The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:Sam_and_Max_Photo_9211.jpg|frame|That's Sam on the left and Max on the right. Don't get them mi... what do you mean I did that joke already?]]

 

* [[Brick Joke]]: In Shuv-Oohl's room, if you look the newspaper clippings, one of the headlines is {{spoiler|Severed Head Explodes, Destroys Bus}}!

** Also a brick joke from another ''game'': {{spoiler|in ''[[Day of the Tentacle]]'', you find a picture of Max on the wall. If you examine it, your character says something about it being a portrait of a president. Guess what Max eventually becomes in the Telltale seasons}}? Also counts as [[Hilarious in Hindsight]].

* [[Crossover]]: Images of Sam and Max appear in most classic [[LucasArts]] adventures, including the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series.

* [[Dialogue Tree]]

** In "The Penal Zone", using Max's Future Vision power on Sam will occasionally show him in an alley saying, "[[Adventure Narrator Syndrome|I can't use these two things together]]", causing Max to [[Lampshade Hanging|lament]] on how he wished his partner had a more exciting future.

** Jurgen uses this in the rap-off if you fail twice.

** The Devil too. He's kind of a boring guy... [[Punch Clock Villain|too focused on running his company]] to be evil.

** And {{spoiler|Yog-Soggoth/Dr. Norrington}} from episode 304. Age has mellowed him: all he wants is to find a way to get home without too much fuss.

{{quote|'''Agent Superball''': Statistical analysis stated that Max becoming {{spoiler|a gargantuan hell-beast}} was the second most likely outcome.

'''Sam''': What was the most likely outcome?

* [[As You Know]]: Admirably few blatant examples of this in the Telltale games, considering how much continuity piles up. [[Lampshaded]] in "The Penal Zone", when Grandpa Stinky complains about Sam doing this.

{{quote|'''Sam:''' Max is all short term memory; I occasionally have to bring him back up to speed.

* [[Badass Grandpa|Badass Grandma]]: Out of all people, {{spoiler|Nefertiti, the mole girl who fell in love with Jurgen in "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak", becomes one in "They Stole Max's Brain!", even using Ninja Acrobatics}}.

* [[Bad Santa]]: In "Ice Station Santa". Although to be fair, {{spoiler|he was presumably possessed at the time}}.

** Played with in "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak": the stereotypical Corrupt Capitalist businessman, who made a fortune in the ''Toy Business'', is called ''Nicholas St. Kringle'', and he employs (elf) immigrants from the ethnic neighborhood known as ''Little North Pole''. Plus, he looks exactly like Santa from "Ice Station Santa".

* [[Bait and Switch]]: A few times in "The Penal Zone". For example, {{spoiler|on one occasion, Sam and Max open a deep manhole and set a banana peel in front of it, presumably to set up the familiar gag for one of Skunkape's minions. The small snippets of future Max's Future Vision picks up supports this conclusion}}. What ''actually'' transpires is that {{spoiler|instead of slipping, the minion picks up the banana peel and lectures Sam for littering... only for Max to slip up behind the minion and clobber him with a pair of garbage can lids, causing him to fall down the manhole anyways}}. It may have been a case of [[Xanatos Speed Chess]], but all the same...

** In "The Penal Zone", you learn why you should never call make fun of Max's height.

** In episode 303, we find out just exactly how Sam would be if he lost Max: he turns into an extremely rough-edged [[Cowboy Cop]], willing to resort the the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]] to receive information, even gaining [[Perma-Stubble]] while going without his jacket and hat.

** In the same episode, by {{spoiler|Wrathful Max when his hand gets lopped off}}.

** In "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak", Sameth does this when Nefertiti casts the Holstein Hex on Maximus in Reel 2. Afterwards, he doesn't seem to care as much, {{spoiler|since Nefertiti is inexperienced, and her hex wears off inside of one minute}}.

** Also the surprisingly [[Tear Jerker|heart-wrenching]] finale of episode 305.

* [[Blatant Lies]]: Girl Stinky's understanding of history. Which makes it slightly odd that she's aware how nonsensical it is for ''Abraham Lincoln'' to be trying to pay his tab in Confederate money.

* [[Born Lucky]]: Sam and Max.

