What An Idiot / Live Action TVJ To L

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J

• Judge Judy: One plaintiff is suing a couple of guys for allegedly stealing her wallet. Judy asks her to list the contents of said wallet and she mentions some gift cards, an earpiece, and a calculator.
  You'd expect: The defendants would stay quiet and listen to the accusations to come up with a believable defense.
  Instead: One of the defendants says "The earpiece wasn't in the wallet." Judge Judy hands down a judgement for the plaintiff within seconds.
  • Most court shows have litigants who impulsively interrupt to defend themselves from the other party's accusations. Whereas a rational person would stop talking after the judge's first warning, these litigants will continue to interrupt either the other party or the judge even after multiple warnings. They are more likely to lose their case because they've either said too much or because the judge is done warning them.
• Jurassic Fight Club: In T. rex Hunter, a Nanotyrannus attempts to kill a pair of Tyrannosaurus juveniles before their parents come back so that it can avert competition later on. The Nanotyrannus manages to kill one of the juveniles, though the mother Tyrannosaurus before the second juvenile can be killed.
  You'd expect: The Nanotyrannus to realize its now hopelessly outmatched and run off as quickly as it can. It's one thing to attack an adult Tyrannosaurus, but it's another to attack a child right in front of its mother, who has also noticed that another child of hers just died.
  Instead: The Nanotyrannus decides to defy all logic and still try to attack the juvenile, despite the mother standing in its way.
  The Result: The Nanoyrannus is stunned before it could properly lunge at its prey. The mother Tyrannosaurus brutally kills her aggressor and uses the Nanotyrannus's corpse as a warning signal for any future attackers. Essentially, the Nanotyrannus's efforts were All for Nothing, all because it was too dumb to not consider backing off when someone who can effortlessly kill the Nano is around.

K

• Kenan & Kel:
  • "Haven't Got Time For The Paint" has Kenan discovering Kel's talent in painting, and one of Kel's paintings ("Sunset Funset") getting sold at an auction. At Rigby's, the two then set up an auction of their own, in which Walter Kensington, the wealthy man who had purchased Kel's painting for $50K, is participating. Only problem—he's confused Kel with a similarly-named Swedish painter (Karlo Kimbell). Before the auction starts, a woman wants to buy one of Kel's paintings for $20K.
    You'd Expect: Both Kenan and Kel to accept the woman's offer, and later on, to be truthful and tell Mr. Kensington that Kel is not the Swedish artist.
    Instead: Kel accepts her offer, but Kenan declines it, and even after Kel corrects Mr. Kensington, Kenan still tries to pass Kel off as the Swedish artist, slipping into stereotypical Swedish behavior such as yodeling. This doesn't fool Mr. Kensington one bit ("This is not Swede talk!"), and he thinks they're trying to scam him.
    The Result: Mr. Kensington demands his money back, and the auction ends disastrously, with no one wanting to buy any of Kel's paintings. Nice going, Kenan—you've just blown it for Kel!
  • "Girl Watchers" has Melissa making a getaway while Kenan is looking for a picture of Eric to get her to remember him. Kel noticed this.
    You'd Expect: He'll tell Kenan about this problem.
    Instead: He just waves goodbye as soon as she leaves.
  • In "Foul Bull", while drinking orange soda, Kel spills some of it on the floor at Rigby's. Suddenly, Ron Harper shows up in the store.
    You'd Expect: Kenan would take an advantage of this to distract the crowd while he gets a mop and clean this mess up.
    Instead: He gets distracted by him to do it. As soon as Ron looks around the store, he slips on the orange soda. All of Chicago blames Kenan and Kel for this.
  • In "Attack of the Bug Men" Kenan's house gets robbed by two burglars claiming to be exterminators after Kenan left the door open against his parents wishes and he goes to the place they're eating dinner after the cops get involved.
    You'd Expect: Kenan would tell his parents they got robbed, but leave out the fact they left the door open and claimed he thought they were legitimate bug men.
