdered Maya's mother, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really...]] It's kind of confusing.

** In Case 3 of AceAttorneyInvestigations, [[spoiler:Colin Devorae takes the heat for the Amano Group's dealings with the smuggling ring]].

* A two-part episode of ''KingOfTheHill'' uses the double-whammy version.

Contrast IWontSayImGuilty.

** In ''DualDestinies'', [[spoiler: Simon Blackquill took the heat for Athena and framed himself for her mother's murder. Athena truly was innocent, though the circumstances of the murder were such that she would have been convicted of it. He got himself convicted and spent seven years in prison for her - and by the time she finally clears his name, he is ''a day away from execution.'']]

* Multiple subversion of some sort in the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Belly Speaker". Slightly unbalanced [[{{Ventriloquism}} ventriloquist]] Harcourt, who [[ConsultingMrPuppet does most of his talking through his dummy, Mycroft]], confesses to the murder of his father, but Murdoch finds inconsistant evidence, helped by Mycroft's stream-of-conciousness babble. [[spoiler:He eventually realises the murderer was the ''real'' Mycroft, Harcourt's long lost twin brother, and Harcourt is taking the heat. But shortly after releasing "Harcourt" he realises that ''this'' was Mycroft, who killed Harcourt and took his place at the age of ''ten'', and who confessed to throw suspicion off ''himself'']]. Got all that?

* Happens several times on ''TheWire'', as members of a drug organization take the heat so that their higher ups will remain free and able to run their criminal organizations. For example, at the end of the first season D'Angelo is on the verge of making a deal with the police until at the last moment his mother convinces him to take some of the heat the police are trying to pin on his uncle, whose criminal activities provide for his entire family. Later, after D'angelo dies in prison, Detective [=McNulty=] calls the mother out on this in one of the most devastating ways possible.

* Multiple subversion of some sort in the ''MurdochMysteries'' episode "Belly Speaker". Slightly unbalanced [[{{Ventriloquism}} ventriloquist]] Harcourt, who [[ConsultingMrPuppet does most of his talking through his dummy, Mycroft]], confesses to the murder of his father, but Murdoch finds inconsistant evidence, helped by Mycroft's stream-of-conciousness babble. [[spoiler: He eventually realises the murderer was the ''real'' Mycroft, Harcourt's long lost twin brother, and Harcourt is taking the heat. But shortly after releasing "Harcourt" he realises that ''this'' was Mycroft, who killed Harcourt and took his place at the age of ''ten'', and who confessed to throw suspicion off ''himself'']]. Got all that?

* Multiple subversion of some sort in the ''MurdochMysteries'' episode "Belly Speaker". Slightly unbalanced [[{{Ventriloquism}} ventriloquist]] Harcourt, who [[ConsultingMrPuppet does most of his talking through his dummy, Mycroft]], confesses to the murder of his father, but Murdoch finds inconsistant evidence, helped by Mycroft's stream-of-conciousness babble. [[spoiler: He eventually realises the murderer was the ''real'' Mycroft, Harcourt's long lost twin brother, and Harcourt is taking the heat. But shortly after releasing Harcourt he realises that ''this'' was Mycroft, who killed Harcourt and took his place at the age of ''ten'', and who confessed to throw suspicion off ''himself'']]. Got all that?

* The main character's husband does this - ''very'' briefly - in ''Film/{{Chicago}}''. He stops the moment he finds out ''why'' she did it.

* In the movie ''I Love You To Death'' (loosely based on a real attempted murder) Rosalie Boca makes several attempts to murder her husband Joey for cheating on her with other women, and is helped by her mother Nadja and her friend Devo, who's in love with her. When the cops finally do find out, the three try to cover for each other by saying the other two had nothing to do with it. Nadja claims her daughter begged her not to kill Joey, but she went on anyway, explaining, "I'm her mother, I do what I want."