Explain Explain Oh Crap / Live-Action TV

People having to explain something before they realize the problem in Live-Action TV.

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#-D

• In one episode of Adam Ruins Everything, Adam's lecturee of the week turns out to be a fan of the show. Adam offers to let her do his usual intro, which she happily does before remembering exactly what she's in for.
  ”Hi! I'm Winnie Jones, and this is Adam Connover, and I’m on Adam Ruins Everything! ...Uh-oh.
• In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "BOOM", FitzSimmons are investigating the bombing of Senator Ellen Nadeer's office before realising that the "bomb" was an Inhuman who underwent Terrigenesis and immediately exploded. Fitz immediately questions how Shockley survived the explosion, causing both to realise that he must have been the exploding Inhuman and rush down to the hangar just in time to warn Daisy and Director Mace and eject Shockley from the Zephyr before he explodes again.
• All in the Family:
  • In the episode "Archie in the Lock-Up", after Michael gets back from a protest that had turned ugly, Edith and Gloria ask him where's Archie, who they had guilted into going after him.
    Michael: Yeah, but Gloria, how could he find me? I mean, the place was a madhouse, with people running around, yelling, screaming, the cops arresting everyone. (Beat as his eyes widen in realization) Oh boy.
  • Another episode plays this for laughs. Edith has Archie on a healthier diet per his doctor's orders, which is already making him grouchier than usual. He takes his anger out on Mike for separating his food before eating it, explaining that the best way to enjoy a meal is mixing everything together. Archie goes on to describe how this makes the sandwich the perfect food...and soon works himself into such a hunger that he declares "I gotta have a sandwich, Meathead!" Cue him running to the kitchen.
  • In Season 8, when Archie buys a saloon, Mike has trouble understanding how he could mortgage the house to get the money without getting an uncooperative Edith's signature...at which point he realizes that Archie forged it.
• Angel:
  • In "City Of", Cordelia is invited to the home of Russell Winters. Taking note of the fact that the Big Fancy House has no mirrors and numerous curtains, Cordy quickly realizes that her host is a vampire... and doesn't even finish talking before she realizes how much danger she's in. Thankfully, Angel shows up Just in Time.
    Cordelia: I finally get invited to a nice place with no mirrors and lots of curtains ... hey, you're a vampire!
    Winters: What? No, I'm not.
    Cordelia: Are too!
    Winters: I don't know what you're talking about.
    Cordelia: I'm from Sunnydale! We had our own Hellmouth! I think I know a vampire when... I'm... alone with him ...in his... fortress-like home...
  • In "Dear Boy", when Angel is believed responsible for the murder of Mr. Kramer, Kate storms the Hyperion with a SWAT team to arrest him, firmly convinced that Angel is evil and always will be evil. However, Gunn asks if Mr. Kramer's wife DeEtta^note Actually a Back from the Dead Darla actually invited Angel into the house; Kate responds that no, of course Angel wasn't invited in... and as soon as those words are out of her mouth, she realizes that Angel is innocent, since Angel couldn't have entered unless he was invited inside or the real owners were already dead.
    Cordelia: Okay, okay, let's not get off track here. We want to find Angel as much as you do.
    Kate: No, you don't. You want to protect him even though he's lost it: he stalked that woman because he thought she was this Darla from his past. She begged him to stay out and he knocked down the door and killed her husband. I've read about him, too, I know who he is and I know he hasn't changed.
    Gunn: No, he hasn't, he's still a vampire.
    Cordy: Gunn - not helping.
    Gunn: So, how'd he get in the house? She invite him in?
    Kate: Of course she didn't in... (Stunned Silence)
    Cordelia: The only way Angel could get in that house uninvited is if the real owners were dead. It's what he was saying all along; she isn't DeEtta Kramer!
  • In "Guise Will Be Guise", Wesley mentions that the wizard Magnus Bryce is having a birthday party where he'll make tributes to the goddess Yeska, and Angel says Yeska isn't a goddess, she's a Davric demon.
    Wesley: Davric demons eat live sacrifices, generally girls. They grant huge power to the person who offers the sacrifice on their 50— [realizes Magnus is going to sacrifice his daughter]
  • In the episode "Calvary", Wesley, Gunn, Connor and Fred are tracking Angelus through the city while Cordelia and Lilah are back at the hotel.
    Connor: Angelus would want to feed, but his scent ends here, and it's not a highly populated area.
    Gunn: It ends here? Somebody pick him up?
    Connor: He would go to the place where he could wreak the most damage.
    Wesley: Which doesn't necessarily mean highly populated.
    Fred: He doubled back.
• Babylon 5: In "A Tragedy of Telepaths", G'Kar swipes some fresh spoo (a Centauri foodstuff) off of a serving cart and offers it to Londo, who turns his nose up at it: spoo is apparently supposed to age first. Only Narns like G'Kar can stomach it fresh, and G'Kar is supposedly the only Narn in the Centauri imperial palace, as he idly remarks... before having a sudden realization that a serving cart of fresh spoo means he probably isn't and demanding from Londo what's in the part of the palace where the cart was headed. They discover his former aide Na'Toth, still imprisoned in a palace dungeon more than a year after the Centauri withdrew from the Narn homeworld.
• The Barrier: While having an evening walk with Julia, his deceased wife Sara's identical twin sister, Hugo recognizes a closed down night club style bar. Julia recognizes the bar as well, fondly remembering it. Hugo tells Julia that the place is where he first saw Sara and fell in love with her while watching her dance. Due to various circumstances, Hugo was unable to approach Sara that evening and ended up asking her out after running into her elsewhere. He also mentions that while he saw Sara dance multiple times since then, he never saw her dance as she did when he first saw her in the bar again. He then remembers seeing Julia dance to street musicians earlier that day and the Identical Twin Mistake penny drops.
• Batman (1966) had an episode featuring Gotham Museum sponsoring a "Great Comedians" exhibit. Batman is called in when someone installs a crude statue of the Joker in the middle of the exhibition; he urges the museum guards to escort everyone outside and seal off the building, as it's clearly some kind of trap. The guards follow orders and begin bragging about the extremely high-tech security measures—once the system is activated, it's impossible for anyone to get in or out of the museum. Batman realizes what this means and has the guards repeat themselves so they catch on, too—the Joker wasn't planning to break into the museum. He and his thugs are already inside, and now no one can get back in to stop them. Sure enough, the Joker bursts out of the statue, calls to his minions (who are hiding in the other sculptures), and heads for the rare gem display.
• Best Friends Whenever: In the episode "Girl Code", Shelby asks two guys to build a website for her. The two guys have a crush on Shelby and are distracted by her asking how to figure out if a girl likes them. Shelby, being Oblivious to Love, tells them that when a girl likes a guy she will touch his arm (which Shelby does). One of the guys tells her that he likes blondies and Shelby still doesn't realize they are talking about her until Cyd tells her.
  Shelby: I asked them if they like brownies. They told me they like blondies. (beat) Oh my god, Cyd! How did I not see this coming?!
• A variation occurs in The Big Bang Theory season 4 episode "The Hot Troll Deviation" as the conclusion to that episode's B-plot regarding a feud between Sheldon, Raj, and a Brobdingnagian desk:
  Leonard: Oh, God, what's that smell? (Knocks on Sheldon's office door)
  Sheldon: (Comes out wearing a gas mask) Yes?
  Leonard: What are you doing in there?
  Sheldon: I'm making hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gas. Just a little experiment in pest control.
  Raj: (Steps out of the office) It's not gonna work, dude! I grew up in India — an entire subcontinent where cows walk in the street, and nobody has ever had a solid bowel movement.
  Sheldon: Well, we'll just see how long you can hold out.
  Raj: Well, we'll just see how your noxious gas fares against my cinnamon-apple-scented aromatherapy candles. (goes back into the office)
  Leonard: Didn't you say you're making hydrogen sulfide gas?
  Sheldon: Yes.
  Leonard: Isn't that flammable?
  Sheldon: Highly. (Leonard gives him a concerned look) Oh, dear.
  (BOOM)
  Raj: (steps out completely covered in soot) This is not over.
• Blackadder:
  • In "Head", after the title character learns that Baldrick has mistakenly executed Lord Ponsonby: "And when the Queen gets back from seeing Ponsonby, we'll... ohh, God!"
  • In Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Blackadder's change of heart towards being bad means that he slams the door on Queen Victoria. In fact he does it without even checking who she is, when she had come to give him his enormous cash reward for being the kindest man in London.
    Blackadder: Look, whenever the Queen goes anywhere she leaves behind her royal seal.
    Baldrick: You mean like this one?
    Blackadder: Yes, exactly like that on-
• Blindspot:
  • In "Why Let Cooler Pastures Deform", the FBI is raiding a house, worried that their phones are scrambled. They're thus thrown when suddenly, their communicators start working again.
    Reade: Why would Sandstorm turn their scrambler off now and risk letting a signal out?
    Kamal: So they can get a signal in... Get out, it's a trap!
  • Played for laughs in "Artful Dodge" as semi-reformed crook Rich talks to an FBI agent overseeing his deal working with the team for his freedom. Asked how he helped out Patterson in an earlier episode, Rich gushes on how he hacked her computer, used secret passages he's built throughout the building, dropped a virus into the mainframe, knocked out a security guard and made a fake bomb.
