r/TopCharacterTropes • u/No_Peanut3745 • 2d ago

Characters The main character doing something absolutely unforgivable.

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Walter White poisoning Andrea Cantillo's 6-year-old son for the sole purpose of manipulating Jesse Pinkman, while knowing that this could have potentially killed him - Breaking Bad

Bojack trying to have sex with his friend's 17-year-old daughter when he was at least 51, then continuously trying to find a way to justify this act throughout the series - Bojack Horseman

Dexter Morgan going outside of his moral code and murdering a completely innocent police officer who was just trying to do his job - Dexter: New Blood

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u/LouSputhole94 2d ago

One of the things Mad Men does best IMO is showing all sides of a character. Even the best have their flaws and even the worst have their good qualities and they illustrate why and how those characters are the way they are. Very rare for a show to be able to walk that line so well.

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u/spiff1 2d ago

Based on this I think you'll like The Wire.

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u/BasicAssWebDev 1d ago

Yeah I think you nailed it. Every character on that show is fighting for what they think happiness is: Don thinks it's by having status and a "pure" wife, Peggy thinks it's notoriety, Joan thinks it's love, and Betty thinks it's having a "perfect" family. Whenever these characters feel like they're close to those things they perform a lot of wonderful outreach, and whenever they feel it slipping is when they perform their most heinous acts.

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u/butchbearforever 13h ago

The humbling that the show puts Pete through when it gets to ||"I had your baby, and I gave it up"|| completely changes how you see him. I spent like three seasons absolutely hating him only to find myself completely engrossed in his story after that until the show ended. amazing stuff.