This Is Gonna Suck / Live-Action TV

Instances of This Is Gonna Suck in Live-Action TV.

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• In season seven of 24, Jack has to escape from an FBI building by driving a car out of the third story of the parking garage. Right before doing so, the normally deadly serious Jack quips: "This is gonna hurt."
• This is a pretty common reaction from any character familiar with the premise of Adam Ruins Everything. Even knowing that Adam means well, they still have a half hour of dealing with him in full-on Insufferable Genius mode while he harasses them with harsh truths.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
  • Agent May is fighting a HYDRA agent on top of a speeding train; after several minutes of sustained Kung Fu, she suddenly pulls the release on her reserve 'chute (having jumped out of a plane earlier and jettisoned her main 'chute) and flies off the end of the train; the HYDRA agent shouts that she is a coward, before turning and seeing that the train is seconds away from a low bridge, "Awwwwwwww FU....." We don't see the impact, but we do see Agent Coulson (following in a helicopter) put down his binoculars, wince, and say "MAN that must have hurt! Better send a detail and scrape him off that bridge...."
  • In season 4, during the Hellfire vs Ghost Rider fight.
    Mack: ...did two fire dudes just fall into a fireworks warehouse?
    Coulson: You had to see that coming.
• In Air Crash Investigation, this thought will come up pretty much every time passengers and/or crew have time to recognize that they're going to crash, and sometimes one or more people will say something to this effect. (On the positive side, they are occasionally wrong.)
  • In the episode "A Wounded Bird", the flight attendant warns passengers that "this is gonna be rough" when she's telling them to brace.
  • In "Impossible Landing", the captain warns passengers that it's going to be a very rough landing. As one of the surviving passengers notes in an interview, it was an understatement.
  • In "Falling From The Sky", a passenger mentions that after the engines cut out, she was imagining all the horrible things that could happen to them. Fortunately, in that case, the plane was able to restart the engines and land safely.
• Happens a few times on The A-Team when Face and B.A. realize Murdock is about to go on one of his zany character bits.
  • In "Taxicab Wars", Murdock starts babbling about how he needs to take on a heroic identity to help a cab company in trouble.
    Face: I have a feeling I'm really going to hate this one, Murdock.
  • Later, he tries to warn B.A. about it.
    Face: You're going to hate this one, B.A. I think he's building up to a mask and cape.
• In Season 5 of Babylon 5, Delenn tells Sheridan that Captain Lochley said something suggesting she and Sheridan already know each other and asks him what that was about. Sheridan's face as he shuts the door has this trope written all over it. Makes sense in the following episode when we find out the answer. He and Lochley were married for three months when they were in officer training. They quickly realized they weren't a good match, got divorced and now have great mutual respect and trust but no romantic feelings for each other. Still, it's a pretty difficult thing to have to tell your current wife about your coworker.
• Happens all the time in the German live action/puppet comedy Bernd das Brot, when he is about to encounter a falling anvil, run down by Spanish fighting bulls etc. etc. Sometimes it happens to his opponents too: Lord Vlschn… Lord Vtsch… Lord-whose-name-cannot-be-spoken tries to speak his own name, fails miserably, gets angered, breaks his magic staff, and has a short Oh, Crap! moment before his demise.
• Beat Bobby Flay: In "Friends in All Places," Bobby Flay is trying to introduce his friends Alex Guarnaschelli and Jet Tila; they don't show up. Instead, Michael Symon pops in to inform him that they're showing up all right...as challengers! In fact, this and the next four shows are going to feature all-star chefs near and dear to him challenging him: the "All-Star Takeover".^note And for the record, Bobby Flay did not fare very well.
  Michael Symon: So...welcome to your own personal hell.
  Bobby Flay: (Aside Comment): A whole month of my friends taking over? I'm in for it.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • "Doppelgangland": Vampire Willow's last words, as she reappears into the Wishverse only to be pushed onto a broken plank: "Oh fu--."
  • "Innocence": Angelus and Drusilla have this look when facing down Buffy armed with a rocket launcher. They unfreeze from their terror just in time to dive out of the way.
  • "Graduation Day, Part 2": Mayor Wilkins' final words before he's blown up are a mildly surprised "Well, gosh..."; made even funnier by the fact that he's in the form of a gigantic snake demon at the time, so it comes out in a deep distorted voice.
• Charmed (1998): In "Repo Manor", after Billie switches three demons who had trapped the Charmed Ones in a cursed dollhouse with the Charmed Ones, trapping them in said dollhouse, they have this reaction right before Piper blows it up, vanquishing them:
  Demons: [deadpan, in unison] Oh, crap.
