Line #83 Series/TheMiddleman


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/middleman_3415.jpg]]
6
7	->''"...an over-the-top, sixteen-car-pileup-sugar-popped-cereal-bowl of a series that's not afraid to be everything your mother warned you about television: a cartoonishly extreme, randomly fantastic, special-effects laden, three-fisted walking-and-talking toy-line advertisement of an action-adventure-sci-fi comic book in which the fabric of reality barely survives in the end, and the journey invariably reveals a completely surreal strangeness behind everything we hold to be true."''
8	-->-- '''Javier Grillo-Marxuach''''s original pitch for ''The Middleman''.
9
10	Wendy "Dub-Dub" Watson is an art school graduate who, like most artists, has to get a Real Job to get by in life. Because she's an artist, this means temp work. Her mother worries about her and calls to ask embarrassing questions about her sex life that Wendy answers in dutiful deadpan... until the day she's temping for a genetics research firm and a multi-limbed, multi-eyed monster shows up in the reception area. Enter... the Middleman. He seems to be a refugee from UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age of Comic\|Books}}s, from his looks to his manner of speech. And having dispatched his duty, he warns Wendy that as far as the rest of the world is concerned this was a "gas explosion" and if she tells the truth of what she's seen he'll have to root her out like a hog ([[UnusualEuphemism not in the Australian sense]]) and kill her.
11
12	Wendy is immediately fired; it turns out her boss believes that she was the one who caused the "gas explosion" by fiddling with her missing father's lucky lighter. She spends a day pounding the pavement looking for more temp work but she finds no prospects now that word's spread that she's a possible pyromaniac. So she returns to the illegal sublet she shares with another young, photogenic artist only to have her artist-activist roommate Lacey inform her that she has a message from one more temp agency... a rather oddly named temp agency... and they want to see her ''immediately''.
13
14	So Wendy reports to the Jolly Fats Weehawken Temp Agency to check on the job offer. After a battery of increasingly bizarre aptitude tests at the hands of the cranky receptionist Ida, Wendy is introduced to the Middleman, who explains what his organization is about. You know the way things work in comic books where {{Mad Scientist}}s and supervillains are always trying to take over the world? Well, that's also the way things work in real life. It seems he's looking for an apprentice and Wendy's cynical, snarky attitude and matter-of-fact reactions to things like the eyeball monster make her an ideal candidate for the job. Angry that he'd framed her Wendy refuses at first, but thanks to her current lack of any other prospects she relents and joins up. After that she embraces this new lifestyle and proves to excel at it, despite the problems a twenty-four hour a day "temp job" causes in her personal life.
15
16	Originally a comic book (that itself started as a television pitch), Javier Grillo-Marxuach aptly adapted it for a surprisingly faithful series that had one season on the increasingly inaccurately named [[Creator/{{Freeform}} ABC Family]]. The season was originally intended to be thirteen episodes long, but was cut to twelve for budgetary reasons. The script for the never-filmed thirteenth episode, titled "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse," debuted in a table read at Comic-Con '09 with almost all of the original cast, and was released as a graphic novel shortly thereafter. Later another graphic novel and table read was released for a crossover between the comic and television series that resolves the mystery of what happened to Wendy Watson's missing father in both dimensions.
17
18	----
19	!!This series provides examples of:
20	* AbsurdBrandName: The energy drink "''''!!!!''''", which characters pronounce by doing jazz hands, stomping, and making an enthusiastic face.
21	* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: Shabumi in "The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown"
22	* ActionGirl: Wendy Watson, bien sur!
23	* AIIsACrapshoot
24	--> '''The Middleman:''' She's had the crankies something awful since she got stuck on "Domineering Schoolmarm version 2.0".
25	* AirVentPassageway: Lampshaded ("Was this building designed by television writers?") and then justified with "The [[Film/DieHard Nakatomi]] [[ShoutOut Protocol]]," which makes the normally capillary-sized airvents big enough for people to crawl through.
26	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Justified, they live on Earth after all.
27	* TheAllegedCar: Wendy's Hruck Bugbear AKA "the poor man's Yugo."
28	-->'''The Middleman''': Sweet mother of Preston Tucker! Did you pick him up in that?\
29	'''Wendy''': Yes! \
30	'''The Middleman''': You said you had a car!
31	* AllergicToLove: The Middleman himself has a mild to moderate case.
32	* AlliterativeName: true of not only the people in the show (as is proper in any ComicBooks {{Homage}}), but the dialogue is also rife with alliteration.
33	** The Fabulous Face, former Middle organization super villain.
34	** Guy Goddard [[spoiler:former Middleman]].
35	** The Middle Man
36	** Wendy's ex boyfriend, Tommy Tam.
37	** Wendy Watson
38	** And as of the Comic-Con panel for the 13th episode: [[spoiler:previous Middleman Raveena Rao, and Clarence Colton, the current Middleman's real name.]]
