"Babe, babe, I can explain. You weren't supposed to be home."
— Robbie, 2 Broke Girls
A character decides to do something mischievous or otherwise verboten under the assumption that they have the house for themselves. Rule of Drama ensures that the spouse or parent, who is believed to be away, will show up at the doorstep when it is least appropriate.
Perhaps they forgot something and returned to pick it up or they came back earlier than expected to surprise the character. Whatever the reason, expect a Bedroom Adultery Scene, Interrupted Intimacy, Caught with Your Pants Down or a Wild Teen Party to ensue in front of their eyes.
Expect an Oh, Crap! moment on the part of those who got caught and immediate protests of Not What It Looks Like.
Compare "Rear Window" Investigation which features the early return as a suspense element of the trope while the actual encounter is being averted. Also compare Parents Walk In at the Worst Time, as parents tend to do this even when they didn't leave the house.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Advertising
- This creepy rodent control commercial
of a family arriving home early from vacation to find giant rats having taken over the living room.
- Played with in a commercial for the Talk Boy, where the user tricks his sister and her boyfriend, when they are cuddling, into thinking the parents are home early, saying in a slowed down tone "hi, kids, we're home early."
- One UK radio advert for satellite navigation technology does this in the most hilarious way.
Woman: Welcome sisters, to the Dudley devil worshippers. Bring out the virgin goats. Bring out the cloak of Widdicombe. Don the Christine Hamilton masks...
Man: Hello darling, I'm home.
Woman: Brian? I thought you were in Norwich.
Comedy
- Quoth Larry the Cable Guy: "Guns don't kill people. Husbands who come home early do."
Comic Books
- A Gold Key comic of Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks has the mice making Jinks think he's late for his watchman job at a factory so he'll leave early and they can raid the kitchen. Turns out Jinks' early arrival at work successfully thwarted a robbery, so he got the night off and with fellow employees celebrated at home. Pixie and Dixie get a win themselves as they take advantage of the spilled crumbs and discards from the food.
- In the erotic comic Horny Tails, one story features Frankenstein's Monster coming home early to find that his wife has been having an affair with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The comic being what it is, she winds up convincing him to have a threesome instead of attacking them.
- In Red Ears, the husband arriving home early is frequently used as the set-up to a Bedroom Adultery Scene.
Fan Works
- Inverted in He Can Only Blame Himself: After Gabriel Agreste forces her to work overtime, Marinette enters her apartment late and finds her boyfriend Adrien making out with Lila on her couch. (Lila had convinced Adrien that Marinette was working long hours because she'd chosen her career over him.)
- In My Huntsman Academia, Inko comes home from a trip to find her son Izuku cuddling with his girlfriend, who he hadn't yet mentioned to her. In a meta-example of Be Careful What You Wish For, the audience deliberately set up the situation for its comedic potential and were then surprised when the author played it for drama.
- Harriett goes with Caelum Lestrange to his house in The Rigel Black Chronicles, and they spend three hours brewing a challenging potion together (and no, that's not a euphemism). However, his parents then arrive home unexpectedly — and since he had to disable blood wards on the fireplace that would have fried Harry to ashes, before she could get in, it's clear that they won't be happy to see her. She narrowly escapes out the back of the property.
- In Three's Company Harry comes home early from work only to find his boyfriend Draco and Theodore Nott having sex.
Films — Animation
- A non-sexual example occurs in Meet the Robinsons when, just after the whole Time Travel adventure has succeeded in setting right what once went wrong, Cornelius Robinson, Lewis' future self, arrives home just in time to see the time machines missing and Lewis standing with the rest of the family.
Franny: Oh boy.
Grandpa Bud: Well, he's home early.
Films — Live-Action
- In Andhadhun, Mr. Sinha comes home to surprise his wife Simi on their anniversary after having told her he was going to Bengaluru, and finds out she's having an affair with Manohar.
- In Body Double the protagonist comes home early to find his girlfriend having sex with another guy. They don't stop when he catches them.
