About: You Didn't Ask   Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

A character on the show has been less than forthcoming about information that would have certainly helped the protagonist figure things out faster. Often, there's a good reason -- a Big Secret or an Awful Truth, for example. In reality, the writers just needed a way to protract the story or build the suspense. There are two ways this trope is generally employed: A stock response to You Never Did That for Me. Compare Why Didn't You Just Say So? and Didn't See That Coming. Often they Didn't Ask about something that could have prevented the whole mess. Examples of You Didn't Ask include:

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  • You Didn't Ask
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  • A character on the show has been less than forthcoming about information that would have certainly helped the protagonist figure things out faster. Often, there's a good reason -- a Big Secret or an Awful Truth, for example. In reality, the writers just needed a way to protract the story or build the suspense. There are two ways this trope is generally employed: A stock response to You Never Did That for Me. Compare Why Didn't You Just Say So? and Didn't See That Coming. Often they Didn't Ask about something that could have prevented the whole mess. Examples of You Didn't Ask include:
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  • A character on the show has been less than forthcoming about information that would have certainly helped the protagonist figure things out faster. Often, there's a good reason -- a Big Secret or an Awful Truth, for example. In reality, the writers just needed a way to protract the story or build the suspense. There are two ways this trope is generally employed: Version one: The detectives or crime labs find evidence that their main suspect in the crime couldn't possibly have committed the murder because he had some other alibi. Usually, the secret they are keeping is illegal, immoral or highly embarrassing, but scriptwriters usually fail completely in getting viewers to accept that the perpetrator wouldn't have volunteered that information anyway to avoid going to prison for the primary crime. Usually used ham-handedly in crime dramas to get the Red Herring out of the way and move suspicion off of the patsy. Version two: Used when a Forgotten Superweapon is in the pocket of a non-primary character. This can often feel a bit like Deus Ex Machina, if the viewer was not given enough advanced warning that the character actually had this in their pocket. Similar excuses include forgetfulness ("Didn't I tell you this?"), not realizing that the other person actually needs the information ("I thought you already knew."), or underestimating the importance of the information ("I didn't think it was important."). The last can be somewhat justified if said information is of an embarrassing nature. A Trickster Mentor, vague prophet, or similar enigmatic figure may deliberately withhold information until asked, either because they can't reveal it otherwise or they need the other characters to keep consulting with them. This idea is often used when computers or Artificial Intelligence are involved. Because computers are extremely literal, it often happens that the computer or AI knows the answer to solve the problem, but since they weren't asked (or weren't asked correctly)... A stock response to You Never Did That for Me. Compare Why Didn't You Just Say So? and Didn't See That Coming. Often they Didn't Ask about something that could have prevented the whole mess. You Can Talk may also figure in the conversation. Examples of You Didn't Ask include:
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