Line #104 Series/Solitary


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_solitarysplash_717.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:299:WelcomeToHell]]
3
4	->"Hello. My name is VAL. Welcome to a unique social experiment, designed to push nine humans to their absolute physical, mental, and emotional breaking points. Locked in isolation pods and cut off from all contact, they are not competing against each other, but against themselves. In the end, only one will remain. He, or she, will leave Solitary with $50,000. My role is to observe what makes them strong, and what makes them weak, to push, to pry, and discover who will crack next. Welcome to Solitary."
5	-->--'''VAL''', Season 2 opening
6
7	''Solitary'' is a RealityShow which aired on the Fox Reality Channel. It features nine contestants locked in isolation pods, and cut off from all contact with each other and the outside world. Their only companion is VAL, a MasterComputer who serves as the host of the show. While in isolation, they face a series of tests, treatments, and general torture designed to push them to physical, mental, and emotional extremes. When a contestant can't take it anymore, they push a red button, saying they want to quit the game. [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne Eventually, all the players save one quit.]] The one survivor wins $50,000.
8
9	As said earlier, the main twist of this series is that, compared to other {{Reality Show}}s, Solitary focuses less on interactions between contestants and more on the sheer isolation. With that in mind, none of them know how the other contestants are doing during challenges/treatments. So long as you're not the first player to quit, you move on, but with no idea on whether or not someone had quit, some people will spend literally hours suffering even when everybody else has quit. As such, none of the games are about competing with others, just your own physical/mental/spiritual limits.
10
11	There will be spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.
12
13	----
14	!!This show has examples of the following:
15
16	* TheAce: [[spoiler: Number 7 in seasons 1 and 3, who made it all the way to the final treatment without quitting, was the last person standing, and won multiple tests in the process.]]
17	** [[spoiler:In season one, Number 7 never quit a single treatment. At ''worst'', he tied for first on any given task.]]
18	* ActionGirl: All the girls, but especially the Number 3s.
19	* ADeathInTheLimeLight: The main cue someone's about to quit the treatment? The "Red Button Shot".
20	* AffablyEvil: When she isn't putting everyone through torturous experiments, VAL is actually quite nice.
21	* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: Non-video game example; in the season 2 finale, VAL has [[spoiler:Numbers 7 and 8]] do a number of activities that are milder versions of that season's tests and treatments. She repeats this in Season 4.
22	* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The guests have no idea how long they've been in Solitary, what day it is, or if it's morning, noon, or night. This is enforced with VAL's greetings, which are always phrased like "Good morning/evening/afternoon."
23	* AmbiguouslyGay: Most definitely Number 7 from Season 3.0. He seemed to find the idea to be hilarious. "The other contestants must think I'm gay for sure! Or a girl! Hahaha!"
24	* AnAesop: It is not uncommon for VAL to have a heart-to-heart chat with one of the contestants, one that points out their character flaws. The players often learn about themselves this way.
25	* AscendedFanboy: [=RobRob=], who was obsessed with the first two seasons to the point of building his own pod, became a contestant in the third season.
26	* BasementDweller: Number 8 of season 2; this was mocked by other contestants.
27	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In season 2, the guests were starved for a period of time, then asked what they most wanted to eat. The losers of the test received the food everyone requested... in smoothie format.
28	* BigNo: Happens quite often.
29	** One memorable one was Number 8's in the finale of season 2, as [[spoiler: VAL decided to keep him captive forever]].
30	* BigRedButton: Don't push it first, or you lose.
31	* BookEnds: Solitary 1.0 ended with contestants locked in a box, and 2.0 began with them locked in a box.
32	* BoundAndGagged: One test in Season 2 had the guests bound and gagged to a chair.
33	* BuryYourGays: The [[spoiler: very first contestant to be eliminated on the show]] was a homosexual.
34	* ButtMonkey: Number 9 from Season 2.
35	* CallBack: In Season 1, when Number 5 commented that he was, "caught off guard," VAL responds by showing him a video of himself, highlighting the multiple times he had said those very words in earlier episodes. In Season 2, when [[spoiler:Number 8]] considers quitting, VAL shows him a video of all the times he had told himself that "I'm not a quitter" or "Do not quit again, ever!" [[spoiler:And he was right. Number 8 went on to win the second season.]]
36	* CatchPhrase: "Hello. My name is VAL."
37	** "Good morning/evening/afternoon."
38	** The contestants have "This sucks, VAL!"
39	* {{Cliffhanger}}: Season 3, episode 3 has Number 5's penalty round determining whether she goes home or if Number 2, who hit the red button before her round, leaves. The episode cuts off 5 seconds into her 10-second time limit, and she still hasn't drank what she was asked to. [[spoiler: Number 5 completes the penalty round, so Number 2 goes home]].
