The Collector (TV series): Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Ah, [[Hell]]. Isn't it lovely? These are all my little souls. I used to gather them myself, but by the 14th century, I needed some help. That's how I found Morgan. He was a monk back then, so he played hard-to-get, but I found that with the right bait, you can catch any fish you want. In the end, he came to work for me. He became [[Title Drop|a collector]]. Then, recently, he made me the most interesting proposal. He wants to seek salvation for his clients. I decided to let him try -- for now.''|'''The Devil''', [[Opening Narration]]}}

 

 

The other main characters are Maya Kandinski (Carly Pope/Sonya Salomaa), a former prostitute and drug addict who reminds Morgan of his lost love; Jeri Slate (Ellen Dubin), an investigative reporter who notices something strange about Morgan; her son Gabe (Aidan Drummond), an autistic child with a mystical connection to Morgan; and her sister Taylor (Christine Chatelain), who takes care of Gabe when she's gone.

The first two seasons were released on DVD in 2008 and 2009. They are also available online through [http://www.blinkbox.com/TV/Series/470/The-Collector blinkbox] for U.K. viewers.

 

 

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** Also the fate of another client who avoided Hell without finding redemption.

* [[Beard of Evil]]: While meeting the younger Morgan in flashbacks, the Devil takes the form of a goateed Colin Cunningham.

* [[Chosen One]]: {{spoiler|Morgan was God's chosen instrument to discover the cure for Plague, centuries ahead of reality. The Devil successfully distracted him from this role}}.

** One episode involves a great spirit periodically guided to an Amerindian tribe, the latest being their needed savior, {{spoiler|whom the Devil also tries to distract from her role}}.

* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: See [[Splash of Color]] below.

* [[Demonic Dummy]]: The Devil took this form once. The human-looking ventriloquist was ''his'' dummy.

* [[Hell Gate]]: Appears to collect.

* [[Hollywood Exorcism]]: Features in the series finale, "The Exorcist," including the thrashing around, the fake exorcism rituals, the telekinesis, and a variation on the spinning head theme.

* [[Human Sacrifice]]: One client got an extension that would require one every 10 years. The Devil said he had the same arrangement with the Phoenicians.

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Almost every episode is titled after the reason the client sold their soul -- usually the name of their job. This is occasionally used for a bit of misdirection; for example, the title character of {{spoiler|"The Children's Book Writer"}} actually sold his soul to be a {{spoiler|serial killer}}.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: In "The Exorcist," a priest knocks out a man by hitting him over the head with a crucifix.

* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Jeri Slate, who grows suspicious of Morgan and later obsessed after noticing that he's been around for some high-profile deaths.

* [[Invisible to Normals]]: The portal to Hell can only be seen and heard by clients.

* [[Machine Worship]]: One client was a roboticist who sold her soul to the devil so she could build a robot capable of thought. When her time was nearly up for her to be damned to hell, she places her mind in the robot's body, proclaiming she will now be free, immortal, and perfect. But her body ends up malfunctioning, and incapable of moving at all but [[And I Must Scream|still fully conscious.]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Maya is a concept from Hinduism meaning ''illusion'' or ''delusion'', referring to the idea that what we experience is a self-created projection of our environment, not the environment itself. Spelled backwards, as the character Maya did when she was a child, it becomes "I am"; {{spoiler|Gabe}} used it in this manner in Season 3.

* [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]]: While mocking a Hindu, the Devil briefly sprouts two extra arms, one holding a magazine and one scratching himself.

* [[The Nth Doctor]]: Each episode has a new guest star playing the role of the Devil, showing how he can appear in whatever form is necessary to put his victims at ease. The only recurring actor is Colin Cunningham, who plays the Devil as he appeared to Morgan in the 14th century and provides the series' opening narration.

** Maya Kandinski is played by Carly Pope in Season 1, then Sonya Salomaa in Seasons 2 & 3. This is explained in-universe with the Devil giving Maya a new body and altering reality around it, and Maya's angst and confusion at her vague memories of Carly Pope's likeness become a major plot point.

* [[The Omniscient]]: The Devil. The limits of his awareness and power are not entirely clear, but he can see into people's minds across the whole universe.

* [[Omniscient Morality License]]: The Devil implies that he has one, and that he only seeks to do good. He's chided Morgan for overestimating his own ability to judge a person's character.

* [[Opening Narration]]: See the page quote.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: One client was turned into her idea of a vampire, which she mistakenly thought was already real.

* [[Public Domain Character]]: [[Jack the Ripper]], who ends up being {{spoiler|a woman who sold her soul to shapeshift into a man to kill her victims.}}

* [[Really 700 Years Old]]: Morgan.

* [[Replaced the Theme Tune]]: The third season opening credits get a new theme tune and animation style, minus the [[Opening Narration]] used for the first and part of the second seasons.

* [[Satan Is Good]]: Or so he claims.

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: "The Actuary" begins with a prediction that an actuary will kill a dangerous mobster. The mobster chasing him down to stop the prediction sets the events in motion that make the prediction come true.

* [[Splash of Color]]: Katrina's red hair in [[Deliberately Monochrome]] flashbacks of Morgan's life in the 14th century.

* [[Super Empowering]]: Done by the Devil to collectors and some other clients.

* [[A Taste of the Lash]]: Morgan was a flagellant monk.

* [[The Voiceless]]: Gabe is physically capable of speech, but never speaks to anyone {{spoiler|until Season 3}}. The first word he says in the show, {{spoiler|"goodbye" right before his mother dies}}, comes as quite a shock.

* [[Waif Prophet]]: Gabe, a non-verbal autistic child, is one of the few people who can see through the Devil's disguises.

* [[The Wild West]]: The client of the season 2 premiere lived out the deal in his [[Lighter and Softer|idealized version]] of this trope. Morgan was actually there and tells him a little about [[Darker and Edgier|how bad it really was]].

* [[You Have 48 Hours]]: When Morgan makes contact with the client, the countdown to the [[Your Soul Is Mine|end of the deal]] starts in his cellphone. It zeroes if they succeed. [[Lampshaded]] by ''The Yogi'', with something along the lines of "All these nice round numbers. Doesn't it seem a bit... Artificial?".

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Canadian Series]]

[[Category:Horror Series]]