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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Here's what happened."''|'''[[Monk (TV)|Adrian Monk]]'''}}
 
The part of the show (typically at the end) where the protagonist explains how the crime was committed. An essential part of a [[Locked Room Mystery]]. Another common approach is to have the summation serve as a [[Framing Device]] for a [[Whole-Episode Flashback]].
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{{examples}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* The titular character of ''[[Detective Conan]]'' can't NOT do this. He does it so compulsively that the detective he regularly pretends to be has become famous for passing out and then giving a "deduction show" while unconscious. In fact, Conan does this SO compulsively that at the end of the 11th movie, {{spoiler|the delay NEARLY KILLS the cast, as he's giving the summation [[Everything Trying to Kill You|in an underwater cavern filling up with water and poisonous gas during an EARTHQUAKE.]]}}
* Happens all the time in ''[[Spiral]]''.
* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' did this once, with plenty of [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to ''[[Phoenix Wright]]''.
* Basically the entire last episode of the first season of ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex|Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' acted as one.
* The arc in ''[[Black Butler]]'' animated as ''Book of Murder'' has three in a row. The first one is a subversion, as in it Ciel {{spoiler|successfully frames Woodley for the murders. The second summation consists of Ciel and Sebastian telling Arthur what had really happened, and the third summation continues from the previous, with Sebastian explaining to Ciel how it was with the second, independent murderer.}}
* Ciel and {{spoiler|Sebastian}} from ''[[Black Butler]]'' sum just about everything that happened during the murder mystery arc and how it was to the Wordsmith Arther.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
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== Film ==
* The best summation ever was conducted by [[Tim Curry]] in full maniac mode at the end of the movie ''[[Clue (Filmfilm)|Clue]]'', and included as much reenactment of ''every single event'' of the evening as he can very humorously manage.
{{quote| '''Wadsworth''': And [[To Make a Long Story Short]]--<br />
'''Everyone Else''': Too late! }}
** It's also a bit of a subversion, since his summation is not really helpful in identifying the killer. In fact, in two of the [[Multiple Endings]], his explanation of how the murders of Mr. Boddy and the cook were committed is flat-out wrong.
* Sort of subverted twice in ''[[Hot Fuzz]]''. Once where {{spoiler|Sgt. Angel confronts Skinner, and lays out why he thinks he's committed the murders; subverted in that nothing comes of it, because as it turns out Angel's wrong on a few points, which (for the moment) exonerates Skinner. The second time is a Summation by the Neighborhood Watch Alliance, a subversion because it's the ''culprits'' giving it to the hero, who's just shocked and amazed by the meager justification they had for killing people.}}
* Subverted as part of the [[The Ending Changes Everything|infamous plot twist]] at the end of ''[[The Usual Suspects]]''. Agent Kujan believes he has figured out that {{spoiler|Keaton was Keyser Soze}} and explains this to Verbal Kint, complete with revelatory montage. The explanation seems to hold water and Verbal is allowed to go. But seconds later, Kujan realizes that {{spoiler|Verbal's story, from which Kujan created his explanation, was completely fabricated--Verbal himself is Keyser Soze}}.
* Spoofed in ''[[Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (Film)|Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid]]'', where the [[Private Detective]] argues over his right to give [[The Summation]] versus the [[Big Bad]]'s right to his [[Just Between You and Me]] speech. They start alternating, then revealing the whole scheme simultaneously.
* Subverted in ''[[Resident Evil]]: Degeneration'', where Claire is making one at {{spoiler|Senator Davis}}, explaining his motives for causing the havoc in the film...until Leon shows up and says someone they apprehended earlier has spilled the beans, and {{spoiler|Senator Davis}} is entirely innocent, if still a sleazebag.
* ''[[A Shot in The Dark]]''. By the end of the movie Inspector Clouseau still hasn't been able to work out who the killer is, so he gathers everyone in the one room and starts giving an overly long summation of how he detected the killer, while ordering his deputy to turn out the lights at a particular time so the guilty culprit will panic and flee. {{spoiler|Because their watches haven't been synchronised Clouseau has to ramble on for so long the guilty parties start confessing anyway (it turns out everyone in the room commited one crime or another) so when the lights go out they all flee and get blown up by a car bomb meant for Clouseau.}}
* In ''[[Dial M for Murder]]'', one of the characters gives the summation as a purely hypothetical imagining of what could have happened, not realizing that that is exactly what did happen.
