More Expendable Than You / Live-Action TV

As a Death Trope, Spoilers naturally abound. Be cautious.

Times where somebody decides they're More Expendable Than You in Live-Action TV series.

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• 24:
  • In season 7, Jack Bauer tries to kill himself to save the president, but Bill Buchanan points out the true masterminds of the day's events are still out there and only Jack can stop them and then sacrifices himself before Jack can argue.
  • In season 2, George Mason, who was already almost dead from radiation poisoning, talked Jack into letting him make the Heroic Sacrifice, giving Jack a parachute and letting him jump to safety while George piloted the plane (and the nuke onboard it) to detonate away from Los Angeles.
• Angel: In "Hero", unable to talk the title character out of risking his life, Doyle knocks him off the ledge instead, then disarms the bomb himself, dying in the process.
• A common theme in Chuck. Since the eponymous character has all the government's secrets in a computer in his brain, his handlers Sarah and Casey often tell him that his life is worth more than theirs when he objects to them risking their lives to protect him.
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Ark in Space": Minor character Rogin knocks the Doctor out and puts him a safe distance away from the ship, which will kill anyone underneath it once they release the locking mechanisms necessary to send the Wirrn out away from the Ark.
    Rogin: You don't want trouble with the Space Technicians Union, Doctor.
    The Doctor: What?
    Rogin: [punches the Doctor out] That's my job!
  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart does this to the Doctor in "Battlefield", punching him to the ground with the exact words "Sorry, Doctor, but I'm more expendable than you are."
  • It was also averted in the classic series on occasion. One time, a UNIT Ascended Extra suggested he be the subject of a dangerous experiment instead of the Doctor, and the Doctor promptly refused.
  • "The Poison Sky": The Doctor is about to make a Heroic Sacrifice when Luke Rattigan switches places with him so he can do it instead. In Luke's case, it's also Redemption Equals Death, as he wants to make up for helping the Sontarans to begin with.
  • In "Forest of the Dead", the Tenth Doctor is saved from frying his brains out in order to save the day when an old friend he hasn't met yet, River Song, handcuffs him to the wall and sacrifices herself instead.
    River Song: If you die here, it'll mean I'll have never met you.
    The Doctor: Time can be re-written!
    River Song: Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare.
  • An inversion occurs in "The End of Time", when the Doctor sacrifices himself for Wilf, a minor recurring character who happens to be pushing eighty. Wilf even begs him not to do it, basically citing this trope.
  • In "The Time of Angels", Amy tries to tell the Doctor to go on without her, thinking that she's about to die because she can't move. The Doctor, has other ideas, breaking the illusion that was keeping Amy in peril.
  • In "The Almost People" it is the "gangers" (clones) who make the heroic sacrifice, including the Doctor's ganger.
• A very sad one occurs in Farscape when someone has to initiate a process that will separate Moya from another ship and save the lives of everyone aboard her. The catch is that the person who starts the process has to do so from the other ship, which will be ripped apart. Both Crichton and Aeryn try to intervene, but Zhaan (who is already dying from having saved Aeryn's life earlier in the season) insists on doing it and is killed in the process.
  • This Heroic Sacrifice was made for production reasons. Actress Virginia Hey, who played Zhaan, had been suffering allergic reactions to her extensive makeup. For some time, she was given limited face time to limit her exposure to the irritating cosmetics, but ultimately they decided to write her out of the show and chose this as the point to let her go out heroically.
• Game of Thrones: Daario is sent to fight Meereen's champion despite being the fourth to volunteer after Dany declared Grey Worm, Barristan Selmy, and Jorah Mormont too important to risk.
• An accidental version in the mini-series Game, Set & Match. Bernard Samson is sent to do a black bag operation. It's pointed out that if Bernard is caught there will be questions in the House of Parliament, so one of his men offers to do the job instead as he's a nobody. Which is just as well for Bernard as a Booby Trap kills the safe-cracking team.
• In Highlander, Duncan MacLeod is challenged by someone he seems ready to lose to, so Methos calmly shoots him dead and sets off to kill the guy himself. Duncan resurrects just in time to intervene, much to Methos' frustration.
• This trope appears in the Miniseries adaptation of Horatio Hornblower; however, none of it happened in the books.
  • Midshipman Clayton steps in during the first episode to get the title character out of a duel with a particularly violent bully.
  • In the second series, Archie Kennedy, knowing he would die anyway, takes sole blame for a mutiny to save Horatio's life and career.
• Kamen Rider Zero-One: In order to complete Zero-One's Mid-Season Upgrade and stop the rampaging Assassin, Aruto's Humagear secretary Izu prepares to upload her memories of Zero-One's battle data; this will destroy her current body, and since her memories can't be copied into a new one it would effectively be the same thing as death. At the last second her "older brother" Wazu steps in and takes her place, saying that Aruto needs her by his side and her duties as his assistant can't end in such a way.
