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* CreatorBreakdown: The third loop has things going utterly topsy-turvy, hinting that Vern was getting carried away with killing Rolanda then focusing on the actual story.
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* CreatorBreakdown: The [[invoked]] [[RewatchBonus Once you know the twist,]] it becomes clear that the third loop has things going utterly topsy-turvy, hinting topsy-turvy was meant to hint that Vern was getting carried away with killing Rolanda then focusing to the point of forgetting to focus on the actual story.
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the [[TimeLoop loop]] she goes. And where she'll stop? Nobody knows.]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the [[TimeLoop [[GroundhogDayLoop loop]] she goes. And where she'll stop? Nobody knows.]]
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* CreatorBreakdown: The third loop has things going utterly topsy-turvy, hinting that Vern was getting carried away with killing Rolanda then focusing on the actual story.
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the TimeLoop she goes. Where she'll stop? No-one knows.]]
A down on her luck Comic Book artist finds herself reliving the same horrible day over and over again.
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A down on her luck Comic Book artist finds herself reliving the same horrible day over and over again.
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Rolanda is an artist working for the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comic book. Unfortunately, her latest story, ''Whirlpool'', is thoroughly rejected by her boss Vern, who proceeds to rebuke and fire her for her sharp decline in quality. She returns to his office that night, drunk as a skunk, and shoots him dead, only to be ambushed and gunned down by several cops as she makes her getaway. Rolanda suddenly wakes up in her apartment alive and well, but when she experiences the same
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* BadBoss: Vern is a prime example of this, firing Rolanda without a care about her. Subverted in the end, since the whole thing was just a storyline he drew. Rolanda is actually HIS boss, and she fits this trope to a tee.
* BaitAndSwitch: When Vern is berating Rolanda for her terrible story at the start, he asks if she's drinking again. When she insists she's sober, [[INeedAFreakingDrink Vern slams a whisky bottle and shot glass in front of her]]. "Then maybe you should ''start''."
* BookEnds: The boss of the comic thinks a particular story being pitched is shit, and demands to see the artist in their office. The difference between both cases is who is who.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit."
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: All three times Vern dies, even when Rolanda wasn't the one to kill him, the cops immediately show up to punish her.
* CuttingTheKnot: Attempted: In the third loop, rather than go into work, Rolanda calls out sick and tears up her "Whirlpool" sketch. [[SubvertedTrope Vern then immediately shows up, demanding to see her work.]]
* DramaticIrony: Discussed: When Vern's trying to find a replacement story for the issue after turning down Rolanda's pitch, Hal mentions he wrote one involving a guy wanting to be the head of the company, [[ExactWords so they cut off his head.]]
* GroundhogDayLoop: Rolanda finds herself reliving the same events over again, no matter what she tries to do to stop it. Turns out the whole thing was just a story drawn up by one of her employees, though if the ending is anything to go by he might be stuck in one himself.
* HereWeGoAgain: Once Rolanda demands to see Vern in her office, he promptly realizes he's now trapped in his own story:
-->'''Rolanda''': (to Vern) ''You.'' In my office. (blasts a puff of cigar smoke in his face) '''NOW.''' (walks away)
-->'''Vern''': (turns to the camera [[OhCrap in realization]]) ...oh, ''shit''.
* InNameOnly: Completely different from the comic story of the same name. The only thing the two have in common is a series of events replaying over and over in a cycle.
* IronicEcho: Once the whole thing turns out to be a failed pitch, much of the dialogue from the beginning is said again, only with the roles of Rolanda and Vern reversed.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: The third time Vern dies, he actually shows up to Rolanda's apartment and kills ''himself'', only for the cops to assume Rolanda did it.
* ProsceniumReveal: Even though the Crypt Keeper stated the episode would be about a comic book artist, we open on an unrelated story of a woman having her husband murdered in the bathroom... until it turns out it's the story Rolanda was pitching to Vern.
* {{Revenge}}: Pretty much the whole reason Vern drew the comic in the first place.
