Tropescilloscope: I Did What I Had to Do

An after-the-fact justification for morally questionable but necessary actions. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes The Musical Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Psycho for Hire As You Know Big Fancy House The Lost Lenore Red Shirt Didn't Think This Through Not So Above It All Historical Villain Upgrade Married to the Job Evil Laugh Hidden Depths Roaring Rampage of Revenge Henpecked Husband Kick the Dog B-Movie The Reveal Chase Scene Insult Backfire Villain Song The Film of the Book Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Hell Is That Noise Romantic False Lead Not So Stoic Cassandra Truth Deliberate Values Dissonance Dramatic Gun Cock Refuge in Audacity Aluminum Christmas Trees Last-Name Basis Action Survivor Taking the Bullet Break the Haughty Up to Eleven Ambiguously Gay Everyone Has Standards Parental Neglect Military and Warfare Films Training Montage Meaningful Echo Cruel and Unusual Death Good Is Not Nice Actor Allusion Kill 'em All Hero of Another Story Big Brother Instinct Punch-Clock Villain Sequel Hook Killed Mid-Sentence Kick the Son of a Bitch Reasonable Authority Figure Despair Event Horizon Left the Background Music On Bottomless Magazines True Companions Leaning on the Fourth Wall French Films Only Sane Man Romantic Comedy Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Race Against the Clock Department of Redundancy Department Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Once More, with Clarity! Dirty Old Man Exactly What It Says on the Tin Humiliation Conga Flashback All for Nothing Extreme Doormat Ass Shove No Ending Children Are Innocent Immune to Bullets Took a Level in Jerkass Did Not Get the Girl The Cavalry Wham Shot Shown Their Work Dark and Troubled Past Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Boom, Headshot! Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Animated Credits Opening Drives Like Crazy Deal with the Devil Take a Third Option Adaptation Expansion Dirty Cop Disney Death NO INDOOR VOICE Greater-Scope Villain Shout-Out Villainous Breakdown Beauty Is Never Tarnished Evil Counterpart No Antagonist As Long as It Sounds Foreign Depraved Bisexual Dual Wielding Properly Paranoid Twist Ending Failed a Spot Check Sexy Discretion Shot Brutal Honesty Noodle Incident Red Right Hand MacGuffin Sole Survivor Genre Shift Moment Killer Annoying Younger Sibling You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Homage Poor Communication Kills Deus ex Machina Batman Gambit Mercy Kill Asshole Victim Random Events Plot Improvised Weapon Bury Your Gays Have a Gay Old Time The Sociopath Guns Akimbo Adaptational Attractiveness Worthy Opponent Tranquil Fury Bald of Evil Plot Hole Not Even Bothering with the Accent And the Adventure Continues All Girls Want Bad Boys Card-Carrying Villain Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Stealth Hi/Bye Corrupt Corporate Executive Suddenly SHOUTING! Suspiciously Similar Substitute No-Sell Index of Film Westerns Bland-Name Product Riddle for the Ages Freudian Excuse Foil Totally Radical It's All About Me Non-Indicative Name Blood from the Mouth Superhero Alas, Poor Villain Bloody Hilarious Villain Protagonist She Cleans Up Nicely Body Horror In the Back Broken Aesop Deadpan Snarker Naïve Newcomer Broken Bird Anti-Hero Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Villain with Good Publicity Alpha Bitch Martial Arts Movie Dies Wide Open Posthumous Character Crapsack World Hong Kong Films Armor-Piercing Question Fanservice The Vamp Fourth Date Marriage Plucky Comic Relief N-Word Privileges Italian Films Spiteful Spit Eyepatch of Power Rule of Funny Cool Guns Belligerent Sexual Tension Composite Character Accidental Murder Fatal Flaw Bait-and-Switch Hope Spot Never My Fault Badass Grandpa Break the Cutie Darker and Edgier Rule of Symbolism Five-Man Band The Stoic Put on a Bus Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Morality Pet Be Careful What You Wish For Thriller Betty and Veronica Reality Is Unrealistic Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Meaningful Name Too Dumb to Live Dying Moment of Awesome Manipulative Bastard Anachronic Order The Hero Dies Handicapped Badass Crazy Jealous Guy The Remake Arch-Enemy Toplessness from the Back Chewing the Scenery Anyone Can Die The Great Depression Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Bring My Brown Pants Expository Hairstyle Change Leave the Camera Running Meaningful Background Event Eiffel Tower Effect It Can Think