History Main / GiveMeAReason

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with a romantic]] StockPhrase where a character begs their love interest to "give me a reason to stay." See also DogKickingExcuse.

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

!!Examples

* In the original ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' OVA, episode 4 (the ''original'' HotSpringsEpisode), Tenchi tries to interrupt Ryoko and Ayeka's faceoff. They both glare angrily at him, and he backs off.

** After Akira gets his TranquilFury BerserkButton pressed during a negotiation with Chloe, by learning that she had threatened and stole from some of his close friends, Akira tells her to just try doing other things that anger him one after another. Since Chloe has Akira in an elaborate trap, [[IShallTauntYou she issues the threats he asks for right to him.]]

* ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}: A BrainwashedAndCrazy Moonstone calmly announces she's going to kill Doc Samson. Samson replies, with genuine joy:

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': One story has Luke kidnapped by the Daltons and a German proto-psychiatrist, the latter telling Joe to shoot Luke if he does anything suspicious.
--> '''Joe:''' [[PlayAlongPrisoner He's grinning! He's grinning!]] That's a suspicious move!
--> '''HerrDoktor:''' Now now, Joe, don't be childish.

* Inverted in ''Fanfic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'': after Bakugou nearly crippled Izuku during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, Aizawa demands Izuku give him one good reason why he shouldn't expel him on the spot.

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness Act V'': Jenner Rythmore, head of the [[CreatureHunterOrganization Human Defense Agency]] founded in response to TheUnmasquedWorld, openly admits to his subordinates in chapter 20 that he's just waiting for any possible excuse he can use to declare open war on the monster world, having previously expressed open hatred and distrust of all monsters.

* In the ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTotallyLegitRecap'' for 'A Matter Of Principals', Starlight Glimmer revs a WaveMotionGun at Discord and quotes this trope verbatim. He doesn't even get to finish calling her gay before she releases it and kills him.

* ''Poor Boy's Game''.
-->'''Chris Webb''': You give me an excuse, Donnie. You give me one fucking excuse!
* ''Film/SuddenImpact'' features one of Dirty Harry's most iconic lines, delivered to a bad guy who's holding a woman at gunpoint:
-->'''Dirty Harry:''' Go ahead...make my day.
* From ''Film/TheJewelOfTheNile'' (likely riffing on the above Dirty Harry line) when a gun-toting Ralph turns up to have a word with the hero about the events of the previous movie.

* ''Take the Lead''
-->'''Principal''': Keep talking. Give me a reason to kick your butt out of my school. Give me one.

-->'''Terry Tsurugi''': Hey, Black... ''come on.''
* ''[[Film/{{Tombstone}} Tombstone]]'': Wyatt Earp and his gang have gone on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to kill every member of the Cowboys. When they manage to ambush a few of them at a flophouse, this exchange happens:
-->'''Wyatt Earp''': (''brandishing his gun'') Don't move!
-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Doc Holliday]]''': (''also brandishing his gun'') Oh no, please. By all means, ''move''.
* ''Film/TheFriscoKid'': The bad guy is knocked flat by Rabbi Avram, losing his gun in the process. As he scrambles to get it, Harrison Ford's character Tommy, the {{Lancer}}, shoots it and keeps knocking it out of reach. Finally, Tommy shouts, "You reach for that gun again and I'll blow your head off." After explaining why Avram was forced to kill the guy's brother (they were ambushed and the brother would have killed both Avram and Tommy in cold blood), Tommy yells to the guy, "Reach for it....Please!" Luckily for the guy, Avram was able to resolve the conflict. "I'll take San Francisco, you take the rest of America."
* ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'': After the Klingon commander Kruge kills his gunner for having destroyed the ''Grissom'' instead of disabling it, his first officer calls for his attention while he's still in full bloodlust mode.
-->'''Kruge''': ''(whips around, pointing his disruptor)'' Say the wrong thing, Torg!
** Fortunately for Torg, he says the ''right'' thing: there are survivors on the Genesis Planet which he ''can'' take hostage.
* ''Film/LostInSpace'' Major Don West uses this on Dr. Smith in the 1998 film.
-->'''West''': Give me an excuse to kill you. Please.
* A great line from ''Film/{{Robocop 3}}'':
-->'''Paul [=McDaggett=]''': How may I help you, officer?
-->'''Robocop''': By resisting arrest.
* In ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo'', when Murata and Kenner go to arrest Yoshida at a Japanese bath house, Kenner lists his various crimes and tells him to come with them to the station or give him a reason to blow his head off.
* ''Film/TheHatefulEight'' essentially consists of eight dangerous people trapped together in a cabin who all feel this way towards at least some of the other seven.

* ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'': Just because Nice Rice is making a plea deal with an ''utterly'' irredeemable murderer/rapist for the sake of a solid conviction, does ''not'' mean he has to like it, or ''really'' wish he had an excuse not to. Especially when said piece of shit obliquely inquires [[TooDumbToLive about his family]].
--> '''Nice Rice:''' ''(whispering)'' Please fuck this up so I can destroy you.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': Everett Ross, played by Creator/MartinFreeman, gives us this line in a calm-ish manner to a prisoner:
--> '''Everett Ross:''' Raise your voice, zap. Touch the glass, zap. You step outta line, you deal with me. Please, step outta line.
* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': Layla won't use her powers except in self-defense. One of the villains, believing their side has already won and that Layla's a wimp anyway, slaps her just to be petty. "[[BewareTheNiceOnes Big. Mistake.]]"

* Ramou Lazarian from ''A Company of Stars'' is an unusual one - since he's promised to only use his considerable martial arts abilities in defense of others, he goads bullies and would-be tough guys by acting over-the-top ''nice'' - in essence, inviting them to take a swing at him so he can then [[MuggingTheMonster have an excuse to trash them.]] A typical exchange is "Thank you." "For what?" "Making it self-defense." BOOM.

-->"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."
-->Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.
* ''Literature/{{Thud}}'' has Vimes wishing that a bunch of dwarves he sees in the street would give him a reason to arrest them. He was really pissed at dwarves for warmongering against trolls, [[spoiler:and also for trying to kill him and his family.]]
** The City Watch's motto is "FABRICATE DIEM, PVNC" (see Film/DirtyHarry above).

* In ''GameOfThrones'', Sam recounts how his father forced him to join the Night's Watch so that Dickon could become the heir. His father said that, if he didn't leave for the Wall immediately, Sam would be found dead from a 'hunting accident', adding that "nothing would make me happier".

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': In "Maximum Security," the 99 is trying to lure out a crime boss' man in the FBI with a fake funeral for Adrian Pimento. When they spot the man and he starts to run, Diaz corners him and [[DualWielding draws two batons]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** In "Ted," Joyce gets involved with the eponymous Ted, who acts like a nice guy in front of Joyce and Buffy's friends, but is an ass to Buffy herself and threatens her when they're not around. When he reads Buffy's diary and slaps her, Buffy is ''happy'' to have an excuse to fight back. (Unfortunately she knocks him down the stairs and kills him, or so it appears).

* In the ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "[[Recap/MurderSheWroteS3E19TheCemeteryVote The Cemetery Vote]]", when [[spoiler: Carroll]] tries to make a break for it, one of the other staff members steps in his path and tells him he'd enjoy the opportunity to knock him flat if he'd like to try running.