* TitleDrop: Twice over: Both [[StoryWithinAStory Rolanda's story]], and ''Vern's'' story, are both called "Whirlpool".
* TheEndingChangesEverything: Turns out the whole thing was [[RevengeFic a story pitch]] Vern drew up for his boss Rolanda, who is none too happy over her likeness being used.
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* ArtifactOfDoom: If the eerie close ups and the Theremin sounds when the camera focuses on it are any indication, Rolanda's comic itself is what's instigating the time loop. Vern's comic is hinted to have the same effect on him.
* BadBoss: Vern is a prime
* BaitAndSwitch: When Vern is berating Rolanda for her terrible
*
* {{Bookends}}: The episode begins and ends with the boss of the
* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit.
* BrickJoke: The Crypt Keeper's intro has him redecorating his crypt, wondering whether he should've gone with Venetian blinds instead of curtains. His closing segment shows that he replaced said curtains with said blinds.
* CallBack: Much like [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS2E13KormansKalamity Korman's Kalamity]], this goofy and heavily-meta episode features an artist who works for ''Tales From the Crypt''.
** Iggy suggests a "he's a werewolf, she's a vampire, but neither of them knows it-story." for the latest issue, which sounds suspiciously similar to [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS2E18TheSecret The Secret]] and [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS4E13WerewolfConcerto Werewolf Concerto]].
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin:
* CigarChomper: Vern is shown to smoke cigars when he's shown as Rolanda's boss. Rolanda does the same when she's revealed to be one when she's revealed to be ''Vern's'' boss.
* CosmicPlaything: Rolanda, who's stuck in a world that aims to see her gunned down by police and ridiculed for everything she does. It's revealed that Vern is one of these himself, trapped in his own story, and Rolanda was given his role for him to vent his frustrations out on her.
* CrazyPrepared: In the second loop, Rolanda heads over to Vern's office and apologizes for her lousy story instead of trying to kill him, hoping to be given her job back. Vern instead pulls a gun on her, telling her that he knows that she was plotting to kill him, given how she "attacked" him earlier in the day, and intended to kill her first and claim self-defense, claiming her to be as predictable as her stories. This is also hint to the reveal at the ending, since the story structure is beginning to break down.
* CuttingTheKnot:
* DecoyProtagonist: Velma and Jerry, the InUniverse protagonists of "Whirlpool".
* DenserAndWackier: This is clearly the most ridiculous episode in the whole series, with its over-the-top characters, goofy cinematography, and heavy amounts of meta humor. Of course, given that the whole thing is meant to be an InUniverse comic book story, the unrelenting comedy can easily be explained.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: When she realizes that she's reliving the same day again, Rolanda stops Vern's hand before he can call security. She apparently didn't think about Vern ''yelling for someone else to call security'' instead.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Rolanda is ridiculed, fired, and shot dead several times just because of her lousy story. When the ending reveals that she's actually Vern's boss, she meets this fate because Vern wants to see her suffer.
* DramaticIrony: Discussed. When Vern tries to find a replacement story for the issue after turning down Rolanda's pitch, Hal mentions he wrote one involving a guy wanting to be "the head of a company", [[ExactWords so they cut off his head.]]
*
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: When she phones the ''Crypt'' offices to mention that she's calling in sick, Rolanda asks Hal where Vern is, to which Hal says "he went out". 10 seconds later, Vern barges through the door demanding her story.
* ForWantOfANail: Before the ending reveal, it seems like everything goes wrong for Rolanda simply because she wrote a lousy story.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: As Vern looks towards the camera after realizing that he's now stuck in his
* GoshDangitToHeck: Rolanda is known to curse this way, since she's the protagonist of an InUniverse comic book. Jerry and Velma also curse this way, also being comic book characters.
