Alice: Wait! Bob, why did you...
Bob: [looks at Alice] You'd do the same for me.
Stock Phrase that can be a way to brush off a thanks, being similar to Think Nothing of It with more than the surface meaning, or a moment of friendship and trust. Can be, "I'd hope you'd do the same for me," which could be more powerful, as it takes expectation of anything in return out of the equation, or "You did the same for me," to Call-Back to a previous moment and emphasize the friendship from both angles.
May be played for laughs or tears when that it is painfully obvious that no, Alice wouldn't. Genders don't matter. Flip the words around a bit and you get "I'd do the same for you," which makes this a guilt trip, not that that's always a bad thing. If it's a more serious situation, such as after a Shoot the Dog, you may hear, "And I expect you to do the same for me."
This is not a villain saying that The Hero would have done the same if the hero had been in the villain's place.
This may overlap with Now, Let Me Carry You (when the first person habitually looks after the other) or Wounded Hero, Weaker Helper (when the two may not know each other).
Examples:
- Discussed in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Harry explains that, in a true Prisoner's Dilemma, you want to figure out how the other prisoner is going to react—if the prisoner is different enough to act opposite to you, then you rat him/her out. If not, you don't—knowing full well that the other person like you will come to the same conclusion, which is the only reason you're silent in the first place.
Film — Animated
- This trope happens twice in The Simpsons Movie:
- When Ned gives Bart a spare pair of pants after Homer forgets to give him some following his nude skating stunt.
Bart: Why are you helping me? I'm not your kid.
Ned: We're neighbors. I'm sure your father would do the same for my boys.
(Homer steals some of Rod and Todd's french fries) - And later when Ned tries to save the Simpsons from the mob.
Bart: But if they see you trying to help us, they'll kill you!
Ned: Oh pshaw. I'm sure your father would do the same for—
Bart: (disapproving glare)
Ned: Point taken. Now hustle your bustles.
- When Ned gives Bart a spare pair of pants after Homer forgets to give him some following his nude skating stunt.
- Toy Story 2, when Buzz prepares to go out and search for Woody when he gets stolen.
Buzz: Woody once risked his life to save me. I couldn't call myself his friend if I weren't willing to do the same.
Film — Live-Action
- The end of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, after Kirk and the others have spent the duration of the film trying to save Spock:
Spock: My father says that you have been my friend. You came back for me.
Kirk: You would have done the same for me.- In the Batman Cold Open of Star Trek Into Darkness, Kirk wonders "what would Spock do if it was me down there? [the caldera of an active volcano]". Bones promptly responds "he would let you die." In the film's climax, Kirk sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise, claiming that Spock would have done the same thing if their positions were reversed. Spock later proves Bones' earlier assertion wrong by taking Khan in alive when he wanted to kill him to save Kirk.
- In The Electric Mist
I have picked him out of the gutters from New Orleans to Lake Charles, held him when he had the shakes, and driven him to A-A meetings more times than I can remember. And he had done the same for me.
- The Skulls flips it around to make a question.
Imagine that. It's all paid for. I would do anything to protect you. Won't you do the same for me?
- The Never Ending Story II: The Next Chapter
Yes. But you would have done the same for me.
- Hard Eight:
I want you to see that my reasons for doing this are not selfish, only this: I'd hope that you would do the same for me.
- In Starship Troopers, a marine is snatched by a flying Arachnid, which begins to dismember him alive. Lt. Rasczak, his CO, grabs a sniper rifle and shoots him through the heart. He then turns to the remaining marines and says gravely: "And I expect anyone to do the same for me." Rico later does. Fridge Logic kicks in when you consider that Rasczak could have at least tried shooting the Arachnid first.
- Worth noting that this is exactly the opposite of the book's philosophy, which is all about No One Gets Left Behind. The lieutenant's death, in fact, comes when he's making sure every last one of his troopers, dead or alive, is evacuated from a battle.
- Lampshaded in The Perfect Storm. As a long line is being played out of the fishing vessel, a hook snags one of the crew and he gets yanked into the sea; a crewmember he'd quarreled with earlier dives in and saves his life. He's too upset to thank the man at this time and snaps, "I'd have done the same for you — isn't that what I'm supposed to say?"
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: In the Underdark, Edgin and Xenk are careening towards a dragon. Xenk heroically leaps into the air and stabs the dragon, knocking it out for long enough that the two are able to escape. Once they've got a moment, Edgin thanks him; Xenk solemnly says that he knows Edgin would do the same for him. Edgin sheepishly pretends to agree.
- In William King's Warhammer 40,000 novel Space Wolf, after Ragnar comes to Kjel's aid when two other aspirants are beating him, Kjel thanks him, and Ragnar dismisses it, "Think nothing of it. You'd do the same for me."
- Dox earns the Undying Loyalty of John Rain when he abandons a bag containing five million dollars to carry Rain to safety. Looking back on the incident, Rain admits to himself that he would not have done the same, though he certainly would now.
- In Power Rangers S.P.D., Boom says this in a Rousing Speech to the remaining SPD cadets to convince them to help defend the Delta Base, noting that Squad B would do the same for him if he were in their shoes.
