The Stakeout: Difference between revisions

* The purpose of a stakeout is to gather intelligence. If the purpose is to surprise someone, that's an ambush. If the purpose is to trick someone into revealing something he would't have otherwise, it's a sting. Of course, there's no reason a stakeout can't become a starting point for a sting or ambush operation.

 

Stakeouts are a fairly universal trope. Common in [[Detective Drama]], they are also found in many other genres including [[Adventure]], [[Comedy]], and even [[Fantasy]]. TV shows almost always include this trope during an episode that parodies a cop or detective show. Since it can be a case of [[Truth in Television]],it's an appropriate plot point for shows that are on the realistic end of the [[Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic]] - but it's also a strategy that might believably still work even in [[Cloudcuckooland]]. It's simply applying the idea of being in the right place at the right time in a systematic way. Any character with the patience and self control, and sometimes the stealth and courage, has at least a small chance of being able to pull off a stakeout caper successfully.

 

* The group decides that just watching isn't enough, resulting in a [[Rear Window Investigation]].

* Another common result is for one or more of the heroes to be discovered and captured by the villains they are spying on, precipitating the crisis that was delayed during the stakeout.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', Sousuke, with the help of Kyoko, calls for a stakeout when Kaname goes on a date with an old classmate. Fumoffu.

* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', [[Wonder Woman]] famously starts hitting on [[Batman]] while the two are on a stakeout, and she receives a laundry list of reasons why a romance would never work between them.

** And then is in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w6khbl-uXw process of refuting them] when they're interrupted.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]

[[Category:The Stakeout]]