    Instead: He tries to stall them as long as possible
    Later: The cops find the bug men but they need Kenan and Kel to come back to pick out their stuff (as these men had robbed several houses) so they decide to stall longer by making Kyra order the largest thing on the menu.
    You'd Expect: Kenan would realize it will take them hours to eat the entire thing and excuse himself so he and Kel can go home to make sure they get the right stuff.
    Instead: He dumps the entire dish onto his family and makes Kel go alone to get his stuff. Kel knows which stuff is the Rockmores', but instead he takes furniture from the truck that he thinks looks so much cooler (for instance, a chair that resembles a giant hand; "I thought you guys might like it better!").
  • In Two Heads Are Better Than None, Kenan encounters the Headless Knight in the woods, and runs back to camp to warn his family. Naturally, they don't find the knight, and tell him he's just imagining things. Fair enough, but when they go to the Believe it or Else museum, they encounter an exhibit of the Headless Knight, whom Kenan instantly recognizes from that night, and whom people have reported seeing in a town called Rockville.
    You'd Expect: Kenan's parents would realize that Kenan may not have been imagining things after all, and start to get concerned for his life.
    Instead: They still dismiss it as a made-up story, despite a museum employee confirming Rockville's existence, and admitting he believes the legend to be true.
    Later: The Rockmores encounter a scary old man at a gas station, who warns them "Stay away from Rockville!" and "There's evil going on in there. Evil, I tell ya!" Later, their SUV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and the next town? It's Rockville! Kel even tells the Rockmores, "That's the evil town! That's where the Headless Knight lives! That's the place the man told us to stay away from!"
    You'd Expect: With all the clear evidence of the Headless Knight's existence, Kenan's parents would finally accept that the killer cannibalistic knight is real.
    Instead; They still don't believe the Headless Knight exists, even after Kenan and Kel escape Rockville, clearly terrified from the experience and having just barely escaped alive. Only when Roger insists on going to the Headless Knight's house for himself, and being traumatized from seeing the knight's disembodied head talking to him does he finally accept the truth.
• Key & Peele: Many sketches could have ended differently had people think smart. Then again, it wouldn't have ended up funny.
  • In The Worst Way to Get Medical Marijuana, Mr Washington (Peele) goes to the Doctor (Key) to get Marijuana legally by pretending to be sick with Aids. The Doctor realize what Mr Washington is doing and tells him to pretend to be sick with something simple like back pain or insomnia so he doesn't have to check if he does have a serious sickness.
  • You Expect: Mr Washington does what the Doctor says and say he has back pain or something simple so he can get his marijuana.
  • Instead: Mr Washington keeps saying he has more serious illnesses like scurvy, leprosy and shingles.
  • The results: The Doctor becomes increasingly frustrated that Mr Washington isn't listening to him to the point the now angry Doctor slaps Mr Washington in the face.
  • In The Worst Drug Ever, a trio of college kids meet a drug addict (Peele) who appears to be suffering symptoms from a drug called Funt aka "The God Drugs" and asks them to try it.
  • You Expect: The guys avoid taking the God Drug since you take it by putting the jagged glass-like drug under your eyelid. Furthermore, nothing good happens after you take it since it "locks you up with your worse nightmares and insecurities" and makes you poop out of your mouth.
  • Instead: One of the guys (Key) takes the God Drug despite his friends warning him.
  • The results: Key's character not only doesn't get high but is also in pain from the bleeding from his eye. Worse, it turns out the Drug addict was a fake and is actually actor for anti-drugs TV ad.
  • In Dad's Hollywood Secret Joseph Carmichael (Key) finds an old film reel of his recently deceased father Otis Carmichael (Peele) before his funeral.
  • You Expect: Joseph would watch the film before or after the funeral and would discover his father's shameful past of playing offensive black stereotypes while he was a young actor and keep it hidden or not show the film so his father's reputation as a civil rights activist wouldn't be tarnished.
  • Instead: Joseph doesn't watch the film and decides to play the film on the day of Otis' funeral.
