Wheaton

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Wheaton is a sitcom that takes place in Wheaton, Massachusetts. It's a Seinfeld-like concept with four main characters:

The majority of their free time is spent chatting at A Cup of Joe, a coffee shop. Much like the many sitcoms before it, many of the plots consist of zany schemes and conversations that start up the main plot of the episode. The gang don't seem to have any other friends besides each other, with rare exceptions.

Tropes used in Wheaton include:

Malcolm: So your names are Steve Reeve and Victor Richter? You guys should start making a gay buddy-cop action comedy called "Reeve and Richter!"
Reeve: Are you trying to tease me, Malcolm?
Malcolm: In a very elaborate way, yes.

Customer: Could you do something about this? I mean, it's really inappropriate and it's bothering me very much.
Joe: If you don't like it, get the fuck out.

Camille: Reeve...are you okay?...Any bad thoughts?
Reeve: I want to throw him into a giant meat-grinder and serve him to his family...
Camille: Yeah, I thought so.

  • Door Judo: Malcolm pulls this on Ace after locking him out of the apartment.
  • Dream Within a Dream: Cranked Up to Eleven in "Ace Had a Crazy-Ass Dream Last Night."
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Up until the end of "Ace and Malcolm Spot Some Talent", Ace and Malcolm spend their time trying to figure out how to talk to the new girl at the coffee shop, since they've never actually seen her face. At the end, it turns out to be Reeve wearing his usual clothing, but they were too stupid to notice and everyone else (especially Camille) was laughing too hard to tell them. Ace just walks away in shame, but Malcolm drops to his knees and lets out a glorious "NNNOOOOOO!!!!" with his arms reaching for the sky. The episode ends with Reeve just staring at him in confusion.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Camille's bedroom consists entirely of pink princesses, unicorns and rainbows. Turns out it's actually Reeve's.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Much like one of the shows it is inspired by, many of the episodes' titles briefly describe what happens. (e.g. "Reeve Pretends to Be Straight", "Ace Had a Crazy-Ass Dream Last Night".)
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble:
    • Ace - Choleric
    • Camille - Melancholic
    • Malcolm - Phlegmatic
    • Reeve - Sanguine
  • Freud Was Right: In-universe. Malcolm is the only one who actually finds "A Cup of Joe" sexual.
  • The Fun in Funeral: So much so, it's the title of the episode.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: Reeve fits this trope to a T. In fact, he doesn't even have to mention it. EVERYONE knows it. Justified in that the creator actually dressed like Reeve does.
  • Hollywood Atheist: Played straight with Ace, averted with Camille. It's implied (but never explicitly pointed out) that both Malcolm and Reeve are also atheists.
  • Hollywood New England: Averted.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Camille and Reeve are the Queen and Queen of this trope. Camille with her feminism, Reeve with his homosexuality.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: Camille being called out on her excessive feminism.

Ace: Camille, you're about as much of a non-activist as I am a Yankees fan. The only people who don't know about your overly-enthusiastic views on women's rights are the sewer people, and I think even they might be thinking "Did I just hear a lesbian?"
Camille: *punches him in the chest*

  • Incredibly Lame Pun: The gang will never pass up a chance to take a jab at the poorly-titled coffee shop.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Everywhere.
  • Magnificent Bitch: Reeve at the end of "Camille and Malcolm Fight Injustice." While everyone else's efforts may have been a bit pointless, it is revealed at the very end that Reeve seduced the contractor for the cell-phone conglomerate and convinced him to deem the location useless.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Ace most certainly crosses it in "Religion: An Existential Problem" when he verbally abuses every Catholic in A Cup of Joe. Thankfully, Camille yanks him back. See What the Hell, Hero?
  • Motor Mouth: Malcolm, while high on caffeine and Creepypasta.
  • Noodle Incident: The infamous Lexus. All that is known about it is that it involved Camille making Reeve act as her bodyguard.
  • Only Sane Man: Malcolm thinks he's this, but in anyone else's eyes, he's the craziest.
  • Paranoia Fuel: In-universe example. Malcolm spends the majority of "Reeve Pretends to Be Straight" browsing through Creepypasta and drinking excessive amounts of caffeine. By the end of it all, he's hallucinating, speaking cryptically and even assaulting the host of the party before Reeve can get a chance.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: The only reason it's set in Massachusetts is because it is one of the few states where same-sex marriage is legal. The creator wants to have that window open if they need to use it for Reeve.
  • Running Gag: Reeve calling out either Ace or Malcolm when they say something particularly...well, gay.

Ace: This place just looked fucking cool! The curtains were, like, seven different colors! They looked so awesome!!
Reeve: *scoffs* Queer. *sips coffee*

  • Serious Business: In the episode "Camille and Malcolm Fight Injustice", it is discovered that A Cup of Joe is being torn down to make room for a cell-phone store. Camille and Malcolm go to extreme lengths to stop it, even after Joe explicitly states that the coffee shop will still be in town, just a bit of a drive down the road.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The aforementioned episode. By the end, Camille and Malcolm have sabotaged the cell-phone store's location and Ace has organized the entire town in a marching protest against it. After all of this, it is revealed that Joe discovered that he was able to keep A Cup of Joe at its location before they even started the protest because the cell-phone conglomerate decided against building the new store around the same time, thanks to the magnificent Reeve.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss: Reeve pulls one of these on Camille in order to convince her that he can pull off straight.
  • Tropes Will Ruin Your Life: In-universe! In the episode "Everyone Ruins Their Lives", the gang becomes addicted to the website. As a result, the lampshade-hanging is cranked up to eleven.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Malcolm is the only one who notices the strange context of the shop's name.
  • Unfortunate Names: Reeve's first name is Steve. His boyfriend, Richter, has the equally-unfortunate first name of Victor. Malcolm lampshades this.
    • The owner of A Cup of Joe also has this. His name is Joe Joseph.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: While Camille may be an atheist like her older brother, even she can't take it when he spends the climax of "Religion: An Existential Problem" bad-mouthing every Catholic in A Cup of Joe, nearly getting himself banned in the process.

Camille: *slaps Ace in the face* What the fucking fuck, you fucking asshole?! Just because they believe in a higher power doesn't make them idiots! You think that just because there's no proof, it's impossible?! No one's ever gone through a black hole either, but we know they fucking exist!! And I know I'm an atheist, too, but my god, Ace!!! You're treating this thing like it's the end of fucking days for everything as we know it if just one person thinks you're wrong!! If you want to be like that, fine! But just know that if you keep this fucking shit up, I will completely disown you in my mind. If you continue being such an anti-Catholic jackass, I will never think of you as family ever again!!

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