Reasonable Authority Figure / Live-Action TV

Reasonable Authority Figures in live-action TV.

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• Bill Buchanan in 24, a rare boss who understands that Jack does what he has to do.
  • President David Palmer was all over this trope long before Buchanan.
  • President Allison Taylor was this as well, excluding a few episodes near the end of the series.
  • On Day 3, Ryan Chappelle was evolving from an Obstructive Bureaucrat into this, even performing a Heroic Sacrifice to help save the day.
• Major Partagaz of the ISB in Andor is a rare villainous version. At first when Lieutenant Meero has only a scrap or two of circumstantial evidence and a hunch to back up her theory about an organized rebellion stealing sensitive military technology, he doesn't let her break the rules and exceed authority until she has more proof. (This is in the era before the Empire dissolved the Senate, so theoretically an intelligence agency/State Sec group like ISB still has to answer to civilian authority.) When she brings him additional proof, he is quick to act on it and to elevate her, despite the fact that she pushed the limits of her authority and miffed other officers under his command to get it, and slightly criticized a shortcoming in his system when presenting the evidence to him. When Meero has to give a presentation on the matter to Wulff Yularen, a much higher ranking officer in ISB, Partagaz is quick to step in and back her up when Yularen seems skeptical of her and Meero is starting to flounder. Even some personal touches are used to show him being a relatively Benevolent Boss; for example after he initially rebuffs her theory he still takes the time to compliment her work and find things to praise about what she is doing and has done, and later he warns her to be careful because he knows that her rapid rise in favor and way of doing things is going to result in other, longer serving ISB officers being resentful of her and gunning for her.
• Sheriff Andy Taylor of The Andy Griffith Show is both a subversion where the hero IS the authority figure and one of the most thoroughly detailed depictions of this trope. Over the seasons, there have been a vast number of events, ranging from minor Narrative Filigree to entire episode A-plots, depicting Andy's dedication to adapting his approach to crime based on the particular case and person at hand, and his goal of defusing tensions and trouble to prevent crime and strife from arising in the first place rather than being focused on punishing violators.
• Gideon Reeves of APB qualifies. He actively encourages subordinates to question him and make him explain his reasoning so flaws can be found, and chooses Murphy as a primary adviser in large part because she's so up-front about telling him what she thinks he needs to hear, even if it's not what he'd like to hear.
• In Auction Kings, Paul is very level-headed and tends to take Jon's screw-ups in stride. Cindy tends to be more hot-headed.
• Senator Hidoshi from Season 1 of Babylon 5 is willing to run interference against an increasingly corrupt Earth government on behalf of Sinclair and the station, but not without telling the commander his Rules Lawyer games are making things more difficult. Once President Clark takes power in Season 2 Hidoshi and any other voice of reasonableness on the part of EarthGov disappears completely.
• Camille Saroyan from Bones, also Da Chief, is very reasonable (albeit exasperated) with her team of squints. While she feels like the Only Sane Woman, she respects the work her colleagues do and assists them accordingly.
  • From earlier seasons, Dr. Goodman is an example as well. While he was often tired of his team's antics, he treated them well.
• Bodies (2023): Notably, the senior police officers and counterterrorist officers in all four time periods are mostly depicted as fairly reasonable, being at least willing to listen when the protagonists bring them increasingly weird stories pointing to century-long conspiracies and even time travel. They raise rational objections, but sanction investigations to determine what is really going on. Unfortunately, some of them turn out to be members of the conspiracy, playing along with the heroes to preserve a Stable Time Loop, while others end up dead.
• Detective Bosch has an adversarial relationship with Internal Affairs, but IA Captain Irving becomes more than just a straight-up antagonist when he and Bosch are united by a common cause.
• Captain Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, although a fairly strict By-the-Book Cop, is still very understanding of his precinct's concerns and will often do whatever can to alleviate them.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: While Principal Snyder skirted on the edge of being The Dragon to the Season 3 Big Bad (despite having shown up two seasons earlier), Sunnydale High's other two principals were both Reasonable Authority Figures. Principal Flutie meant well and tried to reach out to the students (and was eaten for his pains), and Principal Wood comes close to joining Buffy's Band of Brothers and does in the end.
  • There's also Giles who was reasonable as a Watcher when compared to Wesley (and the rest of the Watchers' Council). He understandably often tries to get Buffy to take her studies more seriously, but he's also one of the few Watchers who doesn't feel the need to prevent her from having friends or a life outside of slaying.
  • Faith and Kennedy become this in the comics. The former was leading a squad of slayers in England until they left her over Angel, while the latter formed an agency of former slayers turned Bodyguard Babes and showed how reasonable she had become when Buffy worked for her, royally screws up, plans to skip, and attacked her. The ending to Angel & Faith suggests the two will be working together.
• Captain Roy Montgomery in Castle is incredibly tolerant of Richard Castle's presence in the unit and remarkably willing to accommodate his theories and viewpoints on the cases he and Detective Kate Beckett investigate; this is partially because of pressure from higher-ups regarding the positive press that comes from having a bestselling mystery writer base a character on one of his police detectives, but he also appears to genuinely respect Castle's abilities and like the man personally. He also acts as a father figure to his detectives, particularly Beckett.
• In Chernobyl, both Boris Shcherbina and Mikhail Gorbachev are portrayed as this. While they are both sceptical of Legasov's assessment of the disaster at first due to their subordinates downplaying the truth in a bid to save their own skins and/or the public reputation of the Soviet Union, they are willing to listen to him instead of immediately dismissing his concerns.
• In Dead Gorgeous, Headmaster Griffiths is an avuncular, likeable headmaster who would rather avoid a problem than confront it. He is constantly trying to calm Sadist Teacher Haiwyn Sinclaire down about the mysterious Ainsworth girls.
• Dead Man's Gun:
  • The Mayor in "The Imposter" was smart enough not to make Deputy Floyd (who is a coward and extorting money from the local merchants) the new marshal, never asks Leo to do anything unreasonable as marshal, and even offers him a raise, unprompted at the end out of respect for his courage (although by then Leo has decided to give up the gun and leave town).
