Brutal Honesty / Live-Action TV

Brutal Honesty in Live-Action TV.

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In general

• Name nearly any show with Gordon Ramsay in it; Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, Hotel Hell etc. He tempers his brutality considerably when he is working with someone that's a relative newbie (such as kids or amateur cooks); he's still honest with them. However, if you're an experienced cook who should know better, he will tell you exactly how badly you screwed up, without mincing words. He does not believe in coddling people who should know better and if you really screw up, expect to be on the receiving end of one of his infamous Cluster F-Bomb rants/insults.

Separate pages

• A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon)

By series

• 100 Things to Do Before High School: In "Always Tell the Truth (But Not Always) Thing!", CJ, Fenwick and Crispo vow to always tell the truth. However, CJ and Fenwick quickly find themselves trapped in a web of lies, Crispo keeps the vow and winds up becoming brutally honest: becoming a Caustic Critic in his cooking class and landing himself in hot water.
• In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Fractured House", when Hunter begins talking (well, venting) to May about his ex-wife Bobbi, May shuts him up by reminding him that she doesn't like him and doesn't care what he has to say. Later in the same episode, Mack bluntly tells Simmons that her presence is making Fitz's (who's suffering due to brain damage) worse.
• American Gods (2017): Mr. Nancy gives a brutal speech to a new group of African slaves about what awaits them in America. Note, though, that he deliberately leaves out mention of any of the good things that could happen to them.
  Anansi: You want help? Fine. Let me tell you a story. "Once upon a time, a man got fucked." Now, how is that for a story? 'Cause that's the story of black people in America! [laughs] Shit, you all don't know you're black yet. You think you just people.
• Ahsoka: Huyang is pretty blunt in his assessments, telling an already dejected Sabine that out of all the trainees he's seen in his thousands of years of service, she is the worst, something Hera calls him on. However, it cuts the other way as well; he's unreserved when she does something worthy of praise.
• Auction Kings: The experts tend to do this. It's their job. One expert in particular valued a case of Billy Beer at... nothing. He suggested Paul recycle the aluminum cans.
• Babylon 5:
  • In "In The Beginning", the Earth Alliance President calls for volunteers to delay the Minbari attack in order to buy time for civilians to escape:
    We will not lie to you. We do not believe survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle will never come home again.
  • In "Soul Mates", Londo is given permission to divorce two of his three equally unpleasant wives. He ultimately chooses to keep Timov - the one who is brutally honest (while the other two try to influence him with shameless and insincere flattery) because of all of them she's the only one whose unpleasantness will never lead her to murder him without warning. At least with her, he lampshades, he always knew where he stood. For her part, Timov secretly finds that respect for her honesty rather charming.^note Timov also provided a life saving transfusion to Londo on the condition he not be told who the donor was unlike the other wives who were hoping he would die so that they would receive bequests from his estate since the divorces were not yet final. He soon found out but pretended not to know for many years.
• The Big Bang Theory:
  • Sheldon Cooper almost always honestly reacts to every question, even if it hurts the person's feelings. One such example is when Penny tells him and Leonard that in spite of the way her old boyfriend treated her part of her still loves him and asks them if she's crazy, Sheldon bluntly replies "Yes!" Though, in Sheldon's case, it's less of a case of wanting to be honest and more of a case of being unable to lie, not to mention incapable of understanding why the truth might hurt someone.
  • In Season 11, when Amy falls in love with a wedding dress that Penny and Bernadette hate, Penny decides to tell Amy to save her from later embarrassment. However Penny immediately regrets it when she realizes all she has done is ruin Amy's perfect dress for her. Ironically, it's Sheldon's honesty that saves the day in this case — he loves the dress on Amy, which causes Amy to fall in love with the dress all over again.
• Avon of Blake's 7 has a particular line in this.
  Avon: No, the point is Vila won't trust you, whereas he will trust Cally and me.
  Tarrant: Cally yes, but why you?
  Avon: Because he knows what I think of him.
  Tarrant: You despise him.
  Avon: Right, but at least I'm consistent about it.
