Line #20 Series/Profiler


1	[[quoteright:312:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Prologo_489.jpg]]
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3	''Profiler'' was an American ForensicDrama on Creator/{{NBC}} starring Ally Walker as Samantha "[[InSeriesNickname Sam]]" Waters, a borderline-[[TheEmpath empathic]] [[TheProfiler criminal profiler]] working for the FBI. Along with the obvious influence of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', it is considered the precursor to modern forensic shows, with its characters operating out of an inexplicably dark [[TheBigBoard room with monitors]] and chasing overly-elaborate {{Serial Killer}}s.
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5	Also notable for having a series-wide MythArc (a rarity in police shows back then) involving the "Jack of All Trades", an elusive killer who is fixated on Sam. Ally Walker left the show early in Season Four, which also wrapped up the Jack storyline.
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7	In response to its star's departure, the show underwent a ReTool with a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute suspiciously similar]] heroine, Rachael Burke. The show's writers also cooked up a brand-new BigBad for the feds to fight, a faceless crime kingpin named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Damian Kennasas]]. Needless to say, the show wasn't as compelling as before and was soon canceled. As chance would have it, this was mirrored by a B-plot involving the probable shutdown of the task force's office thanks to congressional budget cuts.
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9	For the trope, see TheProfiler.
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11	----
12	!!This show provides examples of:
13	* AnimalAssassin: A serial killer in the season 1 finale uses an assortment of creatures as her weapons of choice: poison dart frogs, sea snakes, venomous spiders, and even an octopus.
14	* ArchEnemy: Jack is obsessed with Sam, stalking her and killing her husband. She and her daughter Chloe are living under 24 hour FBI protection when the series starts.
15	* BigBad: Jack of All Trades.
16	* BodyDouble: Rather bizarrely, Jack has decoys of himself running around everywhere. The first Jack is a transparent fake (an uncoordinated, [[EvilBrit Eurotrash]] geek packing a submachine gun); the second is more convincing, and just as amorous toward Sam. This is retroactively explained as a side-effect of Jack's brainwashing; the double literally believes he ''is'' the famous killer.
17	** Jack recreates Samantha's likeness in "Jill" (Traci Lords), a blonde lookalike whom he schools in the art of murder.
18	* CharacterAsHimself: To maintain the mystery surrounding its main antagonist, the opening credits list the actor as "and Jack".
19	* CrossOver: ''Profiler'' did two {{Cross Through}}s with the series that aired immediately before it, ''Series/ThePretender'', featuring an identity-swapping hero (Jarod) with no clue to his true past. Le gasp! A forensic psychologist is a Pretender's worst enemy! "End Game" crossed through into "Grand Master", and "Spin Doctor" crossed through into "Clean Sweep". Outside these multi-part crossovers, Jarod also turned up on a separate ''Profiler'' episode, "Pianissimo", towards the end of both series' runs.
20	* DeathByIrony: The modus of one killer is to decapitate his yuppie victims ("talking heads", as he disparagingly call them) and leave the severed heads in a newspaper bin. You can probably guess what the killer's [[OffWithHisHead ultimate fate]] is.
21	* DistaffCounterpart: Jack creates his own female counterpart in "Jill", although he demeans and abuses her, particularly when her murders don't meet his standards and she becomes jealous of his obsession with Sam.
22	* EccentricArtist: A killer who uses a FlamingSword to kill her targets is inspired by her favorite superhero comic. When the protagonists visit the comic's creator, she turns out to be a CloudCuckoolander who just happens to be randomly lying under a rug in her garden shed.
23	* TheEmpath: Sam has a "gift" to see into the minds of victims before they were murdered.
24	* EvilMatriarch: Jack is implied to have one.
25	** In one episode, we see a lonely, antisocial killer who is being dominated by his mother.
26	* TheFaceless: Jack, played by [[spoiler: Creator/DennisChristopher of ''Film/It1990'' fame]]. He steps into the open at last in Season 3. His scenes in the first two seasons never gave the viewers a good look at his face.
