Death Valley: Difference between revisions

* Officer Joe Stubeck: The oldest member of the UTF, he has a wife and two daughters and tries to help and assist the populace [[Straight Man|with professionalism and an honest urge to make the world a better place]].

* Officer Billy Pierce: Stubeck's partner, he is preoccupied with [[Quip to Black|looking good for the camera crew]] and having [[Man Child|sexy and action packed adventures]].

* Officer John "John-John" Johnson: Carla's partner, John [[Batter Up|is always extremely excited when it is time to take down a zombie.]] However, his glee for breaking zombie heads has gotten him into trouble more than once, and he also discovers early on that he has zombie problems in his personal life.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: When Carla was ambushed by a vampire [[Dirty Harriet|while undercover as a vampire prostitue]] John-John shot the vampire ''through the wall'' to save her.

* [[Bi the Way]]: Julia, Carla's girlfriend, is bisexual.

* [[Bottomless Magazines]]: Averted, whenever a character winds up facing a horde of zombies they run out of ammunition and need to either get more from a different location or kill the zombies by hand. Episode ten revolves around a zombie siege of the UTF when they discover that their ammunition stockpile has been stolen, forcing them to carefully ration their remaining bullets and (eventually) [[Combat Pragmatist|make weapons out of whatever material is handy]].

* [[Brick Joke]]: After Billy asks a drive-thru waitress about her "kabobs" (See [[Lampshaded Double Entendre]] below) the next scene shows him, Stubeck and Jamie (The sound guy) eating kabobs in their car.

* [[Casual Danger Dialogue]]: When Kirsten reveals that she is a virgin when the UTF is under siege by zombies, Stubeck asks if he can spend a few minutes with her and get information on her childhood and her parents child-rearing methods in order to replicate them with his own daughters. Kirsten says that she would be happy to do so ''once they have escaped the horde of zombies''.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Captain Dashell's "Let's get out there and kill something."

* [[Could Say It, But...]]: After John-John accidentally kills an old man, thinking he was a zombie, Captain Dashell addresses the whole squad.

{{quote| "Now it is not important who caused this death, which is why I don't mind saying it was John-John."}}

* [[Due to The Dead]]: Both the police and the vampires have eleborate funeral ceremonies to honor their dead. The vampires' customs can easily squick out a human.

* [[Ethical Slut]]: The actors of "Two Girls, One Cop," who are just normal people and entered the adult film industry for the good pay and because they enjoyed the sex.

* [[Fair Cop]]: Both Carla and Kirsten get a lot of flirting from their male co-workers and the civilians they encounter.

* [[Fight Clubbing]]: Zombie Fights, where two zombies are made to fight over a piece of meat, are an on-line event, specifically compared to Bum Fights. {{spoiler|John-John discovers his father is a zombie when he sees him in one of the fights}}.

* [[Fix It in Post]]: After Billy flirts with a news reporter, on camera, she informs him that he is confusing her with a different reporter that had been killed earlier in the episode. Billy [[Completely Missing the Point|continues to hit on her]] until Stubeck makes him realize the situation, whereupon Billy himself turns to the camera and asks if they can fix it in post.

* [[Fun With Acronyms]]: Dep. Chief Ribbings in episode 6 replaces the term zombie with '''P'''otential '''U'''ndead '''S'''uspect, or '''PUS''' (pronounced "puss"), setting up a CMOF at the end when his last words end up being "I am a PUS! Kill me!"

* [[Gorn]]: Zombie kills can get quite messy.

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: The documentary crew tells John-John that he swears too much, so he begins self-censoring himself by substituing tamer sayings in place of his usual swears.

{{quote| '''John-John:''' "[[Meet the Fockers]]"}}

* [[Guys Smash Girls Shoot]]: Carla is the squads best marksman, John-John is the only officer to carry a holster for his [[Batter Up|baseball bat.]]

* [[Hot Teacher]]: Leslie, Stubeck's daughter, has a teacher that Stubeck (reluctantly) admits is hot (He quickly clarifies that he is only sexually attracted to his wife). Billy accompanies him to Parent Career Day in order to flirt with her.

** Played straight in the season one finale {{spoiler|when Carla plants a passionate kiss on John-John after saving him from a vampire attack.}}

* [[I Have Brothers]]: Kirsten explains her hand-to-hand combat skills by saying that her father was in the military.

* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: John-John has a minor crush on Carla, complicated by the fact that she is a lesbian. {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|In the season one finale she displayed visible jealousy when he flirted with another woman]], [[Bi the Way|and kissed him passionately after rescuing him from a vampire]].}}

* [[Instant Sedation]]: The UTF has [[Tranquillizer Dart|tranquilizer guns]] to use against werewolves, which knock them out as soon as they are hit.

* [[It Got Worse]]: Kirsten points out in the season one finale that the crime rate is ''skyrocketing'' due to the werewolf, vampire and zombie problem, {{spoiler|and it appears that there are now ''demons'' as well}}.

* [[It's Personal]]: Episode nine highlights [[Let's Get Dangerous|just how serious Captain Dashell can be at times]]. When he learns the truth about the GBGB parties he (After [[Turn in Your Badge|firing Kirsten]]) tracks down Rico, arrests him, [[Police Brutality|roughs him up]] and brings him back to the station single handedly. When he learns that Natalie, his niece, was actually ''in the car'' with Rico at the time he pulls the vampire into the sun for a bit before giving him a few extra punches.

