Tropescilloscope: Stepford Smiler

Happy on the outside. Unhappy on the inside. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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