39	* AlphaBitch: The sorority girl Allie from "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation" initially appears to be one, but is soon revealed to merely be suspicious of Wendy thanks to [[spoiler:the Executive Board having been body swapped with physics nerds trying to take down the Greek system]], and she turns out to be fairly nice and helpful with Wendy's current romantic drama.
40	* AlternateHistory: The Titanic figures in. And they did the research.
41	* AlternateUniverse: The twelfth episode involves one where [=FatBoy=] Industries has taken over the country.
42	* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: The Middleman ''pretends'' the Underworld is this when he and Wendy visit; Wendy sees a [[CelestialBureaucracy soul-sucking office building]], the Middleman claims he sees a [[WildWilderness vast overgrown field]] full of [[NatureIsNotNice fierce beasts]]... before admitting he sees an office building as well.
43	-->'''Wendy''': ''([[ActuallyPrettyFunny smiles]])'' Wow. Somebody's ''funny'' in the Underworld.
44	* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Middleman admits he has no idea whence come the weapons and gadgets and things -- they just show up sometimes, in boxes.
45	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the 13th episode: [[spoiler:"You murdered my boyfriend, destroyed my workplace, trapped Noser in a giant diamond, gave my best friend Lacey leukemia, and did God knows what to the only father figure I've ever known, and the worst you could think to do to me was ''put me in '''[[Franchise/StarWars a slave girl costume]]'''?''"]]
46	* ArtifactOfDoom: The Cursed Tuba.
47	%%* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Cecil]]
48	* BeardOfEvil: ''Every'' male in the alternate universe has a goatee. [[spoiler:Except for the guy who wants to leave it]]
49	* BigNo: In the very first episode, when [[spoiler:the villain of the day, a mad scientist planning to build an army of super-gorilla soldiers controlled by a supercomputer to take over the world, accidentally destroys her own supercomputer.]] It's hilariously long.
50	%%* {{Blackmail}}: Pip against Wendy.
51	* BrandX:
52	** Tahiti Water is a CaptainErsatz of Fiji water.
53	** '''!!!!''' is a dodge for those energy drinks in narrow cans like Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar.
54	** [[ScoutOut Wilderness Girls = Girl Scouts]]. Skinny Mints = Thin Mints. Bora Boras = Samoas
55	** Myfaceinatube.com = [=MySpace=], Facebook, Website/YouTube
56	** The uMaster = The iPod
57	%%* BirdsOfAFeather: Wendy and Tyler
58	* CallBack: All of The Middleman's "Code 47s" to Wendy in the case of his death are references to previous episodes
59	* {{Calvinball}}: Shibumi. It apparently has rules, but they're apparently impossibly complex
60	* CaptainObvious:
61	** Don Calfari in the pilot.
62	--->'''Don Calfari''': But I did not give the order to wipe out the Spaldoni family. That is an order that I did not give.\
63	'''Henchman''': Okay, Don Calfari. If you did not give the order, then what does that mean? \
64	'''Don Calfari''': That would mean someone had to give the order... Someone that was not me.
65	** The Middleman has shades of this occasionally.
66	--->'''Middleman''': Dubbie? It is I, the Middleman. \
67	'''Wendy''': Really. Calling me on the Middlewatch, that only we have.
68	* CassandraTruth: Pip tries to tell everyone that Noser is a ventriloquist, but it doesn't really help that he puts in the part about Lacey kissing him.
69	* CatFight: Subverted, bigtime.
70	* CatchPhrase: Several:
71	** "Oh phooey."
72	** Also, "I'm just the middleman."
73	** "You have to admit, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity."
74	*** "No!"
75	* CelebrityStar: BoyBand Varsity Fanclub
76	** Also, Kevin Sorbo as Middleman '69
77	* CelestialBureaucracy: The Underworld is a giant office building with files in the back room.
78	* ChekhovMIA: Wendy's father disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
79	* ChekhovsGun:
80	** The concussive stun field generator.
81	** The rarely accurate Tarot card reader girl.
82	* TheChewToy: The Training Robot, who always ends up having its head knocked off.
83	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Noser, who greets Dub-Dub each time she gets off the elevator with lyrics. She identifies them.
84	%%* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: Mirror Pip rescues Wendy this way.
85	* CoolCar: The Middlemobile, and Dub-Dub's Smart Car, the second Middlemobile
86	* CorruptCorporateExecutive:[[spoiler:Alternate Dubbie]]
87	* CoveredInSlime: Due to the MIB-esqueness.
88	%%** CoveredInMud: The consequences of fighting the earth elemental in "The Accidental Occidental Conception".
89	* CursedWithAwesome: The tuba player is cursed with immortality. Well, not since he started dating again.
90	** "And did I mention the dating's going great?"
91	* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Wu-Han [[TouchOfDeath Thumb of Death]].
92	%%* DeadManWriting: Code 47.
93	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Ida and Dubbie.
94	* DecontaminationChamber: That's what you get for being made of meat.
95	* DemonicDummy: Little Vladdie, who is Vlad the Impaler's favorite ventriloquist dummy
96	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "An Upscale Shopping Center in an Upscale Part of Town."
