Tropescilloscope: Karma Houdini

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

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