* [[Bound and Gagged]]: Leonard Steakcharmer must have set some kind of record for this. Sam and Max first tie him up in the third episode of Season 1 to interrogate him, then gag him and leave him in their closet as a souvenir of the adventure. He remains there until sometime in Season 2, just over a year later in-universe, until he dies and goes to the Sam and Max wing of Hell, where he's damned to more of the same. Sam does get the hint after this and frees Leonard after restoring him to life.

''(Max stares right at the camera.)''

'''Max:''' We're detectives, Sam, not mind-readers!}}

** The best one is the ink ribbon that you find in Jurgen's castle in episode 203. The player tries desperately to fit it to one of the puzzles of the episode, only to find out in the next one that it's just garbage that's Sam threw through a temporal portal.

*** It's actually a ''double'' brick joke, as a line of dialogue in episode 202 refers to something being as useful as a typewriter ribbon in a haunted castle.

* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: A lot in the newer games. It seems no one can undergo normal torment when they could instead be interrogated with "yo momma" jokes, subjected to (literally) soul-crushingly boring stories, or put through several magic-trick themed torture devices.

** In "The City that Dares Not Sleep", Sam's dancing is so horrible that the threat of it causes one of Skunkape's minions to sing like a canary.

{{quote|Based on the heretical apocrypha, "Sam & Max Meet a Guy Who Sucks" ("Night of the Raving Dead")}}

* [[Crapsack World]]: Assuming all the little bits we hear about Max's reign as President are accurate, the country cannot be in a good state. Dakota is at WAR with itself, due to a feud about Mount Rushmore, a war that President Max provoked. His response to the crisis: provide giant battle robots to all sides and whoever wins, claim the U.S. backed them all along.

** The world got even crapsackier in Season 3, or at least looks more that way because [[Art Evolution|the graphics engine got upgraded]] and most of the damage to the block from Seasons 1 and 2 still persists.

* [[Evil Albino]]: Hugh Bliss, if being the founder of a [[Church of Happyology]] counts as evil. {{spoiler|In this particular case, it does}}.

* [[Evil Laugh]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]], both with Brady Culture and Jurgen, the latter when Sam loses a bet with Max in which he bet Jurgen would ''not make it''. If you keep him going long enough, the Season 1 [[Big Bad]] will run out of evil laughter and switch to ''saying'' "Evil Laugh", "Evil Chuckle", ...

** [[Double Subverted]] with the Zombie Factory of "Night of the Raving Dead". We expected an actual factory of zombies, {{spoiler|only to find a rave disco inside a castle named The Zombie Factory. Jurgen still makes zombies inside, so it's still a Zombie Factory in the literal sense at the same time}}.

** "They Stole Max's Brain!" is about - spoiler alert! - someone stealing Max's brain.

* [[Freeware Game]]: The episode "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", regarded by many as the best episode in Season 1.

* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: The '''C'''omputer '''O'''bsolescence '''P'''revention '''S'''ociety who are introduced in "Reality 2.0".

* [[Futureshadowing]]: Plenty of it in Season 3.

* [[G-Rated Drug]]: Played straight with Whizzer and his soda addiction, but averted when Bosco's truth serum turns out to be vodka.

* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]]: Mr Featherly, actually (in-universe). Anything endorsed on Midtown Cowboys instantly becomes a top seller in Germany. This proves to be Jurgen's downfall.

** The boys start a trend all on their own: they toss a brain up into a gargoyle's bowl to distract some zombies. Later, when they can understand them, one of the zombies thanks them for the brain and says getting it was so much fun, now they'll only eat brains American style... somewhere high up where you have to climb to get it.

{{quote|'''Sybil:''' Hm. A weenie in a rat hole. Nothing symbolic there.}}

** In episode 106, Sam flashes his unicorn to everyone

* [[Goth]]: Jurgen the vampire from "Night of the Raving Dead".

* [[The Great Whodini]]: Sam starts referring to himself as "the Great Samini" after he masters the pull-a-rodent-out-of-a-hat trick in "Bright Side of the Moon".

