History Series / Slasher

** The Widow comes about because [[spoiler:the Botticelli sisters, Basil Garvey, and numerous other people participated in the ''vicious'' torment, eventual murder, and bodily desecration of Margaret Mehar. Her daughter bore witness to most of it, and was taken and trained by a fellow worker who took her in. She comes back twelve years later, vengefully killing everyone involved in Margaret's fate and Andrew May Sr.'s wrongful execution except for Viviana Botticelli who is falsely arrested for the murder of Venetia during a magic act.]]

** Ripper: [[spoiler:Subverted unlike previous seasons]]. There are two characters who fit the build, the first being Regina who becomes Kenneth's love interest and assistant for most of the series, and Verdi who is the traditional sweet and virginal style of final girl. [[spoiler:However, Regina turns out to be the killer and Verdi not only joins her in the end, but she also commits a murder of her own in the penultimate episode.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: Slasher villain the Widow taking on mob boss Basil Garvey. [[spoiler:The Widow turns out to be ALighterShadeOfBlack and wins over Basil.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Zig-zagged. [[spoiler:Verdi, Gladys, Andrew May Jr., and Kenneth Rijkers are all decent people for most of the season. However, the end of season sees Verdi setting up one of her sisters' deaths and pins it on the other, and all four of them deciding to side with the Widow and kill Garvey. It's unclear just how much of this has really changed them, but it's clear that it has, though Rijkers still expresses some visible discomfort with it all.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: Evil versus evil is in play, so this was almost unavoidable. [[spoiler: The Widow, revealed to be Regina Simcoe, not only gets away with her murder spree killing everyone involved in her mother's death except for Viviana, who is going to rot in prison for the murders, but she also converts all of the surviving characters to her way of thinking including Detective Rijkers, Verdi, Gladys, and Andrew, all of whom were entirely heroic characters for the majority of the season.]]

** Hand-in-hand with the above, Verdi's sudden wish to make Basil happy after contemplating leaving him takes on a new meaning. At first, it seems like she took Gladys's advice to stay on his good side and have a semblance of a decent life. [[spoiler:It turns out that she was actually filled in on Regina's plan for Basil, as well as the truth about the kind of man he is, and is playing along with their plan.]]

* BreakingOldTrends: This is the first season [[spoiler:that lacks a FinalGirl, instead having five survivors including the Widow, revealed to be Regina Simcoe, along with two men.]]

* DramaticUnmasking: An InUniverse case the Widow uses to shock the final victim after their identity has already been revealed. [[spoiler:Regina reveals herself to Basil Garvey by pulling off the veil on her outfit.]]

** Season five has the Widow. This is the first of the killers to be explicitly called female by default despite their gender being unknown for most of the season since they wear WidowsWeeds. This person is one of the most violent murderers, killing people in ways that aren't just creative but immensely torturous and painful with deliberate intent to reduce them to begging for their lives. They also revert to the practice of leaving bodies to be discovered in gruesome ways unlike the previous two killers. They are also the most vigilante-like of the killers. [[spoiler:She's the second killer who gets away with her crimes, and even gets others to join her crusade of revenge. Her reasons are also sympathetic in that she seeks revenge for her mother's torment.]]

* DramaticUnmasking: An InUniverse case the Widow uses to shock the final victim after their identity has already been revealed. [[spoiler:Regina reveals herself to Basil Garvey.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: The Widow, revealed to be Regina Simcoe, not only gets away with her murder spree killing everyone involved in her mother's death except for Viviana, who is going to rot in prison for the murders, but she also converts all of the surviving characters to her way of thinking including Detective Rijkers, Verdi, Gladys, and Andrew, all of whom were heroic characters for the majority of the series.]]

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The season takes place in the 19th century, but even so, there is little discrimination thrown against Dr. Melanda Israel for being a black female doctor.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:

%%** Season 5 --

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: {{Averted|Trope}} in ''The Executioner''. Sarah's husband Dylan survives all the episodes and [[spoiler:helps Sarah finally defeat the killer]]. [[spoiler:{{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Guilty Party''. Peter is the last of the main cast to die, and he dies by his own hand]]. [[spoiler: Also {{inverted|Trope}} in ''Solstice''. Connor and Jen turn out to be the killers, but they both die at the end]]. [[spoiler:In ''Flesh & Blood'', Jayden isn't the first one to be killed by the Gentleman, but he's the first death the rest of the family witnesses.]]

