Shame If Something Happened / Live-Action TV

Moments where it's suggested that it would be a Shame If Something Happened in Live-Action TV.

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• The episode "Damned If You Don't" of American Gothic (1995) inverts this trope: when Buck comes to collect on a debt, and mentions him having "a lovely daughter...how old is she now, fifteen?" Carter believes (helped along by the sheriff's smarmy turn from Affably Evil to downright pedophilic) that this is a blatant threat to his daughter's life if he turns Buck down—but all the sheriff is doing is innocently offering her a job at the precinct. Of course, when Carter does turn him down and opts for a different means of paying the debt, the daughter, his wife, and his entire livelihood are indeed threatened...with tragic consequences.
• Andor: When Luthen's mole in the ISB tries to back out Luthen brings up his baby daughter and her future, which said mole knows is a threat. Luthen does however have a point that if the man attempts to retire the ISB will know something is up and torture him and his family before executing them. Luthen and the rebel alliance can't afford to lose their high ranking mole, especially in a way that will implicate him in potential anti-Imperial activities, and Luthen is more than willing to use vicious tactics to keep him.
• In an episode of Barney Miller the squad discovers that someone is going around shaking down business owners in the neighborhood on the basis of a spurious rumor that the stationhouse is being closed. Nobody will come forward as a witness because, with the police gone, they're the only protection available. But then one business gets robbed and the extortionists don't do anything about it - now he'll press charges!
• Various antagonists in Burn Notice do this to Michael Westen all the time. In one episode Brennan kidnaps Michael's brother to force the crew into helping him steal classified weapons information. Michael stalls long enough to discover that Brennan has a daughter, and uses this trope on him to get his brother back. Played with in the sense that Michael clearly never intended to harm the girl, but Brennan wasn't willing to call his bluff.
• Cannon: In "A Flight of Hawks", a thug threatens the widow of the Victim of the Week by implying what a tragedy it would be if something happened to her son's dialysis machine.
• This often happens in Cluedo, where the murder victim knows a secret of one of the suspects, and says this gloatingly.
  Dave: Oh, by the way, you know our little arrangement? The one we're not supposed to tell anyone about? Wouldn't it be terrible if Mrs. Peacock somehow found out?
• In the Cold Case episode "Sandhogs", the victim, an avid union activist, is threatened by one of his opponents. He dismisses the threat, warning the man that if anything happens to him, no one would believe that it was an accident and that everyone would quickly and correctly suspect him. The man agrees, but then reveals that he wasn't really threatening him, stating, "But who's going to care if some random colored woman goes missing on her way home from work?", thus telling him that he'll harm his girlfriend if he doesn't back off.
• In Copper, this is a tactic Maguire employs after he joins the Druids counterfeiting ring to persuade the local merchants to pay more for the counterfeit cash. For example, he points out to a tobacconist how the important thing to remember about tobacco is that it burns...
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, when in 2013, Democrats threatened to hold up the Obama's nominee for the CIA, John Brennan, in order to get drone memos, Jon Stewart likened their threats to a mobster: “Hey. Nice nominee you got there, [sniffs, straightens tie] It’d be a shame if something happened to 'em, Mr. President. Know what I mean?”
• Daredevil (2015):
  • In "Into the Ring", James Wesley walks up to Clyde Farnum, a jail guard who owes money to a crime boss that Wilson Fisk has recently removed from play, and strongarms him into carrying out a hit on Karen Page by showing him a live feed on a tablet of Farnum's daughter in a park, and then making him call her on his phone.
    James Wesley: Now you see this man here? [points to Rance, sitting on a nearby park bench] If we're being honest with each other, Mr. Farnum, I find his methods unpleasant. But such are the times we live in. [into the tablet] Give us a wave, Mr. Rance! [Rance looks up and waves to the camera]
    Clyde Farnum: I told you, that I will get you the money.
    James Wesley: Such a small sum is of little interest to my employer. Your position, however? That's something we can work with.
    Clyde Farnum: What do you want me to do?
  • In "Cut Man", Roscoe Sweeney is shown using these tactics when he and Silke are strongarming Matt's father into throwing an upcoming match with Carl "The Crusher" Creel, after Jack initially refuses to participate in the scheme. This includes thinly veiled threats against Matt, which might very well have been what inspired Jack to turn on them.
    Jack Murdock: Thanks for the offer. I'm gonna take a pass.
    Roscoe Sweeney: Did he just say "pass"?