  • The results: Everyone at the funeral, including Joseph, are shocked on discovering Otis, a famous civil rights activist played offensive black stereotypes in the past.
• Killing Eve
  • The titular Eve and her colleague Bill are in Berlin to track down Villanelle, who is a Professional Killer. When they split up, with Eve going to have dinner with someone who may have valuable information on the most recent victim, Bill notices a woman following her whom he suspects might be the killer.
    You'd Expect: Bill to immediately alert the authorities and get back-up, as well as calling Eve and letting her know she was being followed and to either meet up with him straight away or have her lead Villanelle somewhere that has plenty of armed officers who can arrest her.
    Instead: Bill follows Villanelle alone through Berlin, making it very obvious that he's doing so and all he does it call Eve to tell her that he's following her and where she's headed so Eve can rendezvous with him. Did we mention that Bill is an out-of-shape old man and Villanelle is a young, ruthless, incredibly successful assassin? Because Bill apparently realises this far too late when Villanelle corners him in the nightclub, stabs him to death and then walks away without anybody even seeing what happened until Eve arrives and Bill dies in her arms. Too Dumb to Live, indeed.

L

• Law & Order:
  • Stephanie Harker in "True North" wants to marry a rich guy. Okay, fair enough.
    You'd Expect: That she'd go after a single, childless man.
    Instead: She goes after a married father and kills his wife to get him.
    You'd Also Expect: Having snagged a rich husband, she'd knock herself out trying to be a good wife and stepmother as well as fit into his social circle.
    Instead: She carries on with her party girl ways—spending excessively, making him get fed up with her very rapidly and plan to divorce her. Which leads to. . .
    You'd Expect: Her to accept what likely would have been a decent divorce settlement, including alimony that would probably have allowed her to continue her trashy lifestyle and get away with having killed his first wife.
    Instead: She has him and his daughter killed to stop the divorce proceedings. Her plot gets found out within a few days and she ends up on death row.
  • Episode 20-9m "For The Defense": Mike Cutter is lamenting the fact that a corrupt lawyer is threatening to use a prior sexual relationship with Connie to discredit her impending testimony. Cutter goes on and on about how bad an idea sleeping with a co-worker is and how stupid Connie was to put herself in that situation.
    You'd expect: For him not to go on like this to someone who has a well-known track record of office relationships. Especially when that person is Jack McCoy, his boss.
    Instead: Cutter asks "What kind of person would put themselves in that position?" (Jack: You mean besides me?). Cutter keeps going, basically calling Jack and Connie idiots for engaging in said relationships.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • The team finds a homeless girl and gets her to give up information about her "father", a wanted criminal who has killed several people and is still on the loose after a woman is murdered.
    You'd Expect: They'd put her in the protective custody of the police and keep her safe in case her "father" wants to kill her for ratting on him.
    Instead: They release her to the head of a shelter with no one there to guard her.
    Predictably: The kid's "father" comes back for her and kills both her and the head of the shelter. Saw that one coming.
  • The exact thing happens in a far more egregious example in the episode, Lost Reputation. Captain Cragen is framed in an overly elaborate conspiracy between two criminals, who are attempting to frame each other, and border on international terrorists. The detectives track down a victim of one of them in hopes of her testifying.
    You'd Expect: She would be brought to the police station or someone left behind for protection, especially when she mentions of having children.
    Instead: They leave her there, alone until morning.
    Shockingly: She turns up dead and their entire case is now looking dead in the water.
    • Generally, if (s)he is left outside of police custody for any length of time, expect the only or most crucial witness to a case to wind up on a slab or at best be brutally attacked so that they won't testify.
  • This show seems to be made of this trope. In one episode, some family member comes barging in worried about their relative.
    You'd Expect: They'd learn to shut up, or at the very least hide traumatizing information.
    Instead: They clearly don't. Naming one episode would be a disservice to all of the other times this happens.