* GroundhogDayLoop: Rolanda finds herself reliving the same
* HereWeGoAgain: Once Rolanda demands to see Vern in her office, he promptly realizes he's now trapped in his own story, if not someone else's story:
-->'''Rolanda''':
-->'''Vern''':
* InNameOnly:
* IronicEcho: Once the whole
** Rolanda also repeats Vern's line about her "being on her knees" not being "a pretty picture" when she arrives to kill him.
*** Vern himself repeats the commands she used to get him on his knees in the second loop.
* KickTheDog: Rolanda is a borderline CosmicPlaything, as she's fired, rebuked, and killed multiple times over a bad story. It's revealed that she's actually Vern's boss, and she pours the same kind of treatment on Vern himself, so it makes sense that the whole episode is basically a RevengeFic that Vern drew to vent his frustrations with her as his boss.
* KillingInSelfDefense: Vern prepares to shoot Rolanda when he theorizes that she came to kill him, claiming that it'll be self-defense.
* {{Leitmotif}}: The "Whirlpool" comic is accompanied by a Theremin when it's shown on camera. The same Theremin plays again when Rolanda discovers that she's reliving the same day again and again, and at the end when Vern's comic sucks him into his own story.
* LoserProtagonist: Rolanda, one of the biggest ever shown in the series. It's revealed that Vern is a loser himself, and the whole episode was a comic that he drew where Rolanda, his BadBoss, is killed and punished in several ways to satisfy his hatred of her.
* MeaningfulName: Rolanda's comic, "Whirlpool", keeps dragging Rolanda back to the beginning of her day over and over again.
* NeckSnap: Jerry pulls this on Velma's lover when he suddenly springs back to life.
* NotQuiteDead: Jerry springs back to life seconds after he's killed to strangle Velma to death. Vern, Iggy, and Hal even call Rolanda out for making this decision, not even clarifying if he was meant to be a ghoul or was merely still alive.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: The third time Vern dies, he actually shows up to Rolanda's apartment and kills
* PreMortemOneLiner: After reminiscing that Jerry was pretty alright in bed, he springs back to life and tells her that he's "all choked up" to hear her say such a thing, before he strangles her.
* ProsceniumReveal: Even though the Crypt Keeper stated the episode
*
* RealityIsOutToLunch: With every new attempt Rolanda makes to break the time loop, reality begins breaking down. Case in point is the third loop, where after she tears up her sketch and calls in sick to avoid the whole
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rolanda keeps being thrown these speeches by Vern again and again. She gives him one of her own when it's revealed that she's really his boss.
* RecoveredAddict: Rolanda is mentioned by Vern to have had a drinking problem. She relapses after she's fired, where she storms into Vern's office and blows him away.
* RevengeFic: The entire episode (barring the closing scene) is pretty much a fanfiction where Vern puts Rolanda, his boss, into his abused position and throwing her into absolute hell. It's made clear during the third loop, where the storytelling structure begins to breakdown as Vern focuses solely on punishing Rolanda.
* RiddleForTheAges: How does Rolanda even get stuck in the loop in the first
* RuleOfThree: Rolanda goes through three separate iterations of the loop, and all three of them end with her being gunned down by police.
* SecondFaceSmoke: Vern angrily blows cigar smoke in Rolanda's face as she begs for her job back. When she's revealed to actually be Vern's boss, Rolanda does the same to him when she criticizes his using her as the character for his own lousy story.
* {{Sexophone}}: Plenty of it plays during the FakeOutOpening, mainly to illustrate how cheesy and cliché it is.
* SleepingWithTheBoss: Rolanda reminds Vern that the two of them have a "history" together as she's being fired. Vern tells her, in his own words, that he's done with it.
* SlowNo: Rolanda utters these whenever she's shot by the cops. A variation occurs over her admission of not even doing anything before she's shown in jail.