  • The sheriff in "Wages of Sin" is a polite and decent man even, as best shown in the final scene. Although the fact that his son has just been healed helps.
  • Dawson the storekeeper in "Sisters of Mercy" gives some of the townspeople supplies on credit, for which his boss threatens him.
  • The Sheriff in "Hangman" ultimately understands Phineas's decision to take the law into his own hands (and how he won't do anything like that again) and ensures his hanging isn't fatal.
  • Sheriff Ward in "Sheep's Clothing" is a brave lawman who tries to give the main character good advice about not letting the gun change him.
  • Sheriff Blythe in "Death Warrant" holds little sympathy for Pike and his methods but at the same time tries to get the bounty on him lifted out of a sense of duty, to keep more people pursuing it from dying, and perhaps to keep Mrs. Morrison from going to jail.
  • Wesley in "The Sleepwalker" does fail to catch the killer for a while but only because there genuinely aren't any clues, is professional and friendly with a man who's his prisoner and helps figure out the truth to the solution at the end based on a brief Sherlock Scan. A lot of it helps that the main character is his best friend.
  • The local lawmen in "The Oath" help quarantine the town and one of them tries to talk down a man blaming the doctor for the deaths of his sons.
  • Sheriff Tom Bradford in "The Regulator" is a former hired gun himself, but one who recognizes that society is evolving and that there's no place for that kind of thing anymore. He tries to convince Slayton not to cause any trouble or kill anyone in town and when Slayton does anyway, Tom uses his old knowledge and expertise to get some evidence and makes good on his promise to arrest Slayton (although he can't get him convicted).
• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor himself counts as one of these, though if he IS tearing the crap out of you, then you (usually) definitely deserve it *cough*Adam, General Cobb*cough* and only a few people — River being one and Susan being another — can possibly calm him down.
  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (as well as his daughter Kate) is a supportive and trusting ally of the Doctor, but he's also a Pragmatic Hero and a bit of an Agent Scully who needs the facts before he can act. These traits occasionally have him at odds with the Doctor, though there is a reason that he's the Trope Namer for The Brigadier.
  • "The Crusade": Saladin. He treats Ian well but points out he can't return Barbara once El Akir has taken her as he can't upset one of his commanders during a war.
  • "The Faceless Ones": Gatwick's Commandant thinks the Doctor is nuts at first, but a demonstration by the Doctor featuring one of the Chameleon's freezing pens, and an appeal from Inspector Crossland convince him to cooperate. As the facts bear the Doctor out over the course of the story, the Commandant becomes more and more helpful.
  • "The Enemy of the World": Bruce may be ruthless, but he's willing to listen when presented with evidence that Salamander isn't what he seems to be. The Doctor even notes this: "I think I know what kind of man you are, honest and reasonable."
  • "Fury from the Deep": Megan Jones, who gives the Doctor all the help she can once she is convinced of the truth of what he's saying.
  • "Spearhead from Space": The Brigadier's immediate superior is rather dubious of his claims when he talks to him on the phone, but agrees that it sounds serious and will give the Brigadier his full support. Then he puts down the phone and answers the door...
  • "Frontier in Space": Both the emperor and the president, who are doing their best to avoid a war that their underlings are desperately pushing for, because neither believes the other side would be so stupid as to start one.
  • "Genesis of the Daleks": The heads of the Kaled government listen to what the Doctor has to say, and have been trying to circumvent Davros' near-total control for some time. Of course, they've got the same Genre Blindness as everyone else, and trust Davros when he appears to go along with their requests.
  • "The Deadly Assassin": Goth insists on trying the Doctor quickly, rather than posing the next President with the choice of forgoing the usual pardon that accompanies his installment, or releasing the murderer of a beloved President — he would, no doubt, find it hard. Subverted, as Goth is actually trying to get the Doctor executed for the Master. There's also Castellan Spandrell, the true RAS: he's the only Time Lord with any pull who insists on a thorough investigation and believes in the Doctor's innocence.
  • "The Keeper of Traken": The Consuls are generally this, especially Tremas and Seron. Not so much Kassia, though, and the others seem a bit naive about the possibility of evil within their society. It never occurs to them to question some of Kassia's claims.
  • "Vengeance on Varos": The Governor, who is ruling a Bread and Circuses society and trying to get the best prices for his people from a Corrupt Corporate Executive despite the risk to his life.
  • "Rise of the Cybermen": The President of an Alternate Universe Great Britain, who calls the Cyberconversion process "obscene" and refuses to let John Lumic continue developing it in Britain, and by all appearances seems to be trying to do good in the Crapsack World he runs. So naturally, Lumic has him killed first.
  • "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks": Solomon can't condone stealing, but he acknowledges that it was motivated by hunger as opposed to greed or malice. Thus, the thief gets to keep half of what he stole, but also gets a tongue-lashing and public shaming. Solomon also does his best to make Hooverville into a Close-Knit Community.
  • "Cold Blood": Eldane is some sort of authority figure among the Silurians, and he's nothing if not accommodating during the negotiations. He acknowledges that his people will put a greater strain on Earth's resources, and to offset this, he offers the abundance of Silurian science and technology.
  • Unlike his usual villainous appearances, Richard Nixon is depicted as one in "The Impossible Astronaut" / "Day of the Moon" two-parter, trusting the Doctor entirely and going along with his advice despite the occasional jabs and the fact that the Doctor is eccentric to put it mildly, only asking the Doctor how he's remembered. The Silence also gave him a Been There, Shaped History excellent reason for his infamous paranoia. He's willing to intervene on Canton's behalf, overcoming his own prejudices to support his mixed marriage and intervene on his behalf... until he finds out that Canton's partner is a black man. Even then, all he does is say, after a moment of shock, that perhaps the Moon is far enough for now (which, while a little sad, is considerably more reasonable a response than you'd expect given the person and the historical time period that the story's mainly set in).
  • "Mercy": Isaac, the titular Wild West town's sheriff, makes sure that the town of Mercy lives up to its name. He prevents the townspeople from sacrificing the Doctor because he knows that he's not the right doctor, and he won't give up the right doctor because he's a good man who helps the town.