-->'''Damar:''' In here. Secure the door. Ah, Major! There you are. How nice of you to gather all your friends for us.\\

(Kira sizes up the room - they're surrounded by armed guards)\\

* In the ''Series/JohnnyRingo'' episode "Die Twice"
-->'''Johnny Ringo''': Make a move - give me an excuse.\\
'''Boone Hackett''': I got my hands up.\\
'''Johnny Ringo''': Put one of 'em down - that's all it takes to draw.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Ivanova does this often:
--->'''Sinclair:''' Commander, please remove Major Kemmer from C&C.\\
'''Ivanova:''' With pleasure. ''({{beat}})'' You are going to ''resist'', I hope.
** When the mole who shot Garibaldi in the back is arrested, the arresting officer invites him to [[HoldYourHippogriffs "make my solar year"]].
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Utopia", Chantho points a gun at the Master. The Master was probably planning on killing her anyway, but upon having a weapon pointed it him, his observation is that now he can claim he was provoked.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheShield'', Shane tries to goad a gang leader who has blackmail material on him into attacking him, so Shane can murder him and claim self defence.
* Spoofed in ''Series/TheDailyShow''. In one episode, the correspondents mock overly aggressive journalists by surrounding random people on the street and demanding they answer questions. In one segment, a correspondent insists "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way", and another comes up ''with a baseball bat'' and says "please, pick the hard way".
* Detective Logan did this a few times in the early seasons of ''Series/LawAndOrder''. One episode included a thug who was trying to scare tenants into moving out of an apartment building. Logan found the thug using a hammer to break the lock on an old lady tenant's door. Logan confronted him with gun drawn and repeated the trope line word for word. Wisely, the thug chose to surrender instead.

* ''Series/{{The Boys|2019}}'': In season 3, Homelander gives a bone-chilling speech to Starlight about what he will do if she publishes the video of him leaving the passengers of Flight 37 to die.
-->'''Homelander''': Go ahead. Release it. Let's light this candle, huh? I mean, sure, I'll lose everything, but then, I'll have nothing to lose. First, I'll take out the nerve centers: the White House, the Pentagon, then any domestic defense capabilities, and then critical infrastructure like cellular, Internet. That kind of thing. And then, well, I think then, I'll just wipe New York off the fucking map. For fun. I'll even throw in Des Moines and that little cousin-fucker hick town that Maeve's from, 'cause why not. See Starlight, I'd prefer to be loved, I would, but if you take that away from me... Well, being feared is a one okie dope by me. So, go ahead, partner. Do it!

* {{Downplayed}} in Music/PoetsOfTheFall's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rYhyIk8jM&list=PLjACqN5i5sDV1jkUkrNCzytFOlYdQN8rM The Ultimate Fling]]" where the physically hypercombative tone and demand to "Give me a reason" is a metaphor for initiating the {{Breakup|Song}} of a relationship.

* Carla Ulbrich's "Please Do Something Stupid" is a variation, with the narrator reluctant to commit to a relationship and looking for a reason to get over it.

* In one of the last levels of ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', you team up with a man who has already betrayed you once or twice. It is one of the only levels where you do not have a gun, while shooting mooks is basically 70% of the game. Here, HE has the gun. If you taunt him by trying to punch him in the face, he will first punch back, and tell you "Just give me one reason, Drake!". You can obviously try again, just to see...
* Two instances abound in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. The first is an Elcor bouncer at the door of the Afterlife Club on Omega who responds to an irate human threatening violence with the following said in monotone, “With barely constrained fury … ''try'' it!!” The next instance occurs when Shepard visits a Clan Urdnot camp. Every Krogan over there except for the Clan Leader, a merchant or a mechanic “greets” Shepard with either “Watch it, human!!” or “Give me a reason!!” This isn’t so much because Shepard is on thin ice with the clan, it is because Krogan males spend their entire life just looking for any small reason to fight.

-->'''Lucy''': I'll give you five good reasons. ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE! *makes fist*
-->'''Linus''': Those are good reasons. Christmas is not only getting too commercial, it's getting too dangerous!

-->'''Dick Dastardly:''' Give me one good reason why I should swim all the way back to that island.
-->'''Klunk:''' I'll give you (''clicking sound effects'') four. (''Sharks approach them'')
-->'''Dastardly:''' Sharks!!! Let's start swimming!!
* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' episode "The Hunter"

** Gatlocke says it in "Badlands", but [[SubvertedTrope corrects himself.]]
--> "Give me a reason, give me one good reason..." ''Laughs'' "Only kidding! Like I need a reason."

