Follow TV Tropes

Following

Let Me Get This Straight...

Go To

Agent J: Run over your plan one more time, 'cause I'm struggling with it. You neuralised your memory of the Light but left yourself clues. A photo pointing to a key in a pizzeria which opens a locker at Grand Central. In the locker, we'll find another clue.
Agent K: I like to keep my enemies confused.
Agent J: We're all confused, K.

A form of quick exposition used to sum up the crazy situation in which the characters find themselves.

It can be for a few different reasons. Maybe someone's playing a game of Xanatos Speed Chess or Gambit Roulette, or there's a Gambit Pileup going down, and the character(s) are assessing the problem to make a quick decision on their feet. Maybe someone is about to do/has done something insanely stupid, and another character tries to talk them out of/calls them out on it by pointing out the idiocy of the plan. Sometimes a character, finding themselves in an unfamiliar/scary/Mind Screw situation, speaks to him/herself to clear their own head. Sometimes a previous character has just explained it for the first time, either offscreen, but presumably at too much length to show the audience or onscreen in a way the audience is not expected to comprehend. Could happen as an Inner Monologue, or by speaking to a mirror or some other object.

Frequently begins with the words "So let me get this straight..." or "You mean to tell me...", and also frequently ends with "... is that about right?" However, it can also be pulled off without saying either of those phrases. Often, after the Let Me Get This Straight exposition is provided, a character will support The Plan by saying that it's Crazy Enough to Work.

If the exposition puts the whole plot or certain point in a nutshell, then there is a very high chance that the line will be used in the trailer for the movie/episode.

Truth in Television; which one of us hasn't done this at least once?

Not related to Kirk Summation unless in regards to the Evil Plan. Is usually delivered by a Deadpan Snarker. When the characters are talking about something the audience aren't aware of, it's As You Know. When a character demands an explanation rather than summarizing one, it's What Is Going On?. When the character belatedly realizes a problem from his own explanation, it's Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • In The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Koizumi says this in regards to the things Kyon said he did in the "normal" world.
  • Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!: In episode 2 of Ren, once Shinka Nibutani learns just how little progress Yuuta Togashi and Rikka Takanashi have made in their relationship, she has this to say:
    Nibutani: When did you start going out?
    Yuuta: Around last autumn.
    Nibutani: And when did you go on that boat date?
    Yuuta: [nervously] Christmas?
  • The first episode of Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! gently spoofs and justifies this: After Nyarko's explanation turns into nonsensical rambling that gets fast-forwarded, Mahiro boils it all down to the key points for the sake of his own sanity. This is the result of a Pragmatic Adaptation, since in the original Light Novel Nyarko's disjointed monologue goes on for several pages.
    Nyarko: [crying tender tears] So concise!
  • The English dub of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone tries to use this to cover up for an As You Know in the original script — Ritsuko had explained Misato's plan to Misato just so the audience could hear it. The dub makes it smoother by having Ritsuko take up the Snark Ball and say something to the effect of "Let me get this straight: your plan is to [exposition goes here]? That's not crazy at all."
  • King from The Seven Deadly Sins asks his fellow Sins why they do not have their Sacred Treasures and is less than pleased with their responses:
    King: Let's back up a minute. You took the Sacred Treasure that was bestowed upon you by King Liones himself... [to Meliodas] And sold it?!
    Meliodas: I needed seed money for the tavern.
    King: [to Ban] Yours was stolen?!
    Ban: When they threw my butt into that prison.
    [King turns to Diane, who covers her face with her hair in shame]
    Diane: Am I a bad girl...?
    King: If it got misplaced, then it's not your fault.

    Comedy 
  • Bill Hicks, talking about how Australia was populated by criminals.
    Bill: (in a British accent) Let me get this straight: You keep the shitty food and the shitty weather, and we get the Great Barrier Reef and lobsters the size of canoes?... I'm Jack the Ripper!
  • Bill Maher, in one of his earliest standups shown in Religulous, about circumcision.
    Bill: We're used to it now, but I'm sure when Moses came down with this idea, there had to be one guy going: "Let me get this straight"...

    Comic Books 
  • In Fray, we have this exchange:
    Fray: Okay, I'm supposed to fight the coming onslaught of Lurks and I'm being taught by a sarcastic goat-thing whose idea of training is throwing scrap metal at me because the good guys all went crazy waiting for the monsters to come back.
    Urkonn: Yes.
    Fray: Just checking.
  • Played straight in The Order of the Stick's prequel Start of Darkness, where Right-Eye double-checks the facts of a plan he has undoubtedly heard dozens of times while pre-lich Xykon is in the bathroom. He even ends with, "Just making sure I had it right."
  • Nintendo Comics System:
    King Koopa: Let me get this straight; you just handed the Marios several Stupid Bombs and let them walk home.
    Snifit: I'm pretty sure we did... and some of the less stupid guys said we weren't supposed to.
    • And, in the story "Cloud Burst", when Princess Toadstool thinks King Koopa has stolen her crown and sends the Bros. to where his army is gathered;
    Luigi: Mario— Correct me if I'm wrong —We're here to attack an entire ARMY??
  • The Ultimates: When Tony Stark talks with Fury, they make a recap on their Ultimate prospects so far: Stark, Pym, his wife, and some marine that Banner upgrades once he cracks the Super Soldier formula.

    Comic Strips 
  • In The Far Side, irritated parents confront their babysitter, who is obviously a wicked witch, but the joke is that they sound a lot less outraged than a normal person would be:
    "Now let me get this straight. We hired you to babysit the kids, and instead you cooked and ate them BOTH?"
  • Peter also says this regarding Jason's ideas for the Special Editions of Star Wars in FoxTrot:
    Peter: Let me get this straight — you think they should digitally insert you into the revised Star Wars movies?!
  • Happens in Doonesbury when B.D., on his Vietnam tour, gets captured by a V.C. terrorist named Nguyen Van Phred. The two get lost in the wilderness, become Friendly Enemies, and manage to survive when they find a case of beer and get drunk. The next day they are found and this is the result.