  • "Cold War": Captain Zhukov is understandably suspicious of the two newcomers, but he maintains his composure and isn't given to fits of rage and bloodshed like Stepashin.
• Major Richter, the commander of the German occupation forces in Enemy at the Door, prefers to maintain cordial relations with the locals, wishes to see justice done without discrimination along national lines, and resists tendencies by some of his underlings (particularly the SS officer Reinicke) in a more tyrannical direction. Even so, his ideas of what is reasonable don't always accord with those of the occupied population.
• The Flipside of Dominick Hide: Caleb, Dominick's boss in both installments, despite seeming a bit sinister, is secretly helping Dominick due to the Stable Time Loop and arranges for Dominick to be Kicked Upstairs rather than fired for his transgressions.
• For Life: Warden Safiya Masry, who undertook sweeping reforms of the prison, towards a more humane treatment of the inmates. The reforms do not go down well with the prison guard union, leading to them endorse Maskins for Attorney General over Masry's wife Anya Harrison.
• A French Village:
  • Daniel Larcher, mayor of Villeneuve, is always trying to help and smooth things over.
  • Kollwitz, the local German CO, is mostly a reasonable fellow who is willing to bend so far as he can when he's negotiating with Villeneuve's officials. He also reigns in Müller multiple times, then gets him shipped off for Kiev.
• Friends: Mr. Treeger, the superintendent for the apartment building where most of the main characters live, is aware that Monica is illegally sub-letting her apartment but looks the other way because she and Rachel are good tenants who don't cause trouble. He also knows about the plotline in season four where the girls swap apartments with Chandler and Joey but, again, doesn't care and happily chats to the guys while fixing the bathroom.
• Game of Thrones:
  • In "The Kingsroad", Robert stops drinking for long enough to at least try to be this. He points out that children fighting is normal and not something that requires royal intervention, though this may be because it was impossible to take any action that wouldn't upset either his wife or his best friend. The rest of the time? Not so much.
  • Stannis shows signs of this when he arrives at the Wall, such as by allowing Jon to choose whether to spare Mance Rayder, and then adhering to his decision to do so. When Jon points out that the Night's Watch can't keep feeding his army, Stannis acknowledges this and says he'll move his troops out as soon as possible.
  • Renly is this towards Ned, and generally has a much better grasp on the situation in the country than does his brother who is ruling it. Robb correctly believes Renly would be more open-minded about his demands for an independent North than Stannis. Despite the Young Wolf's opinion in Season 1 that Stannis is the rightful king after Robert's death, he decides to negotiate with Renly in Season 2 for an alliance against the Lannisters.
  • For all his faults, Lord Tywin was this as Hand to the Mad King, whose reign only fell off the rails after Tywin resigned. He'll push through his ultimate decision at the end of every dispute, but he's willing to listen to reason if it genuinely suits his purposes.
    • He is instrumental in stabilizing Joffrey's reign after the Battle of Blackwater.
    • Despite his relationships with his children, he continues to practice Pragmatic Villainy with them. While he loathes Tyrion, he trusts him as Hand until Tywin himself arrives to fill the role, and preludes a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech in Season 3 by telling Tyrion he will be given quarters and a position more suitable for his talents and standing, and keeps his word by naming him Master of Coin. Cersei, on the other hand, is told outright that she is "not as clever as she thinks she is" and kept out of important decisions to the best of his ability.
    • He is disgusted by Loras Tyrell's homosexuality, but still respects the young man's fighting skills and wishes to use them — Tywin did allow Loras to command the vanguard at the Battle of Blackwater, after all, and even to do so wearing his late lover's armor.
    • He thinks Ser Gregor's torture of prisoners is a waste of time and stops it.
    • He recognizes Arya as a girl very quickly. Later, he deduces (correctly) that she is i) a Northerner and ii) highborn, but realises that she is alone in the world and her actions are to protect herself.
    • Despite his behavior before Joffrey, he is fully aware that Daenerys will eventually bring her three dragons to Westeros; Tywin knows Dorne was the only country to withstand Aegon I and his dragons, so he is willing to bargain with Oberyn Martell.
  • Kevan Lannister:
    • In "Fire and Blood", Kevan is willing to make peace with the Starks since the Lannisters only went to war with the Starks and Tullys because Catelyn humiliated Tywin by kidnapping Tyrion, which pales in comparison to their bigger problem of Robert's brothers challenging Joffrey's claim to the throne. As Tyrion explains, the peace deal would have worked if Joffrey hadn't killed Ned, destroying any chance of Robb stopping his war efforts.
    • In Season 2, he advises Tywin to tell Joffrey and Cersei to flee King's Landing before Stannis attacks, and regroup at Casterly Rock. Tywin completely rejects this idea, and while it would be politically disastrous for the Lannister family if they fled, it is clear that his refusal is largely because of his own pride.
    • In Season 5, he's the only person to speak out against Cersei, pointing out that she is stacking the council with her own sycophants, and refuses to act as her puppet. He states he is loyal to the King, but only to the King, not his mother.
    • In Season 6, he purposefully locks Cersei out of Small Council meetings. Considering Cersei's scheming is the sole cause of the entire Sparrow crisis and one of the primary causes this entire war is occurring, one can see why that'd be a wise move.
  • For all his flaws, Jaime Lannister remains a decent field commander, preferring "fair warning" to prisoners of war to march quickly before "flogging" them (as Randyll Tarly proposed). He also approves that Dickon Tarly feels conflicted about their invasion of Highgarden — pointing that they only did what must be done in battle and not glory over it.
  • As Hand of the Queen, this is basically Tyrion Lannister's job description after he joins Daenerys, and he lives up to it in "The Queen's Justice". He wants to help Jon, but he understands why Dany doesn't want to. So he tries to find a middle ground.
    Tyrion: [Daenerys] protects people from monsters, just as you do. That's why she came here. But she's not about to head north, to fight an enemy she's never seen, on the word of a man she doesn't know, after a single meeting. That's not a reasonable thing to ask! So...do you have anything reasonable to ask?
  • Varys is a poignant, competent advisor and not a particularly wicked schemer by the standards of the Court. His vocal concern for the realm seems genuine enough.