---> "We gonna do this the hard way, [[ComicBook/LexLuthor Lex]]? Please say 'yes.'"

* In the ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTotallyLegitRecap'' for 'A Matter Of Principals', Starlight Glimmer revs a BeamAttack at Discord and quotes this trope verbatim. He doesn't even get to finish calling her gay before she releases it and kills him.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''ComicBook/DarthMaul''. The title character wants do duel and kill Jedi padawan Eldra, but both of them get betrayed by Xev Xrexus and are forced to fight alongside each other, earning Darth Maul's respect before he kills her. Maul then goes to kill Xev Xrexus who wants to know if he's come to avenge Eldra's death. Maul is angrily denying to himself that he would ever avenge a Jedi, but then Xev Xrexus says that she knows he's a Sith so [[YouKnowTooMuch he gladly kills her on that pretext]].

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with a romantic]] StockPhrase where a character begs their love interest to "give me a reason to stay."

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': Following the PR disaster that was the Straw Hats' attack on Enies Lobby and the exposure to the world about [[ThePurge what happened to Ohara]], Sengoku makes it clear that the only reason he's not locking up [[GeneralRipper Akainu]] in Impel Down as a means of smoothing things over is because his powers make him too useful in fighting pirates. That said, he also makes it clear that Akainu is being [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to the New World]] to keep him out of the public eye, and if he even tries to resist these orders then Sengoku will discharge and arrest him on the spot. Akainu wisely keeps his mouth shut.
** It's established during the Sabaody Revolution arc that the Revolutionaries would ''love'' to lend a hand in the War of the Best - but the Revolutionaries are focused on fighting tyranny, and in the end, Ace committed numerous legitimate crimes that make his execution fair in the eyes of the law, so they can't get involved without undermining their cause. As a result, when Sengoku admits that the Navy and Government are ''only'' killing Ace because he's Roger's son, Cross points out that there's no law saying it's illegal to be ''related'' to a criminal. With the execution now reframed as an act of ''tyranny'' instead of justice, Dragon, Koala, Sabo, Hack, and Karasu leave to help almost immediately.

** In "Ted," Joyce gets involved with the eponymous Ted, who acts like a nice guy in front of Joyce and Buffy's friends, but is an ass to Buffy herself and threatens her when they're not around. When he reads Buffy's diary and [[ArmorPiercingSlap slaps her]], Buffy is ''happy'' to have an excuse to fight back. (Unfortunately she knocks him down the stairs and kills him, or so it appears).

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "The Boiling Rock", the corrupt warden of [[TheAlcatraz the titular prison]] orders a prisoner to stand with his back turned before using his bending to blast fire at him. The man turns quickly and deflects the blast using a little bending of his own. Because its understandably illegal for anyone besides the guards to use their bending, The man is taken into custody and placed in The Cooler.

-->'''Homelander''': Go ahead. Release it. Let's light this candle, huh? I mean, sure, I'll lose everything, but then, I'll have nothing to lose. First, I'll take out the nerve centers, the White House, the Pentagon, than any domestic defense capabilities, and then critical infrastructure like cellular, internet. That kind of thing. And then, well, I think then, I'll just wipe New York off the fucking map. For fun. I'll even throw in Des Moines and that little cousin fucker Hicktown that Maeve's from 'cause why not. See Starlight, I'd prefer to be loved, I would, but if you take that away from me... Well, being feared is a one okie dope by me. So, go ahead, partner. Do it!

