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