** Season five has the Widow. This is the first of the killers to be explicitly called female by default despite their gender being unknown for most of the season since they wear WidowsWeeds. This person is one of the most violent murderers, killing people in ways that aren't just creative but immensely torturous and painful with deliberate intent to reduce them to begging for their lives. They also revert to the practice of leaving bodies to be discovered in gruesome ways unlike the previous two killers. They are also the most vigilante-like of the killers.

** Season 5 had Margaret Mehar and Andrew May Sr. The former was murdered 12 years ago with the latter being executed for it not long after. The Widow's actions based on their notes tie back mostly to Margaret, but Andrew May Sr. is references a lesser amount of times for ostensibly being framed for her death.

* EvilVersusEvil: Slasher villain the Widow taking on mob boss Basil Garvey.

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Various characters comment on how it is quite a coincidence that the murders started shortly after Georges Rondeau returned to town. On the other hand, he could also be a potential victim.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Regina not only gets away with her murder spree killing everyone involved in her mothers death except for Viviana who is going to rot in prison for the murders but she also converts all of the surviving characters to her way of thinking including Detective Rijkers, Verdi, Gladys and Andrew, all of whom were heroic characters for the majority of the series.]]

* FinalGirl: Subverted unlike previous seasons. [[spoiler: There are two characters who fit the build, the first being Regina who becomes Kenneth's love interest and assistant for most of the series and Verdi who is the traditional sweet and virginal style of final girl. However Regina turns out to be the killer and Verdi not only joins her in the end but she also commits a murder of her own in the penultimate episode.]]

** Season 5 had Margaret Mehar. She was murdered 12 years ago, and the Widow's actions based on their notes tie back to her. A possible second one is Andrew May Sr., who was framed for Margaret's murder and then executed for it.

* AssholeVictim: Given that it's a slasher series, one can expect at least a handful of victims to be deserving of their deaths. This trope is played entirely straight in ''The Executioner'', deconstructed in ''Guilty Party'', zig-zagged in ''Solstice'', and had only a few aversions in ''Flesh & Blood''.

* DoNotTauntCthulhu: A few examples:
** In the past, Margaret Mehar attempted to blackmail mob boss Basil Garvey in a desperate attempt to improve her life. He immediately used his power to make her life even worse.
** In episode 3, Basil threatens and talks down to his muscle Eddie Jacobs. Except for all of Basil's power, he has no real physical strength, so Eddie promptly demonstrated why that was a bad idea.
* DropTheHammer: The Widow murders [[spoiler:Eddie Jacobs]] with a sledgehammer, making a deliberate point to do so slowly and painfully.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Widow takes the time to gently close eyes of Daisy, who was murdered by Eddie before moving on to kill her boyfriend, Horatio, who allows them to. In episode 3, they also spare the life of [[spoiler:Detective Rijkers]], despite him completely at their mercy. They also are not happy that [[spoiler:Salomé tries to pin his murder of Terrence on them, and kills them painfully for it.]]

** [[spoiler:Salomé]] kills [[spoiler:Terrence]] in anger and tries to pin on the Widow. [[spoiler:Salomé is dismembered alive in the brothel for it.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Widow takes the time to gently close eyes of Daisy, who was murdered by Eddie before moving on to kill her boyfriend, Horatio, who allows them to. In episode 3, they also spare the life of [[spoiler:Detective Rijkers]], despite him completely at their mercy.

* FrameUp: Andrew May Sr. was framed for the murder of Margaret Mehar, and then hanged for it.

* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: Rijkers comes to this conclusion while studying one of the victims.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Widow takes the time to gently close eyes of Daisy, before moving on to kill her actual target. In episode 3, she also spares the life of [[spoiler:Detective Rijkers]].

* IAteWhat: Episode 4 opens with Basil Garvey, Melanda Israel, Isaac Kashtinsky, Viviana Botticelli, and Salome enjoying a meal and discussing the widow. Their meal ends with meat pies, which have [[spoiler:Eddie's]] teeth in them, cluing them into what the meat was.

