History Main / TalkingYourWayOut

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' you can talk the prison guard, [[spoiler: Johnny into showing you a picture of his family. The picture he wrote the cell door code on the back of, lest he forget.]]

* This is how President Baugh (as his alter ego, Baron Fritz von Baugh) undermines Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}''.

* Attempted by Kagome Higurashi from ''Manga/InuYasha'', when she was kidnapped by Manten and Hiten. While she didn't secure her release, she ''did'' manage to keep herself alive until Inuyasha came to fight them.

* ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': This is part of Envoy training. When they are trapped in a VR torture session, the enemy controls the entire reality and can kill them and resurrect them infinitely. The only way out is to stop your heart on your own--but the enemy can just throw you back in. Once you're in the real world, you only have a few moments to convince your captors to let you go using whatever means necessary. Kovacs manages to convince his captors that they accidentally captured a C-TAC operative, and the government is going to destroy them all for touching him. He promises amnesty to whoever unlocks his cuffs. Once he has a single hand free, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he kills absolutely everyone]].
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' This is Standard Operating Procedure whenever a member of Team Westen finds him/herself captured.
** It's also sometimes done by criminals who they're interrogating. In one such case, Michael's voiceover comments that clamming up is dangerous. Burying the interrogator in an [[WallOfBlather endless stream of stories]] that ''sound'' like they're going somewhere but are ultimately pointless is much more effective.
* Reid on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' tries for one of these at least three or four times a season. They don't always work out, but when they do, the results can be quite spectacular. Perhaps the best example comes in Season Three, when a serial killer on death row invites Reid and Hotch to interview him just before he's executed. He plans to lull them into a false sense of security and then kill them both in order to derail his trial and buy himself some more time alive. Through careful manipulation of the agents, the timing and the situation, he very nearly succeeds. Somehow, Hotch and Reid wind up alone in a locked room, unarmed, with a serial killer whose bare hands were his preferred weapon, who wants them dead, and who isn't wearing handcuffs. It never becomes important. Reid keeps the serial killer talking until the guards return from shift change. Fifteen minutes later. Not that Hotch's plan to kick the guy's ass manually wouldn't have been fun to watch, but...
** It's awesome when it works, but the times when it fails are more interesting, and also generally awful and depressing, because you often really think he's going to pull it off this time... right before someone dies.

** The Seventh Doctor in particular has a knack for it; in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E2ParadiseTowers "Paradise Towers"]], he escapes an execution by [[ItMakesSenseInContext convincing his over-bureaucratic captors]] to ''let'' him escape.
** Then there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rn4Vv3dH9Q this scene]] from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E2TheHappinessPatrol "The Happiness Patrol"]], where he talks a sniper out of shooting him at point blank range.
** He tries it again on the Master in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time, Part 2"]] by giving him a speech on how "stone-cold brilliant" he is. His description soon switches to "bone-dead stupid" because the Master doesn't realise [[spoiler:the guard in the room is really a Vinvocci]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]: The Doctor escapes from a group of Weeping Angels with some of this, leaving them with some parting words of advice:
--->"And I'll tell you of something else— ''[starts running]'' Never let me talk!"

-->I commend your loyalty. It must be difficult to maintain for an officer like Crais... an officer on the edge and out of control. I have unconditional authority on a Gammak Base. Captain Crais ''will'' go to the Chair: to stop that, you'll have to kill me... and all my men. Are you prepared to do that? Do what you know in your hearts is the right thing: put Crais in the Chair.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': When Ben (or "Henry Gale," as he was identifying himself at the time) was "captured" by the main characters, he spent much of his time turning Locke and Jack against each other. This aided his eventual escape but it also aided [[GambitRoulette a much longer term and confusing plan]].
* Dewey from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' occasionally does this to great effect.
** One episode involved him breaking up Hal's folk(?) band, The Gentleman Comers, only saying one sentence to each member. Note that he wasn't really trying to get out of anything, he was just manipulating them [[ForTheEvulz because he was bored.]]
* In ''Series/TheMentalist'', Jane being an unarmed noncombatant means he gets kidnapped and held at gunpoint, like, [[DistressedDude a LOT]], leaving this as his go-to move, often by hypnotising his way out. An aversion occurs in ''Bleeding Heart'', where he does this and manages to tip his captor off that he's worked out their identity, making them go from "I just want to talk" to "I guess I have to kill you now", meaning he managed to talk his way ''into'' danger. In ''Ball of Fire'', he's kidnapped by someone who sadly already knows his mind games and would much rather express themselves [[ElectricTorture via cattleprod]]. He still manages to trick them [[BriarPatching a little.]]
* In the three-part episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' "A Different Shade of Pink", Zedd and Rita have [[TeamRocketWins actually gotten the better of the heroes]] for a change; they've captured Kat and the Falconzord, ''and'' stolen Kimberly's Power Coin. Then they mess up by telling Rita's idiot brother Rito to watch Kat. She offers to massage his shoulders (noticing that he's sore and bored) and he falls asleep (much to Kat's relief, [[UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness as she didn't like touching him]]) manages to get the keys to her cell from him, and ''then'' get Kimberly's Coin, and once she ''has'' it, the Rangers are able to teleport her out.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Search, Part II" when a group of Jem'Hadar attempts to arrest Sisko and co, Garak talks their way out by pretending to be TheMole and then shooting the Jem'Hadar once they let their guard down. And this was ''before'' the Jem'Hadar were allied with the Cardassians.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Rand in Episode 4 defuses a conflict with a farmer, surprising even streetwise Thom.

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'' - Talking his way out of tough situations might be [[GentlemanThief Neal Caffrey's]] superpower. As a fast-talking white collar criminal who hates guns but has to deal by necessity with more violent criminals, this talent is necessary for him if he wants to survive, and is also what makes him such a good CI.

* ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'': In "The House of Windowless Rooms", a demonic assassin is sent against Lucifer while he's powerless and mortal. The gods who sent the assassin remark that she's obviously failed, as Lucifer has had enough time to start talking to her, which is all he needs.

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', this tends to be Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord's, M.O. since he's a [[PunyEarthlings Puny Earthling]] surrounded by stronger and/or better-armed foes. He managed to talk an enraged Drax down from murdering Gamora, and convinced Rocket, who originally wanted to turn him in for a bounty, to team up with him and Gamora and escape the Kyln. Then he managed to convince an enraged Yondu who was seconds away from murdering him to team up and help the team defeat Ronan.

* The eponymous Peddler from ''Audioplay/TalesOfAJunkTownPonyPeddler'', being a BadassNormal, manages to convince a slaver he's obviously a Very Badass Person in disguise (well, can you tell how badass he is? Of course not, since he's travelling incognito. [[InsaneTrollLogic Logical?]]) He was speaking very, very calmly, [[RefugeInAudacity at a gunpoint]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Batman passed this skill onto his protegé, as Robin spends an entire second-season episode convincing Atlas' sidekick, Spike, to turn on his master, who treats him like dirt. He succeeds, helping Cyborg save the day when Spike refuses to give Atlas an unfair advantage in their final battle.