• The Boys (2019) features in the reunion of Queen Maeve and the now disgraced The Deep:
  Maeve: If any of these Moonies are gonna help you get back in the Seven, and that's a big if, then you're gonna need a woman to... tell everyone that you're not a complete piece of shit. I could be that person for you.
  The Deep: Do you think I'm a piece of shit?
  Maeve: Fuck yeah.
• Bones: One episode deals with a murder connected to a group which practices radical honesty, a whole philosophy based on this trope. Cue a lot of blunt comments and answers to the investigators.
• Done as a gag at the end of one episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, when Buck asks if Wilma and Doctor Huer don't really secretly sorta like the apartment he's cobbled together from random 20th-century artifacts.
  Wilma and Huer: (in unison) No.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Anya, Spike and Cordelia are the usual embodiments of this, though others have their moments.
    Cordelia: I think it, I say it. It's my way.
    Anya: Why can't you just masturbate like the rest of us.
    Cordelia: Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.
    Willow: Then talk. Keep eye contact. Funny is good, but don't be glib. And remember, if you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel... A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. Have fun.
    Spike: (to Anya) I have nothing but respect for a woman who is forthright. Drusilla was always straightforward. Didn't have a single buggering clue about what was going on in front of her, but she was straight about it. That was a virtue.
    Anya: I hate us! Everybody's so nice. Nobody says what's on their mind.
  • When Buffy's caught going through a blood bank's records:
    Nurse: What are you doing?
    Buffy: Breaking into your office and going through your private files.
  • And then again with Willow, of all people:
    Faith: Go ahead, Will, give me the speech. "Don't do it, Faith! We can help you! It's not too late!"
    Willow: It's way too late.
  • Anya's reputation for brutal honesty, being a Deadpan Snarker, and basically being an insensitive bitch lead to one of the most powerful and poignant tearjerker moments in the entire series: her emotional breakdown after the death of Joyce Summers in "The Body".
    Anya: Are they gonna cut the body open?
    Willow: Oh my God! Would you just... stop talking? Just... shut your mouth. Please.
    Anya: What am I doing?
    Willow: How can you act like that?
    Anya: Am I supposed to be changing my clothes a lot? I mean, is that the helpful thing to do?
    Xander: Guys...
    Willow: The way you behave...
    Anya: Nobody will tell me.
    Willow: Because it's not okay for you to be asking these things!
    Anya: But I don't understand! (begins to cry) I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's ... There's just a body! And I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore! (begins crying heavily) It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And-and Xander's crying and not talking, and— and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, Well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, (completely loses it) and no one will explain to me why.
  • The Buffybot does this and it is Played for Laughs in "Intervention", but the Buffybot's "Then why are you here?" (after the Slayer has been killed) forces Giles to realise he must move on from Buffy's death and return to England.
  • The Season 3 episode "Earshot" reveals via telepathy that Cordelia quite literally does always say exactly what she's thinking.
• Cheers: The first date between Dr. Frasier Crane and Dr. Lilith Sternin goes disastrously not least because Lilith has no filter about anything she witnesses, and can see through Fras' attempts at keeping up the appearance of calm, even as he's getting angry, telling him outright that despite his hopes, he's not gettin' any.
  Frasier: I appreciate your candor.
  Lilith: No you don't.
  Frasier: You're quite right, I feel like striking you.
• The Chosen: Nathanael's main personality trait is, in his own words, to "tell it like it is", which often comes off as insensitive to those he interacts with. When Philip mentions that the Messiah's name is Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael instantly goes on a detailed rant on how shoddy the town of Nazareth and its people are and that nothing good could possibly come out of it.
• The Class (2006): Kat. Always. Her first line ever in the show was "I gotta say, while parties normally bum me out, this one sounds particularly creepy." She continues to say, "I have no recollection of either you or Joanne, but you really sound like people I would hate."
• Conversations with Friends: Bobbi isn't one to mince words, crossing over into outright rudeness sometimes when she speaks her mind without reservations.
