Again with Feeling

"I've had gold in my mouth this whole time. [Beat; angrily] I've had gold in my mouth this whole time!"

— Della Duck, DuckTales (2017)^note Said after searching for gold for many years only to discover she had some in her dental fillings.

This trope describes the instances in fiction during which a character makes an important realization about themselves, their actions and/or their circumstances, specifically by repeating a single line of dialogue but with different intonation or emotion. Scenes of this sort typically go as follows:

Alice has unfortunately lost her MacGuffin. After retracing her steps, she realizes exactly what happened and says, "I left it on the plane when I got off this morning." A moment passes and Alice thinks of all the chaos that could result if the wrong person got their hands on something so priceless. She dons a broken smile and frantically says, "I left it on the plane when I got off this morning!"

Note that to qualify for this trope, the character in question must repeat themselves with different intonation or emotion and they must do so because they are coming to an important realization of some sort rather than trying to reiterate, emphasize or undermine a point they've previously made by using an emotive repetition. If Alice encounters a scary demon named Bob who calmly tells her to leave and then repeats this demand with more and more anger until he's screaming it, that's Repeated for Emphasis. Conversely, instances of this trope typically have the line being said once because the character is just realizing the information and a second time because they've also realized the implications of the information and thus their emotions have changed to reflect that.

Examples of this verbal Double Take often take the form of a Delayed Reaction or Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!. Also note that any emotion will do and thus this trope may overlap with Slap-Slap-Kiss, Suddenly Shouting any number of Epiphanies, and (more comically) "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot. Also frequently overlaps with Once More, with Volume!, though not necessarily always. Compare Wham Line and You Answered Your Own Question. Contrast Department of Redundancy Department.

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Examples:

Fan Works

• In Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, Jan utters this line when he sees Seras using the Harkonnen after boasting that Walter would need an anti-tank rifle to pierce through the armor his Ghouls were wearing.
  "Oh, fuck, that's an anti-tank rifle. OH, FUCK, THAT'S AN ANTI-TANK RIFLE!"