    Rich: What are you writing down?
    Reviewer: Oh, just adding up how many years you've tacked onto your prison sentence based on that story alone. Now tell me more about the virus.
• In Boy Meets World, when the attempt to have a no-strings-attached sex between Angela and Shawn fails upon Shawn telling Angela "I love you", Angela accuses Shawn of being too emotionally invested. Shawn tries to defend himself in protest, only to realize Angela is right — and then some.
  Shawn: Aw man, I Cory'd this up didn't I?
  Angela: You had to go and get heavy, Shawn - didn't you?
  Shawn: No, I'm not getting heavy, Angela, I just think that an emotional commitment is the proper foundation for OH MY GOD I'M BOTH OF THEM!
• The Brittas Empire: Laura does this in "Brussels Calling" upon realizing the staff had just accidentally created a garbage bomb:
  Laura: Colin... had thirty bags of weedkiller by the emergency exit, and they weren't there when I came back. What's he done with them?
  Linda: I think he threw them away. Mr. Brittas told him to. I think that's how he got confused about the fire bucket. You see, he-
  Laura: Colin threw away a hundred weight of weedkiller where?
  Carole: It's alright, put it in a dustbin. I saw him when I took 'round the icing sugar.
  Laura: What icing sugar?
  Carole: Well, Gavin rang from the kitchen to ask if he could borrow some, and I happened to have an extra packet.
  Laura: What would Gavin want sugar for? He's got a cupboard full of it.
  Julie: Yeah, but the rats ate that. Well, some of it. That's why Brittas told him to throw it away.
  Laura: He put weedkiller... sugar. (Beat) He couldn't have... could he? [Mass "Oh, Crap!" as Laura, Linda, Carole and Julie race out towards the potential garbage bomb]
• Used several times on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • In "The Puppet Show", Buffy and Xander have assumed that Willow will be targeted by a demon that wants to steal a good brain. Willow idly wonders if they should warn Giles, to which Xander responds "Don't worry about Giles, I mean he is really... smart." Cue them running out of the library.
  • In the second season premiere "When She Was Bad", the Scoobies have discovered a plot by the Master's order to bring the Master Back from the Dead using a Human Sacrifice, said sacrifices being those "closest" to the Master. Shortly after Buffy leaves for the Bronze for an obvious trap, Giles finishes translating the ritual and discovers that "closest" to the Master actually means those who were physically present when the Master died^note Willow, Cordelia, Ms. Calendar, and Giles himself. Giles doesn't even finish his sentence before he realizes what this means. A double dose of this trope follows when he sees vampires crowding onto the mezzanine level, and realizes the "trap" was actually meant to lure Buffy away so the Order could capture them without interference.
    Giles: It is a trap. It just isn't for her.
  • "Primeval": When the group is reconciling after the events of "The Yoko Factor", Buffy lets the others come to their own conclusions to realize that it was Spike who played them off against one another.
    Giles: Well, Spike can be very convincing, and... we're very stupid.
  • And before this in the same episode, Spike and Adam are discussing the success of Spike's plan — he has successfully separated Buffy from her friends, now they just need Buffy to work with her friend to decode the information disc. Adam points out the contradiction here. According to the episode commentary, this was actually a bit of an Author's Saving Throw from when they had the same realization.
    Spike: Our little witch gives her the info and pop — Alice heads back down the rabbit hole.
    Adam: The witch.
    Spike: Uh, Willow. About so high, perky, good with math. Natural choice.
    Adam: Her friend.
    Spike: Right.
    Adam: One of the friends from whom you've so efficiently separated her.
    Spike: Damn right I did. You should've seen 'em. They won't be talking to each other for a long, long... [beat] Hang on. I think I might have detected a small flaw.
  • In "Blood Ties", Dawn breaks into the Magic Box at night with Spike in an attempt to figure out what the Key that Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang have been talking about is. Reading Giles' journal, she starts to realize that all of the signs of the Key correspond to things that she's experienced in the last few months... even before she gets to the part explicitly stating that the Key's keepers gave it the form of a sister for the Slayer. Cue Heroic BSoD.
  • In "Shadow", Glory buys supplies for a dangerous summoning from The Magic Box before Giles actually knows what she looks like - he only has Buffy's vague description of a superpowered girl. Later, Anya goes over the receipt and is horrified at what Giles sold, leading to an exchange where the gang realizes that they sold items for a dangerous summoning ritual to the Big Bad:
    Anya: You sold someone a Khul's amulet and a Sobekian bloodstone!
    Giles: Yes, I believe I did.
    Anya: Are you stupid or something?!
    Giles: Allow me to answer that question with a firing.
    Xander: She's kidding! An, we talked about the employee-employer vocabulary no-nos. That was number five.
    Anya: You never sell these things together, ever! Bad news! Don't you know about the Sobekites?
    Willow: Oh! I do. It was an ancient Egyptian cult, heavy into dark magic.
    Tara: And the Khul's amulet, wasn't that a transmogrification conduit?
    Anya: Damn straight!
    Giles: Be that as it may, I still see no reason for concern. I mean, the Sobekian transmogrification spells were lost thousands of years ago. And besides, the young woman to whom I sold them would have to have had enormous power- [Stunned Silence]
    Willow: ...Young woman?
    Giles: Oh, dear Lord.
  • In "Tough Love", after Glory attacks and Mind Rapes Tara, Willow is furious and planning to take revenge on Glory, but Buffy seemingly manages to talk her down, insisting that doing so would be potentially suicidal. Later, when talking to Dawn and Spike about it, Spike, understandably skeptical, points out that an angered witch, especially one as strong as Willow, is not so easily reasoned with, and if Glory had attacked his loved one, he would have reacted the same; then Dawn asks Buffy how she would react if Glory had attacked and Mind Raped her. Cue realization on Buffy's end.
• Charmed (1998):
  • The episode "Spin City" mixes this with a healthy dose of Genre Savvy. The Monster of the Week, a spider demon, wants to kidnap Piper and feed on her magic. To achieve this goal, she infects Chris with her venom, slowly transforming him into her minion. Paige and Phoebe lock Chris in the basement to keep an already-webbed-up Piper safe; later, the sisters are chatting with Leo in the kitchen when Phoebe's empathic powers kick in, prompting her to lash out at the Whitelighter with Chris's resentment. Leo is surprised that her abilities can reach the basement...and Paige quickly deduces they haven't—Chris has escaped. They dash into the living room and find Chris, now able to transform into a spider, kidnapping Piper.
  • In "Sin Francisco", a demon is infecting humans with the concentrated essence of the Seven Deadly Sins. He throws four orbs at Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Leo, who seem unaffected and try to go about taking care of the demon. One scene later, though, Phoebe is trying to talk her history professor into sleeping with her, Piper is maxing out her credit cards to buy fancy clothing while drinking champagne, and Leo is vegging out on the sofa. Prue quickly deduces that they've been infected with Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth, respectively. Later, the trope is played again when the police chief points out the Prue is acting dangerously reckless and conceited; Prue agrees, then realizes that this means that she's been hit with Pride, as the sins' whole M.O. is to gradually corrupt the infected to self-destructive acts.
  • In "That 70s Episode", Prue, Piper, and Phoebe are sent back in time to 1975 and are explaining themselves to their then-living mother and grandmother:
    Grams: How old were you when you got your powers back?
    Piper: We just got them.
    Grams: What? I unbound your powers without having broken the pact? Why would I do that? I mean unless I died which of course would automatically unbind your powers... (pause) I guess I'm not going to make it to the next millennium, huh?
• Cheers has one right in the first episode, when Diane insists she doesn't need Sam's pity offer of becoming a waitress. She's got all sorts of options waiting for her. Then Sam asks Carla to recite the complicated drink order she just got, and Diane starts doing it for her. She trails off when she realizes what she's doing.
  • In another first season episode, famous Bostonian Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, then the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, drops by Cheers As Himself for a beer. Norm is out of the room when the patrons realize who O'Neill is; when he gets back, Cliff tricks him into badmouthing Congress. O'Neill casually remarks that he's the Speaker, and Norm laughs it off: "Don't be ridiculous! That would make you Tip O'Neill, and me...a horse's butt." O'Neill gets the last word—"You said it, not me."
  • The series 5 opener has Sam explain he's going out for an evening, confusing Frasier and Carla, since he'd just been dumped by his current girlfriend, Janet Eldridge, so who would that leave? They come to the realization he's going to meet Diane, and scream in horror.
• Cobra Kai: In season 3 episode 6, Johnny has enlisted Miguel to help him come up with a response to Ali's Facebook message. Johnny wants to send a Wall of Text in ALL CAPS detailing every last thing he's done for the last 35 years, which Miguel mistakes for a novel and is dumbfounded that Johnny actually wants to send.
  Miguel: Ali? Like, the Ali? This is huge. This is huge! This is so… But I mean, you're not gonna send that, right? You cannot send her that message.
  Johnny: Why not?
  Miguel: Because it's, like, 80 pages. In all caps.
  Johnny: I have 35 years' worth of stuff to say, all right?