  • Daenerys likes to see herself as this and decides to stay in Slaver's Bay to practice it. In Season 5, upon meeting Tyrion Lannister she actually hears him out rather than immediately execute him and decides to give him a chance to serve her. In Season 7, in spite of her initial skepticism, she is convinced to let Jon Snow mine dragonglass for weapons to fight the White Walkers and agrees to negotiate a truce with Cersei to address the pressing ice zombie problem. Upon learning the wight hunters beyond the Wall are in trouble, she personally goes to rescue them and then immediately pledges to help the Northerners fight the dead after seeing for herself just how serious the situation is.
  • Hizdah zo Loraq was this, back when he was a slave-owning Great Master. At least according to him. He also tries to be this once he becomes Dany's advisor and later her husband-to-be, though his vision of being reasonable considerably differs from the other members of the court.
  • Despite riding a hard bargain and having contempt for the former smuggler Davos, when Davos presents a solid argument in favor of Stannis, Tycho and his fellow bankers come around and offer him a loan.
  • Maester Aemon at Castle Black takes heed to Sam and quickly sends word of the White Walker situation to every corner of the kingdoms. He also extends an invitation to Gilly and Little Sam to stay at Castle Black, as they certainly can't send them back beyond the Wall. During a period of interregnum, he's the fair, balanced voice that tries to moderate the rash or punitive tendencies of Thorne and Slynt.
  • Alliser Thorne, at least until he decides letting wildlings cross the Wall as refugees is too far (and even then he still exhibits some openness to negotiation with Ser Davos after). He takes the wildling threat seriously and quickly steps up to the plate once they march on Castle Black. Though he is initially skeptical of the scope of the wildling threat, saying that "you can't get fifty wildlings together before they try killing each other," he doesn't laugh off the existence of giants as Ser Janos does. He even admits that Jon was right to suggest sealing the tunnel.
  • Jon Snow takes his position as Lord Commander very seriously and wants the Night's Watch to be better prepared for the future. He also takes the opportunity to send Thorne away on business to ease tensions at the Wall. In the final two episodes, when Daenerys begins committing genocide on King's Landing just after the city has signaled its surrender, Jon tries to stop his own forces from joining the massacre of the surrendering defenders and civilians — unfortunately, his men are too caught up in the heat of battle and too eager for revenge to listen to him. He quickly withdraws his army rather than be any more complicit in Daenerys' immediate war crime than the North's previous support of her has already made him.
  • Ned Stark does his best to keep this ideal, though the effectiveness of his rule is debatable. This is Robert's reason for wanting Ned as Hand of the King. In fact, if he had it his way, he'd let Ned rule the Seven Kingdoms with him.
  • Sansa isn't seen being particularly harsh on her men, tries to make sure people are fed and provisions are made, and while she did suggest stripping children of their ancestral home, it was mostly to reward the families who stood by the Stark even at their lowest (compared to Royce who just wanted to burn the castles down as punishment and example for others).
  • Robb will not be a dick to his subjects, is merciful to enemy combatants, and will hear them out. He also follows Ned's example that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.
  • Most of Lyanna Mormont's decisions are taken with advice of her maester and sentinel but she also knows when it's her call. Even though she is loyal to the Starks she won't throw her men in battle without convincing arguments and does not ask any large compensation from the Starks when she sides with them as they are her liege.
  • Mance Rayder's goal isn't to conquer the South; it's to get his people safe from the White Walkers. He politely explains that even though his army massively outnumbers the dwindling defenders of Castle Black, and he's about to have them surrounded from behind by a larger force he sent to climb an undefended section of the Wall, he'd rather not have to kill the remaining members of the Night's Watch. Instead he offers to spare their lives if they simply let his army pass through the Wall — which, given the circumstances, were relatively reasonable peace terms. Also this is because he is a Good Boss to his own followers: he could steamroll over Castle Black's garrison by sending in wave after wave of attackers — but he doesn't see his followers as expendable, and would prefer it if not even one more of them has to die forcing their passage south.
  • With Mance dead, Tormund becomes the de facto Wildling leader, and he recognizes quickly that an alliance with Jon is for the good of his people. He also recognizes the damage Mance's stubborn pride did to the Wildlings and himself and what kind of end it got him and resolves not to go down that path himself.
  • The Free Folk chieftainess Karsi is the first Hardhome Wildling to join Tormund and Jon Snow's alliance.
  • Archmaester Ebrose of the Citadel. Yes, Sam cured Jorah Mormont of advanced Greyscale, something even many maesters have failed to do. However, yes, Sam endangered himself and the entire Citadel in doing so. That being said, Sam gets no reward, but no overt punishment.
  • Oberyn Martell, at the trial in "The Laws of Gods and Men," is the only judge who doesn't take the witnesses' testimonies at face value. In the History and Lore video for "House Martell" and his version of "Robert's Rebellion", even he thinks Aerys was insane for summarily killing Rickard and Brandon Stark when they asked for Lyanna and that the King should have disciplined Rhaegar for causing the mess to start with. He also notes that the Dornish fought for Elia's honor and her children more than they did for the Targaryens and while he considers Robert a usurper, he doesn't begrudge him and he also accepts that Tywin and Jaime backstabbing Aerys and taking King's Landing fell under I Did What I Had to Do. However, the deliberate murder and rape of Elia and her children so as to clear the path for the next dynasty was a clear Moral Event Horizon.
  • Doran Martell is a ruler who advocates peace and stability, refusing to obey the people's desire for war as he wants to protect them. He also categorically shuts down the idea of harming Myrcella as revenge on the Lannisters, reacting to such a suggestion with pure disgust. When Jaime and Bronn infiltrate the palace, Doran effectively places Jaime under house arrest rather than having him tossed in a cell or killed outright and even consents to letting him see Myrcella.
  • Doran's son Trystane notes that a commoner striking a noble would be a death sentence in King's Landing, but is easily talked into allowing Bronn to live...after getting a punch to the face himself.
  • Lord Yohn Royce of the Vale is a genuinely honorable man and treats Sansa with respect when she reveals who she is.