** When two regular LAPD officers are temporarily sent to the Valley to help with a prisoner transfer, it quickly becomes clear that they are completely untrained for handling zombies.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: A bomb strapped to a zombie turns out to be a dud. Then a pissed off Jon-Jon kicks the zombie and the bomb starts beeping again.

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: Deputy Chief Ribbings, who institutes new protocols after John accidentally killed an octogenarian after mistaking him for a zombie. The new protocols require an officer to approach any potential zombie with the assumption that they are ''not'' a zombie and wait sixty seconds before using lethal force. All the officers explain that this will simply get them killed, and each time they attempt to follow the regulations they are forced to switch to lethal force anyway when the zombies attack them.

* [[Once an Episode]]: Captain Dashell's [[Catch Phrase]] "let's get out there and kill something" ends every station meeting at the beginning of each episode.

** When Captain Dashell learns his niece, Natalie, is dating a vampire [[It's Personal|he drags the vampire into the sun and roughs him up a bit]]. When putting him into the back of his police car he instructs the vampire to watch his head, [[Sarcasm Mode|as he does not want to be sued]].

* [[Quip to Black]]: The show rarely goes to black itself, but Billy is frequently posing for the in-show camera crew and quipping [[Sunglasses At Night|while putting on sunglasses]].

* [[Rhetorical Question Blunder]]: When Billy is upset that Stubeck implies that following a blood donation truck to a hospital was his idea, Stubeck asks if Billy is also taking credit for the delicious milkshake that he got at McDonalds earlier that day. Billy says that yes, he is, since it was his idea to get a milkshake, and Stubeck admits that he is right.

* [[Sex Is Evil]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]]. When the officers are called to an Adult Film set due to a werewolf attack, Stubeck spends a lot of time wondering what childhood trauma or abuse drove these women into porn. However, once he talks to them he learns that they had normal, healthy childhoods with good families and education, and that they entered porn because it offered a good salary and they enjoyed the sex.

* [[Shoot the Rope]]: When Kirsten is trapped by a zombie-criminal whose legs are chained together, Carla frees her by shooting the chain.

** When the documentary crew tells John-John that he swears too much [[Gosh Dang It to Heck|he starts self-censoring what he says]], using the term "[[Meet the Fockers]]" instead of "motherf***er."

** Billy points out that one of the zombies he and Stubeck encounter looks like Mickey Rourke in ''[[The Wrestler]]''.

** Both Billy and John-John do really stupid and careless things that can get them or their partners killed. Billy keeps eating dairy products even when everyone tells him that he is lactose-intolerant. Jon-Jon kicks a zombie corpse that has an unexploded bomb strapped to it.

** A regular LAPD police officer tries to help a man trashing around on the ground while all around him UTF officers shout for him to stand back. One zombie bite later and we have another illustration why [[Genre Blind]] people should stay away from the Valley.

* [[Tranquillizer Dart]]: The UTF carries tranquilizer guns to subdue werewolves, [[Instant Sedation|which knocks them out instantaneously]].

* [[Turn in Your Badge]]: When Kirsten eventually tells Captain Dashell the truth about the GBGB parties Dashell, while running out of the station in a rage, orders her to put her badge and gun on his desk; she is fired.

* [[Weakened By the Light]]: Vampires have a vulnerability to sunlight and members of the UTF carry ultraviolet lights to use against them. These are termed "U.V. Guns," but John calls them an "Uv gun."

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: It seems that Billy looks up on his partner, Stubeck, as a mentor and father figure. In "Zombie Fights" he resents when Stubeck unintentionally takes credit for his idea, and eventually admits that he is looking for appreciation of the work he does and respect as a cop.

** Episode 8 closes with {{spoiler|vampires attempting to kill Carla and using a zombie to bomb a convenience store}}, all to send a message to the UTF that they (The vampires) are stronger and are the ones who are ''really'' in charge of the San Fernando Valley.

** The season finale ends with the UTF and the Vampires about to make peace, and maybe bring a little order to the chaos. {{spoiler|Then what appears to be a freaking ''demon'' kills the head Vampire and disappears into the streets.}} The UTF discovers that there are [[It Got Worse|worse things out there]] than what they have seen so far.

* [[Worth It]]: When the UTF discovers that their ammunition has been stolen in the middle of a zombie siege, Captain Dashell instructs them to make sure every single shot counts. Carla, annoyed by the continuous beeping of a smoke detector, wastes a precious bullet to end the noise. She comments that it was worth it.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: At the funeral for the two LAPD officers that were killed in the tenth episode, Captain Dashell is approached by the leader of the vampires, whose son the UTF had killed. The vampire pays his respects to the two slain officers and invites Dashell to attend the funeral of his own son as a gesture of respect and potential opening to peace negotiations.

** When John and Carla are being swarmed by zombies, having run out of ammo and trapped in a van, John recalls when they agreed to have sex if it ever looked like they were going to die. Carla points out that ''he'' said that, [[Subverted Trope|and she never agreed to any such thing]]. However, when it looks like John has found a way to save their lives, [[Double Subverted|Carla says she might just reconsider]], [[Zig Zagged Trope|until he fails and the entire affair is dropped]]. [[Parodied Trope|The documentary sound guy, stuck with them, offered to do "man stuff" if they could just all be gotten out alive]].

** In a [[Call Back]] to when they were trapped in a van by zombies, when the UTF station itself is attacked by zombies Carla tells John-John that she will book a hotel room if they do manage to survive.