- In Brief Encounter, Alec tries to use a friend's apartment in order to be alone with Laura. However, the friend returns home early because he felt a cold coming. In her rush on the way out to the back, Laura forgets her scarf which tips Alec's friend off about her presence and causes a fallout between the two friends.
- Carry On Behind: Fred Ramsden and Ernie Bragg's wives, Sylvia and Vera, leave their health farm trip early. They had sent a telegram to inform them of this, but it did not reach Fred and Ernie. They suddenly arrive at Fred and Ernie's caravan, only to find it crowded with Ernie, Fred, Clive, Bob... and Carol, Sandra, Sally, and Maureen. What follows is Sylvia and Vera showing their husbands what they think of this development by way of a beatdown with a pair of frying pans.
- Chalet Girl: Doubles as a Birthday Suit Surprise Party: The Madsens happen to arrive at their chalet early than expected and catch their chalet girls throwing a birthday party for Kim at the hot tub. They also happen to arrive just as the drunk Kim surfaced from the tub to go dancing in the snow while naked. Cue Naked Freak-Out from Kim who quickly employs Hand-or-Object Underwear.
- Dear John: John the sea captain got back early from a voyage and found his wife in bed with his business partner. This makes him reluctant to commit to his whirlwind romance with Anita.
- This is mentioned as part of Chris' backstory in Hunted. One day he came home unexpectedly only to find his wife dressed up in clothes he has never seen on her before. Turns out she was having an affair with her boss. The film opens with Chris murdering said boss out of revenge which sends him on a Stern Chase.
- In Intolerable Cruelty, a film producer returns to his plush LA home in his smart convertible and finds the van of the local pool man in his driveway. The producer doesn't own a swimming pool. He enters the house and heads for the bedroom, only to find a freshly vacated marital bed. A comedic fight ensues as the lovers enter the scene. After the fight people dash away in their cars. This scene is obviously a Shout-Out to Mulholland Dr..
- The opening scene in Last Christmas has Kate spending the night with a man who lets her use his shower while he leaves the apartment. While taking a shower, the man's girlfriend suddenly shows up to shout surprise while removing her clothes, only to find Kate in there.
- In Love Actually, Jamie comes home early only to find out that his brother was having a sexual relationship with his wife.
- In Lucky Number Slevin, Slevin comes home early, only to catch his surprised girlfriend red-handed with some guy in a Bedroom Adultery Scene. She tries to explain that it was an accident. Subverted later when it turns out the story was made up by Slevin.
- In Minority Report, one of the red ball precrimes is a man realizing he forgot his glasses on his way to work and returning for it, only to find his wife en flagrante with another man, and killing them both.
- In Mulholland Dr., the director is fired from his directing job so he comes home early to find his wife in bed with the poolman. After a scuffle, the director is forced out of his house.
- Double Subverted in the opening scene of Old School, where Mitch (Luke Wilson) comes home early from a business trip to surprise his wife, only to hear loud sex coming from their bedroom. He bursts in and discovers it's coming from the TV; she's watching porn. Mitch is relieved (and turned-on), until the other participants in the orgy wander into the room; she hosts these events regularly, apparently.
- On the Buses: When Betty tries to seduce Stan when he comes into her house doing a favour for Jack, her old man comes home early, knowing she's been seeing someone on the side.
- Happens in Parasite when the Kims throw a party together at the Parks' place, assuming that the owners won't be back from their camping trip until the next day or so (despite the strong storm). Then Ms. Park phones in saying they will be back in 8 minutes. Cue an Oh, Crap! reaction.
- Working Girl: Tess comes home from work and walks in on her boyfriend with a girl from the neighborhood. His only words are "No class tonight?" (She's in night school and he's apparently been taking advantage of her absences to have his affair.)
Literature
- Ascendance of a Bookworm: Invoked. Dirmira, who suspects that Hortensia's husband Raublut is sending her to work away from home for an extended period of time to be able to discreetly cheat on her, at some point suggests pretending to have forgotten something and return unannounced to get it. Dirmira herself is eventually sent back to their home to stock up on various items, partially for that purpose. Raublut isn't seeing a woman during that time, but the incident results in Dirmira serving tea during a "work meeting" that shows several signs of not being official business.
