The Booth at the End: Difference between revisions

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{{tropework}}
[[File:62c2e09c465984e95fbf4b0b66b1_4457.jpg|frame|How far would you go to get what you want?]]
 
{{quote| '''Sister Carmel:''' Do you believe in God?<br />
 
{{quote| '''Sister Carmel:''' Do you believe in God?<br />
'''The Man:''' I believe in the details. }}
 
''[[The Booth at the End]]'' is a TV series that aired on City in Canada and FX in the USA. [[The Other Wiki]] says "As of summer 2015, the series has had two seasons, each consisting of 5 twenty-three-minute episodes."
A mysterious Man sits at a booth at the end of a diner. People approach him because they've heard The Man has a gift. He can solve their problems: A parent with a sick child, a woman who wants to be prettier, a nun who has lost her faith. The Man can give these people what they want. For a price. The Man makes a proposition. In exchange for realizing their desires, these individuals must complete a task, return to The Man, and describe every step in detail. The trick is that these tasks are things that would normally be inconceivable to them. But The Man never forces anyone to do anything. Its always up to the individual to start - or stop. The Booth at the End asks the question: How far would you go to get what you want?
 
[http://www.hulu.com/the-booth-at-the-end Hulu] has the entire series collected into five 23-minute episodes.
 
A mysterious Man sits at a booth at the end of a diner. People approach him because they've heard The Man has a gift. He can solve their problems: A parent with a sick child, a woman who wants to be prettier, a nun who has lost her faith. The Man can give these people what they want. For a price. The Man makes a proposition. In exchange for realizing their desires, these individuals must complete a task, return to The Man, and describe every step in detail. The trick is that these tasks are things that would normally be inconceivable to them. But The Man never forces anyone to do anything. ItsIt's always up to the individual to start - or stop. ''[[The Booth at the End]]'' asks the question: How far would you go to get what you want?
=== This series contains examples of: ===
 
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abusive Parents]]: Allen, the detective, was one to his son and deeply regrets it.
* [[Alternate Character Interpretation]]: Oh boy, the Man. Who is he? Villain, victim, hero? [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] or Satan himself? A [[Trickster Mentor]] or just a [[Trickster]]?
* [[Babies Ever After]]: {{spoiler|Sister Carmel and the artist}}.
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: The Man doesn't grant wishes, he just lets you know how to get what you desire. How the fickle finger of fate chooses to provide, however.....
* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: possiblyPossibly the Man, who reacts as a human would in some situations-- for instance, getting irritated when people accuse him of manipulating them, or being surprised and horrified at Willem's... interesting strategy to accomplish his task -- and strangely dispassionate and uncaring at other junctures
* [[But Thou Must!]]: [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Not exactly]]. You COULD''could'' get what you want without him, but the only guarantee is to do what The Man says, and he only gives you one path.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in that [[The Man]] knows EXACTLY''exactly'' what the game board looks like, but his level of control is questionable at best, possibly even nonexistent.
** He is accused of this trope several times, but is quite insistent that he is not a Chessmaster/Puppeteer, but merely a "messenger of opportunities"
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: The ending of season one.
{{quote| "It can happen."}}
* [[Deal Withwith the Devil]]
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: At first, Willem's job of playing guardian angel to a litlelittle girl is pretty cut and dry. But when {{spoiler|he kidnaps her to hide her from her tormentor, with permission from no one}}, he veers wildly into this territory.
* [[Dirty Cop]]: Allen has to protect one.
* [[Flat What]]: When The Man hears {{spoiler|Willem's reasons for kidnapping the girl}}.
{{quote| '''The Man:''' Why did you {{spoiler|kidnap her?}}<br />
''' {{spoiler|Willem}}:''' So I could be the hero.<br />
'''The Man:''' What. }}
* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: every episode is named after something the Man says in that episode
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* [[Red Herring]]: Told to protect a [[Dirty Cop]] in his department, Allan starts covering for a homicide detective who [[Grave Robbing|steals valuable items from murder scenes.]] {{spoiler|But Allan eventually realizes that he himself is the [[Dirty Cop]], abusing his authority to fulfill his self-serving deals with The Man.}}
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: Inverted. It's only a prophecy if you choose to do it.
* [[Show, Don't Tell]]: Inverted. The audience is never shown ANYTHING''anything'' outside of the diner setting, and instead relies on character dialogue to convey it. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Depending on who you are]], this serves as either an egregious violation of the rule, or helps the audience relate to the otherwise inscrutable Man.
* [[Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate]]: As of season 1, this series looks to run somewhere in the Type III zone.
* [[Sweet and Sour Grapes]]: {{spoiler|Neither James nor Mrs. Tyler go through with their grisly deals, but get what they want anyhow.}}
* [[Trickster Mentor]]: The Man. Good sweet googly-moogly, The Man. He'll help you figure out what you have to do to get what you want, no problem...
* [[Turned Against Their Masters]]: {{spoiler|Willem tries to mess up The Man's system. [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard|This does not end well for him.]] }}
* [[Wham! Line]]: In response to what Gerald wants: {{spoiler|"That can happen."}}
* [[What You Are in Thethe Dark]]: A part of The Man's ''modus operandi''. Even if people get what they want, doing what The Man asks (or going through a large part of it) tends to make people confront themselves. Most aren't exactly very happy at what they see... but blame The Man.
 
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