• The Crossing: This is the trademark of Colonel Glover from Massachusetts, who is both honest with his opinion about the army's difficulties (which is good for Washington and his poor opinion of fripperies like powdered wigs (which is awkward when at the table of a man wearing a powdered wig).
• Dark Desire: For a precocious rebellious teenager like Zoe, she has absolutely no problem in speaking out truths without softening the tone of her voice.
• Doctor Who: While the Doctor is quite capable and willing to tell lies, one of his defining traits is that he's sometimes willing to say the truth when no one else wants to see it. Like many an eccentric, socially inept genius, social pleasantries are simply not his area. Special mention goes to his twelfth incarnation, but it happens with all of them. One instance from the Eleventh Doctor in "Flesh and Stone":
  Amy: So what's wrong with me?
  River Song: Nothing, you're fine.
  The Doctor: [reading off her vitals] Everything, you're dying.
  River Song: Doctor!
  The Doctor: Yes, you're right, if we lie to her, she'll get all better!
• Drake & Josh: Drake does this to Josh when he bursts into their room yelling at Drake asking if he took the $2,400 they were going to use to buy a car (Drake bought the dealership's mascot, an orangutan named Bobo, instead). Josh continues to ask and paces back and forth even after Drake openly admits to taking the cash.
• The Dropout: Sunny, Elizabeth's mentor/boyfriend, drops by Theranos and checks out what is going on in the lab... without asking or even telling Elizabeth first. She is enraged that he did that, but he lays a couple of truths. Her employees don't respect her, and she is years away from delivering on what she has promised her board: "Elizabeth, you are in over your head. You are going to lose everything."
• Entourage: Turtle tries to track down a girl named Kelsie to whom he spoke with on the phone but hasn't yet met. Thinking he's found her, he asked a girl if her name was Kelsie and she replied, "Even if it was, I wouldn't admit it." Turtle walked away, cursing brutal honesty.
• Feel Good: Linda's way of talking to everyone, bluntly telling them exactly what she thinks without sparing anything. This particularly comes up when she berates her child Mae, but does so out of love.
• FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman:
  • Grandma Ruffman is usually like this towards her grandson's job as a Game Show Host, wanting him to get another job instead.
  • In the Humble Media Genius video "Say? Cheese! How Ads Work" she chews Ruff out for his mistake of making too many ads of his gang's latest perfume, and threatens to tell her friends to not buy the perfume, and to make sure no one buys it, making Ruff realize the consequences of making too many online ads. Which is unprofessional of Grandma Ruffman, because she didn't tell Ruff what he SHOULD'VE done instead.
• Forever (2014)'s Dr. Henry Morgan sometimes seems to have no filter, frankly discussing Jo's drinking or his own BDSM gear, asking a suspect's wife about his infidelity, and excusing it all by saying he isn't judgmental. It can often serve a purpose when questioning a suspect, but just as often he seems oblivious or to not care what others might wish to keep private.
• Frasier:
  • Martin's usually pretty blunt with his assessment or responses to Frasier and Niles's latest self-induced catastrophes, often telling them precisely how they're being idiots. They don't listen. Ever.
    Frasier: Dad, weren't you listening?
    Martin: Well, I tried not to, but some of it still got through.
  • Roz, often when dealing with Frasier. She manages to let him know she has no feeling for him whatsoever pretty damn succintly.
    Frasier: Just to be clear... you haven't been pining for me since we slept together?
    Roz: God, no. Weren't you there?
  • Kenny, thanks to being a Bad Liar who gets anxiety attacks if he tries. At one point he hears a suggestion of Frasier's, says he'll think about it, and then a moment later comes back in and apologetically tells Frasier he was getting his hopes up.
  • After losing his job at the end of season five, Frasier goes through the Five Stages of Grief but gets stuck at "Depression" and starts over-eating. His loved ones try to gently talk him into letting out his emotions but he refuses. Niles, seeing no other option, resorts to bluntly telling him he's not famous anymore. The others think he's being too harsh, but it proves to be the exact jolt Frasier needs to get him to finally cry and admit his misery.