40	** Season 3, episode 7 ended with the rope treatment going into sudden death. [[spoiler:Number 4 won]].
41	* CombatPragmatist:
42	** Number 7 from Season 2 and Number 9 from Season 3 deliberately choose specific opponents and repeatedly hit them with every penalty and handicap they could, to demoralize them psychologically and hopefully get them to quit. [[spoiler: Number 9 succeeded, though he]] was being excessively cruel about it.
43	** Number 3 from Season 2 wasn't above cheating to win, and in one Treatment she opted to go for the penalty rounds because they involved leg movements, which was something she could do well.
44	* ComedicSociopathy
45	* CompanionCube: At least once a season, the players get the chance to interact with one of these.
46	* ComputerVoice: VAL's voice for the first season was high-pitched and alien. It became more human in the second season.
47	* CrazyPrepared: [[AscendedFanboy RobRob]] in Season 3.0. He had built his own pod and performed all the treatments seen in the previous seasons as training for Solitary, and also memorized the personal information of all 18 previous contestants, to the point where he was able to write out their names, numbers, and the reasons why they were eliminated during the experiment.
48	* {{Determinator}}: You're either this, or you're done.
49	* EatThat: Slightly averted. Eating challenges typically involve normal food. The hard part is continuing to eat the food without vomiting.
50	** Oddly enough, the contestant's main diet consists of a tasteless "meal bar," which is often reviled.
51	* EliminatedFromTheRace
52	* EliminationCatchPhrase: "Your stay in Solitary is over."
53	* EliminationHoudini: In-universe. Number 8 from Season 2 sees himself as this.
54	* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: Season 2's Ball Gag Treatment. Even VAL couldn't understand the contestant's mumbling at times.
55	** And during Season 3's Tongue-Against-Glass Treatment, a few lines had subtitles of pure gibberish. Of course, by that point, it's highly possible that the contestants were ''speaking'' pure gibberish.
56	* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: Averted. The contestants NEVER meet. The sole exception is in season three, which still averts the trope: each contestant meets ''one'' other contestant.
57	* FakeVideoCameraView: Used when the contestants compose video diaries.
58	* {{Fanservice}}: A good amount of challenges either require or encourage the contestants taking their clothes off.
59	* FauxAffablyEvil: VAL may encourage the contestants at times and make humorous comments, but she ''enjoys'' every torment they go through, and eventually [[spoiler: decides to keep the winners imprisoned forever]].
60	* ForceFeeding: See EatThat.
61	* GenreSavvy: In Season 2 and onwards, several of the contestants have watched previous seasons of the show.
62	** To say nothing of [[CrazyPrepared RobRob]], as mentioned above.
63	** VAL uses this knowledge as justification to ramp up the tests and treatments accordingly.
64	* GilliganCut: In Season 4, Number 1 wished for ''anything'' but pickle relish and refried beans. Cue another guest mixing exactly that.
65	* GoMadFromTheIsolation: A lot of the contestants have done this.
66	* HeartbeatSoundtrack: One piece of music used is this.
67	* HeroicRROD: Pretty much everyone, eventually.
68	* {{Hypocrite}}: Number 7 of Season 1, despite his strong faith is... quite a {{Jerkass}}.
69	* ImNotHereToMakeFriends: You couldn't even if you wanted to.
70	** In a similar vein, one of VAL's mantras is "You are not competing against each other, but against yourself."
71	** Several guests outright state this as a creed during the experiment; the line was repeated verbatim in Season 3.0.
72	* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler: Number 7]] in Season 2 gives himself a haircut near the end to symbolize his determination.
73	* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn
74	* InsistentTerminology: Contestants are Guests.
75	* ItsPersonal: In season 2, Number 9 takes a handicap personally and does one more round during treatments to spite Number 7.
76	* JumpScare: Right when VAL is talking about the scents the contestants will be smelling, and at the tenth scent... Roadkill. A picture of a dead fox is shown.
77	* TheMadHatter: A few of the contestants admit to being this. Seriously, anyone who agrees to be on this show must question the benefits of sanity.
78	* MasterComputer: VAL.
79	* MindRape: One challenge involved watching a movie comprised entirely of intentionally disturbing images.
80	** In a later challenge, the video comes back. Only this time it occupies an entire wall of the slowly shrinking cells the contestants are locked in.
81	* MoralityPet: The mice in season 2.
82	* MrFanservice: Number 5 of Season 1 is a compassionate, [[MagicalNegro disciplined, Buddhist martial artist]], [[BrokenBird still reeling from his divorce]]... with killer abs.
