A wry comment at the end of an episode, often highlighting the
moral ambiguity of the episode's outcome. Often found in legal or medical dramas, where very often there is no
Black and White Morality, only
Shades of Gray.
A subset of the
One-Liner.
Has no connection with the Schiff from
Blood+.
Examples:
- So named because District Attorney Adam Schiff got one in nearly every episode of Law & Order he was in.
- Ben Stone and Jack McCoy (along with the occasional ADA) got their fair share as well.
- From both the 1933 King Kong movie and at least two of the remakes: "It was beauty killed the beast."
- In the Stargate SG-1 6th season episode "Unnatural Selection" Jonas Quinn uses the line, "We used his humanity against him" in reference to a replicator android, the only one who had feelings, whom they betrayed.
- And yes, this does come back to bite them in the ass.
- In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Octavian close the play by commenting that Brutus was "the noble'st Roman of them all". So, Older Than Steam.
- The DCAU was fond of these. Batman Beyond comes to mind but Justice League Unlimited had quite a few.
- The Untouchables: "I think I'll have a drink"
- Pandora Hearts ep 7 貴方はきっと後悔するわ。私よりも黒兎を選らんだ事を
- Roughly translates as (may or may not make sense): "I believe you must be regretting it more, choosing to be a rabbit darker than I am."
- In Merlin, the young druid boy's words "My name is Mordred" end the scene with a reminder that this little boy play a larger role later on.
- "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
- Blade Runner: "It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
- The end of the Angel episode "The Ring," which was about freeing several demons who were imprisoned and forced to fight each other. The last line reminds us that they freed a bunch of freakin' demons!
- And the end of Season 4 episode "Peace Out," where Lilah Morgan literally returns from hell to congratulate Angel and the gang for ending world peace.
- The end of the Hey Arnold! episode where Arnold and Gerald skip school.
- "The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of."
- In a MST'd B-movie King Dinosaur, one of the scientists says "We've really done it. We've brought civilization to planet Nova." That's after nuking an island of basically harmless creatures.
- Watchmen (the graphic novel, not the movie) has one (though it's not exactly the last line of the series) when Dr. Manhattan tells Adrian Veidt "Nothing ever ends," after the latter has slaughtered thousands with a genetically engineered squid in a gambit to end the threat of nuclear war. Veidt's reaction is the first moment of doubt in the perfection of his plan that we ever see. The line is greatly reduced from importance in the movie, not uttered by the same person, never said to the one person who needed to hear it, and overall just sort of tossed in as an afterthought.
- Humanity? I don't see humanity anywhere, Otsdarva.
- Attack of the Clones: "Victory, you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen. Begun, the Clone War has."
- One episode of Person Of Interest ends with Reeves talking to a jerk who he had just talked the week's PoI into not killing. The last line is "Help me make the right decision". The question of whether or not Reeves killing the man himself is the "right" decision is never answered, as is what decision he makes.
- The Game of Thrones episode "A Golden Crown" ends with Daenerys commenting on her brother's death: "He was no dragon. Fire can not kill a dragon."
- Outnumbered usually ends with one that's a punch line. Example; the mom and dad are installing parental controls on the computer, over the eldest son's protest. They reiterate that this is going to happen but:
-Dad We need you to do it, we can't even begin to figure this out.