* StylisticSuck: Everything about Rolanda's InUniverse comic "Whirlpool", when reenacted for the audience, is pathetic, lousy, and completely predictable. It features blatantly hammy, one-dimensional characters in a cliché plot, and Jerry, the murder victim, comes back to life for no reason to strangle Velma, his blonde bimbo of a wife. Vern, as well as Iggy and Hal (who question if Jerry is supposed to be alive or undead) browbeat Rolanda for this terrible story, but when the episode itself is revealed to be Vern's own story, she throws the same insults right back at him. Despite how terrible the stories are, they seem to be the very things setting up the time loops that trap the people who drew them.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Iggy and Hal, Rolanda's (and later Vern's) coworkers, who are never seen apart, even during Rolanda's execution.
* TitleDrop: Twice over: Both [[StoryWithinAStory Rolanda's
* TheEndingChangesEverything:
* ViewersAreGoldfish: Thanks to the looping elements of the episode, the same scenes are replayed again and again. This includes the FakeOutOpening of "Whirlpool" that began the episode, the tail end of which plays again at the halfway point.
* WholePlotReference: To ''Film/GroundhogDay'', which premiered the year before this episode aired, since it focuses on a person stuck in a time loop who continuously tries to break it.
* WorldOfHam: Every character in the story is supremely over the top. Given that it's actually a comic story Vern's pitching, it's justified. Even outside of the initial pitch, the world is still outrageously hammy, hinting that it's actually a story within a story.
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->'''Crypt Keeper:''' ''(dressed as a renovator and having swapped the earlier curtains for Venetian blinds; an object hidden under a cloth sits on his table)'' Poor Rolanda! All she wanted was another ''shot'', and that's exactly what they gave her. Talk about ''character assassination!'' ''(cackles)'' So, what do you think, kiddies? Am I ready for Architectural ''Die''-gest or what? It took a while, but this old ''haunt'' is finally coming together. Nice ''shudders'' over there, a lovely ''fright'' fixture over here. As a matter of fact, I've even started thinking of some ''new'' improvements I want to make, and I'm going to use the same contractor! ''(whips off the cloth to reveal a severed head underneath it)'' I'm already taking ''bits.'' ''(cackles)''
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the TimeLoop she goes. Where she'll stop? No-one knows.]]
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whirlpool_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the TimeLoop she goes. Where she'll stop? No-one knows.]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the TimeLoop she goes. Where she'll stop? No-one knows.
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[[caption-width-right:350:Round and round the TimeLoop she goes. Where she'll stop? No-one knows.]]
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* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: All three times Vern dies, even when Rolanda wasn't the one to kill him, the cops immediately show up to punish her.
* CuttingTheKnot: Attempted: In the third loop, rather than go into work, Rolanda calls out sick and tears up her "Whirlpool" sketch. [[SubvertedTrope Vern then immediately shows up, demanding to see her work.]]
* CuttingTheKnot: Attempted: In the third loop, rather than go into work, Rolanda calls out sick and tears up her "Whirlpool" sketch. [[SubvertedTrope Vern then immediately shows up, demanding to see her work.]]
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* NotWhatItLooksLike: The third time Vern dies, he actually shows up to Rolanda's apartment and kills ''himself'', only for the cops to assume Rolanda did it.
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* TitleDrop: Twice over: Both [[StoryWithinAStory Rolanda's story]], and ''Vern's'' story, are both called "Whirlpool".
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* BaitAndSwitch: When Vern is berating Rolanda for her terrible story at the start, he asks if she's drinking again. When she insists she's sober, [[INeedAFreakingDrink Vern slams a whisky bottle and shot glass in front of her]]. "Then maybe you should ''start''."
* BookEnds: The boss of the comic thinks a particular story being pitched is shit, and demands to see the artist in their office. The difference between both cases is who is who.
* BookEnds: The boss of the comic thinks a particular story being pitched is shit, and demands to see the artist in their office. The difference between both cases is who is who.
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* DramaticIrony: Discussed: When Vern's trying to find a replacement story for the issue after turning down Rolanda's pitch, Hal mentions he wrote one involving a guy wanting to be the head of the company, [[ExactWords so they cut off his head.]]
