Line #14 Main/IKnowYoureWatchingMe


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6	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_know_youre_listening_6420.png]]]]
7
8	->''"Joseph Joestar! You're watching me, aren't you?" Blows up TV''
9	-->-- '''DIO''', ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders''
10
11	When any character is BeingWatched on video surveillance and they look at the camera directly as if they know they are being watched. Usually indicates that the person being watched knows more than the audience has been led to believe, or is a threat to the people watching them. More bonus points if the person doesn't want their observers to ''know'' that they can tell they're being watched, and quickly looks away when they accidentally make eye contact with the camera.
12
13	This trope also applies to the one way windows found in interrogation rooms and other cases where someone being watched behaves in a manner that indicates they know exactly what's going on on the other side.
14
15	Compare to PokeInTheThirdEye, which involves the more metaphysical forms of surveillance or generally making sure whoever's watching ''stops'' watching. Contrast BluffTheEavesdropper. If the character knows he's being watched by the ''audience'', then this falls underneath BreakingTheFourthWall. See also TwoWayTapping, when the eavesdropping people reveal themselves.
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17	----
18	!!Examples
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22	* ''Literature/{{Gate}}'': When the group goes to a bathhouse, a team of agents is sent to secretly guard them. One of the agents spies on the bathing girls with binoculars, but [[SemiDivine Rory Mercury]] looks in his direction and glares, causing him to get scared and drop the binoculars. His superiors assure that he's over 400 meters away and there's no way he could have been seen, but he decides to stop peeping and do his job.
23	* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'': In "Solid State Society", Ishikawa is hacking into a security system as a distraction while Section 9 breaks in somewhere else. Several cyborg guards start prowling about, and their leader turns to look at the security camera Ishikawa is using to watch them, causing him to acknowledge the man is a professional like they are.
24	* ''Manga/Golgo13'':
25	** In "Telepath", Duke Togo has a NotSoStoic moment when he fires at a target...and misses [[InvincibleHero for the first time in his life]] because a woman pushed the target out of the way. She then turns and looks directly at where Togo is looking through the sniper scope. Turns out the woman has PsychicPowers.
26	** A moviemaker decides to [[TooDumbToLive make a movie about Duke Togo carrying out an assassination]]. He has an OhCrap moment when Togo pauses while getting into a taxi to look directly at them, but his DOP assures him that at the distance they are filming, their camera will be too small to make out. Whether or not Togo did see them is unclear, but he picks up enough clues to work out what's going on anyway.
27	** The manga story "Eye Of God" has Duke do this with a spy satellite. An ambitious CIA photo analyst hatched a scheme to photograph Golgo during an assassination to turn him into a BoxedCrook; unfortunately, Golgo [[AwesomenessByAnalysis realizes what's going on from the times and places he's asked to meet with the analyst and to perform the assassination]].
28	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': In Part III, DIO can sense when Joseph uses Hermit Purple's psychography to spy on him. When Joseph tries using a TV to get a fix on him, DIO calls Joseph out on peeping on him before blowing the TV up.
29	-->''"Joestar, you bastard, you're watching me? Well, watch this!"''
30	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': While Kaworu is conversing with SEELE, Misato is watching him through binoculars from a distance of several kilometers. When the conversation is finished, Kaworu, smiling, ''makes direct eye contact'' with Misato despite the distance between them, startling her. Just one of many hints that Kaworu is not what he seems.
31	* An early chapter of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has Gosunkugi offer to sell Kuno "Saotome's weakness", which he will glean by "secretly photographing him". Kuno immediately complains that Ranma is posing in every single one.
32	* The first episode of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' introduces the main cast with a scene of Okabe talking to what appears to be a hidden camera in his laboratory, taunting the "Organization" and their spies. However, it turns out he's actually interrogating a strange piece of television software featuring an alpaca with a human face.
33	* ''Manga/{{Kurosagi}}'': Kashina and Kurosaki take turns glaring into Katsuragi's two-way mirror.
34	* ''Manga/{{Spriggan}}''. In "The Crystal Skull", Yu Ominae takes down several goons from a neo-Nazi organization. It's shown that a camera drone is recording all of this, and we cut to the neo-Nazi leader reviewing the footage with his CoDragons. They're not impressed...until the footage shows Yu suddenly turn and throw his pistol to knock the drone out of the sky. The manga version has Yu take out a high-tech camera with specialized camera lenses that can zoom at long distances.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comic Books]]
38	* ''ComicBook/QueenAndCountry'': A HoneyTrap was cracked because the perpetrator was seen looking at the camera on the blackmail tape.
39	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
40	** In ''ComicBook/Supergirl2005: ComicBook/GirlPower'', the Calculator is monitoring ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} under ComicBook/LexLuthor's orders. At one point, she glares straight in the direction of the camera the Calculator is using to watch her, which is enough for him to freak out in a SpitTake.