• Cheers: After having turned down her boss trying to marry her (on the grounds of being much younger than her), a pretty drunk Rebecca hopefully asks if it won't effect their working relationship. He ominously declares it won't, and leaves. Rebecca comments that when she sobers up, she's probably going to feel pretty concerned about that.
• On Chopped this is a common reaction to opening a particularly bizarre basket. This is also the reaction of some contestants after noticing a severe error on their plate after the time runs out.
• Criminal Minds:
  • When Prentiss realizes, as part of the investigation in "52 Pickup", that she's going to have to allow herself to be the target of an incredibly cheesy pick up artist in order to study his technique: "Oh, this is really gonna suck."
  • Billy Flynn was also quite resigned to his fate when Morgan finally got to him at the end of "The Longest Night".
• In Cutthroat Kitchen, this comes in three main stages. One: Immediate concern when the dumbwaiter comes down with the next sabotage. Two: Growing fear as they find out what it is and how badly it's going to screw with their plans. Three: Dawning terror as they realise that no, whatever they had to deal with is not going to be as easy to handle as they thought it was.
• Dead Like Me: Georgia Lass's famous last words when she realizes she's about to be killed by a flying, flaming toilet seat:
  Georgia: Aw, shi– [BOOM]
• The Dick Van Dyke Show:
  • In "The Sam Pomerantz Scandals", Rob does a Laurel and Hardy impression with his army buddy Sam. As the sketch nears its end, a Fanservicey snack lady invites Sam-as-Ollie to go dancing. Given that he offered to hold her tray while she changed, he tells Rob-as-Stan to put his hat on his head. Unfortunately, Stan confuses his hat (which Ollie had poured food into to teach him a lesson) with Ollie's. He hesitates. However, upon insistence, he does it, whimpering that Ollie will be angry with him. Ollie reacts exactly as he expected.
  • In "Three Letters from One Wife", after Rob walks in ranting about an extremely stressful argument he's had with Alan, Laura starts to tell him about Millie's latest Zany Scheme. Rob warns them that if it's not going to make him happy, he doesn't want to hear it:
    Millie: Oh, Rob! I'm so sorry, and you don't ever have to speak to me ever again!
    Rob: It's not going to make me happy, is it?
• Doctor Who:
  • "Rose": When an Auton points its gun at Conspiracy Theorist Clive, he looks at it with bitter resignation like he imagined he'd go out like this one day and just knows he's completely screwed.
  • "Bad Wolf": The Doctor and Jack have this reaction after discovering a 200-ship Dalek fleet hiding on the edge of the Solar System.
  • "Planet of the Dead": Lady Christina's reaction when the alarm in the International Gallery goes off while she's still inside.
  • "The Beast Below": Right before the Doctor and Amy are going to be vomited up by a giant space whale:
    The Doctor: [adjusts bow tie] Right then! This isn't going to be big on dignity.
    • What really sells the moment is that while Amy looks appropriately horrified, he has a couldn't-be-happier grin going on.
• In Dr. Death, Kirby doesn't verbally react when he learns Duntsch is going to be performing a surgery with him, but his expression makes it clear this is the thought going through his head.
• Farscape:
  • In "Crackers Don't Matter", upon realizing that their survival depends solely on John Crichton's zany scheme, Aeryn states flatly: "We are all going to die." Then again, she says that any time the crew's survival depends on one of John's schemes.
  • In "Season of Death", D'Argo tries to hold off a Scarran warrior with his pocketknife. On the first strike, the blade breaks against the Scarran's hide, and D'Argo has just enough time to grumble "Frell," before getting hammered to the ground.
  • Scorpius, while facing down a heavily-armed bounty hunter and realizing that the rifle Crichton gave him is empty, gives an irritated mutter of "Thank you, John."
  • Considering that the crew of Moya survives on Xanatos Speed Chess or just plain luck, this tends to be the reaction of any sane person in any situation they come across (so you can count out Stark... and John on a bad day...). Just pick a season finale. Any finale.
  • There was a series of episode titles prefixed with "We're So Screwed Trilogy".
• Firefly:
  • Mal has this reaction in "The Train Job", when he realizes that he has just revealed himself and Zoe to be former Independence Soldiers to a bar full of patriotic Alliance patrons.
  • Zoe has a sort of retroactive one later, after they've been chased out of the bar and are standing by the edge of a cliff while still being confronted by dozens of angry brawlers.
