History Series / ThePinkertons

* IrishMob: [[spoiler:Marm [=McGoldrick=]]] from "In Marm's Way" is a 19th century example.

** In "On Account of Huckleberries", we learn that Sheriff Logan's first name is Lawrence.

* LastNameBasis: We don't learn Sheriff Logan's first name (Lawrence) until "On Account of Huckleberries", the series' 15th episode.

* MixAndMatch: It's a WesternSeries ''and'' a DetectiveDrama.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: At the end of "Old Pap", it seems that General Sterling Price, the series' nastiest villain yet, is going to walk free since Will and Kate can't prove anything against him. But then, we learn that Price [[LaserGuidedKarma has gotten cholera from drinking contaminated water]], although he had his own supply. It's implied he was poisoned by John Bell, whom he'd maimed earlier in the episode. While the end of "Old Pap" doesn't spell out Price's fate, the ClipShow "Review" confirms that he did indeed die of cholera InUniverse, just as his RealLife equivalent did.

* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:In "The Fourth Man", Kenji Harada wants to kill Hezekiah Platt, the American diplomat who planned his father's murder. Kate and William stop Kenji just in time by pointing out that his father (who was assassinated because he favored cooperation between Japan and America) [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave wouldn't have wanted this]]... and since Platt directly murdered Kenji's partner, he's going to hang anyway.]]

** Marm [=McGoldrick=]]] from "In Marm's Way".

* TheAlcoholic: Musgrave, the broken-down old Reb turned would-be assassin in "The Hero of Liberty Gap", becomes one to cope with being a ShellShockedVeteran.

* WorldOfSnark: The three leads all have their moments of DeadpanSnarker-dom. Sometimes combined with CasualDangerDialog.

* RansomDrop: This is where it all goes wrong for Will and Kate in "Frontier Desperados".

* BigShutUp: A RunningGag in "Mudd and Clay". Jeremiah Mudd is a {{Jerkass}} who constantly insults everyone around him, causing several characters to tell him to shut up throughout the episode. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Mudd acknowledges this and says "[I] never get tired of hearing it."

* ArmorPiercingSlap:
** The killer receives one at the end of "Double Shot". [[spoiler:Considering that the slapper is the murderer's mother, whose son tried to frame and kill her (and had already killed [[{{Patricide}} her husband]]) so he could get his hands on the family fortune, it's pretty justified.]]
** Leila Greenhow and her adopted mother Florence Moore slap each other during an argument in "The Better Angels of Our Nature".

* WidowWoman: Kate is one, although it's not brought up often.

* CorruptHick: Sheriff Logan is barely competent, especially in the early episodes, but he's willing to let Kate and William solve the more difficult crimes for him... [[GloryHound as long as he gets all the credit]].
** EveryoneHasStandards: Fortunately, sometimes Logan lives up to his badge. In "The Hero of Liberty Gap", he refuses to release the mayor's murderously corrupt campaign manager from jail, knowing that it could damage his career. In "To the Sunset", he helps stop a barroom brawl in a BigDamnHeroes moment. And at the end of "In Marm's Way", he resists Marm's romantic advances (which had previously worked) once he realizes she's a murderous thief.

* AbsenteeActor: Despite appearing in the TitleSequence, Allan isn't in most of the episodes, due to Angus Macfadyen shooting this series and ''Series/{{Turn}}'' at the same time. The InUniverse explanation is that Allan is busy running the Pinkerton office in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}.

* KnifeNut: In "Frontier Desperados", Jesse James proves himself to be as adept with blades as with guns; he viciously slashes Kate's wrist, preventing her from following him.

* BigShutUp: A RunningGag in "Mudd and Clay". Jeremiah Mudd is a {{Jerkass}} who constantly insults everyone around him, causing several characters to tell him to shut up throughout the episode. {{Lampshaded}} when Mudd acknowledges this and says "[I] never get tired of hearing it."