History IronicEcho / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'':
** In this miniseries, the newly sworn-in President Roslin tries to convince Adama to leave the fight and run away, taking the fleet with him, saying that if the human race is to survive at all, they have to escape and "we have to start having babies!" Adama doesn't reply and simply leaves the room, but later on he apparently realises the sense in the plan while watching Billy and Dee flirting, causing him to comment under his breath "They'd better start having babies." to the confusion of the people around him.
** "Is that an order?"

* In the ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode [[Recap/TheXFilesS06E21FieldTrip Field Trip]], Scully starts off the episode by trying to rationalize two bodies found skeletonized after only being dead for three days as being "a double murder, possibly one with ritualistic overtones. The bodies may have been stripped then skeletonized, possibly by boiling or by the use of some kind of acid solution." This makes Mulder get frustrated with her because even though his more outlandish theories are correct most of the time, she still insists on trying to make her rational explanations fit their cases. By the end of the episode, Scully finds herself in his exact position with everyone from the local coroner to The Lone Gunmen repeating her verbatum that [[spoiler: Mulder's death]] was the result of a murder with ritualistic overtones, with all of them refusing to consider any other possibilities. [[spoiler: Luckily, she's just hallucinating.]]

** In the episode "Weekend at Bobby's", Crowley points out a technicality in the deal for bobby's soul. he says "I only have to make to best effort" to a very angry Bobby. Later, when a demon he's toruring says they had a deal for her freedom, Bobby says: "I gave it my best effort".

* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': When stolid constable Terry Hoskins questions his DirtyCop boss DI Slater, Slater snaps "It's not your job to think". Later, when he's on the point of being arrested, and offers Hoskins a cut, he ask Hoskins to think about it. Hoskins replies "It's not my job to think".

** At the start of "[[Recap/AngelS05E15AHoleInTheWorld A Hole in the World]]", Spike and Angel are having a vicious, violent argument...over who'd win in a fight between cavemen and astronauts. [[spoiler: The episode's climax has the team's scientist and {{Adorkable}} girl, Fred, dying so her body can be used as a shell for a primordial entity. "The cavemen win. Of course the cavemen win."]]

** Doyle's line in "[[Recap/AngelS01E09Hero Hero]]: "Is that it? [[TearJerker Am I done?]]"

** Doyle's line in "[[Recap/AngelS01E09Hero Hero]: "Is that it? [[TearJerker Am I done?]]"

** In "[[Recap/AngeelS02E10Reunion Reunion]]", Holland tells Angel he "just can't seem to care" that people die because of Wolfram & Hart's Special Projects Division's schemes. Later, when Darla and Drusilla are about to kill everyone in the Special Projects Division, Holland pleads for help, but Angel replies, "And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care" before leaving, [[DoWithHimAsYouWill locking the door on his way out]].

** Holland tells Angel he "just can't seem to care" that people die because of Wolfram & Hart's Special Projects Division's schemes. Later, when Darla and Drusilla are about to kill everyone in the Special Projects Division, Holland pleads for help, but Angel replies, "And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care" before leaving, [[DoWithHimAsYouWill locking the door on his way out]].
** Earlier in ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Doyle's line in his [[HeroicSacrifice final episode]]: "Is that it? [[TearJerker Am I done?]]"
** Less notable, but in one episode Gunn threatens his snitch, saying among other things, "Survival of the fittest, bro. And right now you're not lookin' too fit." Said snitch later [[spoiler: turns out the MonsterOfTheWeek]]. Ouch.
** At the start of one episode, Spike and Angel are having a vicious, violent argument... over who'd win in a fight between cavemen and astronauts. [[spoiler: The episode's climax has the team's scientist and {{Adorkable}} girl, Fred, dying so her body can be used as a shell for a primordial entity. "The cavemen win. Of course the cavemen win."]]