97	** "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse"
98	* DieHardOnAnX: Repeatedly and forcefully lampshaded. Or, as the Middleman puts it, the HQ gets invaded three times a year.
99	** Wendy even refers to their situation as "Film/DieHard -- ''[[ShapedLikeItself In A Building!]]''"
100	** "[[FunWithSubtitles Think Die Hard]]. [[FantasticVoyagePlot But inside a robot]]."
101	* DisguisedInDrag: In "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation," a fraternity pledge sneaked into a sorority house this way, only to see and hear some ghosts as a result of PinealWeirdness. Wendy eventually takes him back to the house in drag so the ghosts can explain how they got that way.
102	* DramaticDrop: Wendy drops a spoon upon unexpectedly getting a well-timed, very important tidbit of information.
103	* TheDreaded: Noser's talent and reputation as a ventriloquist are so great that the mere mention of his name causes one contestant in a competition to drop out, leave and quite possibly quit competing all together.
104	* DuelToTheDeath: In "The Sino-Mexican Revelation", MM must duel on behalf of Sensei Ping.
105	* {{Eagleland}}: The Middleman is an excellent Type 1 example.
106	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Middleman swearing in the first episode, a one-off joke that's completely inconsistent with his characterization from then on. The first episode being a near-perfect recreation of the original miniseries with virtually no changes made to the script, this was lifted directly from the page.
107	* EveryEpisodeEnding: Wendy and Lacey in their illegal sublet, bonding.
108	* EvilIsPetty: A common theme. Many villains are engaging in nefarious acts for disproportionately small gains.
109	-->'''The Middleman''': All this, just to bring down a sorority? Why?\
110	'''Eleanor Draper''': The Omegas are elitist, hedonistic...\
111	'''The Middleman''': They wouldn't take you, would they?\
112	'''Eleanor Draper''': [[BerserkButton I hate those exclusive sluts!]]
113	%%* EvilTwin: Played completely straight with [[spoiler:altWendy]].
114	* ExtendedDisarming: the Middleman makes liberal use of {{Hammerspace}} doing this in the first episode before going on to prove his badass is in full working order.
115	* EyepatchOfPower: The altMiddleman has one... because Sensei Ping ''[[Film/KillBill plucked out his eye]]''.
116	* FailsafeFailure: Wendy has to push Ida's reset switch to stop the detonation. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the nanobots beat her to it and disabled it.]]
117	* FanService: Quite a bit for a "family" show, including Wendy and Lacey's short-shorts and Dubbie's "slutty but sweet" pirate outfit in "The Sino-Mexican Revelation"
118	** And don't forget the catsuit and the "[[Film/DrNo Honey Ryder]] nightmare."
119	** Prefer your eye candy male? The Middleman's spent some time in a bicep-baring toga (and later a tank top), altMiddleman goes shirtless in leather pants. And then there was the time he wore a tux. And got handcuffed to a pipe.
120	** And then there was the time they both had to strip to their undies (and then more so for MM) in the DecontaminationChamber. Yowza. And then there's altLacey and altIda - same snark, completely different package
121	* FantasticVoyagePlot: Or, as they put it, [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard]]. In a robot.
122	%%* FinalSpeech: [[spoiler:Cindy]]'s.
123	%%* FlashBack
124	%%* {{Foreshadowing}}
125	* ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself: Supernatural creatures picking jobs that no one would bat an eye at discovering them doing.
126	* FreakyFridayFlip: In "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation," [[spoiler:a mad scientist in training switches minds with the Middleman]].
127	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The very first scene of the very first episode and at least OnceAnEpisode thereafter. Dubbie's battle with the giant levitating fish is probably the best example.
128	* FunWithSubtitles: In "The Sino-Mexican Revelation", Wendy shakes down a lucha martial artist for information; at first she talks to him in Spanish with helpful English subtitles... and when she slips and starts talking in English, the subtitles are in Spanish. Believe it or not this is also one of those gags that was replicated faithfully from the comic, though in a different scene.
129	* GeekyTurnOn: Wendy and her boyfriend have sex for the first time after locating and playing the ultra-rare, super violent video game, Gut Wrencher 1, which is described as "the goriest side-scroller in history, banned in 17 countries, the only video game to be denounced by both [[MediaWatchdog Tipper Gore and the Dalai Lama]]". Wendy is [[GeekyTurnOn especially excited]] because they are playing the arcade version (of which they only made 150 before it went set-top), which has "4 levels of sheer carnage" which the set-top version did not have. When they [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence beat the 86th level of Blood Lust Catamite]] (though it took 18 dollars in quarters and Wendy's use of the Scud Missile), they [[VictorySex finally resolve]] their up to this point [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]].
130	* GenreSavvy: Both the Middleman and Wendy to various degrees. In fact, their knowledge of comic book tropes is part and parcel of the job they do.
131	* GhostInTheMachine: The literal machine, as Ida's brain looks exactly like Ida.