Films — Animation

• Beauty and the Beast: This occurs when Belle's father is trying to get his woodcutting machine to work. Belle declares "It works!" just as the machine begins to do so leading to the following scene:
  Maurice: It does?
  (ducks as a large, freshly chopped log is thrown across the house)
  Maurice: (excitedly, having realized what just happened) It does!
• Finding Nemo: When the fish dirty their tank so that they can escape, Peach wakes up to find that the tank has been cleaned overnight. She says, "The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are getting out of— (gasps) The tank is clean!". Upon realizing the implications, she then bellows in a distraught way, "THE TANK IS CLEAN!".
• The Great Mouse Detective: Rattigan has finally trapped Basil and has him and Dawson tied to an elaborate Death Trap. Dawson tries to encourage Basil to find a way out, but Basil is too depressed about being bested by his nemesis to care. Angrily, Dawson tells Basil that if he's just going to give up, he might as well set the trap off now. Basil then repeats these last words of Dawson's, first chuckling bemusedly, then more seriously as he has a sudden realization, and finally, triumphantly as he figures out how to free themselves by setting the trap off prematurely.
  Dawson: Well, I know you can save us, but if you've given up then why don't we just set if off now and be done with it?
  Basil: He he. Set it off now. Set it off... now? [triumphantly] Ha ha! Yes! We'll set the trap off NOW!
• Hercules: When Hercules prays at the temple, The statue of Zeus reveals to him that he's his father. Hercules realizes that since Zeus is his father, it would make him a God.:
  Hercules: Wait, if you're my father, wouldn't that make me a—
  Zeus: A God!
  Hercules: A God? (shocked) A God?!
• The Iron Giant:
  • When Hogarth discovers that the eponymous giant robot can fly, he says in a surprised voice, "You can fly?", then repeats it in an excited voice.
  • When Annie is looking for Hogarth (her preteen son), she says his name in a questioning voice, then shouts it in a worried voice upon noticing he's not in bed.
• Kung Fu Panda has Po realize why the scroll is blank this way. When his adoptive father explains that there is no secret to making delicious Noodle Soup and that the only thing that makes it special is the fact that he believes it is, Po calmly states, "There is no secret ingredient." He happily repeats it before rushing off to fight Tai Lung after all.
• The Land Before Time: Petrie is a Pteranodon, and thus spends the film trying to fly and constantly asking his friends if he pulled it off. When he finally accomplishes it he says, "I'm flying," and repeats the line three times until he's actually shouting it.
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie: When Lloyd's Green Ninja Dragon Mech is thrown aside by Lord Garmadon's indestructible Garma Mecha Man, Jay assess Lloyd's status to the rest of the Secret Ninja Force while also having to deal with a cable car about to break off from its rail:
  Cole: Jay, what's happening?
  Jay: Garmadon has taken out Lloyd.
  Kai: What?
  Nya: Wait, what?
  Cole: I'm sorry, what did you say?
  Jay: Repeat: GARMADON HAS TAKEN OUT LLOYD!
• The Lion King (1994): Zazu does this. He arrives to speak to Mufasa and gives him the morning report on how things are faring in the Pridelands. Mufasa quickly loses interest and decides to give Simba a pouncing lesson with Zazu as the target. He instructs Zazu to turn around and begins instructing Simba, prompting this exchange.
  Zazu: What's going on?
  Mufasa: A pouncing lesson.
  Zazu: Oh, very good, pouncing. (finally realizing he's the target) Pouncing?!
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: Timon and Pumbaa believe that Simba and Nala's child is a boy, but then Rafiki says what Kiara's gender actually is.
  Rafiki: It is a girl!
  Timon: (sigh) Girl...
  Timon & Pumbaa: GIRL?! (both faint)
• Moana: After discovering in a vision that her father kept the voyaging nature of their people a secret, Moana says "We were voyagers." Realizing that this explains her nigh insatiable wanderlust and love of the sea she screams the line over and over again, this time excitedly.
• Pinocchio: After the Coachman tells him that he takes kids to Pleasure Island, Honest John repeats "Pleasure Island" wistfully at first, then repeats it in an alarmed tone, worried about what the authorities will do to him if they found out.
• Robin Hood (1973) amusingly inverts this trope when Robin, who is very poorly disguised as a blind beggar, is told that Prince John plans to hang Friar Tuck. His accent disappears, he leaps up and shouts "HANG FRIAR TUCK?!" with such shock that it even momentarily dismantles his disguise. Then he realizes that he broke character and calmly says in his beggar voice "Hang Friar Tuck?" The French dub replaced the shout with a quiet whisper, "No! hang Friar—", making his keeping the charade more believable.
• Tangled:
  • When Eugene first arrives at Rapunzel's castle, which has served as the Gilded Cage her mother kept her in all of her life (all the while telling her tales of men with razor-sharp teeth), she knocks him out and throws him into her closet. She says, "I have a person in my closet" once in disbelief. Realizing that she now has proof that she can fend for herself in the outside world, she repeats excitedly, "I have a person in my closet!".
  • When Rapunzel first goes outside the castle, she says, "I can't believe I did this!" three times, first excitedly, then nervously having realized that she disobeyed her mother, then excitedly again.
  • When Eugene and Rapunzel are in the dark, Rapunzel says, "I have magic hair that glows when I sing" in a neutral voice, then she realizes she can use it to light the way and repeats it excitedly.
• Toy Story: When Buzz suggests using the rocket that Sid attached to his back so he and Woody will reach the moving truck, Woody excitedly remembers that Sid put a match in his cartridge belt. He lights up the match, but the wind produced by a passing car blows it. Woody stares at the burnt match in disbelief and yells in a pleading tone: "No!No!No!No!" then falls on his knees repeating a series of "nos" longs and shorts, with despair.
• Turning Red: When Mei's friends first see her in red panda form, her friend Abby stares at her in wonder and says in a relatively normal tone of voice (for her) "You're so fluffy!" Then she rubs her face in Mei's fur and yells with delight "YOU'RE SO FLUFFY!"

