No More Holding Back Speech / Live-Action TV

"No More Holding Back" Speeches in live-action TV.

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• 24: In the Season 7 finale, Renee Walker realizes the only way to get the names of the conspirators from Alan Wilson is through the use of torture. She and Jack discuss the struggle between following the laws they've sworn to uphold and what they're willing to do to save innocent lives:
  Jack: I can't tell you what to do. I've been wrestling with this one my whole life. I see fifteen people held hostage on a bus, and everything else goes out the window. I will do whatever it takes to save them — and I mean whatever it takes. I guess maybe I thought if I save them I could save myself...
  Renee: Do you regret anything that you did today?
  Jack: No. But then again, I don't work for the F.B.I.
  Renee: I don't understand.
  Jack: You took an oath. You made a promise to uphold the law. When you cross that line, it always starts off with a small step. Before you know it, you're running as fast as you can in the wrong direction just to justify what you started in the first place. These laws were written by much smarter men than me. And in the end, I know that these laws have to be more important than the fifteen people on the bus. I know that's right. In my mind I know that's right. I – I just don't think my heart could ever have lived with that. [Renee is close to tears] I guess the only advice I can give you is try to make choices that you can live with.
• Andromeda: In "Harper 2.0," Rev Bem comforts Harper, who is in agony after a botched data upload to his brain threatens to kill him, by counseling him to seek solace in prayer. When Harper is skeptical of it working, Bem reminds him that he is a genetically engineering killing machine, and suppressing his instincts to murder everyone else is a daily battle that his faith helps him to fight:
  Rev Bem: Think of hunger, Harper. Imagine what it must be like to go for days, even weeks, without food. Now, imagine what it must be like to know that, in the midst of that starvation, you could eat. Feast. Satiate your hunger. And all you have to do...is kill the people you love. That is my pain. It is with me every day.
• Angel:
  • The series had one of these in the appropriately titled episode "Epiphany". In the previous handful of episodes, he had managed to alienate his entire team because he was under the impression that there would be some sort of Grand Finale where the forces of evil are defeated forever. After having a morally devastating realization on the universality of evil, he resolved that all he could do was simply help the innocent. This epiphany wavered as his life kept taking turns for the worse, but he regained it right before the end; he even referenced it in his Rousing Speech three seasons later, just before the series' Grand Finale. It's all the more awesome as, in the previous episode, "Reprise", Holland Manners delivers Angel his version of the speech about evil's implacability, which causes Angel's brief Heroic BSoD.
  • Season Five's "You're Welcome". Angel had been losing his hero spirit dealing with Wolfram and Hart machinations. Cordelia woke from her coma to restore that resolve and to warn him of a plot against him by Lindsay. In the climactic mano-a-mano, Angel beat the snot out of him saying, "All those tattoos, all those new tricks you've learned... just don't matter. Doesn't matter what you try. Doesn't matter where I am or how badass you think you've become. 'Cause you know what? I'm Angel. I beat the bad guys."
• Battlestar Galactica (2003):
  • Admiral Adama gets at least two of these per season.
  • There were two in the season 3 finale. One by Lee Adama (which is too long to put here, but is on the quotes page), and a short one by:
    Saul: My name is Saul Tigh. I am an officer in the Colonial Fleet. Whatever else I am, whatever else it means, that's the man I want to be. And if I die today, that's the man I'll be.
• The Boys: In "The Only Man In The Sky" Homelander delivers a decidedly unheroic one at the end of the episode, which turns into a rant against unpowered people holding him back and how much he's superior.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • "Checkpoint" had one when she asked for help from the Watchers Council about learning exactly what Glory was (The Big Bad of the season). The council subjected her to a long series of tests to prove her worth, but she eventually refused, explaining her own epiphany. Glory actually respected Buffy because she was the Slayer, that she had power. The Watchers Council didn't have the power to stop Glory, so their tests on Buffy were pointless and only an exercise to make them believe they had some control. This speech left the Watchers council dumbfounded. Of course Buffy was also dumbfounded when the Watchers relented and revealed that Glory was a hell demon god.
  • Used again in "Chosen". The speech was instigated by the First Evil mocking her for being the lone Slayer. Buffy then had an epiphany regarding the Slayer legend given from the beginning of the series, and she decided to ignore that limitation.
    Buffy: So here's the part where you make a choice. What if you could have that power, now? In every generation, one Slayer is born, because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman... (Willow) is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power... should be our power.
