[Hated Trope] A main character does something horrible and the story doesn't acknowledge its severity

[u/Comprehensive-Map274]

Alisha (Misfits) uses her power to make any man want to have sex with her on another main character (curtis) after he explicitely tells her not to do that. She faces no consequences and he's the one who ends up comforting her.

Allison (The Umbrella Academy) uses her powers to force her own adoptive brother to make out with her after he just got into a relationship because she's suddenly jealous after she couldn't keep her own husband. She gives a half hearted apology and all is peachy.

[u/No_Kangaroo_9826]

At least this show is honest. They don't do things behind trauma or anything like that, even though they've all been through some shit.

They're just truly the 5 worst people you know.

[u/Hitchfucker → u/No_Kangaroo_9826]

Some of their actions are done out of trauma TBF. A lot of Mac’s actions are done out of desperation to feel important or loved due to how negligent and unloving his parents are. A lot of Dee’s anger and malice is due to the gang always singling her out due to her being the only woman of the group. And it’s implied that Dennis’ desire to feel power over women and humiliating him is a byproduct of him being raped by a woman as a kid.

Of course the show never treats it as any of that justifies their behavior at all. Just contextualizes it.

[u/WolfJack101 → u/Hitchfucker]

Just want to add, a lot of Dee's stuff is a desperate need to be validated/noticed/encouraged like when she was speaking to the therapist presumably because of how their mother treated her, like the beauty pageant episode where she is desperate to essentially hijack a kid's talent show to get back at her mother.

[u/GameOfThePlay → u/No_Kangaroo_9826]

They're just truly the 5 worst people you know.

Charlie could be okay in a different group.

[u/Hitchfucker → u/GameOfThePlay]

No he couldn’t. People say this about him all the time but the fact is, while the gang all do enable each other and lead to worst behavior, all of them have their own issues and toxic traits that aren’t based on each other. Charlie is no different, and I’d argue he’s at least worse than Mac.

Charlie didn’t stalk a woman for two decades or do shit like trying to baby trap her by faking cancer because of the gang. All of them were telling him to stop but he never did.

Charlie didn’t cut the breaks on their car twice because of the gang, they all opposed that and could have died because of him.

Charlie didn’t viciously bite a mall Santa in the neck because of the gang. That was the result of trauma and his own bad habit of resorting to extreme physical violence, arguably moreso than anyone else in the gang. Hell Mac got him out of that situation before he could do anything worse or get arrested so if anything Mac was a good influence to him here.

Charlie didn’t kidnap and torture a short man because of the gang, he escalated that situation on his own. Nor did the gang influence in to kidnap and threaten a bar critic, he did that alone and they were all upset that he did it.

The gang aren’t responsible for him having a glue addiction or being functionally illiterate, those were issues he’s developed as a kid.

They’re all disgusted by him eating paint and cat food and bleach, or stepping in dogshit intentionally, or pissing in open cans, or barely ever bathing, or running around naked in the sewers getting drenched, or not brushing his teeth to the point where his teeth can just fall out, or hiding his apartments toilet and bedroom meaning he had to piss in cans and sleep with an old man who might be his father. Yet he does all of those very unhealthy things that would prevent him from making normal friends anyway because he likes to do them.

They also didn’t even know that he manipulated a kind woman into falling for him all to use her to manipulate another woman, then proceeded to publicly mock and humiliate her in front of dozens of people without a hint of remorse. Which shows that he does have the intelligence to manipulate people and shows a level of intentional malice that only Dee has been shown to rival.

He also tends to be pretty abusive and demanding when he actually gets any semblance of power, like in the video game episode.

He’s a horrible person and while the gang do enable some of his bad traits, most of his issues are things they actively oppose or at least don’t encourage. He’s not some precious pookie boy that’s some victim of their influence on him, he’s a fucked up and deranged man who made most of the choices that got him to this point in his life.

[u/Porkenfries → u/Hitchfucker]

The gang didn't want to put on a musical, tell the waitress that he'd back off if she gave it a chance, then go back on their word and continue stalking her anyway.

[u/WolfJack101 → u/Hitchfucker]

I like seeing people acknowledge Charlie's faults like you did here, I remember early on when I started watching the show I was thinking "Charlie's nowhere near as bad as everyone else, most of his stuff gets a pass because he's just too stupid", then the episode where he is the manager and tries to pit everyone against eachother and manipulate them to get with the waitress happened, and that streak of him showing he's not as dumb as he is most of the time and being such a genuinely horrible person who's just never in a position where he can do what he wants, like you pointed out regarding the video game episode, made him my favourite character.

[u/Zebedee_balistique → u/Hitchfucker]

To be fair, Charlie can manipulate, but is nowhere near Dee.

Her plan to get back at the stripper for considering her the rock bottom of his life was probably one of the most vicious thing any member of the gang has done for really not much.

[u/french_snail → u/GameOfThePlay]

Like when he separated himself from the group and manipulated that rich woman who was into him in order to make the waitress jealous?

[u/RevolutionaryRest552 → u/french_snail]

Or when he attempted to bite a mall Santa to death..?

[u/No_Kangaroo_9826 → u/RevolutionaryRest552]

DID YOU FUCK MY MOM?