Films — Live-Action

• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: When Ace manages to solve the mystery:
  Ace: Einhorn is Finkle! Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is a man! (beat) OH MY GOD! EINHORN IS A MAN?!
• Back to the Future: When the 1955 Doc Brown listens to his future self in the video saying what is necessary to make the DeLorean travel in time, he repeats it in shock and disbelief because he hasn't the means to create so much energy.
  1985 Doc: No, no, no, this sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction... (Marty rushes the video) ...to generate 1.21 gigawatts...
  1955 Doc: (shocked) 1.21 GIGAWATTS?! (backs away and runs from the garage, repeating in despaired astonishment) 1.21 gigawatts!
• In Enchanted, Giselle becomes frustrated with Robert's Jade-Colored Glasses and cynicism, and finally shouts that he makes her angry...then giddily laughs and repeats herself as she realizes that yes, in fact, she's angry, switching between giggles and a frustrated tone with joy. It's implied that, as a Princess Classic, Giselle has never even experienced anger — Robert creating that feeling for her makes her realize that she's capable of more than just happiness.
• Galaxy Quest: Sir Alexander Dane is the most jaded member of the eponymous show's cast, who can't find it in himself to say his Character Catchphrase}}, "By Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Warvan, you shall be avenged!", anymore. However, when Quellek is dying and tells him how honored he was to have gotten to meet him, Dane says the catchphrase with passion for the first time in ages.
• Holes: After trying yet another time to perfect a deodorant for the feet and subjecting his wife to smelling every single disgusting shoe he's tried his failures on, Stanley's father has his wife smell just one more. She tells him to stop and frustratedly says "I don't smell anything." Realizing that this deodorant works, she happily repeats the line and starts dancing with him.
• Home Alone:
  • In the first film, after discovering his family's gone, Kevin sits at a table and says, stunned, "I made my family disappear." Then he remembers everybody mocking and yelling at him the night before, and he says it again, much happier this time.
  • The same thing happens in the sequel when Kevin realizes he took the wrong plane. He sits down with a look of shock on his face and says, "My family's in Florida and I'm in New York." Then he repeats the line happily having declared his hatred for the idea of spending Christmas in a Tropical Climate earlier in the film.
• Liar Liar:
  • Played for drama when Fletcher (normally a pathological liar) is rendered unable to lie to anyone due to the birthday wish his son made. When he finds himself in an argument with his ex-wife, he promptly states, "I'm a bad father." Then he repeats himself dejectedly upon realizing that he couldn't have said such a thing if it weren't definitively true.
  • It is also used much more heartwarmingly when, beneath the confines of the wish, Fletcher says he doesn't want to lose Max forever because he loves his son. He repeats the line joyously over and over again.
• Mean Girls: Cady has to solve the final problem at the Mathletes State Championship for the win, which is to calculate the limit for an equation. As she struggles to remember the lesson in school that went over limits, she vaguely remembers that if a limit never approaches anything...
  Cady: (whispering to herself) ...The limit does not exist. (pauses as she realizes she has the answer) The limit does not exist!
• Muppets from Space has Rizzo employ this trope when Doctor Tucker informs him that there will be no cheese after enduring his series of sadistic and hurtful tests. He sadly says "No Cheese." Then angrily repeats the line upon realizing he'd been lied to.
• The Producers: As Leo, Max, and Franz prepare to blow up the theater, Franz first decides to test the fuse to see whether it's long or short burning — just a few feet from where the dynamite is.
  Franz: Ha ha ha, ja ja, you see zis? You see zis here vat I have told you? Yeah, zis is an example of smartness here. I have said that zis is ze quick fuse. Huh? And zis IS ze quick fuse! ...ZE QUICK FUSE?! (cue explosion)
• Revenge of the Pink Panther: Inspector Clouseau has just visited Professor Auguste Balls, his favourite disguise creator, and is trying out a Toulouse-Lautrec outfit when an assassin sent by Philippe Douvier shows up outside the shop and hands him a massive bomb with a lit sparking fuse, claiming it is a "special delivery". Clouseau, not being that clever, accepts the delivery, even when the assassin clears off without waiting for his payment, then turns to address Balls and his assistant Cunny.
  Clouseau: Special delivery. A beumb. Were you expecting one? (he sees Balls and Cunny running for cover and realizes what he's holding) A beumb?! AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!! (he throws the bomb away just as it explodes, though luckily, it doesn't kill anyone)
• Space Jam: After the Nerdlucks lose by a narrow margin, Swackhammer takes all of his frustration out on them, going as far as smashing Bupkus's foot. Michael Jordan asks why they put up with him; Bupkus explains that it's because Swackhammer is bigger — and in repeating the line his friends realize that it's no longer true
  Michael Jordan: Why do you take it from this guy?
  Bupkus: (fearfully) Because he's bigger.
  Pound: He's... bigger? (eyes widen)
  Bang: (bitterly) Than we used... (eyes widen, too) to be.
  (all the Monstars say "oooh", realizing that they're much bigger than their Bad Boss)