• Friends:
  • Rachel's sister Amy does this a lot. She wonders how come people dislike hearing their babies look bad.
  • In "The One With The Butt", everyone says non-committal positive-ish things about Joey's terrible play, except Chandler, who says "Awful play man, woah!". He's too excited about the beautiful girl who just agreed to go out with him to care about lying. Joey responds with a reluctant nod of agreement.
  • Even Phoebe couldn't hide it.
    Joey: Wow, an agency left me its card! Maybe they wanna sign me!
    Phoebe: Based on this play? ...Based on this play!
  • Phoebe gets in a doozy for why she wouldn't be there to help Ross move in his new furniture.
    "I wish I could but I don't want to."
  • Monica resorts to this in a last-ditch effort to get her boyfriend to stop trying to become the champion of ultimate fighting (he is literally in a body cast at this point). "You are the worst ultimate fighter ever. Ever." It doesn't work, and Monica has to break up with him so she doesn't have to repeatedly watch him get his ass kicked.
• On Gilmore Girls, this is Jess's defining character trait, and the one that other characters dislike the most. Not because he lacks tact, but because he’s observant and his honesty is about things others do not wish to acknowledge.
  • His brutal honesty usually comes in the form of an Armor-Piercing Question. In his first appearance, he bluntly asks Lorelai if she’s sleeping with Luke, recognizing the Will They or Won't They? relationship that other characters tip-toe around. The following season, he calls Luke out on his Courtly Love approach to wooing Lorelai, pointing out that just doing nice things and waiting for her to fall into his arms isn’t healthy—the first and only time the show actually acknowledges that’s what Luke has been doing. In season 6, his brutal honesty leads him to give Rory a blistering What the Hell, Hero? speech about the mess she’s made of her life and pushes her to get back on track.
  • Interestingly, even when his Brutal Honesty is supposed to be seen as “wrong,” he’s still usually pointing out something that is truthful. In season four, Luke disapproves of his sister’s fiancé and enlists Jess to help break them up. Even though Jess doesn’t like TJ, either, he knows its not his place to do that, and calls Luke out for trying to “fix” everyone whether or not they asked for his help, and points out that this set up allows Luke to play the martyr when the person being “fixed” ultimately fails—they get to feel like they disappointed him, not just that they failed. This sends Luke into a sort of existential crisis, but he’s reassured by Lorelai that Jess is projecting and is just an angry kid. But Jess is still right, since the A-plot of this episode involves Luke inserting himself into his sister’s life to fix something she never asked to be fixed, and the B-plot involves Lorelai’s broken window, which remains broken for days because Luke is too busy to fix it. When asked why she won’t call a repairman to fix it, Lorelai says that Luke makes her feel guilty when she calls professionals to fix something he could fix for free.
• The Great British Bake Off: Paul can and will tell you exactly how badly you screwed up that bake.
• Happy Endings:
  • Max does this in one episode, not as a contrast to his lying (though he does his fair share of that) but to show how bad he is with kids. When they're bored, he takes them to a memorial service in a bar (because they wanted to see a dead body) and points out the urn. He then explains that the body was burned and burned for hours and stuck in the urn.
    Django: Is there a Heaven?
    Max: Who knows?
  • He goes on to give an extremely pessimistic view of death, saying "you're just gone, like the light goes out. And you know how they say there's people who will remember you forever? They die too." Naturally, the kids burst into tears. It's at once a hilarious and terrible Aversion of Lies to Children. Naturally, Penny later comes in and gives a sugar-coated view of heaven and a future where robots will make you live forever. But the kids say heaven sounds fun, and that they want to die and are dangerously close to forming a Suicide Pact before Penny pulls a Verbal Backspace.
• The Hexer: Old Witcher does not beat around the bush when he tells kid Geralt about his fate, which results in breaking down the boy and preventing him from making another escape attempt.
  Old Witcher: I will take you to Kaer Morhen, where they will make a witcher of you. You will fight monsters, to defend people, until you die. And that's (your) Fate.
