Coat, Hat, Mask: The Stranger's trenchcoat, grinning theater mask and fedora is
the most striking thing about the Stranger at first. The creators confirm that the trenchcoat is the same one that Lewis had. Which
implies an even worse fate for Lewis...Wham Line: One to wrap up each season!
"Lewis who?" (S1E12, "Ashes To Ashes"), "The Colonel has found the last nuclear arsenal. Long live the Colonel!" (S2E12 "Red Horizon") and "Where's Elizabeth?" (S3E13 "Flying North").
Good Scars, Evil Scars: The Colonel has a nasty Glasglow Grin (Well, half of one, so it's technically a Glasglow Smirk) and is absolutely covered in scars on his torso. Lewis has white phosperous burns on his right arm.
Young Gun: Alistar is a serious case of this. He gets better in Season 2.
The Unmasqued World: Apparently the vampires, the zombies and everything else existed before the apocalypse without the humans knowing; it's just that they have become just as apathetic as everyone else and don't think hiding matters anymore. Then again, this is
Frank the Bloodsucker we're talking about here, so he may be lying.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Elizabeth is fairly friendly, and
David becomes this in Silent Echoes, though as an intelligent zombie instead.
Our Zombies Are Different: The Stenches are running, dumb cannibals who can use melee weapons but can't use tactics, who spread by being bitten who need to eat flesh or they will die. The Risers are smart zombies who like flesh but don't need to have it constantly, regenerate lost limbs but will be put down by fire as they
"Regenerate themselves to death", and are created by burying them in places infected by the "Rising Plague".
Swamps Are Evil: The swamps of Orkney were created by the carpet bombings of World War III deforming the terrain and causing rivers to flow down into the plains, and they are infested with Stenches and Risers.
Crowning Music Of Awesome: The Opening Theme is really really good.
Sweeping, fits the show's atmosphere well, and it's just fun to listen to.Dramatic Shattering: The Captain does this often when everyone is talking at the same time.
David: "Surely you can only have so many glasses?"
Captain: "... Oh, yeah. Looks like we may have to drink from the bottle tonight."
Bound And Gagged: David wakes up in the Stranger's House tied up with ropes made out of flesh, and upside down. He gets out eventually after a lot of screaming.
Broken Treasure: The Captain's diamond studded seashell in "Memories In The Waves", broken accidentally by . The saddest part of the episode was Siyv's confusion as to why the Captain was so upset over the loss of such a useless item.Siyv: "It's just fake diamonds on a plastic seashell, it's just--"
The Captain grabs and throws Siyv across the room.
Captain: "Shut the fuck up! That was my home, that was my life, that was everything before now! Don't you understand? That was the only thing... The only thing I had left... Flashback Episode: Memories In The Waves is one of the best done examples of combining this trope with
Hidden Depths and
How We Got Here, at least with how the apocalypse was..
Nightmare Fuel: Memories In The Waves. Even the Stranger and Red Horizon can't stand up to the sheer horror of the situation:
You've been drafted into a war you don't know the reason of, your beautiful village is being shelled and everyone you love in there is going to die. The best thing?Your best friend is standing on a building that is loaded with C4. If you do not press the button, thousands will die and you will be executed. If you do, then he will most certainly die.
Then the world ends, making your entire struggle pointless in the long run.