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe gives part of Frank Bennett's Freudian Excuse as the fact that he came home from school early one day to find his mother sleeping with his father's brother. Since his father was physically abusive, his mother was the only kindness he'd known in life, and the discovery permanently ruined his view of women.
- In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth agrees to tour Darcy's estate with her aunt and uncle only after confirming that he's away this week. Naturally, Darcy has to return a day early, much to her mortification. However, he's quite happy to find her because it gives him a chance to show his improved manners from the last time they met.
Live-Action TV
- In the pilot of 2 Broke Girls, Caroline tells Max that her (Max's) boyfriend is cheating on her. Max goes to her apartment to find her boyfriend in bed with another woman. "Babe, babe, I can explain. You weren't supposed to be home."
- Beckett and Castle once found themselves in charge of the precinct while Gates was away at a conference on terrorism. They catch a case where they have to remodel the station like it was in The '70s. (It Makes Sense in Context.) While they're doing this, Gates returns early after the conference was cancelled because of a bomb scare.
- In Cheers episode "Let Sleeping Drakes Lie", Norm gets hired by Rebecca's boss to paint his bedroom while he was away in Europe. He decides to bring Rebecca into the room and show her around. That's when the boss returns from his trip early and Rebecca has to hide in the closet. The rest of the episode involves Norm's attempts to get her out.
- The Inciting Incident in Crashing is Pete coming home early and walking in on his wife Jess who just had sex with some guy.
- Devious Maids: In "Setting the Table", Spicy Latina maid Carmen is quick to take advantage of the fact her boss Alejandro will be out of the house for a while to enjoy its luxuries herself, including going Skinny Dipping in his pool, uncaring about doing so in front of her coworker Sam who is too taken by the sight to properly protest. Later, while Carmen is playing in their piano in only a Modesty Towel, the housekeeper Odessa comes back sooner than expected and her and Sam start to Freak Out. When Odessa walks in, she finds Sam wiping down the piano with the towel, while Carmen is hiding inside the piano completely naked.
- In Different Strokes, the family comes home early from a ski trip due to bad weather. They arrive in the morning, and Mr. Drummond (who stayed home) has an overnight female guest. This puts him in the awkward position of explaining her presence to Arnold.
- The title characters of Drake & Josh turn the house into an inn while their parents are away, and it becomes a monumental affair. The parents call the boys to tell them that they're coming home early. They clean it up in time, but get busted anyway.
- Even Stevens: While the parents had to leave the house for a bit, Louis uses the opportunity to use the house as a hotel as a fund-raiser for a ski trip. Louis (and eventually Ren, as soon as she finds out and ends up allowing it to happen due to a boy at the house) eventually ended up having to get the guests to leave early due to the parents coming home early (When the parents called to check up on Louis, one of the guests answered and, mistaking "Louis" for her husband rather than the guy actually running the hotel, responded that Louis broke his back [Beans had injured the other Louis earlier due to using boots to massage his back], and the woman mistook her for a woman that Louis may have actually been seeing while still married to her.). They would have gotten away with it, had one of the guests also not also happen to be one of San Francisco's news anchors and more importantly reported on the "hotel" on the news the next morning with the parents watching.
- Fawlty Towers: As Basil regularly tries to do things when Sybil's back is turned, there are several occasions when his lies are turned upside down when Sybil returns earlier than expected.
- In "The Builders": in Sybil's absence, Basil has the building work done on the cheap. He tries to get the cowboy builder to put right the shambles before Sybil returns, but she returns early, and sees the damage for herself.
- Played with in "The Wedding Party": soon after the French guest Mrs Peignoir has been flirting with Basil in Sybil's absence, he hears a knock at his bedroom door. Believing it to be Mrs Peignoir again, he calls out that his wife has returned unexpectedly, and even stages an imaginary conversation with her. But actually, it is Sybil knocking, who really has turned up unexpectedly.