  Miguel: OK, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But shorter messages are way cooler. Like, this just looks desperate. And a little creepy. Sending her this would be like if you… like if you liked all of her photos.
  Johnny: [makes a guilty face]
  Miguel: Oh, no. Oh, no!
• On Designated Survivor, Hannah is checking with computer hacker buddy Chuck at his apartment when she notices an odd smell.
  Chuck: Yeah, there was a gas leak in the building earlier. A guy from DC United checked it out, said it was fine.
  Hannah: Chuck, DC United doesn't check out gas leaks. The fire department does. Out, now!
  • In season 2, tapes of Kirkman's therapy sessions are leaked, calling into question his ability to make decisions. Lyor is annoyed that various members of the Cabinet aren't returning his calls, figuring they're staying out of this. His secretary reports how she's heard the Cabinet are all talking to Vice-President Darby. Lyor wonders why the Cabinet would be meeting with the VP in total secrecy...then sees the news. He races in to warn Kirkman of how the Cabinet are prepared to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Kirkman from office.
• Diagnosis: Murder: In "The Last Laugh", Mark, suffocating after being trapped in a room filling with laughing gas, the weapon of choice for the Killer of the Week, called both his assistant Delores Mitchell and hospital administrator, Norman Briggs, but because he was laughing and speaking in a comedic way because of the laughing gas they assumed that he was joking, prompting Norman to go to confront Delores about Mark's action, at which point they realize that he had called both of them and would only have done that if he was serious.
• In one episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show Rob calls Laura and disguises his voice to see if she recognizes him. When it seems like she doesn't, he starts flirting with her as a joke. He only realizes the implications afterwards:
  Rob: I tell you, I fooled her! She was entranced! You know what she thought? She thought she was flirting... with a complete stranger...
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Pirate Planet": The Captain uses his technology to loot the planet Calufrax and has constructed a psychic-jamming device to defeat the telepathic Mentiads. The Doctor insists that the device can't work because it requires very rare minerals to supply power.
    The Doctor: And as far as I know, they occur naturally on only one planet, and that's...
    Fibuli: Captain, the crystals from Calufrax.
    The Doctor: Calufrax! ...My biorhythms must be at an all-time low.
  • "Remembrance of the Daleks": The Seventh Doctor has just disabled a Dalek transmat device and mentions that it'll slow the Daleks down until the "operator" can restore it.
    Ace: Operator?
    The Doctor: [distracted with the transmat] Yes, the Daleks usually keep an operator on station in case of any malfunctions.
    Ace: Which would be... another Dalek?
    The Doctor: [realizing] ... Yes.
    Dalek: STAY WHERE YOU ARE! DO NOT MOVE!
  • "The Doctor Dances": The Doctor is talking about how the Creepy Child leader of the gas-mask zombies has "the power of a god". Then he realizes that, earlier, he got the zombies to back off by ordering all of them to go to their rooms... and he, Rose and Jack are in the Child's room... they turn around to see him standing there.
  • "The Impossible Planet": The Doctor explains to the staff of Sanctuary Base 6 how he and Rose got to their remote outpost and where the TARDIS is parked... in a section of the base that was just lost due to an earthquake that collapsed part of the planet's surface.
  • "The Runaway Bride": The Doctor, when he realizes that Donna has been dosed with huon particles and the device he gave her to hide her from the robots pursuing her therefore won't work:
    "Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that... [looks at Donna] …it can't be hidden by a bio-damper!" [runs to a window and sees the evil robot Santas approaching]
  • "Partners in Crime" has a variant where the explanation is done by someone who's trying to get the point across to the person who does the Oh, Crap! that they're in danger:
    The Doctor: Listen, I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth, so what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice!
    Miss Foster: Oh, I'm far more than that. I'm nanny, to all these children.
    The Doctor: Exactly! Mum and Dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore!
    [Foster has one second to realize what he means before the levitation beam shuts off and she plummets with a SPLAT!]
  • "Forest of the Dead": The Doctor, after managing to talk to the Vashta Nerada, is so preoccupied with deducing, out loud, how they came to infest the Library that he doesn't pay attention to Other Dave until after he's started repeating himself a lot. It's not until he says the same thing four times that the Doctor catches on.
  • "A Good Man Goes to War": The Eleventh Doctor runs into this when it turns out that Amy and Rory's daughter Melody Pond is part Time Lord, which Vastra suggests was a result of her being conceived on the TARDIS. He insists that this can't be possible as, between the various cosmic retcons that went on the previous season, the first time they were on the TARDIS together in this version of reality was the night after their wedding — oops.
  • A milder example takes place in a flashback scene in "Let's Kill Hitler", when teenage Amy explains to Rory why he has to be gay; "In the whole time I've known you, when have you shown the slightest interest in a girl?" (Penny in the air...) "I mean I've known you for what, ten years? I've seen you practically every day. Name one girl you've paid the slightest bit of attention to... Oh my God. Rory!" (And the penny drops.)
  • "Asylum of the Daleks": The Doctor notices the humans with Dalek eyestalks were created by nanogenes that infect living or dead human beings. Amy realizes he said "...or dead" in a room full of dead bodies. The Doctor continues to explain until he realizes he's also in the room with dead bodies. Uh oh.
  • The Doctor spends "Robot of Sherwood" convinced there's no way Robin Hood is who he says he is. When he discovers this is tied in to alien robots, the Doctor naturally jumps to the conclusion Robin is one of them and accuses the Sheriff of creating this.
  The Doctor: Robin's one of yours.
  Sheriff: What did you say?
  The Doctor: He's one of your tin-headed puppets, just like these brutes here.
  Sheriff: Robin Hood is not one of mine.
  The Doctor: Of course he is. He's a robot, created by your mechanical mates.
  Sheriff: Why would they do that?
  The Doctor: To pacify the locals, give them false hope. He's the opiate of the masses.
  Sheriff: Why would we create an enemy to fight us? What sense would that make? That would be a terrible idea.
  The Doctor: Yes! Yes, it would. Wouldn't it? (realizing) Yes, that would be a rubbish idea. Why would you do that?
  • "The Zygon Invasion": Clara and Jac, a UNIT official, are investigating an underground Zygon bunker full of pods.
    Clara: Look, they're here. They're growing duplicates of us. We have to destroy them. I've seen this happen before. It happened to that little boy. They took his parents and then they took him.
    Jac: But I don't see how these are duplicates. That's not how Zygons work. They don't grow duplicates. They kidnap the originals so, these... [sees "Clara" turning with a wicked smile] These are the humans! IT'S A TRAP!
  • "Arachnids in the UK": The Doctor begins to piece together the chain of events from the spiders being experimented upon to the lab waste being brought to the secret landfill under the hotel... and suddenly realizes the mine shaft everyone's standing in is actually a giant spider nest.

E-J

• Firefly plays with this in the episode "Out of Gas". The crew of Serenity is in a dire situation with the life support system failing. They are in a deserted region of space with little chance of any ships wandering around there. Wash has lost all hope, when Mal suggests a way to boost the SOS signal.
  Wash: What do you expect me to do, Mal?
  Mal: Whatever you have to. And if you can't do it from here, then get a suit on and go outside on the side of the boat...
  Wash: And what? Wave my arms around?
  Mal: Wave your arms around. Jump up and down. Divert the nav sats to the transmitter. Whatever.
  Wash: Divert the — right! Because teenage pranks are fun when you're about to die!
  Mal: Give the beacon a boost, wouldn't it?
  Wash: Yes, Mal, it would boost the signal. But even if some passerby did happen to receive, all it would do is muck up their navigation.
  Mal: Could be that's true.
  Wash: Damn right, it's true. They'd be forced to stop and dig out our signal before they could even go anyplace.
  [beat, Mal waits for Wash to get it]
  Wash: [still yelling as if he's angry] Well maybe I should do that, then!
  Mal: [yelling back] Maybe you should!
  Wash: Okay!
  Mal: Fine!
  Jayne: [enters the room] What the hell do you two think you're doing? Fighting at a time like this? You'll use up all the air!
• In the Flight of the Conchords episode "Unnatural Love", Jemaine does this after the Victoria carriage driver tells him that he doesn't go to New Jersey like his shady Australian girlfriend Keitha said.
  Jemaine: She said she'd done it before. (He realizes that Keitha tricked him). Oh no. Oh no.
• Foundation (2021): In "The Missing Piece", Demerzel and Halima are talking about the former's loyalty to the Cleons, when Halima realizes that Demerzel only doing what she's told means that she's only speaking to Halima (whom Cleon XIII despises) because she's been sent to kill her.
• Frasier:
  • Happens once where the title character tried to set Daphne up with his co-worker, only to later find out that there had been a slight fault in communication.
    Frasier: What on Earth could have made him think that I was interested in him? I just asked him if he was attached, and then we talked about the theater and men's fashions — oh, my God. Niles, do you realize what this means?
    Niles: Yes, you're dating your boss.
  • In another episode, Niles is dating a woman who Frasier realizes is actually a prostitute (long story) and Niles has an epic one of these when he finally gets it:
    Frasier: Niles, does Sabrina laugh at everything you say, is she fascinated by everything about you, even your collections?