  • In the series finale, With Daenerys's loyalists demanding Jon's head, and the Starks and their allies prepared to start a war if he's harmed, it's Davos who manages to at least get the wheels turning to organize a compromise. Grey Worm likewise is quite open and amenable to Tyrion's suggestion to elect a new king, unsurprising given that his own status as Head of the Unsullied came from election by fellow Unsullied after Dany manumitted them.
• Principal Figgins of Glee qualifies. Although irrational at times (seriously, vampires?) and occasionally a coward under Sue, He often gives rational statements over the feud between Sue and Will.
• Harrow: Detective Senior Sergeant Bryan Nichols is a grumpy old cuss who doesn't like Harrow (or anyone else) very much. He still stops everyone and everything from interfering with Harrow's investigations.
• When the governor in the new Hawaii Five-0 comes to McGarrett's office to rip him a new one for harassing her old friend. He tells her that one of her old friends, campaign supporter, and well-respected local business tycoon is the head of the local yakuza. Upon hearing the (fairly scanty and mostly circumstantial) evidence, she immediately believes him.
  • Which later gets averted in The Reveal that she actually is corrupt and already knew the information and in bed (metaphorically) with Big Bad Wo Fat.
• Captain Pellew in Horatio Hornblower. The first thing he does in the series is to rake Horatio over the coals for having initiated and then not fought in a duel that wounded one man and killed another^note due to the dead man having knocked Horatio out for his own safety, but no one else knows that and forbids Hornblower from issuing any more challenges while aboard the Indefatigable. In his words, he won't lose men for no better reason for the satisfaction of their own vanity. But he follows this up by saying he intends to judge Horatio by what Pellew sees him do, not what he's been told Horatio's done, and hands him the task of cleaning up the division of slack, ill-disciplined sailors led by the bullying midshipman on Horatio's old ship. Horatio straightens them out and later saves himself and his division from being captured by the French through clever thinking. From then on, Pellew becomes Horatio's mentor and goes on to consider him Like a Son to Me.
• Ultimately played for laughs (just like everything else) in iCarly. Principal Franklin, the principal of Carly's school, is not strict at all, once getting Carly and her friends out of detention, and even giving Carly a reprieve when her friend hacked into the school's computer to change her grades. In the end, however, this is at least partially explained by the fact that the principal is a big fan of Carly's webshow, and she wouldn't be able to do the show if she were spending all her time in detention.
  • It seems that he is more than aware of how sadistic the teachers are at his school, which sets him up as the one ray of hope in an otherwise miserable environment.
• The Inside Man:
  • Ed, the head of IT, appreciates out-of-the-box thinking, politely rewards good work and cares about imparting cyber security wisdom.
  • Erica from Finance knows to take some cyber security precautions without being prompted and is willing to give the IT department more funds when they show it is warranted, but not before.
• JAG:
  • Admiral AJ Chegwidden qualifies with honors. He almost always backs up his subordinates, unless they’ve committed some Egregious act. Sometimes when he's hit his limit over his people's eccentricities he'll go into a tirade.
  • His successor, General Cresswell, would also qualify but to a much lesser extent.
  • The SecNavs do also, at various points throughout the series come across like this, albeit on very rare occasions.
• Jeremiah: Marcus, the leader of Thunder Mountain. He tries to form alliances with the other non-hostile communities, works to keep the Big Death from returning, is reluctant to issue harsh punishments and gradually insists on sharing power with other trustworthy individuals so he won't be a dictator.
• Judge Judy may be harsh and sharp-tongued, but she is a professional arbitrator and always waits to hear both sides of the dispute before making any decision. She is dedicated to her job of being impartial and deciding only on who is right or wrong in regards to the law, without regard for the identities or political leanings of the plantiff and the defendant. For example, Judith has ruled in favour of a young man whose Confederate flag was ripped from his car, and in favour of a woman whose car was keyed because it had a Hillary Clinton bumper sticker.
• Jack McCoy from Law & Order is the very definition of tough but fair; while he usually dishes out harsh punishments, they are proportional to the crime. It is only after the opposition attempts some shifty defense that he goes all gung ho. For example McCoy once prosecuted an unrepented drunk driver for killing three pedestrians. McCoy went Knight Templar to convict this driver, hiding witnesses, hide evidence; it is only when McCoy sees that the driver truly regrets his actions that McCoy changes his mind and submits the flight attendant's statement at trial, prompting a plea bargain. Furthermore, his underlying motivation is a sincere desire to see justice done. To that end he looks at the fact meticulously, there have been a number of innocent defendants who only had their word to back up their claim. If it wasn’t for McCoy they would be in Jail.
  • This came back to bite McCoy in the butt later on in the series once his name got into the textbooks. Savvy defense attorneys knew something was up if a plea was too lenient.
• Kamen Rider:
  • Kamen Rider Gaim: Despite being set up to be the Big Bad, Takatora Kureshima turns out to be this. He's only as ruthless as he is because he believes there's no other options to stop the Helheim Forest's encroachment. When Kouta presents him with an alternate solution, he's quick to take him up on it. Unfortunately, the other members of his inner circle aren't as selfless as he is, and are quick to oust him when he starts to get in the way of their own self-serving goals.
  • Kamen Rider Build: Taizan Himuro is the only one of the three Prime Ministers to not be a War Hawk. Instead he's committed to lowering tensions between the divided regions, in the hopes of ushering in a peaceful reunification of Japan.
• The Last Man on Earth: One-Shot Character Martinez, a prison guard, is the only known authority figure to survive the pandemic, and treats the only other survivor at his prison (Serial Killer Karl) nicely but is Properly Paranoid about the dangers of letting a murderer out into the world.
• On Leverage:
  • Lieutenant (promoted to Captain) Patrick Bonano often fills this role. Despite the fact that he knows what Nate and his crew are really doing, he is willing to help them and let them get away with it as much as he can, often using their assistance to solve his own cases.
  • In "The Bottle Job" three police officers, a Sergeant Detective, a Lieutenant, and their Captain, are mourning their friend and owner of the bar John McRory while playing poker. When Nate Ford comes to them to ask for help in stopping a criminal loan shark by letting him join their game and allow the criminal to confess to at least one crime, the cops permit the ruse.^note Part of allowing it is to just see if this shmuck would be stupid enough to confess to some crimes. He is. When the loan shark is caught and sent packing, all three pretend they were never present to allow the money the shark got from the local neighborhood to be given back to the victims without the red tape or admitting to cops they went to an illegal loan shark.
