Tropescilloscope: Karma Houdini

Character gets away with foul deeds while avoiding justice. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Artistic License – Gun Safety O.O.C. Is Serious Business The Smurfette Principle Unusually Uninteresting Sight Fainting Scary Black Man Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" The Brute Eye Scream Hope Spot I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Random Events Plot Ripped from the Headlines Heroic Sacrifice Card-Carrying Villain Antagonist Title Insult Backfire Match Cut Hero Antagonist Redemption Equals Death Evil Sounds Deep Ambiguous Ending Kick the Son of a Bitch German Films Papa Wolf Obstructive Bureaucrat Gratuitous English Death by Irony Jerk Jock Advertised Extra Male Frontal Nudity Well-Intentioned Extremist Put on a Bus Heel Realization Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Heterosexual Life-Partners Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Death by Sex Real Life Christmas Movies Index Downer Ending Diabolus ex Machina Foregone Conclusion Guns Akimbo Tagline Sir Swears-a-Lot Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Malevolent Masked Men War Is Hell Historical In-Joke Not So Different Logo Joke Closed Circle Reckless Gun Usage Wham Shot Wounded Gazelle Gambit Shirtless Scene Horror Comedy Ungrateful Bastard No Name Given Imagine Spot Get Out! Comically Missing the Point '80s Hair Stock Footage Demoted to Extra Anti-Villain Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Greater-Scope Villain Kubrick Stare Once More, with Clarity! Humans Are Bastards The Alleged Car Mama Bear Adaptation Dye-Job Mundane Made Awesome Documentary 20 Minutes into the Future Meaningful Name Deliberate Values Dissonance For the Evulz Mystery and Detective Films Rule of Symbolism Hero of Another Story Punch-Clock Villain The Cavalry Award-Bait Song Daylight Horror Epic Movie Shut Up, Hannibal! Black Dude Dies First Improbable Weapon User Shell-Shocked Veteran Affably Evil The '90s Yandere Whole Plot Reference Meaningful Background Event Disguised in Drag Chekhov's Gun Adaptational Attractiveness B-Movie The Load Only a Flesh Wound Took a Level in Jerkass Amoral Attorney Bring My Brown Pants Those Wacky Nazis Villain Song Villain Ball Creepy Child An Arm and a Leg Captain Obvious The X of Y Did Not Get the Girl Broken Bird Lighter and Softer Nothing Is Scarier Time Skip Setting Update Mythology Gag Stylistic Suck Alliterative Name Dark Action Girl Laughing Mad Bittersweet Ending Karmic Death Femme Fatale The Oner Author Appeal French Films Bland-Name Product Soundtrack Dissonance Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Does This Remind You of Anything? Coming-of-Age Story The End... Or Is It? Say My Name Never Found the Body Air-Vent Passageway Faux Affably Evil Apocalypse How Bloodless Carnage Laser-Guided Karma Call-Forward Noodle Incident Dogged Nice Guy Arc Words Only in It for the Money NO INDOOR VOICE Genre Shift Mr. Fanservice Casting Gag Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Heel–Face Turn A Minor Kidroduction Crazy Jealous Guy Irony World of Ham Pre-Mortem One-Liner Fire-Forged Friends Thriller Character Development Fatal Family Photo Crazy-Prepared Bullying a Dragon Stuff Blowing Up Adaptation Expansion Four-Temperament Ensemble Foil Kick the Dog Fanservice Extra Paper-Thin Disguise Cat Fight You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Suspiciously Specific Denial Video Credits Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Leitmotif Idiot Ball Redshirt Army Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping The Un-Reveal Belligerent Sexual Tension Age Lift Anachronic Order Instant Death Bullet Batman Gambit Only Sane Man Poor Communication Kills Actually Pretty Funny Not Even Bothering with the Accent Zombie Stories Face–Heel Turn Sealed Evil in a Can Bloodier and Gorier Very Loosely Based on a True Story Naked People Are Funny BFG Heroic BSoD Vomit Indiscretion Shot Homage Man on Fire Last-Name Basis Never My Fault Betty and Veronica Manic Pixie Dream Girl Evil vs. Evil Department of Redundancy Department Central Theme What the Hell, Hero? Bond One-Liner Dual Wielding Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Token Minority She's Got Legs Blood Knight Race Against the Clock Costume Porn Moment Killer Cowboy Cop Attempted Rape Peek-a-Boo Corpse Adaptation Name Change The Mole And I Must Scream Big Bad Duumvirate Awesome, but Impractical Due to the Dead Daddy's Girl Unspoken Plan Guarantee Bolivian Army Ending Kill 'em All Public Domain Feature Films As