** Has an episode in the fourth season where [[EvilCounterpart Faith]] and Buffy [[FreakyFridayFlip switch bodies]]; practicing for the impersonation of her rival, Faith acts how she believe Buffy does -- prissily announcing to herself in the mirror that you can't do that "Because it's wrong". Much later, after living a day in Buffy's life, Faith is about to skip town and escape entirely when she hears of a vampire attack upon a church and, not quite knowing why, heads out to confront them. Battling the vampires, she stops their plan to slaughter the congregation "because it's wrong" -- now entirely sincere. (Creator/SarahMichelleGellar acts the hell out of the latter scene, too, playing beautifully against how much she camped it up in the beginning of the episode where she is prancing about in front of the mirror as Faith doing her Buffy impression.)
** Another example is Doppelganger!Willow's "Bored now" line, which is echoed by Willow when [[spoiler:she undergoes a FaceHeelTurn after Tara's death-- the line is spoken to Warren, Tara's killer, right before she ''flays him alive'']].

** And then there's Xander and the zombie bomber: who has the most fear?

** Played with between series. Upon meeting [[EmotionalEmotionlessPerson their android commander, Data]] for the first time, and hearing of his desire to be human, Will Riker ascribes him the nickname "Literature/{{Pinocchio}}". In the next series, when Riker is forced into playing against Data in a court case which could, if Data loses, very well see him dismantled beyond repair (i.e. killed), he plays out a devastating scene culminating in switching Data off:

* ''Series/FullHouse'' has a self-inflicted version. When Jesse's attempt at trying to be a one-man band by playing all the instruments the Rippers used to play go badly wrong during the episode "Comet's Excellent Adventure", [[EpicFail ending with the wires of an amplifier short-circuiting]], he blames Joey for this, saying: "I should have known! The first rule of physics: Idiots and electronics don't mix!" Shortly thereafter, once Michelle notifies Joey of Comet, their family dog, going missing and Jesse's role in it, Jesse, upon realizing that he gave Michelle permission to walk Comet on her own that resulted in Comet going missing, he mutters: "I'm an idiot." Right at that moment, a spark flies out of said amplifier.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Button, Button", A poor couple is offered a box with a button. If they push it, they get a bunch of money and someone they don't know will die. Eventually, they push it, they get the money, and the box is taken away. To be given to someone they don't know.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]]: [[spoiler:The Master uses the alias "O" in anticipation of the Doctor's OhCrap reaction to his identity. When she outwits him, he gets an "Oh..." of his own.]]

** In the episode "Cool Hands Luke and Bo," Bo and Luke, and later Boss Hogg and Rosco, make the mistake of entering Osage County, ruled by the feared Colonel Claiborne and Sheriff Cathcarte. All four are captured and sent to Claiborne's road prison, on trumped-up charges. When Rosco protests, ''"You can't arrest me, I'm an officer of the law!"'', Cathcarte smugly replies, ''"We can do anything we want! This is our county now!"''

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]]: The Doctor explains to a Cyberman that he is not "'''a doctor'''", he is "'''[[Main/SpellMyNameWithAThe The Doctor]]'''". By the end of the episode, after prompting him for his identity, [[spoiler:the First Doctor replies with "No, no, no! You might be [='=]'''a doctor'''[='=], but I am [='=]'''The Doctor'''[='=]. The original, you might say." (Itself echoing the Fourth Doctor's classic quip to Harry Sullivan "You might be a doctor, but I am ''The'' Doctor. The definite article, you might say.")]]

*** Consider [[spoiler: Rassilon]]'s introductory scene after he vaporises a dissenting Time Lady. And then think back to the Dalek Emperor's final words to Rose and the Ninth Doctor...

* ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence'': In the first and last episodes of the first season, Cosimo says "A man always has a choice." Int to very different situations, and with rich irony on the repetition he adds "-as long as he doesn't mind losing."

---->''''I will [[PunctuatedForEmphasis NOT DIE]]!''''

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]]: The Doctor explains to a Cyberman that he is not "'''a doctor'''", he is "'''[[Main/SpellMyNameWithAThe The Doctor]]'''". By the end of the episode, after prompting him for his identity, [[spoiler:the First Doctor replies with "No, no, no! You might be ''''a doctor'''', but I am ''''The Doctor''''. The original, you might say." (Itself echoing the Fourth Doctor's classic quip to Harry Sullivan "You might be a doctor, but I am ''The'' Doctor. The definite article, you might say.")]]

