History Series / DarkAngel

* FantasticDietRequirement: The X-5s have a built-in tryptophan deficiency, which they need to account for with artificial supplements. Max neglects to mention to her roommate, resulting in a couple of MistakenForJunkie situations.

* StoicSpectacles: Alec when pretending to be Simon Lehane. One of the writers said they put Creator/JensenAckles in glasses because they thought he'd look good in them. Logan, all the time.

* YourDoorWasOpen: Max and Zack often appear in Logan's apartment without warning. They '''are''' basically ninjas.

** The process of genetic enhancement is not without its faults. Many of the "nomalies" (anomalies), X-series subjects who have mutated, are shown to be practically feral. This was especially a problem with the [=X-2s=], who were pretty much a complete disaster. Even [=X-5s=] like Max all routinely suffer from seizures, requiring her to take tryptophan supplements to suppress them. This wasn't brought up in the second season, so it's possible that this issue might have been fixed in the later iterations of X-series soldiers.

** The Red Series soldiers are enhanced by an implant that augments their strength, speed, and durability, making them even more effective than the Manticore X-Series. This comes at the cost of their lifespan being reduced to mere months.

** One of the ongoing plotlines of Season 1 was Max trying to reunite with the eleven siblings who broke out of Manticore with her in 2009, or at least determine what happened to them. As of the end of Season 1, we had seen Zack, Brin, Tinga, Ben, Krit and Syl, we knew that Jondy and Zane were okay but didn't actually see them, and the other three hadn't been named or their status described at all. With all of Manticore's transgenics released in Season 2 and needing to be helped or dealt with, the focus shifted away from Max's unit entirely. While Zack reappeared for an episode (and Tinga and Ben were dead), the current whereabouts of Brin, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane and the unnamed three remained a mystery. See "What Happened to the Mouse" below. Although Krit and Syl had been planned to be brought back in the last two episodes, but their actors were unavailable, so Biggs and Cece were invented instead.

* DeathOfAChild: As shown in the pilot, Max's sister Eva was shot by Lydecker during the escape. Her brother Jack died of seizures before the escape, as seen in flashbacks in "Pollo Loco", which Ben took particularly hard. Another, unnamed X5 child is shown being accidentally killed by friendly fire in flashbacks in "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole". Then in the novel ''After the Dark'', Ames White's young son Ray is murdered by some of his rivals within the Familiars.

* DeathOfAChild: As shown in the pilot, Max's sister Eva was shot by Lydecker during the escape. Her brother Jack died of seizures before the escape, as seen in flashbacks in "Pollo Loco", which Ben took particularly hard. Another, unammed X5 child is shown being accidentally killed by friendly fire in flashbacks in "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole". Then in the novel ''After the Dark'', Ames White's young son Ray is murdered by some of his rivals within the Familiars.

* DeathOfAChild: As shown in the pilot, Max's sister Eva was shot by Lydecker during the escape. Her brother Jack died of seizures before the escape, as seen in flashbacks in "Pollo Loco", which Ben took particularly hard. Then in the novel ''After the Dark'', Ames White's young son Ray is murdered by some of his rivals within the Familiars.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: {{Subverted}}. X5s tend to be attractive, but that's down to {{genetic engineering|IsTheNewNuke}} (and being played by Creator/JessicaAlba or Creator/JensenAckles). Manticore transgenics with more bizarre appearances are also generally good guys. However, they still fall prey to this, as anti-transgenic bigots especially play up the latter to demonize them, and a transgenic covered in growths is shot dead by a police officer who thinks he's trying to hurt a boy (though he actually just saved his life), undoubtedly at least in part due to his hideous appearance.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: [=CeCe=] and Biggs were supposed to be return appearances by Syl and Krit, but the actors' schedules didn't work out.

** One of the ongoing plotlines of Season 1 was Max trying to reunite with the eleven siblings who broke out of Manticore with her in 2009, or at least determine what happened to them. As of the end of Season 1, we had seen Zack, Brin, Tinga, Ben, Krit and Syl, we knew that Jondy and Zane were okay but didn't actually see them, and the other three hadn't been named or their status described at all. With all of Manticore's transgenics released in Season 2 who needed to be helped or dealt with, the focus shifted away from Max's unit entirely. While Zack reappeared for an episode (and Tinga and Ben were dead), the current whereabouts of Brin, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane and the unnamed three remained a mystery. See "What Happened to the Mouse" below. Although Krit and Syl had been planned to be brought back in the last two episodes, but their actors were unavailable, so Biggs and Cece were invented instead.

** One of the ongoing plotlines of Season 1 was Max trying to reunite with the eleven siblings who broke out of Manticore with her in 2009, or at least determine what happened to them. As of the end of Season 1, we had seen Zack, Brin, Tinga, Ben, Krit and Syl, we knew that Jondy and Zane were okay but didn't actually see them, and the other three hadn't been named or their status described at all. With all of Manticore's transgenics released in Season 2 who needed to be helped or dealt with, the focus shifted away from Max's unit entirely. While Zack reappeared for an episode (and Tinga and Ben were dead), the current statuses of Brin, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane and the unnamed three remained a mystery. See "What Happened to the Mouse" below.