27	* FairCop
28	* FetishizedAbuser: Jack's "apprentice" Jill has a huge crush on him. He starts training her as his DistaffCounterpart and tries making her into an ersatz Sam. He also beats and abuses her when her murders don't meet his standards and she became jealous of his obsession with Sam.
29	* FlamingSword: One killer used a sword treated with accelerant and set on fire to kill people. The IdiosyncraticWipes for that episode featured a flaming sword sweep across the screen before cutting to a commercial.
30	* FreudianExcuse: A majority of the killers fit this mold.
31	* GraveMarkingScene: In a manner of speaking -- [[spoiler:Jack is gunned down]] by Sam in front of her late husband's grave.
32	* TheGrotesque: A psychopath who was deformed as the result of a forceps being used on him during childbirth.
33	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Sam and Angel. Both straight, but about as close to a lesbian couple as mid-'90s network TV would allow.
34	* IdiosyncraticWipes: Several episodes used these on a one-off basis. They included everything from a FlamingSword "cutting" to a commercial to random numbers flashing across the screen that were revealed at the end of the episodes to be real-life rape statistics.
35	* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: VCTF computer expert George Fraley is violently assaulted by an armed robber named Luke Dickerson in a video store. Luke tries to shoot George upon learning he works for the FBI, but his gun jams. George later gets a gun of his own and threatens Luke with it, but his VCTF teammate John Grant stops him and arrests Luke for the video store robbery instead. Luke gets off on the robbery charge by claiming coercion and police brutality, but then George uses the FBI's system to reissue all of Luke's outstanding warrants. No matter where Luke goes, he's not going to be a free man.
36	* MasterOfDisguise: Jack masquerades as a small-town sheriff with a hillbilly accent in one episode.
37	* TheMentor: Bailey Malone (Robert Davi) to Sam.
38	* MindRape: Jack attempts this on Sam's daughter, Chloe, by masquerading as her child psychologist.
39	* MoleInCharge: Half-mad ([[HalfTruth and so half-sane!]]) FBI Director Joel Marks (Gregory Itzin).
40	* MonsterFangirl: Jack of All Trades eventually found one of these, and not only mentored her into becoming a full-blown SerialKiller herself, but did his best to turn her into a substitute for Sam via brainwashing.
41	* MustHaveCaffeine: Rachael's quirk is that she's obsessed with coffee.
42	* ParentalSubstitute: Sam's best friend Angel often takes care of Chloe when Sam is out in the field, effectively being a second mother to the girl.
43	%%* TheProfiler: Sam, naturally.
44	* PrimaryColorChampion / SecondaryColorNemesis: Both of these were inverted with Jack. His scenes were always tinted blue and the camera never gave the audience a good look at his face. [[spoiler:The scenes with Donald Lucas were an early hint that he wasn't actually the true Jack.]]
45	* ReReleaseSoundtrack: The episode "I'll Be Watching You" made such prominent use of Music/ThePolice song "Every Breath You Take" that the entire episode was left off the DVD release.
46	* RomancingTheWidow: Inverted -- Jack cut to the chase by bumping off Sam's husband first.
47	* RoomFullOfCrazy: The title sequences allude to this trope by using a [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} typeface]] that resembles crudely scrawled handwriting, making this Credits Full Of Crazy.
48	* StrangerBehindTheMask: After all that build-up, Jack turns out to be... some random guy we've never seen before.
49	* StrugglingSingleMother: Sam doesn't seem to have any financial troubles, but she struggles to raise her daughter Chloe without her murdered husband while Jack is stalking her. Her former in-laws also try to get custody of Chloe, unhappy that she's being raised in a bubble with an often-absent Sam.
50	* {{UST}}: Malone and Sam.
51	** The crossover with ''The Pretender'' results in some {{UST}} between the two leads, seemingly setting up for a crossover return. You would assume that Ally Walker leaving the show would have torpedoed that idea, but no -- the second Profiler, Rachael, made a cameo on ''The Pretender'' instead. The writers more or less overwrote the romantic tension with Sam, and sparks immediately flew between Jarod and Rachael instead.

Context Series / Profiler