Victoria's Secret Compartment Femme Fatale Honor Before Reason Male Gaze Double Entendre Shipper on Deck Scenery Porn There Is No Kill Like Overkill Covers Always Lie Disguised in Drag Serious Business Trailers Always Spoil The Chessmaster Vitriolic Best Buds Those Two Bad Guys Crazy-Prepared Karmic Death Rewatch Bonus Daddy's Girl The Big Guy Badass in a Nice Suit Facial Horror Sanity Slippage Adorkable Pretty Little Headshots Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Black and Gray Morality Translation Convention Chekhov's Gunman Drill Sergeant Nasty Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Artistic License – Military Jump Scare A Minor Kidroduction Straight Gay Death of a Child Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Foregone Conclusion Downer Ending Naked People Are Funny Rich Bitch Vomit Discretion Shot Face–Heel Turn Fainting I Need a Freaking Drink Casting Gag Redemption Equals Death Badass Bookworm Eagleland The Hero Fiery Redhead Papa Wolf '80s Hair Hoist by His Own Petard An Arm and a Leg Distracted by the Sexy Neck Snap The Mole The Smurfette Principle Fanservice Extra Bilingual Bonus Wretched Hive Foreshadowing Missing Mom Not Quite Dead Drugs Are Bad The Voiceless Death by Irony Heroic Sacrifice "Shaggy Dog" Story Science Fiction Films Zombie Stories And Starring She's Got Legs Coming-of-Age Story Only a Flesh Wound Dull Surprise Adults Are Useless Bullying a Dragon Malevolent Masked Men Pragmatic Villainy Adaptation Distillation Cold-Blooded Torture Final Girl Australian Movies Badass Normal O.O.C. Is Serious Business From Nobody to Nightmare The Load Heel–Face Turn Happily Married Rousing Speech Ambiguous Ending Redshirt Army Arranged Marriage Police Brutality Lighter and Softer Butt-Monkey Storming the Castle Politically Incorrect Villain You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Jerk with a Heart of Gold Soundtrack Dissonance Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Earn Your Happy Ending Cool Shades One Steve Limit Bolivian Army Ending Rule of Three The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Bare Your Midriff Defiant to the End Dirty Coward Advertised Extra Mama Bear Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Dressing as the Enemy Camera Abuse Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Knight Templar Truth in Television Bi the Way Hypocrite Face Death with Dignity Film Noir Lock and Load Montage Does This Remind You of Anything? Gold Digger Really Gets Around He Who Fights Monsters Pre-Mortem One-Liner timeperiod Captain Ersatz Take That! Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Deliberately Monochrome Amusing Injuries Obfuscating Stupidity Hollywood Law Adapted Out Rule of Cool Cool Car Say My Name Ship Tease Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? The Lancer Silent Movie For the Evulz Beta Couple Bound and Gagged You Have Failed Me Motor Mouth Mundane Made Awesome Wicked Cultured Vomit Indiscretion Shot Important Haircut Intergenerational Friendship Outrun the Fireball Animal Motifs A.I. Is a Crapshoot The Atoner Intrepid Reporter Early Installment Weirdness Humans Are Bastards Precision F-Strike Darkest Hour Film Noir Index Cowboy Cop Instant Death Bullet Dramedy Parental Substitute Animal Title Index Spell My Name with an "S" Vampire Fiction The Cameo Rasputinian Death Protagonist Title Whole Plot Reference Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Empathic Environment Gilligan Cut Unreliable Narrator Smoking Is Cool Bunny-Ears Lawyer Costume Porn Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Bad "Bad Acting" Big Damn Heroes Interrupted Suicide Shut Up, Hannibal! The Chick Enemy Mine Auto Erotica World of Ham The '50s Spanner in the Works Broken Pedestal Never Trust a Trailer Bad Boss Major Injury Underreaction Due to the Dead Big Eater It Will Never Catch On Half the Man He Used to Be Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Arc Words A Father to His Men Mooks Continuity Nod Faux Affably Evil Badass Longcoat More Dakka Fish out of Water The Place Evil Brit Unresolved Sexual Tension Author Avatar Deconstruction Documentary Abhorrent Admirer Bond Villain Stupidity An Aesop Laughing Mad Fun with Acronyms Cool Old Lady Combat Pragmatist Heterosexual Life-Partners Skewed Priorities Sir Swears-a-Lot Love at First Sight Imagine Spot Genre Throwback Video Credits Conspicuous CG Dwindling Party Frame-Up It's Personal Fantastic Racism Mind Screw Disney Villain Death Punny Name A Date with Rosie Palms Product Placement Slasher Movie