The Only One: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Farrell:''' Then why are you doing this?

'''<nowiki>McClane:</nowiki>''' Because there's nobody else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it. But there's not, so we're doing it.

'''Farrell:''' Ah. That's what makes you ~~[[The Only One|~~that guy]]. }}

'''Farrell:''' Ah. That's what makes you that guy. }}

* In ''[[Blue Thunder]]'', the villains are part of a [[Government Conspiracy]] that has the local police department on its side. [[The Hero|Frank Murphy]] is forced to hijack the titular [[Black Helicopter]] and fight an aerial battle against police and military forces in order to provide cover for the evidence he's collected to make it to a reporter. Averted at the end when the U.S. Justice Department does in fact start an investigation.

* Subverted in ''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]'', in which Riggs persuades Murtagh that they are the only ones present who can defuse a bomb because, of course, "the bomb squad never arrives on time!" Unfortunately, Riggs fails the [[Wire Dilemma]], the bomb goes off, and the building collapses, causing millions of dollars worth of damage... and at that point, the bomb squad arrive, having made it in plenty of time to defuse the device had Riggs and Murtagh not interfered.

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== Live Action TV ==

* Nicely averted on ''[[Criminal Minds]]''. While are heroes are always the best, the local cops are almost always helpful and competent. [[Jurisdiction Friction]] is played ~~down--in~~ fact, the characters make a point of respecting and aiding the locals.

* Nicely averted on ''[[Criminal Minds]]''. While are heroes are always the best, the local cops are almost always helpful and competent. [[Jurisdiction Friction]] is played down—in fact, the characters make a point of respecting and aiding the locals.

* In ''[[The X-Files]]'', [[Agent Mulder]] and/or [[Agent Scully]] were often the only ones who could defeat the [[Monster of the Week]] - partly because of the astonishing amount of [[Corrupt Hick]] law enforcers they encountered, and partly because they were usually [[Dying Like Animals|the only ones who believed or accepted]] that the threat actually existed in the first place.

* The Doctor is often [[The Only One]] who can save the day in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', because he's a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] who's way above everyone else.

* The Doctor is often The Only One who can save the day in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', because he's a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] who's way above everyone else.

** It's long been suggested in the Fandom and the Expanded Universe that the TARDIS is deliberately putting the Doctor into these situations. The Eleventh Doctor episode [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E04 The Doctors Wife|''The Doctor's Wife'']] expressed it more or less thus:

{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' You never went where I wanted to go!

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== Tabletop Games ==

* The ''Living City'' campaign featured the most incompetent 15th level fighters imaginable as its local police, called the "City Watch". It was claimed that the police weren't incompetent, just portrayed that way so that the players could be the main heroes and not just call the cops to handle problems. Of course, many players believe that [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|by that point]], even if they weren't incompetent, they wouldn't be able to do much against high-level threats anyway.

** Justified in the D&D setting of [[Eberron]]. ''Elite'' City guards are level 2 or 3 ''warriors''. Warriors is an [[NPC]] class weaker than a fighter. This means that effectively the [[PC~~|PCs~~]] are the city's only hope against anything, as all but the lowest level of players severely overpower guards (and mid level players can wipe the floor of an entire precinct).

** Justified in the D&D setting of [[Eberron]]. ''Elite'' City guards are level 2 or 3 ''warriors''. Warriors is an [[NPC]] class weaker than a fighter. This means that effectively the [[PC]]s are the city's only hope against anything, as all but the lowest level of players severely overpower guards (and mid level players can wipe the floor of an entire precinct).

*** The setting has a few higher-level characters, but they often come into play only at a time where the PCs already out-level them.

*** Also, this justifies the inclusion of the Warforged, hideously expensive sentient golems used in the latter stages of the Last War (which happened to last about 100 years). They were worth their price because of the unorthodox strategies they allowed (try besieging someone who has no need of food or water. Also, consider the [[Easy Logistics|ease of logistics when operating somewhere gettings supplies to would be difficult]]) and because they came out of their Creation Forges classed as fighter 2. PC classes represent an enormous potential in this setting, so for many jobs they were indeed The Only Ones capable of doing them. After the war, they also were The Only Ones capable of handling jobs like salvaging sunken ships or working in other hazardous conditions.