Literature

• Beware of Chicken: When the air is finally cleared between Jin and the Lord Magistrate, the magistrate finally relaxes, knowing that he's not on the verge of having his town razed to the ground, and Jin has his back. "Now all he had to do was teach the man who was apparently the new power of the Azure Hills how to deal with every other cultivator sect." And then he realizes what he just said.
  He paused.
  Now he had to teach the man who was the new power of the Azure Hills how to deal with every other cultivator sect!
  His stomach churned, as the weight of his newfound goal settled on his shoulders.
  His face was still blank with a smile.
  Inside his mind, he screamed in terror.
• In Agatha Christie's Cards on the Table, Rhoda Dawes goes to Ariadne Oliver and reveals that Anne Meredith, her roommate and one of the suspects in the murder investigation, was the live-in companion to a woman who apparently died by mistake (Anne actually poisoned her, but Rhoda doesn't know that). Anne herself refuses to talk about this with anyone, especially the police. Rhoda thus feels guilty for sharing the secret without Anne knowing and repeatedly suggests that she tell someone. Late in the book, Anne gets angry at Rhoda's badgering and snaps that it's not a big deal: "Nobody knows but you!" She then repeats herself—"Nobody knows but you..."—and it's immediately clear that she's going to murder Rhoda for knowing too much.
• Kate Chopin's "The Story Of An Hour" deals with a woman who has a heart condition and is informed that her husband has passed away. Contrary to what everyone else believes, the news doesn't bring her sadness and her tears are Tears of Joy. She comes to the realization that she is free and repeats the word over and over again excitedly albeit in hushed whispers because everyone assumes she's mournful.

Live-Action TV

• Friends: In "The One with the Memorial Service," Ross and Chandler prank each other by posting fake items on their college's alumni website. Chandler eventually goes all out and claims that Ross has died. Ross happily reports that the trick backfired...only to realize just what that means:
  Ross: Nobody called! Nobody wrote anything! Nobody cares that I'm dead!...oh my God, nobody cares that I'm dead.
• This is very common on Murder, She Wrote, often paired Jessica Fletcher having a "Eureka!" Moment. Often, she makes a casual statement about something unrelated to the crime at hand, then realizes how it proves the culprit's guilt and triumphantly repeats herself, rushing off to share her findings with the police.
• Touched by an Angel: One episode stars two high school sweethearts who were tragically separated because the boy's father didn't approve. They ironically end up living on the same street in their elderly years. The two are bitter towards one another and near the episode's end, the woman opens up about how he simply forgot about her after she moved away and never so much as wrote her a letter. The man denounces her as a liar and insists that he wrote her every single day. The woman retorts that she never got any letters, prompting the man to shout "How couldn't you have gotten any letters?! My own father was the mailman!" The two of them pause and realizing what obviously happened he repeats "My own father was the mailman..." in a saddened tone.

Video Games

• In Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions when 616 Spider-Man pursuing The Juggernaut, he finds that he's sharing the hunt with Silver Sable. After managing to distract Sable and her mercs, he's left alone with the Juggernaut, before he remembers how badly outmatched he is.
  Spider-Man: Great, now it's just him and me!
  Juggernaut: YOU!
  Spider-Man: Great, now it's just him and me...

• And again, in Spider-Man (PS4) during the final boss fight when Doc Ock reveals that he knew about Spider-Man's secret identity the entire time, Peter is left shocked at first, and then quickly grows mad when he realized that his mentor did all this things to him knowing who he was hurting.
  Otto: Such a disapointment... Parker.
  Peter: (beat)...you knew?
  Otto: I tried to warn you, Peter. But you didn't listen!
  Peter: ...you knew!
  