* AbortedArc: Neither Max's heat cycle nor her (and other X5s') dependence on tryptophan supplements to prevent potentially fatal seizures are brought up in Season 2. Which is as well, since both were highly inconvenient and we can HandWave that Manticore fixed them while she was captured.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Normal's running crush on Alec, PlayedForLaughs.

* BecomingTheMask: Alec as Simon Lehane, "The Berrisford Agenda". The MyGodWhatHaveIDone variety.
** Also Max's twin Sam, who married her husband as part of corporate espionage for Manticore but fell in love with him, and stayed with him and adopted his son after Manticore fell.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Zack.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Max and Logan.

* FaceHeelTurn: Brin.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off the Space Needle in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be taken alive (and had been working with Logan before Max did, which is how he knew about X5s), and Kavi was exposed making a nearly impossible throw in a baseball game in front of a Manticore officer sometime pre-series and recaptured.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off the Space Needle in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be recaptured (and had been working with Logan before Max did, which is how he knew about X5s), and Kavi was exposed making a nearly impossible shot in a ball game in front of a Manticore official sometime pre-series but it doesn't say whether he was killed or recaptured.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The episode "Out" refers to Logan being potentially outed as Eyes Only, and also features Normal dating a woman he later learns is transgender.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off the Space Needle in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be recaptured (and had been working with Logan before Max did, which is how he knew about X5s), and Kavi was exposed making a nearly impossible shot in a ball game in front of a Manticore official pre-series but it doesn't say whether he was killed or recaptured.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off the Space Needle in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be recaptured (and had been working with Logan before Max did, which is how he knew about X5s), and Kavi was exposed making a nearly impossible shot in a ball game in front of a Manticore official but it doesn't say whether he was killed or recaptured.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off a building in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be recaptured (and had been working with Logan before Max did, which is how he knew about X5s), and Kavi was exposed making a nearly impossible shot in a ball game in front of a Manticore official but it doesn't say whether he was killed or recaptured.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi. Vada was found and shot by Lydecker sometime pre-series, Seth jumped off a building in ''Before the Dawn'' rather than be recaptured, and Kavi was exposed in front of a Manticore official but it doesn't say whether he was killed or recaptured.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: There were twelve X5 escapees in 2009, but as of the series finale, three of them hadn't been named onscreen (and the focus of the show had shifted from finding Max's escaped siblings to all the new transgenics freed in the season premiere). The prequel novel ''Before the Dawn'' finally gave their names as Seth, Vada and Kavi.

** Max, Alec and Joshua in season 2.

* DyingDream: The Season 1 finale, "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole" features one after Max is shot by her X7 clone. At first, we see the scene replay with Max disarming her and everyone returns back from the mission safely, with hints something is up via OutOfCharacterAlert: Zack tells Max that Logan is alright with him, and Lydecker is with them all at Crash. Then Max and Logan (finally) sleep together, the crow that everyone was spooked by in real life earlier appears above them, and Max snaps to reality, where she's dying from the bullet wound and is recaptured by Manticore. Fortunately for her, Zack has also been taken and sacrifices himself to provide her with a heart transplant.

* RuleOfSymbolism: A crow appears in the Season 1 finale "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole" as an omen of death while Max and the other X5s are planning the op to cripple Manticore. They flash back to a training mission when they were kids where one of them shot at a crow like that and accidentally hit another X5, killing them. In the present, Zack shoots at the bird and it flies away. Later, it appears in Max's DyingDream as mentioned above.

%%* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer

* TheAllegedCar: Logan's Pontiac Aztek.

''See also:'' Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', for another story of a genetically-engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.

* BloodTransfusionPlot: Logan receives blood transfusions from transgenics at least twice. The first time it's because they're universal donors - and the writers didn't realize his Type ABNegative is nearly universal recipient; the second because he specifically needs the antibodies in their blood to cure a SyntheticPlague infection. The first transfusion comes from Max. The second time, Alec agrees to do it but is detained by the police for one of Ben's murders on his way to the hospital, so Max has to sneak [[BeastMan Joshua]] in (Max can't do it herself this season because the Logan-killing virus is in her in the first place).

** The transgenics were made to survive the breeding cult's virus, which only members of the cult were supposed to be able to survive. Max doesn't even feel ill when exposed, unlike other transgenics, and both the post-series novels and the writers' aborted Season Three plans state that her genetic code can be used to immunize regular humans. The cult aren't too happy to discover this.
** The transgenics settle down in "Terminal City", a part of Seattle where biocontaminants were accidentally released from a lab when its containment was immobilized by the Pulse, because they can survive there and humans can't.