    Jack Murdock: I appreciate everything you've done for me. Really, I do. But... I got other things to worry about now.
    Roscoe Sweeney: He don't want to do it, he don't do it. Man makes his choice, and we make ours.
    Jack Murdock: You wanna step into the ring, see how that plays out?
    Silke: You gotta think of your family, Jack. This could do a lot of good for your boy.
    Roscoe Sweeney: Yeah. What else are you gonna leave him when you're gone?
  • In "Rabbit in a Snowstorm", Karen is now working for the newly established Nelson & Murdock. Wesley drops by to hire the firm to defend a hitman who has just been arrested for killing a rival gangster on Fisk's orders. Wesley immediately recognizes Karen due to the previous attempted hits he'd sanctioned on her.
    James Wesley: I assure you, all my employer wants is for you to continue to be ethical, decent men... good lawyers. And for that, for nothing more than your exceptional skills and your discretion... you'll be fairly compensated. [Wesley passes a check to Foggy. Foggy looks at the amount]
    Foggy Nelson: Uh-huh. It's... It's fair. That's... That's fair.
    James Wesley: Your partner doesn't seem convinced.
    Matt Murdock: Like Foggy said. We're particular about our clientele. [Wesley glances at Karen]
    James Wesley: I'm curious about your... clientele. Do they all end up working for you after you get them off for murder or just the pretty ones? [Karen gasps softly]
    Matt Murdock: [to Karen] You, uh, give us a minute, please?
  • In "Shadows in the Glass", Fisk needs Detective Christian Blake to be killed because he sees him as a liability after Matt stole his phone. He'd previously tried to have Blake killed by a sniper, but with the hit having merely put him in a coma, Fisk fears Blake will start talking now that he's woken up. So he meets with Blake's friend and partner Carl Hoffman, and uses a large bribe, the threat of his own life being forfeited and the knowledge that it will be him or someone else finishing Blake off, to get him to agree to do the job.
    Wilson Fisk: We can't allow this to happen. I know that you have feelings regarding this matter. I respect that. But if Detective Blake chooses to speak out of turn, the result would be unpleasant, for you and for me.
    Carl Hoffman: Out of turn? You shot him!
    James Wesley: Technically, we paid someone else to shoot him.
    Wilson Fisk: Do you know what made us go down this path? What led to a decision of such finality?
    Carl Hoffman: If you're worried about me, I know how to keep my mouth shut.
    James Wesley: If we doubted that, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
  • In "Revelations", Ray Nadeem showers at home after his boss Tammy Hattley blackmails him into working for Fisk. When he gets out of the shower, he comes downstairs and finds Dex in his living room chatting with his wife and son. Ray is smart enough to figure out that Dex is here to intimidate him, as Dex makes clear when Ray takes him outside to his back deck to talk in private (as well as express his personal displeasure at Ray for deciding to team up with Matt to investigate him).
    Ray Nadeem: What are you doing here, Dex? Your issue is with me, not my family.
    Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter: My issue is definitely with you. That stunt with the lawyer, Ray? That was cold. You convinced me that you had my back. But Fisk wants you alive.
    Ray Nadeem: What does he want from me, Dex?
    Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter: Your friend. The one you brought to my home.
    Ray Nadeem: I don't know who he is. Or where he is.
    Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter: Yeah, you do. But it can wait. [gestures to the gunshot wound Dex inflicted on Ray a few days ago] You're bleeding, Ray.
    [Seema knocks on the patio door]
    Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter: I'll cover with Seema while you change your shirt. Now, let's go. We're spending the day together, partner!
• In Day Break (2006), Detweiler shows Hopper the footage of Rita being assassinated. Then he reminds Hopper of what could happen to his sister and her children if he didn't play along and confess to Garza's murder. Hopper returns this threat against Detweiler's family when he tracks down and confronts him in episode 6.
• Subverted on Dollhouse: when speaking to a possible new Active, Adelle brings up the candidate's mother's financial situation. The candidate thinks she is going to threaten his mother, but Adelle actually offers to solve his mother's financial troubles if he agrees to become an Active. Since Adelle offers a combination of threats and promises (carrot and stick), the underlining threat behind this promise was "we know your mother matters to you." She's a Magnificent Bastard for a reason.