132	* AGodAmI: In the panel for the 13th episode, [[spoiler:collecting thousands of [[PinealWeirdness pineal glands]] and creating a hivemind from all the uMasters of the world allows Manservant Neville to become a RealityWarper. He quickly dubs himself a god.]]
133	* GoodNewsBadNews: Taken to extremes.
134	-->'''Ida''': I've got good news, bad news, [[RuleOfThree more bad news]], and [[OverlyLongGag worse news]].
135	* GoshdangItToHeck: All of the Middleman's dialogue is like this, except for once (where it's appropriately bleeped).
136	** In the Comic-Con 13th episode table read, you can tell the excrement's hit the cooling-device when MM swears twice without being bleeped (which also counts as a PrecisionFStrike). Not that there's no bleeping - Wendy gets bleeped at least twice.
137	** Most swearing is bleeped, and to emphasize the fact it's a "family" show, the lips of the person swearing are covered by a black box for the duration of the offending words...but there's a fractional delay to let astute viewers know which naughty word was likely the one spoken.
138	%%* GranolaGirl: Lacey, at least before CharacterDevelopment.
139	* GreasySpoon: Batter of the Bulge Pancake House (home of the Luftwaffle, the Panzercake, and an un-named dish which references the invasion of Crete).
140	%%* GroinAttack
141	* {{Hammerspace}}: The Middleman decides to walk into a situation unarmed, and spends several moments pulling increasingly improbable weapons and devices off his person, including an opened crossbow.
142	%%* HandsomeLech: Middleman '69
143	* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Middleman '69, just before his HeroicSacrifice]]
144	* HeroesRUs: [=O2STK=], the "Organization Too Secret To Know", which apparently bankrolls and operates the Middleman Organization.
145	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Sensei Ping, after his introductory episode.
146	* HeroicSacrifice:
147	** In "The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown", [[spoiler:Middleman '69 [[RedemptionEqualsDeath sacrifices himself]] to save the current-day Middleman, who he had [[FaceHeelTurn betrayed]] in jealousy earlier on.]]
148	** In "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse", [[spoiler:the Middleman makes "the ultimate sacrifice:" The love Lacey and he shared.]]
149	* HeterosexualLifePartners: There is no closer pair of female friends on television than Wendy and Lacey.
150	%%* HookHand
151	* HumanPopsicle: There's a Middleman who was in cryogenic storage until he was needed.
152	* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum" involves an alien who hunts humans.
153	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming:
154	** The first episode is called "The Pilot Episode Sanction," from the first trade paperback titled "The Trade Paperback Imperative."
155	** The second is called "The Accidental Occidental Conception".
156	** The third? "The Sino-Mexican Revelation," which was an adaptation of the graphic novel "The Second Volume Inevitability."
157	** "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum"
158	** "The Flying Fish Zombification"
159	** "The Boy Band Superfan Interrogation"
160	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/36113.html The Cursed Tuba Contingency]]"
161	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/35995.html The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation]]"
162	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/35802.html The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown]]"
163	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/37364.html The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation]]"
164	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/37477.html The Clotharian Contamination Protocol]]"
165	** "[[http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/37751.html The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome]]"
166	** And #13 - "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse".
167	%%* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight
168	* ImagineSpot: Wendy goes off into daydream land a couple times an episode when prompted by a situation that warrants her thinking something over.
169	* InfiniteSupplies: Lampshaded; The Middleman doesn't know where ''any'' of his stuff came from, it's just there.
170	-->I got recruited the exact same way you did. When the last Middleman hired me, he never said (who he worked for) and I never asked. Ida was already there. So were all the weapons and gadgets and things. I don't know where they come from, they just do. Maybe Ida runs the show. Maybe it's "[[TheIlluminati The Conspiracy]]." Maybe it's God. I'm just [[TitleDrop The Middleman]].
171	* InformedAbility: Noser's abilities with music and ventriloquism are supposed to be virtuoso level; we know this from the reactions of people around him rather than ever seeing him ply his craft.
172	-->'''Tyler:''' That's the longest game of stump the band I've ever seen without hearing any music.
173	* InsistentTerminology: The title cards always refer to Wendy's place as "The illegal sublet Wendy shares with another young, photogenic artist." The pirate themed bar has a similar insistent name.
174	* IronicEcho: approximately half of the snark, lending credence to Wendy's PhotographicMemory.
175	%%* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies
176	* ItsPersonal: Certain things make even MM break the rules.
177	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Why Lacey decides to dump Tyler so he can date Wendy. Please note that the [[PseudoRomanticFriendship "beloved" in this example is Wendy, not Tyler]]
178	* JerkAss:
179	** Pip is usually described as a "malignant nematode", but the idea is the same.
180	** Sensei Ping, as part of his hard-core training programme.
181	** Ida, who spends every episode making cranky, cutting remarks and casting aspersions on Dubbie's character. Still technically one of the good guys, though.
182	* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Subverted in that the Palindrome ''doesn't'' want to talk about his plan. His alternate counterpart, however...