- The plot of "The Anniversary" centres around a rare Pet the Dog moment by Basil, in which he has arranged a surprise party for their wedding anniversary, after he forgot their anniversary last year. But before the guests arrive, Sybil believes he has forgotten, and flounces to the golf course. In desperation, Basil tells the guests that Sybil is ill, and goes to great lengths to convince them. Unfortunately, Sybil returns while the guests are still there.
- In Fear the Walking Dead, the neighbor tried to get home to his wife early when things started getting weird but he couldn't get a flight. He instead got a rental car and drove into Los Angeles without a hitch because everyone was at that point trying to get out. His unfortunate surprise was nearly getting bitten by his newly zombified wife — and then saved by the military blowing her head off before she could.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Phil and Vivian go out of town and specifically warn Will not to do anything stupid while they're gone. Carlton then rents out the house so that the band Bell Biv Devoe can shoot their music video about a wild party. The house ends up being trashed (as if it was a real party), and Phil and Vivian decide to come back early. They end up spending all of the money from the rental on fixing up the house.
- In the Full House episode "Making Out Is Hard to Do", Gia hosts a make-out party that Stephanie attends, though Stephanie doesn't know beforehand what kind of party it would be. Part of the reason the party gets busted is because Claire, Gia's mother, arrives home early from her work shift and witnesses it firsthand.note
- Hardcastle and McCormick: While Judge Hardcastle is out of town, his live-in parolee/sidekick Mark McCormick hosts a poker game that gets severely out of hand. When Mark has to leave to pick the Judge up from the airport (he got back unexpectedly early), they come back to find that nearly everything in the house has been stolen. Even the furniture. Can't Get Away with Nuthin' with a vengeance.
- Henry Danger: In "Rubber Duck", Henry's parents leave for a two-day trip to Toronto while Henry is left at home; when he breaks his dad's toy car, he throws a Wild Teen Party to raise the money. Near the end, Piper gets a call from Kris that they are coming home early due to Jake accidentally flushing their passport and getting his arm stuck in the toilet, prompting Henry and Piper to shoo everyone out before the parents come home.
- In I'll Fly Away, a teenage couple is basking in the afterglow when they hear the sound of a door opening and jump up, yelling, "What are they doing home?!", having clearly assumed that they would have the house to themselves for hours.
- Intimate: Bruno has an affair with his boss's wife and decides to surprise her naked in her bedroom. Naturally, she's late and it's his boss who actually discovers him. Bruno gets into a sticky situation, but not in the way he expected: His boss believes he was actually trying to surprise him, and what's more, he turns out to be very interested.
- In The Leftovers episode "Don't Be Ridiculous", Nora returns home early from her journey only to bump into Kevin as he is about to suffocate himself via suicide bag. He then confesses to her that he only wanted to see how it felt.
- Sex and the City:
- After her current boyfriend leaves her at his place to go to a soccer game, Carrie proceeds to snoop and search through everything, determined to find proof that he's not the nice guy he's seemed to be. He walks in on her, having nixed the game and decided to spend the day with her and is so hurt/angry/disgusted at her lack of respect for his privacy that he tells her to leave.
- In another episode, she remains at Big's apartment after one of their trysts, only to be caught by his wife Natasha when she returns home from the Hamptons.
- Smallville: In "Jitters", Clark's parents go to Metropolis for an evening, so he invites a few people over. This becomes a full Wild Teen Party complete with a trashed house. The next morning Clark uses his Super-Speed to clean up, figuring on his parents being none the wiser when they get home - but when he gets done he turns around to see them in the door, applauding his finish.
- Used as the punchline to a rather values-dissonant episode of Steptoe and Son. Harold strikes up a friendship with a man he doesn't realise is gay, which was criminalised in the UK at the time. When Harold is visiting, the friend tries to seduce him. Harold makes his excuses and, as he leaves, finds a policeman at the door. He gives a hasty excuse and runs away. The episode ends with the friend telling the policeman: "Hello Edgar. You're home early.