    Niles: Well, yes. Actually, I even showed her my rarely-seen collection of eighteenth-century Portuguese bud vases.
    Frasier: And how did she react?
    Niles: Well, if you must know, she was rather aroused. She said she loved a man who collected porcelain and oh my God, I'm dating a whore!
• Friends:
  • In "The One After Ross Said 'Rachel'", when Emily has been locked in the bathroom of the reception hall for over an hour, to hide from the humiliation of Ross having said Rachel's name during the exchanging of the vows, Rachel chimes in that when she left Barry at the altar, she locked herself in the bathroom, with the intent of climbing out the window and running away. She, Ross, and Joey chuckle at the comment...until the realization hits them. Ross then opens the door to find the bathroom empty and the window open.
  • In "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS", Phoebe has this reaction as she realizes her pledge got Joey on television, and thus ruined her plan to do a completely selfless good deed.
    Phoebe: Look, look, look, Joey's on TV! Isn't that great? My pledge got Joey on TV! Oh, that makes me feel so— oh no!
  • In "The One With The Memorial Service", Chandler and Ross have been having a prank war posting bogus information on each others' college alumni webpages. This culminates with Chandler announcing Ross's death.
    Ross: Your little "Ross is dead" joke didn't work, okay? There were no responses. Nobody posted anything on the website, nobody called my parents. So the joke, my friend, is on you. Nobody called, nobody wrote anything. Nobody cares that I'm dead! (Beat). Oh my God! Nobody cares that I'm dead?
• Full House:
  • Played for Laughs in one of the earlier episodes, where Michelle comes into Jesse's room early in the morning and wakes him up to tell him Danny's mother was coming that day. Still half asleep, Jesse tells Michelle to let him go back to sleep when he suddenly wonders how she got into his room.
    Jesse: Yes, Grandma comes today. Thanks for the bulletin. Now go back in your crib and go to slee-(Now wide awake) Who let you out of your crib?
    Michelle: I let me out.
    Jesse: You mean you climbed over the bars and got down on the floor all by yourself?
    Michelle: You got it, Dude.
    Jesse: JAIL BREAK!
  • Early in the episode "Under the Influence", Danny and Joey talk about the frat parties they had back in their college days and the lies they told the high school girls attending said parties to impress them. When Stephanie scrutinize them for lying to underage girls, Danny tries to justify himself before remembering that D.J., a high school student herself, is about to attend a college frat party and proceeding to go to talk to her.
    Stephanie: You guys lied to those girls?
    Danny: Well, yeah. It's not something we're proud of, but, you know, when a kid is young and wants to impress a girl, he'll say just about anything to — *beat* I'd better go talk to D.J. Excuse me.
  • In "D.J. Tanner's Day Off", D.J. cuts school by faking sick to Joey so she can get a pop star's autograph. Joey catches her when he goes to get the autograph for her, then tells Jesse about it.
    Joey: Jesse, this plan was diabolical. She faked the flu. I called in sick for her. Then boom, she's better, and she takes off, just like that. The conniving little sneak.
    Jesse: Oh, Joey, she's not a conniving little sneak. I gave her that plan.
    Joey: You what?
    Jesse: Well, she was interviewing me for her essay on the person she admires most—
    [Joey laughs]
    Jesse: There's no essay. [bangs the table] That conniving little sneak!
  • Played for Drama in "Silence Is Not Golden". Charles explains to Stephanie how to block out the pain when he's getting punished for misbehaving, accidentally revealing that his father abuses him.
  • When Michelle explains to Joey through the phone about why Comet is missing in the episode "Comet's Excellent Adventure", Joey asks Jesse whether he let Michelle walk Comet on her own. Jesse says "no" and proceeds to recount the scenario... only to stop himself short before finishing it, as he remembers at that moment that, yes, he did do just that.
    Jesse: I'm an idiot.
• In the pilot of Game Shakers rapper Double-G confronts Babe and Kenzie on stealing his song for public use.
  Babe: Hey, we didn't steal your music. We just put your song in our game.
  Kenzie: Yeah, then we posted our game online for money and-Oh my God, we did steal his music, we're criminals!
• The George Lopez Show: In "George Doesn't Trustee Angie's Brother", when it finally hits Veronica that her father Ray was only after her large inheritance.
  Veronica: My dad couldn't even look me in the eye at breakfast. [...] He had that same look on his face when he left five years ago with all the money I got from my quinceañera...Oh my God.
• The Gifted (2017): In "iMprint", the Mutant Underground are wondering why the Purifiers hit a mutant-friendly facility only to avoid actually hurting any of the mutants present. Then they look around their packed-to-capacity safe house and realize the Purifiers were using the other mutants as a means of finding them. Cue the heavily-armed Purifiers rolling up outside the building.
• The Golden Girls:
  • During the episode "Journey to the Center of Attention", Sophia expresses wish to have a wake for herself while she's still alive, so that the guests can express goodwill while she's still capable of hearing it, and Rose volunteers to help with the preparations, such as sending out invitations and making refreshments. Once Blanche chats with a guest in Sophia's wake and realizes that the guest believes Sophia has died, she takes Rose aside to ask her if she remembered to clarify to the guests that Sophia is actually still alive. Rose tries to defend herself... and fails.
    Blanche: Rose? Now, I want you to think now, very carefully. When you sent out those invitations, you did remember to tell everyone Sophia is really alive, didn't you?
    Rose: Blanche, I'm offended. How dumb do you think I am? I put it — (beat) I made the freaking hors d'oeuvres. Leave me alone!
• In Home Improvement, Jill has a rather lighthearted version when her sons tell her they want to be The Three Stooges for Halloween:
  Jill: Why do you want to be the Stooges? They're obnoxious, they're always hitting each other - it just became clear.
• Inverted in one episode of Horrible Histories: Robert Walpole is struggling to communicate with King George I, who was German by birth and spoke terrible English. This leads to him spending most of the conversation following all Walpole's comments either questioning 'Was?'^*'What?' or just nodding and saying 'Ja'.
  Walpole: Your Majesty, you cannot just make this problem go away simply by repeating 'Yes' after everything... I say... but now that I think about it...
• House, M.D.: In the season 4 episode "Don't Ever Change" House realizes Wilson is dating Amber because of her similarity to House.
  Wilson: She has an annoying quality. Perhaps even two. If I was perfect, I would date perfect.
  House: You like that.
  Wilson: It's annoying, but she's good at it.
  House: Wait a second. This isn't just about the sex. You like her personality. You like that she's conniving. You like that she has no regard for consequences. You like that she can humiliate someone if it serves... Oh my God. You're sleeping with me.
• iCarly: In "iWant My Website Back", Spencer cancels one of his credit cards and gets a new one; this in turn causes the iCarly.com URL to be discontinued because the card that was cancelled automatically charges the renewal fee; by the time Carly and Freddie found out, it's too late.
  Freddie: It says, "Unable to charge renewal fee, account closed"!
  Carly: No, it automatically charges Spencer's credit card every — (realizes) Spencer cancelled that credit card.
  Freddie: Aw, man! We lost iCarly.com!
• I, Claudius features an inversion when the Praetorian Guard find Claudius hiding behind a curtain after Caligula's assassination. The sergeant of the guard explains to Claudius that with no Emperor, the Praetorian Guard are out of a job and have to go back into the army. Just as he instructs some of his men to escort Claudius to find his wife, Messalina, one of them gets the idea to make Claudius the new Emperor (he is the most senior of Caligula's surviving blood relatives). The sergeant begins explaining why Claudius is unsuitable... and realises halfway through his explanation that those reasons actually make him a perfect candidate where the Praetorian Guard are concerned:
  Gratus: [suddenly grins and points at Claudius with his sword] Why can't we have him for an Emperor?
  Sergeant: What? Old Claudius? Don't be stupid, lad, he's a simpleton, he's... [smiles as it dawns on him that a simpleton would be easy for the Praetorian Guard to push around] Oh, I dunno! [the other guards begin murmuring in approval]
  Gratus: It's better than nothing!
• I Love Lucy:
  • In one episode, Lucy has a snafu that prevents her from getting a passport to Europe, she decides to stow away in a trunk. After realizing it's a bad idea, she asks Ethel to let her out, leading to this exchange:
    Ethel: Lucy, where are the keys?
    Lucy: They're right here. I've got them. I've got them?!
  • In the episode "The Black Eye", Ricky and Lucy have had a fight, and Fred decides to send Lucy some flowers in Ricky's name to smooth things over. Unfortunately, he accidentally signs his own name:
    Fred: It says "Dear Lucy, I love you, I love you, I love you!" And I signed it "Eternally yours, Fred."
    Florist: "Fred?"
    Fred: "FRED?!?"
• It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling...: In "A New Lease", the girls are visited by encyclopædia salesman Hugo and mistake him for their landlord, Horatio. When Horatio does arrive, they don't believe who he is and tell him they already saw him and signed a lease. It's only when Clover reads what they signed, discovering they agreed to buy twenty-four leather-bound encyclopædias and that Horatio actually is their landlord.