You Know Shout-Out Adaptational Heroism Straight Gay Bloody Hilarious Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Evil Brit He Knows Too Much Canadian Movies Bait-and-Switch The Ace The '70s Call-Back Eureka Moment Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Spell My Name with an "S" Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Everyone Has Standards Stealth Pun Demonic Possession Dirty Cop Mighty Whitey Jerkass Has a Point Gold Digger Ax-Crazy Bunny-Ears Lawyer A Father to His Men Auto Erotica Unreliable Narrator Rape as Drama Nice Guy Gainax Ending Military and Warfare Films Bare Your Midriff Line-of-Sight Name Retired Badass Smug Snake Obviously Evil Would Hit a Girl The Great Depression Sanity Slippage "Shaggy Dog" Story Eiffel Tower Effect Determinator Annoying Younger Sibling Brainless Beauty Mr. Exposition Double Entendre Hidden Depths Faking the Dead Offscreen Moment of Awesome Offscreen Teleportation Self-Deprecation You Killed My Father Artistic License – Biology Alas, Poor Villain Corpsing Training Montage Happily Married Berserk Button Sequel Escalation Cool Old Guy Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Evil Laugh Funny Foreigner Male Gaze Off-into-the-Distance Ending Politically Incorrect Villain The Stinger Big Brother Instinct In Name Only Big Bad The Reveal Show Within a Show Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Suddenly SHOUTING! Hypocrite Lampshade Hanging Becoming the Mask Together in Death In the Back Ominous Latin Chanting N-Word Privileges "Well Done, Son!" Guy Fiery Redhead Not What It Looks Like Wham Line Truth in Television Cruel and Unusual Death No Ending Bury Your Gays Evil Plan Catapult Nightmare Genre Savvy Based on a True Story Black and Gray Morality Sexy Discretion Shot The Lost Lenore Interrupted Suicide Humiliation Conga Room Full of Crazy Evil Counterpart Here We Go Again! Silent Movie Freeze-Frame Bonus The Chessmaster Getting Crap Past the Radar And Starring Beware the Nice Ones Ass Shove Precision F-Strike Roger Ebert: Great Movies List The Hero Dies The Dreaded Be Careful What You Wish For Fantasy Films Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Woman Scorned Leaning on the Fourth Wall Vacation Films Chiaroscuro Adaptational Villainy Punny Name Facial Horror Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Manly Tears Big Fancy House Stealth Hi/Bye From Bad to Worse Bad Boss Not So Above It All Leave the Camera Running Insane Troll Logic Half the Man He Used to Be Breaking the Fourth Wall Improvised Weapon Up to Eleven Cluster F-Bomb Fun with Acronyms Informed Ability Re-Cut Good Is Not Nice Shoot the Shaggy Dog Flashback Those Two Guys Important Haircut Evil-Detecting Dog Took a Level in Badass Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Victoria's Secret Compartment Dissonant Serenity Intrepid Reporter Toplessness from the Back Film Noir Index Non-Indicative Name Unresolved Sexual Tension Market-Based Title Grievous Bottley Harm Blatant Lies Badass Bookworm Parental Neglect Loads and Loads of Characters Even Evil Has Loved Ones Chekhov's Gunman Mind Screw Red Herring Slap-Slap-Kiss In Medias Res All for Nothing Monumental Damage Scenery Gorn Famous Last Words Credits Gag Oh, Crap! Major Injury Underreaction Trailers Always Spoil Adults Are Useless Bad "Bad Acting" Properly Paranoid Neck Lift Made of Iron The '80s Deus ex Machina Make It Look Like an Accident More Dakka Destination Defenestration The Stoner Lock and Load Montage Celebrity Paradox Evil Is Hammy Anti-Hero Film Series Overly Long Gag Morality Pet Badass in a Nice Suit Vitriolic Best Buds Married to the Job Shown Their Work Asshole Victim Accidental Misnaming Love Triangle Darkest Hour Double-Meaning Title Knight Templar The Lancer Big Applesauce Our Vampires Are Different Cool Old Lady Pyrrhic Victory I Need a Freaking Drink A Date with Rosie Palms Pragmatic Villainy Broken Aesop Boom, Headshot! Actor Allusion As Long as It Sounds Foreign Death Glare Historical-Domain Character Funny Background Event Aluminum Christmas Trees Smoking Is Cool Cloudcuckoolander Epic Fail Back from the Dead Really Gets Around The Hero Psychological Thriller Manchild Guile Hero Distracted by the Sexy The Bad Guy Wins Stepford Smiler Alpha Bitch Same Language Dub It Will Never Catch On Vampire Fiction Fish out of Water Sole Survivor Bar Brawl Green-Eyed Monster Cool Guns No Antagonist Early-Bird Cameo A.I. Is a Crapshoot Real Life Writes the Plot Composite Character Playing Gertrude Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Plucky Comic Relief Storming