    Mal: Whoa! There's just an acre of you fellas, ain't there? [to Zoe] This is why we lost, you know. Superior numbers.
    Zoe: Thanks for the re-enactment, sir.
• Late in the Full House episode "Comet's Excellent Adventure", Danny's expression has this trope in mind when Jesse is about to confess to Danny about his role in a round of dog-walking resulting in their family dog going missing.
  Jesse: Uh, before I say anything, I just want you to know upfront this whole thing was my fault.
  Danny: I hate stories that start like that.
• Game of Thrones:
  • The Battle of the Blackwater, on both sides: Davos when he realizes that they are approaching a ship full of wildfire. Then Tyrion when he thinks the Battle of the Blackwater is won, someone points out Stannis's reinforcements, lots of them, charging up the beach. Tyrion sees them and mumbles, "Oh, fuck me!".
  • In Season 7 episode The Spoils of War it's done twice towards the Lannister army: first, when the seemingly unstoppable horde of Dothraki charges against the soldiers (remember what King Robert said about facing the Dothraki in the open field?), but Jaime manages to stay collected. The real shit comes as Daenerys appears riding Drogon. Then Jaime and the soldiers start literally crapping in their pants.
• The Goes Wrong Show: The conceit of the show is that it's a series of live performances that go hilariously awry. Naturally, this happens a lot.
  • Chris' reaction in "The Pilot (Not the Pilot)" when he gets stuck on a coat rack, and then has to squeeze into a very small closet with Vanessa and Sandra.
  • "Harper's Locket," everyone has this response when Trevor the techie falls through the ceiling and is knocked unconscious, leaving him laying there on the table during the dinner scene. It gets worse when the other crew members attempt to pull him out with a hook, which rips his pants open and leaves him there with his bare ass exposed, and the cast is stuck trying to pretend he isn't there.
    Sandra, desperately trying to stay in character: ...Father, would you like to carve the rump?
  • In "90 Degrees," a mix-up with the set builders led to one of the rooms being built on a 90-degree angle, forcing the actors to cling on for dear life while trying to act sideways. This is bad enough, but then Max and Sandra go to enter the bedroom set. In a hysterical Funny Background Event, they open the door, look inside, and are plainly confused... until they look up, and see that this set was built upside-down. Max's expression before he climbs in just screams this trope.
• Grey's Anatomy: Meredith Grey says exactly this when she realizes that Owen's trauma certification exercise involves treating two dozen mangled dummies strewn across the parking lot, in the rain. She's right.
• Said word-for-word by Audrey Parker and Nathan Wuornos in Haven when a swarm of Reality Warper butterflies enter their truck.
• In the third episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), when Zaphod calls for Eddie the computer to tell him what planet they're in orbit around, Ford gives a fantastic expression of eyes shut wincing pain and anguish at what he knows he's about to hear.
• One episode of the Horatio Hornblower telefilms has Matthews say "For what we are about to receive..." to his fellow sailors as they prepare to render passing honors towards a larger French frigate which everyone except Hornblower is convinced will open fire, mentioned in the books as a traditional phrase for sailors awaiting a broadside. (As it turns out they are still at peace, and the French ship merely serenades them with a half-hearted rendition of God Save the King.)
• Darien Fawkes on The Invisible Man lets out an "Ah, crap" in a deadpan tone with such frequency it's one of his catch phrases.
• A constant reaction on Just Roll With It as the actors realize what crazy stunts the audience vote is going to put them through.
  • A common bit is them watching anything from weird ingredients to a huge device being wheeled in and remarking "this is not good."
  • Even a guest star playing Rachel's army buddy gets this, muttering "oh, brother" when he reads the stage directions requiring him to put on goggles.
  Byron: Nothing good ever happens with goggles.
• In Kamen Rider Build, the heroes are fighting a three-battle match and they've just scored one win. Ryuga expects to mop up the second round so that Sento doesn't have to fight. Unfortunately, his opponent transforms not into the expected Remocon Bros form he used up til now, but the even more powerful Hell Bros form. What sells it is the panicked look on his face as he realizes what he's fighting.
  Ryuga: You're kidding me, right!?
  • Sento usually says "This is terrible" when something doesn't work out for him. It's one of his catchphrases, so this obviously happens nearly every episode. Ryuga has stolen this line at least twice to a great effect.
• The constant reaction of Gordon Ramsay on Kitchen Nightmares when he realizes how bad off one of these establishments is. Often, it's from the first meal. Other times, it's seeing the menu or décor. On a few occasions, all it takes is just looking at the outside of the diner to realize he's in for it big time.