41	--->'''Lex Luthor:''' ''"Report in to me, Kuttler. What's going on out there?"''\
42	'''Calculator:''' ''"I...I'm not sure, sir. But for the briefest of moments, I...thought she was aware of me."''\
43	'''Lex Luthor:''' ''"You've told me that's impossible."''\
44	'''Calculator:''' ''"It is. This operation transmits at a continually changing frequency at every end of the spectrum."''
45	** ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': After defeating her clones, Kara stares upwards, right at Harry Hokum's flagship hovering out of the atmosphere and snarls his name. Hokum, who was watching the battle, realizes she has somehow seen him, and starts sweating.
46	--->'''Supergirl:''' (glaring upwards) ''"Someone will pay for this atrocity, and that someone is... Hokum."''\
47	'''Harry Hookum:''' (sweating) "S-she's '''looking''' at me! H-how is that possible?"
48	** In a comic, Clark Kent is in a police interrogation room, staring straight ahead with a smile on his face. (He, of course, is looking through the two-way mirror with his X-ray vision and listening to the conversation with his super-hearing...)
49	--->'''Detective 1:''' Look at him sitting there, with that smile on his face! It's like he can see us!\
50	'''Detective 2:''' They ''all'' look like that...
51	* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': In "[[Recap/TintinTintinAndThePicaros Tintin and the Picaros]]", Tintin arrives at the expensive hotel where Captain Haddock is staying and points out the [[SinisterSurveillance various hidden microphones]] in his GildedCage. He also points at the mirror and says it might be a two-way mirror with a camera on the other side. Cue Colonel Sponsz watching Tintin on a monitor, pointing directly at him. "He's no fool, that boy."
52	* In an issue of ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'' one of the heroes freaked out when the villain of the week looked him straight in the eye while being spied upon (he was using long range binoculars rather than the camera but the effect is the same.)
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Fan Works]]
56	* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Sufficiently magically powerful beings can detect scrying, and the specific direction it's coming from, as to be able to look at the viewer.
57	* ''Fanfic/FateDxDAU'': Rias Gremory questions Ritsuka Fujimaru while her Peerage, Sirzechs, and Grayfia are behind a one-way mirror. During the conversation, Ritsuka suddenly turns directly to Sirzechs and makes it clear he knows he is there, scaring Sirzechs.
58	* ''Fanfic/SnippetsOfSirinShariacsLife'': The chapter ''Breakout 2: Electric Boogaloo'' features such a scene. When Tesla and Einstein remotely try to interrogate a captured Mobius, the screen suddenly goes dark and Tesla quickly checks the security camera. She finds Mobius going to her bed before stopping and suddenly turn to make eye contact, causing Tesla to flinch.
59	* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': In Episode 2, Jedi General Renphi and his clone troopers are searching his flagship for his missing Padawan Gaphin, who had skipped out on his meditation practice due to finding it boring and [[AirVentPassageway hidden himself in the ship's ventilation system]]. While listening in on Renphi's conversation with Captain Kraken from the nearby vents, Gaphin hears his master say that he intends to punish his Padawan by making him meditate in isolation for three days. Renphi suddenly very loudly adds on that if he were to find Gaphin helping out Dr. Shina in the ship's lab, he would be willing to reduce the punishment time to just three hours, revealing that he was aware Gaphin was eavesdropping on their conversation and is offering him a way to lessen his punishment.
60	* ''Fanfic/UltimateDCUHeadverse'': In one chapter of "Getting' By", Batwoman is eavesdropping an eyebrow-raising telephone exchange between Linda and Kate's cousin Bruce. Eventually Linda hangs up and Kate is about to swing off Linda's balcony when she hears Linda's voice asking if she enjoyed the "show".
61	-->"Did you enjoy the show?" I stop and slowly turn. Linda has her arms crossed and is leaning on a door.\
62	"How long did you know I was here?"\
63	"After I hung up on my cousin Clark."
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
67	* ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). After being arrested and left alone in an interrogation room, Wesley Snipes character raps suddenly on the glass, startling a female witness who's been called in to identify him, and causing a cop to spill his coffee.
68	* ''Film/AtomicBlonde''. When Lorraine is being debriefed by [=MI6=] she wants to know why C (the head of [=MI6=]) isn't present, and she's told that he's too busy to attend. Lorraine doesn't believe it for a moment and addresses the two-way mirror several times to address C, who is in fact behind it. When Lorraine wants CIA agent Kurzfeld removed from the debriefing, he volunteers to go behind the mirror "but it could get a little crowded back there."
69	* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Bruce Wayne has stolen some files on metahumans from Lex Luthor, including one on a woman he's just met called [[Film/WonderWoman2017 Diana Prince]]. They include a surveillance photo taken from across the street, except Diana is looking directly at the camera, and a CCTV shot where she looks up at the camera. However it's the one posed photograph that freaks out Bruce Wayne, because it was taken during World War One and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Diana hasn't aged a day]].