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** In the episode "Hereafter", Lobo crashes Superman's wake, and is eventually subdued by the rest of the League. [[FieryRedhead Hawkgirl]], however, ''really'' wants to keep hitting him, resulting in the page quote.
*** Lobo himself has done a variation of this: "Now, the more you struggle, the more this is gonna hurt. So, feel free to go crazy."
** Hawkgirl is a [[BoisterousBruiser fan of this]]:
---> "We gonna do this the hard way, [[ComicBook/LexLuthor Lex]]? Please say 'yes.'"
** The episode "The Once and Future Thing: Weird Western Tales: Part 1" has Batman facing off with a cowboy, armed only with his utility belt.
--->'''Batman''': Go ahead - give me an excuse.
* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' episode "The Hunter"
-->'''Rex''': What's your damage, man? I was ''this'' close to curing that thing!\\
'''Hunter Cain''': Didn't look that way to me, filthy E.V.O.!\\
'''Rex''': "Filthy E.V.O.?"\\
'''Hunter Cain''': Give me a reason. Just one.
** Gatlocke says it in "Badlands", but [[SubvertedTrope corrects himself.]]
--> "Give me a reason, give me one good reason..." ''Laughs'' "Only kidding! Like I need a reason."

* ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas'' has one where Linus asks Lucy to give him a reason to memorize all of his lines for the Christmas play.
-->'''Lucy''': I'll give you five good reasons. ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE! *makes fist*
-->'''Linus''': Those are good reasons. Christmas is not only getting too commercial, it's getting too dangerous!
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' The Mane Six weren't keen on Celestia's {{plan}} to reform Discord but did it out of loyalty to their princess. As soon as they release him from stone they make it clear that if he even ''appears'' to be [[WorldGoneMad up to his old tricks]] they will immediately turn him back to stone.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' Hulk went on a rampage and was locked up. Red Hulk replaced Hulk on the Avengers. Captain America didn't trust him, so he helped Hulk escape imprisonment. The Red Hulk showed up (with the Avengers) and demonstrated this trope.
-->'''Red Hulk:'''You are under arrest for treason against the United States government. You can come quietly or you can resist. Please resist.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' features this.
** The corrupt warden of [[TheAlcatraz The Boiling Rock]] orders a prisoner to stand with his back turned before using his bending to blast fire at him. The man turns quickly and deflects the blast using a little bending of his own. Because its understandably illegal for anyone besides the guards to use their bending, The man is taken into custody and placed in The Cooler.

* ''JohnnyRingo'' episode "Die Twice"

* An ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode has Sonic decide to let [[{{Mooks}} Scratch and Grounder]] catch him to spring a cartoonist from jail from the inside. But not before [[ISurrenderSuckers fucking around with them for a while first]], including a scene with him on a scaffold [[PaperThinDisguise dressed as a window washer]]. Of course, this couldn't have been invoked at all if they weren't [[WhatAnIdiot standing directly underneath the scaffold to begin with.]]

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness Act V'': Jenner Rythmore, head of the [[CreatureHunterOrganization Human Defense Agency]] founded in response to TheUnmasquedWorld, openly admits to his subordinates in chapter 20 that he's just waiting for any possible excuse he can use to declare open war on the monster world, having previously expressed open hatred and distrust of all monsters.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' features this,
. The corrupt warden of [[TheAlcatraz The Boiling Rock]] orders a prisoner to stand with his back turned before using his bending to blast fire at him. The man turns quickly and deflects the blast using a little bending of his own. Because its understandably illegal for anyone besides the guards to use their bending, The man is taken into custody and placed in The Cooler.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': Everett Ross, played by Creator/MartinFreeman, gives us this line in a calm-ish manner:

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', Phoenix visits the Kingdom of Khura'in, a kingdom that outlawed defense lawyers by giving them the same sentences as their clients in the event of the latter's conviction, and proceeds to win the first court case in 23 years. Inga, the Minister of Justice and the one responsible for the law, is not amused, and notices that while Phoenix is outwardly polite to Inga, he doesn't have many nice things to say about them. After Inga notes that as the queen's husband, that makes him king, Phoenix thinks that the queen is still in charge, prompting Inga to suggest that Phoenix say what's on his mind so that Inga can charge him with lese-majesty.

* The trial Denver Fenton Allen eventually turned into a shouting match between the judge and Allen, who at one point threatened to masturbate and ejaculate upon the judge and the judge dared him to do just that. Needless to say, if Allen had attempted to approach the bench after making such a threat, the baliffs would have tackled him, and that was probably the judge's idea.