• Jeremiah: When an adult survivor of the Big Death turns up working for the villainous Valhalla Sector, Jeremiah recognizes his military bearing. Erin tries to explain why this doesn't make sense, only to trail off at the end as she realizes the implications of what she's saying and how powerful the mysterious Valhalla Sector really is.
  Erin: You can't have military without a command structure, without resources, hardware, a base of operation and enough weapons to...

K-P

• In Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, when Kit explains to Drew Lansing/Torque why he shouldn´t fight Grant Stanley/Camo and realizes he has been tricked, his expression is utterly priceless.
  Kit: Torque, stop, listen. Xaviax has been tricking the other riders, offering each one something he wants. He told Incisor he'd give him a million bucks to take out Wing Knight. This guy [points to Camo] wanted a challenge. Xaviax told him Wing Knight was the toughest man on two worlds. Everyone who's after Wing Knight... [realizing he has been tricked] is working for Xaviax...
  Torque: [laughs] Congratulations, Kit. Thank you for playing. Let's tell him what he's won... a one-way pass to the Advent Void.
• Happens in one episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The team has just busted up a human trafficking ring that shares a visa forger with a group that's trying to smuggle a terrorist into the country, and Olivia realizes one of the trafficking victims, a girl they had encountered in an earlier, unsuccessful attempt at a sting, is unaccounted for. As they go through the evidence, they start to realize something's off about this particular girl. Then it starts to dawn on them.
  Fin: She and the John weren't having sex. They were just talking.
  Amaro: What language?
  Fin: Something foreign. I couldn't hear.
  Amaro: Anna said Sofia had her own room in the house. And she's new.
  (Beat)
  Olivia: The intercepted communications about the terrorism — did they say it was a he?
• Leverage:
  • In the very first episode, the team pulls off their heist despite a few hiccups, but don't get paid due to Dubenich claiming he never he got the plans. When the crew meets at a warehouse wondering where their money is, Ford, due to being very drunk, is at first amused that Dubenich has stiffed everyone present, and babbles on about it. But then it hits him:
    Ford: I mean, the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us we're not...getting...paid.
    (Beat, then everybody runs full sprint to the exit with the building exploding just seconds after they've gotten out)
  • "The 12-Step Job" has a more dramatic example; while Nate's stuck in rehab and suffering from withdrawal, the others have begun learning more about their mark and how he's not as bad as first believed, often doing random acts of kindness all over town. Nate isn't convinced, and explains why, before it eventually dawns on him.
    Nate: Listen, the guy, okay, he's an addict. You know, he's-he knows how to manipulate people. My father was an addict, my grandfather. I know how these people operate— (stops and realizes who fits that description)
    Sophie: ...I'm just gonna let you think about that for a minute.
  • The victim of "The (Very) Big Bird Job" was a pilot who died in a plane crash and had obtained footage exposing his employer for negligent production of the planes he was flying. Later in the episode, Hardison discovers that the camera was a nanny-cam model, designed to fit into a toy so it looks like it belongs in a child's room... and then he and Eliot remember the victim's daughter goes everywhere with the teddy bear he gave her.
  • A dual instance occurs in "The Gimme a K Street Job" when the mark, an executive running several brands related to competitive cheer, receives a call from her assistant telling her that federal agents had arrived with a warrant. Earlier in the episode, the mark needed to pull money from one of her shell companies in order to accomplish her goal of taking competitive cheer private, only to be stonewalled by Hardison until there was one company left:
    Barron: What? Why are the... The money. Where did you pull the money from?!
    Barron's assistant: The only place I could. The National Cheerleading (realizes what he did) Insurance and Underwriters...
  • "The Rundown Job" sees Parker, Eliot and Hardison get roped into helping Colonel Vance, an old friend of Eliot's, into tracking down a terrorist before he can release a modified version of the Spanish flu. They eventually track down the farm where the virus was tested and dig up payment records for a trailer outside of Palmyra, Virginia. After Vance readies a strike unit, the trio do some more digging and find the terrorists' home where he keeps all of his notes. After a while, Hardison realizes something: the house is the lab, the farm is the testing grounds, so there's no reason to even have a trailer...except as a trap, which Vance and his men are about to set off.
• MacGyver (1985): In "The Odd Triple", Pete tells Jack the plan to rescue MacGyver, which involves Pete masquerading as a buyer of stolen gems and slowing down the auction to give a disguised Jack time to find Mac. Then Pete realises that it means he has to trust... Jack Dalton.
• On the series premiere of Major Crimes, Flynn is berating Raydor for getting the bank robber they'd captured killed by his accomplices because she followed the recently implemented new LAPD procedure of keeping him on the scene instead of immediately taking him to a station, which allowed one of them to come back and snipe him, and that this wouldn't have happened with any other law enforcement agency or previously with the LAPD. Raydor agrees with him, but then they both realize that this meant the shooter knew about a brand-new internal policy that no one outside the LAPD should be aware of.
• Malcolm in the Middle:
  • One episode features a variation of this. When Malcolm and Reese get into a prank war with each other at a Water Park, it escalates to the point where Lois finally steps in to tell both of them off for how obnoxious and embarrassing they are acting. Unfortunately for her though, it's right in front of the entrance of a very treacherous water slide, and Malcolm has a very mischievous idea...
    Lois: DON'T... YOU... DARE...! (jabs her finger at Malcolm threateningly.)
    [Malcolm pokes Lois's finger with his own, causing her to lose her footing and get swept away into the Water Slide.]
    Lifeguard: Arms and legs crossed at all times!
  • In the episode "Block Party", after learning that their neighbors dislike them to the point of throwing a massive block party whenever they leave town, Malcolm doesn't take it as well as the rest of the family. In an attempt to win them over he inadvertently assists in a robbery and has a breakdown in the street after getting chewed out by the victims, which draws the attention of a crowd and eventually the police. Malcolm then gives his testimony to the officer and lists off everything that was stolen, realizing halfway through that it was all counterfeiting equipment and the couple is arrested on the spot.
• In season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel protagonist Midge helps her friend Mary plan her wedding. At the reception, Midge gets asked to speak but quickly goes into her stand-up comedy spiel pretty quickly and starts making dirty jokes at Mary’s expense in front of her almost entirely Catholic wedding party at her church. Midge goes so far as to joke that it’s a Shotgun Wedding because Mary had just gotten engaged. She realizes mid-sentence that’s exactly what it is.
• M*A*S*H:
  • In "The Red/White Blues", when Klinger claims to be tired when he's supposed to be working, Hawkeye and Margaret think he's just faking it because he's upset his weekend pass to Tokyo was cancelled. Later on, when Goldman says he's tired, a conversation between Margaret and Klinger makes her realize that Klinger isn't faking it and they could be faced with an epidemic:
    Klinger: Sure, you believe [Goldman]. I've got the same symptoms, and I'm a goldbrick.
    Margaret: It's not the same. His back hurts, and he's tired and...(Stops as she realizes those are the same symptoms Klinger claimed he had)
    Klinger: Uh-huh. It is the same, only I had it first.
  • In "Your Retention Please", a variation plays out where the listener has the Oh, Crap! moment, belatedly followed by the explainer. In a fit of grief over his ex-wife taking up with his now-ex-best friend, Klinger reenlists, only to regret it after taking the oath. Hawkeye confronts Potter, who reveals that he faked Klinger out by having him take the oath of office for the POTUS.
    Hawkeye: Klinger's gonna be as relieved to hear this as I am.
    Potter: You mean he's done an about-face again?
    Hawkeye: He sure has. He's in his office right now thinking he's a prisoner of war.
    Potter: And you left him alone?!
    [Potter runs out, followed by Hawkeye after he's had a second to think about it]
• A fun bit on The Middle is how when Brick was born, the Hecks accidentally took home the baby of another family, Blake Ferguson...and it took a month for them to realize the mistake. Years later, at a camp, Brick runs into Blake and starts laughing with excitement about them finally meeting, not noticing Blake's blank look.
  Brick: We were Switched at Birth! I spent the first month of my life with your family and you spent the first month of your life with my family! Why aren't you more excited about this? You're acting like you've never heard this story before...you've never heard this story before.
• On Midnight, Texas, the gang learn of the coming of an ancient dark witch named Theophilus who has a twin trying to restore him to life. Manfried believes the twin is Kai, the husband of the angelic Patience who Manfried has been having an affair with (Kai being a dark collector of supernatural powers adds to the theory). The two start a brutal fight with Manfried snapping he won't let Kai bring his twin back. A confused Kai states he's not Theophilus' twin; Patience is and has been wanting to restore her brother so he can aid her giving white witches good powers. In a back-and-forth talk, Manfried and Kai realize Patience has been playing them both for suckers to resurrect her twin and bring darkness to Earth. Kai then sees how Manfried is wearing a pendant Patience said would protect him. Kai states the pendant is actually meant to choose a new host for Theophilus..."and she gave it to you..."
• On Modern Family, the words Phil says to himself after he explodes his raft, damages his equipment and almost gets chased by a bear while camping in the wild in an effort to calm himself down only causes himself to panic more.
  Phil: Good things I smell like berries, honey and ... raw fish, so I'm basically all three courses of a bear's favorite meal!