  • And used again in the Season Seven episode, "Bring on the Night". Buffy, after spending an episode fleeing, with her friends, from a supposedly unkillable, prehistoric "uber-vampire," finally meets him face-to-face, in front of her friends, and gives a speech:
    Buffy: Look at them. They're terrified. Meat for the beast. You're going to kill them, and there's no way I can stop you. You can't be killed. But, see, here's the thing: I don't believe that. I always find a way. I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about. And right now, you and me are going to show them why.
• Doctor Who:
  • "Bad Wolf" holds an exchange between the Doctor and a Dalek and features quite an impressive Badass Boast.
  • "The Next Doctor" does it subtly:
    Miss Hartigan: What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?
    The Doctor: No. The question is, what do you make of me?
    Miss Hartigan: Destroy him!
    The Doctor: You make me into this.
  • Inverted in "The Waters of Mars", when the Doctor has the epiphany that he doesn't have to follow the rules anymore because he is the last of the Time Lords and the laws of time belong to him. But when he tries to act on this epiphany and save the remaining crew of Bowie Base One, Captain Brooke shoots herself rather than allow him to play with the future chain of events he himself told her was immutable. He realizes he has a mental block, says the speech, attempts to kick ass fueled by the power of his new outlook, but mostly fails.
  • Much later on, the newly minted Doctor (XI) in Series 5 has just saved the world and so forth, as usual, but is a bit cheesed with the alien police force that failed to do anything. So he calls them back to Earth. At which point he gives a bowtie choosing, CMoA speech, culminating with the police seeing every villain the Doctor has ever faced — and noticing that Earth, a world even the aliens think is Made of Cardboard, is still here: "But you're not the first lot to have come here. Oh, there have been so many. And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them? Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically... run."
  • Still later, in "A Good Man Goes to War", a villain calls the Doctor a "good man". He responds, "Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."
    • Rory gets an even better one at the start of the episode, which he gives only after he effortlessly cuts his way through an entire Cyber Legion:
    Rory: I have a message, and a question. A message from The Doctor, and a question from me: Where. Is. My. Wife?
  • The 12th Doctor delivers a beautiful one in "Flatline". After he's tried for the entire episode to peacefully engage the Boneless on the grounds that there may just be a misunderstanding causing them to kill innocent people while he's also trapped in a shrinking TARDIS, he finally has enough. When he finally emerges from the TARDIS, he unbuttons his coat and lays it down.
    The Doctor: I tried to talk, I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you, but I think that you understand us perfectly. And I think that you just don't care! And I don't know whether you are here to invade, infiltrate or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now, you are monsters! That is the role you seem determined to play, so it seems that I must play mine! The man that stops the monsters! I'm sending you back to your own dimension. Who knows? Some of you may even survive the trip, and if you do, remember this: you are not welcome here! This plane is protected! I am the Doctor! [Clara tosses him the sonic screwdriver] And I name you THE BONELESS!!! [uses the Screwdriver to create a force field, blowing the Boneless away]
  • Up until the series 8 finale, the Doctor has often struggled with self-doubt about his morality and occasions where both allies and foes alike have compared the friends he brings along on his interstellar travels to underlings or soldiers under his command, most notably Davros' Breaking Speech in "Journey's End". When his old arch-nemesis the Master decides to tempt him by giving him an undead army made of Cybermen for a birthday present as a way to convince him that they are not so different, however, he finally finds his answer, rejects her offer and proceeds to undo her plan:
    The Doctor: I am not a good man! And I'm not a bad man. I am not a hero. I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. You know what I am? I... am... an idiot. With a box and a screwdriver, passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. [gestures towards Clara] Because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise.
  • In "The Girl Who Died", the Doctor realizes what he was trying to tell himself when he chose his new face — that he always tries to save people, even if it's in violation of the rules of time travel, as he did when he was in Pompeii. As such, he states this before using Mire field medkit technology to save Ashildr's life:
    The Doctor: I know where I got this face, and I know what it's for. OK, what's it for? To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I'm the Doctor, and I save people. And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, to HELL with you!
  • At the climax of "The Zygon Inversion", the Doctor tells Zygon commander Bonnie — who wants to break The Masquerade and start a war with humanity — exactly why War Is Hell, in the process summing up everything that has driven him since the Time War:
    Twelve: I don't understand? Are you kidding? Me? Of course I understand. I mean, do you call this a war, this funny little thing? This is not a war! I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know! I did worse things than you could ever imagine! And when I close my eyes... I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight, till it burns your hand! And you say this: No one else will ever have to live like this! No one else will ever have to feel this pain! Not on my watch!
