# Characters who got a slap on the wrist but deserved much more (spoilers about Eureka and Torchwood) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570 "2009-07-20T00:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/41 "2009-07-20T23:25:33Z")
> [@Pigs\_in\_Space](#): > > I find Torchwood works much better if I assume that Jack is meant to be a lousy boss. Pretty much the only reason he’s even in Torchwood is they didn’t really know what to do with him after they found him. Then there’s running off with the Doctor and not telling anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/42 "2009-07-20T23:38:03Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Didn’t they give some reason why he can’t be fired and why Cuddy etc. cover for him? Probably not a GOOD reason, but at least an acknowledgment that most people couldn’t get away with his antics. Cuddy mentions at one point that she got him on the cheap because no hospital would go near him. He has been brought up on criminal charges and nearly got fired by Vogler (moneybags big bad) in season 1. She does fire him at the end of season 5. No doubt he’ll be back! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/43 "2009-07-20T23:51:23Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Oh, right. So, just the one time then, as a gag. “Don’t speak latin in front of the books, Xander” He’s actually not a big fan of magic at all due to the whole Xander groupie thing, and really didn’t like it when Willow tried a de-lusting spell on them. Seems pretty obvious he wasn’t the real culprit. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/44 "2009-07-21T00:00:39Z")
How about TNG’s crew? Those people get taken over so many times for one reason or another that I can’t believe they don’t have some insta-kill switch on every crew member on the likely chance that one of them are going to get possessed. Just of the top of my head, I can think of “Brothers,” “The Nth Degree,” “Power Play,” “Clues”… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/45 "2009-07-21T00:35:33Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Note that HumanHarmony & VampHarmony are enough alike that Cordelia–who by this point in the story is no fool, and who can accurately deduce from very few clues who is and is not a vampire–does not realize that she has been turned. In fact, the _reason_ Cordelia doesn’t notice anything is amiss is that, in many ways, nothing _is_ amiss. VampHarmony has absolutely no desire to harm Cordelia, and the only times she does anything even a bit evil are when she’s fallen in with an evil crowd, like the vampire cult. She’s moral tofu, just as she was before she became a vampire. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/46 "2009-07-21T01:29:20Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Angel wasn’t _really_ guilty of the crimes Angelus committed after the night with Buffy–including Jenny’s murder. But he _does_ get dispatched to a hell dimension for a couple of centuries–by Buffy. Buffy doesn’t send Angel to hell to punish him for the crimes he committed as Angelus, though; she sends him to hell because at that point it’s the only way to save the entire world. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/47 "2009-07-21T01:36:17Z")
Really, really old, but what the hell: In Little Women, Amy is never reprimanded or punished for burning all of Jo’s writings. Oh, sure, the brat falls through the ice, but that has nothing to do with her nastiness. This still pisses me off, after all these years. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/48 "2009-07-21T05:22:12Z")
How about Rashkonikov? As I recall, he didn’t get sentenced to any maximum facilty after whacking the two old ladies. He was just sent out of the country for 7 years and he got to spend that time with his girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/49 "2009-07-21T05:43:49Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Buffy doesn’t send Angel to hell to punish him for the crimes he committed as Angelus, though; she sends him to hell because at that point it’s the only way to save the entire world. Of course. She saved the world a lot. But, as a by-product, Angel got a chance to “pay” for some of his sins as Angelus. And Buffy got some serious angst, too. [Watch Cordy & Wesley](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgCQSIQ9UdI) explain it all! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/50 "2009-07-21T05:59:48Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Oh yeah - My contribution. The fact that Picard, not only get another ship, but a bigger, better one in the Star Trek: TNG movies. He basically allowed the Enterprise D to run aground after it had been taken over by a pair of two-bit Klingons FEH! And I do mean FEH! After the Borg took him over he shoulda been quietly cashiered, no matter how much the Federation needed experienced captains. And Riker shoulda got the same when he didn’t put the _Enterprise_ into warp when it was being tractored into the Borg cube. You wanna see something that will overcome tractors, physics, and any Newtonian law? It would be a ship hitting warp within range of other matter.. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/51 "2009-07-21T06:11:31Z")
