History IDidWhatIHadToDo / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': In the Series XI episode "Officer Rimmer", [[spoiler: Rimmer launches a missile at another ship when it is in imminent danger of drifting into an asteroid field, because the resulting explosion would take Starbug with it. It doesn't get destroyed because the missile is deflected by an asteroid just enough to only glance the ship, which knocks it clear of the asteroid field. The officer on board the ship promotes Rimmer to an officer as a result, believing this was a case of JustAsPlanned - though ironically Rimmer did the right thing when faced with a situation of destroying the ship or both ships being destroyed]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Cold Equations", Captain Thomas Barton is forced to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock jettison the stowaway Marilyn Lee Cross]] from the Emergency Dispatch Ship as otherwise her added weight would result in the ship running out of fuel and being unable to deliver the vitally needed serum to the kala fever stricken planet Woden. However, Barton deeply regrets that it was necessary and tried to take every possible step to prevent it.

** The main plot has Snow White and the prince sending their newborn daughter through a portal to another world, to help her escape the Dark Curse. While she grows up into TheChosenOne and [[spoiler: breaks the curse]], she still has huge amounts of resentment from having to grow up without parents. She points out that if they hadn't done "what they had to do", she would have at least grown up happily in a good family instead of being an unwanted foster kid. It's three seasons before she properly comes to terms with these issues.

** When Data, Lore, and Dr. Soong are all together for the first time, Lore confronts his father about being deconstructed.

** "Requiem": Oliver's response when Chloe is appalled by his decision to [[spoiler:kill Lex and frame Toyman.]]
** "Pandora": Ironically enough, in the BadFuture, Chloe says this to Oliver after she [[spoiler:shoots Tess]].
** "Collateral": [[spoiler:Chloe when it turns out she is working with the [[GovernmentConspiracy Suicide Squad]].]]

** Jack will sometimes use it to justify his actions. A notable example is in "Menace", when he [[spoiler: shoots a Replicator-controlling android that Daniel was trying to talk down]] and argues that neither of them had any way of knowing whether Daniel was succeeding.

** An interesting variation occurs with Teal'c in the season one epiosde "Cor-ai." Teal'c is put on trial for killing an old man during an attack on a planet while he was First Prime of Apophis. It is eventually discovered that the people of the planet flee to caves to hide during Goa'uld attacks but they don't leave anyone behind. When ''ordered'' to make an example of one of the citizens (or Apophis would have wiped them ''all'' out), Teal'c killed the old man so the rest of them would not be slowed down by him and could escape. But instead of saying IDidWhatIHadToDo in an attempt to save his own life, Teal'c is ready to take the punishment (death) for his crime.

** The point of the episode "In The Pale Moonlight', in which Captain Sisko recalled what he did to bring the Romulans into the war against the Dominion. [[spoiler:The episode itself is narrated by Sisko recounting all the morally-bankrupt decisions he had to make to forge evidence that the Dominion would invade the Romulan empire]].

** Occurs at the end of the episode "Profit and Loss". Under orders from the [[StateSec Central Command]] and baited with the promise of revoking his exile if he does it, Garak holds Quark and three [[LaResistance dissident]] Cardassians at gunpoint to execute them. The Gul who gave the orders steps in to take over, [[BullyingADragon insulting Garak's exile]] as he does so. In response, Garak kills the Gul and helps the dissidents escape. When Quark later asks Garak why he let the dissidents go, Garak merely replies that he did what he had to do... but the audience (and Quark) is left uncertain whether Garak's talking about letting the dissidents go or whether he's talking about the [[MysteriousPast mysterious]] crime that exiled him from Cardassia.

** Done by Quark in "Business As Usual", after he gets mixed up in the weapons business. (Making it an unusual example, Quark eventually reverses himself on this, turning against his business partners rather than go along with a sale that will lead to genocide. Looks like Jadzia was right when she said his excuse was an attempt to ease his conscience.)