    Fan Works 
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series has had the Yugi character say this a lot. Probably because he's surrounded by a lot of wackiness. Lampshaded in one episode: After Kaiba was trapped in a virtual world by his corporate partners, Mokuba escaped and went to the game shop to ask Yugi and his friends for help. The scene cuts to Yugi saying: "Your brother's been kidnapped?", to which Mokuba responds: "Yes, that is exactly what I just finished telling you."
  • On occasion, this is used in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged to sum up certain events. A particularly epic one occurs in Episode 10 when Alucard explains to Walter exactly why pushing him to release Restraint Level Zero was never going to end in his demise. To be fair to Alucard, he doesn't know about why it's going to work in the end.
    Alucard: Let me see if I can get the grand scheme here, Benjamin Button. The jerries thought that if I purged all my souls, that I wouldn't have my #LifeHack, and at least one of you could kill me. So when the very fine people of the Nazi military, those KKK-looking sons-of-beeches, and ALEXANDER MOTHERFUCKING ANDERSON couldn't do the job, you thought that you — you — were the guy. But quick question, Jolly Wally... how many people lived in London? Or rather, died? LET'S TAKE A CENSUS!!
  • Happens in Chapter 30 of BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant between Luna, Sena, and Trinity, with Luna summarizing how Trinity was inside the Muchourin and how Sena's soul wound up in her body.
    Luna: Okay, okay, so let me see if I've got all this put together. The staff is called Muchourin, which was previously wielded by you, Trinity Glassfille. You were killed by some bastard named Yuuki Terumi and sealed your soul inside the staff to save yourself from death, with you being asleep for gods know how long. Muchourin recognized my soul as compatible with it like yours was, but since you were in it when I picked the thing up, your soul not only went into my body, but it also picked up my brother's soul too while he was dying?
    Trinity: Yes, I do believe that's everything.
  • Jerk in Sheep's Clothing: In Chapter 15, Adrien insists that he can't be in love with Marinette because he loves another girl (i.e. Ladybug, who unbeknownst to him is Marinette). Upon telling Nino and Kagami that she rejected him but he's still waiting for her to return his feelings, he get this response:
    Kagami: Wait a minute...so your plan is to just sit around and wait for this girl who has already informed you she is not interested in you romantically to somehow suddenly change her mind?
    Adrien: Yes?
    Nino: Dude, don't take this the wrong way... but that's kinda lame. You're just gonna stay single for the rest of your life?
  • In Kyon: Big Damn Hero a unnamed high-ranked member of the Organization questions Koizumi's motive to retire from it.
  • Calvin & Hobbes: The Series: Calvin does this while capping off his clever Mind Screw Batman Gambit.
  • Reflections Of Demons: Zabuza's reason for giving No Sympathy to Sasuke after he explains his Dark and Troubled Past and current behavior. He points out that Sasuke is following the advice of the man who murdered his clan, and rather than be a broody asshole could be more social in defiance to Itachi. He also points out that Itachi is either a sadist for telling Sasuke how to live his life or Itachi enacted a failed Batman Gambit because Sasuke was "too stupid" to read between the lines of Itachi's "Break Them by Talking" lecture.
  • in Frozen Hearts (Sakume), Johan says this about Hans' plan to return to Arendelle.
    Johan: "So you're going back to apologize to this crazy magical woman who can't control herself and just happens to be the newly-appointed Queen of Arendelle? After you tried to kill her? Are you mentally ill?"
  • First Try Series, Sakura tries to report Naruto for threatening her, but the clerk refuses to go along with it because she, an Academy student, tried to assault Naruto, who is a full-fledged Genin who unfortunately missed his Chunin promotion, and he let her off with a warning.
  • In Warriors of the World: Soldiers of Fortune, Valkron finds the need to straighten things out with Emeth when he makes an odd request.
    "When most people notice something going wrong, they stay away. You, on the other hand, have just said you want to get closer to it to investigate. And you see nothing wrong with that?"
  • In I Am What I Am, Whistler asks the Oracles why he's being tasked with reviving one of the worst demons in history. The Oracles reassure him that The Judge will be defeated because "it's supposed to be". Whistler calls the Oracles out on the idea that something will happen because "it's supposed to" when their very problem is that nothing has been happening the way it's "supposed to" since Halloween.
  • A Unstable Balance opens with this: LeafClan's medicine cat says the trope line upon finding out that Goldkit ate a strange plant out of curiosity. The implication is that she can't believe he was dumb enough to do that.
  • When a Xander from an alternate universe shows up in the canon universe in one Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, the others give him a rundown of everything that's happened in the six months or so since Halloween. Upon hearing about Angel losing his soul, Alternate Xander responds, "Wait, you're telling me that Dead Buffy becoming Live Buffy made him less happy than fucking Buffy?"
  • In AssClass, (an abridged series of Assassination Classroom) this trope is used to make an otherwise serious topic blackly comedic:
    Nagisa: So what you're telling me is, that you want me- while you sit back and do nothing- to walk up to that monster, and blow myself up.
  • In Bitter Tears: An Anon-A-Miss Fic, when Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo confess being Anon-A-Miss to the Humane Five and explain their reasons for doing so, Rainbow responds with this to make them realize how stupid they were:
    Rainbow Dash: Let me see if I got this right. You posted our most private and embarrassing secrets, made us laughingstocks of the entire school, framed Sunset, and turned the school completely on its head... because you didn't get invited to a freaking slumber party. That's what you're telling me.
  • From Avatar: The Abridged Series, when Sokka learns the Mechanist can't get the war balloon to work:
    Sokka: Let me get this straight: you can invent tanks, jetskis, and a gigantic freakin' drill...but the concept of a hot air balloon eludes you???
    Mechanist: Ummm... yes.
    Sokka: I hate this world and everyone in it.
  • In Chapter 28 of American Dragon: Jake Long fanfic "Her Fate", Rita tries to make sense of the plot.
    Rita: Let mt get this straight. The dragons are teaming up with the people who kill dragons for a living to kill the woman who's trying to protect dragons. Oh, well then, that makes loads of sense.
  • An Alternate Keitaro Urashima: Keitaro and Mutsumi discussing the old promise in Chapter 18:
    Keitaro: So let me see if I got this right. You and I promised to go to Tokyo University as kids in the sandbox, you and me.
    Mutsumi: That's right.
    Keitaro: But then, you saw Naru and wanted to do something to help her get better so you decided that a way to help is to promise her that she and I could be together when going to Tokyo University, which made the promise itself already completely invalid.
    Mutsumi: Yes.
    Keitaro: So my grandmother saw and knew what was going on as she saw it happened.
    Mutsumi: Yes Keitaro.
    Keitaro: I see... so all this time, all these years. Now I understand... Mutsumi, is it also the reason why you rejected me four years ago?
    Mutsumi: Yes... I was... I thought that it was better this way but I was wrong and I know was unfair. It was unfair for what I did... I wanted you and Naru to be happy and I thought that when the promises were made, that you two would find happiness.
    Keitaro: Mutsumi, when you saw Naru again, you actually recognized her, didn't you?
    Mutsumi: Yes...
  • The Totally Amazing Spider-Man: Clover's complaint in Chapter 6 about being assigned to bring Spider-Man in.
    Clover: Let me get this straight: you wake us up in the middle of the night, drag us to W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters via vacuuming tubes without the slightest warning, while still in our pajamas, for the 12th time this year might I add, and ask us to bring in some guy in a unitard who has been busting bad guys left and right? Why?
  • Harry Potter:
    • The premise of Sarah1281's Run That by Me Again?, which gives Hermione (and occasionally Harry) the gift of Logical Thinking, which they use for summarizing situations and Stating the Simple Solution.
    • A Muggle Technicality:
      Harry: Right. Let me get this straight. Dumbledore is an utter hypocrite and you want to use an incredibly dodgy technicality in order to manipulate the wizarding world and I'm somehow to be ok with being manipulated, despite the fact that I know that what you're doing is possibly illegal and definitely immoral, because it gets me away from Privet Drive?
    • In Friend or Foe Harry discovers that he's the heir of Slytherin (by conquest) and Gryffindor while Hermione is the heir of Ravenclaw.
      Sirius: Let me get this straight. You two are now the owners of 75% of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, are two of the wealthiest people in the kingdom, and plan on taking out Dumbledore?
    • In Cooking Lesson Remus informs Sirius that Xander and Spike mated the same night Giles and Remus did.
      Sirius: So let me see if I have this right. You're mated to a Muggle who can use a type of mage magic who has basically adopted a boy who's been possessed by a primal alpha female and some sort of super soldier who got himself a mate on the same night that's a 150 or something year old vampire?
    • Nagini's Children:
      Harry: So you're telling me that Dumbledore arranged for a fake birth certificate, killed my grandfather, stashed me with my rotten relatives so that he could claim I was born to fulfill some fake prophecy?
    • in Path of Shadows Harry runs through the Veil after Sirius and meets Death, who removes the Horcrux from Harry's scar.
      Harry: So let me get this straight. You want me to go back, find all the other horcruxes, keep them together and give them back to you, without knowing where are they at and having virtually no way to obtain them. Oh and let's not forget that Voldemort is out for my blood and so will block anything I do to kill him.
    • Harry Potter: Half-born:
      Harry: So James is suing Vivienne for custody of me, Puck was going to be kidnapped, but escaped and somehow got his eye back, and I'm a half-elf now, is that about right?
      Lily: Yes, that pretty much sums everything up.
    • Dawn of Darkness:
      Penelope: So let me get this straight. The Hit Wizards tried to arrest you because some shady bloke, whom they just had killed, was talking to you and when your girlfriend stops one of them from kicking you on the ground, the Ministry makes you public enemy number one?
      Harry: That sounds about right.
    • Death of the Wrong Boy:
      Amelia: Let me get this straight. You are officially disowning Harry so that Jamie, who is being blood adopted and made Sirius' heir, can also be made the Potter heir at the same time and you are doing this because Jamie is the Boy-Who-Lived and therefore deserves to be the heir of two houses?
    • No Competition: Arcturus Black summarizes Lucius Malfoy's demand to him, "Let me see if I can summarize your request concisely, Mr. Malfoy. You wish for me to disown my grandson, and rightful blood heir, Sirius Orion Black, and instead name your minor son as heir to House Black."
    • Not Only No, But...:
    Harry: Let me get this straight, sir. I didn't put my name in the Goblet, which means someone else did, and then managed to make your supposedly infallible and impartial ancient artefact believe there are four schools in a three school tournament. And, you are telling me I have to compete, even though I had no serious desire, ever, to compete in a tournament where people have died? Many people, from what I've read. Is that what you are saying? Sir?
    • Harry Potter and the Escape to New York:
      Joe: So let me get this straight. This kid, Harry, suddenly shows up in Chinatown, complete with a British accent, definite signs of abuse, an address in Surrey and says that he is looking for a new home?
      And then when you go looking for a way to nail his abusers to a wall without triggering an international incident, you find there is no record of him ever having been there in Britain?
    • Harry Potter: The Rise:
      Harry: So, to sum it up, I need to find 6- no 5 extremely well hidden and almost indestructible objects, not let their creator find out, while simultaneously being targeted by him since he seems to be unhealthily interested in me. And to top it off, I also need to stop him from returning to his physical form, as I seem to find myself at the center of his attempts to resurrect himself... Yep, I'm screwed...
  • Literally the opening to the Dragon Age: Inquisition AU Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium is Varric having this reaction to the entire premise of the game.
    “So let me get this straight,” said Varric. “Out of everybody who was in the Conclave, exactly one person is still alive. She stumbled out of one of those weird green holes in the fabric of reality and collapsed, and your soldiers have her in the dungeon under the Haven Chantry?” He paused. “Why does the Chantry have a dungeon in the first place?”
  • The New Adventures of Invader Zim: In Episode 5, this is Dib's reaction to the circular logic that the other Swollen Eyeball agents hit him with in regards to his request that he be granted access to Van Helsing's journal in their private library.
    Dib: Let me get this straight. You won't grant me access to the journal until I present proof of Norlock's existence. But the only way I can get that proof and live to tell about it is if I beat him, which I can't do unless I have the journal. Which I can't have unless I beat him?!
  • A Timeless Romance: Or, as Starfire says in Chapter 3 upon being told her past self and Danny's from their Paris date were brought from the past, "Allow me to see that I straighten the story...".
  • Back To Us: In Chapter 24, when Alya learns Adrien is Cat Noir, she has this reaction upon being told Ivan is the only other person who knows it.
  • During the denouncement of Miraculous! Rewrite's version of "Mayura", Master Fu summarizes Ladybug's decision to have a mutual identity reveal between the rest of the Miraculous Team and create a new Miraculous Order this way.
  • Seven of Nine summing up the plot in the Star Trek: Voyager Slash Fic Why Janeway Doesn't Have Sex, or the Seven Solution.
    "Let me understand the parameters of the problem. An omnipotent being from the Q Continuum has placed a forcefield around your groin."
    "Yes."
    "A Level 20 fluctuating resonance barrier with no apparent power source."
    "Yes!"
    "And you wish me disable it."
    "YES!"
    "So you can have intimate relations with Commander Chakotay."
    "YES! NO! I mean...that's none of your business! Can you help me or not?"
  • Harry Potter and the Mystic Force has this from Neville after Koragg expresses his disgust at Imperious' actions, including the recent Villain Team-Up with Voldemort. (The line is lifted directly from Power Rangers Mystic Force.)
    Neville: Let me get this straight. You want the forces of darkness and evil to rule the world...but only if they can do it in a polite fashion?
  • In Chasing Dragons, this is Stannis' reaction when he hears that Cersei threw an ink pot in Praela's face for not-so-subtly calling her fat.
  • A Phantom Hero in Metropolis: Danny's reaction when Barbara Gordon tells him why she started the food fight.
    Danny: So wait. You thought a food fight and getting us all in detention was the best way to get us all in the same room?
    Barbara: Okay so maybe not my best idea, but we're all here now!
  • In Colosseum of the Heart, Brock's reaction to Sora explaining the entire plot of Kingdom Hearts up to that point.
  • Naru-Hina Chronicles: After Sai explains to Sakura why he wants to take a look at her chest, she says while frowning "Wait! Let me get this right... You want me to show you my breasts so you can compare them to Hinata's because mine are so sma..." before unleashing her anger and having to be restrained by Tsunade and Shizune.
  • In Linked in Life and Love, Jaune gets a particularly long one in Chapter 87 when discussing how Team JNPR have been Locked Out of the Loop.
  • The Twilight Man: In Oh Susanna from Let the Good Times Roll, Straizo is annoyed that his former apprentice Lisa Lisa essentially kidnapped 7-years-old orphan Susie Q from the streets rather than adopt her through legal means. He then instructs her to find the orphanage Susie came from so she can properly adopt her and continue to train her in her hamon.
    Straizo: You kidnapped an orphan girl.
    Lisa Lisa: It was her idea.
    Straizo: You took your directions from a seven year old girl over the law.
    Lisa Lisa: I told you, I didn’t have anywhere else to leave her.
  • Time Again: Redux:
    Snape: So just to be clear, you need to get away from a century-old master manipulator who currently has control over almost every aspect of your life, destroy several cursed, dark objects that are currently tying the Dark Lord to this mortal plane before facing and defeating him, and change the very fabric of Wizarding society, stopping the destruction of everything we know, before you leave school?
    Harry: Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