• Happens in the Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "The Money Programme", when the final inspector, of a long series of inspectors in the episode's Running Gag, stops the episode's final sketch.
  Inspector: Good. Now I'm arrestin' this entire show on three counts: one, acts of self-conscious behaviour contrary to the 'Not in front of the children' Act, two, always saying 'It's so and so of the Yard' every time the fuzz arrives and, three, and this is the cruncher, offenses against the 'Getting out of sketches without using a proper punchline' Act; namely, simply ending every bleedin' sketch by just having a policeman come in and... wait a minute.
• In the My Wife and Kids episode "Road Trip", the family goes on a road trip to Paul Revere's house on his birthday, which is unfortunately complicated by Jay and Claire simultaneously coming down with PMS and becoming emotionally unstable. At the end of episode, when the family finally makes it:
  Mike: Here we are. Paul Revere's house.
  Junior: Which one?
  Mike: The one behind the sign that says "Paul Revere's house closed for his... birthday".
  [cue Mike and Junior crying along with the emotional Jay and Claire]
• No Ordinary Family: In "No Ordinary Proposal", Dr. King tells Joshua that there is no way for him to non-lethally detox from the serum without a particularly skilled and rare kind of scientist. Then he stops mid-sentence upon realizing that Stephanie is working on an antidote for Joshua. * On The Outpost, Talon, Garrett and Janzo are on a mission to find a book belonging to Talon's people. They discover it was hunted by the evil Prime Order and burned. Garrett states that if the Order is willing to go to such lengths just to burn a book, "how far will they go" to kill Talon herself. Talon seems unsure as she asks "what would they do? Send an army?" As soon as the words exit her mouth, all three look in horror as they realize that's exactly what the Order would do.
• Person of Interest. Harold Finch is about to get shot by a serial killer who is Impersonating an Officer, Detective Carter turns up Just in Time to save his life by shooting the killer In the Back.
  Carter: So is that him, our Identity Killer?
  Finch: He was posing as an FBI agent. He was really quite good at it; he had a badge and a gun and... body armor...
• Power Rangers Zeo: In the second half of the two-part episode “King for a Day,” Prince Gasket broadcasts the fight he’s arranged between Gold Ranger Jason and the Brainwashed and Crazy (again) Red Ranger Tommy Oliver. The broadcast reaches Lord Zedd and Rita, who are initially thrilled to see the Rangers about to lose their two best fighters.
  Zedd: Ahahaha! It looks like the end of our Ranger friends!
  Rita: Oh, yes, it does, doesn't it? And with the Rangers finally out of the way, we can gain control of the entire Earth!
  Zedd: (stills) What did you say?
  Rita: I said, with the Power Rangers gone, we'll gain control over the—!
  Zedd: (dismally) No...
  Rita: Control!? (gasps)...No...No! NO! (wails)
  Rito: Sis! I don't get it! What's wrong?
  Zedd: (grunts furiously) You Fool! We'll have nothing! After all those years of work, we'll still be stuck on this rock, while those machines take over the whole planet!
  • And that brings Zedd to an even more horrifying realization: the only way out of the situation is to help the Power Rangers.

Q-V

• Radio Enfer: Giroux once mistakes a nurse for Ms. Huguette Champoux (whom he was dating at the time), not realizing that she is actually her sister, Laurette. When the latter clarifies who she is, she adds that Giroux is the second person to make that mistake that day, the first being Carl:
  Giroux: Yeah, but it's him who told me that... [realizes what happened and starts to frown] Ah, he wanted to mock me, huh?
• Reba:
  • In the pilot episode, Reba gets this treatment when Brock tells Reba he has to leave her and marry Barbra Jean:
    Brock: Reba, I have to marry her.
    Reba: Oh please! Have to? The only reason you'd have to marry her is if you gone off and— (Brock lowers his gaze guilty) Oh my God!
  • At the start of the episode "The Blond Leading the Blind", Reba wakes Van up and treats him with a plate of homemade cookies and a cup of milk, which Cheyenne considers suspicious because Reba is being unusually nice to him. Van initially doesn't find it suspicious about Reba treating him with a plate of homemade cookies... until he gives a recount of him lending his car to Reba and seeing Reba's guilty expression.
    Van: We're nice to each other. She made me cookies; I lent her my car. *sees Reba's guilty facial expression* My car! *runs to his car*^note  Cue Van screaming in a high-pitched voice upon seeing the wrecked car.
  • After viewing the video footage of Van's outrageous behavior and realizing that he's turning into his own father regarding coaching sports late in the episode "Bullets Over Brock", Van sees nothing wrong until further conversation with Cheyenne clues him in on how bad the circumstance is or will be, especially with regard to their own son.
    Van: It's weird. That's my father.
    Cheyenne: Nope, nope. I-I had the camera. It was you.
    Van: No, I know it was me, but the way I was acting, that was my father. That's the way my dad coached me my whole life.
    Cheyenne: Oh, Van, that's so sad.
    Van: That's not sad. That's why I'm so good at sports.
    Cheyenne: Yeah, and it was probably why... you know —
    Van: Probably why what?
    Cheyenne: Well, why you hate your dad.
    Van: I don't hate my dad. I just, you know, don't talk to him. Or call him. Or think about him. Oh my gosh, I hate my dad, and I'm turning into him. Cheyenne, I don't want my well-enbrowed son to hate me!
• Red Dwarf does this in the episode "Out of Time". The cast are going through unreality pockets, making them believe different things. One makes them believe Lister is actually a droid. A droid less advanced than Kryten, and therefore lower ranking. Kryten takes advantage of this to give him humiliating orders. Then comes this exchange:
  Rimmer: So we just crashed through an unreality pocket?
  Kryten: Which created a false reality making us believe... Mr... Lister was... oh my. [cue awkward silence for a few seconds]
  Cat: You mean he's not a...
  Kryten: No.
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch:
  • "Sabrina, the Teenage Writer" has the titular witch writing a Spy Fiction story as an assignment for English class, which eventually comes with horrifying results when her characters, which she based on real people, come alive. This is because, little did she know at the time, she used Hilda's old magical typewriter for the assignment, which she had used from time to time to create stories of herself as the heroine and watching them come to life, and this trope occurs twice when Sabrina tells the aunts what's happening and that she was too tired to write the ending, to which they tell her that when she's working with a magical typewriter, she cannot let her characters die, because when that happens, their real-world counterparts die, too:
    Sabrina: The people in my spy story, they came to life and are running around my school!
    Zelda: The only way that could possibly happen is if you accidentally used Hilda’s magic typewriter, but she got rid of that years ago, didn’t you, Hilda?
    Hilda: By "get rid of", you don’t mean "kept", do you?
    Zelda: Hilda!
    Hilda: I’m sorry, I know I was supposed to give it away, but I just... I love writing romance stories with myself as the heroine, and then watching them come to life. It isn’t pathetic, is it?
    Sabrina: Can we come up with a solution? There’s a group of international spies running around my school! And my neck is killing me.
    Zelda: Oh, dear, what kind of an ending did you write for your story?
    Sabrina: Well, it was late and I was really tired, so I just had Doctor Bad...
    [at the school, Dr. Bad prepares his bomb]
    Dr. Bad: When this bomb goes off, all the teenagers will be annihilated, and everyone will think they were killed in a science lab experiment gone terribly awry.
    Lydia Kissandkill: Doctor Bad, you are a genius, an evil genius.
    [as Dr. Bad lets out an Evil Laugh, the scene switches back to the Spellman residence, where Sabrina tells her aunts the Wham Line]
    Sabrina: I had him blow up the school!
    [the aunts gasp in shock]
• On Santa Clarita Diet, Eric is pushed into a relationship with undead Ramona who wants him to help her with killing people. This comes after Ramona had a talk with undead Sheila and her husband Joel.
  Eric: She said she needed a Joel. Does that ring any bells with anyone?
  Joel: No. We just went over today and told her she has to be more careful.
  Sheila: Yeah and that we realize how much harder she has it because she's all alone.
  Joel: And doesn't have anyone to help her clean up and carry bodies, like I do for Sheila. Okay, I see what happened.
  Sheila: I hear it too.
  • In season three, the two go to check on Tommy, a member of a group out to destroy the undead. They check out his garage and find it covered with plastic all around.
  Joel: This is weird...
  Sheila: Kind of reminds me of our kill...
  Both: Shiiiiiiit.
• Seinfeld: When George was dating a woman that everyone thought looked like Jerry.
  George's inner monologue: My friends are idiots. She doesn't even look like Jerry. And even if she did, so what, what would that even mean? That I'm trying to have everything with her, that I have with Jerry. But because she's a woman, I could also have sex with her, and that somehow that's what I've . . really . . always . . wanted?
• Sherlock, the eponymous character often does after a Sherlock Scan.
  • At the end of "A Study in Pink", when Sherlock agrees to help Lestrade figure out who killed Jeff Hope.
    Sherlock: The bullet they just dug out of the wall is from a hand gun. A kill shot over that distance from that kind of a weapon? That's a crack shot you're looking for, but not just a marksman. A fighter. His hands couldn't haven't shaken at all, so clearly he's acclimatized to violence. He didn't fire till I was in immediate danger, though, so strong moral principle. You're looking for a man probably with a history of military service, nerves of steel...