    Invariably: The family member will either go into an unrecoverable funk, go batshit insane, or do something else impossibly stupid.
    • They also tend to completely break protocol (which in real life would get them fired or worse) when dealing with suspects by arrogantly letting information out about witnesses that could put them away for life. Either in front of them or in earshot of their dangerous, mobbed-up or gang associates. And then they act completely shocked when their star witness to a case is brutally murdered five minutes later.
  • And it's not just the detectives. In "Goliath," a large group of armed cops are facing down one of their own, who's just killed his wife in a psychotic state induced by drugs he was given while serving in Iraq. He's half naked, smeared with his wife's blood, and holding a gun, in the depths of confusion and despair. His son (who is at least twelve or thirteen) comes out of the house, ignorant of his mother's death. Remember, a large cadre of armed officers are present.
    You'd expect: The kid to see his father, bloody, holding a gun, and with other cops pointing their weapons at them, realize something is wrong, and react appropriately.
    Instead: He completely ignores all the guns and all the other cops, including the cop repeatedly telling him to go back inside, and questions his dad in confusion about his mother, wondering why his father is so upset. "Are you mad at me?" That's the last straw that pushes his dad over the edge, and he fires the gun into his own head. (He lives, but that's not the POINT.)
  • One that seems to repeat several times. A teenage couple are arrested for some type of crime. Often, he either rapes her or convinces her to be an accomplice to a crime.
    You'd expect: The girl would realize that a healthy relationship doesn't involve police interrogation, and would take advantage of the deal the police are giving her.
    Instead: She continues to wail about how "he loves her" and proceeds to take the fall (or cover up) for a guy who is usually only with her for sex, money, or to let her take the blame and frankly treats her like garbage.
    Unfortunately: A lot of abusive relationships often work like that.
  • In another episode, some rich teens get arrested for drinking at a party. The judge decides to give them a second chance and lets them go.
    You'd expect: Them to lay low and try not to get in any more trouble.
    Instead: They decide to get drunk anyway, and are caught and arrested by Benson and Stabler.
    Bonus Idiot Points: The reason they were caught in the first place was because one of their friends died at the party from an alcohol overdose, and they still think it's a good idea to keep drinking.
    Furthermore: The judge decides to give them another chance and cut them loose without further charges. Just hours later, one of them posts a video they made of themselves drunk and making fun of the judge and the detectives.
    Predictably: They get arrested and charged with underage drinking and contempt of court.
    You'd Then Expect: That these kids would really take a hint and sober up.
    Instead: At least one of them doesn't. Instead, he gets drunk and then offers a ride to a classmate, which ends in a crash that kills both of them. (The episode does indicate that the kid in question was struggling with an alcohol addiction, which could explain why he can't just stop drinking even when he's told to, but you would think that he would at least try to stay as under the radar as possible with it, rather than do something that racks up another offense and increases the risk of him being caught drunk.)
  • The episode "Stranger" has a long-lost girl returning to her parents, two older sisters and nephew after being missing for four years. Turns out, it's not the sister but an impostor: the real sister was killed four years earlier by the second oldest sister out of silence and then told everyone that she ran away so she wouldn't be sent off to fat camp.
    You'd Expect: That the older sister would either confess to her crime, play along, or at least try not to behave in a way that would garner suspicion onto herself.
    Instead: She still acts like a bitch to her, being as hostile to her as ever. Once the truth is revealed, the girl decides to tell the family about the hints the sister had been dropping that suggested she knew more than she was saying about her sister's disappearance.
    Moreso: Not only did the mother eventually found out what happened and keep quiet about it, her reason for killing the sister was rather weak, "She caught me doing drugs! She was going to tell!"
  • "Ridicule": Man names Smith tells SVU he was raped by three rich, powerful women. During trial prep, Alex asks him if there's anything she needs to know.
    You'd Expect: He tells her the truth.
    Instead: He fidgets and nervously says no.
    You'd Expect: Alex, not being an idiot, checks his legal history, just in case.
    Instead: She lets it go.
