Tropescilloscope: Karma Houdini

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

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