History Recap / PokerFaceS01E06ExitStageDeath

* FollowTheLeader: InUniverse -- When Charlie goes to the theater company for work, she sees a bit of a Theatre/{{Hamilton}}-style play about Ben Franklin. She's not too fond of it.
** ''Frankly Franklin'' is a real play, but it's meant to be for schoolchildren. The dinner theatre deciding to Hamilton it up still fits this trope.

* RecycledScript: The duo do this InUniverse, as the things they say during their "argument" are lifted from an episode of "''Spooky and the Cop''", verbatim according to Rebecca.

* OhCrap: Phil, when he realizes there's no bolt holding the trapdoor up.

* FallenOnHardTimesJob: Kathleen mocks Michael for doing cheesy insurance commercials before meeting Ava, and the dinner theater they do together doesn't seem much better.

* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou: Charlie doesn't like Kathleen (for obvious reasons), but even she's teary-eyed at Kathleen's monologue to end the play.

* RewatchBonus: The reveal that Michael and Kathleen were working together all along puts much of their earlier encounters in a new light. Watching the scene of Kathleen begging Michael to be in the play with her, it's clear the pair are putting on a performance for the watching Ava to make it sound like they're enemies who haven't talked in years.

* TheShowMustGoOn: After realizing they've been found out, Kathleen and Michael resolve to go out with a bang, giving the best performances of their lives before the cops come for them.

** The writers actually planned to have a whole montage of bad plays, including an all-white version of ''Film/TheWiz'' and ''Oedipus: The Musical''. Only a poster for the latter made it into the episode.

*** The play's real [[https://www.jwpepper.com/Frankly%2C-Franklin/1536226.item]]. It is in fact not good. There's a song sung by Franklin's gout.

* VerbalBackspace: As the show is getting close to opening night, Kathleen grills Phil on the stage mat for her fall at the show's finale, after her has said it's not safe. When she says she did that fall every night for a year, he starts saying "That was a long time, uh..." and stops when he sees Kathleen give him a DeathGlare and dare him to say "ago". Phil wisely decides to go check on the mat.

* NoodleIncident: When Michael loses his final straw falling onto the crash mat before rehearsal and Kathleen threatens him over past affairs of his, he claims he'll put out a chapter in his memoirs about something that happened in Acapulco (which required him to sign an NDA) to take her down with him. As He and Kathleen were in the murder plot together, it's debatable if something actually happened or if that was more acting to make people think they hate each other.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: When Charlie comes to Kathleen with her idea that Michael rigged the trap door to kill her, Kathleen tries to deflect her suspicions pointing out that he wouldn't rig the spotlight to kill himself. Charlie, who didn't even ''considered'' the possibility of the spotlight being rigged, goes to investigate, catches evidence incriminating Kathleen, finds out they acted together and uncovers the rest of the plot.

* BlackmailBackfire: Just narrowly averted. Rebecca blackmails Kathleen and Michael over Ava's murder, and of course, Kathleen tries to kill her. If not for Charlie, Kathleen's plan would have went off without much of a hitch.

** ''Frankly Franklin'' is a real play, but it’s meant to be for schoolchildren. The dinner theatre deciding to Hamilton it up still fits this trope.

*** The play’s real [[https://www.jwpepper.com/Frankly%2C-Franklin/1536226.item]]. It is in fact not good. There’s a song sung by Franklin’s gout.

-->'''Kathleen''': That was the performance of a lifetime.
-->'''Michael''': You did it, darling.
-->'''Kathleen''': ''We'' did it. ''(the pair kiss)''

* WhamLine: After Ava's death, Kathleen confronts Michael...and both smile.

-->'''Kathleen''': We did it. ''(the pair kiss)''

-->'''Michael:'' I used to wait for that parade every year. "''Independence Day''"! For who? From ''what''?!