History Main / PullTheThread

* Used with Col. Jessup in ''Film/AFewGoodMen''. Lt. Kaffee continues to question Jessup until he catches Jessup in a contradiction: [[spoiler:Jessup had ordered that Santiago was not to be harmed, and assured the court that his orders were always followed, to the letter. Thus, the ArmorPiercingQuestion from Kaffee says that if that were true, there would be no reason to transfer Sanitago off the base, as Jessup did, because Santiago shouldn't have been in any danger if Jessup's orders are always followed. It's the slight OhCrap moment from Jessup which follows that begins to unravel his entire testimony.]]
** Kaffee had started pulling this same thread earlier in the questioning, asking Jessup what he'd packed for the day-trip to DC for the case. By contrast, [[spoiler:Kaffee points out that, despite the alleged transfer order, and his having ''requested'' such a transfer multiple times in the past, none of Santiago's kit was packed for travel.]]

Now, Bob might yet not suspect that Alice is an imposter (though it could be that someone has tipped him off beforehand that an infiltrator is on the loose); he could think that what she said was simply an innocent mistake or that he merely misheard her. So he tries to probe her a bit first. Usually, he asks her a simple question that someone with a fundamental knowledge of the subject by all means ''should'' know about, usually by poking directly at the mistake she made. He is betting on the idea that if Alice is really who she says she is, she should pick up on the fact that what she just should said didn't make any sense, and embarrassedly correct herself.

** Kaffee had started pulling this same thread earlier in the questioning, asking Jessup what he'd packed for the day-trip to DC for the case. By contrast, [[spoiler: Kaffee points out that, despite the alleged transfer order, and his having ''requested'' such a transfer multiple times in the past, none of Santiago's kit was packed for travel.]]

* Subverted in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'': Atticus successfully pulls many threads in the Ewells' story of how Tom raped Mayella, particularly in the disparity of Mayella's bruise and Tom's handicap [[spoiler: but the all-white jury ends up finding him guilty anyway. Despite this, the trial thoroughly humiliates Bob and he goes out of his way to try and make Atticus’ life a living hell.]]

* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Detective Santiago has a tendency to try and suck up to Captain Holt in order to curry favour and try and persuade him to act as her mentor. Since Captain Holt isn't particularly fond of [[YesMan Yes Men]], he instead tends to use this trope not so much to expose her insincerity (since she does genuinely respect him) but instead to expose the false modesty and flaws in logic that she ties herself in while doing so.

** In "Slap Bet", Robin reveals that she has an unusual fear of going to the mall. The other members of the group form theories as to why this is. Marshall believes it's because she got married at a mall when she lived in Canada. Not wanting to reveal the real reason, Robin decides to use this as her cover story. Ted decides to test her on it and asks her numerous detailed questions about her wedding, all of which Robin easily answers, but blows it when she's unable to answer the simplest question, [[spoiler: what the groom's name was]]. The implication seems to be that like a lot of (mainly female) people, Robin has a pretty solid plan of what she wants her wedding to look like, with just a couple of details to be filled into the blanks.
** Robin does this again in the Season 6 episode, "Candy Ranning" when she tells them that they were right in thinking that she slept with a rather dumb guy after a Halloween party and thus did not have time to change out of her costume before the next morning. When the lie unravels we find out that she was still in her nurse uniform costume because it was [[spoiler: actually for an adult diaper commercial she filmed.]]

