I Knew There Was Something About You

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

This is a Stock Phrase said by a character upon discovering an important new piece of information about another. There may have been an actual buildup of the first character's suspicions, or it may be a case of hindsight being 20/20.

Common variants are "I knew there was something fishy/odd about you" or "I knew there was something about you that I liked/didn't like".

When the fandom says this about a character, it's I Knew It!.

Examples of I Knew There Was Something About You include:


Film

  • In Toy Story 2, the toys are trying to find out who took Woody when Buzz recognizes the thief as Al of Al's Toy Barn, who appears in his commericals as "The Chicken Man", which the other toys dislike. Hamm says "I knew there was something I didn't like about that chicken."
  • In Reservoir Dogs, during the final standoff, Joe tells everyone that Mr. Orange was the one guy that he wasn't 100% on.
  • Used as a massive Tear Jerker in Tron. Ram suspected early on that there was something very strange about Flynn and remarks on that fact. When Ram is dying from his injuries, he flat-out asks; "Are you a User?" When Flynn confirms it, Ram dies with a smile, happy to not only be right in his suspicions, but knowing that the Users exist and at least one is there to help.


Live Action TV

Sergeant James Doakes: [about Dexter using drugs] I knew there was something wrong with you. The secrets, the sneaking around... Now it all makes sense. A lot of cops have been where you are. The booze, the drugs... makes the job go down easier. Stay clean and stay out of my way, we won't have a problem.

    • Later subverted when Doakes discovers the real reason that Dexter acts weird.
    • Also, when Lila discovers that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher and Dexter asks her if she is now afraid of him, she tells him that she was always afraid of him because she could tell how consumed he was by the darkness inside him. And later in season five, one of Dexter's soon-to-be victims says that "from the moment I met you I knew you were f**ked up".
  • Wizards of Waverly Place:

Alex Russo: I knew there was something I liked about you, but this... this is genius. You are my new role model.
Stevie: Please, Alex. I'm sure this is something you would have eventually come up with yourself.
Alex Russo: Yeah, now that's true. I take it back; I'm my own role model again.


Toys

Vezon: Who are you, and why are you here?
Mazeka: I'm here to kill you!
Vezon:Oh. I knew there was something about you that I liked.

Video Games

  • When Max Payne busts down the door to face Vinnie Gognitti, Gognitti tells him "I knew from day one there was something screwy about you!"
  • In Knights of the Old Republic, Carth is very openly stating he smells a rat in the whole setup with your Player Character. And just as he's getting over his trust issues, in comes The Reveal. His alternate lines almost quote the trope title.
  • Pops up in a couple of the Pokémon main series games, usually with a gym leader or one of the final bosses saying it to the player character.

Western Animation

  • In the sequel to Disney's The Little Mermaid, Ariel's daughter tells her new fish friends that she's really a human. One of them responds with: "I knew there was something un-fishy about you!"
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/I_Knew_There_Was_Something_About_You?oldid=1070953"