Tropescilloscope: Karma Houdini

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

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