* SonOfAWhore: Basil's dark secret.
* ATasteOfTheLash: Among their other cruelties, the Botticelli sisters whip Verdi.

* BullyingADragon: A few examples:
** In the past, Margaret Mehar attempted to blackmail mob boss Basil Garvey in a desperate attempt to improve her fortunes. He immediately used his power to make her life even worse.
** In episode 3, Basil threatens and talks down to his muscle Eddie Jacobs. Except for all of Basil's power, he has no real physical strength, so Eddie promptly demonstrated why that was a bad idea.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Slasher villain the Widow and mob boss Basil Garvey.

** Season 5 had Margaret Mehar. She was murdered 12 years ago, and the Widow's actions based on their notes tie back to her.

%%** Season 5 had Alistair Simcoe.

%%** Season five has the Widow.

* DeathBySex: Kit and Cassidy both are the most promiscuous characters in the season. Kit is the very first character to die, while [[spoiler:Cassidy is the new Druid's second victim]].

** Rachel and Bryan Ingram [[spoiler:took advantage of Tom Winston's feelings for the former and blackmailed him.]] In response, Tom created the Executioner to take revenge on them, scarring Alan Henry in the process. [[spoiler: Alan then became a priest and married Suzanne to cope with his trauma, who abuses their son, Cam. The abuse, combined with his father's religious teachings, pushes Cam to take up Tom's mantle as the new Executioner.]]

* FinalGirl: Every season is expected to have one. It's the name of the show, after all.

* HardTruthAesop: Everyone has secrets and you can't expect to know everything about another person, even those closest to you.
* MalevolentMaskedMan: Typical of the tradition of Slasher Movies, each season so far depicts the killer as wearing some form of disguise covering their face; the Executioner wears an executioner hood, the killer from Guilty Party protection gear, the Druid a black mask with blue neon features on top of it, and the Gentleman a simple white mask over a black ski mask.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:O'Keefe is non-binary, uses they/them pronouns (assigned female at birth), and has a girlfriend, while Seamus is secretly gay. Neither make it out alive.]]

* ContinuityCameo: ''Solstice'''s Amber makes a cameo in a flashback, bringing Aphra to meet her adoptive parents. She mentions her good relationship with her step-children to reassure the Galloways that they'll be happy together.

** Aphra has an eating disorder that causes her to try and eat things that are less-than-edible, and usually has to be stopped by her parents before she can swallow them. [[spoiler:When neither of them are around to keep her in check anymore, she eats a mushroom that [[MushroomSamba causes her to start hallucinating]], which directly leads to her death when she blunders into the Gentleman during her high and thinks they're Spencer.]]

** [[spoiler:Spencer, a heartless ControlFreak, is killed with an injection of acid that burns throughs his heart and chest, while he's in a situation of absolute vulnerability.]]

** [[spoiler:Florence, who only cares about herself and her "art", is impaled on her installation.]]

* KillingInSelfDefense: [[spoiler:Vincent tries to murder Theodore for framing him when they were kids. Despite trying to talk things out, Vincent wouldn't relent, and ultimately Theodore is forced to slice his head off to save himself.]]

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: The {{Token Good Teammate}}s of the Galloways are brutally murdered in the most horrendous ways, betrayed by people they trusted and/or loved. Christy Martin's face and fingers were bit off by Aphra, and she pleaded for a MercyKill which was granted to her. Annette Galloway was killed by Grace, her live-in nurse, who murdered her so that Grace could marry Spencer for his money. O'Keefe, the only Galloway by blood to be a decent person, is left to asphyxiate on carbon monoxide by ''their own mother''.]]

-->'''Spencer:''' (cackling) ''What the fuck was that''?

* AmbiguousDisorder: While not textbook sociopaths, [[ItRunsInTheFamily the Galloways]] share several pathological traits. They show a pervasive LackOfEmpathy (despite each one having some degree of affection towards another member of the family), are [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]], and [[HairTriggerTemper volatile]].

* HollywoodOld: Assuming that the events take place in 2016, Sarah is supposed to be 28 years old, but her grandmother Brenda (who should be around 65) is played by an actress who would be more convincing as her mother (who is already dead within the show's storyline) or aunt, as Wendy Crewson was barely 60 while filming and she looked even younger.