• House: One episode features a Patient of the Week who had lost the ability to censor himself and always responded with brutal honesty. It served as a deconstruction of the concept, as it tore his family apart and tormented him- he genuinely, sincerely loved his wife and kids, but telling them his completely unvarnished opinions time and time again was a nightmare.
• House of Anubis:
  Patricia: Sorry, I bet I've been driving you all crazy.
  Everyone: (in an attempt to be polite) No.
  Jerome: Yes.
• How I Met Your Mother:
  • In the episode "Stuff", Lily takes part in a long, dull play and everyone tells her it was wonderful while Barney is the only one to be completely honest and tell her it sucked. Because he believes friends should be honest with each other. Barney.
  • He goes on to prove that friends should say that their plays suck by challenging them to come over to his play and still maintain their tactful lies. His play consists of saying "moist" over and over for an hour (Lily hates that word), followed by half an hour of discharging a squirt gun in Lily's face. After that came the epic saga of a singing, dancing robot that falls in love with a toaster. It was so monstrously bad that Marshall used the second slap he won in the slap bet to put an end to it.
  • He does this a lot. The other characters will be giving the gentle, not-hurting-your-feelings answer and he'll be saying the brutal truth every time. Barney believes that friends should be honest with each other. The women he lies to in order to get into bed aren't his friends.
  • There's another brilliant exchange where Robin asks if the gang has ever watched her show, and they all lie and say "yes", except Barney who says he's never seen it. Then she asks what their favorite part is and they all make something up, except Barney, who repeats that he's never seen it. Finally:
    Robin: You've never watched my show, have you?
    Barney: (with the rest of the gang's protestations) That's what I've been saying this whole time.
  • Barney is usually like this, but this is subverted in "Old King Clancy." Ted's project at GNB was cancelled, and Barney and Marshall had been lying to him for a month to spare his feelings. When Ted says they should have been honest with him, Barney reminds him of a time when he did the same thing to Marshall.
• iCarly: Carly Shay does this to Sam and Freddie after reaching her breaking point when they drag her into yet another fight (the last of several) during the episode "iDate Sam & Freddie". She points out that both their behaviour (Sam being a complete pig when they are on a date, and Freddie being a 'whiny nub' for pointing it out) and finally ends it by telling the two of them that they shouldn't be dating at all.
• In The InBESTigators, Kyle doesn't mince words.
  Kyle: Also, I'm having a sleepover at Ezra's and we were really bored.
  Ezra: Thanks.
• The Imperfects: This exchange from Episode 10:
  Abbi: What is wrong with you?
  Tilda (cheerfully): Lots of things.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): This is Daniel Molloy's stock in trade. He is always upfront about what he really thinks; in his commercial, he openly informs potential students about his issues with modern journalism and doesn't even try to make the career sound enticing. He also never hesitates to let Louis de Pointe du Lac know his real views, especially since he's already on his way out from his Parkinson's disease.
• Kaamelott:
  • King Léodagan practices brutal honesty. All the time. Emphasis on the "brutal". To the point the very rare times he tries deceit, he's a Bad Liar.
  • Curiously, one episode is based on Arthur and Guenièvre drinking a truth potion that was meant for Léodagan of all people (by his wife, who wanted to know if he'd been sleeping around). After the effects wear off, Guenièvre breaks down crying since Arthur has told her he didn't love her; he solves the problem by convincing her it was a Potion of Befuddlement, causing them to say things that were likely not true.
• Kamen Rider Build:
  • In episode 32, Sawa tries to discreetly find a way to tell Sento the shocking truth of Banjou having alien DNA, but once Sento reads Banjou's records for himself, he just says it upfront with no fanfare to Banjou's face.
  • In episode 40, everyone is appaled by Gentoku's sense of casual outfit, but most doesn't have the heart to tell him. Only Misora is blunt enough to tell him that his clothing is tacky. Not that he cares.
• Kyle XY: Kyle is a variation of this. He's never really rude, he just tends to immediately say what he thinks, until he wises up as the series progresses.