    Then: In court, the defendants' lawyer reveals that the man filed a civil suit against the women for $5,000,000 over his alleged rape, making Smith look like a gold-digger. He says he just did it because he wanted their names. He didn't mention it because Stabler had been skeptical, looking for an excuse to drop the case.
  • "Honor": Afghan diplomat is implicated in (but not charged with, because of Diplomatic Impunity) the murder of his daughter during an honor killing. His son is charged with that murder, but Cabot is worried he's going to succeed at an Insanity Defense. To prevent that, they think about having the diplomat's wife testify, since she didn't appear to sympathize with him. Cabot says that if they try that, they need to provide her 24/7 surveillance and protection. SVU agrees and says they'll do that. The wife agrees to testify.
    You'd Expect: SVU provides the surveillance and protection they said they would and make sure she has a place to stay that is not in her old apartment where her husband still is.
    Instead: They apparently don't do that.
    Then: The day the son is found guilty, the wife's body is discovered inside her apartment, and her husband has fled the country.
  • "Babes": A high schooler overhears his younger sister talking on the phone to her friend and making a joke about a guy "doing" her, then he finds out that guy got her pregnant.
    You'd Expect: That he would privately talk to his sister and ask what happened before doing anything, especially since she doesn't seem traumatized or even upset.
    Instead: He immediately jumps to the conclusion that the guy raped and impregnated his sister, steals a gasoline lighter and formaldehyde from his school's science lab, hunts him down, stabs him repeatedly in the genitals, and sets him on fire. Also, he leaves said lighter at the crime scene while fleeing, which has his school's name engraved on the barrel, making it incredibly easy for the detectives to find the lighter and put two and two together when they investigate the school and come across a nervous, jumpy young man with a visible burn on his hand. Way to cover your tracks, bud.
• LazyTown
  • Robbie Rotten is the villain, because he wants to make the kids lazy like him, because they are loud when they are active. The only reason why he can hear them, is because he has a system build in his house that stays under the ground that makes it able for him to hear them. In order to achieve his goal, he makes complicated plans which include disguising himself, making inventions or buying them or other schemes to deceive people. Each time he fails miserably. He doesn't want to be part of the other characters' group whether they're lazy or not and they leave him alone as long as he isn't bothering them.
    You'd expect: Him to give up on trying to make the kids lazy and to stop the system that transmits to him the children's voices or to get rid of it. He is lazy, why should he bother?
    Or better: Robbie to realize that a healthy lifestyle is better and to join them. He doesn't have to become the most athletic guy in town and he doesn't have to give up on unhealthy snacks entirely. And as mentioned, the other characters don't mind him as long as he isn't bothering them and they have shown kindness to him, even if he is the villain, and have other qualities (Sportacus in particular is really powerful) so he might have something to win if he befriends them.
    Instead: He stubbornly continues and his schemes fail every single time. We wouldn't have a show otherwise, wouldn't we?
  • A lot of Robbie's schemes include him putting on a Paper-Thin Disguise in order to trick the others. He always gets caught at the end of the episode.
    You'd expect: The other characters to see through his disguise or to at least expect to be him in disguise when they meet a new strange person or a strange creature.
    Instead: They fall for it, every single time.
    To be fair: The suspension of disbelief that a bad disguise works is very common in media, but even then it's pretty stupid that they wouldn't pick up his pattern on disguising himself. It is very likely Rule of Funny.
• A couple of moments from the Australian version of LEGO Masters.
  • In the first episode (Mega City Build), Jordan and Miller are building a town hall. Early on, Brickman notes that they're building too small for a "Mega" city, saying it's not "Mega Euro Valley."
    You'd Expect: They'd start aiming bigger. Not only is Brickman the judge of this version, but the goal is "Mega" city, and every other team is building to a skyscraper level.
    Instead: They disregard his advice and continue building to a relatively small scale. Already bad, but their reason for disregarding Brickman's advice is that they forgot he was the judge. By the time they remember that and decide to build bigger, there's not enough time left to build as high as the other teams. The only reason they get as tall as they want is because of a twist that gave them more time and creative room.