** The justifications as to why a problem can't be solved with a gun occasionally border on lampshading. At one point, you're confronted by some guards blocking a doorway. What happens if you try to use your gun on them? {{spoiler|"Hey, I'll give you this cool gun if you let me in!"}}

* [[Gut Feeling]]: Sam and Max have never openly disliked a character that hasn't later turned out to be truly evil. {{spoiler|This includes Hugh Bliss, The Soda Poppers, Skunkape, and Charlie Ho-Tep, and Girl Stinky}}. Even if a character is [[Designated Villain|intended to be a villain]], if Sam and Max seem comfortable or friendly with them, then there's a good chance they'll pull a [[Heel Face Turn]] later on. {{spoiler|Oh, let's see if we can drum up a few examples... Satan, Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, Papierwaite -- twice over, as Sameth and Maximus seem fine with him, then Sam and Max don't seem to consider him much worse than wimpy and annoying -- the Mariachis}}... Sam seems to be a bit better judge of character though, since Max was such a [[Psycho Supporter]] of {{spoiler|Hugh Bliss}}.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Ohhhhh boy.... {{spoiler|Gordon the Alien Brain, Sal, Max's Superego and the lovable lagomorph himself}}.

** Also don't forget {{spoiler|Sal the giant cockroach, who knew the room was filled with deadly radiation but went in anyway; in fact, cockroaches aren't immune to radiation, they just have a higher resistance than humans}}.

** Not to mention that in the final puzzle of "Night of the Raving Dead", {{spoiler|the only way to kill Jurgen is to possess the monster he created and use the stakes that he keeps in his lab as trophies of the vampire hunters he's killed}}.

** You know those psychic powers that were SO useful throughout Season 3? In the finale, not so much: in fact, they're actually used against you.

* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: In episode 304's finale, the songs being played are actually being sung to the melodies of various children's songs, like "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "You are My Sunshine". Knowing that doesn't really help though: the chanting is still creepy as hell. It makes sense though, since it was part of {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep's effort to resurrect Junior, who's the youngest of the elder gods}}.

* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]: Skun-ka'pe's preferred pronunciation of his name, which everyone [[Devil in Plain Sight|blind to his villainy]] uses. No one seems to notice Sam and Max's pronunciation of "Skunkape" except for Sal, which strikes him as witty.

* [[It's All About Me]]: Brady Culture, which causes his downfall.

** Max, always. {{spoiler|Until the end of Season 3, that is}}.

* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Momma Bosco. {{spoiler|And now she's back to being a looker. That is, if the lack of real hair doesn't bother you}}.

* [[The Jailbait Wait]]:

{{quote|'''Girl Stinky:''' {{spoiler|That Sammun-Mak}}... rowr.

'''Max:''' Isn't he, like, ten?}}

* [[Kick the Dog]]: During "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls", Sam and Max witness one of the Sam clones finding a small, plush rabbit and hugging it affectionately. This same clone {{spoiler|reappears at the Statue of Liberty and is the first victim of Max's rampage after he absorbs a portion of Junior's essence}}.

{{quote|'''Max:''' So ''that's'' why I always feel an overbearing presence just outside my field of vision watching and judging my every move. ''[happens to be looking directly at the [[Fourth Wall]]]''

'''Sam:''' That's me, Max.}}

'''Max:''' No, I'm pretty sure Flint's making that part up.}}

** Also, in "What's New, Beelzebub?", Jurgen's monster begs to be killed, and Sam complies.

* [[Metaphorgotten]]: Sam manages to jumble a couple of common phrases int eh first minute of "Culture Shock":

{{quote|'''Sam''': Patience is a sharp razor to swallow.}}

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: "They Stole Max's Brain!" is definitely this. It starts with a gritty noir theme with a mild hint of ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' in its gameplay, then goes to a part more befitting of the point-and-click gameplay we know. {{spoiler|Then the REAL twist comes when a pharaoh who happens to be inhabiting Max's body ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) uses the power of the Toy Chest to planeshift the entire world into an alternate reality where he is ruler of everything, and only Max and the molemen are aware that anything is wrong}}.

** And let's not forget [[The Reveal]] and conclusion of "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls".

** Also General Skunkape when you first meet him.

* [[Multiple Endings]]: {{spoiler|"The City that Dares Not Sleep" has two slightly different endings, depending on whether Sam's fondest memories of his life with Max (as chosen by you, the player) are of adventuring or crimefighting}}.

{{quote|'''Max:''' ''Barnaby'' and ''Jug-Jug?!'' ...you're not even ''trying'' with the names anymore, are you?}}

** If you use psychic ventriloquism on her in episode 304, Max tries to imitate her, but acknowledges that it's harder to come up with those names than it looks.