• Principal Lasseter of Life with Derek is a disciplinarian, but is willing to consider more important things, such as the effect expelling Derek would have on school morale.
• The Mandalorian: In "The Passanger", the titular Mando runs into a pair of X-Wing pilots who note that there's an arrest warrant out for him for breaking a criminal out of jail in the previous season. However, in the process of letting the criminal out Mando tried to defend the life of one of the guards and turned in three members of the team he was working with. As a result the X-Wing pilots decide to let him go with a warning to fix the broken transponder on his ship.
  Mando: Am I under arrest?
  Carson Teva: Technically, you should be. But these are trying times.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Daredevil (2015):
    • Sgt. Brett Mahoney is the only cop Matt and Foggy trust. He's the cop they turn Hoffman over to when Hoffman snitches on Wilson Fisk, and in Season 2 he gets into a reluctant partnership with Matt.
    • Blake Tower becomes an ally in the district attorney's office for Nelson & Murdock when the firm begins to come in conflict with Samantha Reyes.
  • Iron Fist (2017): Once he confirms Danny is who he's claiming and not delusional, Edmonds says he'll release him. However, Danny makes him think he's got other delusions talking about being in Kun'Lun, which he says is a part of Heaven and only appears periodically.
• The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House: Even though Ryoko claims Mother Azusa to be an uncaring slavedriver, she cares deeply about the girls in her employ. Even though she knows she has to expel Kiyo, she's reluctant to do so and instantly hires her as makanai when it becomes apparent that she's a good fit for the position. In the third episode, when she suspects the maiko of hiding a cellphone, she prefaces her speech by saying she's not going to say anything strict and instead reminds them of the customs they uphold.
• M*A*S*H: Col. Potter's decisions are almost always the right ones, and he's not afraid to yell at the Designated Hero when that person happens to be in the wrong. He's also willing to admit when he makes mistakes and do his best to set things right.
• District Attorney Devalos on Medium always listens to Allison and thinks about what she says. Though frequently he doesn't immediately do anything with the information, it's not because he doesn't trust her. It's because he knows that there are only certain things he can use in court, and her visions aren't among them.
• Captain Stottlemeyer of Monk qualifies: he is Adrian Monk's closest friend, he rarely doubts Monk's intuition ("He's the guy."), and he even orders his officers to accommodate Monk's obsessions (one time he has officers pop all the bubbles on a piece of bubble wrap, so Monk can get on with solving the case).
• MonsterVerse series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: General Puckett, mostly. His first and express reaction to proof of Godzilla's existence is horrified fear (which is understandable, if misguided in the case of this particular Titan), and he internalizes Lee's concerns that Godzilla could be an even greater potential threat to U.S. national security than the exhaustion of the uranium reserves that are needed to deter foreign powers via a nuclear arsenal would be. Although Puckett takes Shaw, Keiko and Bill's request for uranium to lure Godzilla out for study as meaning they need to nuke Godzilla A.S.A.P. and he takes to the idea, and although he also refuses the trio's subsequent protests to destroying Godzilla; unlike Admiral Stenz six decades later, General Puckett is a lot more forgivable in believing that an atomic weapon could actually kill Godzilla with certainty and work as intended since it had never been tried before him. After Godzilla is seemingly killed, Lee suggesting that another Titan like Godzilla could turn up far nearer to an American population center convinces Puckett to reject Lee's request for extra funding and resources for Monarch... to instead give Monarch unlimited extra funding and resources.
• No Ordinary Family:
  • Detective Cho is the only cop who appreciates Jim's contributions to their cases. She also picks up on the pattern of how he's been involving himself in cases after he gets powers. Her reaction to seeing him use his powers isn't an entirely understanding one, but she still says that she won't arrest him for his vigilantism if he stops taking the law into his own hands. She also seems contemplative when Jim says that she may need him if more super-powered villains show up and he'll be waiting for her to change her mind.
  • Detective Cordero can be a cold and judgmental man, but not an entirely unreasonable and uncompassionate one even before his Character Development.
    • In his first appearance, he expresses annoyance that Jim is showing so much concern over the attempted murder of a career criminal and Asshole Victim when the police have limited resources and there are many other open cases with more sympathetic victims. However once the shooter strikes again and kills someone, Cordero takes the case more seriously and also tells George that he thinks the suspect he's pointed them to is guilty (he is) and worth further investigation even though there's no immediate evidence.
    • In another episode, he refuses to let a witness to a home invasion remain anonymous despite the boy's fear of the robbers (pointing out that the crooks will walk in court if he keeps the boy out of it), but he does post a police guard on the boy and his family.
• Noughts & Crosses:
  • Prime Minister Folami recognizes Nought oppression isn't sustainable and works to bring racial unity in Albion. She fails, thanks to Kamal.
  • One of the Cross prison guards stops a prisoner from doing anything to Ryan in the yard. He's later warded off from stopping the same prisoner kill Ryan however by a fellow guard.
• NUMB3RS:
  • Don is a textbook example. He's not afraid to give his team members a talking-to when he feels they deserve it, but he by and large treats them as equals and listens to what they have to say, and he even lets Colby back on the team after finding out he was a triple agent. In fact, if he starts shutting his team down or refusing to listen, it's a pretty clear sign that he's in a bad place mentally.
  • The series also shows Charlie to be this as a teacher.
• Visitors from the corporate headquarters in New York tend to be this in the US version of The Office. David Wallace in particular is willing to take both business and human considerations into his decisions (e.g. his willingness to not go through with Jim's plan in "The Meeting"). As reasonable as they are, they also managed to run the company into the ground. Then again, it's possible that Dunder Mifflin went under in spite of Wallace's reasonableness, as many of its corporate leaders (e.g. Jan, Ryan) are also shown to be stunningly incompetent.