    [Sherlock looks over at John, and realizes that he was the shooter]
    Sherlock: Actually, you know what? Ignore me.
    Lestrade: Sorry?
    Sherlock: Ignore everything I just said. It's just the...the shock talking.
  • In "The Blind Banker", Sherlock is looking through an apartment and talking to John (well, sort of — John's left grumbling outside the door, can't hear a thing and might as well not be there).
    John: You think maybe you could let me in this time? Oh for heaven's sake. Can you not keep doing this, please?
    Sherlock: I'm not the first.
    John: What?
    Sherlock: Someone else has been here. Someone broke into this flat. He knocked that vase, just like I did. Size 11. He was tall. But not heavy. Long, thin fingers. Our acrobat.
    John: What are you saying?
    Sherlock: Why didn't he close it when he left—? [Beat] Oh, stupid, stupid. Obvious! He's still here.
  • In John and Sherlock's Christmas party in "A Scandal in Belgravia" when Sherlock does his Sherlock Scan on a Christmas present that Molly brought, smugly trying to explain what was on Molly's mind when she wrapped it. Then he realizes who she brought it for.
    Sherlock: Oh come on. Surely you've all seen the present at the top of the bag. Perfectly wrapped with a bow. All the others are slapdash at best. Must be someone special then. Shade of red echoes the lipstick. Either a subconscious association or one that she's deliberately trying to encourage. Either way, Miss Hooper has love on her mind. The fact that she's serious about him is clear from the fact that she's giving him a gift at all. That all suggests long-term hopes, however forlorn. And that she's seeing him tonight is evident from the make-up and what she's wearing. Obviously trying to compensate for the size of her mouth and breasts.
    [Sherlock sees the tag on the present, which reads "Dearest Sherlock, Love Molly"]
    Molly: You always say such horrible things. Every time. Every time...
• On Silicon Valley, Richard is confused as to why five different focus groups are having problems with the beta to Pied Piper. He talks about it to Monica, saying how everyone he showed it to loved it, and she realizes the issue.
  Monica: Who did you give the beta to? Your friends. Engineers.
  Richard: Well, yeah, Monica, I wanted to give it to people who would understand what I was trying to do, give useful feedback. And with all respect, I gave it to you - the one person without a computing background - and you said it felt engineered. [Beat] Oh, shit.
  Monica: Exactly. You're trying to sell this to regular people, but you never put it in the hands of regular people. Like them.
• Stargate Atlantis: The Team is on another planet and has found an ancient, crashed Wraith ship. Sheppard wants to know if one of the Wraith could still be alive.
  Sheppard: I'm just thinking out loud here...
  McKay: What?
  Sheppard: How long do you think a Wraith could feed on all those humans back there?
  McKay: Well, they're capable of hibernating for hundreds of years at a time, but, I mean, think about it. Ten thousand years ago was roughly the dawn of human civilization.
  Sheppard: So there's no chance that uh—
  McKay: No, no, no, no, no. Are you kidding? [beat] Well... maybe.
  Sheppard: [annoyed] McKay.
  McKay: No. No. No living thing could survive that long under those conditions. It's ridiculous.
  Sheppard: Okay.
  McKay: That would require an incredible power source capable of sustaining the stored humans in suspended animation almost the entire time.
  Sheppard: So it's possible?
  McKay: [horrified] Oh, my God. It is possible. We've got to get out of here.
• Stargate SG-1: After being sent back in time to 1969, the team is captured by the US military after they're caught trespassing inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex. When a soldier comes to interrogate them:
  Soldier: Вы советские шпионы? (Are you Soviet spies?)
  Daniel: (instantly) Nyet. (No)
  O'Neil: Daniel?
  Daniel: He just asked if we were Soviet spies, I just...
  Soldier: (to O'Neill) Come with me.
  O'Neill: Sure, you bet.
  O'Neill: (to Daniel on the way past) Nyet!?
• In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Rivals", it's determined that the gambling machines in a new club are altering the laws of probability on the station. Dax and Sisko question the club's owner, who admits he doesn't entirely understand the mechanism, since it's based on a device he got from an alien, but is adamant that it can't be affecting the entire station, only the people actually playing the game.
  Sisko: Wait a minute. You said there was an original machine?
  Club Owner: Yes, a smaller one. When I opened the club I replicated these larger vers— (realization hits)
  Sisko: "Larger versions".
• In the Star Trek: Picard episode "Bounty", Picard and his allies have come to the Fleet Museum to recruit Geordi La Forge in aiding them in trying to figure out the the Changeling Conspiracy that has possibly taken over Starfleet. However, during their talks, the Titan-A suddenly develops the ability to cloak.
  La Forge: (furious) ...you stole a goddamn cloaking device from my Bird-Of-Prey?!
  Picard: Geordi, I would never deceive you and I would never steal from—
  (both stop and sigh, calming down)
  Picard: Jack.
  La Forge: Sydney.
• In season 4 of Stranger Things, a non-verbal example happens to Max when she, Jonathan, and Dustin are going through the guidance counselor's files on Chrissy and Fred, hoping to find clues as to the supernatural menace that killed them and why it might have targeted them. Reading their files, Max sees that both of them suffered from headaches, nosebleeds, nightmares, and insomnia in the days before they died, and they both had past traumas in their lives... and realizes that all of that applies to her. Sure enough, she finds the telltale signs of Vecna's presence homing in on her soon after...
  Max: Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days.
• Super Adventure Team: After releasing a giant robot, Benton explains to Talia that the Morality Chip he installed will prevent it from hurting anyone. As he explains this, he realizes that he's still holding the chip.
• In the Tales from the Crypt How We Got Here episode "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone", homeless guy-turned-guinea pig Ulric, who's had a cat's special gland implanted in him which gives him nine lives, has been buried alive for his last ever stunt (he gets killed but always comes back, and he's got one more life - his ninth), which will earn him beaucoup bucks. Unfortunately it's only then that it occurs to him that the cat had to be killed to get the gland out. Meaning he only had eight lives, and thus he's going to stay dead this time.
• That '70s Show: In one episode, Kitty drags Hyde to a jewelry store to see the ring she thinks that Red is buying for her behind her back. The jeweler shows her an engagement ring on reserve from a Mr. Forman. There's an inscription, "To Donna..."
  Jeweler: You're a lucky woman, Donna. [...]
  Kitty: Oh my goodness. This is from Eric to—
  [she looks at Hyde in complete horror]
• Timeless: A common bit, usually with how the main trio figure out time-travelling crook Flynn's plan.
  • In the pilot, they're baffled as to why he would save the Hindenburg from exploding on its arrival in New Jersey. They then go over the manifest for its next trip and realize Flynn wants to blow it up when its passengers include Nelson Rockefeller and Omar Bradley.
  • Jiya tells Lucy that the reason her sister Amy no longer exists is because in this new timeline, Lucy's father, Henry, married another woman and never met Lucy's mom, Carol.
    Jiya: But...
    Lucy: They're still my parents.
    Jiya: Keep going...
    Lucy: So wait a minute, how was I born?
    Jiya: You're almost there. [sees Lucy's face fall] Yeah, you got it.
    Lucy: Carol is my mother but Henry isn't my father and never was. My mother's been lying to me my whole life.
  • When he discovers mentor Anthony in 1962, Rufus tries to get him away, figuring he's rescuing him from Flynn, but Anthony refuses.
    Anthony: If that man comes back and sees you, he'll kill you, he won't listen to me.
    Rufus: Why would he listen to you? You're Flynn's prisoner... who's completely unsupervised. Anthony... you are his prisoner, aren't you?
  • In 1944 Germany, Lucy figures Flynn is going to kill Wernher von Braun as without him, the U.S.'s space program will be hindered. She confronts Flynn, openly wondering why he didn't kill von Braun when he had the chance before. Seeing Flynn smiling, Lucy realizes Flynn is really going to deliver Von Braun to the Soviets who will use him to reach the moon first.
  • The team had figured Flynn was going to use the nuclear core he got from 1962 to give to the Nazis. When they return to report he didn't, they openly wonder what else Flynn could use a powerful source of plutonium for. At which point, Mason and Rufus stare at each other in shock as they both remember Anthony talking about using such a core to become a battery for the time machine to make it more powerful.
• Top Gear: During the Ukrainian special, Jeremy reads off the final challenge to his co-presenters, to run out of fuel before reaching their destination. But at the end he discovers that the destination is none other than Pripyat, meaning they’ll be driving right into the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
• Van Helsing (2016): In Season 4, Hansen is ready to clear his troops out of the vampire overrun Denver and orders the deployment of bombs.
  Hansen: Nerve agent. Weapon of last resort.
  Doc: But that won't harm the vampires...oh my God.
• In Ken Burns' miniseries The Vietnam War, a Japanese-American soldier relates a story about how he had once traded his rations to a kindly villager in exchange for some of her rice. One of his squadmates gave him grief for eating all her rice, to which the soldier joked that she had enough rice for a dozen men... and then realized that meant she was more than likely hiding Viet Cong guerrillas.