83	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Season 2 had OminousLatinChanting set to a montage of the guests assembling dominoes.
84	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In this case, VAL is the villain, more or less, dealing out torment after torment until the contestants [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere quit.]]
85	* NightmareFetishist: Number 8 in Season 1, Number 3 in Season 2, and Number 9 in Season 3.
86	* OffTheRails: This was how [[spoiler:Number 6]] got eliminated in Season 1.
87	* OhCrap: ''Very'' prominent throughout as the guests react to the tests and treatments.
88	* OnionTears: Taken about as far as it possibly can be in reality during Season 2.0 when VAL has the contestants ''grate'' fresh onions as a challenge.
89	* ParanoiaGambit: In Season 3, VAL made the guests sit in chairs and ignored them to see what they would do. Some sat perfectly still for an hour.
90	* PetTheDog: VAL's interactions with lategame contestants leaving.
91	* PluckyGirl: EVERY single contestant in pod number 3, [[OnceASeason without exception]].
92	** Not to mention Number 5 in Season 3.0. Her fate? [[spoiler:Eliminated by "her body"]].
93	* PreBattleBanter: Seen between Numbers [[spoiler:4 and 7]] in the finale of Season 3.
94	* PrisonEpisode: Season 4's "Escape From Valcatraz."
95	* PungeonMaster: VAL seems to delight in naming things after herself. "Valphabet", "Pledge of Valleigance", and "Escape from Valcatraz", to name a few.
96	* ReunionShow: Slightly subverted, in that the players have ''never'' met before.
97	* TheRival:
98	** Number 7 to Numbers 8 and 9 in Season 2.
99	** Numbers 4 and 7 in Season 3.
100	* SamusIsAGirl: The viewers knew Number 3 in season 4 was female, but everyone else, upon hearing she played football in high school, thought she was male.
101	* SassyBlackWoman: Number 8 in Season 3.
102	* SerialEscalation: How Val chooses to end some of her more randomized Treatments, stopping them before they actually take place. (Ironically, despite the relatively high levels of GenreSavvy in the show, the contestants rarely recognize that this means the treatment is over.) Notable examples:
103	** First example: After the guests had consumed a huge amount of food in the gluttony treatment and were barely managing not to vomit, VAL teasingly asked them, "How does a plate of lasagna sound?" The guests' reactions were along the lines of, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" before they opened up the meal slot and found that the treatment was over.
104	** Season 1: The liquid fire treatment where [[spoiler:Number 7]] nearly drank vials #17 and #18 combined.
105	** Season 3: The stool sample treatment, where the final round would've involved sitting on a spiky ''lawn aerator''. And [[spoiler: Number 8]] STILL tried to sit on it!
106	** Season 4: During the shots round, they had to make a cocktail with their ''sweat'' VAL had collected in an earlier challenge!
107	* SigilSpam: That green octagon.
108	* SpearCounterpart: A red, male VAL appeared in Season 3 for the coffin treatment.
109	* StealthPun: VAL imprisons guests in Pods. [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey Open the pod bay doors, VAL!]]
110	* TooKinkyToTorture: Number 3 in season 2.0. She was a masochist, and would often compliment VAL on how wonderfully sick and twisted her treatments were.
111	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers for the upcoming episodes are ridiculously spoilery. First of all, you can quite easily determine what challenges will come next. When they show scenes of the upcoming treatment, it is also fairly easy to guess who will win the test. The trailers are also spoilery in general.
112	* VideoGameCaringPotential: Sometimes large amounts of food that certain players win are "shared" between other players on a whim. Since VAL makes no suggestions towards it, this doesn't happen very often.
113	** Exhibited by the guests of Season 2 to their pet mice.
114	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: In Season 2 and onwards, much more interaction between players occurs. This typically consists of taking away luxuries from, and giving punishments to, the other players, causing rivalries between pods.
115	* [[WhatYouAreInTheDark What You Are In Your Pod]]
116	* WorthyOpponent: Numbers 7 and 4 in season 3.
117	* YouAreNumberSix: VAL never refers to the contestants by name, only by the number on their pod.
118	** Subverted in the season finale of 4.0. After [[spoiler: number 6 (who was formerly number 7 on 2.0) washes out for the second time, as he exits the pod VAL refers to him as number... Tyler.]]
119	** Also subverted in the season finale of the previous season, 3.0. After the final treatment ends, VAL tells [[spoiler:Number 4, "You are [[AscendedFanboy my number one fan]] . . . and I am ''yours'', [=RobRob=].".]]

Context Series / Solitary