    Films — Animation 
  • From Shrek:
    Donkey: Let me get this straight. You're gonna go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so Farquaad will give you back a swamp which you only don't have because he filled it full of freaks in the first place. Is that about right?
    Shrek: Y'know, maybe there's a good reason donkeys shouldn't talk.
  • Timon in The Lion King (1994): "Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And everybody is okay with this? Did I miss something?!"
  • In Frozen, this is implied to be what Kristoff means when he hears about Anna's whirlwind engagement to Hans and says, "HANG ON! You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?!"
  • In Big Hero 6, a skeptical cop listening to Hiro's story: "Alright, let me get this straight. A man in a kabuki mask attacked you with an army of miniature flying robots..."
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph, upon learning that Vanellope doesn't know how to drive a racing car.
    Ralph: Let me get this straight; you don't know how to drive.
    Vanellope: Well, no, not technically. But I just thought—
    Ralph: What did you think?! "Oh, I'll just magically win the race just because I really want to!"
    Vanellope: Look, wise guy, I know I'm a racer. I can feel it in my code.
  • Chicken Run: When Ginger tells Rocky that she needs him to help her and her friends escape the chicken farm.
    Rocky: Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You wanna get every chicken in this place outta here AT THE SAME TIME?!
    Ginger: Of course.
    Rocky: You're certifiable! You can't pull off a stunt like that! That's suicide!
    Ginger: Where there's a will, there's a way.
    Rocky: Couldn't agree more. And I will be leaving that way.
  • SCOOB!: Dee Dee has this reaction upon learning Brian thinks the anonymous tip he received came from somebody named "Anonymous". Brian says her question made him stop believing it.
  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Councilman Arthur Reeves on the phone just before the Joker visits:
    Reeves: (angrily) You're telling me there were four precincts on Batman's heels and he still got away?!! (slams down receiver) Unbelievable!
  • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: In The Wind in the Willows, after Cyril gives his testimony in court and reveals that Toad had traded his ancestral home of Toad Hall for a shiny red motorcar.
    Prosecutor: Hmmmm... Traded Toad Hall, an estate worth a hundred-thousand pounds... for a motorcar? (he and the judge both break into laughter) YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?!
    Toad: I don't expect you to believe anything.
  • Migration: Pam and Dax are quick to question Mack's sudden turnaround regarding the migration, repeatedly asking him if they are really doing this.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Page quote is from Men in Black II, from Agent Jay to Agent Kay.
  • In The American President, the opposing party's leader tries to use a photo of the President's new girlfriend burning the American flag against the administration, but turns out she was at a protest against Apartheid.
    President Andrew Shepherd: Let me see if I got this. The third story on the news tonight was that someone I didn't know thirteen years ago when I wasn't President participated in a demonstration where no laws were being broken in protest of something that so many people were against, it doesn't exist anymore. (Beat) Just out of curiosity, what was the fourth story?
  • In Blade II, Blade is a bit surprised when he hears the vampires' proposal to deal with the new Reaper strain:
    Blade: Let me get this straight; you want me to hunt them — for you?
  • Al from Sahara (2005):
    Al: We're in a middle of a desert, looking for the source of a river polluting wells, using as our map a cave drawing of a civil war gunship which is also in the desert. So I just wondered when we're gonna have to sit down and re-evaluate our decision-making paradigm.
  • Ben Grimm in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer:
    Ben: Okay; we're now officially enemies of the United States of America, Victor is out there with unlimited power, and we've got a giant intergalactic force that's about to destroy our planet in less than twenty four hours. Did I miss anything?
  • In the Dawn of the Dead (2004) remake, a character snarkily points out all the flaws with the proposed plan of action... and then signs on to help anyway.
  • Nice Guy Eddie does this in Reservoir Dogs when he refuses to believe Mr. Orange's explanation for why he had to shoot Mr. Blonde:
    Nice Guy Eddie: Okay, let me just say this out loud, cause I wanna get this straight in my head. You're saying that Mr. Blonde was gonna kill you, and then when we got back he was gonna kill us, take the satchel of diamonds and scram, I'm right about that right, that's correct, that's your story?
  • Ocean's Eleven: "Let me get this straight: say we get past the door we can't open and down the elevator we can't use and past the guards with the guns and into the vault we can't open; what then? Do we just walk out with a hundred and fifty million dollars?"
  • The Dark Knight: Bruce Wayne's accountant Coleman Reese has stumbled upon blueprints for the Tumblers, realizes that Bruce is Batman, and demands from Fox $10 million a year for the rest of his life. Fox's deadpan response: "Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck."
  • Inception: "So, now we're trapped in Fischer's mind battling his own private army, and if we get killed, we'll be lost in limbo till our brains turn to scrambled egg."
  • Back to the Future: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you tellin' me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
  • Alien³:
    • The film features an outrageously straight version of this trope. "All right. Let me get this straight. You want to burn it down and out of the pipes, force it in here, slam the door — and trap its ass? And you want help from us Y-chromo boys?" One can only wonder how Ripley managed to explain the plan in a way convoluted enough that Dillon had to get it straight.
    • Also, more humorously: "Let me see if I have this correct, Lieutenant — it's an 8-foot creature of some kind with acid for blood, and it arrived on your spaceship. It kills on sight, and is generally unpleasant."
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has the crew encounter an alien probe that's completely shut down Starfleet and is vaporizing earth's oceans. After analyzing the signal they realize it sounds like humpback whale song if heard underwater. Unfortunately humpbacks have been extinct for a few centuries. As McCoy neatly summarizes:
    McCoy: You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpback whales, then bring them forward in time, drop 'em off and hope the hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself!
    Kirk: That's the general idea, yeah.
  • Star Trek: First Contact has the crew of the Enterprise having to explain the situation to the inventor of warp drive.
    Zefram Cochrane: Let me see just make sure that I understand you correctly, "Commander". A group of cybernetic creatures from the future have traveled back through time to enslave the human race, and you're here to stop them?
    Riker: That's right.
    Cochrane: Hot damn, you're heroic.
  • Road to Morocco has this exchange:
    Turkey Jackson: A fine thing. First, you sell me for two hundred bucks. Then I'm gonna marry the Princess; then you cut in on me. Then we're carried off by a desert sheikh. Now, we're gonna have our heads chopped off.
    Jeff Peters: I know all that.
    Turkey Jackson: Yeah, but the people who came in the middle of the picture don't.
    Jeff Peters: You mean they missed my song?
  • Spaceballs has exposition by Col. Sanders and Dark Helmet in this style. For bonus points, Dark Helmet's final line appears to be addressed to the camera.
    Dark Helmet: Everybody got that?!
  • Frederick Fronkensteen gets one with I-gor in Young Frankenstein.
    Frederick: Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain... into a seven-and-a-half foot long... fifty-four inch wide... [latches his hands around I-gor's throat] GORILLA!? IS - THAT - WHAT - YOU'RE - TELLING - ME!?
  • Highlander II: The Quickening has this exchange that almost seems like a lampshading on just how stupidly convoluted the basic premise has become:
    Louise: Okay, now let me just see if I can get this straight. You come from another planet, and you're mortal there, but you're immortal here until you kill all the guys from there who have come here... and then you're mortal here... unless you go back there, or some more guys from there come here, in which case you become immortal here... again.
    Connor: Something like that.
  • Commando has this priceless exchange:
    Cindy: You steal my car, you rip the seat out, you kidnap me, you ask me to help you find your daughter, which I very kindly do, and then you get me involved in a shoot out where people are dying and there's blood spurting all over the place, and then I watch you rip a phone booth out of a wall, swing from the ceiling like Tarzan, and then there's a cop that's going to shoot you and I save you and they start chasing me! Are you going to tell me what's going on or what?!
    Matrix: No.
  • Charlie Wilson's War has this:
    Zvi: Now, just to sum this up in a nutshell; you want me to steer Israel towards an arms deal with Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
    Charlie: And Saudi Arabia.
    Zvi: Well, just a couple of problems I can foresee, off the top of my head.
    Charlie: Look...
    Zvi: Charlie...
    Charlie: I know.
    Zvi: Pakistan and Afghanistan don't recognize our right to exist!
    Charlie: Calm down.
    Zvi: We just got done fighting a war against Egypt, and everyone who has ever tried to kill me or my family has been trained in Saudi Arabia!
    Gust: That's not entirely true, Zvi. I mean, some of them were trained by us.
  • In Dead Again, Carlisle says this to Mike Church when Mike explains in their past lives, Mike was Margaret Strauss, and Grace was Roman Strauss.
  • In The Last Starfighter, Grigg explains that they'll be facing wave after wave of Ko-Dan fighters, but the biggest threat is the communication turret on the bottom of the Ko-Dan command ship, which allows the fighters to act as a single coordinated unit.
    Alex: So to get the fighters we've gotta get the turret, but to get the turret we've gotta get through the fighters. We're dead.
  • From Argo, (although the stock phrase itself is not actually used):
    Chambers: So you wanna come to Hollywood and act like a big shot...?
    Mendez: Yeah.
    Chambers: ... without actually doing anything?
    Mendez: No.
    [Beat]
    Chambers: You'll fit right in.
  • In Philadelphia, Joe Miller's catchphrase is some variation of "Explain this to me like I'm a six-year-old," followed by him repeating what the other person said in a way that makes it sound much less reasonable.
  • Eve of Destruction: When Dr. Simmons realizes the pattern behind EVE's movements because her own memories were implanted in the gynoid, McQuade has to get it straight.
    McQuade: Let me just get this straight — you're saying this device of yours acted out one of your teenage sex fantasies?
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit: "Let me get this straight: You think that my boss, R.K. Maroon, dropped the safe on Marvin Acme's head so he could get his hands on Toontown?"
  • In The Hunt for Red October, the USS Dallas is trailing a newly-launched Russian sub (the titular Red October) which suddenly disappears from sonar. Shortly thereafter, Sonarman Jones detects a sound that the computer classifies as a "magma displacement". Recognizing that this new sound is not from a natural phenomenon, he works out a theory, which he presents to Captain Mancuso, that they're tracking a sub with a new form of propulsion technology, even figuring out where the sub is heading. Jones realizes that this could become a "You Have to Believe Me!" situation, and is surprised when Mancuso believes him straightaway.
    Mancuso: Have I got this straight, Jonesy? A forty million dollar computer tells you you're chasing an earthquake, but you don't believe it, and you come up with this on your own?
    Jones: (Beat) Yes, sir.
    Mancuso: Including all the navigation math?
    Jones: Sir, I-I've got all the—
    Mancuso: Relax, Jonesy, you sold me.
  • In Moon Zero Two, when Clementine discovers that "100 Percent" Hubbard had her brother killed:
    "Let me get this straight; you had that louse kill my brother just so you could land an asteroid?"
  • At the end of Joker (2019):
    Murray: Let me get this straight, you think killing those guys is funny?
    Joker: I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not.
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Unsure that their recent rapid-fire discussion has clarified anything, they restate both their friend Hamlet's condition and the larger plot thusly:
    Rozencrantz: "To sum up: your father, whom you love, dies. You are his heir. You come back to find that hardly was the corpse cold before his young brother pops onto his throne and into his sheets, thereby offending both legal and natural practice. Now... why exactly are you behaving in this extraordinary manner?"
    Guildenstern: "I can't imagine."
  • Evil Angels (AKA A Cry in the Dark), based on the real life Azaria Chamberlain murder trial, has two of these:
    • Lindy's summary of how the murder she's accused of would have to have played out:
      Lindy: They must be cracked! Nobody's gonna believe that line of bull. Let me get this straight. In ten minutes, I'm supposed to have taken the baby back to the tent, put her down, put on my tracksuit pants, right? Then carted her off to the car, and cut her throat, cut her head off, with the nail scissors mind you, stuffed her body in the camera bag - have you seen the size of that, by the way? And I hurry up and clean up the blood out of the car, and then picked up a can of baked beans because Aidan, who's been here, presumably, all the time, watching, I suppose, is still hungry. So I take him back to the tent and take off my tracksuit pants and sprinkle blood - my own baby's blood - round the tent, and on Reagan. And then... When do I make the little dingo tracks round the tent? Round that time, I suppose. Then we have a happy race back to the barbecue as if nothing had happened.
    • In turn, the prosector Mr. Barker's summary of the defence case, going by the evidence as he then understood it:
      Mr. Barker: Now, what is this dingo supposed to have done? It managed, if her story is true, to kill the baby in the bassinet, drag it from the basket, shake her head vigorously at the entrance to the tent, then carry her off in such a way that left virtually no clues in the tent in the way of blood or hairs or anything else. It left no blood or drag marks at the entrance to the tent. It was able to pass by the child's mother, in full view, without disclosing or revealing it was carrying a baby. It managed to kill the child, with all the buttons of the jump suit done up, and then, if you accept Professsor Cameron, it buried the body, having undone one top button. So all in all, ladies and gentlemen, it was not only a dextrous dingo, it was a very tidy dingo.
  • While he doesn't say the trope name outright, this is clearly Kylo Ren's sentiment in Star Wars: The Force Awakens:
    Ren: The droid... stole a freighter?
  • Thor to Surtur at the beginning of Thor: Ragnarok, to find out what his dreams about Asgard's destruction mean:
    Thor: Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to put your crown into the Eternal Flame, and then you'll suddenly grow as big as a house?
  • The 2010 version of Death at a Funeral has this from Aaron, in response to Ryan saying that "that white guy [Frank, played by Peter Dinklage, who their father was having a gay affair with] got what he deserved".
    Aaron: Our father was having gay sex with a guy who could fit in his pocket... and you're mad 'cause he's white?
  • In The Drummer and the Keeper, this is Christopher's stepdad's reaction to Christopher's plan to have Gabriel released into his care, allowing both of them to live together outside an institution.
  • In Blue's Big City Adventure, Josh tells the taxi driver he needs to get the theater, but he doesn't know where he is, explaining his situation. "Let me get this straight..." asks the cab driver, saying that Josh and Blue came to New York City from Storybook World and now Josh is following his dream to his Broadway audition, but he doesn't know where the theater is.
    Driver: Well, alright, sometimes you just need to have a little patience.
  • In Jingle All the Way, Howard and Myron run to a radio station which is holding a contest for a free Turbo Man doll. Howard breaks into the studio and Myron threatens to blow them up with what he claims is a bomb, though it's really a music box. Before they can come to blow again, the DJ intervenes and pauses them to understand why they are there.
    DJ: Excuse me! Gentlemen! Are you two under the impression that I have a Turbo Man doll here in the studio?
    Howard: Yeah.
    Myron: That's what you said on the radio!
    DJ: Oh, no, no no no no.
    Howard: Oh yes-
    DJ: NO NO NO. What I actually said was that whoever won would get a Turbo Man eventually. (chuckles) You see, what we have here... is a gift certificate.