Webcomics

• Unsounded: Darkest goes from sending an expected order with no emotion to repeating it with increasing anger as it's not carried out, because unknown to him the group he's trying to command has already been slaughtered on the other end.
  Restore shield
  Restore shield
  Restore shield NOW
  Restore shield, FUCKERS—

Western Animation

• The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Saint", Gumball is convinced that Alan is just as rotten as he is on the inside and spends the episode doing horrible things to hurt Alan. However, no matter what he does, Alan refuses to get angry with him. This culminates in him shaking Alan violently and screaming "How can you not be angry after all I've done to you?!" Realizing how horrible he's been he repeats, "After all I'VE done to you..." This causes him to admit that he's a disgusting person.
• Used in Avatar: The Last Airbender when Toph, who is entirely blind, realizes that the Library that her friends have entered is sinking beneath the sand.
  Toph: The library is sinking. [panicked] The library is sinking!
• Bluey — Onesies: When Chilli sees that her sister Brandy has brought presents for the girls, she politely demurs, "Oh, you shouldn't have!" Then she sees that the presents are animal onesies, which she knows will cause Bingo to act like the animal; "she sort of becomes one with the onesie."
  Chilli: Oh, you really shouldn't have.
• Dead End: Paranormal Park: After witnessing the kids at Patrick's birthday try to summon a Night Hag, Courtney teaches them to do it properly, resulting in them summoning an actual monster who turns the kids into the Sleepless. Watching the chaos unfold, Patrick delightedly exclaims the ritual worked, then repeats himself as it dawns on him how much danger they're in.
  Patrick: Oh, wow! It worked! Oh, no, it worked.
• DuckTales (2017): After spending a great deal of time repairing her spaceship so she can return home, Della discovers that her ship requires solid gold to run. She sets off on a search spanning a year but doesn't find any gold until her tooth falls out. She promptly exclaims that she's had gold the entire time only to realize that she wasted years on the search and repeat the line angrily.
• The Fairly OddParents!: In "Ruled Out", Timmy gets fed up with his parents' rules and wishes that they "couldn't care less", which not only makes them more lenient but also completely lazy and irresponsible. But when Timmy runs off and puts himself in danger, their love and concern for him shine through and undoes the wish.
  Mom: Timmy!
  Dad: Be careful!
  Timmy: Oh, now they care? (beat) Hey... now they care!
  • In "Foul Balled", Timmy declares "I wish my friend was the best baseball player ever" to help the extremely unskilled Chester, who soon develops a case of terrible Acquired Situational Narcissism and won't let any of the other kids on the team have fun. In the World Series, Timmy finally calls him out, and Chester angrily snaps "Then I guess I'm not your friend any more!"—which immediately cancels the wish, because Timmy specifically requested that his friend would be the best ever. At first, Timmy's happy, but then he realizes what's about to happen...
    Timmy: Ha! He's gonna stink again!...oh, no. He's gonna stink again.
• In "North by North Quahog," the first episode of Family Guy after it was Uncancelled, Peter gets his hands on the unreleased film of the action-filled sequel to The Passion of the Christ, which angers Mel Gibson. Gibson kidnaps Lois and demands that Peter bring him the film to his palatial mansion on Mount Rushmore, and Lois, who's been fantasizing about Mel, has a moment of this:
  Lois: What are you gonna do to me?!
  (it hits her that Gibson can do as he likes)
  Lois: (seductively) Oooh, what are you gonna do to me?
  • In "Peter's Two Dads," Peter discovers that Francis Griffin, the man who raised him, wasn't his biological father. He learns that his mother had sex with a man named Mickey McFinnigan in her youth and tracks him down in a small village in Ireland, where Mickey is the town drunk (a prestigious position). When Mickey rejects him, Peter dejectedly calls himself a "fat, stinking drunk", which were Francis's last words to him...then repeats the phrase with pride because Mickey is a fat, stinking drunk too. He challenges Mickey to a drinking contest and wins, which proves his parentage and wins the older man's respect.
• Legend of Korra: Having been stripped of her bending abilities by Amon, Korra discovers that she can now bend Air, something she'd been trying and failing to do throughout her life. Her reaction is as follows:
  Korra: I can Airbend? (confidently) I can Airbend!