- Happens a few times in That '70s Show.
- Once in a very early episode in which Eric goes to Donna's house in the middle of the night while her parents are away to find that they've come home early.
- Again when Donna and Eric take advantage of having the house to themselves, when all of the other characters come home almost immediately, much earlier than anticipated.
- Also when Eric has "borrowed" his dad's car and relaxes, glad that he has so much time to clean up - but he learns that he only has forty minutes.
Music
- In "One Way Out" by The Allman Brothers Band (a cover of an old blues song), a man sings to his married lover whom he is having an affair with about how he can't leave her house via the front door (It's implied they just had sex) because of a man downstairs he thinks might be her husband having suddenly returned home early. He suggests that the only way out of this predicament without risk go being caught is sneaking out of her second story bedroom's window.
- The Garth Brooks song "Papa Loved Mama" tells the story of a long haul truck driver and his wife, who "needed more to hold than just the telephone." When he comes back early to find his wife missing, he goes into a rage and kills her and her lover by smashing his truck at full speed right into the motel.
Well, it was bound to happen, and one night it did
Papa came home and it was just us kids
He had a dozen roses and a bottle of wine
If he was lookin' to surprise us, he was doin' fine
I heard him cry for Mama up and down the hall
Then I heard a bottle break against the bedroom wall
That old diesel engine made an eerie sound
When Papa fired it up and headed into town - George Jones' "Radio Lover" is about a late-night DJ whose wife has her lover over while he's on air. Then one night he pre-records his show so he can be with her for their anniversary and catches them.
- In Jon Secada's song "Too Late, Too Soon", the protagonist takes an early flight to get back from a business trip... only to find his wife in bed with another man. Interestingly, the title refers to the fact that he was both too late and too soon to save his marriage.
- In Newbeats' "Bread and Butter", the protagonist arrives home early only to discover his mate is being fed bread and butter by another man. They break up, and he swears off bread and butter for the rest of his life.
- Porter Wagoner's "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" has the narrator returning a day early from a trip. He stops at a wine store to buy some champagne to surprise his wife with, and finds another customer laughing about a "party" he's planned with a woman whose husband is out of town. The narrator winds up driving behind him, and sure enough, the stranger turns into his driveway ahead of him.
Oh, I drove around the block 'til I was dizzy
Each time the noise came louder from within
And then I saw a bottle there beside me
And I drank a fifth of courage and walked in
Lord, you should've seen their frantic faces
They screamed and cried, "Please put away that knife"
I guess I'll go to Hell, or I'll rot here in this cell
But who taught who the cold hard facts of life? - Inverted in Slim Dusty's "The Pub with No Beer" – it's the person who arrives home early who gets caught out:
And old Billy the blacksmith, the first time in his life
Why, he's gone home cold sober to his darling wife
He walks in the kitchen, she says "You're early, Bill dear"
But then he breaks down and tells her: "The pub's got no beer."
Theatre
- In the operetta La Belle Helene, there's a short song devoted to explaining that a husband who comes home early and without warning has only himself to blame if he sees things he shouldn't (such as his wife and her lover in bed). In this case, the husband is Menelaus, who was sent off to Crete to get him out of the way by Paris, and returns to find him hitting on his wife Helen.
- In Street Scene, Mr. Maurrant unexpectedly comes back home when he was supposed to be off to Stamford. Sam, his daughter's boyfriend, shortly earlier witnessed Mrs. Maurrant inviting Sankey, the milk collector into her apartment, closing the windows (despite the Heat Wave) and pulling the shades down. Mr. Maurrant notices the drawn shades, advances toward the house, and hurls Sam violently aside when he tries to block the steps. When Mrs. Jones leans out the window to see what's happening, Sam hysterically tells her to inform Mrs. Maurrant about her husband's return. But it's too late: a moment later screams of terror are heard coming from the Maurrant apartment, followed by gunshots.