W-Z

• Walker, Texas Ranger has this occur on a few occasions:
  • Both Trivette and Pastor Roscoe Jones are hit with this in Season 6's "The Soul of Winter", where the Rangers contend with Stan Gorman, a former military officer-turned-leader of a neo-Nazi group known as the Sons of the Reich, who had killed a kid named Rodney Summers outside the First Christian Church of Dallas, where Roscoe became its new pastor since the death of Trent and Tommy's father, Thunder Malloy. Gorman and his men killed Summers by mistake, because their intended target was Roscoe's son, Adam; both Adam and Rodney were late for the sermon that morning due to delivering food baskets to needy families, and Gorman's motive was to get Roscoe to resign. While Trivette digs up information on Gorman after Carlos picks up a piece of his literature at Eastside High School (where Adam and Tommy attend), he finds he was stationed at Fort Hood with Thunder and Roscoe, who, at the time, served as chaplains. When the Rangers, Trent and Carlos apprise Roscoe of the situation, Roscoe quickly concludes what's going on, demands that Adam be brought home immediately and backstories between him and Gorman during their time at Fort Hood come to light. While Roscoe explains how he put Gorman in prison, Trent and Carlos stop the latter's men before they could kidnap and kill Adam and Tommy.
    Trivette: All right, and they even have their own website. It's incredible. You can donate to the cause with a credit card. Buy your T-shirts, hats, emblems, jackets, Nazi insignia, banners, instruction manuals... Virtual cyber-supermarket of hate.
    Walker: Does it say who's behind it?
    Trivette: Not yet. Let me see here. All right, here we go. "The new Fuhrer for the '90s: Stan Gorman." Huh. Wrote a book. How about that? Our America. Fifty bucks. Membership in the Sons of Reich with every purchase.
    Carlos: Incredible.
    Trivette: Not really. Hate sites have more than doubled in the past year. This one came on-line... September.
    Walker: That's about the same time the hate crimes started. See what else you can dig up on this Gorman character.
    Trivette: All right. [it's not long before he digs up how Gorman knows Roscoe] Hey, didn't Roscoe say he met Thunder Malloy when they were Army chaplains at Fort Hood?
    Walker: Yeah, why?
    Trivette: You're never gonna believe this.
    [later at the church when the two Rangers, Carlos and Trent apprise Roscoe of the situation]
    Roscoe: Stan Gorman?!
    Trivette: Leader of the Sons of the Reich.
    Trent: What's going on? Do you know him?
    Roscoe: Adam! Get up to that school and bring him home right now!
    Trent: What?
    Roscoe: Don't ask questions, just do it!
    Trent: Okay.
    Carlos: I'll go with him.
    Walker: What's this all about, Roscoe?
    Roscoe: Walker, the bullet that killed Rodney Summers was meant for my Adam!
  • "Special Witness" (Season 7) detailed the Rangers protecting a Special Olympian named Sally (played by Andrea Fay Friedman) from being assassinated by Morris Foley (a mob boss) and his federally-wanted hired hitman, Donovan Riggs (played by Gary Busey), after she witnesses the latter stab Trent to prevent him from testifying against Foley in court, and was surprisingly successful in identifying him. Trent was the only witness in Foley's trial, and without his testimony, Alex has no case to build against him, but he luckily pulls through in time after Walker arrests Riggs. Before Riggs could go on to kill Sally, he first kills the police sketch artist, Gloria Doran, then steals her car, stuffs her body in it and leaves it abandoned, where a dog walker found blood dripping from the trunk. When Walker and Trivette are called to the crime scene, it doesn't take long for Walker to figure out who did it, as well as who the assailant's next target will be!
    [At the site where Gloria's body was discovered, as the crime scene unit cleans up and the coroner prepares to take her body away, Walker and Trivette pull up in the Ram with its strobes flashing]
    M.E. Mary Williams: Walker, Trivette?
    Walker: Mary, what have we got?
    M.E. Williams: She's been dead about 12 hours.
    Trivette: Do you have a cause of death?
    M.E. Williams: Well, there are a number of superficial wounds, but the cause of death appeared to be a stab wound to the chest. Now, I'll know more after the autopsy, but from the amount of blood lost, I'd say the aorta was completely severed.
    Walker: Any ID on the victim?
    M.E. Williams: I thought you knew. It's Gloria Doran, the police sketch artist. [Walker and Trivette look in the trunk of Gloria's car and examine her dead body]
    Trivette: Why would somebody kill Gloria?
    Walker: Sally! [he and Trivette race back to his Ram to track down Riggs before he could kill Carlos and Sally]
  • "Suspcious Minds" (Season 7) has the Rangers using info from undercover cop Georgie, who's embedded with mob boss Sonny Tantero. Using the info, they bust arms dealer Johnny Boy, figuring he'll give them evidence on Sonny...only for Johnny's reaction to make them realize this was all a trap by Sonny to figure out who in his organization was a cop.
  Trivette: Johnny Boy, you gotta wake up. We got you, all right? Illegal weapons, intent to sell, resisting arrest. (to Walker) There's something else...
  Walker: Attempted murder on a peace officer.
  Johnny Boy: Attempted mur...? Are you guys nuts?
  Trivette: No. Javier pulled the trigger, but the act was committed during the commission of a felony. Oh... A felony involving you, so in the eyes of the law, pal, you're just as guilty.
  Johnny Boy: All right, what do you want?
  Walker: Sonny Tantero.
  Johnny Boy: Sonny Tantero? I don't do business with that whack job. I got these guns from Big Joe McArthur.
  Trivette: ...Oh, my God.
  Walker: It was a set up.
  • Season 9's "6 Hours" has the Rangers dealing with Theodore McNeely, the traitorous bodyguard of the wealthy 16-year-old Heather Preston, who had kidnapped her and planned to murder her live on the internet within six hours. The start of the episode has Alex being honored for her work at the HOPE Center, but a group of gunmen hired by McNeely crash the party to keep the Rangers and Heather's father, Tim, distracted long enough for him to escape with his hostage. After the Rangers take down the gunmen, and then find the Prestons' chauffeur dead in the parking garage (having been shot to death by McNeely before he escaped with his hostage), leaving another bodyguard to wonder why McNeely isn't answering his phone, Walker quickly figures out what's really going on, just before the scene shifts to McNeely's hideout (at which point the Episode Title Card is shown) and Heather is restrained to her death chair:
    Walker: I can't figure this out, Alex.
    Alex: What happened here?
    Walker: It has all the looks of an attempted kidnapping.
    Alex: Yes, but the obvious choice is Mr. Preston.
    Walker: Yeah, but they didn't try to hit us. They shot above us and then retreated. Why didn't they try to take him? Where's Heather? Mr. Preston, where's Heather?
    Tim: McNeely has her. He got her out.
    Walker: Can you call him?
    Thompson: McNeely. McNeely? Dean. They're not answering.
    (Beat)
    Walker: Trivette! (the two Rangers, Alex, Tim and Thompson go out to the garage to see what's going on)
    Sydney: Stay down! (holds a gunman at gunpoint)
    (Walker, Trivette, Alex, Tim and Thompson go into the garage and find Dean, the limo driver, dead)
    Tim: Oh, my God! What happened?! Where's Heather?!
    Trivette: Where's McNeely?
    Thompson: McNeely! McNeely! McNeely!
    Trivette: Why isn't he answering?
    Walker: It was a diversion, Trivette.
    Tim: A diversion for what?
    Walker: To get Heather out of there.
    Tim: But McNeely's got her.
    Walker: I know.
    Trivette: You think he kidnapped her?
    Walker: Yeah, I do.
• In the second season episode of White Collar called "By the Book" there is a Let Me Get This Straight... moment when Peter points out the flaw in the Perfect Exchange but later when Mozzie figures it out its more of one of theses as he exclaims 'There is no middle man!'
• Often occurs to humorous effect in Whose Line Is It Anyway? when the host is reading a suggestion for one of the performers to act out, only to learn partway through reading that the suggestion includes them.
  Aisha Tyler: [reading from a card] Wayne, you are the sportscaster who's going through an entire relationship with Aisha oh my god.
• On Wizards of Waverly Place, Justin's new monster detector indicates three monsters in the area and calls the Monster Hunter Council. He bursts into the cafe to tell Alex and Harper who have to spell it out what kind of screw-up Justin has just made.
  Alex: Three monsters?
  Justin: Yes!
  Alex: In Waverly Place?
  Justin: That's what I said!
  Alex: (looks to Harper, who gives a "go ahead" wave) Hey, you know you should mention that to? Your vampire girlfriend (Harper raises a finger) and her two vampire parents (Harper raises two more fingers) who live on Waverly Place!
  Justin: You're right! Because the monsters can get them too!
  Harper: Just tell him!
  Alex: You ratted out your girlfriend to the Monster Hunter Council!
  Justin: What? No I didn't!
  (Juliet enters and the detector goes off)
  Justin: Whoops!
• Yes, Minister: Inverted in one episode where Hacker has been offered a position in the EU bureaucracy. He starts repeating an earlier rant about how high-ranking EU bureaucrats are on a gravy train, with high wages, constant benefits, beach holidays...and then his tone moves from scornful to speculative as he realizes that the gravy train has just offered him a ticket.

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