  • In the semi-final episode, Kale and Bilsy are told to build a prehistoric scene on a Minifigure scale.
    You'd Expect: Between losing an immunity challenge by trying to build too big, getting bottom two in an elimination challenge by making a part of their build too big, and having just been told they're to build to a Minifigure scale, they'd keep things reasonably sized.
    Instead: Kale, sticking to his "Bigger is better" mentality, aims for a T-rex with a head as big as his own. At two hours left, Kale only has a head and torso to work with and realizes he can't build the rest in time.
    You'd Then Expect: He'd trash the idea. At most, try building a smaller T-rex to put in place.
    Instead: He only removes the torso and places the head at the edge of the build.
    The Result: Not only does the T-rex head stick out like a sore thumb, but Brickman points out that it's not to a Minifigure scale (despite what Kale thinks). Between that and including modern items in a build that's not supposed to have any, they're sent out right before the finals.
• Letterkenny:
  • In season 7, Daryl abruptly decides that he's going to go to Quebec to try to get his ex-girlfriend, Anik, back. They previously broke up after she cheated on him, and she openly stated that she didn't love or trust him.
    You'd Expect: Someone to point out or Daryl to realise that Anik doesn't want anything to do with him. She dumped him after cheating on him, she does not want to be with him. Going to Quebec is a lost cause. In addition, why would she want to get back with an ex who doesn't respect her choices by showing up randomly and refusing to leave?
    You'd Also Expect: That when Wayne and Squirrelly Dan decide to come to Daryl's aid, they'd try to defuse the situation by convincing Daryl to leave calmly. The Hiques are their friends and allies, they owe it to them to not start a fight.
    Instead: The Hicks all just tell Daryl repeatedly that he won't get any respect if he goes back to her, which does nothing to dissuade him; when Wayne and Dan get there, they just shrug and go along with Daryl instead of trying to talk some sense into him.
    As A Result: The Hicks and Hiques get into a pointless fight that in all probability destroyed their friendship for a reason that didn't even begin to resemble 'good'.
• Liv and Maddie:
  • In "Premiere-A-Rooney", Liv is dressed for the premiere of Space Werewolves and is about to get her phone, which is on the other side of the counter next to the family's meat grinder.
    You'd expect: Liv to walk over to the other side of the counter and pick up her phone.
    Instead: She reaches her arm over the grinder to grab her phone, and accidentally activates the grinder, resulting in her hair getting stuck in it.
  • "Helgaween-A-Rooney": Maddie has returned home and grabs the magic wish amulet, ready to wish Helga away.
    You'd expect: Maddie to wish something like "I wish Helga away" or "I wish Liv and I were twins again."
    Instead: She only vaguely wishes, "I wish I was a twin again." As a result, the wish keeps Helga, but erases Liv from existence. Maddie even lampshades it.
  • "New Years Eve-A-Rooney": While Liv is co-hosting Johnny Nimbus' New Year's Eve show, a Q&A round reveals Liv kissed Maddie's boyfriend Diggie in her "Froyo YOLO" video. This enrages Maddie, and Liv becomes horrified when she finds out.
    You'd expect: Maddie to let Liv clarify what she's talking about, as Liv saying she "kissed her boyfriend" might have a lot more to it.
    Instead: She straight-up ignores her sister's pleas and tries to break up with Diggie on FaceTime, and she even doesn't let him talk as well. It's not until Maddie gets a text message to "Look at the TV" and unmute it does Liv reveal the kiss with Diggie is not what she thought — Diggie was playing the robot Liv kissed in the "Froyo YOLO" video, and Liv only kissed the mask, and Maddie meekly realizes the misunderstanding and apologizes.
  • "Ask Her More-A-Rooney": Turns out Maddie cannot graduate because she has an overdue library book; Parker reveals he secretly used the book as a pillar to hold up the house for the Parker Tunnels, and if the pillar is ever disassembled, then the house will fall. The solution is to switch the book with another with the same size and weight. He chooses Karen's Thai cookbook.