** Except the Gale answers all the questions in a self-consistent manner. Sayid thinks that he's probably lying, but can't tell for certain. Later the captive gives him directions to the balloon and his wife's grave as proof. Sayid follows the directions and discovers the balloon and grave just where they are supposed to be. However, Sayi is so obsessed with the idea that Gale is lying that he proceeds to DIG UP the grave to further test the story. This turns out to be an incredibly wise move, as there is not the body of a woman in the grave, but a man. A man with an ID labelled "Henry Gale"[[spoiler: The captive turns out to be the leader of the Others, [[MagnificentBastard Benjamin Linus]]]].
* ''Series/Lucifer2016'' has an example of this in the second episode of its fifth season. Lucifer had apparently returned [[spoiler: from Hell, where he had to return at the end of season four]] and Chloe, his partner and [[spoiler: then]] will-they-won't-they love interest apparently believed him. However [[spoiler: a number of out-of-character moments]] such as [[spoiler: him lying]] and [[spoiler: him having sex with Maze while tentatively in a relationship with Chloe herself]] clue her in that something isn't right. She plays along, probing for more evidence, while [[spoiler: Michael]] remains convinced he's fooled her. [[spoiler: She winds up giving him a "reason you suck" speech while shooting him repeatedly]] [[spoiler: Lucifer actually returns the next episode, and Chloe initially believes he's still actually Michael]]

* ''GodOfWarRagnarok'': After spending most of the game as TheLoad, Tyr reveals he knows a secret passage straight into Asgard [[TooGoodToBeTrue that can give them access to a well of infinite knowledge and an ambush on Odin]]... and that's the final straw for Brok, who confronts all the little details that don't make sense; why didn't Tyr talk about this secret passage even earlier back when Atreus was kidnapped? When did Tyr get ''things'' to pack while living in a sparse closet most of the time? Why is he holding onto the {{Macguffin}} with a death grip when he didn't earn it? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Why does his cooking suck]]? And most importantly, why has he suddenly started calling Atreus ''Loki'', something only the Asgardians have called him? Tyr responds by [[spoiler:stabbing Brok to death, revealing he was ''Odin'' the whole time]].

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': The Season 2 episode, "Slap Bet", features Robin revealing that she has an unusual fear of going to the mall. The other members of the group form theories as to why this is. Marshall believes it's because she got married at a mall when she lived in Canada. Not wanting to reveal the real reason, Robin decides to use this as her cover story. Ted decides to test her on it and asks her numerous detailed questions about her wedding, all of which Robin easily answers, but then blows it when she's suddenly unable to think of an answer when Ted asks her the simplest question, [[spoiler: what the groom's name was]].
** The implication seems to be that like a lot of (mainly female) people, Robin has a pretty solid plan of what she wants her wedding to look like, with just a couple of details to be filled into the blanks.

* This is one of the rules of the storytelling game ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen''. One player starts to tell the most outlandish story about his adventures (Such as the time a pair of Frenchmen took credit for his invention of the hot air balloon), and the other players repeatedly interrupt him with additional questions. The storyteller has to either incorporate them into the story or pass the turn to the next player.

* ''Fanfic/{{Snapshots}}'': Played with. When testing to see if their reality is being simulated or not, those who were [[LotusEaterMachine under the effect of hypnoshades]] will focus on doing things that they know wouldn't be part of the simulation so they can know what they are experiencing is real, as even using them for a short period of time instills long-lasting paranoia. For example, Marina will hike up a specific path with a friend and check if they will try balancing on a specific log.

* ''Fanfic/ISeeWhatYouDoBehindClosedDoorsMiraculousLadybug'':

To put it in [[AliceAndBob a simple format]], Alice is posing as someone else in a social situation. She might be claim that she is "Claire", or just "Alice the Expert". In order to make conversation and try to fit in with the role she has chosen, Alice happens to say something that might seem innocuous enough on the surface, at least to those who are not too familiar with said subject, but to those who ''are'' familiar with it, [[OutOfCharacterAlert it seems kind of a strange thing to say]]. Well, Bob just so happens to be familiar with the subject -- usually he has some kind of imitate knowledge of the subject, either through his education, job, or just something as simple as frequenting the social circles of people who know about said subject -- so he picks up on the fact that Alice's statement is factually incorrect, or at least seems somewhat weird and out of character for "Claire" or "Alice the Expert".

