Basic Trope: Someone is trying to help somebody else, but another person thinks the helper is attacking the person being helped.
- Straight: Alice is eating something and starts choking on it. Bob starts to do the Heimlich on her, but Charlie is nearby and thinks Bob is beating Alice up.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is doing the Heimlich on Alice, but Charlie thinks that Bob is trying to kill her.
- Everybody in the restaurant besides Alice and Bob themselves think Bob is beating up Alice when really he's doing the Heimlich.
- Downplayed: Bob is giving Alice a pat on the shoulder to cheer her up. Charlie thinks Bob is giving her a Dope Slap.
- Bob tells Alice "you enter that room, you die.". He was just warning her about the Deadly Gas inside, but Alice takes it as a threat.
- Justified:
- Charlie is a bit suspicious of Bob, whether it's because Bob is a legitimately shady character, Charlie is just paranoid, or for any reason in between.
- Charlie didn't know that Alice was choking.
- Charlie doesn't know what first aid techniques look like.
- Charlie was mistaking Worst Aid for malice.
- Inverted: Bob is beating up Alice, but Charlie thinks he's doing the Heimlich.
- Subverted:
- Bob reveals that he was attacking Alice.
- Charlie reveals that he was just joking about thinking Bob was attacking Alice.
- Double Subverted:
- He was joking when he said that, or it turns out that he was possessed when he said that but he got possessed while actually trying to save Alice.
- But then Diane says, "That's a relief, for a moment there I legitimately thought he was attacking you, Alice."
- Parodied: Charlie is watching a TV show about people who have saved lives and thinks the heroes are attacking the people they're saving.
- Zigzagged:
- Some people in the restaurant think Bob is attacking Alice, others don't.
- Charlie's thoughts keep changing.Charlie: (thinking) "Oh my gosh! Bob's attacking Alice...or maybe he's just helping her because she choked or something...Maybe I should talk to him just to be safe...No, no, no, bad idea! She could be in danger and he's saving her!...."
- Averted:
- Alice does not end up in danger.
- Alice does end up in danger, but nobody mistakes Bob as attacking her.
- Enforced: this episode centers on Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover.
- Lampshaded: "He wasn't attacking me, he was trying to save my life!"
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz takes a photo of Bob doing the Heimlich on Alice and shows it to other people, saying that he is attacking her.
- Exploited:
- Defied:
- Discussed: "And I started to do the Heimlich on her, but Charlie thought I was attacking her. That was awkward."
- Conversed: "Remember that scene where the character thought the other one was attacking the third one when really he was trying to save her life?"
- Implied: Bob is doing the Heimlich on Alice and Charlie is looking shocked.
- Deconstructed: Charlie ends up endangering Alice by trying to stop Bob.
- Reconstructed: He tries to stop Bob by calling the police, who help clear up the situation and Alice ends up OK.
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama: Alice's life is in danger but Charlie is trying to stop Bob.
Back to Help Mistaken for Attack.