• On Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, the local Klan leader is rallying the townspeople to drive Token Minority Couple Grace and Robert E. out of their home and to equally terrorize the titular character, given that she abhors their behavior. When she confronts him about burning a cross on her property, he remorselessly tells her , "Folks don't take kindly to sympathizers. And you've got those young'uns to look after. . ." This turns out to be a huge mistake on his part as (a) It presses both her and Sully's Berserk Button—Sully outright threatens to kill him if he lays a hand on any of the children, and (b) Even some of the other Klan members express disgust at this.
• Drop the Dead Donkey. Played for Laughs when Gus Hedges is forcing George Dent to testify favourably during a lawsuit. He threatens to have George's house bulldozed by the Corrupt Corporate Executive who owns Globelink News, and even holds up a picture of the house during the trial to encourage him.
• Scorpius from Farscape pulls a rather aggressive version of this trope by forcibly showing John a hologram of Earth and threatening to send a fleet to destroy it if he doesn't start co-operating. Despite this, even after John foils his plans, Scorpius gets a rather sympathetic scene where he points out that petty revenge against John is pointless if the revenge he really wanted was out of his grasp.
• Darkly subverted in Firefly. Jubal Early seems like he's going on a speech like this when he has Kaylee cornered and starts talking about how delicate Serenity's engine is... then he bluntly states mid-sentence that he will rape her if she does not follow his instructions, with zero transition.
• Foyle's War contains two examples in the same episode... both of which are rather awesomely thrown back in the faces of the people trying to intimidate our heroes:
  • Number one has an arrested black marketeer casually mention to Milner that many of the people he works with won't be pleased that Milner has arrested him, and that Milner should 'be careful' and 'watch his back'. Unfortunately for the black marketeer, he made this comment in front of the desk sergeant as well, giving Milner a reason to calmly add two more charges to his sheet — obstruction and threatening a police officer. Even more unfortunately for the black marketeer, someone else later does try to kill Milner, thus putting the black marketeer in the position of Chief Suspect. The marketeer ends up having to frantically backtrack and plead that he didn't have anything to do with it, honestly.
  • Number two has Sam overhear a conversation that perhaps she shouldn't have between a suspect and a third party at her new job in a map-making facility. Later that night, the suspect surprises her as she's leaving to go home, suggesting that it really would be better for her if she forgot all about that conversation, and that he really wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her as a result of it. Sam calmly replies that she'd actually forgotten all about the incident already, "but since you're so worried about it you've come out here to try and bully me, I'm going to mention it to everyone I can." She then rides off without a backwards glance, leaving the suspect with an Oh, Crap! expression and the feeling that this possibly wasn't one of his better ideas. Curiously, the men making 'hints' turn out to be uncle and nephew. Having your threats casually dismissed must be genetic.
• Game of Thrones. In "The Wolf and the Lion", Master of Whispers Varys and Master of Coin Littlefinger have an entire conversation like this, dropping bits of intelligence they've found out about the other and discussing how unfortunate it would be if various factions of the Decadent Court found out about them.
• In The Good Place, Michael, a demon trying to learn about human ethics, is trying to find a way to kill Derek. After Chidi patiently explains that murder is against most human ethical systems, Michael proposes an alternate plan which is totally innocent, but would tragically and unfortunately result in Derek's death.
• Jessica Jones (2015): In "AKA It's Called Whiskey", Trish arranges to do an interview with Hope Schlottman and her lawyer on Trish Talk, hoping to raise awareness of Hope's case and get other victims of Kilgrave to come forward. In the midst of this, she launches into an offensive tirade about Kilgrave, insulting him and calling him a sadistic bastard. Jessica barges into the booth and tries to cut Trish's mike, fearing that Kilgrave is listening to the broadcast. Guess who calls the show at that very moment.
  Kilgrave: First time caller, long time listener. Trish, I want to applaud your courage. You've always been a hero to the downtrodden. Self-preservation be damned. It's admirable. But my question is, if there really is a man with the abilities you've described, someone who could make anyone, anywhere, do whatever he wanted them to do, seems to me that insulting him would be wildly dangerous. Or, let's just say it, stupid in the extreme. Everyone has feelings, even, um, how did you put it? Sadistic, corrosive men? Are you worried he might, I don't know, make you kill yourself? Or worse? I'll take my answer off the air.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A victim's brother approaches ADA Stone in a bar and casually mentions Stone's sister. Unusually, the reason he wants Stone to drop the charges against the defendant is so that he can kill the guy.
  • An earlier episode also has a perp look Benson dead in the face, smile, and mention her son (who's the biological child of a sex trafficker and one of his victims, who said perp knew). Barba immediately loses it on him, both for the threat and the audacity of it.