70	* In ''Film/CabinByTheLake'', Mallory watches herself in the two-way mirror that the murderous Stanley installed to observe his victims. Then she punches and nearly breaks the mirror while Stanley looks a bit nonplussed.
71	* The interrogation room glass version happens in ''Film/{{Dracula 2000}}''. As the detectives behind the glass have just been smirking over Solina's "delusion" that she's a vampire, they're noticeably freaked out when she shouts, "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" She then continues to screw around with their minds, making them more freaked out.
72	* ''Film/{{Dreamscape}}''. While Alex Gardner is in a room by himself being watched through a one way mirror, he uses a pen to write "Let's get on with it" on the mirror. It isn't clear whether he was using his psychic powers or was just familiar with Dr. Novotny's methods from their past relationship.
73	** He effortlessly writes it ''backwards'', to appear the right way around on the other side of the glass. This at least hints he might've gone through this process before.
74	* ''Film/{{Dredd}}'':
75	** An InvokedTrope when the Chief Judge wants Cassandra Anderson to demonstrate her PsychicPowers by stating how many people are watching her from the other side of the two way mirror.
76	** When Kay is arrested by Dredd and Anderson, he's show glancing upwards as he's led off. We then cut to Clan Techie who notices the trashed state of the drug den on his monitors and replays the video to show what happened to Kay, including a shot of Kay looking directly at the camera because he knows Techie is watching and will inform Ma-Ma.
77	* ''Film/FlightOfTheNavigator'': After David learns that his stay at the base has been extended indefinitely, he reveals that he knows the mirror in his room is a two-way mirror, and he's being constantly observed.
78	--> '''David''': But that's impossible! They promised it would only be 48 hours! ''turns and starts bashing angrily on mirror'' You guys hear me in there? I want out of here right now! [[GenreSavvy You think I don't watch television?]] Wake up!
79	* ''Film/HardBoiled'', right before all hell breaks loose, sees Tequila and Alan raiding BigBad Johnny Wong's armory, knowing fully well that Johnny is watching them via surveillance cameras. As a final "screw you", Tequila then [[DestroyTheSecurityCamera blasts one of Wong's cameras]] via shotgun as he leaves.
80	* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' has a lower-tech version. While Brenda is out of the room looking for her earrings, Connor discovers a hidden gun ("I like your place!"), a cop sitting in a car outside on surveillance ("Interesting view!"), and a hidden tape recorder ("What was that?" directly into mic "I said ''interesting view''!").
81	* Johanna Mason does this in ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'' like she does in the book, although the dialogue is different.
82	-->'''Johanna:''' Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we set ''your'' backyard on fire? You know, you can't PUT '''EVERYBODY''' IN HERE!
83	* ''Film/{{Inception}}''. Ariadne dives down into Cobb's subconscious, and believes she's watching memories of Cobb talking to his dead wife Mal. Then Mal looks right at Ariadne and the audience to a ScareChord that can make ''Creator/MarionCotillard'' freaky as shit.
84	* In TheStinger of ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' two of the survivors find themselves detained by the authorities and do the interrogation room mirror version, snarking or negotiating with their unseen captors (who however quickly make themselves known by entering the room, after it's revealed to the audience that they were actually behind the ''opposite'' mirror to the one that the survivors were talking to).
85	* [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Clark]] does the one-way mirror version in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. While in an interrogation room with Comicbook/LoisLane, he turns to the one-way mirror and reveals to Dr. Emil Hamilton and General Stanwick that not only can he [[XRayVision see them through the mirror]] (and what Hamilton has in his pocket), but also through the wall ''behind'' them.
86	* While studying the files on ''Film/{{Morgan}}'', Lee Weathers brings up a live image from one of the cameras in Morgan's room. At that point, Morgan walks over to stare into that particular camera.
87	* In the Creator/NicolasCage movie ''Film/{{Next\|2007}}'', the precognitive protagonist Cris is cheating at blackjack and several casino security officers are watching him on surveillance, trying to figure out how he's doing it. When someone realizes they recognize him, Cris looks up as though he heard his name being called, stares knowingly at the camera they're watching him through, and casually walks away before any security guards can apprehend him.
88	* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', Jack sends Will over to a wrecked ship which he thinks is the Flying Dutchman. The real one shows up along with its captain, Davy Jones, and confronts Will who claims Jack sent him. As this is going on, Jack is viewing this from a distance through a telescope, hoping to have stay hidden by blowing out all the candles on his ship. It's then Davy Jones turns direction toward his direction and glares at him, right before he teleports right in front of him.