• At the end of season 3 of Lost, Charlie volunteers to swim to the Looking Glass, which Sayid had intended to do. Then Sayid convinces Jack to lead the group to the radio tower while Sayid takes on the invading Others because Jack is the leader.
• Merlin:
  • In the series 1 finale this happens twice, first with Merlin declaring that Arthur's life is worth a hundred of his own and then - when it becomes clear that the deal was for a life, not necessarily Merlin's, and his mother becomes dangerously ill - Gaius sacrifices himself in Merlin's place. It doesn't last, as Merlin realizes that killing the witch who cast spell in the first place also worked and used her as the sacrifice.
  • Happens in the fourth series premiere. They need to sacrifice someone to heal the veil between the worlds, and Arthur thinks it should be him. Merlin wants to take his place, since, as a servant, his life is more expendable. When the time comes to sacrifice someone, Merlin knocks Arthur out and offers himself to the gatekeeper of the spirit world. As they're talking, Lancelot sneaks behind him and walks through, providing the necessary sacrifice.
  • A non-lethal example occurs in "Lancelot and Guinevere" when Gwen trips while escaping from bad guys with Morgana. Morgana wants to help Gwen keep going, but Gwen insists on staying behind so Morgana can escape. Presumably, Gwen thinks she's more expendable since she's a servant and she wants to protect her best friend.
• Reese has a habit of doing this in Person of Interest, especially when it comes to Finch, taking on stupid amounts of Mooks and jumping into the line of fire to protect his friend; even going so far as to come back for a Big Damn Heroes moment to save his best friend after he quit the team. His excuse?
  Reese: You're one of those people the world can't afford to lose.
• At the end of the second season of Primeval, Cutter attempts to stop the escape of several prehistoric beasties: but is only able to do this by sealing a door from their side. Stephen Hart knocks him out and takes his place instead.
  • In this case, Stephen atones for sleeping with Cutter's wife.
• In Smallville, this mentality towards Clark is so firmly ingrained into Chloe she must have a dozen of near-deaths (and a handful of actual deaths) for him throughout the seasons.
• A non-lethal example in Stargate SG-1, where the team finds a second Ancient database, which can only be accessed by uploading it in its entirety into a brain. Unfortunately, modern humans haven't quite evolved to the point of surviving such an upload for long periods of time. Daniel tries to use it on himself when they are attacked, but Jack, who previously had one in his head, tells him that Daniel is the only one who can't do it since he's their only expert on the Ancient language and has to translate the ramblings of the "possessed" person. Jack then uses the device on himself again and ends up saving the Earth from an alien invasion. The two-parter ends in a sad moment when Jack has the team put him into a suspended animation chamber indefinitely in order to survive the sheer amount of knowledge.
  • It is later revealed that no one else would've likely survived the upload, as Jack actually is the most advanced human on Earth, from an evolutionary point of view, possessing the Ancient gene and having intuitive control over their technology.
• A couple of Star Trek: The Original Series examples:
  • Subverted in "Obsession", after Ensign Garrovick tries to knock out Kirk to take his place as bait for a blood-draining Monster of the Week. Kirk points out he wasn't planning to stick around long enough to actually be dinner for the creature.
    Kirk: Consider yourself on report. This is no time for heroics. I have no intention of sacrificing myself, at least not yet.
  • In "The Empath", aliens intend to use either Spock or McCoy for an experiment that is highly likely to cause death or permanent insanity. Spock declares that he is volunteering; McCoy overrules that decision by jabbing him with a hypo when he's not looking.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • Subverted in "The Homecoming" during an escape from a Cardassian prison camp when four Bajorans stay behind to hold off the guards so that Li Nalas, a hero of the Bajoran resistance, can escape. Turns out Nalas is an Accidental Hero and carries a lot of guilt over people sacrificing themselves or looking up to him when he's not worth it. In "The Siege", Nalas ends up gratefully Taking the Bullet to protect Sisko, who as the Emissary really is more important.
  • In "Once More Unto the Breach", Worf is about to sacrifice himself to delay a pursuing enemy. The aged and crafty Dahar Master Kor knocks him out and takes his place piloting the damaged ship (Worf is a young warrior in his prime, with many battles left to fight in this war and others, while Kor's mind is starting to slip and he has no more chances for a glorious death). His last words to the unconscious Worf are a promise that when he gets to Sto'vo'kor, he will tell Worf's dead wife of his bravery.
• When our heroes on Star Trek: Enterprise find the Xindi superweapon, they come up with a plan to destroy it—but doing so would be a Suicide Mission. Trip and Travis each argue to be the one to go on the mission, but Archer chooses himself, deciding that, after everything he's done in the Expanse, he won't order anyone else to die.

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