    Literature 
  • Timothy Zahn's Star Wars Legends books, starting with The Thrawn Trilogy, tend to have a few things explained thus. It's part of his Signature Style. Possibly justified in some cases; Thrawn tends to refer to knowledge so esoteric, or seemingly trivial, that explanation is warranted.
    Character A: The enemy is using System Z!
    Character B: System Z? You mean [brief explanation]? That System Z?
    Character A: Yep.
  • Meg Langslow Mysteries: In the first book, when the killer is exposed and goes into a rant about how he thinks Mrs. Langslow knows he killed his wife and is blackmailing him into marrying her, Meg's sister asks him if he really thinks that a woman would want to marry him enough to blackmail him while knowing he'd killed his last wife. Even the killer is forced to acknowledge the ludicrousness of the premise after hearing it put in those terms.
  • The Mysterious Benedict Society:
    • In the original book, the eponymous group forms a plan that's described as being "bold, ill-formed, and likely to fail, and all of them knew it." "So let me just review the plan..." states Constance and launches into a series of nitpicks about all of the problems with it. "'So I ask you again,' she concluded, 'exactly how are we supposed to distract the Helpers?' 'Just be yourself,' Kate said with a sigh."
    • In the second book, The Perilous Journey, the group, having journeyed to Portugal, finds a note telling them to go to the train station. There's a man standing nearby and Kate tells Sticky to ask the man how to get to the train station. Sticky says that he can't speak Portuguese, that he only knows how to write it. He writes out a note and hands it to the man, only for the man to make a writing motion and shake his head. "He can't read," explains Reynie.
      Kate: Let me get this straight. Sticky can write Portuguese but can't speak it, and this fellow can speak it but can't read it.
  • In the first The Kingdom Keepers book, Finn's mother says this line after Finn explains to her what's been going on, but he cuts her off, saying that she won't understand.
  • Animorphs frequently had Marco invoke this trope, followed by a declaration of its insanity. Occasionally used with other characters.
  • Hermione brings this up in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: "You mean to tell me that you used an unknown handwritten spell just to see what it would do?"
  • Pops up in the book Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors as Sonic tries to convince his latest side-kick to enter the remains of Flying Fortress Zone.
    Iggy: You want me to go in there with you because some undefined weird sense of yours says that it might be dangerous?
    Sonic: Yup.
    Iggy: Okay, that sounds fair. What are we waiting for?
  • The Belgariad: Happens when Garion starts asking Lelldorin some questions about this plan he stumbled upon. When he sums it up Lelldorin is horrified.
    Garion: "What it comes down to, then, is that a stranger tells you that the king's planning to take your land. Then he gives you a plan to kill the king and start a war with Tolnedra; and to make sure you succeed with his plan, he gives money. Is that about it? Weren't any of you just the least bit suspicious?"
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul: During a car game that involves bringing up moments of the family's lives, Rodrick tries to win the game by bringing up how he and the rest of Löded Diper threw toilet paper at their neighbor's house for complaining about how loud their music is. His mother is not amused.
    Susan: Let me get this straight. You and two of your bandmates toilet-papered an elderly woman's house?
  • In Diplomatic Immunity, Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan has to interrupt his honeymoon to deal with an international incident.
    "Go on," sighed Miles. "What happened with your patrol?"
    "I still don't have their own firsthand reports, my lord," said Brun stiffly. "The quaddies have only let one unarmed medical officer visit them in their current place of confinement. Shots were exchanged, both stunner and plasma fire, inside Security Post Three. Quaddies swarmed the place, and our men were overwhelmed and taken prisoner."
    The "swarming" quaddies had included, not unnaturally in Miles's view, most of the Graf Station professional and volunteer fire brigades. Plasma fire. In a civilian space station. Oh, my aching head.
    "So," said Miles gently, "after we shot up the police station and set the habitat on fire, what did we do for an encore?"
  • In Death: Eve has this reaction in "Glory in Death" while questioning a suspect.
    Eve: Let's see if I've got this. You were on your way to a meeting, took a wrong turn, and saw a woman brutally murdered. Then you drove away, canceled your meeting, and went to bed. Is that accurate?
  • Keeper of the Lost Cities: In Exile, Keefe summarizes the situation once he's brought on board with the new plan:
    Keefe: So, let me get this straight. We don't know where we're going, or how long it's going to take us to get there, and we're flying to meet the Black Swan—who may or may not be evil murderers—and this whole thing could be a trap?
    Sophie: Pretty much.
  • The Night Fire: Mickey says this while interrogating a witness.
    Mickey Haller: Doctor, let me get this straight, Are you saying that Jeffrey's mental issues put him in a state of paranoia where he feared physical harm might come to him if he did not confess to this crime?
  • Donald Westlake's Somebody Owes Me Money:
    Doug: Let me try and get this straight. You got yourself mixed up in Tommy's murder somehow, and got shot at yourself. And you say it was with a gun that was stolen off you while you were here at the game last Wednesday.

