Line #25 PlayingWith/Retirony


1	'''Basic Trope''': A character dies shortly before retirement.
2	* '''Straight''': George and Fred are police officers who are HeterosexualLifePartners. During Fred's last case, a mafia boss named Jonathan kills Fred one day before Fred's retirement date.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** George and Fred have been cops for 40 years. Fred dies during his last case, one second before his retirement.
5	** Fred and George die during their retirement party; Fred is shot, and George has a heart attack.
6	** This happens to every character who was planning to retire, no matter their occupation.
7	** Bob announces his retirement and gets [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] immediately afterwards.
8	** Even devices, buildings, items of clothing and ''animals'' that were scheduled for retirement get wrecked or killed mere hours from such a thing happening officially.
9	* '''Downplayed''':
10	** Fred is just under two years away from being eligible to retire when Jonathan kills him.
11	** Fred is not killed, but a significant side effect of the events of the story is him being disgraced as a cop and his retirement investments being ruined by Jonathan, so all Fred can look forward the day he retires is AFateWorseThanDeath.
12	* '''Justified''':
13	** Fred is TheMole that [[BecomingTheMask Became the Mask]].
14	** Fred is the victim of a SerialKiller who hunts and kills his victims based on when they're about to retire.
15	** Fred has learned that he has a ConvenientTerminalIllness and began preparations to retire because of that.
16	** Fred works a dangerous job where death can strike at any moment, even just before retirement.
17	* '''Inverted''':
18	** Fred dies one day ''after'' his retirement.
19	** [[RedShirt Fred dies during]] [[FirstDayFromHell his first day on the job.]]
20	** Fred dies just before Jonathan retires.
21	** Fred plans to come out of retirement, but dies of an illness before he has a chance to do so.
22	** Fred, who has been dead since the start of the series, comes BackFromTheDead on the same day another character joins the job.
23	** Jonathan gets shot and dies one day before his retirement date.
24	** Fred, who was on his last day on the job, is the only character not to be killed.
25	* '''Subverted''':
26	** Jonathan shoots Fred, but Fred survives.
27	** When Jonathan fires, he shoots George, who does not plan on retiring any time soon. Fred survives, but is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone so grief-stricken that he contemplates suicide]]. His other colleagues talk him out of it, and Fred finishes his last day of work in one piece.
28	* '''Double Subverted''':
29	** Jonathan visits Fred in the hospital later that day and finishes the job.
30	** George's death haunts Fred and causes him to come out of retirement. And then when Fred retires for real, he dies.
31	** Jonathan may not be pursuing him any further, but Fred dies in a freak accident as he's leaving his old life behind.
32	** Fred's grief follows him into retirement and he tries [[CopeByCreating to escape it by taking odd jobs]], to no avail. So when he decides to take his own life, he decides to add one last bit of GallowsHumor to his suicide note by writing he's "''now'' ready to retire".
33	* '''Parodied''':
34	** Instead of retirement papers, Fred has to file his own funeral plans.
35	** Fred belongs to a LongLived species; with his last breath, he laments dying just 500 years from retirement.
36	* '''Zig-Zagged''': Fred seems to die, only to be later revealed to be still alive shortly afterwards. Then he dies again, and comes back, and so on and so forth several times over the course of the story.
37	* '''Averted''':
38	** Every character makes it through their last day on the job.
39	** No one retires.
40	** None of the characters is employed.
41	* '''Enforced''':
42	** "We're writing Fred out of the show, his character was going to just retire, but where's [[RuleOfDrama the drama]] in just letting Fred quietly move to Florida and take up shuffleboard?"
43	** [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim Chris, Fred's actor, died]] a few episodes before Fred was due to retire (along with Chris from acting).
44	* '''Lampshaded''':
45	** "You'd best take precautions, Fred: Lady Luck isn't too kind on those who are about to retire."
46	** "Why do cops always die the day before they retire?"
47	* '''Invoked''':
48	** Jonathan is an old enemy of Fred's who kills Fred in revenge, and chooses his last day as a police officer to make his revenge sweeter.
49	** Fred and Jonathan have been enemies from the very first day Fred has been working as a cop, and knowing that Jonathan will never stop hounding him, Fred decides that since it's the last day that he will legally have access to the tools to take down Jonathan once and for all, [[TakingYouWithMe he decides to end this feud, no matter the cost, and preferably in a blaze of glory]].