the Castle Ghost Fiction Framing Device Unusual Euphemism Rule of Cool Canon Foreigner Riddle for the Ages Extremely Short Timespan Throwing Your Sword Always Works Frame-Up Light Is Not Good Abusive Parents Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism How We Got Here Badass Longcoat Jerk with a Heart of Gold Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Manipulative Bastard Rich Bitch Agony of the Feet Empathic Environment Our Zombies Are Different Crucified Hero Shot Chase Scene Chuck Cunningham Syndrome No Celebrities Were Harmed The Faceless Dramedy Adult Fear Overprotective Dad Mad Scientist Sci-Fi Horror Expy This Is Gonna Suck Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Pimped-Out Dress Dressing as the Enemy Shower Scene Spiritual Successor Rule of Three Drowning My Sorrows Beauty Is Never Tarnished Works Set in World War II Curb-Stomp Battle Death Seeker Pet the Dog Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Psychopathic Manchild No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Fanservice Red Oni, Blue Oni Disproportionate Retribution Obfuscating Stupidity Index of Film Westerns Men Are the Expendable Gender Star-Crossed Lovers Reality Ensues Superhero Grey and Gray Morality Older Than They Look Your Cheating Heart Big "NO!" Missing Mom Badass Grandpa Artistic License – Geography The Voiceless The Alcoholic Wrong Genre Savvy Creator Cameo Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds May–December Romance Hooker with a Heart of Gold Deliberately Monochrome Take That! As the Good Book Says... Title Drop Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Scare Chord Slashed Throat Domestic Abuse The Smart Guy Film Noir The Vamp Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Henpecked Husband Depraved Bisexual Artistic License – History Refuge in Audacity Karma Houdini Maybe Ever After Action Girl Animal Motifs Naïve Newcomer The Atoner Badass Boast Defrosting Ice Queen Every Car Is a Pinto Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Wretched Hive It's All About Me Science Fiction Films The Cameo Curse Cut Short Fingore Adaptational Badass Skewed Priorities Animated Credits Opening All Just a Dream Kill It with Fire The '50s Dark Is Not Evil Romantic Comedy Tap on the Head What Happened to the Mouse? Hollywood Darkness Mood Whiplash Rule of Funny Death of a Child Villainous Breakdown Off with His Head! Deconstruction Evil Cannot Comprehend Good The Power of Love Earn Your Happy Ending Meaningful Echo folderlabel Take a Third Option Motor Mouth Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Exact Words Jerkass Dark and Troubled Past Gory Discretion Shot Ambiguously Gay Conspicuous CG The Bully Dramatic Gun Cock Contrived Coincidence Kids Are Cruel The Starscream Beta Couple Tranquil Fury Scenery Porn A God Am I Only Known by Their Nickname Cool Shades Only One Name Rasputinian Death The Dragon Armor-Piercing Question Affectionate Parody Fantastic Racism Would Hurt a Child Hypocritical Humor Adaptation Distillation Reality Has No Subtitles No-Sell Cassandra Truth Neck Snap Combat Pragmatist Anyone Can Die Novelization Your Head A-Splode Action Prologue Fake Shemp Brutal Honesty Romantic False Lead Butt-Monkey Big Eater Mistaken for Gay Not So Stoic Gorn Knife Nut All Girls Want Bad Boys Woman in White Ms. Fanservice Running Gag Music Stories Unwitting Instigator of Doom Parental Substitute Bald of Evil After the End Drill Sergeant Nasty Small Name, Big Ego Historical Hero Upgrade Mexican Standoff Retirony Big Damn Heroes The Film of the Book Slasher Smile Deadpan Snarker Serial Killer "The Reason You Suck" Speech Mercy Kill Anguished Declaration of Love Villain with Good Publicity Even Evil Has Standards Does Not Like Shoes Cold-Blooded Torture Gender Flip Determinator aka: The Determinator My God, What Have I Done? Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Arch-Enemy Dull Surprise Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Camera Abuse Hoist by His Own Petard Taking You with Me Fourth Date Marriage Freudian Excuse Left the Background Music On True Companions Handicapped Badass Loophole Abuse Implacable Man Insistent Terminology Suspiciously Similar Substitute Didn't Think This Through No OSHA Compliance Serious Business The Ghost Sacrificial Lion Plot Hole Amusing Injuries Reality Is Unrealistic Friend to All Children Book-Ends Eyepatch of Power Captain Ersatz The Sociopath Names to Run Away from Really Fast Spiteful Spit Revenge Damsel in Distress Jump Scare Hair-Trigger Temper Establishing Character Moment Fate Worse than