Wounded Gazelle Gambit Dark Action Girl Fan Disservice Oh, Crap! In Name Only Ominous Latin Chanting Apocalypse How Off-into-the-Distance Ending Adult Fear Captain Obvious Extremely Short Timespan Famous Last Words Market-Based Title The Dog Bites Back Evil Plan Artistic License – Gun Safety Novelization Yandere He Knows Too Much Pet the Dog Artistic License – Biology Anti-Villain Mugging the Monster Scary Black Man Horror Comedy Stepford Smiler Tap on the Head Better to Die than Be Killed Bittersweet Ending Alliterative Name Off with His Head! Eldritch Abomination Horror Films No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Manly Tears Throwing Your Sword Always Works Shoot the Shaggy Dog My Beloved Smother Stealth Pun Manic Pixie Dream Girl Historical Hero Upgrade Only in It for the Money Sacrificial Lion Overly Long Gag Slasher Smile Would Hurt a Child My God, What Have I Done? Calling the Old Man Out Idiot Ball Destination Defenestration Ungrateful Bastard Evil Is Hammy The Ditz Defrosting Ice Queen The End... Or Is It? Brother–Sister Incest Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Retired Badass Jitter Cam Made of Explodium Biopic Anachronism Stew The Ghost Adaptational Heroism Older Than They Look Car Fu Artistic License – Geography Aside Glance Roger Ebert: Great Movies List I Did What I Had to Do Big-Bad Ensemble Overprotective Dad Diabolus ex Machina Award-Bait Song Super Strength Real Life Writes the Plot Woman in White Slap-Slap-Kiss Implacable Man Disappeared Dad Woman Scorned Creator Cameo Visual Pun Your Cheating Heart Ms. Fanservice Public Domain Feature Films Comically Missing the Point All Men Are Perverts Back from the Dead Spared by the Adaptation Nice Hat Black Comedy Rape Soft Glass Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Artistic License – History Narrator Spiritual Successor What Happened to the Mouse? After the End Reckless Gun Usage Same Language Dub Credits Gag Nice Guy How We Got Here Becoming the Mask Pretty in Mink Adaptational Villainy No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Expy Cat Scare Friend to All Children Lampshade Hanging Scare Chord Parental Abandonment Retcon Death Glare Wrong Genre Savvy Easily Forgiven The Dreaded The Power of Love Tempting Fate Nothing Is Scarier Paper-Thin Disguise Loophole Abuse Re-Cut Mystery and Detective Films Laser-Guided Karma Disproportionate Retribution "The Reason You Suck" Speech Camp Gay Groin Attack Manchild Exact Words In Medias Res No Name Given Heroic BSoD Maybe Ever After Obstructive Bureaucrat Stock Footage The Alcoholic Insistent Terminology The Starscream Sequel Escalation The Ace I Want My Beloved to Be Happy As the Good Book Says... Playing Gertrude Big Bad Duumvirate Never Found the Body The Casanova Loads and Loads of Characters Sinister Minister Get Out! Catapult Nightmare Anguished Declaration of Love Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Cool Old Guy Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Dragon Mr. Exposition All Just a Dream Real Life Heel Realization Celebrity Paradox From Bad to Worse The '90s Took a Level in Badass Country Matters Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Logo Joke Dropped a Bridge on Him Ironic Echo Let's Get Dangerous! Madness Mantra Beware the Nice Ones Brick Joke Epic Fail Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Men Are the Expendable Gender Decoy Protagonist Adaptation Name Change Death by Sex Mythology Gag Historical-Domain Character Bloodless Carnage Taking You with Me Dogged Nice Guy Offscreen Moment of Awesome Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Evil-Detecting Dog Rated M for Manly Author Appeal Silence Is Golden Fake Shemp Mad Scientist Stuff Blowing Up Beard of Evil Guile Hero Jerkass Has a Point Age Lift German Films The '80s Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Jerkass Fire-Forged Friends Japanese Films Our Vampires Are Different Grievous Bottley Harm Hooker with a Heart of Gold Dramatic Irony An Axe to Grind Ambiguous Disorder Closed Circle Psychological Thriller Antagonist Title Made of Iron Room Full of Crazy Knife Nut Sci-Fi Horror Your Head A-Splode Reality Has No Subtitles Together in Death Action Prologue Affectionate Parody Heroes Want Redheads Cat Fight The X of Y Book-Ends Line-of-Sight Name Big Bad Affably Evil Works Set in World War II Parental Incest Setting Update My Greatest Failure La Résistance As Himself Retirony Demonic Possession The Mafia Fingore Based on a True Story British Films Pragmatic Adaptation Obviously Evil