** Stated without any hint of remorse by Gul Darhe'el in "Duet" as he boastfully acknowledges the horrific war crimes that he orchestrated against the Bajorans in the "work camp" that he oversaw and claims that it was the only means of protecting and preserving his empire and his people. [[spoiler:This turns out to be an intentionally over-the-top performance; "Darhe'el" is actually Marritza, a filing clerk, who is so traumatized by what he witnessed at the camp and so guilt-ridden by his inability to stop it that he is posing as the late Darhe'el and openly confessing to the acts in the hopes that his subsequent trial and execution will force the Cardassian government to admit to its atrocities.]]
** At the end of the episode "Inter Arma Enin Silent Leges", Admiral Ross uses this as his justification for working with [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]] to frame a Romulan senator, who was Ross' personal friend, for treason so a Federation mole could take her place. If the senator had remained in place, she would've been willing to sell out the Federation in exchange for a separate, more favorable peace with the Dominion, while the Federation mole would argue for continued support for the war.

** It is revealed that part of every Command Officer's duties is (similar to RealLife Captains) to put the safety of the ship first. This led to Troi ordering Geordi to his death [[SuicideMission to save the ship]]. [[SecretTestOfCharacter Fortunately, it's just a hologram of him during a training simulation.]] Having the willingness to order someone she knows to his death is the final qualification she had to endure before she could be promoted to full Commander.

** When Data has to defend his rights in "The Measure Of A Man", Riker (ordered to act as the opposition) does some fairly horrible things, such as removing his hand and turning him off. Afterward ([[ItWasHisSled Data wins]]), Riker feels far too wretched to make this excuse for himself. Data, showing the human virtue of forgiveness, does it for him:

** In another episode, Picard refutes this phrase as a catch-all answer for doing something. Yes, you have to make tough decisions in life, but you need to ''explain'' your reasoning for them. When Picard is faced with a Federation captain who's attacking a former enemy out of prejudice, he dismisses the logic by asking a series of simple questions the captain can't answer.

-->I did what I had to.

** Done by Quark in "Business As Usual", after he gets mixed up in the weapons business.

*** Making it an unusual example, Quark eventually reverses himself on this, turning against his business partners rather than go along with a sale that will lead to genocide. Looks like Jadzia was right when she said his excuse was an attempt to ease his conscience.

-->'''Don:''' I had to push a rule or two, and, you know, I mean, she disagrees. What else is new?\\

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'': Almost everyone has used this justification at some point, whether it's for [[ColdEquation executing hundreds of people to conserve oxygen]], [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torturing someone for information]], [[HumanResources draining blood and bone marrow from unwilling victims]] to cure others of radiation poisoning, or allowing a missile strike on a city to occur because preventing it would expose [[ReverseMole the double agent in the enemy's ranks]]. As Bellamy puts it, "Who we are, and who we need to be to survive, are very different things."

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': In the series 3 miniseries, titled ''Children of Earth'', Captain Jack Harkness [[spoiler:sacrifices his own grandson to save 10% of the world's children/mankind]]. Of course, this is following [[spoiler:the British government's decision forty years earlier to hand over 12 kids to an alien race in order to save their skins]].
** And before that incident, there was the Season 1 episode "Small Worlds", in which Jack prevents the so-called "fairies" from destroying the world by allowing them to [[spoiler:take away a perfectly-willing little girl as one of their own, in front of her mother's eyes. Both the mother and the rest of his team are livid towards Jack as a result, with him reasoning "What else could I do?"]]

** Crops up again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor "The Name of the Doctor"]]. [[spoiler:The War Doctor uses this as a justification how he ended the Last Great Time War; "What I did I did without choice; in the name of peace and sanity". It was so antithetical to the nature of the Doctor that subsequent regenerations have disavowed his existence. Note that the Eleventh Doctor ''does'' accept that whatever happened really was necessary — just not "[[OldShame in the name of the Doctor]]".]]

** When Angel's reassuring Wesley after [[spoiler: Wesley shot and killed what seemed to be his own father in order to save Fred]], he realizes aloud that Wesley's always been the one who does what needs to be done, even if it means he alone takes the blame for it. It's at that point that Angel's own lingering grudge against Wesley finally ends.