Death Dying Moment of Awesome Needs Wiki Magic Love Ironic Echo timeperiod Vomit Discretion Shot Ambiguous Disorder Spanner in the Works Horror Films Country Matters Accidental Murder Brother–Sister Incest Historical Villain Upgrade It's Personal Face Death with Dignity Fatal Flaw Improbable Aiming Skills Cain and Abel The '60s Honor Before Reason Spared by the Adaptation One-Word Title Jitter Cam Retcon Russian Films Rated M for Manly Ascended Extra Gone Horribly Right Australian Movies What You Are in the Dark Translation Convention Protagonist Title Martial Arts Movie Italian Films Madness Mantra Worthy Opponent Badass Normal Adapted Out Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Action Survivor Pretty in Mink Dutch Angle Rewatch Bonus My Greatest Failure Meet Cute The Quiet One Parental Abandonment Arranged Marriage Animal Title Index Fat Bastard Ship Tease Author Avatar Body Horror Dirty Coward Dramatic Irony Calling the Old Man Out Better to Die than Be Killed Twist Ending Chekhov's Skill Roaring Rampage of Revenge Failed a Spot Check Parental Incest Wicked Cultured Dirty Old Man Authority Equals Asskicking An Axe to Grind Posthumous Character She Cleans Up Nicely Cat Scare The Place Bavarian Fire Drill Villain Protagonist From Nobody to Nightmare Black Comedy Rape Bottomless Magazines Broken Pedestal All Men Are Perverts Intergenerational Friendship Corrupt Corporate Executive Dark Reprise Artistic License – Military Television Movie Index Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Killed Mid-Sentence No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Narrator Pretty Little Headshots Shipper on Deck Aside Glance Biopic Early Installment Weirdness You Have Failed Me Mooks La Résistance Undying Loyalty Visual Pun The Big Guy Genre Throwback Totally Radical Driven to Suicide The Casanova Despair Event Horizon Not Quite Dead The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite One Steve Limit Immune to Bullets Expository Hairstyle Change Almost Kiss Love at First Sight Hell Is That Noise Hate Sink And the Adventure Continues Recycled IN SPACE! Eldritch Abomination All There in the Manual Dies Wide Open I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Extreme Doormat Foreshadowing Five-Man Band Exactly What It Says on the Tin He Who Fights Monsters Beard of Evil Heroes Want Redheads Black Best Friend Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Covers Always Lie Darker and Edgier Super Strength Gilligan Cut Too Dumb to Live Police are Useless "Awesome McCool" Name The Musical Bilingual Bonus The Remake My Beloved Smother Children Are Innocent Action Genre Pay Evil unto Evil Hollywood Law Sequel Hook Product Placement Catch-Phrase For Want of a Nail As Himself Race Lift Sadistic Choice Danny Peary Cult Movies List Brick Joke Enemy Mine Babies Ever After Slasher Movie Car Fu Eagleland Crapsack World Police Brutality Blood from the Mouth Reasonable Authority Figure Villain Opening Scene Have a Gay Old Time The Stoic Disney Villain Death Large Ham One-Man Army Rousing Speech Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Easily Forgiven Dropped a Bridge on Him The Ditz Taking the Bullet Black Comedy Bound and Gagged MacGuffin Creative Closing Credits The Chick Dwindling Party Dumb Blonde You Have Outlived Your Usefulness All There in the Script Adorkable Made of Explodium Fan Disservice Camp Gay Drugs Are Bad Bi the Way Bond Villain Stupidity Chewing the Scenery Groin Attack Those Two Bad Guys Pragmatic Adaptation Drives Like Crazy Cool Car Hong Kong Films Stalker with a Crush Big-Bad Ensemble Word of God Sassy Black Woman Artistic License – Physics Flipping the Bird Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Red Right Hand Silence Is Golden Tempting Fate Never Trust a Trailer Outrun the Fireball Decoy Protagonist "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Red Eyes, Take Warning I Did What I Had to Do Defiant to the End Break the Haughty Japanese Films Developing Doomed Characters Artistic License – Law Abhorrent Admirer Disney Death Mugging the Monster It Can Think Sports Stories There Is No Kill Like Overkill Soft Glass Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Disappeared Dad Red Shirt Deal with the Devil Not Using the "Z" Word Anachronism Stew Continuity Nod The Dog Bites Back Sinister Minister Bowdlerise Final Girl Break the Cutie Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! I'm a Humanitarian Evil Is Petty Death by Adaptation An Aesop The Mafia I Have Your Wife Nice Hat Blackmail British Films Let's Get Dangerous! Psycho for Hire