    "Are you seriously threatening the child of a New York City police officer in front of a Manhattan District Attorney?"
• Law & Order: UK: James Steel confronts his nemesis with irrefutable evidence of his guilt in several murders and urges him to have the decency to plead guilty and not torture the families of his victims with a lengthy trial. The man responds by casually asking, "He's eight, isn't he? Your little boy? Ethan? Gradley Street, Edinburgh. Beautiful house they've got. But busy roads, though. On his walk to school." Although visibly shaken to realize just how much of a monster he's dealing with, Steel keeps it together long enough to coldly bid the man farewell and walk out of the room.
• On The League of Gentlemen, Papa Lazarou's exceptionally creepy "makeup speech" eventually turns out to be one of these about a woman he's kidnapped.
  "You know, the thing a lot of people don't realize about makeup is that you can tend to overdo it. It's much better to have too little, and then add on. I learned my skills from my wives. Each one of them has something different to offer. Your wife, for example, knows a great deal about curling eyelashes. You didn't know that, did you? Perhaps you should have paid more attention to her. I know I did."
• On Leverage, Nathan et al learn a hard lesson on why it's not a good idea to piss off the wrong people while passing through a town to help someone. "Too bad you won't be here next week when the [victim]'s house burns down." (Ultimately subverted in that Nathan then plays a little Xanatos Speed Chess to ensure that the man making this threat is arrested.)
• Luke Cage (2016): In the season 2 premiere, Luke visits Mariah Dillard in her box at Harlem's Paradise while she's meeting with some gangsters she wants to sell her guns to, one of whom is the drug dealer pushing a package with Luke's name on it.
  Mariah Dillard: What are you gonna do, Luke? You gonna arrest me? You gonna slap me around?
  Luke Cage: You'd probably like that.
  Mariah Dillard: Oh we could tussle a little bit, no doubt. But [taps Luke's tie in a seductive manner] I think it might make your girlfriend Claire a little jealous.
  [Luke turns around and much to his dismay, sees Claire hanging out in the crowd down on the dance floor]
  Mariah Dillard: I like her dress. It'd be a shame if something happened to her. Take her home, Carl. You take her home.
• Parodied in a MADtv Miss Swan sketch. A mobster tries to extort money out of her by threatening her beauty salon. He demonstrates what could happen if she doesn't pay by "accidentally" knocking a glass jar on the floor. However, Miss Swan is such a Cloud Cuckoo Lander that she finds that to be entertaining, and begins destroying other things in her store for fun. The thug has to quickly step in and stop her before she destroys her television.
• Parodied in Malcolm in the Middle, where an officer delivers his files to Lois in response to her objecting a traffic ticket, and tries to make innocuous small-talk:
  Police Officer: Nice house you have here.
  Lois: Are you threatening me!?
• Invoked by Mission: Impossible when members of the mafia appeared, such as the crooked food distributor in "The Execution".
• The protection racket version is spoofed in Monty Python's Flying Circus, when Dino and Luigi Vercotti try to pull this on a military base.
  Luigi: How many men you got here, colonel?
  Colonel: Oh, er ... seven thousand infantry, six hundred artillery, and er, two divisions of paratroops.
  Luigi: Paratroops, Dino.
  Dino: Be a shame if someone was to set fire to them.
• Done accidentally on the TV show of My Brother, My Brother and Me, when Justin is applying for a job with his father in law:
  I'm the breadwinner now for our family, and I know it would be a real...you'd think it would be a real shame if something happened to them...wait, let me start...that wasn't how I wanted to phrase that...
• One Mystery Science Theater 3000 short involved a bread salesman; Mike and the bots decided to add some subtext to one scene with a grocer.
  Salesman: G'morning, Mr. Marco.
  Mike: Mr. Marco, you want my coffee ring today? Sure be a shame if something bad happened to your store here.
  Salesman: (Notices shopping cart) Hey! Something new!
  Mike: Be a shame if this ran over your kid.
• A gang member once tried this on NCIS, threatening McGee and Ziva if Gibbs didn't get off his back. Notwithstanding who Ziva is (or McGee for that matter), he was saying this straight to Gibbs' face. Needless to say, he took it back. Fast.
  • Another genius casually advises Abby—right in front of Gibbs—to drive safely on her way home. Given that his sister (they are the children of a man Gibbs murdered years ago) tried to kill Gibbs' father earlier in the episode, it's pretty obvious what he's getting at. Once again, Gibbs' reaction isn't pretty.