183	* KissOfDistraction: Lacey gets a videotape of Noser's ventriloquism performance away from Pip by distracting him with a kiss. Later on, Pip tries to explain to Joe that he had a tape of the performance but Lacey stole it, but Joe doesn't believe she would do such a thing. When Pip explains that she distracted him with a kiss, Joe laughs and says, "Yeah, this story's getting easier to believe."
184	* LampshadedTheObscureReference: Spoofed when Middleman '69, who has been [[HumanPopsicle in cryogenic stasis for the past for decades]], makes a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' reference and then apologizes for referencing an [[ItWillNeverCatchOn obscure]] [[HilariousInHindsight short-lived TV series.]]
185	* LampshadeHanging: Metaphorically speaking, there are lampshades hanging off every available surface on this show's sets. The Middleman and Dub-Dub seem to have a supply of them handy for hanging them whenever a situation calls for it.
186	** There's a ''literal'' wall of unexplained lamps at the organization's headquarters. This may or may not be where they keep their extra shades in between cases.
187	* LargeHam: Quite a few. Most notably...
188	** You will use respect when addressing Sensei Ping!
189	** Roxy Wasserman's fangs always have chewed scenery stuck between them. Just as it should be.
190	** [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Kevin Sorbo]]. Natch.
191	** AltMiddleman's actor really seems to relish going to the dark side.
192	** Just for good measure: Pip.
193	* LaserGuidedAmnesia:
194	** Of the two-day variety in Tyler's case.
195	** In "The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation," the Middleman actually manages to utter the phrase "suffering from some sort of vampire-puppet-induced amnesia" with a straight face.
196	* LiteralMetaphor: More a case of confused slang terms.
197	-->'''Wendy:''' Guy, what are you doing here?\
198	'''Guy:''' At present, I'm looking for some hooch.\
199	'''Wendy:''' You stay away from my roommate!\
200	'''Guy:''' I meant a drink.
201	* LaymansTerms: MM explaining the H.E.Y.D.A.R. to Wendy.
202	* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Cecil Rogers.
203	** "Did I mention how great the dating has been?"
204	%%* MadLibThrillerTitle: All part of the fun.
205	* MadScientist: The raison d'etre for the Middleman organization.
206	* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Wendy's AlternateUniverse counterpart is the real leader of the tyrannical [[=FatBoy=] Industries; Manservant Neville is just a prop.]]
207	* MartialPacifist: Dub-Dub and to a lesser degree, Lacey, playfully parody the trope.
208	* McGuffin: In "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome," all of them are named after famous {{McGuffin}}s.
209	* MegaCorp: [=FatBoy=] Industries, [[spoiler:especially in the AlternateUniverse]]
210	* MickeyMousing: Sensei Ping's every sudden move is accompanied by a "whoosh!" sound effect. Possibly an ActorAllusion to Mark Dacascos's [[Series/IronChef most famous role]].
211	* MirrorUniverse: An entire episode centered around one, "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome."
212	* MissedTheCall: Tyler was supposed to be the next apprentice Middleman... but his roommate misplaced the envelope.
213	* MonstersAnonymous: Roxy Wasserman's succubus halfway house.
214	* MoodMotif:
215	** The guitars of Spy Mysteriousness.
216	** The horns of SpyDrama.
217	%%* MotiveRant
218	%%* NighInvulnerable
219	* NoNameGiven: The Middleman doesn't appear to go by any other name. Lacey, not knowing his name, refers to him as Sexy Bossman, to Dub-Dub's consternation.
220	** In the comics, his first name is revealed as [[spoiler:Clarence, during his funeral.]]
221	** In the 13th episode, his name is revealed as [[spoiler:Clarence Colton.]]
222	* NoPeripheralVision: Subverted.
223	-->'''The Middleman:''' Dubbie, cover your eyes! ''[fires device, which subdues someone who had been hiding on the ceiling]''\
224	'''Wendy:''' ''[who paused to ask why rather than simply obeying and got hit by the device's discharge]'' ...concussive stun field generator. Yeah. '''[thud]'''
225	* NoodleIncident: Lacey refers to something involving "blueberry pudding pops and the elliptical machine."
226	** A slightly different version of the trope is used when the Middleman and Dubbie manage to bluff NASA away from a downed space probe...by pretending to be NASA. After the real agents leave...
227	--->'''Wendy:''' We should be NASA every mission.\
228	'''The Middleman:''' It's thinking like ''that'' that led to drug-resistant malaria.
229	** In the same episode, a minute earlier...
230	--->'''The Middleman:''' I'll be godfather to an aardvark before I let a debacle like the Viking Mission happen on my watch.\
231	'''Wendy:''' The Viking... but those were unmanned...?\
232	'''The Middleman:''' I'll explain in the car.\
233	''[cuts directly to next scene with no explanation]''
234	* OlderThanTheyLook: If everything said about Sensei Ping is taken at face value, he must be at least seventy years old, but he only appears to be around forty.
