History Main / ItsTheOnlyWay

-->'''Twilight:''' It was the only way we could save Equestria.

[[folder: Film]]

* Justified in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''. Their spacecraft has been damaged and starts to spin at a rapid rate. The protagonists decide to dock regardless of the risk because the fate of the entire human race depends on their mission.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar:'' Thanos is convinced that the only way to solve the problem of limited resources is to kill half of all life. Other solutions such as doubling the resources don't occur to him.

'''Roku''': WOMAN, ARE YOU CONTRADICTING [[HeroBall HERO LOGIC]]?\\

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the crew decides that the only way to prevent the [[TooDumbToLive Kazons]] from taking control of the Caretaker's Array is to remain in the Delta Quadrant (rather than taking it back home) so that they can blow it up. Apparently, none of them have ever heard of time bombs.

* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': "I say we take off and [[HowtoInvadeanAlienPlanet nuke the entire site from orbit]]. It's the only way to be sure." And it wasn't that bad an idea because [[spoiler:every colonist save one was long since dead and the majority of the marines were either KIA or awaiting a FateWorseThanDeath. Not to mention everyone save the corporate stooge was 100% on board with denying [[MegaCorp Weyland-Yutani]] their murderous, murderous prize by this point.]]

--> '''Galatea:''' ''I've set the ship to destroy itself!''
--> '''Bob:''' What?!
--> '''Galatea:''' It's the ''only way,'' Uncle! Don't you see? ''It's the only way!!!''
--> '''Bob:''' But couldn't you just take the machine ''apart?'' Or ''break it?''
--> '''Galatea:''' ............... oh. um...
--> '''Bob:''' What is the ''matter'' with you?!
--> '''Galatea:''' I think I'm doing very ''well'' for my age!

* In the quoted example from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' above, it may in fact be justified as Roku's holding back the magma is the only thing that gives the rest of the village enough time to evacuate.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Another Way", Finn is harassed by enemies who give him exactly two courses of action (usually [[MortonsFork bad and worse]]) then declaring "IT'S THE ONLY WAY!! [[EvilLaugh AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]" Then Finn finds [[TakeAThirdOption Another]] [[TitleDrop Way]] through the obstacle.

* Series finale of ''Series/BurnNotice'' - The "only way" for Jesse to get Charlie out of the safe house is for [[spoiler:Madeline to push the big red button on the bomb and sacrifice herself in the process.]] Except of course for the countless other ways they could have easily rigged that big red button to be pressed when the bad guys opened the door. Or the countless other kinds of boobie traps the characters have rigged up over the past seven seasons.

* In the quoted example from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' above, it may in fact be justified as Roku's holding back the magma is the only thing that gives the rest of the village enough time to evacuate.
* A porcupine, in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' comic strip about WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: "We must stick them with quills! It's the only way!"

* Played for laughs in the BizarroEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''. Why are alien tofu invading the Earth, kidnapping cows and running substitute-meat fast food chains with the intent to blow up the planet? "It is our WAY!"
* In the pilot episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the crew decides that the only way to prevent the [[TooDumbToLive Kazons]] from taking control of the Caretaker's Array is to remain in the Delta Quadrant (rather than taking it back home) so that they can blow it up. Apparently, none of them have ever heard of time bombs.
** Somewhat justified in that the Kazon were already there. In the middle of the battle, it was decided to destroy the array.

* There are better methodologies of discerning the superiority of one thing over another, but that doesn't mean that [[Series/HarryHillsTVBurp Harry Hill]] doesn't have a personal favourite.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': [[spoiler:Spoken by Zombie Guybrush to a surprised Morgan near the end of Chapter 5, when he takes out [[ChekhovsGun his last shred of life]] and tosses it into the rip to close up the Crossroads, trapping the Pirate God [=LeChuck=] and allowing her and Elaine to use the CoupDeGrace on him simultaneously.]]
** Before that, De Cava says this in Chapter 3 when he says he's weaving the husks of Manatee Throat Grubs for an artificial cochlea, [[spoiler:unaware that the actual cochlea had been stolen by his own crew during the time they were in the manatee]].
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' when Dani Garrett is about to fly her ship into a volcano, and Jaime asks if she's sure it can survive it.
--> '''Danni:''' Only one way to find out!
--> '''Jaime:''' No! No! There are other ways to "find out"! Like tests and experiments!
--> '''Danni:''' Oh, yeah. Sorry.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Another Way", Finn is harassed by enemies who give him exactly two courses of action (usually [[MortonsFork bad and worse]]) then declaring "IT'S THE ONLY WAY!! [[EvilLaugh AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]" Then Finn finds [[TakeAThirdOption Another]] [[TitleDrop Way]] through the obstacle.

* ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'' is the story of a woman named Julia who kills men and collects their blood in order to revive a former lover. A visit to a blood bank would have solved her problem in a much less grisly way.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Finn is harassed by enemies who give him exactly two courses of action (usually [[MortonsFork bad and worse]]) then declaring "IT'S THE ONLY WAY!! [[EvilLaugh AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]" Then Finn finds [[TitleDrop Another Way]] through the obstacle.

* ''Franchise/Hellraiser'' is the story of a woman named Julia who kills men and collects their blood in order to revive a former lover. A visit to a blood bank would have solved her problem in a much less grisly way.

** Except that the large and impressive-looking Kazon ships have no shield technology, meaning they automatically lose against anyone with Federation transporters (which could [[TeleportersAndTransporters Set Them Up The Bomb]] or just beam their reactor core into their command bridge or vice versa)

* ''Film/Hellraiser'' is the story of a woman named Julia who kills men and collects their blood in order to revive a former lover. A visit to a blood bank would have solved her problem in a much less grisly way.

* "Film/Hellraiser" is the story of a woman named Julia who kills men and collects their blood in order to revive a former lover. A visit to a blood bank would have solved her problem in a much less grisly way.

* Subverted in ''BlueBeetle'' when Dani Garrett is about to fly her ship into a volcano, and Jaime asks if she's sure it can survive it.

To be fair, in many dramas, it is "the only way" in the messed-up mindset of the character saying it -- television characters are frequently [[GenreBlindness less reasonable]] and more focused than real people.

* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': "I say we take off and [[HowtoInvadeanAlienPlanet nuke the entire site from orbit]]. It's the only way to be sure."
** To be fair it was probably justified at that point. [[spoiler:Every colonist save one was long since dead and the majority of the marines were either KIA or awaiting a FateWorseThanDeath. Not to mention everyone save the corporate stooge was 100% on board with denying [[MegaCorp Weyland-Yutani]] their murderous, murderous prize by this point.]]

* Parodied (kind of) in the movie ''SnakesOnAPlane'', where the villain releases hundreds of venomous snakes onto a plane containing a single person he wishes to kill. When one of his lackeys wonders if there might have been a simpler plan with a higher chance of success, the villain snaps something to the effect of, "Do you think I didn't exhaust every other option?"

* [[JustifiedTrope Weirdly justified]] in ''{{Transmorphers}}'': A nuclear bomb needs to be placed next to a reactor. They attempt to throw it in, which is (of course) unsuccessful. So, our hero decides to put it in himself, despite the requisite 100% chance of death. [[spoiler:Turns out he's actually an android, and therefore the only one capable of fooling the defense system, which is programmed to sense only organic material]]. It's no less melodramatic, though.

* Subverted in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' when Galatea concludes [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20101120.html her new invention has to be destroyed]] before it falls into the wrong hands.

* Particularly glaring in the second and third ''Film/{{X-Men}}'' movies. In the second, Jean Grey sacrifices herself, supposedly because it's the only way to save the team; there has been considerable debate among fans about the ''multiple'' other ways they could have survived, or ways she could have saved them that would not have involved her death.

* Spoken by Gollum in ''[[LordOfTheRings Return of the King]]''. However, the plan was not so much ridiculous as dangerous, Gollum was nervous to have Frodo do it, and Frodo had no idea what the plan was, because it involved Gollum feeding him to a giant spider. Still, the way Frodo intended to go was suicidal at best.

* Eve in ''Film/FaceOff'' believes that taking a blood sample from the man impersonating her husband is the only way to establish his identity. She could have simply taken DNA samples from him and her daughter (hair, fingerprints...) and run a comparison. Either way, additionally demanding a sample from the man with the face of the man who killed her son would have been a good idea.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Finn is harassed by enemies who give him exactly two courses of action (usually bad and worse) then declaring "IT'S THE ONLY WAY!! [[EvilLaugh AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]" Then Finn finds [[TitleDrop Another Way]] through the obstacle.

->'''J'onn:''' It's...the only way.\\
'''Dr. Fate:''' Hmm. Those words are always used to justify destruction.
-->-- ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', "The Return"

Compare with IDidWhatIHadToDo, the WellIntentionedExtremist's accessory after the fact. Compare also the correlated trope WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer.

* In the climax of ''TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'', Jack Black challenges the Devil to a rock-off, and for the stakes declares the Devil can take (just) his partner Kyle Gass back to Hell as a sex slave if they lose. He then melodramatically urges the understandably upset Kyle that "it's the ''only'' way!".