  • A terrorist Ellie Bishop is interrogating not-so-subtly threatens her then-husband:
  Terrorist: "It's been a long time, Eleanor. I thought about you."
  Ellie: "You should have stopped by the office and said hello".
  Terrorist: "That's too formal. I much prefer your apartment in DC. How is your husband Jake? He should really learn to watch his surroundings."
• Odd Squad: In "How to Interrogate a Unicorn", Olive is attempting to interrogate a unicorn. When the unicorn is uncooperative, Olive changes tactics, putting a bucket with a rainbow inside on the table and telling it that it would be a shame if something happened to it. The unicorn still refuses to comply, and Olive angrily knocks the bucket onto the floor, spilling the rainbow.
• There's an episode of The Office (US) where Michael believes he's being threatened by the mob because someone keeps making statements that sound like this trope, but the man doing it is actually an insurance salesman.
• Schillinger does this to Beecher in Oz saying he's got a beautiful wife and kids, forcing Beecher to take the photos he has of his family and tear them up.
• Peep Show: "Nice packet of Crunchy Nut you've got here, pretty expensive as I recall..."
• Penny Dreadful: City of Angels: Goss non-too-subtly threatens Michener's family during their confrontation by revealing he knows exactly where his children (and grandchildren) live.
• Police Squad! had an episode with a mob protection racket; this trope was one of the few that the episode played straight.
• Power Rangers:
  • Inverted in Power Rangers Ninja Storm, when it's actually the good guys doing the persuading, complete with the "Nice place you got here" shtick. The duo pulls the parody version, which is met with worry from the object of their persuasion.
  • And again, in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder by the White Ranger when he tries to threaten the resident bad-girl into returning a children's trading card by revealing to his father that her cover was blown. Funny how it's the former bad guys who are okay with pulling this stuff...
• Rise of Empires: Ottoman: Mehmet gets the governor of the Genoese colony of Galata to collaborate with the Ottomans by just calmly pointing out how much they could profit from doing trade with the new empire, and how disappointed he would be with them if they hindered his success in any way.
• Saturday Night Live:
  • There was a sketch mocking former Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, which has had a reputation of being one of the most corrupt states in the US and is widely stereotyped as having a Mob-controlled government (past ties to Al Capone probably don't help the reputation either). In the sketch, he gets Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee to answer questions about an attempt to auction off Barack Obama's former Senate seat. At the witness table, he points out that the wiring in old buildings like the Capitol is prone to catching fire and offers to hire a couple guys to keep an eye on the place.^note He was later convicted on multiple charges of corruption and imprisoned until his sentence was commuted by Donald Trump.
  • In a later example, SNL also parodied Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey (another state that is infamous for its political corruption) in the wake of his "Bridgegate" scandal^note Allegedly, some of his staffers ordered the blockade of several lanes of traffic on a highway bridge in retribution to a perceived snub by the local politicians in that area. by having him implicitly threaten Piers Morgan during an interview and invoking this trope word for word.
• In the Australian mini-series Scales of Justice, a crime boss arranges for a High-Class Call Girl to become the Sexy Secretary of a politician who's campaigning against him. The two have an affair and pictures are taken, but rather than submit him to crude blackmail the crime boss just walks past the politician at a public event with the 'secretary' hanging on his arm.
• Variation in the first episode of Sherlock. John is kidnapped, taken to an abandoned building, where a sinister gentleman says he "worries about Sherlock" in an attempt to get Watson to spy on Sherlock for him. Watson assumes this is a threat, only to discover later that Sherlock's "archenemy" is not Moriarty, as viewers familiar with the books probably expected, but rather Sherlock's brother Mycroft, and he is legitimately concerned about him.
  • Another example: when John and Sherlock are touring through a hospital that Calverton Smith donated to, he runs into a couple of employees who are hesitant to give in to his demands. He'd then proceed to ask how long they'd been working at the hospital, they'd tell him, and he'd repeat the amount of years in a very pointed tone that invokes this trope against their job security. They then understand the implication being made and begrudgingly acquiesce to whatever he wants them to do.
• Lana Lang in S6 of Smallville does this with one of Lex Luthor's scientists with regards to his family, home and livelihood.
  • Lionel Luthor is also a fan of this trope, and we see him pull it multiple times throughout the series. In fact, Lionel doing this to the Kents is what caused much of the plot of the series.