Video Games
- The Sims 2 has this scenario set up in one of the premade households. The husband is having an affair with the maid, if the player follows the onscreen suggestions, they, and a rigged chance card will lead to the wife being fired or demoted and coming home early to catch him in bed with the maid. Of course, it's easy enough to avoid the entire thing by not having the man get in bed with the maid or by ignoring the chance card.
Visual Novels
- In Double Homework, Rachel's mom catches the protagonist and her daughter in the act one time, and from then on, she supervises their get-togethers much more closely.
Web Comics
- In a League of Super Redundant Heroes strip titled "Assumptions", a husband comes home early to find his wife in the bedroom wearing a kinky outfit and being tied up by a strange man also in a kinky outfit; despite her protests that it's Not What It Looks Like, he walks out on her. The final panel reveals that it really wasn't what it looked like: she's a supervillain, and her husband walked in on her being captured by her superhero archnemesis.
- Hilariously subverted in the decidedly NSFW webcomic Linburger. The female lead has just had an extremely rough day at work and is looking forward to getting home to her boyfriend, but when she walks into their place he is in flagrante delicto on the couch with her best friend. Cue a close-up of the bag the heroine was carrying hitting the floor... As she nonchalantly greets the two of them and complains about her shoulder hurting. Turns out they're part of a subculture where polyamory is the norm.
- Parodied in the xkcd strip "Scheduling", in which this scenario goes in a wildly different direction.
Western Animation
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius:
- In "Granny Baby", Hugh and Judy leave for a third honeymoon at a wild animal park while Granny Neutron comes to babysit; after she gets turned into a baby, Jimmy finds out his parents are coming back early due to Hugh having a run-in with an eagle, thus he has to re-age her before they return.
- In "Party at Neutron", Jimmy winds up throwing a party in his house against his parents' orders when they go out to see a musical called Ducks. Later on, Jimmy is shocked to hear that the parents are returning earlier than expected due to Hugh accidentally destroying the whole set when he tried to fill in. Jimmy manages to end the party early with his Time Accelerator and has Goddard clean up before the parents enter, but he still ends up in trouble when they find a velociraptor in the closet.
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Lady", Darwin and Gumball first encounter "Samantha" (Richard's female alter ego) when they're sent home from school early on account of the staff being incapacitated.
- Braceface: In "Home Alone", Sharon's brothers take advantage of the fact their babysitter had to leave them due to a family emergency to throw a Wild Teen Party. Sharon tries to be the responsible one doing the chores and whatnot. The one time she does try to loosen up and relax is when her mom, not surprisingly, comes back early from her vacation. Though her brothers get her off the hook by taking responsibility for the party, the most punishment Sharon gets is not getting the desired curfew extension she wanted.
- Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation: P.A.R.T.Y.", When Father goes away for the day, The DCFDTL invite Cree and the teenagers to their mansion to plan a new strategy against the Kids Next Door, but instead, the teenagers turn it into a Wild Teen Party, leaving the DCFDTL to call Sector V for help. The party comes to an abrupt end when the teens realize Father's on his way home early than they expected.
- Subverted in The Simpsons episode "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind". Homer comes home early and catches Marge with Duff Man on the couch. However, the situation is Not What It Looks Like. What Homer takes as a Bedroom Adultery Scene turns out to be the planning of a surprise birthday party for him.
- Sofia the First: In "Sidekick Clio" while Hildegard is away for the week, Sofia encourages Clio to try out for the school play which is something Hildegard would never let her do despite always wanting to try out. Hildegard suddenly comes home early due to a heat spell in northern Freezenburg, and on the day of the tryouts nonetheless.
- This happens a couple of times in Trollhunters, but most notably when Jim's mother says she probably has to take a weekend shift at the hospital, so Jim, Draal, and Strickler booby-trap the house in preparation to bring the fight with Angor Rot there. However, the shift becomes unnecessary so she comes back without warning, and she almost gets hit by an ax, sprays Draal with mace and knocks him unconscious under a bookcase, and chugs an entire pitcher of water before finally learning Jim's secret.
