Sandbox / Exposition Victim Wick Check

Category: Needs Help

Raised at Trope Talk by Coachpill. Exposition Victim seems to be a trope that is about confronting and interrogating the killer upon discovering their identity. The description and on-page examples are rife with What an Idiot!-style complaining, but this is not apparent in any of the wicks. However, I did find that most of these wicks are Zero-Context Examples or about something else, and several of them involve confronting a character involved in a crime other than murder. Coachpill has also noted a substantial overlap with Destined Bystander, He Knows Too Much, and Talking Your Way Out.

I should note, also, that Exposition Victim has only 30 wicks and is poorly crosswicked.

Wick check (all 30)

Interrogating the killer upon discovering their identity (3, 10%)

1. Mystery Tropes: Upon finding out who the killer is, the character speaks to them instead of fighting or running away.
2. Literature.Thunderhead: Nora almost lets herself become one. She confronts Sloane and lays out exactly what she's done and what's going to happen to her when they get back to society. She only notices Sloane reach for her gun and realizes she's made a terrible mistake with seconds to spare.
3. Series.Wire In The Blood: Tony is the very worst at this. When he gets cornered by a psychotic killer about to torture him to death, his first priority seems to be figuring out why, rather than trying to defend himself. That this is completely in-character for Tony, of all people, makes this a rather unconventional use of this trope. The fact that questioning the killer, getting into their head and manipulating them is the one way Tony is likely to survive gives us quite a few Moments Of Awesome.

Interviewee is not a killer (4, 13%)

1. Characters.Genshin Impact Inazuma: His confrontation with Escher serves to reveal the truth about the Tatarasuma Incident and Scaramouche's past, namely the Fatui's role in everything. Unclear how this person is connected to the crime
2. Characters.Genshin Impact Inazuma Historical: His confrontation with Escher serves to reveal the truth about the Tatarasuma Incident and Scaramouche's past, namely the Fatui's role in everything. Unclear how this person is connected to the crime
3. Characters.Line Of Duty: When Roz brings him in, he tells them exactly how the Balaclava Men gang operates. Actually an Inverted Trope of this folder
4. VisualNovel.Echo: Chase himself when trapped in the mines with Brian near the end of the route, to the point where even the voice inside Chase's head berates him for continuing to ask questions instead of running away when Brian is literally digging his own grave right in front of him. Chase's justification is that he's asking questions to buy time before escaping, but it's implied he's simply too afraid to try and run away as Brian is blocking the exit, and has a weapon in his hand along with a demonstrated size and speed advantage. Unclear how this person is connected to the crime

Anything else (7, 23%)

1. Angel.Tropes A To E: In "City Of..." Cordelia notices that the house she's in has no reflective surfaces at all. Out loud, she realises that she's in a vampire's house and challenges the owner — until her Sunnydale instincts catch up with her mouth and she tries to pretend that she was joking. This is Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!
2. Fanfic.Twilight Storm: Bella gets this a lot with the Doctor bringing her (and readers) up to speed on various enemies he encounters (many from the novels that casual Who viewers may not have read). This is Infodump
3. Film.The Testament Of Dr Mabuse: Dr. Kramm notices that Mabuse's manifesto includes detailed plans for a jewel robbery identical to one that is reported in that day's newspaper. He shows Professor Baum the similarities between the two and says he needs to tell the police. Unfortunately for Kramm, Baum is behind the robbery and arranges to have him shot in his car. Not a killer, and not a confrontation
4. Recap.Angel S 01 E 01 City Of: Cordelia notices that the house she's in has no reflective surfaces at all. Out loud, she realizes that she's in a vampire's house and challenges the owner — until her Sunnydale instincts catch up with her mouth and she tries to pretend that she was joking. This is Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!
5. Recap.I Am Not Done MHA: A strange still alive case. As Izuku exposes the feeling of helplessness to Hatsume after being brutalized, he inadvertedly lays open his whole ordeal from the first chapter to both Majima-sensei and Recovery Girl, who in turn look at him concerned. This is a bit unclear, but I think this is the perpetrator confessing to their crime
6. Series.Forbrydelsen: Lund ends the second season by baiting Strange into shooting her, but then reveals that she was wearing a bullet-proof vest. This is Serial Killer Baiting
7. WesternAnimation.The Sponge Bob Square Pants Movie: Squidward quickly deduces Plankton's Frame-Up scheme and threatens to tell King Neptune about it... in the middle of Plankton's restaurant. Low on context, but likely a Liar Revealed moment for some kind of scam.

ZCE (11, 37%)

1. Bulletproof Vest:
   • A rare lapse of realism in Forbrydelsen in the second-season finale. Lund gets shot three times at point-blank range while faking Exposition Victim to bait the murderer, and five minutes later is mobile enough to knock them out from behind.
2. Characters.Tiger And Bunny Main Characters: In Episode 19.
3. ComicBook.Comic Cavalcade: (empty ZCE)
4. ComicBook.Ruse: Subverted — she knows exactly what she's doing, and there's backup lurking just out of sight.
5. ComicBook.Sin City: Happens off-screen when Kevin kidnaps Marv's parole officer.
6. Fanfic.Escape The Ronpa: Actually there's two of them executed in a single prologue chapter.
7. Literature.Mrs Murphy Mysteries: Harry almost becomes one during the very first book.
8. Recap.Doctor Who S 2 E 3 The Rescue: The Doctor foolishly does this with Bennett and comes very close to getting killed. He defends himself well, though. What did he do when confronting Bennett?
9. Series.Forever 2014: Henry has a bad habit of confronting killers as soon as he's figured out their crime, instead of waiting for backup or even telling anyone else what he's realized. It sometimes gets him killed. How does he confront murderers?
10. Series.Taggart: in "Forbidden Fruit"
11. Webcomic.Six Gun Mage
    • Too Dumb to Live: The old priest who protected the kid seer is warned by Kylie that the Circle plans to have one of their aging number Body Surf into the boy's brain. He starts boasting to a Circle member that even if such a thing was true, he would easily tell the difference between an evil mage and a boy he raised from birth and would act appropriately. Guess what her response is.

N/A (5, 17%)

1. Alone with the Psycho: From the description:
   • Compare Exposition Victim and Consulting a Convicted Killer. See also The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House.
2. Crime and Punishment Tropes: (comment-free index entry)
3. Have You Told Anyone Else?: From the description:
   • Compare Exposition Victim and Blackmail Backfire.
4. Victimhood Tropes: (comment-free index entry)
5. IReadThatAs.A To F
   • Exposition Victim
     • Explosion Victim
     • Explosive Victim