* ''[[Brick]]'' has the protagonist, Brendan, giving it to the mastermind behind it all, to prove they're well and truly caught. He only gets one detail wrong: {{spoiler|the intended result.}}
* The 2009 film of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' uses this trope. The Detective does this almost constantly--heconstantly—he doesn't even wait until the end of the film! This is because this is how Holmes' mind works--heworks—he is constantly analyzing things to their conclusion.
 
 
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* The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series: Harry gets one in ''The Chamber of Secrets'', near the end, he explains to Ron what the monster is and how it's been getting around the castle, having figured it out from the torn page they found in Hermione's hand.
** And another at the end of the series.
* Practically [[Hercule Poirot|every]] [[Miss Marple|book]] by [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]].
* [[Erast Fandorin]] does this, of course. Subverted in ''Murder on the Leviathan'', when another detective gave a summation [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|2/3rds of the way through]].
** Fandorin also has a related one where he sums up the evidence with "(Statement). That is one. (Statement) That is two," and so forth, but this is usually part way through while he is still considering hypotheses.
* There's a long one at the end of [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[The City and& Thethe City (Literature)|The City and The City]]''.
* [[Isaac Asimov]] loved this trope, because he loved to write neat little stories with perfect logical solutions. Pick any Asimov short story, there's a 90% chance it'll contain one of these.
* If not the Ur example., definitely a codifier for the trope: The [[Sherlock Holmes]] books are almost nothing but this trope.
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** Or the one where Monk becomes traumatized because of an earthquake, and does the entire summation in gibberish. You can still kind of tell what he's saying because the show still gives you flashbacks to the crime.
** The show tends to make this a gag about once every ten episodes: for instance, Lt. Disher explains it in Monk's style, complete with flashbacks, to a rookie officer, who then explains she already heard it from Monk.
** The Summation is [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]]d and parodied in the 100th episode special. While a documentary crew was interviewing several criminals Monk had put away in prison, the criminals complained that they found the Summation tedious, because Monk was basically reciting what they already knew (they were the criminals, after all!).
** [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]]d with the ''[[CSI]]'' parody episode. Captain Stottlemeyer walks into the editing room of a clear ''CSI'' [[Expy]] while the villain is helping put together the Summation scene of the episode they're working on and says, "You know, I love this part, when you explain how the crime was committed." The villain thanks him and the captain responds, "I wasn't talking to you," as Monk walks in and begins his Summation.
** [[Subverted]] in the episode Mr. Monk goes to jail, when Sharona does the Summation instead of Monk.
** And in the one with the farm, Disher does it and starts to doubt himself part way through, so Monk has to prompt him to continue.
** Parodied in one episode when Monk has to join a therapy group and the members keep getting killed off. When Monk tells the rest of the group about the possibility of the deaths being homicides, [[Evil Counterpart|Harold]] mimics Monk's investigation style and then goes into a [[The Summation]]-slash-[[Hannibal Lecture]] in which he points out that Monk had motive, opportunity, and a advantegeous position complete with fake flashbacks that portray Monk as an [[Ax Crazy]] psuedo-[[Yandere]] who wants Dr. Belle all to himself (Harold was right about the last part). This is effective enough to make Monk himself seriously consider that he might be unconciously killing people.
** Parodied in another episode where Monk, being rushed, literally gives his summation in fast motion, complete with squeaky fast forward (or as he says, picture-go-fast) voice distortion. Unable to understand a goddamn word, he's asked to repeat it in normal speed (picture go regular).
** Some fun is had in ''Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees'' when Natalie says "I've been waiting a long time to say this..."
** "In Mr. Monk Gets Drunk", he attempts to deliver [[The Summation]] while drunk, having accidentally drank an alcoholic wine(which he believed was non-alcoholic.) It goes about as smoothly as you'd expect.