    You'd expect: For Parker and Maddie to skim through the book and see if there's anything they shouldn't accidentally leave there while it's being used for the beam.
    Instead: They go ahead and swap the books without warning.
    The result: Maddie successfully returns the book, and needs her birth certificate to finalize it; turns out the cookbook has all of Karen's important documents in it, including the birth certificate.
  • "Californi-A-Rooney": Karen finds out about the Parker Tunnels and finally realizes her cookbook is being used for the support pillar; she orders the boys to close up the tunnels and find a way to get her cookbook back.
    You'd expect: Joey to use a steady alternative to the cookbook, such as bricks, cinderblocks, or anything hard and sturdy enough to hold up the pillar where the book was.
    Instead: He uses Karen's exercise ball supported with hedge clippers.
    The result: The clippers pierce into the ball, deflating it and destroying the pillar, causing the house to collapse.

• Lockwood & Co. (2023): Near the end of "Mesmerised," after personally seeing George in thrall to the Bone Glass to the point of violent paranoia, Flo Bones takes George to Fittes to dispose of it.
  You'd Expect: Flo to at least make sure George gets all the way inside Fittes.
  Instead: Fearing potential conflict with Fittes agents as a relic woman, Flo tells George he's strong enough to resist the glass's power and then leaves.
  The Result: George enters the Fittes lobby and then immediately turns around to take the Bone Glass to Pamela Joplin instead.
• Lost:
  • Ben Linus (as well as most of The Others in general) reacts with stealth and deception throughout the first three seasons, resulting in the loss of several lives on both sides, let alone a lot of misunderstandings and mistrust.
    You'd Expect: Ben and the Others, upon witnessing Oceanic 815 break apart right over their heads, would act like sensible human beings, and offer some assistance and practical support to the Losties on both sides of the Island. After all, the survivors pose no threat to the Others, and some of them could make useful recruits, so it's best not to turn them into enemies.
    Instead: Ben instructs Goodwin and Ethan to blend in with the passengers, gather information and begin covert operations to "secure" the children and pregnant women (like Claire), with the result that both of them get killed in due time by pissed off Losties. Ben later has the gall to chide Jack for Ethan's death.
  • Related to the above is Ben's choice of spies. Ben understands that sending someone to spy on the Losties will be a dangerous mission, as it's implied he sent Goodwin to the tail section with the intention of getting him killed.
    You'd Expect: He would send someone expendable to spy on the middle section.
    Instead: He sends Ethan, the Others' only surgeon.
    The Result: Ethan gets killed and the Others lose one of their most important medical personnel. When Ben needs surgery later on, he's forced to try to coerce Jack into doing it.
  • "The Hunting Party": Jack tells Kate to stay behind and take care of the Button while he, Locke and Sawyer go after Michael.
    You'd Expect: As Jack has a perfectly good reason for asking her to stay behind, Kate should obviously just stay behind and push the damn Button.
    Instead: Butthurt that she was refused to opportunity to go along with them, she decides to follow the guys.
    The Result: She gets captured by the Others who then use her later as leverage to disarm Jack and the group, forcing them to give up on the search for Michael.
  • "The Man from Tallahassee": Locke learns from Peter Talbot that Anthony Cooper, Locke's father, is conning Peter's mother. He tells Cooper to call off the con and leave town, but is later informed by police that Peter has been found dead.
    You'd Expect: Locke would tell the police what he knows, since it's obvious that Cooper has murdered Peter.
    Instead: He goes to confront Cooper on his own and is tricked into turning his back on him, which gets him pushed out a window and paralyzed.
  • "Exposé": Nikki has two moments of this that get her and Paulo killed.
    • First, Nikki confronts Paulo over the fact that he has found their ill-gotten missing diamonds but lied about it. She decides to throw a Medusa Spider at him, which bites and paralyses him, so she can steal the diamonds back.