• Cricket of Big City Greens is prone to this whenever he learns a lesson or comes up with what he believes to be a solid plan. A notable example occurs when he receives a bad haircut and becomes too disheartened to star in Big Coffee's donut commercial. After a Pep talk from Tilly, who used donuts as a metaphor for his confidence, he comes to the realization that his hair isn't what makes him who he is:
  Cricket: I'm the donut?... I'm the donut!
• The Loud House: In "Bathroom Break", Lincoln, while waiting for his sister Lori to get out of the bathroom, disgustedly mutters, "Could clear a room" regarding the stench of the soiled diaper of his other sister, Lily. Then, he gets the idea of scaring Lori out of the bathroom with the diaper and says in an inspired way, "Could clear a room!".
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In one episode, when Apple Bloom's grandmother tells her that all her grandchildren, plus herself, were the last in their class to get their cutie marks^note A cutie mark is a picture on a pony's outer thigh that explains their special talent., she laments, "That probably means being the last in your class to get your cutie mark runs in the family." Then, she repeats eagerly, "Runs in the family!" as she's inspired to get an apple-related cutie mark like her family.
• My Little Pony: Pony Life: In the second half of "How Applejack Got Her Hat Back", much focus is given on a fad revolving around squishy cubes that nopony knows the purpose of. In the closing moments of the story, Pinkie Pie takes a bite out of one, revealing that they are edible.
  Applejack: We could've been eatin' these the whole time? (beat) Oh, for cryin' out loud, WE COULD'VE BEEN EATIN' THESE THE WHOLE TIME!
• Moshi Monsters the Movie: When Katsuma says that two of his friends are missing, Luvli says, "Two and a half if you count Mr. Snoodle." Katsuma replies in a neutral tone, "Oh! Yeah." Then, realising that Mr. Snoodle could easily lead the missing friends to them by smell, he repeats, "Oh, yeah!" in a happy voice.
• Phineas and Ferb
  • Happens during the Christmas Special, where Doctor Doofenshmirtz sets out to destroy Christmas. The only problem with his plan lies in the fact that he lacks any real motivation to do so because Christmas was the one holiday that everything was bearable during his childhood. At the end of the episode, his plans are thwarted and he calmly states that he hates Christmas. Realizing that he finally has what he wanted for Christmas, he joyously repeats the line and smiles.
  • After going to space for yet another time, Phineas mentions to Candace how brave she was during the entire ordeal (Most of which she spent agonizing over asking Jeremy to a dance). She responds, "I was brave?" then repeats the line happily and confidently when she realizes that what Phineas was saying was indeed true.
• One of the most famous scenes from SpongeBob SquarePants involves the titular character selling chocolate bars alongside his best friend. They stop at a house and calmly ask the resident whether he would like to buy any chocolate. The man asks if they said "chocolate" and the two of them respond that they did and even brief him on the kinds they have. The man repeats the word "Chocolate" nonchalantly then louder and louder until he's screaming it maniacally at the top of his lungs. He chases the two relentlessly, only to reveal that he was doing so because he loved chocolate and wanted to buy all of it upon realizing that they were selling some.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil employs this trope when the titular character is having night terrors. Marco decides that the problem is psychological and has Star undergo a number of tests during which he tells Star that she has mother issues. She happily screams "I have mother issues" until Marco informs her that it isn't a good thing, at which point she repeats the line dejectedly.
• Teen Titans (2003) has Raven invoke this trope when she inadvertently turns Titan's Tower into a house of horrors due to sudden Power Incontinence. Throughout the episode, she keeps insisting that she isn't afraid. Monsters manifest and take every one of her friends until she's the only one left. She keeps saying that she isn't afraid until she comes to the realization that she is. She finally says out loud that "I'm afraid", and repeats the line just as the shadows close in, only to add "But that doesn't mean I can't fight back!"
• Teen Titans Go! has an episode in which Robin learns that Starfire has a date with his severed hand. He repeats the line "You and my hand?" each time with more disbelief.

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You just read all of the examples in one sitting [Beat] In ONE sitting?! What time is it now?

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