You Would Do the Same For Me

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Alice: Wait! Bob, why did you...
Bob: [looks at Alice] You'd do the same for me.

Stock Phrase that can be a way to brush off a thanks, being similar to Think Nothing of It with more than the surface meaning, or a moment of friendship and trust. Can be, "I'd hope you'd do the same for me," which could be more powerful, as it takes expectation of anything in return out of the equation, or "You did the same for me," to emphasize the friendship from both angles.

May be played for laughs or tears when that it is painfully obvious that no, Alice wouldn't. Genders don't matter. Flip the words around a bit and you get "I'd do the same for you," which makes this a guilt trip, not that that's always a bad thing. If it's a more serious situation, such as after a Shoot the Dog, you may hear, "And I expect you to do the same for me."

This is not a villain saying that The Hero would have done the same if the hero had been in the villain's place. Well. Usually.

Examples of You Would Do the Same For Me include:

Fanfiction

  • Discussed Trope in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Harry explains that, in a true Prisoner's dilemma, you want to figure out how the other prisoner is going to react—if the prisoner is different enough to act opposite to you, then you rat him/her out. If not, you don't--knowing full well that the other person like you will come to the same conclusion, which is the only reason you're silent in the first place.

Film

Spock: My father says that you have been my friend. You came back for me.
Kirk: You would have done the same for me.

I have picked him out of the gutters from New Orleans to Lake Charles, held him when he had the shakes, and driven him to A-A meetings more times than I can remember. And he had done the same for me.

Imagine that. It's all paid for. I would do anything to protect you. Won't you do the same for me?

Yes. But you would have done the same for me.

I want you to see that my reasons for doing this are not selfish, only this: I'd hope that you would do the same for me.

  • In Starship Troopers, a marine is snatched by a flying Arachnid, which begins to dismember him alive. Lt. Rasczak, his CO, grabs a sniper rifle and shoots him through the heart. He then turns to the remaining marines and says gravely: "And I expect anyone to do the same for me." Rico later does. Fridge Logic kicks in when you consider that Rasczak could have at least tried shooting the Arachnid first.
    • Worth noting that this is exactly the opposite of the book's philosophy, which is all about No One Gets Left Behind. The lieutenant's death, in fact, comes when he's making sure every last one of his troopers, dead or alive, is evacuated from a battle.
  • This trope happens in The Simpsons Movie, as Ned is saving them from the mob. He starts to tell Bart that Homer would do the same thing, but a glaring look from Bart causes him to backtrack.
  • Lampshaded in The Perfect Storm. As a long line is being played out of the fishing vessel, a hook snags one of the crew and he gets yanked into the sea; a crewmember he'd quarreled with earlier dives in and saves his life. He's too upset to thank the man at this time and snaps, "I'd have done the same for you -- isn't that what I'm supposed to say?"

Literature

  • In William King's Warhammer 40,000 novel Space Wolf, after Ragnar comes to Kjel's aid when two other aspirants are beating him, Kjel thanks him, and Ragnar dismisses it, "Think nothing of it. You'd do the same for me."

Live Action Television

I hope you would have done the same for me.

You did the same for me once.

I'm sure if the situation were reversed, you'd do exactly the same for me.

  • In one episode of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris abandons his Homecoming date to help Greg. When Greg says she'll hate him forever, Chris doesn't care, and is comforted when Greg says Chris would have done the same for him. Narrator Chris notes that years later, when the situation came up, he didn't.
  • G'Kar and Londo on Babylon 5

"I would be dead if not for you. You risked your life to save mine."
"You would have done the same."
"Yes, but I'm a better person."

  • When Mal is held hostage, Kaylee says to Zoe, "If it were any one of us, captain wouldn't hesitate." As she's arming up with Simon and Book.
  • In an episode of CSI, a guy steals his recently deceased friend's corpse from an ambulance so he can "attend" one last party with him and other friends. Once the police shows up and informs him that he's going to jail for this he calmly replies "He would have done it for me".

Music

But I'll walk through fire. Through fire. Oh—I'll walk through fire for you. Through fire 'Cos I know you'd do the same for me ...

  • "Pandora's Kiss"

Got me free to be
Be your everything
Cause you'd do the same for me

Video Games

You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you do the same for me if you knew I was dying?

Web Original

Western Animation

  • On The Simpsons, when Homer asks why Ned's helping him, and Ned says that Homer would do the same. Cue Imagine Spot of Homer not helping Ned in any way, shape or form. Homer confirms anyway.
  • In the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark", a jealous Bender has tossed Fry's fossilized pooch Seymore into a lava pit. Despite fact that it's a lava pit, he strips down to his tighty-whities and rushes to save his old friend. His reasoning? "He'd do the same for me!"
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