flip the script

flip the script (third-person singular simple present flips the script, present participle flipping the script, simple past and past participle flipped the script)

1. (slang) To reverse a situation, especially by doing something unexpected.
   • 2003, Deborah Gregory, The Cheetah Girls: Livin' Large!, page 405:

     Some people walk with a panther or strike a buffalo stance that makes you wanna dance. Other people flip the script on the day of the jackal that'll make you cackle.

   • 2008, Brian Peterson, Move Over, Girl: A Novel, page 63:

     But sometimes she'd flip the script and come out with some tight shit on, turning that magnetic strength up to full power.

   • 2010, Inkwell, Children in the Belly of the Beast: Breeding Ground for Social Pathology, page 148:

     We need to flip the script and start showing that same level of compassion and love toward each other, and perhaps we will then gain respect and control over our communities.

   • 2011, Adrianne Byrd, King's Promise, page 94:

     And we're not talking about me. We're talking about you. What's with you Kings? You're always trying to flip the script on me.