      You'd Expect: Nikki to remember what Arzt told her, that female Medusa Spiders have very powerful phermones to attract male Medusa Spiders, and have some method of defending herself when the male spiders inevitably arrive.
      Instead: Nikki forgets all about this and takes no precautions of any kind for other spiders.
      The Result: Another spider shows up, bites Nikki, and paralyses her too.
    • As Nikki was bitten on the leg, she still has some time left before she is paralysed to get help.
      You'd Expect: Nikki would forget about the diamonds and run to the beach immediately, where she could warn the other survivors that she and Paulo have merely been paralysed and are not dead. After all, the diamonds are worthless on a deserted Island anyway.
      Instead: She buries the diamonds to hide them before running to the beach.
      The Result: She gets there too late, collapsing in front of Hurley and Sawyer, who misunderstand her attempted warning. The survivors find the diamonds anyway and bury Nikki and Paulo alive, assuming them to be dead.
  • "Through the Looking Glass": Ben needs to convince Jack to give up the satellite phone that Jack is using to contact the freighter carrying his nemesis Charles Widmore's men, who have been sent to capture Ben but have claimed to the survivors that they are there to rescue them. As leverage, Ben has Bernard, Jin and Sayid held hostage by his men at the beach, and keeps in contact with them through a walkie-talkie.
    You'd Expect: Ben would bring some guards as backup when meeting with Jack and threaten to have his friends killed one by one, so that he can carry out the threat on one of them if Jack accuses him of bluffing without losing his bargaining chips.
    Instead: Ben meets with Jack alone and threatens to have all three of them killed at the same time. When Jack refuses to give up the phone, Ben has Tom fire three bullets into the sand within earshot of the walkie, convincing Jack that Jin, Bernard and Sayid are dead, but secretly leaving them alive.
    The Result: A furious Jack, who now believes he has nothing to lose, gives Ben a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and takes him prisoner, while at the beach, Jin, Bernard and Sayid are able to escape with the help of Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet and kill all of Ben's men.
  • "The Incident":
    • Jack decides to follow Faraday's plan to destroy the energy buildup at the Swan site by detonating Jughead, thinking this will prevent the plane crash and undo the timeline. Sawyer intercepts him and asks him why he's doing this.
      You'd Expect: Jack would give a rational explanation, such as saying that undoing the timeline will bring back those who died and give the survivors a chance at a better life.
      Instead: He says he's doing it because he blew his relationship with Kate, and when Sawyer tells him that resetting the timeline would just mean they'd never meet in the first place, he simply responds "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."
      The Result: Sawyer attacks him and the two have a vicious brawl, with Sawyer nearly beating Jack to death trying to stop him until Juliet intervenes.
      You'd Also Expect: It would occur to Jack or one of the others that detonating a hydrogen bomb might actually be what causes the Incident instead of preventing it, which Miles points out.
      Instead: This never crosses his mind and he goes ahead with the plan, which does just that and gets Juliet killed pointlessly.
    • Ben is tasked by the Man in Black (who he thinks is John Locke) with killing Jacob, and confronts Jacob over how his decades of service have been ignored and yet he's been discarded in favor of Locke, asking Jacob "What about me?"
      You'd Expect: Jacob, knowing that Ben has been told to kill him and is currently holding a knife on him, would say something conciliatory and explain to Ben that he does appreciate what he's done for him, or just tell Ben that the man he's with isn't really Locke.
      Instead: He dismissively responds, "What about you?"
      The Result: Ben hits his Rage Breaking Point and stabs Jacob to death.
  • "Sundown": Sayid has just made a Face–Heel Turn and killed Dogen by slashing his throat, when Dogen's Number Two, Lennon, walks into the room, and realizes what Sayid has done.
    You'd Expect: Lennon would leave the room and flee for his life, as Ben does when he encounters this scene a few minutes later.
    Instead: Lennon yells at Sayid and calls him an idiot.
    The Result: Sayid kills him too.

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