235	* OnceAnEpisode: ''Every'' MotiveRant includes the villain claiming that his or her plan is "sheer elegance in its simplicity, isn't it?" followed up by either Wendy or the Middleman replying "No."
236	** There's also the Wilhelm Scream in every episodes and "reaping the whirlwind" pops up a lot. Plus, they usually have some prop from the previous episode in the background.
237	** The FunnyBackgroundEvent
238	** In the comic book every volume has the phrase "Giant Balls" in a different language (Italian in volume 1, Spanish in volume 2, French in volume 3).
239	* OnlyOneName: Noser, one of the other young, photogenic artists who lives in the illegal sublet. He has never been addressed as anything else but that one name.
240	** Although the Middleman always addresses him as ''Mister'' Noser.
241	* OurMonstersAreDifferent
242	** OurVampiresAreDifferent
243	** ZombieApocalypse: ...uh, sort of.
244	* PaintingTheMedium: every single time the time is mentioned in on-screen titles, it's different. In episode three, it changed between time zones ("Alaska Time," "Zulu Time"), in episode five it was phrases about time ("Hammer Time," "Jail Time") In episode eleven it was "Four Hours Six Minutes Before the Inevitable Detonation." Also, Wendy's and Lacey's apartment is usually referred to as "The illegal sublet Wendy shares with another young, photogenic artist." (Occasionally it's "her equally adorable roommate Lacey" instead.)
245	** At least once it was "her sexpot roommate."
246	** There's also the time that Wendy wonders if the Middleman secret headquarters was built by TV writers
247	* ParentalAbandonment:
248	** MissingMom: Lacey's mother, Dr. Barbara Thornfield, M.D. [=PhD=] is so busy she calls once a year to rationalize why she forgot Lacey's birthday, every year. She's so distant that her assistant doesn't know which daughter Lacey is, and Lacey is an only child. She's so distant that Lacey does not call her "mother" or "mom" but "Dr. Thornfield" and when not speaking to her directly refers to her as "Dr. Barbara Thornfield, M.D. [=PhD=]".
249	** DisappearedDad: Wendy's father has been missing since she was 14. All she has to remember him by is a Zippo lighter [[spoiler:which the Middleman used to frame her for the event at which they met so he could recruit her]].
250	%%* ThePeteBest: InUniverse, Tyler
251	* PhotographicMemory: One of Dub-Dub's talents... maybe
252	-->'''Middleman:''' Photographic Memory?\
253	'''Wendy:''' Abstract Impressionist.
254	* PinealWeirdness: Apparently losing your pineal gland either lets you see ghosts or puts you in psychic contact with your MirrorUniverse counterpart.
255	** Or if you're a flying pike, your pineal gland gives the antidote for fish zombification.
256	* PostKissCatatonia: Pip, after Lacey kisses him.
257	* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:MM and Lacey]]
258	** What might be a subversion, as they are taken hostage/over by demonic puppets, which turn into real people if married while on the arms of two people who are in true love.
259	* PretentiousLatinMotto:
260	** The Middleman organization's motto: [[AC: ''Pugnantes Malos, ne hos Pugnetis'']]: We Fight Evil So You Don't Have To
261	** Pip used pretentious Latin in the gallery show he'd tried to pull off: [[AC: Deus ex Pip]].
262	--->'''Pip:''' It's Latin for "The Machines of Pip."\
263	'''Lacey:''' That's not what it means.
264	* ProphecyTwist: "Young Noser will be rent limb from limb to save you!"
265	* PuppyDogEyes: Lacey excels at them when she's not being smug.
266	* RaceLift: Wendy was originally white in the comics but played by Natalie Morales who is Cuban-American.
267	%%* ReferenceOverdosed
268	%%* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:for Ida's downtime]]
269	* {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler:Cindy]], who was two weeks away from retirement.
270	%%* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Ida
271	%%* RuleOfCool: Sensei Ping.
272	* RunningGag:
273	** The Interrodroid getting its head ripped off, Ida always calling Wendy a stoner, and the removal of the pineal gland causing psychic powers. Also, the fake [=IDs=] used by Middleman and Wendy:
274	--->'''Doctor''': We don't get many visitors from the Department of Education.\
275	'''Wendy''': Well, if you can teach the criminally insane, you can teach anyone.
276	** Either Tyler or Wendy referring to a "____-nado", followed up with the other one responding "A tornado made of ____?"
277	** Also, the "My plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity, isn't it?" line that every. single. villain uses. Which is then nicely subverted in its final appearance. "You have to admit, my plan is sheer elegance in its draconian complexity."
278	* SchmuckBait: The Middleman gives Wendy a list of three things she must never bring up in conversation with Sensei Ping. Naturally, she ends up bringing up all three.
279	** Although she did do it on purpose because he was getting on her nerves.
280	* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: One of the Middleman's standard pieces of equipment is a B.T.R.S. scanner, which looks for things Beyond the Realm of Science.
281	* ScoutOut: The Wilderness Girls
282	* SecretIdentity: Lacey and Noser both think that Wendy works for a consultant who solves exotic problems. Which, strictly speaking, is true. But Lacey also knows about Wendy's Middlewatch and thinks it's pretty odd for a temp job to have a pager that works like that.