89	* ''Film/{{Spectre}}''. When James Bond infiltrates a board meeting of the NebulousEvilOrganisation, their leader's face is [[FaceFramedInShadow hidden in shadow]]. At first this looks like they're going to do the NoOneSeesTheBoss trope as with the original SPECTRE, until he calls out to "James" and [[FaceRevealingTurn turns his head]] to look directly at Bond.
90	* ''Film/TerminatorGenisys''. The detectives are surprised when the Guardian turns and looks directly through the one-way interrogation room window at Detective O'Brien, who's trying to convince them the Guardian really is a cyborg from the future. [[spoiler:It turns out the Guardian is actually looking at the female detective behind O'Brien, who quickly reveals herself to be a Terminator.]]
91	* Subverted in ''Film/TheTrumanShow''. He stares into his bathroom mirror (which has a camera inside), leading two people in the studio to believe that they've been discovered... until he draws a space helmet with soap and acts like an astronaut (in a Call Back to the intro where he pretends to be a mountaineer). Then it gets Double Subverted as he says, "that one's for free", implying that he knows he's being watched. The two men in the studio don't know what to think.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Jokes]]
95	* Invoked in a joke from [[RussianHumour behind the Iron Curtain:]] a traveler comes to a boarding house late at night and there are no free rooms, so he gets put in one that already has a group of loud people in it, telling political jokes and laughing. They keep him awake with their rowdiness, till he can't stand it anymore. He briefly leaves the room, supposedly to use the restroom, but actually heads down to the front desk and asks for five cups of tea to be sent to the room in ten minutes. Returning to the room, he waits a few minutes before reaching for the ashtray and says "Five teas in room five, please, captain."\
96	The noisy roomies laugh, but five teas quickly show up, which shuts them all up. Our traveler gets a good night's sleep and wakes to find himself alone in the room. Going downstairs, he asks the landlord "Where have my roommates gone?"\
97	"Oh, they were taken away tonight."\
98	"And I wasn't?"\
99	"The captain [[ActuallyPrettyFunny liked]] the tea joke."
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Literature]]
103	* ''Literature/TheCurseOfTheBlueFigurine'': In the sequel ''The Trolley to Yesterday'', Professor Childermass and Brewster (actually the Egyptian god Horus) are in his house having a talk. Johnny and Fergie are crouched under the kitchen window trying to listen in, where Brewster easily detects them and asks the Professor, "But hadn't you better ask those other two in?" Professor Childermass is... ''not'' thrilled to catch the two eavesdroppers, but ends up inviting them in and explaining what's going on anyway.
104	* In the ''Franchise/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Timewyrm: Exodus'', the Doctor is posing as a high official staying in a government hotel. After having a private conversation with his companion covered by the sound of the water taps, he turns the water off and directly addresses — gives ''orders'' to — the subordinate he knows is spying on him.
105	* Tributes usually refrain from doing this in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' (don't want to interrupt the in-universe audience's fun by ruining the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief, after all), but there are exceptions. In the first book, Katniss thanks the people of District 11 for their gift of bread. In the second, while suffering the painful after-effects of the Capital's last trap, she yells, "Hey, Haymitch, if you're not too drunk, we could really use something for our skin!" Johanna's the one who really breaks the rules, though, when she loudly taunts the Capital about uprisings. Katniss knows they would have edited that out and no one in the audience saw it, but the Gamemakers and President sure did...
106	* ''Mr Gaunt'' by John Langan. The title character (who possesses supernatural powers) is seen in the background of a documentary, and stops to deliberately wink at the camera, which his brother will be watching (by pure coincidence) months later and thousands of miles away. His brother is an adversarial rival, so freaks out accordingly.
107	* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries''
108	** In "Rogue Protocol", Murderbot has hacked into a security drone to spy on a human expedition and their [[RobotBuddy 'pet robot']] Miki whom it's not impressed with...until Miki looks in the drone's direction, then tries to ping whoever it is that's observing them.
109	** In "Network Effect", Dr. Mensah is arguing for Murderbot to be brought along as security, conceding that the [=SecUnit=] does have its faults...such as how it's listening in on them right now. [[BlatantLies Murderbot denies doing so]] and quickly stops hacking her feed. Given that Murderbot is [[ProperlyParanoid always doing this]], Mensah was just playing the odds on that one.
110	* In ''Literature/PayMeBug'', [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Viceroy]] pulls this on the heroes, who are [[EverythingIsOnline hacking]] into his security cameras, using only his [[{{Telepathy}} telepathic powers]]. This might be explained by the fact that the hackers were using [[{{Technopath}} their own telepath]] in the connection.
111	* ''[[Literature/MarketofMonsters Not Even Bones]]'': When Mirella tells Nita that Kovit (the guard Nita's trying to gain sympathy from to get what she needs to escape) is the one who watches the security cameras, Nita waves at the camera and gestures for him to come back in.