• In the pilot of Leverage, Parker says this exact phrase right before forcing herself to vomit in order to get the doctor's attention.
• In the final season of Lost, when Frank Lapidus realizes he's about to get brained by a huge metal submarine door with the full force of the ocean on the other side: "Aw, hell."
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • In "War of the Colossal Beast", featuring the infamous "Mr. B Natural" short, right after Mr. B dances away, Tom mutters "I've got a bad feeling..."
  • In "The Magic Sword", seeing Bert I. Gordon's name mentioned as writer, director, producer and special effects supervisor of the movie has Tom declaring "we are in deep, deep trouble here!"
  • In "Monster a Go-Go", Crow T. Robot says this phrase during the opening credits for the film after trying (and failing) to maintain a positive attitude.
  • Considering the movies they have to watch, it's a wonder this trope isn't used more. In "Jack Frost":
    Mike: So — our first plot point involves knitting socks.^note It Makes Sense in Context, as much as any movie Mike and the bots are subjected to makes sense, but they have no way of knowing this. I think we're in for quite a ride, guys!
  • In "Riding with Death", Crow mutters "Oh boy" while Mike is preparing a baking soda and vinegar bomb and ranting to himself about the multiple times his "unorthodox technique" has gotten him punished, expelled, or fired. Shortly thereafter, the bomb is deployed and completely annihilates the planet.
  • Also, in "Space Mutiny", as the hero of the movie is running away from a wrecked space craft screaming, "It's gonna blow!":
    Tom: If the first ten minutes are any indication, this movie's gonna blow!
• Frequently invoked on MythBusters, verbatim in one case when Tory figures he has been "volunteered" by Grant and Kari to be the experimental guinea pig.
• Odd Squad:
  • In "Life of O'Brian", Oscar offers to help Olive figure out what she did to make O'Brian so upset, pulling out a detective hat from his Hammerspace spine and remarking that he's always wanted to solve cases like a real detective. Olive's response as she walks off is a very strained, very resigned "Oh no."
  • In "Soundcheck Part Deux", when three of the four members of Soundcheck begin singing their new song "The Force of Gravity", Olive doesn't even try to protest, knowing that whatever she does will be fruitless.
    Tony D: That makes me so happy, I... I feel like singing!
    Olive: [gives an exasperated sigh] Of course you do...
  • In "No Ifs, Ands or Robots", Otto breaks his badge and is forced to have it repaired. Unfortunately, the person who repairs badges in Precinct 13579 is Odenbacker, who isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. One interaction with him tells Otto that "this is gonna take forever..."
  • In "Partner Problems", Oprah tasks Otis with helping Orchid and Ohlm, an uncooperative partner pair, solve a case, lest they be sent back to the Academy. After he sees just how terrible their partner chemistry is, Oprah tells Otis good luck — because he's gonna need it. Cue him doing a Face Palm.
  • In "Dr. O No", Oona has this reaction every time she's summoned by New Dr. O.
    Olly: Psst, hey, science lady! Ooooobaaaa! I need your help.
    Oona: [unenthusiastic] Okay... be right there!
  • In "Other Olympia", after the Olympia from Season 1 walks away with a crowd of agents, Season 2's Olympia develops an unnatural, unsettling smile on her face. All it takes is a second for Otis to look at her expression before he goes "Oh boy" in resignation of what his partner is going to become.
    Olympia: [unnatural] Whaaat? Why "oh boy", no "oh boy"!
    Otis: You're gonna have a hard time with this.
    Olympia: Just because someone else has the same name as me? Otis, I can totally handle this. [cue unnatural smile]
  • In "Mr. Unpredictable", while looking for the eponymous villain, a waitress in formal wear comes up to Opal and Omar and holds out a silver platter to them that consists of a tablet. Their reaction is a unisonant, despaired "oh no".
  • In "Teach a Man to Ice Fish", Opal and Omar have this reaction upon finding their van encased in ice and Arctic Mr. O telling them that they'll need to travel on foot to the various houses in the Arctic. They, along with Orla and Oswald, also have this reaction when Arctic Mr. O goes to fight Confetti Betty with a yo-yo.
  • In "Raising the Bar", Opal and Omar receive the latest issue of Odd Squad Magazine, which has a section that shows which precincts solved the most cases. As soon as Opal explains this to her partner, he responds with an "uh-oh" as he tells her that she can become a Competition Freak when it comes to the Mobile Unit. Of course, he hits the nail on the head, as it doesn't take even a minute before she freaks out because the Mobile Unit got last place.