  • Just before the climax of "The Doctor Falls", the Doctor tries to get the Saxon Master and Missy to help him in what looks to be a hopeless Last Stand against the Cybermen, giving a speech that may very well define him and his character better than any other:
    The Doctor: Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win! I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that... Just kind! If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point to any of this at all. But it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it. And I'm going to stand here doing it until it kills me. And you're going to die too! Some day... And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand... is where I fall.
• The Exorcist: In the first season finale, Pazuzu traps Father Tomas in an illusion, where he's tormented with all his failures, in an attempt to goad him into suicide. Before he can, however, the sight of a cross inspires him, and he realizes that despite his flaws, he has never truly strayed from his faith, and has still done good. This gives him the strength to break free of the illusion, and to then lead the charge in exorcising the demon for good.
  Tomas: These things do not make me weak. They make me what I am.
  Pazuzu: And what is that?
  Tomas: An exorcist.
• In the series finale of Extras, after taking a role on Big Brother, Andy finally realizes the absurdity of the measures he's taken to be famous and that none of it is making him any more happy, culminating in one of the most heartfelt and effective on-camera indictments of celebrity culture.
  Andy: You are literally the gutter press. And fuck you, the makers of this show as well. You can't wash your hands of this. You can't keep going 'Oh, it's exploitation but it's what the public wants.' No, the Victorian freakshow never went away. Now it's called Big Brother or X-Factor, where in the preliminary rounds, we wheel out the bewildered to be sniggered at by multimillionaires. And fuck you for watching this at home. Shame on you, and shame on me. I'm the worst of all because I'm one of these people who goes 'I'm an entertainer. It's in my blood.' Yeah, it's in my blood because a real job's too hard...Someone once said that I'll never be happy because I'll never be famous enough, and they were right.
• Faking It: In "School's Out", Lauren gives one to the school board which doubles as a Rousing Speech to convince them to save Hester High.
• Farscape: Crichton who makes the wormhole weapon and decides to go and tell everyone that they suck for wanting it, and threatening to let them all die. He explains why he shouldn't have made it in the first place. Also a Moment of Awesome.
• Firefly:
  • The speech that Simon gives Jayne at the end of Trash, where Jayne suffered an accidental neck injury immediately after Simon learned that Jayne tried and failed to collect on their bounty in a previous episode:
    Simon: No matter what you do, or say or plot, no matter how you come down on us... I will never, ever harm you. You're on this table, you're safe. 'Cause I'm your medic, and however little we may like or trust each other, we're on the same crew. Got the same troubles, same enemies, and more than enough of both. Now, we could circle each other and growl, or sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me. I don't care what you've done, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but I'm trusting you. I think you should do the same. 'Cause I don't see this working any other way.
  • Which is then capped off by:
    River: Also? I can kill you with my brain.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Tyrion Lannister telling Shae that despite the betrayal and outmaneuvering by his family, he wants to stay in King's Landing because he both belongs there and he likes playing the game against his family and the other manipulators of the city.
  • Littlefinger's awesome "chaos is a ladder" speech to Varys. Destroying "the Realm" isn't the end, it's an opportunity.
  • Jon Snow's Honor Before Reason speech when everyone is ticked off that he refused to swear a false oath, even with the fate of the world riding on the situation.
    "I'm not going to swear an oath I can't uphold. Talk about my father if you want, tell me that's the attitude that got him killed. But when enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies. And lies won't help us in this fight."
• In the 2005 Hercules, Hercules becomes a bit demoralized when he finds out that his father is the villain Antaeus, not Zeus, but he immediately bounces back with:
  Hercules: It doesn't matter who my father is: Zeus, Amphitryon, or the Cretan Bull! [tackles Antaeus through a pillar] It doesn't matter! I AM NOT MY FATHER! [Antaeus rubs dirt on himself to replenish his strength] Yes, Antaeus, seek the Mother's strength. I rely on my own. My birth doesn't matter, only my life! I make it have meaning. No one else. [Antaeus tries to shove Hercules into a bonfire, but burns his own hand and flinches. Hercules looks at his own wounds] We are not gods, Antaeus, only men. Only very strong men! [knocks Antaeus far away]
• In the episode "Something Old", of How I Met Your Mother, Ted decides he's had enough of relying on the Universe giving him signs and decides to take matters into his own hands.