112	* In ''[[Literature/TheArchonate Majestrum]]'', Hapthorn and his alter-ego are watching millennia-old archive footage of the BigBad. Then Hapthorn's alter-ego whispers the villain's title. The villain's image promptly reacts, his expression resembling that of a predator who's just seen interesting prey cross his path.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
116	* Subverted in ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Having AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, Cordelia is looking down at Angel (back on Earth) from FluffyCloudHeaven.
117	-->'''Angel:''' I know you're there, watching me.\
118	'''Cordelia:''' Oh my God! Angel, you can hear me? [[LoveConfession I so love you.]] You don't know what it's been like--\
119	'''Fred:''' ''(walking up behind Angel with Gunn)'' We weren't spying...\
120	'''Cordelia:''' Oh, for crap's sake!
121	* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Lyta Alexander can tell if someone is watching her through a security camera after her [[TouchedByVorlons psychic upgrade]].
122	-->'''Dr. Trent''': She knows she's being watched.\
123	'''Sheridan''': The security cameras are carefully hidden.\
124	'''Dr. Trent''': Yes, but she knows where the camera is, and she knows we're watching her. Just look at her. Is there another camera in there?\
125	'''Sheridan''': Yes, but...\
126	'''Dr. Trent''': Humor me.\
127	'''Sheridan''': ...Switch to the alternate view.\
128	''[Lyta's head '''snaps around to look at the viewer''']''\
129	'''Lochley''': Well, ''that's'' a neat trick.
130	* ''Series/AmericanVandal'': the boys go to talk to the Football Coach who immediately notices one of them has a phone with the camera lens pointed outward in his chest pocket, impying this isn't the first time someone has tried to catch him talking on video.
131	* ''Series/TheBigComfyCouch''. After Loonette yells, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "HEY... WHO MADE THIS BIG MESS?!"]] and then says [[CaptainObvious "...me?"]] the camera "nods yes" as if the viewer is watching the show through a child's eyes or even their own eyes.
132	* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}''. Investigating the murder of a mentally ill young man who believed himself to be the devil, the team is interrogating one of his fellow inmates at the asylum, a girl who believes herself to be an angel. Looking in on the interview room in the asylum, Bones comments that, while she doesn't believe in supernatural phenomena of any stripe, it ''is'' unnerving how the girl's eyes seem to follow her perfectly from the other side of a two-way mirror. The asylum's head doctor quickly points out that their interview room isn't equipped with a two-way mirror--it's a perfectly normal ''window''.
133	* ''Series/TheBoys2019''
134	** "Proper Preparation And Planning". Furious that Homelander has turned up at her house and is making claims on their son, Rebecca Butcher goes to the guardhouse and demands he be thrown out (given that Homelander has superpowers, no-one is willing to do so). A monitor in the guardhouse shows there are cameras ''[[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou inside]]'' her house. Homelander is shown looking directly at one, and later makes it clear that he heard everything she said thanks to his superhearing.
135	** Anika and Black Noir spend most of "Nothing Like It In The World" using FacialRecognitionSoftware to track down Billy Butcher. They finally catch him climbing over the wall at a high-security Vought facility, whereupon he turns and defiantly flips the bird at the camera.
136	* ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'': After an imported West German drone breaks down in ''four seconds'' due to government higher-ups ''again'' prioritizing ass-covering over actually containing the disaster[[note]]They told the West Germans the radiation level was at a withstandable 2,000 roentgen (the "propaganda number") rather than the breaks-everything-more-complex-than-a-lightswitch 12,000 roentgen[[/note]], Shcherbina tears them a new one over the phone:
137	-->''"OF COURSE I KNOW [[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre THEY'RE]] LISTENING! I WANT THEM TO HEAR! I WANT THEM TO HEAR IT ALL! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE? TELL THOSE GENIUSES WHAT THEY HAVE DONE! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK! TELL THEM! GO TELL THEM! RYZHKOV--GO TELL THEM HE'S A JOKE! TELL FUCKING GORBACHEV! TELL THEM!"''
138	* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. In "Dog Star Swing", Spike and Jet are watching CCTV footage of the VillainOfTheWeek when they realise he's looking at the camera deliberately to make sure it has a good image of his face. Jet then realises the criminal is [[ShapeShifter wearing technology that can change his appearance]].
139	* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]], Amy and Rory speculate that the Doctor is trying to send them a message through time. They [[FailedASpotCheck fail to notice]] the Doctor waving at them from their TV set, where he's working as an extra in a Creator/LaurelAndHardy movie.
140	* An episode of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' sees Olivia explore her subconscious memories of her deceased partner John Scott, including one night at a restaurant. Following Dr. Bishop's guidance that this is all a dreamscape and that she can't be seen by anyone, Olivia sits down at John's table... who immediately looks in Olivia's direction! This, obviously, spooks her, but Dr. Bishop insists that she cannot be seen. Later, when she returns to her home, [[spoiler:she checks her e-mail only to find a new message that reads, "I saw you at the restaurant."]]
