History Main / PrimalScene

** Played for laughs in a later chapter, where Tuck freaks out after walking in on Mrs. Wakeman [[ADateWithRosiePalms pleasuring herself in the bathtub]]. And later still, when Tiff Crust walks in on [[spoiler: Mrs. Wakeman having [[FanDisservice "old-person sex"]] with [[FoeYay Doctor Mog]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: mental scarring]]

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in "Insecurity"; the plot kicks off when [[BrainyBaby Ike]] walks in on his parents roleplaying and incorrectly believes that his mother is [[MistakenForCheating having an affair]] [[CheatingWithTheMilkman with the UPS man]]. Word of this spreads so that soon the other men in town are convinced he's after all their wives.

** In ''Videogame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'', when the player is shrunk by the Underpants Gnomes, he chases them down to his parents' bedroom just as they're having sex and culminates to a boss battle right under them as they're doing the deed. You get an achievement if you simply stay and watch them for an entire minute.

* Invoked and exploited in Film/CruelIntentions. In order to smooth things up for Sebastian's bet with Kathryn and find out who warns Annette about him, he stages this trope with Annette's childhood friend [[ArmouredCLosetGay Greg]] and Sebastian's friend [[DepravedHomosexual Blaine]] to get himself a leverage.

* ''Film/{{Blockers}}'': In the {{stinger}}, Kayla comes home and walks in on her parents playing the same sex game they say Ron do with Cathy (which means Mitchell's nude). She screams in horror (they weren't actually having sex yet, but it's also obviously bad enough in her mind).

See CaughtWithYourPantsDown for the [[ADateWithRosiePalms single-player version]]; for the reverse scenario with parents walking in on their adult child getting frisky, see ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime. A subtrope of InterruptedIntimacy. [[noreallife]]

* In an episode of ''Series/FamilyMatters'', after Laura and Steve can't look at each other when Laura walks in on Steve in the shower (this was after Steve moved in with the Winslows), Eddie puts things into perspective for them--"When I was 8, I walked in on Mom and Dad. If I can get over ''that'', you two can get over ''this''!"
* On ''Film/SoulFood'', Kenny and Maxine go at in the kitchen. Just as they're climaxing, they look up to see their son watching them, frozen in horror.

This may involve RightThroughTheWall if the child hears their parents having sex. See CaughtWithYourPantsDown for the [[ADateWithRosiePalms single-player version]]; for the reverse scenario with parents walking in on their adult child getting frisky, see ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime. A subtrope of InterruptedIntimacy. [[noreallife]]

See CaughtWithYourPantsDown for the [[ADateWithRosiePalms single-player version]]; for the reverse scenario with parents walking in on their adult child getting frisky, see ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime. A subtrope of InterruptedIntimacy. [[noreallife]]

--->'''Lois:''' Now, you shouldn't be frightened, Stewie. What you saw was actually a very beautiful thing.\\

--->'''Jackie Gleason''': Pow! Right in the kisser!

--->'''Peter''': Opie's right there.\\
'''Lois''': I want him to look, Peter. ''[Opie runs away in terror]''
** the episode "North By North Quahog" has Peter and Lois going at it while showing Chris and Meg cowering in their own beds, just wanting it to be over. Only the bed squeaks can be heard, but they've been through it enough to know what's going on. Stewie is already asleep and is dreaming that he is in a rocking chair that is making the same squeaking noise.

--->'''Kyle''': Dude, it's a lady getting pooed on!\\
'''Stan''': Whoa, is it Cartman's mom?\\
'''Cartman''': Oh, very funny!\\
'''Kyle''': [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Hey, it IS Cartman's mom!]]

* In an episode of ''Series/FamilyMatters'', after Laura and Steve can't look at each other when Laura walks in on Steve in the shower (this was after Steve moved in with the Winslows), Eddie puts things into perspective for them as he tells them about how he walked in on Harriet and Carl when he was a kid, and while it did horrify him, he did manage to move on.

** the episode "North By North Quahog" has Peter and Lois going at it while showing Chris and Meg cowering in their own beds, just wanting it to be over. Only the bed squeaks can be heard, but they've been through it enough to know what's going on. Stewie is already asleep and is dreaming that he is in a rocking chair.

** One episode has Peter and Lois going at it, while showing Chris and Meg cowering in their own beds, just wanting it to be over. They've been through it enough to know what's going on. Stewie is already asleep and is dreaming that Peter and Lois are lumberjacks taking turns at chopping down a tree. When Peter finishes up, he asks if he did good, and Lois half-heartedly says he did. We then see her pull out a chainsaw to finish chopping down the tree while a slow vibrating sound is heard.

--->'''Kitty:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis OH! MY! GOD!]]\\

'''Red:''' Dammit! I eat dinner on that table!

Naturally, media always plays this as a [[HarmfulToMinors traumatic experience]], rather than the person just figuring it is natural, quickly realizing it, or just not understanding why mommy and daddy are playing leap-frog naked ([[FridgeHorror and then after looking back on it all]], will quickly apply BrainBleach to forget about it).