    Live-Action TV 
  • On The Andy Griffith Show, Ernest T. Bass tries to join the army, but he gets rejected. He goes on a mild Roaring Rampage of Revenge, breaking windows and repeatedly breaking out of jail, until he finally reveals that he didn't actually want to join the army - he just wanted the uniform to impress girls with.
    Andy Taylor: Let me get this clear in my mind — all you want... is a uniform?
  • And once in Angel, by (of course) Cordelia Chase.
    Cordelia: So, let me get this straight. Angel gets the visions of people who are gonna die, and he tells you, and you go out and slay, and — this is how you make your living? This — got to be the suckiest job in the world.
    • Gunn tries to sort out the vampire family tree between Darla, Angel, and Drusilla, which at this point has looped back on itself.
    Gunn: Do you all have a chart?
    Wesley: Yes, it's in the files. I'll get it for you.
  • Arrow. In Season 2, Oliver Queen has trouble explaining to his friends how Sara Lance could be Not Quite Dead when he told the world he saw her drown when the Queen's Gambit sank. His notorious reluctance to reveal what actually happened during the five years he was supposedly marooned on Lian Yu doesn't help.
    Diggle: All right, so just to make sure I understand this correctly, after 'not' drowning when the Gambit went down, Sarah didn't 'exactly' make it to the island with you, where you would see her die...yet again. Feel free to fill in the blanks.
    Oliver: Not right now.
    Diggle: You mean not ever, don't you, Oliver?
  • Bones: "The Man with the Bone":
    Cullen: Okay, let me see if I get this straight. The pirate bones you recovered came from the Jeffersonian to start with...
    Brennan: Correct.
    Goodman: 300-year-old bones stolen from our own pirate exhibit.
    Cullen: ... and then recovered by one of your own people...
    Booth: Doctor Hodgins.
    Cullen: ... who brought them back to the Jeffersonian... where they were stolen again?
    Booth: Re-stolen... sir.
    Cullen: You got a security problem, Doctor Goodman.
    Goodman: And when I find out who did this, you may have a murder problem.
  • A humorous example in Breaking Bad when Hank is interrogating a suspect.
    Hank: So, let me get this straight, Russell. You got this meth from "some guy", in khaki pants, who — you're eighty percent sure — had a mustache. And... that's it. That's your brain working at maximum capacity?
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: One Cold Open sees Amy trying to circumvent Holt's no gifts policy by giving him a cardboard box containing his gift on his desk, labeling it with the words 'open me' written with her non-dominant hand. Jake summarizes what's about to happen:
    Amy: (oblivious) Mhm.
    Holt: Bomb! There's a bomb! Everyone out!
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Used by Jenny in "Prophecy Girl".
      Jenny: Okay, so this Master guy tried to open the Hellmouth. But he got stuck in it, and now all the signs are reading that he's gonna get out, which opens the Hellmouth, which brings the demons, which ends the world.
      Giles: Yes. That about sums it up, yes.
    • Once when Buffy rubs it in Snyder's face after getting back to school:
      Buffy: So let me get this straight. I'm really back in school because the school board overruled you. Wow. That's like having your whole ability to do this job called into question, when you think about it.
    • And once by Spike in the episode "Crush":
      Spike: So, uh, let me get this straight. Darla got mojoed back from the beyond... you re-vamped her... and now she and you are working on turning Angel into his own bad self again.
    • Subverted repeatedly in "Spiral": Glory, the Big Bad, and Ben, the nice doctor, are the same person. There is a spell on them that makes humans (and possibly other, but not vampires) forget this. Spike explains the curse, but the Scoobies continually forget it.
  • Done quite clumsily in Charmed. Just when the antics are starting to get interesting, Piper puts her hand on her hips and says they still need to defeat the monster of the week. It wouldn't be so bad if she would show some real fear (of the monster) or annoyance (of the antics) in her delivery. Instead, it just comes across as flat, and a way to remind the viewers of the plan they made ten minutes earlier.
  • Chuck has General Beckman use this at least once, observe:
    General Beckman: Let me get this straight, a girl just walked in off the street and picked up the asset?
  • CSI
    • An example in "Rashomama":
      Undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen: Let me see it I understand this correctly: You let one of the members of your team drive his personal vehicle to a crime scene investigation. And then, even though there was a perfectly good crime scene vehicle there, that personal car was crammed with every bit of evidence collected at a major murder investigation, because two of you were maxed out on overtime. And then the driver of said car — instead of securing that evidence in the lab — gave priority to his need for runny eggs. And the aforementioned vehicle was stolen from a parking lot filled with police cars. Is there anything I missed?
      Grissom: Just this: Even if we recover the vehicle, the chain of custody has been broken, so all the evidence has been compromised. No judge will allow any of it to be admitted into court. Also, we released the crime scene, so it too is compromised, leaving us nothing to go back for.
      McKeen: Thank you for clarifying the situation.
    • And another in "4 X 4".
      Brass: Let me get this straight, Larry. An old man refuses to let you steal his money, so you jack a Hummer and try to run over his taco stand?
      Larry: Maybe.
      Grissom: I think this is the dumbest thing we've ever heard.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In the very first story, "An Unearthly Child", Ian tries to wrap his head around the TARDIS:
      "Let me get this straight, a thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?"
    • "Blink": Sally Sparrow (in 2007) talks with the Doctor (in 1969) via the Timey-Wimey Ball:
      Sally: Okay, let me get my head 'round this. You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having?
  • Fringe practically lives off this trope, at least in the first season, to sum up it's more ridiculous plot points.
    Peter: So you're telling me that this guy was exposed to X, which caused his body to Y, and your genius plan to fix this is to Z?
    Walter: [surprised at being questioned] Yes.
    Peter: [sarcastically] Of course!
  • In House:
    Foreman: Let me get this straight. Instead of picking up the phone and talking to a patient for 5 minutes, you gave up on sleep and you drove in here?
  • In iCarly, after Spencer returns from the Groovy Smoothie to discover Griffin making out with Carly:
    "Let's just recap: you steal my motorcycle. I don't have you arrested. I invite you into my home! I teach you about the joys of sculpting! I'm forced to wait an hour for bagels I didn't even want! And then I come home to find you chewing on my sister's face!"
  • In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie will always be completely confused by the current plan the gang has devised off-screen, forcing someone to explain it to him as if for the twelfth time.
  • Law & Order does this at least once an episode — usually twice: at the twenty-minute mark (just before catching the suspect, so set up Why This Crime Is Bad) and the forty minute mark (just before moving to the courtroom, to set up Why This Guy Is or Isn't That Bad).
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: In the season 1 finale, a street vendor's witness report is summed up in the first scene after The Teaser and the opening theme, although since the witness hasn't given them much to go on, it's less about exposition in the traditional sense and more about lampshading how absurdly vague the report is.
    Captain Cragen: Let me see if I got this straight — some girl is being sexually abused by some guy somewhere in Manhattan?
    Elliot Stabler: Something like that.
  • Happens a few times on Leverage, usually by the authorities who arrest the mark after the team has set them up.
    • A short and sweet one was the climax of "The Beantown Bailout Job":
      Somebody tricked you into bringing a briefcase full of evidence of your own crimes straight to the police?
    • The first example occurred in "The Twelve-Step Job":
      Hardison: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. I haven't slept in three days. I had a showdown with two different gangs, who now, by the way, know my face. I sat on a bomb. And all of this coulda been avoided had you given the man a taco?
    • But perhaps the pièce de résistance was "The Very Big Bird Job":
      So, your story is; you didn't flee the country because of embezzlement or fraud. You fled because you thought terrorists were trying to kill you for secret stealth technology. But you didn't report that to the FBI because you believed you stole the world's largest airplane. Out of a museum. Which you then crashed.
    • This is, in fact, done purposely. John Rogers actually mentions SOME example of this is a great way to deliver exposition, and reset the plot to remind the viewers...which he does 4 times PER EPISODE, generally right after the commercial break.
  • The first season of The Mandalorian ends on a teaser for the second:
    Din Djarin: You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?