50	** Fred has no money set aside for the future, so he deliberately puts himself in a dangerous situation on his last day.
51	* '''Exploited''':
52	** The police force surrounds Fred with dozens of bodyguards for the duration of his last day. And then Jonathan uses the day, with large numbers of cops otherwise occupied, to rob six banks.
53	** Fred is going to be forced into retirement, and would rather die than stop working as a police officer.
54	** Knowing that {{Retirony}} is so common, Fred skims off the top of his retirement fund, which was underfunded to begin with.
55	* '''Defied''':
56	** Out of paranoia, Fred stays home on his last day before retirement. He locks the door and windows with extra locks, arms himself to the teeth, barricades his home, and doesn't go to sleep until midnight, to ensure that he survives the day.
57	** Fred quits long before he's old enough to retire, and finds a safer job.
58	** Knowing that Jonathan plans to kill him just before his retirement, Fred moves to a safer city.
59	** Fred gets himself fired instead.
60	* '''Discussed''': "I've heard that cops always die one day before retirement. They call it 'retirony'." "What? That's just a big, fat myth."
61	* '''Conversed''': "In cop shows, the guy who's about to retire usually dies. Why is this?"
62	* '''Implied''':
63	** Fred tells George he's going to work [[OneLastJob one last case before retirement]]. He walks out the door [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse and never comes back]]. [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome The audience never finds out what happened to him.]]
64	** A bank statement includes the line "POLICE RETIREMENT BONUS $38000 [TRANSFER ANNULLED]"
65	* '''Deconstructed''':
66	** We see the perspective of Fred's family, who were ready to celebrate his retirement and looked forward to being able to spend more time with him, only to have those plans and hopes crushed by his sudden passing and replaced with grieving.
67	** Police officers become so afraid of this happening to them that they become extremely conscious when they approach their final days of work, leading to the occasional act of incompetence courtesy of wishing to solve their quota without any kind of risk.
68	** Lethal InsuranceFraud schemes targeting (or performed by) days-away-from-retirement people skyrocket because they try to exploit the belief in this trope to prevent a thorough investigation.
69	* '''Reconstructed''':
70	** While Fred's family is devastated at first, they manage to move on eventually, and a hefty life insurance payout helps them get through the financial hurdles caused by Fred's death.
71	** For a degree of "reconstruction", anyway: many cops who performed said incompetent acts are [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone unable to stomach being confronted by the results]] (or said incompetent acts lead to many [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Roaring Rampages Of Revenge]]), so they tend to "[[DeadlyEuphemism take early retirement]]" anyway.
72	** Investigative agencies catch wise and double down on the punishment of any crimes committed on people on the verge of retirement, because doing harm to them is [[KickTheDog a major act of cruelty]].
73	* '''Played for Laughs''':
74	** Fred spends the moments before he dies actively TemptingFate with regards to dying before retirement.
75	** Fred wears his special {{red shirt}} on his last day of work.
76	** Fred would rather die than keep doing his job. He hates his job ''that'' much.
77	** Fred's hat (or some other inanimate object under his possession) is what has a day left before it retires. Both George and Fred mourn its death as they would a loved one or each other.
78	** Fred expects to die shortly before retirement, so when his retirement approaches, he blows all his money on ConspicuousConsumption items. To his dismay, he ends up surviving, and now must work at the local BurgerFool instead of enjoying his retirement because he's broke.
79	** Fred goes to herculean effort avoiding the ridiculous number of {{Contrived Coincidence}}s that make an attempt on his life on the day before his retirement. He successfully survives, and retires. [[VictoryIsBoring A day later he's bored silly.]]
80	* '''Played for Drama''':
81	** [[KarmaHoudini Jonathan never gets blamed]] because [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident everyone thinks Fred's death was accidental]].
82	** Fred is killed just before retirement, and George must go to Fred's wife and tell her that she and her husband won't be enjoying retirement together.
83	* '''Played for Horror''': The audience sees Jonathan's {{mooks}}' ColdBloodedTorture of Fred, while he [[AintTooProudToBeg begs them]] to let up because he's due to retire, culminating in his CruelAndUnusualDeath.
84	----
85	Back to {{Retirony}}, but be careful--it's his last day on the job.

Context PlayingWith / Retirony