History Main / TheInfiltration

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Infiltrating the Airship]]''; while the title implies the main character, Henry Stickmin, is going to infiltrate an aircraft owned by an evil organization named the "Toppat Clan", he does not go undercover as a Toppat member in the actual game.

* ''[[Film/SkyHigh1922 Sky High]]'' is about a Border Patrol agent who infiltrates a human trafficking gang that smuggles Chinese immmigrants over the border from Mexico.

This is not just when they have to disguise themselves [[DressingAsTheEnemy temporarily]], but spend time among the villains and the {{Mooks}} themselves. Spending so long can cause a NotSoDifferent moment or, in a more severe case, lead to BecomingTheMask. Another risk is if the agent somehow loses his link to the parent organization, in which can they can end up TrappedUndercover.

This is not just when they have to disguise themselves [[DressingAsTheEnemy temporarily]], but spend time among the villains and the {{Mooks}} themselves. Spending so long can cause a NotSoDifferent moment or, in a more severe case, lead to BecomingTheMask.

* Vin and Marsh infiltrate [[AristocratsAreEvil the nobility]] and [[CorruptChruch Steel Ministry]] respectively in ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'', Vin as a rural lord's niece and Marsh as an eager adult acolyte. Vin doesn't get caught, but things go badly for Marsh, whose flayed corpse is found in a safe house next to a letter explaining that [[TheDreaded the Inquisitors]] suspect him. [[spoiler:He didn't get caught, either. Turns out he [[GoneHorriblyRight impressed his superiors so much]] with his [[SupernaturalSensitivity Seeker abilities]] and general acumen that they [[WasOnceAMan turned him into an Inquisitor]]. They still don't suspect him, and he stays undercover long enough to kill all the Inquisitors in their sleep]].

%%* This is the premise of the ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' games.

* This is whole premise of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent''.

* On ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', this is an apparent specialty of recurring character Dana Lewis. Benson also spends the first half of Season 8 [[note]]when Mariska Hargitay was on maternity leave[[/note]] on special assignment infiltrating an eco-terrorist group.

* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BlackWingsBlackSails'', when Laurence takes the crew of the ''Allegiance'' prisoner at the behest of the Tswana and presents the prisoners' options- prisoners of the Tswana to be used for an undecided fate, or a year of service in Laurence's pirate crew -Granby takes the latter option, hoping that he'll have an opportunity to get aboard Laurence's flagship and free Dayes from confinement. It's unclear if Laurence is aware of this possibility, but nonetheless, it doesn't seem to be working out for Granby, as he winds up holystoning the deck on a different ship and accompanying Laurence into Capetown for supplies.

The protagonist must get "inside" a bad-guy organization and pass as a bad guy to accomplish a goal. Sometimes it's the other way around, where the [[TheMole bad-guy poses as a good guy]].

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsTheBookOfVileDarkness'', a TV Movie sequel to the Film/DungeonsAndDragons films centers around TheHero infiltrating a FiveBadBand in order to rescue his father.

* The ''modus operandi'' of the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series.

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* Sayid infiltrates a terrorist cell in the flashbacks of the ''Series/{{Lost}}'' episode "The Greater Good."
* "Mirror, Mirror", one of the most popular ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Trek]]'' episodes, featured the good guys from the Enterprise having to spend some time among their evil universe counterparts.
** There was another episode in which Picard and Riker [[spoiler:pretended they were under the influence of an alien parasite]].
* The entire premise of ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}'', in which a cop adopts a fake identity as a bad guy and infiltrates organized crime outfits.
%%* And ''Series/NewYorkUndercover''.
%%* Vladimitr Sharapov does this in ''Series/TheMeetingPlaceCannotBeChanged''.
%%* [[spoiler:Janis Hawk]] in ''Series/FlashForward2009''.

* Callen of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' makes his careers, plural, out of this trope, and undercover work is a specialty of the L.A. team.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' has [[spoiler: Mary Bartowski]] in the backstory and [[spoiler: Sarah]] in season 4 undertake these by pretending to do [[FaceHeelTurn Face Heel Turns]].

* A regular staple of ''Series/{{Leverage}},'' too, usually by whomever is going to be the Grifter for the job in question.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Off the Grid" requires a member of SG-1 to go undercover as a drug smuggler. After a hilarious argument about who would be the most convincing, Colonel Mitchell pulls rank and decides he's going to do it. Mitchell's act fails spectacularly and the scene cuts to the team running away from the bad guys and Teal'c saying "I did advise you were a most unlikely drug smuggler, Colonel Mitchell."
* On ''Series/TheBlacklist'' this is Tom's specialty. As a teenager, he was recruited by The Major and trained to be a perfect undercover operative. When he assumes a new persona his performance is usually flawless. He is able to fool Liz for years into thinking that he is a mild mannered teacher and even a full scale FBI investigation is unable to break through his legend. In a latter assignment he transforms himself into a neo-Nazi so he can get inside a neo-Nazi weapons smuggling ring.
* On ''Series/{{Legends}}'' Martin Odum is an FBI agent who specializes in deep cover undercover work. He regularly assumes new identities and rarely breaks his cover. However, he starts to suspect that his identity as Martin Odum is just another of his legends and that he forgot who he really was due to amnesia from an accident. [[spoiler: He was actually a MI-6 agent and his new identity is a form of witness protection after he was almost killed infiltrating a mercenary group.]] Season 2 has him try to renter an old identity that he has forgotten and try to fix some of the mistakes he made when he tried to infiltrate a group of Chechen criminals with ties to terrorists. It is then reveals that [[spoiler: he is actually a Russian who was trained from childhood to pretend to be British so he could then infiltrate MI-6]] and thus he has been living this trope for most of his life.
* ''Series/TheNightManager'' is a story about an infiltration, the psychology of the infiltrator, and the dangers of possible betrayal at multiple levels.

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* This is the premise of the ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' games.

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* Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E4TaskForceX: Our protagonists (the Task Force X, AKA the Comicbook/SuicideSquad) must get "inside" a bad-guy organization (The WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague WatchTower) and pass as mooks to steal a MacGuffin, only this episode is an inversion because this is a VillainEpisode, but given we are seeing things from the [[PerspectiveFlip villains perspective]], and the Justice League acts invokes BewareTheSuperman, this trope seems played straight.

* This is the premise of the ''{{Driver}}'' games.

A common twist is to make the protagonist [[ShootYourMate kill or do something to his old friends]]. TheHero will fail here, usually, but the AntiHero will often pass. Spy work is also crucial, because OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass often comes into play.

** ''Literature/TheWrongSideOfGoodbye'': For the first time in his 40 years in law enforcement Harry. He makes himself out to be a homeless opioid addict, in order to get the goods on the Russian pill smugglers who killed the Esquivelas.

* ''Literature/TrunkMusic'': Harry Bosch arrests Mafia mook Luke Goshen for the murder of Tony Aliso when he finds the murder weapon hidden in Aliso's room. Harry gets into a lot of trouble later when he finds out that Goshen is actually an undercover FBI agent who is definitely innocent of the murder.