283	** Heck, Lacey seems oblivious even when she encounters Wendy wearing her full uniform ''complete with sidearm.''
284	* SerialEscalation: Every episode seems able to top the last in making everything ''more'' awesome.
285	* ShoePhone: There's a lot of unusual spy gear, ranging from watches to funky glasses.
286	* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/TheMiddleman Has its own (in progress) page]], where shoutouts are sorted ''by episode'' due simply to the sheer density of them. Those that are still unsorted:
287	** ''Film/AnimalHouse''
288	** {{Anime}}: Wendy explicitly refers to the first weird thing she meets as "a hentai tentacle monster".
289	** ''ComicBook/AstroCity''
290	** ''Franchise/TheFlash''
291	--->'''Middleman''': Barry Allen or Wally West?\
292	'''Wendy''': Do you want me to leave?
293	** The ''Film/AustinPowers'' movies.
294	** ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension''
295	** ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' - Like Wendy's father, Emma Peel's husband disappeared in a mysterious and unexplained DC-3 crash. Also, Wendy's ImagineSpot upon being asked to join the Middleman is a pastiche of the Avengers opening credit sequence.
296	** Franchise/{{Batman}}
297	** ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
298	** ''Film/{{Chinatown}}''
299	---> '''Malfunctioning Ida:''' She's my sister. She's my daughter. My sister. My daughter.
300	** ''Film/DieHard'': Multiple times in multiple episodes.
301	--->'''Wendy:''' Yippie Kai Yay -Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-
302	** ''Comicbook/DoctorStrange'': And the anti-vampire Montesi Formula.
303	** ''Series/DoctorWho'': The NASA experts are named after Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sgt. Benton, and Zoe Herriot, as well as a reference to "Zygons," "[=McCrimmon=] College" (for Jamie [=McCrimmon=]), and "The Treaty of Periperpegilliam" (for Peri, because that was her actual first name).
304	** In the unmade thirteenth episode, the Middleman's instructions to Wendy before his [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]] are a direct quote from the speech the First Doctor gives his granddaughter before they part.
305	** ''{{Dracula}}''
306	** ''Dr. Strangelove'' [[spoiler:Balthorium]]
307	** WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight
308	** ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''
309	** ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': MM invokes the name of The Great Gazoo.
310	** ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''
311	** ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': Possibly, one episode features a stolen beryllium sphere.
312	** ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'': Mentioned by name as Wendy calls Pip out on trying to [[{{Gaslighting}} mess with her head]].
313	** ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'': On par with the ShoutOut list for ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' Annotated [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=75LcXj3glXE here]].
314	** ''Film/GunsOfNavarone''
315	** ''Film/HowardTheDuck'': MM tells Cindy she's trapped in a world she never made.
316	** Franchise/IndianaJones
317	** ''Jake2.0'': A show Javier Grillo-Marxuach worked on before ''The Middleman''
318	** ''Film/JamesBond''
319	** ''Joe 90''
320	** ''Film/KillBill''
321	** ''Series/LostInSpace''
322	** ''Film/TheMatrix'': The Ida-inside-of-Ida is a polite, well-dressed, middle-aged lady.
323	** ''Film/MenInBlack''
324	** ''Film/MinorityReport''
325	---> '''Ida:''' We got a red ball!
326	** ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': The Brotherhood of the Pointed Stick, Everything about High/Maximum Aldwin.
327	** ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': [[spoiler:Varsity Fanclub is using a scream harvester]]
328	** ''Franchise/MyLittlePony''
329	** ''ComicBook/NickFury'': The Steranko run.
330	** ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''
331	** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Dub-Dub quotes ''the'' CatchPhrase: "With great power comes great responsibility."
332	** ''Series/SeaQuestDSV''
333	** ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Namechecked multiple times.
334	---> '''Middleman '69:''' Maybe [[BeamMeUpScotty Scotty can beam us]] down. Sorry. Obscure reference to a canceled TV show. [[ItWillNeverCatchOn I'm sure you've never heard of it.]]
335	** And another time...
336	---> '''altPip:''' You mean the sci-fi series [...] starring the great George Takei?\
337	'''Wendy:''' This ''is'' an evil universe.
338	** ''Franchise/StarWars''
339	** ''Literature/TheStoryOfO''
340	** ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}''
341	** Franchise/{{Terminator}}
342	** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius The Church of the SubGenius]]''
343	--->'''J.R. "Bob" Dobbs International Airport'''
344	** ''Film/ThePrincessBride'':
345	--->'''Wendy:''' I don't think female problems means what you think it means.
346	** ''Series/TwentyFour'': Wendy refers to beating a confession out of a robot as [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique "Jack Bauering"]].
347	** ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo''
348	** ''Series/TheWildWildWest''
349	** ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''
350	** The Comicbook/XMen ("Old school, not [[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Ultimate]].")
