Tropescilloscope: Stepford Smiler

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

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