• Our Miss Brooks:
  • Walter Denton's expression at the end of "Cure That Habit". Walter had mailed an application for an alcoholism cure in Mr. Conklin's name. For the second time in the episode, he brags to Miss Brooks about his prank. Unfortunately for Walter, this time Mr. Conklin's standing right behind him.
  Mr. Conklin: I bet he'll be positively purple.
  Walter Denton: Purple? I'll bet he turns all the colors of the rain-bow-oh-oh-oh-oh!
  • Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton, Walter Denton, and Stretch Snodgrass cower at the end of "Spare That Rod!" Miss Brooks, in fact, flees the principal's office! Mr. Conklin had, all day, been meek and courteous in response to a letter threatening his dismissal for running the school in a "dictatorial manner". Only at the end of show does he discover the letter was addressed to his predecessor Mr. Darwell, and was postmarked 1944. His name was only that day typed on the envelope by Walter Denton.
  Miss Brooks: Run for the hills, the dam has broke!
  • At the end of "Transition Show", Miss Brooks realizes she's working for, and at the mercy of, Mrs. Nestor and Mr. Conklin. Her near-sobbing expression says it all.
• Perfect Strangers. Larry Appleton's zany schemes became so notorious that eventually, the other three's (cousin Balki, girlfriend/wife Jennifer, and Balki's girlfriend Mary Ann) collective reaction to him declaring "I have a plan!" was to immediately respond "Oh, God!"
• In the third episode of The Queen's Gambit, Beth has built up a well-deserved reputation as an amazing chess player, having won every tournament she's entered. In the Cincinnati tournament, she introduces herself to her first opponent. His reaction is a quiet "Shit."
• In the Red Dwarf episode "Parallel Universe", when Holly screws up the countdown, Rimmer says, bemusedly, "We're going to die..."
  • In the later episode "Pete: Part II", faced with a T. rex, Cat, with a voice that suggests he's soiling himself, says, "We are all... going to die!"
• Retro Game Master: It takes Arino mere seconds to realize what he's up against when he begins playing Nosferatu.
  Arino: ...This is gonna be a two-parter!
• At the end of an episode of Scrubs, Elliot grabs J.D. (who at the time was in love with her) to come with her to meet her boyfriend who was coming home in a few minutes. J.D.'s voice over says "Oh, this is gonna suck".
• Seinfeld: Kramer testing out his new "bladder" experiment for oil tankers (essentially, large rubber containers to store oil in to prevent oil spills) by pushing a duffel bag-sized bladder out of his apartment window. George and Jerry, watching from their own window, tried and failed to get a bystander, Jerry's girlfriend, on the street below to move out of the way. Jerry states, "This is gonna be a shame," right before the bladder lands on the woman and breaks, ruining Kramer's prototype and covering the woman in crude oil.
• Stargate:
  • Stargate SG-1 ("Prometheus Unbound"): During the fight scene between Daniel and Vala on Prometheus, she pulls out a Zat gun (a stun gun) and points it at him. Knowing exactly how much getting hit by a Zat shot sucks, he just says "Oh, crap".
  • Stargate Atlantis ("No Man's Land"):
    Lt. Col. John Sheppard: Operation This-Will-Likely-End-Badly is go.
• In Star Trek: Picard, this is Vadic's reaction mere moments before she and her Changeling crew are thrown out of the ''Titan''-A's emergency escape hatch.
  Vadic: Fucking Solids...
• Tournament of Champions: This is a common reaction to particular Randomizer results, whether due to ingredients that don't go together, ingredients that need more time than the contestants have, kitchen tools that the chefs don't typically use, or styles that don't match anything else on the Randomizer.
• Two and a Half Men: In the episode "Fish in a Drawer," at their mother's wedding Charlie says this after he and Alan find their new stepfather Teddy dead and have to tell their mother the bad news.
• The Untamed: This is written all over Wei Wuxian's face when Jiang Cheng forces him to take off his mask.
• On Utopia (US), this is Kevin Christie's reaction to the arrival of Toni Tambler at Christie Labs, saying that he's never had kind words for her, once calling her a "bureaucratic timid little bitch-weasel."
• A few contestants on Wipeout have said this verbatim before attempting an obstacle.
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? has a World's Worst skit where they have to portray the worst possible person to be in the military. Colin wordlessly pantomines a classic Throw the Pin, complete with a disgusted disappointment with his incompetence very much showing how bad he realizes it's going to get.

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