• Warden Joseph Caputo from Orange Is the New Black, so much so it clashes with the prisoners and the public at one point; after inmate Poussey Washington is accidentally choked to death by a rookie guard during a riot, both want him to release the name of the guard, but he refuses, because he feels the kid never should've been there, and the true culprit is head guard Desi Piscatella, who sent him in there, and has a history of abusing the prisoners.
• Political Animals:
  • President Garcetti and his Secretary of State Elaine often have an antagonistic relationship, but he is usually willing to listen to Elaine's arguments and be convinced to do what's right.
  • Oddly enough, considering he's sleeping with some of his employees, Susan's editor, Alex, otherwise tries to stand up for the journalistic standards of the newspaper. He objects when he suspects Susan's connections with the Hammonds may be biasing her journalism, and later, refuses to let Susan take the fall for him when another reporter retaliates over his refusal to publish Elaine's resignation letter.
• Power Rangers Mystic Force The Magic Tribunal values balance and are reluctant to intervene with other dimensions even when magic is being used destructively but they do admire the Mystic Rangers' efforts, hear them out, and ultimately invalidate Imperious's dark wish. They also adhere to their own rules about requiring unanimous votes rather than dispense with them at will.
• Pope in Prison Break treats the inmates with a degree of respect. He doesn't talk about them in a demeaning way, as the guards tend to; seems genuinely sorry whenever he has to deliver bad news; and takes abuses of authority seriously. An interesting example because even though viewers are expected to have some sympathy for the protagonists, Pope — understandably — never supports their goal of escape. At least in the first season, since he doesn't have much authority outside the prison.
• Chief Karen Vick in Psych, as well as being Da Chief, also demonstrates these traits; she puts up with Shawn's antics with a remarkable amount of restraint, considering, and treats him and his "psychic" abilities reasonably and respectfully, although certainly not blindly^note It's strongly implied that she is aware that Shawn is making it all up, but that he's also an excellent detective and helps with a lot of cases, so she lets it slide.
  • In later seasons, Head Detective Carlton Lassiter also applies. While still outwardly rude and disbelieving of Shawn, he sees that Shawn gets results and lets more and more of his childishness by^note By the end of the series, it's clear that he is at least aware that Shawn is making it up, but isn't sure how he manages to make his deductions and ultimately decides to go with it rather than calling Spencer out.
• Roswell has Sheriff Jim Valenti, once he evolves from Secret Chaser. He's willing to give Max and company the benefit of the doubt when they can't fully explain something, and actively protects them from less well meaning public servants.
• Agent Cabe Gallows on Scorpion, despite being an archetypal, tough-nosed government agent, is quick to trust his socially awkward genius subordinates, often following up on their theories with little to no arguing, and often even brings his own brand of crime-fighting to back them up. The fact that he's also played by Robert Patrick is just a plus.
• In Sherlock Detective Inspector Lestrade is usually willing to let Sherlock do what he must to solve the mystery at hand, often against his own better judgement.
• The Stand (2020): General Starkey, the man in charge of the military medical facility in Vermont that Stu is sent to at the start of the Captain Trips pandemic, ultimately chooses to let Stu go free once the virus has almost completely collapsed society. In his view, there's no one left to tell him to do otherwise, so he may as well do the right thing.
• Stargate:
  • President Henry Hayes in Stargate SG-1, with a prejudiced/misguided Evil Vice President (Kinsey).
  • Generals Hammond, O'Neill, and Landry too.
    [Dr. Jackson has just finished giving intel about the Jaffa to SG-1 and Gen. Hammond, based on a dream]
    Dr. Jackson: [surprised] So, you believe me, too?
    Gen. Hammond: The things I've heard sitting in this chair…
    • "Sight Unseen" has a great example where Jonas Quinn (still sort of the new guy) claims to see something no one else can (a large bug crawling around). Hammond immediately orders a lockdown and investigation into the matter.
  • It's especially evident once the President finds out about everything Kinsey has done, he shuts him up in order to listen to Dr. Weir and fires him in the same breath. In fact, the President tells him that with so much compromising evidence against him, Kinsey's lucky he's not getting shot for treason.
  • Colonel Caldwell from Stargate Atlantis also fits this trope, especially after they get that Goa'uld out of his head.
  • Richard Woolsey was introduced to the franchise as an Obstructive Bureaucrat, and everyone was worried when he took command of Atlantis in the final season. While he remains an unapologetic bureaucrat, Woolsey does prove himself to be fairly reasonable, and he's willing to bend the rules here and there in exceptional circumstances.
  • The Invisible President who was in office before Henry Hayes. Whenever he's mentioned, it's usually because he's signing off on some ridiculous plan that SG-1 has come up with.
  • In the episode "Harmony," Princess Flora has worked with Atlantis to help the poor and impoverished people of her planet. When her thirteen-year-old sister Harmony is selected to be the new queen instead of her, Flora accepts this gracefully and asks Sheppard and McKay to provide security for Harmony during her Magical Girl Queenliness Test. She's also lets them search her room for evidence about who tried to kill Harmony without being imperious or defensive about it.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • Admiral Gregory Quinn largely comes across as one in the episode "Coming of Age" when he realizes there was something sinister going on in Starfleet and wanted to be sure Picard was someone he could trust. This was before Quinn was infected with a parasite sometime prior to the episode "Conspiracy."
    • Admiral J.P. Hanson in "The Best of Both Worlds is largely one of these. However, his refusal to believe that the Borg had assimilated all of Picard's knowledge contributed to Starfleet's defeat at Wolf 359, and led to his death.
    • The episode "The Drumhead" provides the reasonable Admiral Thomas Henry to contrast Insane Admiral Norah Satie. When Satie launches a witch hunt on the Enterprise to root out potential enemies of The Federation, to the point of accusing Captain Picard himself of being a traitor, Henry decides that she's gone too far and puts an end to her activities.
  • Admiral Forrest, Starfleet's CINC on Star Trek: Enterprise is just about the only instance of a consistently supportive admiral in the franchise; the standard is more like Admiral Nechayev from TNG.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    • Admiral Ross also had a tendency to be fairly reasonable... In fact, he tended to be the voice of reason when Sisko began to chew scenery.