  • Red Dwarf:
    • While not the actual plan, but in response to the crew trying to explain around Rimmer's temporary insanity in "Quarantine": "So let me get this straight. You want to fly on a magic carpet, to see the King of the Potato People, and plead with him for your freedom, and you're telling me you're completely sane?"
    • In "Rimmerworld", Rimmer does this repeatedly in the first part of the episode.
      Rimmer: So let me get this straight. If we board that ship and we get captured, we're finished. However, if we board that ship, don't get captured but the superstructure disintegrates around us, we are finished. On the other hand, if we board that ship, don't get captured, and the superstructure doesn't disintegrate around us, but we can't find any fuel, we are in fact finished.
  • In the second episode of Squid Game, after the game ends after the first round, Gi-hun goes to the police to report that a game of "Red Light Green Light" resulted in over 200 people dying. Unfortunately, since Gi-hun is short on evidence, the police officer is skeptical, to say the least.
    Police Officer: Let me just sum up everything you've told us so far just so I understand. You went to play kids' games because someone told you you'd get all that cash, so then they had you play some "Red Light, Green Light," and they shot everyone who got caught. But when you said you wanted to go, they said "Ok, just go." And you don't know what they look like or where this all took place. Is that everything, mister?
    Gi-hun: (nods a bit hesitantly) Yeah.
  • Used quite frequently in Stargate SG-1, using the exact words of the trope.
    • In "There but for the Grace of God":
      O'Neill: Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me get this straight. You want us to give up our last chance to strike back at the Goa'uld, so we can save ourselves in... what... what?
      Carter: Alternate Reality.
      Jackson: Not just yourselves, everyone on Earth!
      O'Neill: Your Earth.
      Jackson: The Jack O'Neill that I know would do it.
      O'Neill: Well apparently, you and I have never met.
    • In "The Ties That Bind":
      Landry: So let me get this straight. You need to get this ship, to get the power coil, to get the necklace, to get this guy to tell you how to undo whatever is keeping you two connected?
      Mitchell: Yeah, that about sums it up.
    • In "Ripple Effect":
      Black Mitchell: Now let me get this straight. We figured that you guys would try to escape and we set this trap for you, not realizing that you'd figured out that we'd figure you out and you'd set... your own.
      Teal'c: ...Indeed.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Disaster", Data and Riker are faced with a dangerous energy field that would surely kill Riker. Fortunately, Data can make it through with heavy damage to his body that will have to be repaired later, but with his head and neural net fully intact, which Riker can take with him.
    Riker: Let me get this straight. You want me to take off your head?
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: From the season six episode "The Sound of Her Voice":
    Jake: So let me get this straight — you have fifteen cases of stolen Denevan crystals...
    Quark: Allegedly stolen.
    Jake: ...allegedly stolen crystals hidden somewhere down in Cargo Bay Three. And you're planning to sell them to a Nausicaan friend of yours — who just happens to be a known criminal...
    Quark: Alleged criminal.
    Jake: So, how are you going to get an "alleged" criminal onto the station and deliver the "allegedly" stolen goods to him without Odo getting wind of it? And what does any of this have to do with his anniversary?
  • Star Trek: Voyager:
    • While Simulating an old movie theater in "Repression":
      B'Elanna: Protective lenses?
      Tom: These will make the images on the screen appear three-dimensional.
      B'Elanna: Let me get this straight — You've gone to all this trouble to program a three-dimensional environment that projects a two-dimensional image and now you're asking me to wear these to to make it look three-dimensional again?
    • Also, from "Bride of Chaotica!":
      Captain: Let me get this straight, transdimensional aliens have mistaken your Captain Proton simulation for reality?
      Paris: Yes ma'am.
      Captain: And now an armed conflict has broken out between these aliens and Chaotica's holographic army?
      Paris: [completely deadpan] Yes ma'am. [half-beat] His army of evil.
  • The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: In "Super Twins", when Esteban, playing the role of the Meanager/Mr. Moseby's minion, BellBoy, holds Maddie captive at her workplace:
    Maddie: So, let me get this straight: Moseby is a supervillain, and you're his evil minion sent here to kidnap me? That is the silliest thing I've ever heard!
    Esteban/BellBoy: Silence, captive!
    Maddie: On second thought, that is the silliest thing I've ever heard!
  • The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?". During the discussion between the characters, George (the older married man) says "Let me get this straight. You're trying to tell us that there's one person in here who landed in some kind of a saucer or something and then came in here?"
  • The West Wing:
    • "The State Dinner". At the end of The Teaser, C.J. recaps everything that's going on (that will unfold as the episode does), and laments how the press corps has other priorities:
      C.J.: So, let me see if I have this... a hurricane's picked up speed and power and is heading for Georgia, management and labor are coming here to work out a settlement to avoid a crippling strike that will begin at midnight tonight, and the government's planning a siege on 18 to 40 of its citizens, all the while we host a state dinner for the President of Indonesia.
      [sounds of assent from the others]
      C.J.: Amazingly, you know what I'll get asked most often today? [turns to a reporter hovering nearby] Black suede and velvet Manolo Blahnik slides with a rhinestone and mother of pearl toe buckle. [reporter scribbles, thanks C.J., and leaves]
    • There's also this memorable exchange from the second part of the Season 2 premiere "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 1", after Margaret reveals she can imitate President Bartlett's signature:
      Leo: You can sign the President's name?
      Margaret: Yes.
      Leo: On a document removing him from power and handing it to someone else?
      Margaret: Yes! [off Leo's death glare] Or... do you think the White House counsel would say that was a bad idea?
      Leo: I think the White House counsel would say it was a coup d'état.
      Margaret: I'd probably end up doing some time for that.
      Leo: I would think! And what the hell were you doing, practicing the President's signature?
      Margaret: [as she hastily exits] It was just for fun!
  • White Collar. "By the Book" has Neal explaining the perfect exchange with Peter's only question being "What happens to the middle man?"
  • Will & Grace: "OK, so let me get this gay..."
  • The Wire used this a few times (usually with the variation "let me understand this"). A great example from the series finale:
    Carcetti: So, um, let me just... understand this. Um... so I've been going out there for weeks, slamming the governor for his neglect of the homeless and declaring at how we will stop at nothing to find the person responsible for preying on the homeless, [Norman, who has been valiantly trying not to laugh, loses it] and all — hey, Norman, this is my ass here!
    Norman: [pulling himself together] That's true, boss. But it does have a certain charm to it. They manufactured an issue to get paid; we manufactured an issue to get you elected governor. Everybody's getting what they need behind some make-believe.
  • On the Panel Show Would I Lie to You?, this is used whenever a panelist has finished telling a lengthy and implausible sounding story.
    [Kevin Bridges has claimed that he once accidentally bought a horse he thought he was only renting]
    David Mitchell: You take the horse back. Guy B, who's the guy you met on the way to the stables, he's gone, no sign of him, so you say to Guy A, "Well, we hired this as part of your 'not actually bothering to go to the stables but getting a few hundred yards away' scheme, we hired this horse for 25 minutes at an extortionate rate, nevertheless, here it is..." And what did he say?
    Kevin: We went back to the place where we picked up the horse—
    David: Oh, so not to the stable! But to the random point in the road, a couple of hundred yards away from the stables, thinking bewilderedly - "Where has the mysterious man gone?" I would have thought that logically, when you were returning it, having thought that it had come from the stable, that you'd been lucky not to have to walk to the stable before hiring it, you might nevertheless have thought "Well, the stable's where it's got to go back to", rather than "Well, sod 'em! This is where we picked it up from! I'm not gonna take it to the stable. I'm gonna stand here, 300 yards away from the stable, going COME OVER HERE! COME AND GET YOUR OWN HORSE!" At which point locals start waving-going, "NO! YOU KEEP!"
  • This is usually how Scully reacts to Mulder's paranormal theories on The X-Files. One clip show features a collection of all the times Scully has a line with some variant of, "Mulder, are you saying that [ghosts/aliens/the Loch Ness Monster/werewolves] did it?" The collection takes several minutes.