141	* One of Matt Parkman's more awesome moments in Series 3 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' involved using his mind-control powers to trap some people who were watching him via a camera, and then look directly into said camera and nod smugly.
142	* ''Series/IronFist2017''. Danny Rand sneaks into the guarded building where Madame Gao is being held. There's a monitor showing the room she's imprisoned in, and the moment Danny sees it she stands up, walks over to the camera and speaks directly to him. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane We don't see if there's a similar monitor inside her cell or she's somehow using her powers.]]
143	* In later series of ''Series/{{Knightmare}}'', the dungeoneers could find a magic item that let them see what BigBad Lord Fear was up to. If they carried on watching for too long, he'd become aware of the intrusion and send something nasty to deal with them.
144	* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
145	** A subversion appears when Gibbs has Abby's latest stalker in the interrogation room. The obsessed young man starts talking to the one-way glass, pleading for Abby to admit she loves him and can't take her eyes off him. Gibbs gets up to leave, and flips on the lights in the next room as he goes. This negates the glass's one-way properties, revealing that the room behind it is completely vacant.
146	** In ''Swan Song'', Mike Franks steps outside for a minute, and when it starts raining, reveals he knows full well he's not alone out there... and that he knows exactly who's watching him: Jonas Cobb, the Port-to-Port Killer. Mike subsequently becomes Cobb's next-to-last victim, but not without wounding him first.
147	** In ''Devil's Trifecta'', Gibbs' and Fornell's ex-wife Diane is being interrogated by [=DiNozzo=]. She knows her exes are on the other side of the mirror and ''yells at them''.
148	* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''
149	** A JustifiedTrope [[ParanoiaFuel because the Machine is ALWAYS watching]], as it's an AI capable of hacking into every CCTV camera in the country.
150	** One of the villains does this at the end of "Risk". Our heroes have just thwarted a massive financial scam, and Detective Carter is told that the corrupt SEC investigator involved has committed suicide. Puzzled because she saw him being arrested, Carter checks CCTV footage of the arrest. It shows a police officer putting the SEC man into his squad car, turning to look directly at the camera, then leaving a mobile phone in a garbage can for her to find. When they dial the only number in the phone's memory, they're connected with DiabolicalMastermind Elias, who it's now revealed is [[TheManBehindTheMan behind the entire scam]].
151	* ''Series/PersonsUnknown'' did this a LOT. Not quite OnceAnEpisode, but really often. It's not like the people watching them are really trying to hide what they are doing.
152	* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. Justified in the episode "Slush Fund" which has the interrogation room version, but using a row of mirrored strips which you can see through if you lean up close to it. A hitman that [=CI5=] have picked up does this and blows a mock kiss to Cowley who's on the other side.
153	* Number 6 has done this more than a few times on ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'', but in the episode ''Hammer Into Anvil'', he managed to [[BreakTheHaughty convince the]] [[BigBad Number 2]] [[MonsterOfTheWeek of the week]] [[ParanoiaGambit of a non-existent conspiracy]] [[{{Gaslighting}} against him]] by doing basically ''nothing but'' variations on this trope, such as leaving envelopes containing blank pieces of paper in remote locations, knowing they'd be found and mistaken for coded messages, and engaging in meaningless small talk with people in hushed tones, knowing that it would be seen and mistaken for SpySpeak. Every time Number 2's underlings failed to find any hidden message, Number 2 became convinced that they were hiding it from him on account of being part of the conspiracy.
154	* There was one episode in ''Series/{{Psych}}'' where they take Shawn, his father, and Gus into an interrogating room. Half-way through the interrogation, Shawn walks up to the one-way window and stares directly at Lassiter, even following him when he moved.
155	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''
156	** In "Where No Man Has Gone Before", a crewman developing godlike ESP powers has this moment while Kirk and Spock are watching him on a monitor from the bridge.
157	** In "The Corbomite Maneuver", Spock thinks he can get a peek inside the vast alien vessel that's threatening to destroy them. They do so and are shocked to see a hideous alien who then replies, "Having permitted your primitive efforts to see my form, I trust it has pleased your curiosity." [[spoiler:Turns out the alien actually resembles a small humanoid child, and it was letting them see a mock-up in the hope of frightening them.]]
158	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In "Meet the New Boss", Castiel has gained [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity god-like powers that are driving him insane]]. At one point the Winchesters are watching security camera footage of a massacre he's committed, during which Castiel turns and gives a SlasherSmile directly at them before the SnowyScreenOfDeath ensues.