Breaking the Fourth Wall Ascended Extra Hypocritical Humor Improbable Aiming Skills The '70s Russian Films Gender Flip Police are Useless Only Known by Their Nickname What You Are in the Dark Historical In-Joke Irony Token Minority Pimped-Out Dress The Quiet One The Stinger Red Herring Red Eyes, Take Warning Cloudcuckoolander Dark Is Not Evil The Alleged Car folderlabel Cluster F-Bomb Jerk Jock Love Triangle Fantasy Films Mexican Standoff One-Word Title Berserk Button Freeze-Frame Bonus Karma Houdini Awesome, but Impractical Dark Reprise May–December Romance Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Self-Deprecation Mighty Whitey Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Stylistic Suck Air-Vent Passageway One-Man Army Bowdlerise Hate Sink Mood Whiplash Double-Meaning Title Leitmotif Running Gag Fatal Family Photo Attempted Rape Insane Troll Logic The Stoner Stalker with a Crush Determinator aka: The Determinator Our Zombies Are Different I Have Your Wife The Brute Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Needs Wiki Magic Love Serial Killer Crucified Hero Shot Shower Scene Fate Worse than Death Driven to Suicide Show Within a Show Those Wacky Nazis Even Evil Has Standards Reality Ensues Shirtless Scene Recycled IN SPACE! Epic Movie Central Theme Creepy Child Film Series Unusually Uninteresting Sight Damsel in Distress Canadian Movies Evil Sounds Deep Call-Back Corpsing Make It Look Like an Accident Even Evil Has Loved Ones War Is Hell Here We Go Again! The Smart Guy You Killed My Father Vacation Films Brainless Beauty Monumental Damage A God Am I Man on Fire Gratuitous English Light Is Not Good Smug Snake Demoted to Extra "Well Done, Son!" Guy Not What It Looks Like Actually Pretty Funny Revenge Gorn Pay Evil unto Evil Dumb Blonde Scenery Gorn Mr. Fanservice Those Two Guys Black Best Friend Unwitting Instigator of Doom Funny Foreigner Four-Temperament Ensemble Christmas Movies Index Death Seeker Adaptation Dye-Job Domestic Abuse Babies Ever After Rape as Drama Eye Scream Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Gone Horribly Right BFG Tagline For Want of a Nail The Bad Guy Wins Curb-Stomp Battle Kids Are Cruel Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Unspoken Plan Guarantee Informed Ability Race Lift Bavarian Fire Drill Sealed Evil in a Can Match Cut Blackmail Authority Equals Asskicking Villain Ball Gainax Ending Television Movie Index Establishing Character Moment Character Development Well-Intentioned Extremist 20 Minutes into the Future Almost Kiss Death by Adaptation And I Must Scream Black Comedy Blood Knight The Un-Reveal Creative Closing Credits Psychopathic Manchild Danny Peary Cult Movies List Title Drop Kill It with Fire Mistaken for Gay Hero Antagonist Curse Cut Short The Bully Flipping the Bird What the Hell, Hero? Neck Lift Dutch Angle Eureka Moment Sadistic Choice Green-Eyed Monster No Celebrities Were Harmed Big "NO!" Cain and Abel Sassy Black Woman Would Hit a Girl Ghost Fiction Faking the Dead Evil vs. Evil Artistic License – Physics Does Not Like Shoes Peek-a-Boo Corpse "Awesome McCool" Name Call-Forward Amoral Attorney Undying Loyalty Ripped from the Headlines Evil Is Petty The Faceless Black Dude Dies First This Is Gonna Suck Pyrrhic Victory Blatant Lies The Oner Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Wham Line Framing Device Bar Brawl Bond One-Liner Adaptational Badass Getting Crap Past the Radar All There in the Script Not So Different Suspiciously Specific Denial No OSHA Compliance Agony of the Feet Contrived Coincidence Big Applesauce Genre Savvy Only One Name Not Using the "Z" Word Chekhov's Gun Chiaroscuro Accidental Misnaming Fat Bastard Bloodier and Gorier Action Genre Villain Opening Scene Improbable Weapon User Sports Stories Time Skip Artistic License – Law Drowning My Sorrows Action Girl Ax-Crazy Abusive Parents Star-Crossed Lovers I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Offscreen Teleportation Grey and Gray Morality Determinator Gory Discretion Shot Canon Foreigner Chekhov's Skill The '60s Dissonant Serenity Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Daylight Horror I'm a Humanitarian Male Frontal Nudity Music Stories Badass Boast All There in the Manual Red Oni, Blue Oni Funny Background Event Meet Cute Word of God Hair-Trigger Temper Large Ham Unusual Euphemism Catch-Phrase Names to Run Away from Really Fast Slashed Throat Small Name, Big Ego Developing Doomed Characters Every Car Is a Pinto Kubrick Stare Early-Bird Cameo Hollywood Darkness Shell-Shocked Veteran