• Law & Order: Organized Crime: Jet generally says exactly what's on her mind, even if it can come off as rude. A lot of the time no rudeness is intended however, she's just really honest. This may be a trait of her (implied) autism.
• Leverage: Parker does this a lot, but she can't help it since she's a very socially awkward person and doesn't know when she's said too much, except when it comes to nerdy Hardison. Then her emotions get in the way and she Cannot Spit It Out. Word of God says she has Asperger's Syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism, and this a very realistic portrayal, especially when it comes to moments of unintentional brutal honesty.
• Lie to Me: At the beginning of the series Loker has taken on radical honesty — a (real-life, if you can believe it) technique that not only requires always, always saying the truth, but also manifesting one's thoughts openly regardless of whether they are asked. Hence Loker's tendency to say whatever comes to his mind from moment to moment, or to blurt out things like "I'd like to sleep with you" upon meeting Torres for the first time. As the series goes on he makes a couple significant exceptions, and by the second season, it seems he's practically given up.
• The title character from Lucifer (2016) is like this, despite the reputation the devil has as "the Prince of Lies". Lucifer often says offensive things because he doesn't understand that human beings don't generally say certain types of things out loud to avoid offending other people or making them uncomfortable. There is a certain amount of Blue-and-Orange Morality involved in this, though, because he often has a hard time understanding human emotions and other aspects of human behavior, especially during the first season. He also has an honor code that involves never lying to anyone and always keeping up his end of the deals he makes with people. His tendency to be brutally honest is so extreme, though, that he'll even blurt out extremely personal, potentially embarrassing, facts about himself. For instance, when he realized that he was always blaming his father for things because he actually hated himself for his role in humanity's fall, he went around talking about his revelation of self-hatred just as readily as he would talk about anyone else's extremely personal issues.
• Mad About You: Paul is defending his decision to invest a large sum of money in a virtual reality device. He's trying to tell Jamie how amazing the device is, she asks him what he used it for, and since the audience saw him use it to be very intimate with a virtual Christie Brinkley, we see how this is an awkward question...but then he immediately says, "I gave Christie Brinkley a massage," and goes on to describe in detail how much he enjoyed it.
• London Blake to her mother Jane in Open Heart. After spending the entire first episode being unsure of how to answer any of her mom’s questions in the OR, she has an epiphany near the end and finally speaks her mind. Which is to say, she tells her mom that the procedure she used with the patient was far too risky, and she only did it because she saw another family about to lose their father and projected her own life onto the situation.
  Jane: I brought him back.
  London: This time.
• Faran Bryant in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. She straight up says she doesn't feel guilty at all about leaking the video of Karen while Imogen is guilt-ridden, tells Sheriff Beasley his dead daughter was a bully, and tells Karen she didn't like her at her grave.
• Seinfeld:
  • One of Kramer's distinctive traits, as part of his complete and total ignorance of and indifference toward social norms of any kind. Most notably when he tells George's Girl of the Week that she needed a nose job (and then after seeing the results tells her she got "butchered"). Word of God is that this was based on a family friend of one of the writers.
  • Elaine, too: she told Crazy Joe Davola to his face that he has a terrible singing voice. Granted, she was not aware of the "Crazy" part at the time.
  • Subverted in "The Kiss Hello". Jerry and Elaine are trying to get Elaine's friend Wendy to change her outdated hairstyle but don't have the guts to tell her. Instead, they bring her to Jerry's apartment in the hopes that Kramer will show up and be his usual brutally honest self. Kramer does indeed show up and is indeed completely honest... about how much he likes Wendy's hairstyle. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, she says she was actually thinking of changing it, only for him to convince her to keep it the way it is. Jerry and Elaine's mistake was thinking that Kramer, ignorant of social norms as he is, would ever care about whether or not a particular hairstyle was in fashion.
  • In one episode, Jerry convinces George to do the opposite of whatever his instincts tell him to do ("If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right"). This causes him to use "Hi, my name is George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents" as a pickup line. It works. The woman even gets him a job interview with the New York Yankees, where her uncle works. During the interview, George meets Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and gives him an impassioned "The Reason You Suck" Speech all about how his horrible decisions have slowly ruined the team. Steinbrenner's response? "Hire this man!"