  Ted: Maybe it's dumb to look for signs from the Universe. Maybe the Universe has better things to do—dear God, I hope it does. Do you know how many signs I've gotten that I should or shouldn't be with somebody, and where has it gotten me? Maybe there aren't any signs. Maybe a locket is just a locket, a chair is just a chair. Maybe we don't have to give meaning to every little thing. Maybe we don't need the Universe to tell us what we really want. Maybe we already know that deep down.
• Kamen Rider:
  • Kamen Rider The original rider suffered from this originally in that while his strength had been greatly increased his physical responses still assumed he was normal. So breaking a sink while trying to turn it on or hurting another person while trying to comfort them or throwing bad guys into walls so hard they explode... Since he's the first Rider he tends to give plenty of speeches to both enemies and other Riders.
  • Kamen Rider Decade
    • The series features a slight twist on this. During the final confrontation in each world, the Big Bad will deliver a Breaking Speech to Tsukasa and that world's primary Kamen Rider. Tsukasa will counter with a "No More Holding Back" Speech, not for himself, but for his current partner, explaining their motivation and how that makes them a real hero - which is typically the main point of the other Rider's original TV series, as Decade is an anniversary show. This is also typically the point where Tsukasa gains access to his partner's powers as per Decade's conceit of Power Copying.
    • In Movie Wars, Decade unknowingly delivers one simultaneously with Kamen Rider Double, seconds before they cross over. What's notable about this is that the subject of their speeches are almost the same, even culminating in the two of them alternately declaring their respective character catchphrases.
  • In the summer movie for Kamen Rider Zi-O, Zi-O gave one for the whole Heisei Era.
• Jack McCoy tends to give these at least once a season in Law & Order, generally when the defense lawyer is going for Jury Nullification. Sometimes it works. Other times, not so much.
• Married... with Children has Al deliver one to his local librarian after she calls him a loser, as detailed in the Quotes section.
• A rather dark variation in Once Upon a Time, as Snow White is finally driven to renounce her Incorruptible Pure Pureness and declares that she's going to kill her nemesis Cora. It mixes with Despair Speech and a dash of Shut Up, Kirk! as her husband tries to console her and try to steer her away from the dark side:
  Snow: I've followed the same rule my entire life... "Hold onto goodness". It's what my mother taught me. How many more lives is following that lesson going to take away from me? [...] I made the 'right' decision when I stopped Regina's execution all those years ago when it could have saved us all this heartache. I made the 'right' decision when I sent Emma through that wardrobe alone, and we didn't see her first steps. I made the 'right' decision when I let my own mother die from Cora's poison. [...] All I want is our happy ending. It's time. We've earned it. No more lives lost. No more hearts broken. [...] I don't care about justice anymore. We keep thinking people will change. What if that's wrong? What if I'm the one who has to change? [...] I'm going to kill Cora.
• Subverted hilariously in Oz. Alvarez gives an impressive, ballsy speech to Morales about how he's killed and wounded enough people that he knows he's proven himself. He follows this up by picking a fight with Giles - a skinny old man - and is immediately taken out with a swift kick to the balls, to the amusement of all watching.
• Power Rangers: Dino Thunder:
  • In the episode "Fighting Spirit", Tommy had spent the last dozen episodes either trapped in amber, trapped in his morphed form or trapped in an invisible form (the reason being that Jason David Frank had other commitments to attend to). But they made his return to normalcy in a suitably epic and Continuity Nod filled method. Tommy tried to use his Ranger Powers to return to normal but he was stuck in a dream-coma. Here, in his mind, he had to fight his past Ranger forms who continually overpower him. Progressing to his time as the Green Ranger, he is beaten down but refuses to give up, which was what his past ranger incarnations wanted to teach him. This in turn led to him awakening from the coma and unlocking his current Ranger form's Super Mode.
    Green Ranger: You passed the test.
    Tommy: Test? What are you talking about?
    Red Zeo Ranger: You haven't been fighting us... you've been fighting for your life.
    White Ranger: And you've proven the will to live is stronger than any Ranger power.
  • Linkara in his History of Power Rangers reviews talks extensively about this episode. He points out that the superficial reading is a meaningless lesson because Tommy has never shown anything but rigid determination in his Power Ranger career. But taking the entire season into account and knowing his history holding six different powers and four colors, he speculated that Tommy came to view himself as only worthwhile when holding a Ranger power. Thus his lesson was that it was his spirit and effort that made the Ranger power worthwhile and that his name was Tommy Oliver, not "Green/White/Red/Black Ranger".
• In Rescue Me, Needles delivers one to his crew in season 5. He's been the consummate nice guy and something of a doormat up to this point, but he realizes after breaking up a fight that his crew will never respect him unless he's a hardass.