** In the Season 1 blooper real, Max/William Kasten accidentally says "subsumed" instead of "consumed". When he catches his mistake, he adds "sub... ''subsumed'', that's a nice word!". Then, in "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls", {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep}} gleefully declares that our pathetic reality is on the verge of being ''subsumed'' by the glories of the Dark Dimension.

** If Sam pockets the sunlamp lightbulb, Max asks if they got deja vu. This is because players need a sunlamp lightbulb to complete a puzzle in ''Hit the Road''.

* [[Nakama]]: Sam and Max form one just between the two of them. They will do anything for each other; they live and work together, they're utterly inseparable, and they will always protect each other.

* [[Never Say That Again]]: '''BANAAAAAAAANNNNNNG!'''

* [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging]]: Another [[Trope Namer]], this one from "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball". {{spoiler|Sybil is worried that the Toy Mafia are planning to assassinate her, and she knows Sam and Max are the only two she can trust... problem is, ''they're'' the ones the Mafia sent to off her. Max then states how Sybil should go into 'guilt-slinging' as a career}}.

* [[Obviously Evil]]: Skunkape. And Stinky, once you talk to her.

** And the "epic battle" with Jurgen in "Night of the Raving Dead".

** Implied by an intertitle in episode 302: supposedly, after arriving in Egypt, Sameth and Maximus had a series of unlikely grand adventures with Baby Amelia Earhart in tow before abandoning her and heading for the tomb of Sammun-Mak. We don't see them, of course.

* [[The Password Is Always Swordfish]]: In "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball", "swordfish" is Sam's first guess at the Toy Mafia's password (for once though, it isn't).

* [[Perpetual Poverty]]: Strangely enough, Sam and Max have absolutely no problem at all getting as much money as they need, but for some reason, they prefer to live in obvious poverty despite Max actually being the President. This might not be a huge issue for them though, as they never bother to pay bills or rent.

** He and Sam have ''an entire wing of Hell'' devoted to them and the people they've been involved in the deaths of, even those they didn't even know they were responsible for such as {{spoiler|Grandpa Stinky}}.

** And the fact that {{spoiler|with his psychic powers, he can become one with infinity and destroy the universe}} in Season 3.

* [[President Evil]]: Max, if not outright ''evil'', is at best a sociopathic Chief Executive completely unconcerned with human life, his term marked by giant robot uprisings and a three-way civil war in the Dakotas. Following his inauguration, ''Max Impeachment Weekly'' becomes a regular publication (which Max looks forward to each week). In "The Penal Zone", it's implied that Max got himself re-elected by {{spoiler|causing an outbreak of Bubonic Plague}}.

** Though the fact that {{spoiler|Hell literally froze over probably helped as well}}.

** Naturally, when you first meet Leonard in "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball", you get the option to say he looks more like a Boris Krinkle. The poor guy can't win.

*** In "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls", one of the Samulacra finds a bunny plush and gives it an affectionate hug. The rabbit was [[Wallace and Gromit|Gromit's]] from previous [[Telltale Games|Telltale]] project ''Wallace and Gromit: The Grand Adventures''.

{{quote|'''Sam:''' Spider-webs and spooky houses go together like well-dressed dogs and naked bunnies.

'''Max:''' How many times have I told you not to use the "b-word", Sam?}}

{{quote|'''Sam:''' Ferret Lake.

'''Max:''' Ooh, sequels are always more beloved than the originals!

* [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]: In "The City that Dares Not Sleep", Sam claims that he's never seen Max cry on his own except to lure his prey into a false sense of security.

* [[Yandere]]: {{spoiler|Charlie Ho-Tep}} isn't crazy, evil [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|or illiterate.]] He's [[Monster Sob Story|LONELY]].

* [[You Can't Get Ye Flask]]: [[Lampshaded]] at the end of the "Reality 2.0" episode with the golden idol.

* [[Your Mom]]:

* [[You Shouldn't Know This Already]]: Justified in that Sam has done more innocent things than guessing Bosco's keycode and has gotten a concussion for it.

* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: With a bunch of Sam's Clones, just for a change.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:Adventure Game]]

[[Category:Freeware Games]]

[[Category:IBM Personal Computer]]

[[Category:The New Tens]]

[[Category:PlayStation Network]]

[[Category:Video Game]]

[[Category:GOG.com]]