  • One episode is called "The Truth" where after George breaks up with a woman she asks him to tell her the truth of why he wanted to break up with her. He does and she ends up in a mental institution.
• In the pilot episode of Selfie, Henry Higgs is very straight-forward in his assessment of Eliza. He calls her vapid, self-obsessed, and a narcissist, and openly states he doesn't like her. And that's just their first meeting. When seeing her dressed to be his date to a wedding he's visibly impressed by her looks-but instead says she's wearing too much fragrance. And later says it was a mistake to help her, and that she's a lost cause.
• Siren (2018): Merpeople like Ren don't generally understand human inhibitions, so they frankly bring up topics which humans would be more circumspect about pretty often.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • Teal'c epitomizes this trope. Up to and including describing just exactly how he got that emblem on his head to a bunch of inner-city punks.
    Teal'c: Remove yourself from my path.
    Punk: Listen to this guy. I'll remove myself when you tell me how they tattoo like that in Chulak.
    Teal'c: The skin is cut with an Orak knife and pure molten gold is poured into the wound.
    Punk: Ow, man, don't that hurt when they do that?
    Teal'c: Tremendously.
  • In "1969", Teal'c answers a query about the tattoo's symbolism with, "Slavery. To false gods."
  • Vala Mal Doran has two settings: either she says exactly what she's thinking, or she tells even the most obvious lies with a straight face. Truth or falsehood, she's completely shameless either way.
  • Carter sometimes utilizes this trope. Particularly shown in the episode The Scourge where this was her preferred method of dealing with the delegates, pointing out that there's no point sugar-coating the situation when Woolsey asks her to give them some reassurance. This was particularly the case when she had to tell them the ship coming to the planet would simply drop a neuro-toxin on the planet to destroy the man-killing insects, but would also kill them unless they could figure out how to contact them.
• Star Trek: The Original Series: In the episode "The Changeling", Kirk manages to talk the evil computer of the week into destroying itself. When finished, Spock compliments him on his "dazzling display of logic." Which then turns into a Compliment Backfire.
  Kirk: You didn't think I had it in me, did you?
  Spock: No, sir.
  [Kirk has a confused and slightly hurt expression]
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode "Tacking Into the Wind", when Worf asks her for her opinion regarding the political intrigue in the Klingon Empire that was endangering his blood brother Martok, Ezri Dax confides that, even though her predecessors Jadzia and Curzon thought highly of Klingons, she thought the Empire was corrupt and deserved to collapse, citing both Gowron's attempting to use his political clout to make a fool out of Martok, and Worf being forced to accept Discommendation to protect the traitorous Duras, as examples of how the empire had fallen from grace. While it is a bitter pill for Worf to swallow, it is what ultimately encourages him to stand up to Gowron and allow Martok to take his rightful place as Chancellor.
• Star Trek: Picard:
  • The "Way of Absolute Candor" practiced by Romulan Qowat Milat warrior nuns forbids not just lying, but even holding back, and so they bluntly tell other people precisely what their feelings are about them. This is in contrast to both mainstream Romulans, who are taught to withhold as much as possible, even their true names, and to the Romulans' forebears the Vulcans, who will tell you what they think, but never tell you what they feel.
  • Zani doesn't sugarcoat her words, not even to a little kid who's desperate for affection.
    Young Elnor: (to Picard) Why don't you like children?
    Zani: Because they're demanding, distracting, and interfere with duty and pleasure alike.
    (Picard gestures that he agrees with Zani)
    Young Elnor: My feelings are hurt.
  • Elnor's crewmates don't always appreciate him pointing out what they're feeling, especially when they're emotionally vulnerable.
    Elnor: [Picard] can't see that you're also... haunted by something you'd like to forget.
    (Jurati glares at him)
    Elnor: Was I in-butting?
    Jurati: That time, yes. (leaves the room)
  • Narek discloses Soji's true nature to her rather cruelly.
    Narek: Because you're not real. You never were.