    • Speaking of DS9, Martok is among a handful of reasonable Klingon leaders seen on screen. Though this becomes a problem when Chancellor Gowron (a thoroughly political Glory Hound) thinks that Martok's victories will eventually allow him to challenge Gowron's position (something Martok, a career soldier of the Empire, has no intention of doing). Indeed, Gowron's paranoia ends up becoming a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy; Worf, furious over Gowron's treatment of Martok, challenges him in combat and wins, then passes the mantle to Martok.
    • Zek, Grand Nagus of the Ferengi, is a greedy capitalist, always looking for the best deal to make money and power. However, as the Nagus, his job is to be the standard-bearer of greed and moral limits. He cannot be the type of man who would tank the entire Ferengi economy as a means to gain personal power. He also won't play favor for Quark because he is dating and in love with Quark's mom because Quark's problems come from the FCA, a combination of IRS and FBI, and while it is in his power to pardon Quark, it wouldn't be good business.
  • Admiral Paris from Star Trek: Voyager is also fairly reasonable, being willing to try out Reg Barclay's highly theoretical way to contact Voyager from across the galaxy and then congratulating him when it works. Then again, to tolerate Barclay for any length of time, he'd have to be patient.
  • Star Trek: Discovery:
    • Fleet Admiral Charles Vance - the late 32nd century head of Starfleet - is a fairly reasonable superior officer to Captains Saru and Burnham. He would later admit that as a young man he never listened to advise and made a lot of bad calls, and his earlier experiences helped shape him into the reasonable authority figure he would later become.
    • Federation President Laira Rillak also is a reasonable superior officer in turn to Vance.
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Admiral Robert April - the first Captain of the USS Enterprise - is a fairly reasonable superior officer to Chris Pike, who served as his first officer and by the time the series takes place Captain of the Enterprise.
• Supernatural:
  • Death. Not that he's there to in any way help the Winchesters or anyone for that matter, but he values order and is in charge of keeping the cycle of life and death continuing so the chaos doesn't destroy the universe. He is incredibly fair-handed in doing this, allows completely for the events of free will to be followed to their natural conclusion, and doesn't use "destiny" as an excuse to fuck people around. This means that all the Angels and Demons out there who play havoc with the natural order, arrogantly declaring that they can do whatever they want REALLY pisses him off (particularly considering how insignificant they are in comparison to him). As a result, if the Winchesters' aims coincide with his own, he will help them out. He is also the only entity in the whole of existence who Dean actually respects. And considering his exposure to both God and the Devil, that is saying something.
  • Even before she gets into the hunter business more prominently, in Season 6 Sheriff Jody Mills helps Bobby deal with other law enforcement officials who have started nosing around hunter business, and she uses her position to get him and the Winchesters out of any trouble they get into in her district.
  • Micker is one of the British Men of Letters. While he allows many of the London Chapter's more villainous actions to go forward and directly does some villainous actions himself, he is willing to reach out to the American hunters, listen to them, and work with them. This trait directly results in his Heel–Face Turn.
  • In "The Benders", Deputy Kathleen Hudak places Dean under arrest but agrees to suspend the arrest long enough to help him find the kidnapped Sam and ultimately lets him go.
• The Mexican police chief in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. A couple of American kids get in a fight in a bar, he's ready to let them off with a warning provided they call their parents. Too bad one of the kids is a wanted fugitive.
• The British series That'll Teach 'Em is about 30 modern teenagers attending a simulated 50s or 60s school setting, depending on the season. This includes incredibly tough teachers who yell, insult and punish their pupils at the slightest provocation. Several of the staff members are more reasonable than others:
  • Matron certainly is one. While she is very strict when it comes to the tidiness of both the students and their beds, she is always there to provide a listening ear to them when needed.
  • Headmaster MacTavish from Series 1 is a strict headmaster, but still reasonable when dealing out discipline. For example, when reprimanding one of his pupils for her bad table manners, she was on the verge of tears. Because he did not want to destroy her, he did not raise his voice and encouraged her to improve her behavior instead. MacTavish also undergoes any punishments he gives to the students himself, as he does not want to make students endure something he isn't prepared to endure himself.
• The last episode of Titus, "The Protector", has Christopher and the gang confront the man who molested Erin's niece in the high school washroom with intentions of "discussing" the issue with him. Principal Wells, upon hearing the evidence, proclaims he'll call the police himself... but he'll give them 15 minutes first. Admittedly, more of a Sympathetic Authority Figure than a strictly Reasonable one.
• President Bartlet of The West Wing is a mild version of one of these, in that he actually listens to practical and moral reasons for his actions, rather than scheming and ignoring the facts for political gain.
• Captain Mercer of The Orville will give his staff a fair hearing.
  • When Bortis demands the captain pull rank on the chief medical officer, Mercer debates the necessity before putting his foot down and stating that even if he would do what Bortis wanted, he doesn't actually have the authority to overrule the CMO on a medical decision that doesn't affect the ship. Afterward he talks it over with his first officer, taking Bortis's side to check that he's not letting his own bias get in the way.
  • Alara comes to the captain with a story of being assaulted in the corridor by a circus clown who then vanished. In a bit of an inversion, Mercer is more open to the idea than Alara, who believes she's cracking up and wants to be relieved of duty. Pointing out that someone going insane is often the last to notice, he suggests checking the ship's internal surveillance. And there's the clown.
• Cedric Daniels from The Wire. Although McNulty sometimes sees him as an Obstructive Bureaucrat, he is a very competent and reasonable officer dedicated to quality police work.
  • For such a deathly cynical series, The Wire contains a surprising amount of these, from Howard "Bunny" Colvin, Tommy Carcetti at first, Gus Haynes, and Roland Pryzbylewski when the latter becomes a teacher.
• Principal Larritate in Wizards of Waverly Place. Yes, he comes down hard on Alex, but only because he feels she needs it more. Harper on the other hand gets off with a wrist slap because she's not really a problem, or another trouble maker he lets off lightly because he knows he won't get through to him. He also offers Alex an alternative to being suspended even though she may find the cure worse than the disease.
• Assistant Director Skinner from The X-Files. If Mulder and Scully can back up what they're saying, he'll be on board to help them do or get what they need — in time, he comes to trust and deeply care for them, as they do him.

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