Setting aside characters who tried to destroy the world and simply engage in major league assholery, I think it is AMAZING that Brian Kinney on the American version of _Queer as Folk_ doesn’t get punched in the face in like, every single episode. I have never been as angry at a fictional character as I was at him in the finale of season 2. I wanted to smack him upside the head like a hundred time in the course of the series. IIRC, he only does get punched once (leaving aside the time he actually gets beaten up, which he probably didn’t deserve, incredibly) over the course of four seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/52 "2009-07-21T16:21:35Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Agreed. Did Xander ever even touch a spell book before or after that episode? He once accidentally set one of Giles’ books on fire by speaking Latin while holding it. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/53 "2009-07-21T16:25:48Z")
How about Darth Vader? Evil lord of the Sith… blows up whole planets… kills random underlings and the like but, at the last moment, decides to kill the Emperor\* to save his son’s life and, hey, everything is forgiven, welcome to the sparkly blue Jedi afterlife. \*Which didn’t mean much in and of itself; the Death Star II was going kablooie in a few minutes anyway, thanks to Lando who was doing the real work at the time, so all he really did was save Luke’s life. Guess it doesn’t take much to get forgiveness from the Jedi. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/54 "2009-07-21T16:36:34Z")
I knew I should have stopped watching Gray’s Anatomy when the punishment the staff got for stealing a kidney was to organize a prom. I knew but I kept watching all the way until Gray didn’t drown herself. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/55 "2009-07-21T17:41:19Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > How about Darth Vader? Evil lord of the Sith… blows up whole planets… kills random underlings and the like but, at the last moment, decides to kill the Emperor\* to save his son’s life and, hey, everything is forgiven, welcome to the sparkly blue Jedi afterlife. To be fair: he _did_ die in front of Luke. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/56 "2009-07-21T17:51:07Z")
Data - how many times can one allow an android to take over your ship before he gets ground up into tiny little pieces? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/57 "2009-07-21T21:58:05Z")
I take umbrage with Lando Calrissian being in the OP. He was in an impossible situation and did the best he could to make it a soft landing for everyone. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/58 "2009-07-21T22:01:31Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > I take umbrage with Lando Calrissian being in the OP. He was in an impossible situation and did the best he could to make it a soft landing for everyone. > > -Joe This. I don’t know what else Lando could have done when the Falcon showed up on his scopes. Vader was already there, and surely controlling communications at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/59 "2009-07-22T01:10:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Most of the cast of _Battlestar Galactica_. Ahh… the show a friend of mine refers to fondly as “Fuckups in Space”. 😃 > [@](#): > > Callie murders a prisoner in cold blood. She gets 30 days in the brig for unauthorized discharge of a firearm. Umm… I can seen Callie’s defence counsel (if she’d had one) claiming that since the being called “Boomer” was not human the most Callie could be accused of was unauthorized destruction of an impounded toaster. 🙂 (I could also argue that since the things that led to Callie’s last appearance involved the concerns of the “final four” over the Chief’s Cylon-hating wife that Callie eventually paid a significant price for her actions). _sniff_ (I liked Callie) > [@](#): > > Lee and Starbuck–both committed adultery while in the military. that enough to get you court martialed in the U.S. Military. Nothing happens. Do we have reason to believe that the Colonial UMCJ condemns extra-marital relations? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570/60 "2009-07-24T01:02:17Z")
If Xander didn’t summon the Lord of the Dance (the less evil one :)) who did? It clearly wasn’t Dawn, because she didn’t even find the summoning doodad until after the singin and dancin started. I don’t necessarily disagree with the interpretation of Xander taking the hit just to get “Sweet” to hit the road, I just don’t like the dangling plot thread of who really did the summoning if not him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-got-a-slap-on-the-wrist-but-deserved-much-more-spoilers-about-eureka-and-torchwood/503570.md?page=4)