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians "The Silurians"]], the Doctor and Liz overload a nuclear device in order to prevent the Silurians using it, which has the effect of sealing them all in the base to die. The Doctor, thinking his companions might die, warmly tells the Brigadier "Well done, Brigadier." Later in the story, the Doctor returns to the caves to revive the remaining Silurians and is attacked by one, who the Brigadier shoots. The Doctor looks down at the unconscious body and says, in a cold tone, "Well ''done'', Brigadier."
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors' Gate"]], the Tharils had [[MadeASlave enslaved people in the past]] — "The weak enslave themselves" — and now are slaves themselves. The Doctor gives them an Ironic Echo, and one concedes the justice, but they have suffered enough.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], Yvonne whispers "I did my duty for Queen and country" when she is dragged off to be upgraded by Cybermen. The upgrade goes a bit wrong, and she appears later in Cyberman form killing other Cybermen in a YouShallNotPass moment.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky "The Poison Sky"]], Luke Rattigan, the Sontarans' former UnwittingPawn, echoes the Sontaran chant with a contemptuous "Sontar? HA!" before blowing up their ship.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw several]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode episodes]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp across]] three series, the Tenth Doctor's companions attempt a regional accent, with the Doctor telling them "Don't. Don't do that. Don't." After a traumatic event involving a voice-stealer in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]], the Doctor uses the phrase in a far more serious manner when Donna repeats one of his catchphrases.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth "The Stolen Earth"]], Harriet Jones keeps introducing herself as "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister." The listener always responds with "I know who you are." When [[spoiler:the Daleks break in]], the sequence is repeated, much less humorously.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]], after the Doctor decides that [[spoiler:he is the [[AGodAmI Time Lord Victorious]] and can do whatever he wants, he rescues the remaining Martian colonists from certain death by evacuating on the TARDIS]]. When they land back on Earth, the rescued astronauts stumble out of the TARDIS, one exclaiming in horror, "It's ... it's bigger on the inside!" This is a brilliant inversion of the usual exclamations of wonder and excitement given by companions on first seeing the TARDIS, and shows how much darker the Doctor has become.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], the Doctor explains to a Cyberman that he is not "'''a doctor'''", he is "'''[[Main/SpellMyNameWithAThe The Doctor]]'''". By the end of the episode, after prompting him for his identity, [[spoiler:the First Doctor replies with "No, no, no! You might be ''''a doctor'''', but I am ''''The Doctor''''. The original, you might say." (Itself echoing the Fourth Doctor's classic quip to Harry Sullivan "You might be a doctor, but I am ''The'' Doctor. The definite article, you might say.")]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' (the 1980s revival): A poor couple is offered a box with a button. If they push it, they get a bunch of money. Oh yeah, and someone they don't know will die. Eventually, they push it, they get the money, and the box is taken away. To be given to someone they don't know.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': A suspect in a kidnapping-homicide flees to Ontario, is arrested, and during the extradition hearing the defense attorney argues that, because the death penalty is not off the table, and Canada is opposed to it, the judge should not allow the extradition. The judge questions whether that would make Canada a haven for criminals fleeing from capital crimes, and the attorney, slightly obnoxiously, insists that is purely a theoretical issue which shouldn't affect the judge's determination. Then the American ADA states that they do ''not'' want to extradite the man for kidnapping and murder, but for the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking car theft]] that was part of the kidnapping and murder, which is, of course, not a capital crime. The defense attorney protests that as soon as they have the man, they'll charge him with the more serious crimes. With a grin, the judge responds that such an event is a purely theoretical issue which shouldn't affect his determination.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': Once featured a semi-recurring rapist who was taunted his victims with the question "Is that how you like it?" JustForFun/JohnMunch deadpanned the same question when they finally arrested him.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], the Doctor explains to a Cyberman that he is not ''''a doctor'''', he is ''''[[Main/SpellMyNameWithAThe The Doctor]]''''. By the end of the episode, after prompting him for his identity, [[spoiler: the First Doctor replies with "No, no, no! You might be ''''a doctor'''', but I am ''''The Doctor''''. The original, you might say." (Itself echoing the Fourth Doctor's classic quip to Harry Sullivan "You might be a doctor, but I am ''The'' Doctor. The definite article, you might say.")]]