    Magazines 
  • One Doctor Who Magazine "Blogs of Doom" feature has Poul from "The Robots of Death" reacting to his mission assignment:
    Sorry, let me just get this straight. You've decided I — someone with an overwhelming paranoid fear of robots — should be sent on a mission to a sandminer full of robots because a lunatic scientist with the ability to turn robots into killers might be on board and planning to start a robot revolution? And you chose me, because you think I'm the best person to protect the sandminer commander, who is also a homicidal lunatic?
    And as my assistant undercover agent, you've given me a ROBOT?!?

    Music 
  • "Now let me get this straight, you put the lime in the coconut and drank 'em both up?"
    So, do it again "and you'll feel better." (Does that seem right to you?)
  • The first words of Anberlin's "A Day Late": "So let me get this straight, say now you loved me all along."
  • "Arguing with Thermometers" by Enter Shikari, a protest song about exploiting the polar icecaps for the sake of acquiring the oil beneath it: "So let me get this straight, as we witness the icecaps melting, instead of it spurning us to change our ways; we're gonna invest in military hardware to fight for the remaining oil that's left beneath the ice? Well what happens when it's all gone?! You haven't thought this through, have you boys?"
  • In Tom Cardy's The Ballad of Smokin' Joe Rudeboy, "Let me get this straight" is practically Joe's catchphrase, always followed by flipping his opponents off. The same goes for his daughter.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The Rock made use of this when he roasted John Cena during his return speech on the 2/14/2011 episode of WWE Raw:
    The Rock: So let me get this straight... The WWE has gone from the powerful "Austin 3:16"... to the dominant and iconic "Can you smell what The Rock is cookin'?!"... ALL THE WAY to [switches to a childish voice] "You can't see me..."

    Radio 
  • In the Doctor Who radio drama The Paradise of Death, the Doctor is dumbfounded at the Brigadier's request that he help him investigate the strange happenings at Spaceworld, the new Amusement Park at Hampstead Heath:
    "Lethbridge-Stewart, let me understand you right — you have catastrophically interrupted a very tricky operation, on which I may say the entire navigation system of the TARDIS could depend, to invite me to a children's funfair?"

    Theatre 
  • Kimberly Akimbo (2021): In "The Inevitable Turn" Kimberly's parents finally admit what made them move and Kimberly has to repeat it in incredulity.
    Kimberly: You had sex with Mr. Zwicky. Dad hired Aunt Debra to beat him up. But Aunt Debra killed him?...What is wrong with you people?!
    Video Games 
  • Dead Rising 2 has this when it is discovered Phenotrans caused the zombie outbreak.
    Chuck: So let me get this straight. You mean to tell me this company killed all these people... just so they could drive up their goddamn stock price!?
  • Geist: Happens one chapter after Raimi rescues Bryson (as in the previous one their top priority was to escape). Raimi explains Bryson offscreen what's going on with the Volks corporation (because Raimi is a Heroic Mime in-game), and then Bryson paraphrases what he's told to make sure he understands the situation. This is further justified because Raimi had been turned into a ghost and was possessing a female nurse. They might have thought that going right to the next action scene was too jarring, but they couldn't show Raimi talking.
  • In Year 2 of Grim Fandango, Manny sums up what he needs to move on;
    Manny: So let me get this straight… If I get Glottis some tools…
    Velasco: Then I can get him a job on the Limbo.
    Manny: …and if Seaman Naranja doesn’t show up for work…
    Velasco: But he will.
    Manny: …and I get a maritime union card…
    Velasco: …which you’ll never get.
    Manny: Then I can sail on the Limbo in the morning?
    Velasco: Sheeese. (Long pause) I GUESS SO.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: In your first meeting with Purah, she asks you to tell her what happens, and (Link being a Heroic Mime) the scene cuts to her summarizing it with her own words.
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has this exchange:
    Elena: So let me get this straight: you're competing with a psychopathic war criminal for a mythological gemstone?
    Jeff: When you put it that way, it does sound pretty stupid.
    Nathan: Thanks for the input, Jeff.
  • An example from Thief: Deadly Shadows:
    Garrett: Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to find Gamall's lair, learn what she wants your treasure for, and find and destroy this final glyph? Anything else?
  • During the ending of Mass Effect 2's "Arrival" DLC:
    Admiral Hackett: All I know is I sent you to break Amanda Kenson out of prison, and now an entire system's been destroyed. I hope you can fill in the logic between those two events.
  • In Persona 5, this is Makoto's reaction to learning that the Phantom Thieves of Heart have operating without any kind of strategy or coherent plan the entire time.
  • In Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, while investigating a North Korean missile battery that sunk an American spy ship, threatening to turn a delicate diplomatic crisis into a war, you hear this exchange in the command centre which shows that the North Koreans are just as clueless about what's going on as everyone else (thus proving they're being manipulated by the real bad guys):
    NKA Base Commander: "No malfunction? Hmm. Curious. There is an 80-billion-dollar warship on the bottom of the sea, sunk by a missile that left this battery. The world is less than... twelve hours from a war that will kill millions of people, and you're telling me... that there was no malfunction?"
    NKA Engineer: "We... we checked everything, sir, I assure you."
    NKA Base Commander: "Well, Captain. The only two people in this building who could authorize that launch without approval are you, and I. I know I did not do it, so if it wasn't a malfunction..." *BANG*
  • In the Star Wars: The Old Republic Sith Inquisitor storyline, an artifact you need is inside a wrecked, toxic waste filled vault. The scientist you capture to help has this reaction:
    Tyrek: So let me get this straight: you kidnapped me away from the Republic just so you could go skinny dipping in a toxic waste pit?

    Visual Novels 
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney:
    • Said by Phoenix Wright in the case "Reunion and Turnabout" when he presses Lotta on her testimony, which describes something he did.
    • Phoenix will use this when trying to verify details of a witness's testimony, right before showing evidence to prove contradictions.
  • In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the culprit of Chapter 3 says this when being accused of being the mastermind behind the murders, dismissing the accusation as a joke.
    "So what you are saying, then, is that I specifically chose to work together with Hifumi. The idea that I would choose to spend any amount of time interacting with him... That I would go within ten feet of that shit-for-brains, that lazy, worthless goddamn idiot! (Collects self) *Ahem* Ah, pardonnez-moi."
  • In Queen of Thieves, after The Caper in Vivienne's first season takes an unexpected turn, Vivienne and the heroine decide to escalate and get this kind of response from the Caper Crew's leader and mastermind Nikolai:
    Nikolai: So let me get this straight. You want us to get revenge. Infiltrate a location that isn't as secure as our first target. In the middle of a city that's currently on red alert, looking for us. With half the prep time, none of the inside contacts. No solid avenue of escape. Is that about right?
    Vivienne: Mm, that about sums it up.
    Bit by bit, like the sun rising, Nikolai's sour expression shifts into a gleeful grin.
    Nikolai: Oh, there's no way I'm going to turn this down.

    Web Animation 
  • Red vs. Blue:
    • This is Church's reaction to Caboose giving the Blue flag to Donut.
    • Tucker is quite accurate in his summary of events soon after Tex arrives.
    • As is Grif, later on in the series, discussing a plan.
      Grif: Let me get this straight: we're going to steal a bomb from our enemies — a bomb that can be remotely detonated I might add — and then we're gonna bring it back to our base, and all huddle around it. What a great plan.
      Simmons: Well sure, it sounds stupid when you say it like that.
    • Later invoked by Simmons on trying to rationalize Sister's reason for joining the Blood Gultch Crew.
      Simmons: "...You felt scared being alone, so you decided to join a war."
      Sarge: She's a "Grif" alright.
    • Episode 13 starts out this way, with Tucker using the trope.
    • Washington does this three times in Season 11. The first time is when Donut and Doc show up to rescue the Reds and Blues, but the ship they arrived in has left.
      Washington: So you're telling me... that you heard our distress signal... grabbed Doc... hopped on a ship... AND THEN TOLD THE SHIP TO LEAVE!? AND THAT'S YOUR IDEA OF SENDING HELP!?
    • The second time is when Felix explains that he was hired by the New Republic of Chorus to fetch the Reds and Blues to recruit to their cause.
    Wash: So, you want us to go fight someone else's war so you can make some extra cash?
    (Beat)
    Felix: Uh, it's for a good cause?
    • The third time Washington does this in season 11 is when Freckles is plugged in but is not getting any power. Donut reveals why this is happening, and... well...
      Washington: DOWNLOADING A PICTURE ON BASEBOOK IS DRAINING OUR ENTIRE POWER SUPPLY!?
      Donut: It is a very high quality picture.
      Washington: HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE!?
  • Done multiple times in "The Greatest Caper Ever" by Strong Bad and The Cheat. Normally, when this trope gets used by Homestar Runner, it's someone translating Pom Pom or The Cheat for the benefit of the audience, but in this case it's justified; Strong Bad and The Cheat are trying to retrace their steps to figure out A) how they got Homestar onto an ice floe somewhere in the Arctic Circle, and B) how they have satellite coverage of Homestar on his ice flow in the Arctic.