** When Ladybug tells her classmates that she's ''not'' friends with [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila]] like the other girl [[CelebrityLie claims]], Lila insists that she's only saying that to try and protect her from Shadow Moth. Max then notes that Lila has been having her do all her homework for her, yet still claims to have landed an internship with [[Franchise/IronMan Tony Stark]] -- something Max tried to do himself and couldn't manage. This prompts him to start looking up all of her claims, one by one.

To put it in [[AliceAndBob a simple format]], Alice is posing as someone else in a social situation. She might be claim that she is "Claire", or just "Alice the Expert". In order to make conversation and try to fit in with the role she has chosen, Alice happens to say something that might seem innocuous enough on the surface, at least to those who are not too familiar with said subject, but to those who ''are'' familiar with it, [[OutOfCharacterAlert it seems kind of a strange thing to say]]. Well, Bob just so happens to be familiar with the subject -- usually he has some kind of imitate knowledge of the subject, either through his education, job, or just something as simple as frequenting the social circles of people who know about said subject -- so he picks up on the fact that Alice's statement is factually incorrect, or at least seems somewhat weird and out of character for "Claire" or "Alice the Expert". Now, Bob might yet not suspect that Alice is an imposter (though it could be that someone has tipped him off beforehand that an infiltrator is on the loose); he could think that what she said was simply an innocent mistake or that he merely misheard her. So he tries to probe her a bit first. Usually, he asks her a simple question that someone with a fundamental knowledge of the subject by all means ''should'' know about, usually by poking directly at the mistake she made. He is betting on the idea that if Alice is really who she says she is, she should pick up on the fact that what she just should said didn't make any sense, and embarrassedly correct herself. But Alice, being sure that her cover is adequate, not knowing that what she is saying doesn't make any sense to someone with a cursory knowledge of said subject, and blindly assuming that Bob is someone "in the know" and therefore what he is saying to her must be correct, doesn't notice at any point that there is anything wrong with neither her statement or Bob's question, and decides to blindly play along, and blissfully continues down the tangent that Bob knows is incorrect. Unwittingly, all she does is confirming to Bob that "Claire" or "Alice the Expert" is not who she says she is, and that she has given him cause to act on this hunch.

To put it in [[AliceAndBob a simple format]], Alice is posing as someone else in a social situation. She might be claim that she is "Claire", or just "Alice the Expert". In order to make conservation and try to fit in with the role she has chosen, Alice happens to say something that might seem innocuous enough on the surface, at least to those who are not too familiar with said subject, but to those who ''are'' familiar with it, [[OutOfCharacterAlert it seems kind of a strange thing to say]]. Well, Bob just so happens to be familiar with the subject -- usually he has some kind of imitate knowledge of the subject, either through his education, job, or just something as simple as frequenting the social circles of people who know about said subject -- so he picks up on the fact that Alice's statement is factually incorrect, or at least seems somewhat weird and out of character for "Claire" or "Alice the Expert". Now, Bob might yet not suspect that Alice is an imposter (though it could be that someone has tipped him off beforehand that an infiltrator is on the loose); he could think that what she said was simply an innocent mistake or that he merely misheard her. So he tries to probe her a bit first. Usually, he asks her a simple question that someone with a fundamental knowledge of the subject by all means ''should'' know about, usually by poking directly at the mistake she made. He is betting on the idea that if Alice is really who she says she is, she should pick up on the fact that what she just should said didn't make any sense, and embarrassedly correct herself. But Alice, being sure that her cover is adequate, not knowing that what she is saying doesn't make any sense to someone with a cursory knowledge of said subject, and blindly assuming that Bob is someone "in the know" and therefore what he is saying to her must be correct, doesn't notice at any point that there is anything wrong with neither her statement or Bob's question, and decides to blindly play along, and blissfully continues down the tangent that Bob knows is incorrect. Unwittingly, all she does is confirming to Bob that "Claire" or "Alice the Expert" is not who she says she is, and that she has given him cause to act on this hunch.

-->-- '''Walter Scott''', ''Marmion'' (Canto VI. Stanza 17)