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: Turns out the whole thing was a RevengePlot story pitch Vern drew up for his boss Rolanda, who is none too happy over her likeness being used.
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: Turns out the whole thing was [[RevengeFic a RevengePlot story pitch pitch]] Vern drew up for his boss Rolanda, who is none too happy over her likeness being used.
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* HereWeGoAgain: Once Rolanda demands to see Vern in her office, he promptly realizes he's now trapped in his own story:
-->'''Rolanda''': (to Vern) ''You.'' In my office. (blasts a puff of cigar smoke in his face) '''NOW.''' (walks away)
-->'''Vern''': (turns to the camera [[OhCrap in realization]]) ...oh, ''shit''.
-->'''Rolanda''': (to Vern) ''You.'' In my office. (blasts a puff of cigar smoke in his face) '''NOW.''' (walks away)
-->'''Vern''': (turns to the camera [[OhCrap in realization]]) ...oh, ''shit''.
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* ProsceniumReveal: Even though the Crypt Keeper stated the episode would be about a comic book artist, we open on an unrelated story of a woman having her husband murdered in the bathroom... until it turns out it's the story Rolanda was pitching to Vern.
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* Revenge: Pretty much the whole reason Vern drew the comic in the first place.
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* Revenge: {{Revenge}}: Pretty much the whole reason Vern drew the comic in the first place.
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* BreakingtheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit."
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* BreakingtheFourthWall: BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit."
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* BadBoss: Vern is a prime example of this, firing Rolanda without a care about her. Subverted in the end, since the whole thing was just a RevengePlot storyline he drew. Rolanda is actually HIS boss, and she fits this trope to a tee.
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* BadBoss: Vern is a prime example of this, firing Rolanda without a care about her. Subverted in the end, since the whole thing was just a RevengePlot storyline he drew. Rolanda is actually HIS boss, and she fits this trope to a tee.
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* Revenge: Pretty much the whole reason Vern drew the comic in the first place.
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A down on her luck Comic Book artist finds herself reliving the same horrible day over and over again.
!!"Whirlpool" contains examples of:
* BadBoss: Vern is a prime example of this, firing Rolanda without a care about her. Subverted in the end, since the whole thing was just a RevengePlot storyline he drew. Rolanda is actually HIS boss, and she fits this trope to a tee.
* BreakingtheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit."
* GroundhogDayLoop: Rolanda finds herself reliving the same events over again, no matter what she tries to do to stop it. Turns out the whole thing was just a story drawn up by one of her employees, though if the ending is anything to go by he might be stuck in one himself.
* InNameOnly: Completely different from the comic story of the same name. The only thing the two have in common is a series of events replaying over and over in a cycle.
* IronicEcho: Once the whole thing turns out to be a failed pitch, much of the dialogue from the beginning is said again, only with the roles of Rolanda and Vern reversed.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: Turns out the whole thing was a RevengePlot story pitch Vern drew up for his boss Rolanda, who is none too happy over her likeness being used.
!!"Whirlpool" contains examples of:
* BadBoss: Vern is a prime example of this, firing Rolanda without a care about her. Subverted in the end, since the whole thing was just a RevengePlot storyline he drew. Rolanda is actually HIS boss, and she fits this trope to a tee.
* BreakingtheFourthWall: At the end, after Rolanda tells Vern she wants to see him in her office, he turns to the camera and says "Oh, shit."
* GroundhogDayLoop: Rolanda finds herself reliving the same events over again, no matter what she tries to do to stop it. Turns out the whole thing was just a story drawn up by one of her employees, though if the ending is anything to go by he might be stuck in one himself.
* InNameOnly: Completely different from the comic story of the same name. The only thing the two have in common is a series of events replaying over and over in a cycle.
* IronicEcho: Once the whole thing turns out to be a failed pitch, much of the dialogue from the beginning is said again, only with the roles of Rolanda and Vern reversed.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: Turns out the whole thing was a RevengePlot story pitch Vern drew up for his boss Rolanda, who is none too happy over her likeness being used.