  • Amusingly, Star Trek: Discovery reveals that the Absolute Candor of the Qowat Milat was instrumental in helping the long-estranged Vulcan and Romulan cultures overcome centuries of bad blood and re-unite.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds:
  • In "Children of the Comet", it's discussed by Spock and Uhura.
    Spock: How are we doing, Cadet?
    Uhura: At the moment, pretending not to be in way over my head. Too honest?
    Spock: I am a Vulcan. We are "too honest" by nature.
  • In "Subspace Rhapsody", the Negative Space Wedgie that is causing everyone to sing operates by musical rules, meaning that it activates during moments of intense emotion—so it's also causing them to spill their hearts out incredibly bluntly. This causes problems when it triggers a Quarreling Song between Captains Pike and Batel regarding their vacation plans and a Break Up Song by Nurse Chapel when she decides to leave Spock to pursue a medical fellowship.
• Supernatural: Castiel, mostly because he has No Social Skills and doesn't realize that people don't like it.
  Castiel: I owe you an apology.
  Dean: Cas, it's okay.
  Castiel: You are not the burnt and broken shell of a man that I believed you to be.
  Dean: [caustically] Thank you. I appreciate that.
• That '70s Show: In the episode "Eric's Burger Job", when the guys apply for a job at a local fast-food restaurant:
  Interviewer: Name something about yourself that you consider to be a weakness.
  Hyde: I'm brutally honest... pinhead.
• Tokumei Sentai Go Busters: Hiromu Sakurada, the Rookie Red Ranger, tends to be blunt to the point of rudeness primarily because he trained alone; closer to earth Robot Buddy Nick does his best to get Hiromu to curb this habit.
• Torchwood: In the pilot, the team (sans Gwen) is testing the Resurrection Glove (AKA Risen Mitten) on a murder victim (they're only interested in testing the glove, not solving the murder). This time, they choose to go with this approach when the man asks what's going on, telling him he's dead. After he dies again (permanently, this time), they mention that last time they tried to tell the guy he was merely injured, only for him to keep screaming for an ambulance the whole time he was resurrected. They actually get some results with this trope.
• The Tunnel: Elise speaks her mind without a filter, to the point of inadvertently offending people. She gets told off by Karl for this but refuses to lie.
• The West Wing usually shies away from this trope, being a political drama. Senator Arnold Vinnick, however, develops something of a reputation for this: in a presidential debate between Congressman Santos and Senator Vinnick, however, Vinnick is challenged by the moderator to say how many jobs his new administration will create — Santos having just given such a number. Vinnick bluntly explains that his administration won't make any new jobs... because it's not the responsibility of the federal government to create jobs, it's the entrepreneurs'. Vinnick also takes a popularity hit in Iowa when he refuses to recant his opposition to ethanol-based fuel additives — Iowa being the primary producer of such additives.
• The Wire episode "Boys of Summer" sees Tommy Carcetti doing a mockery of what an honest campaign donation call would sound like:
  Tommy Carcetti: Hey there, Jim. Tom Carcetti here, remember me? We met at your sister's house you know, the one that's married to that Republican cunt. I know you don't remember me. I know you don't have any use for fucking politicians, and frankly, I don't give a flying fuck about what you think or what your concerns are. But I do care about what your cute little blonde wife thinks about so many things. But, Jim, the reason I'm calling is because I want you to write me out a check for $4,000, the maximum allowed by law. Because we don't trust you to actually mail that check, we're gonna send over a couple of furloughed DPW workers to beat the check out of you.
• X-Play: This Video Games review show bills itself as giving brutally honest reviews.
• Young Sheldon: In "Crappy Frozen Ice Cream and an Organ Grinder's Monkey", Mary and George worry that Sheldon's tendency to not hold back his opinions may be problematic regarding his dinner with Gary, so they instruct him to just hold them in, no matter what Gary says. But Gary's belief in numerology is too much for Sheldon, so he insults him for believing such nonsense and says that others are just keeping quiet because they want his money. Gary admires his honesty and rewards him with a static-free chair.

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