Someone, usually a child, is wandering in his or her house and walks into two people having sex. (Nobody ''ever'' has a room with a lock in fiction.) Most of the time it's the parents. This can be a trigger for A) the parents to give [[TheTalk that one discussion we all mention vaguely]], B) the resulting ParentalSexualitySquick leaving the unfortunate soul to be [[HeroicBSOD shell-shocked for a while]], C) [[RuleOfFunny being very funny]] or some combination of the three.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Walter Jr. comes home during (or possibly after) his parents had sex, asking where they are. When he realizes that they are both in the bedroom, claiming that they are "busy," he gets the message and walks away from their room in disgust.
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' has Jake be messed up from witnessing (or at least being aware of) his father having sex not with his mother, but with [[ReallyGetsAround his series of mistresses.]]

* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'', specifically [[Recap/LawAndOrderS10E2Killerz "Killerz"]], has this be at least implied as the FreudianExcuse of EnfantTerrible Jenny, who goes on to murder little boys and ''loathes'' her mother's boyfriends.
* An especially traumatic instance occurs in the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Motherly Love" when a teenage boy walks in on his best friend having sex with his mother, who [[FalseRapeAccusation cries rape]] resulting in him shooting his friend. It's later revealed that she was a malignant {{narcissist}} who seduced him and was trying to cover her own ass.

** The former [[TropeNamer trope name]] of "Oh Kitty" was for the scene in which this happens to Eric. Donna reveals that it also happened to her when she was a kid - which she can recall vividly even a decade or so later.

'''Red:''' Oh Kitty!

* An episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' had George, as well as his cousin, Jerry, and their friend Frankie walk in on George's parents having sex in Jerry's van. TheStinger showed George's father giving him TheTalk before getting up and [[MakesSenseInContext announcing that they were going to do it again]] while George puts his head on the table while groaning "Make it stop..."
* On ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', Gaby and Carlos are having blind sex (he is blind; she's wearing a blindfold). Gaby hears a sound, rips off the blindfold and, lo and behold, there is Juanita drinking from a juice box. They don't know how long Juanita has been there, either.

** Monica first found a videotape of her parents having sex (complete with "Oh Jack" and "Oh Judy"). Then a few episodes later she was hiding from her parents in the bathroom when both walk in and, well, this quote pretty much sums it up:

'''Monica''': Well I just caught the live show.

** Then there's the time he walked in on [[BrainBleach his brother and Mimi having sex]]. He had his kitchen ''bricked off'' and his couch '''''sent out to be exorcized '''''.

* In ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', Will walks into his mother's room, and finds her in bed with his fiancee's father. For extra shock points, this was ''on the day before the wedding''. Amusingly, after first meeting one another, [[BelligerentSexualTension they nearly came to blows]].

* Pictured above: On ''Series/ModernFamily'', Phil and Claire's kids walk in on them having sex which traumatizes both Claire and the kids, while Phil tries to deal with it humorously. Afterward, the kids cope pretty straightforwardly with what they saw, but are horrified all over again on realizing that their parents will insist on ''[[TheTalk talking about it]]''. The kids buy a lock for the bedroom door so it never happens again... but TheStinger reveals that [[DidntThinkThisThrough the rather loud noise of the lock]] quickly becomes [[HellIsThatNoise a horrible Pavlovian trigger.]]

** Thinking her plane is about to crash, Liz also [[MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes relives]] the time she walked in on her grandparents having sex. That said, it wasn't the sight itself that emblazoned itself on her memory so much as just [[WhatYouAreInTheDark knowing]] that she [[CovertPervert didn't look away immediately]].

** Much earlier, Sally and her little brother Bobby also walked in on their parents having sex once, which Don and Betty awkwardly explained as "Mommy and Daddy are... sleeping..." When Sally later sees a picture of Paul Kinsey's girlfriend, she asks him [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes "Do you kiss her? Do you lay on top of her?"]]

* In ''Series/SingleFather'', six-year-old Evie walks in on her recently widowed father in bed with [[spoiler: her dead mom's best friend.]] While Evie doesn't tell anyone and probably doesn't ''actually'' understand what happened, she does say that her dad and Sarah "really like hugs" with a look that says she probably at least knows that they were doing something inappropriate.

* This is how Viva, the main character of ''Series/SomeGirls'' discovered her father's relationship with her new gym teacher: she walked in to see Anna riding Rob in the living room and immediately shuts the door in disgust. Luckily for Viva, both Anna and Rob were clothed but poor Viva still can't stand Anna.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/EntropyMax'': [[http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/9048/nanohaso12trlf8.png This strip]] from the ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Strike Out'' {{Fan Webcomic|s}} by [[http://www.entropymax.com/ Entropy Max]].

* Averted in ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'', as Carol Ann's request for a late-night glass of water takes place when her parents are only engaged in foreplay, not intercourse.

* In ''Literature/LeiaPrincessofAlderaan'', a young Leia uses the palace's secret passageways to spy on her parents, hoping to hear them talk about her birthday presents. Instead, she hears extremely suggestive flirting, and leaves just in time to "avoid a very unwelcome lesson about what spouses do in their private hours." It's more of a DownplayedTrope, as sex is never explicitly mentioned and she didn't actually see the act, but it's still enough to put her off of using the secret passageways, and she's still mortified by the memory years later when she's using them to eavesdrop on conversations about the Rebellion.