    Webcomics 
  • Accidentally defied in Dubious Company. Walter starts complaining about the Oracle's uselessly vague prophecy, and ends up filling in all the missing parts.
  • Schlock Mercenary: Done by the Reverend when Tagon admits to kissing his girlfriend. Given the context, it's more like the Reverend is trying to figure out what exactly is Tagon confessing to.
    Reverend Theo: Are you seeking my forgiveness, or are you trying to come to grips with your deeper faults?
    Captain Tagon: Well... There wasn't any tongue.
  • Girl Genius: In a side-story, a put-upon minion holds forth upon the subect of Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer.
    Squibbs: Let me see if I understand this. He thinks all the problems in Europe are caused by the mad scientists who build all the monsters. The mad scientists who vie with each other to see who can be the first to turn the population into wombat bats or clam people or stylish furniture. The raving lunatics who set off life-size chocolate volcanoes and unleash flash floods of porridge upon innocent villages. Othar wants to destroy these people, and you think he's insane?!
  • Lackadaisy: After Mordecai Heller has explained that while he's supposed to kill Gracie, he's fitting in an interrogation so he can figure out not only why, but why his kill list in general has been so overloaded lately:
    Gracie: You want me to help you finish your book report...about why you're supposed to murder me? To put your mind at rest.
    Mordecai: Yes.

    Web Original 
  • The Ship's Closet: Brittany Diamond uses "Let me get this gay," as well, as a Shout-Out to Will & Grace.
  • Done by Soviet Womble in Random CS:GO Bullshittery Part 3, in response to finding out about Cyanide having Echo "married"note :
    Soviet: So, sorry, bear with me for a minute, are you saying you basically took an Englishman and German woman and forced them to partake in a Jewish Shotgun Wedding?
    Cyanide: Yes.
    Soviet: And did she say yes?
    Cyanide: Yes. It irritated the shit out of—
    Echo: No no no, no one said yes, it was just a glass smashed and a mazel tov and everyone said "Yep!"
  • Oxventure: As Corazón de Ballena proposes to celebrate his ascension to King of the small village of Dunbridge with a holiday and a round of drinks on him:
    Guard: Are you saying you want to begin your reign by giving everyone the day off and getting them hammered on mead?
    Corazón: Yeah. Sounds good to me, right?
    Johnny, the GM: They all sort of lower their swords and are like, "Well, I'm convinced."
  • In this short YouTube video about playing Dungeons & Dragons with Charisma focused characters, the exasperated dungeon master sums up the outrageous lie that the charismatic character wants to pull off:
    DM: Listen to what you are asking me, okay? Let me just repeat it for you. You are digging a hole that is up to your knees in a place you are NOT supposed to be digging. When someone comes to confront you, you are trying to lie to their face and say you are fixing a smaller hole? (sigh) Fine, fine. Go ahead and roll me deception check with disadvantage.

    Western Animation 
  • South Park does this often.
    "Ah all right, just let me get this straight: the head of Homeland Security ordered you to fly us, five kids, to Peru, but had you land way up in the Andes Mountains of Peru so that other government people could meet us and then... somehow tell us how to go to the capital of Peru, way over in Lima, and take down their government. And that makes sense to you?"
  • All Grown Up!, "Susie Sings The Blues": after the school vice-principal has just discovered that Tommy and Chuckie have been playing pranks on him, the first line of the scene where they're in the office goes thusly: "So this whole thing was to take risks and break Chuckie out of some pathetic rut he's in."
  • Daria, "Arts 'N Crass". When Principal Li calls Daria's mother to tell her about a serious offense committed by Daria and her friend Jane Lane, Mama Bear quickly surmises the truth of the matter:
    Helen Morgendorffer: All right, Ms. Li, let me make sure I have this straight. You took my daughter's poster from her, altered its content, exhibited it against her will, and are now threatening discipline because you claim she defaced her own property, which you admit to stealing?
    Ms. Li: [flustered] That's not what I said at all!
    Helen: Ms. Li, are you familiar with the phrase "violation of civil liberties"?
    Ms. Li: I...
    Helen: And the phrase "big fat lawsuit"?
    [Daria smiles as she sees Ms. Li go down in flames]
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    Sokka: Let me get this straight: you expect me to clean mud out of Appa's toes while you two go splash around and have fun?
    Aang: Mud AND bugs!
    Sokka: ... OK.
  • Happens a lot in Futurama, usually said to the Professor. Usually, the Professor interrupts the other person to do the streamlined explanation himself:
    Leela: So what you think you just explained to us is that...
    Farnsworth: Correct! This box contains our own universe!
  • The eponymous penguin of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales would often restate exactly what someone had just said to him.
  • My Little Pony:
    • From The Princess Promenade:
      Pinkie Pie: So let me get this straight. It's pretty dark. It's kinda scary. And it reeeeally stinks. [nervous laugh] And they want me to follow them where?
    • From the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Hearts and Hooves Day", there is this exchange at the end of the song "The Perfect Stallion".
      Sweetie Belle: We did it, girls! We found the one! Who will send our teacher's heart a-flutter!
      Apple Bloom: Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Are you talking about my brother?
    • Luna also says this in "The Ending of the End Part 1", then Celestia carries on with it after Discord interrupts her.
    Luna: Let me get this straight. You wanted to boost Twilight's confidence, so you brought back Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek to attack her?!
    Discord: Don't forget Sombra.
    Celestia: And while you united these three villains, you pretended to be Grogar?!
  • From Metalocalypse, we get this gem when Dethklok cluelessly shops for food at a grocery store after their personal chef got torn apart by helicopter blades and Pickles finds the lobster counter:
    Pickles: Let me get straight: you put these in boiling water then they shriek, turn red and die?!? This is the most metal thing I ever heard in my life.
  • A variant of this phrase "Let's get the facts" was one of Keisha's catchphrases in The Magic School Bus, usually said when the class is going through something that should be impossible.
  • In Darkwing Duck, a time machine accidentally drags Gosalyn into a future in which her disappearance drove Darkwing to become a Well-Intentioned Extremist. She asks him to send her back in the machine and fix things, but he doesn't see it that way:
    Darkwarrior Duck: Let me get this straight. You want me to release two known criminals, give them an incredibly powerful vehicle, and let them trash history so that I, Darkwarrior Duck, will never even exist?
  • In The Fairly OddParents! special "Timmy's Secret Wish", Jorgen summarizes the effects of Timmy's secret wish to stop everyone from aging.
    Jorgen: So let me get this straight. You and everyone else on Earth are actually fifty years older!?
    Cosmo: Do the math, Jorgen. 10 + 50 is 13! You're fine, Timmy!
  • The Simpsons:
    • "Homie the Clown" gives us this gem.
      Financial Advisor: Let me get this straight. You took all the money you made franchising your name, and bet it against the Harlem Globetrotters?
      Krusty: I thought the Generals were due!
    • In "The Day the Violence Died", Roger Meyers, Jr. reacts like this when a bum he never saw before shows up claiming to be Itchy's real creator and expecting 800 million dollars for this in spite of not having any proof of his claim.
  • From The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Limit":
    Nicole: Let me get this straight. I asked you to finally step us as a father and set a good example for your children. And the way you interpreted that was to take them shoplifting?
  • In Donkey Kong Country episode "From Zero to Hero", Cranky Kong sums up the plot;
  • Kaeloo: Mr. Cat frequently puts everything he hears into words that make it better than it sounds. For example, when Kaeloo explains how to play prison-ball, he says "You aim for your opponent's face, you smash it open and it's the victim who goes in the can?".
  • Codename: Kids Next Door: Near the end of "Operation: F.E.R.A.L.", it's revealed just what the secret code that Sector V has been searching for, a mission in which Numbuh One got lost in the jungle and subsequently went wild, was actually for, causing Numbuh One to be Insulted Awake and tear into them.
    Numbuh Two: I don't get it. What's so important about this dumb code?
    Numbuh 86: What's so important?! The Rainbow Monkey Corporation is havin' a contest. And whoever breaks the super-happy code of sharin' wins a free...keychain!
    Numbuh One: A KEYCHAAAAAAIN?!?!?! You mean to tell me that I risked my life, endangered my team and spent valuable Kids Next Door resources SO YOU COULD WIN A STUPID KEYCHAIN?!
  • Steven Universe: Amethyst begins with this at the beginning of "Now We're Only Falling Apart" after the stunning revelation from the previous episode.
    Amethyst: Let me get this straight. Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems, Steven's mom... was actually PINK DIAMOND?!?
  • Danger Mouse in the episode "Turn of the Tide" when Penfold is awarded a new clockwork paddle boat for his part in stopping the flooding of Earth due to an anomaly on the moon (it involved DM's car getting trashed early on):
    DM: (very nonplussed ) You mean he's got a new clockwork paddle boat to play with in the bath and I have to pay for my own car repairs?!
  • Animaniacs has Yakko summing up Michaelangelo's instructions.
    Yakko: Wait a minute. You expect us pure, innocent children to climb up dangerous scaffolding and paint naked people all over a church?
    All Warners: We'll do it!
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episode "Space Invaders Part 1", the Turtles realize that the Triceratons are invading Earth to find the Fugitoid and his teleportal design.
    Michelangelo: But...the Fugitoid's teleportal doesn't work, remember? We built it, it was a dud.
    Raphael: So, let me get this straight. The Tricera-creeps are after someone who ain't even here, 'cause they want an invention of his that don't even work?
    Leonardo: That about sums it up.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Mr. Burns mocks Homer's weight

During "Brush with Greatness", Homer is attempting to lose weight after being humiliated on the news when he got stuck at Mount Splashmore's H2WHOA! slide. After losing 21 pounds, which brings his weight down to 239 pounds, his wife Marge congratulates him for his achievement, only for Mr. Burns to cruelly mock his weight-loss efforts by calling him "the fattest thing he's ever seen", which completely shatters his self-confidence in one fell swoop and causes Homer to start binging on food again. Meanwhile, a furious Marge kicks Mr. Burns out for his mockery of her husband's attempt at losing weight and says that she can finish the portrait by herself and have it finished in time for the unveiling.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (9 votes)

Example of:

Main / KickTheDog

Media sources:

Report