159	* ''Series/TheWire'':
160	** Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell are very ProperlyParanoid about being listened to, so they prefer SpySpeak when talking business. When Omar meets with Stringer to supposedly bury the hatchet on their ongoing war while wearing a wire, Bell carefully avoids ever using any language that suggests crime, and when Omar asks him if "Barksdale agrees with this", Bell just says "I don't know anybody named Barksdale".
161	** Later, when Bodie goes to talk with Bell about the police telling them about the new Free Zone, Bell's first instinct is to turn 90 degrees to the side and tell Bodie "you shouldn't be selling drugs" to which the frustrated Bodie responds by lifting his shirt and starts to undo his pants before Bell relents.
162	** Marlo Stanfield becomes aware that he is being watched, so he takes a phonecall in plain view, saying he's going to [[SpySpeak "pick up the skinny girl from New York"]] to see if the police take the bait, which they do, detaining him and an innocent random woman Marlo offers to carry the bags for at the train station.
163
164
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
168	* Wrestling/{{MLW}} executive producer Salina de la Renta illegally installed cameras in the house of interviewer Alicia Atout in order to humiliate her only to hear Atout saying she was going to sue de la Renta for illegally bugging her house, among other things.[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
171	* ''Series/CaptainScarlet'': Captains Scarlet and Blue and Lieutenant Green are enjoying the hospitality of a Moon base which they suspect has been infiltrated by the Mysterons. While Blue and Green talk quietly about nothing very important, Scarlet carefully moves around the room looking for the hidden microphone he suspects that the base administrator is using to listen in on them. The administrator's NumberTwo, Orson, is struggling to make anything out in their quarters and turns the volume up as high as it will go... and then Scarlet locates the mic, yells "Goodnight Orson!" into it loud enough to leave the unfortunate Orson's ears ringing for hours afterwards and then rips it out of the wall.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Video Games]]
175	* At one point in the original ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'', you can switch on a security feed to watch [[TheHeavy Paxton Fettel]] walk down a hallway... and then [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Alma]] slooowly rises into view, staring directly at you through the screen before it cuts off.
176	* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':
177	** If you find one of the mascots on the security cameras, chances are it will be [[NightmareFace leering]] directly into the camera.
178	** At the beginning of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'', going through some vents you can eavesdrop on Roxanne Wolf psyching herself up after her performance. Linger too long, and she'll mention that she knows you're there. Luckily, she's too anxious at the moment to go after you. It's justified - she has XRayVision.
179	* ''VideoGame/ImOnObservationDuty'': The [[HumanoidAbomination Intruder]] anomalies you can spot from the security cameras will ominously begin facing the camera after you've reported them in order to remove them from the scene. They sometimes don't take it well. A few of them will do this automatically over time, and if those Intruder anomalies are left active for too long, they'll end the game [[CameraAbuse by force]].
180	* At one point in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Raiden is observing Mistral from very far away using his powerful cyborg zoom vision. After he's been watching her for a while, she suddenly looks directly at him and blows him a kiss, resulting in him being massively freaked out.
181	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' had a cutscene during the [[ArcVillain Dutch Van der Linde]] arc, initially from the perspective from a pair of binoculars from an overlooking cliff, where Dutch drags a prisoner into the open and executes him. The camera cuts to [[PlayerCharacter John]] being the viewer, and then cuts back to Dutch looking back up at John aiming his pistol up at him. [[ImprobableAimingSkills A single improbable shot]] at range from a ''pistol'' hits the binoculars in John's hands, knocking him to the ground. Dutch simply smiles and continues on his way.
182	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': In "Knights of the Fallen Empire" after the Outlander has been broken out of carbonite freeze, Vaylin comes in investigate, and as the Outlander and Lana watch on a hacked monitor, she looks right up at the camera.
183	* ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'': In the Gifts of Chaos screen for Chaos factions, there are icons around the circle representing the four chaos gods, and Tzeentch is represented by a single eye that follows the player's mouse cursor.
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
187	* Nishijou Takumi from ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead'' likes to do this whenever his paranoia delusion flares up while he's alone, along with a rule to not look behind him when he does so. He quickly stops doing it when it shows that he ''is,'' indeed, somehow BeingWatched by [[spoiler:whoever was behind the horrific New Gen cases]].
188	* In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', Dennis knows that Dr. Mosely/[[spoiler:Zeta]] is setting him up. He displays his [[spoiler:knowledge of her past]], and then tells her to cut the recording.
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Webcomics]]
192	* ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'': Roger is an IntrepidReporter with plenty of miniaturized recording equipment and a general disregard for privacy, and the OldSoldier Jacob Doe spends enough time with him not to be offended by it.
193	-->'''Jacob:''' Did you think I wouldn't check the watch for bugs, Roger? You put minicameras on everything. When we were travelling together, you bugged my ''shoes'', Roger. Who does that?