• Smallville:
  • Clark Kent gives one in the Season 10 premiere when he finds himself in the afterlife after being stabbed by a kryptonite dagger.
    Clark: I died to save the world.
    Jor-El: Evil never ends. By sacrificing yourself, you have left the humans vulnerable to future threats.
    Clark: I left a team of heroes behind to protect them.
    Jor-El: You were meant to be Earth's greatest protector. Now, they are about to face the greatest evil without you.
    Clark: Then send me back! I know my fate! To step into the light! To be a symbol of hope for them.
    Jor-El: I told you to rule with strength. But you chose the martyr's path. What makes you think you deserve a second chance?
    Clark: I can do it. I CAN BE THEIR HERO!
  • Appropriately, considering the trope namer, during the Final Battle in the Grand Finale, Darkseid quickly overpowers Clark, at which point Jor-El gives Clark a vision that helps him realize that every battle he's fought over the course of the series, every life he's saved, have all been tests along his journey to fulfilling his destiny. This grants Clark the clarity to fully embrace his powers (namely flight, which he hadn't been able to use at all during the show's run); Clark then proceeds to curbstomp Darkseid.
  • Martian Manhunter, aka John Jones, also gets one in the episode "Absolute Justice" during Season 9. He had spent the majority of the eighth season and the first half of the ninth as a normal human after sacrificing his powers to save Clark's life. While hunting for a villain named Icicle with Doctor Fate, they are ambushed. Fate sacrifices himself, using all of his energy to restore John's powers. Icicle takes Doctor Fate's helmet and uses all of its (impressive) powers to attack Clark, Hawkman, Chloe, Green Arrow, and Star-Spangled Kid. Just as he is about to finish off the latter, the John Jones flies through the window and hits him with a burst of energy, throwing him across the room. Icicle stands up and incredulously declares, "I killed you!" At this point, Jones gives his speech (followed by an epic beat-down):
    Martian Manhunter: I am Mars' sole survivor. There's a reason for that.
• A particularly dark use, and inversion, of this trope in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The (in)famous episode "In the Pale Moonlight" had Sisko relate his story in a computer log about his efforts to convince the Romulans to participate in the Dominion War. Finding that simple logic wouldn't work, he sought the help of Garak and other criminals to falsify evidence. He struggled with the serious moral and ethical compromises he had to go through to achieve this. By the end, he stood up and instead of being morally untouchable he stated with growing conviction that the benefits outweighed the moral standing of one officer, even himself... and then erased the log.
  Sisko: At oh-eight-hundred hours, station time... the Romulan Empire formally declared war against the Dominion. They've already struck fifteen bases along the Cardassian border. So, this is a huge victory for the good guys! This may even be the turning point of the entire war! There's even a "Welcome to the Fight" party tonight in the wardroom!... So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover up the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But most damning of all... I think I can live with it... and if I had to do it all over again... I would. Garak was right about one thing — a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it... because I can live with it... I can live with it. Computer — erase that entire personal log.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation plays with the concept in "All Good Things...". Q outright tells Picard what the purpose of the test was and the reasons why he put Humanity on Trial. Picard, tired of Q's games, just wants it to be over and doesn't fully understand what he is told, but he does listen.
  Picard: I sincerely hope this is the last time I find myself here.
  Q: You just don't get it, Jean-Luc. The trial never ends. We wanted to see if you could expand your mind and your horizons and for a brief moment, you did.
  Picard: When I realized the paradox.
  Q: Exactly. For that brief fraction of a second, you were open to options you'd never considered. That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars or studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.
  Picard: Q, what is it you are trying to tell me?
  Q: [leans in to whisper something, but pulls away] You'll find out. In any case I'll be watching. And if you're really lucky I'll drop in to say hi, from time to time.
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody episode "Summer of our Discontent" had Zack go to summer school. He can cope with the work, but this brings resentment from the other students who go on to give him a wedgie every time he impresses the teacher until he learns to keep his mouth shut. He finally gets tired of pretending to be less intelligent than he is and gives a speech that doubles as both this trope and "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  Zack: You know what? That's it. There's nothing wrong with being smart. In fact, and this'll probably shock you, but outside these walls, it's considered a good thing. So go ahead, call me a nerd. But next year, when you're all here, I won't be. I'll be taking The Road Less Traveled right to the beach!
• In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter," John Connor gives a truly awesome speech to Jesse about exactly why he is mankind's leader. In one scene, John goes from being a whiny, lovestruck emo kid to being the John Connor who will lead mankind.

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