Line #10 Series/FiveDaysToMidnight


1	''5ive Days to Midnight'' is a five-part MiniSeries which ran on the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]] in June 2004. It stars Creator/TimothyHutton as J.T. Neumeyer, a physicist who discovers a briefcase containing postdated documents and evidence which indicate he will die five days in the future. The supporting cast includes Gage Golightly, Creator/RandyQuaid, Creator/KariMatchett, Creator/AngusMacFadyen, Creator/HamishLinklater and David [=McIlwraith=].
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4	!!Tropes:
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6	* ChekhovsGun: Lots of them, but the [[spoiler: gun JT hid behind a radiator]] is an aversion, since he got OutGambitted by [[spoiler: Sikorski, who removed it in advance. Fortunately the unfired cartridge from the crime scene fifty years ago that had been put in the suitcase is still able to fire.]]
7	* ChildProdigy: Jessie Neumeyer is shown to be a promising physicist in her own right, [[spoiler:eventually turning out to be the one who sent the briefcase back in time.]]
8	* CorruptCop: [[spoiler:Detective Irwin Sikorski, presented as JT's ally against Roy Bremmer for the first four episodes, attempts to kill him and Claudia as part of a plan to scam money and property from Bremmer's estate.]]
9	%%ZCE * DrivesLikeCrazy: Carl when [[spoiler: coming to kill JT]].
10	* FreezeFrameBonus: In the first episode during Jessie's birthday party, she receives a Platform/PlayStation2 and an accompanying video game. It's hard to make out in real-time, but when [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/3068b968e23df1e83641496e2ee10ce9/tumblr_njbxf3CaL41ra2vuvo1_500.jpg pausing in the right place]] you'll see she received a copy of VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus.
11	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Carl Axelrod is certain that the universe demands JT's death. It puts him over the edge.
12	* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler:Sikorski tells Claudia to sign over 5 million worth of real estate to him, on the threat of shooting JT, who points out he'll have to shoot them anyway. Sikorski however points out that Jessie is locked up in a separate room and doesn't know about him, but there's nothing to stop him from killing her as well if they don't cooperate.]]
13	* [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum Imported Future Phlebotinum]]: The "super-metal" case, which Brad wants to reverse-engineer to claim credit for inventing. JT objecting to this is what makes Brad a suspect.
14	* Letters2Numbers: "Five" becomes "5ive."
15	* PapaWolf: JT gets a ''little'' aggressive when his daughter is in danger.
16	* PsychoExBoyfriend: Claudia's ex-husband Roy Bremmer, a notorious gangster and the prime suspect for JT's murder.
17	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: ''[[spoiler: Jessie]]'' [[spoiler: Neumeyer's goal in sending back the briefcase was to save her father.]]
18	* ScrewDestiny: JT decides to do this, first by saving someone else who was reported to die in an accident a few days before he did, and then by continuing to try to prevent his own death [[spoiler:eventually succeeding]].
19	* TimeyWimeyBall: Most of the series seems to be setting up a StableTimeLoop, as three of the four suspects didn't have motives to kill JT until after he found the briefcase. [[spoiler:Nor did the actual killer.]] Carl in particular becomes a suspect because he fears that JT surviving will create some kind of RealityBreakingParadox. [[spoiler:However, when Detective Sikorski is killed and JT is saved, an AlternateUniverse is created and the evidence becomes a RippleEffectIndicator, with the police file changing to reflect Bremmer and Sikorski's deaths, disproving Carl's fears.]]
20	* WhodunnitToMe: JT tries to solve his murder before it happens.
21	* WriteBackToTheFuture: Inverted. The briefcase is sent from the future as a warning to help JT prevent his murder.
22	* YouCantFightFate: Carl is convinced of this regarding JT, and he seems to be proven right when Mandy Murphy dies in another accident the day after JT saved her from a falling tree. [[spoiler:This is why Carl almost tries to kill JT himself after Sikorski is stopped, but seeing the changed police file convinces him otherwise.]]
23	* YouWouldntShootMe: [[spoiler:Sikorski says this to JT, but is InstantlyProvenWrong when JT pulls the trigger...on an empty gun which Sikorski handed to him. Sikorski has also retrieved the gun that JT stashed away in the radiator. However when Carl ramraids the building, JT has a chance to load the unfired bullet from the crime scene evidence in the suitcase. Sikorski mocks the idea that it will fire after fifty years, but it does, after a couple of pulls of the trigger.]]

Context Series / FiveDaysToMidnight