* A subversion occurs in an episode of ''[[New Tricks]]'', in which one of the squad explains how a suspected arsonist ''didn't'' burn down his factory; the explosion and fire was caused by an accident gasleak and a spark from the ringing of his mobile phone, which he had accidentally left behind.
* ''[[Columbo (TV)|Columbo]]'' is fond of this method, explaining to the perp of the week exactly how they tripped up.
* Rarely done on ''Shark'', except for the time that Stark {{spoiler|turned a suicide into a murder victim and framed a guy}}.
* [[Once an Episode]] on ''[[Jonathan Creek (TV)|Jonathan Creek]]'', following the obligatory [[Eureka Moment]].
* A whole bunch of episodes of ''[[Veronica Mars]]''.
* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[Angel]]'', where the actual mystery plot takes place entirely offscreen, but the audience is nonetheless shown Wesley giving one of these to the [[Summation Gathering|gathered suspects]] at the end. The story he tells is long and complicated, featuring fraud and lies and betrayal, and when it is all over Gunn actually says that the entire scene was really damn cool. It makes you ''really'' wish we got to see the investigation.
* Common in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', but done by the [[Narrator]] instead of an actual character.
* ''[[Psych]]'' typically has two: first Shawn's BS-laden explanation to the police of what's happened and how to prove it, and then his explanation to Gus and/or Henry of how he figured it out.
* Parodied in ''[[ItsIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'' when the gang is trying to figure out who keeps pooping in Charlie and Frank's bed. At the end of the episode, Artemis gives a long summation showing that each member of the gang is guilty. Frank then denies the story and admits that he did it all, because "poop is funny." He even pooped on the floor while Artemis was making her summation.
* ''[[Poirot]]'', he always does this.
* ''[[Ellery Queen]]'' (NBC, 1975) always had ''one'' [[No Fourth Wall]] moment every episode. Immediately following Ellery's mandatory [[Eureka Moment]], he would turn to the audience, briefly review the key evidence for the viewers, and ask them if they'd figured out who the culprit was. This came from the [[Ellery Queen]] books, where the authors would stop at some point and ''tell'' you that you now had enough clues to prove who the murderer was. After that, Ellery Queen would do the big 'one of you is the murderer' speech and solve the murder.
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== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* The ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games have this. Except for case 1-4, they are set to that games version of "Announce the Truth."
* Related to the above, ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]]'' has this at the end of the fourth arc. It's subverted, as {{spoiler|it seems as though Battler's explanations for the mysteries are badly wrong.}}
** Also, the Court of Illusions in the fifth arc, and {{spoiler|the Will versus Claire battle}} in the seventh.
* At the end of the [[Murder Mystery]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Jisei (Visual Novel)|Jisei]]'', you must correctly pick out the correct order that the suspects arrived, the cause of death, and finally, the identity of the murderer.
 
 
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Scooby-Doo]]''. Providing the Summation is part of Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley's job description on the show.
* Bart (and sometimes Lisa) from ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', gets to do this, displaying uncanny reasoning skills you wouldn't associate with him, whenever Sideshow Bob shows up, notably in his first two appearances when he frames Krusty for robbery and tries to kill Selma. Even though his third appearance in the episode ''Cape Feare'' isn't so much of a mystery plot, but has more of a straight forward "I'm coming to get my revenge!" premise, Bart still tells a gathering at the end of the episode how he managed to distract Sideshow Bob.
** There's also "The Great Money Caper", where it is revealed that Homer and Bart's entire comeuppance was staged by Marge and Lisa. Homer then realises the implication that the police force, the TV news, a courthouse full of people, and a popular entertainer had nothing better to do than to help deliver [[An Aesop]] to them. Lisa starts to tell him "a simple and highly satisfying explanation", [[The Un-Reveal|but everyone goes surfing instead]].
* Larry on [[Clue Club]] does this once he has all the suspects in one room with Sheriff Bagley waiting to hear whodunnit.
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[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
[[Category:The Summation]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summation, The}}
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