I Know You Know I Know: Difference between revisions

 

== Fan Works ==

* Played with in ''[[My Immortal]]''. When <s> Ebony</s> Enoby travels back in time, she knows that <s>Snape</s> Snoop possessed <s>James</s> Samaro and made him kill <s>Lucious</s> Lucian. She, however, did not "want them to know [she] knew." Whether or not Tom knew she knew is not made clear, but it is likely, as {{spoiler|he is Volxemort and commanded Snop.}} "Suddenly it's a [[Sitcom]]," the dramatic reading snarked at this bit.

** Tom knew she knew that he knew that Snoop worked for Volxemort and possessed Samaro and... it kind of melts from there.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

 

 

* In [[Timothy Zahn]]'s [[The Thrawn Trilogy]] (''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' books), part of [[Magnificent Bastard]] Thrawn's effectiveness in battle is based on his reputation: his enemies know fully well he's a a nigh-unparalleled master strategist and tactician, so from their perspective each and every move he makes is like Schrodinger's Gambit, existing in a state of It's A Trap and It's Not A Trap until they open the box and the waveform collapses.

** The climax of the third book brings this to an epic level. Thrawn knows that the New Republic wants to capture an important bit of technology, of which only three are known to exist, all on Imperial worlds. The New Republic knows that Thrawn knows this. They also know that one system is heavily protected while another is only lightly defended. Thrawn knows that they know this. The New Republic knows that Imperial Intelligence is very good and will pick up disinformation that shows an attack on the lightly protected system is in the works. Meanwhile they actually plan to attack the heavily-fortified one. Thrawn knows that the New Republic knows that his intelligence is that good, and that the "secret plans" are a deception, so he disregards those attack plans and prepares for the ''real'' attack.

{{quote|'''Han:''' From now on, we can't trust anything we see. Anything we see, anything we hear, anything we think we ought to do. Not with Thrawn back on the scene.

'''Han:''' Who knows? That's what drives you so crazy about him. You try to do something and odds are it's exactly what he wanted you to do. You stand still and don't do anything, and he runs a smartrope around you. }}

* Zhuge Liang's [[wikipedia:Empty City Ruse|Empty City Ruse]] (from the fictionalized parts of ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'') relies on this.

'''Hannibal:''' Decker will understand it. }}

* In an episode of ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'' (2000), Darien gets implanted a spy nanobot by a [[Femme Fatale|former girlfriend]] working for the evil agency Crysalis (the details of how the nanobot was implanted are a bit embarrassing to him). The Agency finds out, so they Know that Crysalis know. So they plan to use him as a decoy, but later the secret is ruined, so Crysalis knows that the agency knows that Crysalis knows. And obviously, the Agency knows.

{{quote|'''Assistant:''' I know you know I told Danny.

'''Matt:''' I know you know I know. }}

Need I say I care

Need I say that emotion's

That I don't wanna go'' }}

 

We've known it from the start

Every time that I look at you

That I don't wanna go'' }}

* "Come to the Sunshine", a '60s sunshine-pop ditty written by cult favorite (and future [[The Beach Boys|Beach Boys]] ''Smile'' collaborator) Van Dyke Parks and recorded by Harpers Bizarre, has in its chorus the line ''You know, I know, you know, that I love you''.

== Radio ==

* ''John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme'', Ep. 3, gives us this brilliant example. Warning: Any and all attempts at comprehension may result in brain damage.

'''Bob:''' Bollocks.}}

 

'''Boyd''': Of ''course'' you're going to the book depository! }}

* [[Frozen Synapse]] requires players to think like this constantly.

** Tthe opponent is in the exact same situation because you could [[Take a Third Option]]: switch out ''yourself'' into say a Grass-type that could handle either Water or Ground (and other options exist, so unless all of the opponent's Pokemon have already been revealed, you never know what may be brought out next).

* [[Platform Game]]: Any type of this game can have this trope come into play with various types of trap like the [[Pressure Plate]] trap or [[Kaizo Trap]]. One example is in [[Limbo]], which has one a [[Pressure Plate]] trap, and then another right after. This leads to the I Know You Know I Know because any semi-competent [[Genre Savvy]] gamer is going to go "Well, it's obvious that the 2nd trap is an inverted version of the first... but wait.. if the designer knows that, he'll make the trap the opposite of the inversion, so I should do the same thing I did on the first trap.. but he knows that I know that.." this loops around until the player simply chooses one at random, and likely dies anyway.

'''Skipper:''' I million zillion switched.

'''Julien:''' And I switched them to infinity! So you have to shut up a little bit.

'''Skipper:''' Maybe, maybe. But if you are me, and I am you, then we must ''both'' be? }}

* An episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' had Jack and [[Big Bad|Aku]] agreeing to a final duel with no swords or special powers. Naturally, [[I Lied|Aku cheats]], which Jack prepared for by bringing his sword and hiding it. But Aku knew Jack would know that he cheated, and had a minion find the sword. But Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat, so he planted a decoy sword. But Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat, so he had his minions look for more swords. But [[Overly Long Gag|Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat]], so he had his sword {{spoiler|buried underground}}.