• Played with in episode 4.08 of Sons of Anarchy. Lieutenant Roosevelt remarks that Jax has a beautiful family and naturally, it would be a shame if anything happened to them. However, he's not threatening Jax, just emphasizing that getting into the drug business could cause his loved ones serious harm - by this point the Sons have already been witness to multiple assasination attempts by their cartel's competition.
• The Sopranos:
  • Played with in the final season. One of the family's minor protected businesses folds and is replaced with a Brand X Starbucks. Two of Tony's lieutenants go in to try this routine on the new manager. He immediately recognizes what they are doing, but in an almost sympathetic tone he points out the store's workforce isn't unionized and the company is a billion dollar multinational with complete insurance. What's more, every single bean is in the computer, so if he started skimming for the mob he'd be fired immediately and they'd have to start over. The two mobsters leave, complaining about the state of modern business.
  • Then there's the time Bobby Bacala is sent to smooth over a situation involving a recalcitrant union leader:
    Bobby: I mean, you recently got an offer, for a lot of money. And, if you don't get paid, you can't feed your family. I presume you got a family. I'm a family man myself, and I gotta tell you I'd rather take two shots to the back of the fucking head than not be able to feed my family.
    [makes a gun with his hand and points it to the back of his own head]
    Bobby: One... Two... To the back of the head. You think about that.
• A standard tactic of the evil Girl Guides in You're Skitting Me.
• And done with the Boy Scouts in The Goodies episode "Scoutrageous", where Bill and Graham become rogue criminal scouts shaking people down for "Bob a Job" week. In this case you pay them not to do the job.
  Bill Oddie: What a pity it would be if it were to...catch fire. I mean if I were to accidentally rub these two sticks together...
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • In the final Mirror Universe episode, "Smiley" says this about the Klingon flagship once its shields are down.
  • The trope backfires when Weyoun Seven tries this with Ezri Dax, forgetting he's standing next to Worf, the one Starfleet character who has no qualms about Neck Snapping him on the spot.
  • Done in a more teasing fashion in "In Purgatory's Shadow", when Jadzia suggests that Worf had better hurry back from the Gamma Quadrant before she loses the Klingon opera recordings she borrowed from him.
• Star Trek: Voyager:
  • In "Think Tank" the Establishing Character Moment for the Villain of the Week is him threatening this on a planetary scale. His think tank of Evil Geniuses has just solved the problem of a planet beset by earthquakes with a containment field. When they try to quibble over payment, he threatens to turn the containment field off. "Have you ever experienced a Level 12 seismic event? Most violent. Quite unnerving."
  • Likewise in "Concerning Flight", an Arms Dealer points out that if an ambassador doesn't want to buy his expensive weapons, he could always sell them to a neighboring star system with aggressive tendencies.
• Done in a veiled fashion in the second season of Stranger Things. Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, who have been planning to expose the resident Government Conspiracy, get themselves captured by government agents and meet Dr. Sam Owens, who runs the whole show. Throughout their conversation, Dr. Owens is never anything less than friendly, polite and reasonable, and he never threatens or tries to overtly intimidate them at anyway. However, the theme of the conversation is how vital it is that the operations of the lab and the events it led to in the previous season be kept secret from the world at large, and the lengths it is necessary to go to sometimes — and it ends with Dr. Owens showing Nancy and Jonathan the lengths his agents have to go in order to prevent the portal to the other dimension they're monitoring from unleashing a whole load of horrific other-dimensional beings upon the world. It involves a flamethrower. The implication is clear.
• Parodied in a Swedish cop comedy show called S.W.I.P Snutarna. One Story Arc parodies The Godfather with one family being an apple mafia and their neighbours wanting to keep their apple trees (includes a hilarious scene that parodies the horse head, where a man wakes up to find his bed filled with apples). Anyhow, one member of the apple mafia family threatens the neighbours. "Lovely apple trees you've got. It would be a shame if someone was to... scrump."
• Used in nearly every episode of The Vampire Diaries. By every major character. Against every other major character.
• Walker, Texas Ranger. When an Amoral Attorney gets an attack of conscience and tries to quit working for a crime boss, the man responds by casually asking, "How's your little boy? I worry about him in this big, dangerous world."
• Cancer Man delivers Assistant Director Skinner one of these in The X-Files. "You ever wonder what it would be like to, uh... die in a plane crash? Of botulism? Even a heart attack's not uncommon for a man your age. You think I'm bluffing?" However, Skinner has an insurance policy in case of such an event and is not intimidated.
  Walter Skinner: This is where you pucker up and kiss my ass.

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