- Smallville: "Bound"
"I hope you would have done the same for me."
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Déjà Q", the temporarily depowered Q is saved by Data when some of the beings Q has antagonized comes looking for revenge. This actually punctures Q's usual arrogance as he guiltily admits that he would not have done the same for Data.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
- In "The Maquis", Sisko says this when Dukat thanks him for the rescue. It's unclear to what degree either of them believes this.
- "Soldiers of the Empire":
Martok: Your actions on the Rotarran, at the time I thought they were disloyal, but I have come to realize that your intention was to remind me of my duty as a soldier of the Empire and as a warrior. For that I am grateful.
Worf: You did the same for me once. - In "Change of Heart", Worf abandons his mission to carry his wife Jadzia to medical care, an act which will seriously damage his career in Starfleet.
Jadzia: I don't know what to say.
Worf: You could say, "Thank you for saving my life."
Jadzia: Thank you for saving my life.
Worf: And you could say, "I would do the same for you, Worf."
Jadzia: Well, I'd have to think about that. My career is very important to me, you know.
- Due South:
"I'm sure if the situation were reversed, you'd do exactly the same for me."
- In one episode of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris abandons his Homecoming date to help Greg. Greg doesn't feel too good about it, because Chris' date will hate him forever. Chris doesn't care about that, and says that Greg would do the same for him; Narrator Chris notes that years later, when the situation came up, he didn't.
- G'Kar and Londo in the Babylon 5 episode "The Fall of Centauri Prime":
"I would be dead if not for you. You risked your life to save mine."
"You would have done the same."
"Yes, but I'm a better person." - Firefly: When Mal is held hostage, Kaylee says to Zoe, "If it were any one of us, captain wouldn't hesitate." As she's arming up with Simon and Book.
- In an episode of CSI, a guy steals his recently deceased friend's corpse from an ambulance so he can "attend" one last party with him and other friends. Once the police show up and inform him that he's going to jail for this he calmly replies "He would have done it for me".
- Horatio Hornblower: In "The Duchess and the Devil", Horatio ends up in Spanish jail, and by some incredible chance, his friend Archie from his ship who was lost during a raid happens to be imprisoned there as well. Archie's health and spirits are broken, and seeing his friend as a self-assured Acting Lieutenant is the last straw. He tries to starve himself so that they could plan their escape and not consider him or wait for him to get better. When Horatio notices, Archie refuses to get helped. It's a very poignant scene when Horatio insists that Archie would do the same for him, but Archie refutes by telling him that he would never be in his position, feeling that Horatio never screws up.
Horatio: You'd do the same for me if I were in your shoes.
Archie: But you're not. And you never would be. - Rampant in the Stargate-verse, what with the True Companions constantly getting themselves into trouble. A particularly heartwarming example occurs in Stargate Atlantis after Sheppard mounts a daring rescue to save Teyla and her newborn baby.
Teyla: I never gave up hope because I knew. I knew that you would come for me, John.
Sheppard: You would have done the same for me.
Teyla: (smiling) Yes. - The finale of Better Call Saul has a flashback set before the series begins, back when Jimmy is still bringing Chuck's groceries to him. Chuck asks why, since Chuck could just order someone from his company HHM to do that. Jimmy replies that they're brothers and Chuck would do the same. Chuck is noticably guilt-tripped, since he has just said what he actually would do and, at this point, Chuck is still hiding his resentment towards Jimmy.
- Olivia Newton John's "Walk Through Fire"
"But I'll walk through fire. Through fire. Oh—I'll walk through fire for you. Through fire 'Cos I know you'd do the same for me ..."
- "Pandora's Kiss"
Got me free to be
Be your everything
Cause you'd do the same for me
- Invoked / Exploited in Resident Evil
"You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?"
- Invoked in Final Fantasy IX
"Wouldn't you do the same for me if you knew I was dying?"
- Luke Mochrie said this to Film Brain in Suburban Knights. This marked the beginning of the thawing out of their rivalry.
- The Hire. Inverted in "Ambush". After the pursuing robbers crash their van in a ball of fiery flame, the Driver says they'll call Highway Patrol from the next town to report the 'accident'. He notes dryly that they wouldn't have done the same if the situation had been reversed.
- The Simpsons: In "Homer The Heretic", Ned Flanders saves Homer's life by dragging him out of a house fire. Homer, grateful, but also puzzled, asks Ned why he would save his like that, and Ned answers that Homer would do the same for him. Cue an Imagine Spot of Ned trapped in a house fire and screaming for help while Homer merely looks on and laughs at his misfortune. Homer confirms anyway.
- In the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark", a jealous Bender has tossed Fry's fossilized pooch Seymour into a lava pit. Despite fact that it's a lava pit, he strips down to his tighty-whitey briefs and rushes to save his old friend. His reasoning? "He'd do the same for me!"
- In the Star Wars Rebels episode "Fire Across the Galaxy", Ezra says this to Kanan while rescuing him from The Empire.
"You would've done the same for me. In fact, you have."