194	* In ''WebComic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'', as FOXHOUND is testing Metal Gear REX, [[http://www.doctorshrugs.com/foxhound/comic.php?id=415 Ocelot receives a phone call from Sergei Gurlukovich.]] Gurlukovich believes the line to be secure, but Ocelot not only knows that the line is bugged, but also ''exactly'' by whom:
195	-->'''Gurlukovich:''' I am no fool, Shalashaska. I would not contact you if the line was not secure.\
196	'''Ocelot:''' ''Secure''? There are, at this moment, no less than ''four'' United States intelligence agents tapping this line. John Mueller and Robert Brady from the CIA, Lisa Trucco from the NSA, and Richard Ames from the Secret Service.\
197	'''Mueller/Brady:''' Jesus Christ, how does he do it? He probably knows what color shirt I'm wearing today.\
198	'''Brady/Mueller:''' Wait, is the NSA in on this too? What the hell, this is our guy!\
199	'''Trucco:''' Patriot Act Four, numbnuts. Suck on it.\
200	'''Brady/Mueller:''' Why, you...\
201	'''Mueller/Brady:''' ... Aw, balls, they're listening to this.\
202	'''Ames:''' Nicely done, people. No, really, way to go.
203	* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' [[http://xkcd.com/525/ recommends]] trying to pull this all the time, even if you don't know you're being watched. [[AltText It's just like Pascal's Wager for the paranoid prankster.]]
204	[[/folder]]
205
206	[[folder:Web Original]]
207	* ''Website/TheOnion'': [[http://www.theonion.com/article/detective-behind-two-way-mirror-nervously-crosses--50648 "Detective Behind Two-Way Mirror Nervously Crosses Arms As Criminal Addresses Him Directly"]]
208	* In many ''Website/SCPFoundation'' articles, the described SCP at one point does something that hints that it is aware of the fact that the Foundation is observing and containing it. A particularly spine-chilling example is the last video transcript in the [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 SCP-1981]] article.
209	* The framing device of ''Podcast/TheStrangeCaseOfStarshipIris'' is a tyrannical interstellar regime listening in on the conversations of a crew of seditious smugglers via [[spoiler:ancient alien nanomachines in their blood]]. In the second season, they figure it out and the captain directly tells the regime's agents that she will bring them down. Later on they start actively trolling the surveillance team with false confessions that the regime has to waste resources investigating, and several hours of drunken singing and narrations of alien soap operas.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Western Animation]]
213	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Malled", Daria and Jane correctly surmise that they're being watched through a two-way mirror while a mall official is asking the class questions about their shopping habits. They turn off the lights to prove it, and everybody gets a $20 coupon to bribe them into not telling the media.
214	* Happened in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', after confronting and beating his EnemyWithout, he looks up at the skies (where BigBad Aku is watching his every action) and says out loud: "I know you're watching. These tricks are starting to annoy me." Cue end of episode.
215	* ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats1985'': The Sword of Omens' Sight Beyond Sight ability allows Lion-O to see anything happening in the present, usually who needs his help and where. Unsurprisingly, there are multiple instances where his ArchEnemy Mumm-Ra, knowing Lion-O will be using the sword to look for the friends that have just been captured, speak directly to him when he does so, taunting Lion-O to come and get him.
216	** Since the other Thundercats know Lion-O can see them when they're in danger, it's unsurprising that Lion-O sees Tygra calling out "Lion-O... Lion-O..." when the latter's locked in a DeathTrap in "The Fireballs of Plun-darr."
217	* In ''[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E16To18WorldsFinest The Batman and Superman Movie World's Finest]]'', after Superman uses his X-Ray vision to find out that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Batman puts a tracker on Superman. When Superman returns home and finds it on his cape, he looks out the window to see Batman looking at him via binoculars. Batman simply waves to him and leaves having found out Clark's secret identity as payback.
218	* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. In "Targets", Red Arrow has tracked Sportsmaster and Cheshire to their rendezvous with Ra's Al-Ghul, who starts chewing them out because Red Arrow stopped them from killing their target.
219	-->'''Ra's:''' So I expect a better outcome, and less interference ''(looks directly at BinocularShot)'' from ''that boy!''
220	-->'''Red Arrow:''' ''(as Cheshire and Sportsmaster also turn to look at him)'' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Perfect...]]
221
222	[[/folder]]
223
224	[[folder:Real Life]]
225	* Thanks to {{Police Procedural}}s, people expect surveillance to be part of police interrogation. If there is a mirror in the room, their eyes will be drawn to where they believe someone to be standing, if not they'll look for the camera. Fictional characters who don't expect to be monitored from outside the room are beyond GenreBlind and into "living under a rock".
226	* [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/government-agent-watching-me Turned into a meme]] after the extent of NSA's online surveilance became common knoledge.
227	[[/folder]]

Context Main / IKnowYoureWatchingMe