351	** The titles of each episode/graphic novel are homages to Creator/RobertLudlum.
352	** Film/CatPeople: "Irena Dubrovna"
353	* SirSwearsALot: Cindy Marshall is constantly dropping [[ClusterFBomb Cluster F-Bombs]], especially when the Middleman tries to interrogate her. This is especially funny as, while she's actually a hardened alien rebel commando, Cindy Marshall looks like a ''fourteen year old girl''
354	* SpicyLatina: Invoked by Middleman '69, who refers to Wendy as "a hot and spicy Spanish girl."
355	%%* SplitScreen: Very uniquely done.
356	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: "Dubby, I'm afraid I can't divulge sensitive Middle secrets through a civilian interpreter."
357	* SpyCatsuit: "This is how a real woman dresses?"
358	%%* SpyDrama: Spoofed, bigtime.
359	%%* StarCrossedLovers: Lacey and MM.
360	* StockScream: The "Wilhelm" can be heard OnceAnEpisode. Including the comic version of Episode 13, where it's rendered as "aaaah-aaaaargh!", with a note in the annotation explaining that's the best they could do.
361	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: This show practically runs on it.
362	* TechnicalPacifist: Wendy hates guns, but has a bit of a geeky affection for the sci-fi weapons the Middle organization uses. She also loves training with Sensei Ping, and she frequently protests the Middleman's tendencies toward violence. But she had no problem whatsoever beating a venomous Peruvian Pike to death.
363	** Not to mention her childhood dream of killing a vampire.
364	* ThemeSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twXSrL_4F20 "Middleman!"]]
365	* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs:
366	** Wendy has a problem of people going overly familiar with her. Despite this her roommate Lacey calls her Dub-Dub, The Middleman calls her Dubbie, and Tyler calls her Dubs. {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Noser always addresses her by her full name 'Wendy Watson'. Wendy's first episode soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Ben seems to be just about the only one who ever just called her "Wendy".
367	** The Middleman will call her "Wendy" when he's in great danger, or he's concerned for her safety.
368	* TitleIn: Spoofed, playfully, and with increasing wackiness and tongue-in-cheekiness.
369	* TrainingFromHell: Averted. MM warns Wendy that Sensei Ping's tutelage will be painful and cruel. Wendy ''loves'' every minute.
370	* TrojanPrisoner: Wendy and Alt-Lacey try this to escape from Fatboy Industries [[spoiler:after knocking out Alt-Wendy, who's in charge.]] It doesn't go well.
371	* TruthSerums: One of the Middleman's gadgets works like a room-wide dispersal of such.
372	%%* {{Tykebomb}}: Cindy
373	* UnderstandingBoyfriend: [[spoiler:For the brief time in the thirteenth episode when Tyler is aware of Wendy's job, the only thing about it that bothers him is the realization that his own job was just a means for Manservant Neville to get to her.]]
374	* UnitConfusion: 4000 angstroms of Balthorium-G.
375	* UnfazedEveryman: Her reaction to the lab explosion is how she got the job.
376	* TheUnpronounceable: The name of the energy drink "!!!!" is "pronounced" by doing jazz hands, stomping a foot, and making a rather enthusiastic face.
377	* UnusualEuphemism: Frequently used by the Middleman, usually a form of ShoutOut. "[[Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone Guns of Navaronne]]!" "Literature/FlowersForAlgernon!"
378	** And as a "my god" substitute in one episode, "My Little Pony!"... yeah, this show is capital-W ''Weird''.
379	* {{UST}}: MM and Lacey. And sort of freakily, Middleman '69 and ''Ida''. Pip and Lacey.
380	* WeirdnessCensor: Present, accounted for, and {{Lampshaded}} in a [[ParanoiaFuel paranoia-inducing]] way;
381	-->'''The Middleman''': ''[[OccamsRazor What makes more sense]]: that a [[GasLeakCoverup gas main exploded]], or that a [[MonsterOfTheWeek monster]] trashed a [[MadScience science lab]]? If I hadn't planted your lighter, some other pink-skinned [[{{Muggle}} Normal]] would have come up with a rational explanation. People want to believe that reality's normal. The ones who don't are freaks, and nobody believes them anyway.''
382	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Manservant Neville]], whose attempt to become a Living God is environmentally inspired.
383	* WhatWouldXDo: "WWWWD... What would Wendy Watson do?"
384	* TheWhitestBlackGuy: In "The Accidental Occidental Conception", there's a busboy at a Chinese restaurant who talks about his boss's long work hours as being "a culture thing" and, when asked to translate an occult Mandarin chant, says:
385	-->'''Busboy:''' Dude, I'm like third-generation twice-removed. I don't speak a lick of Chinese.
386	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Cecil Rogers, who's immortal, refuses to go on boats of any kind. Admittedly, he has good cause--he's both [[spoiler:a survivor of the Titanic]] and he points out that if he drowns he'll be stuck in a constant cycle of drowning and being revived for eternity. [[spoiler:It turns out this was a lie later on when he shows up on the ship in question, revealing himself to be the episode's BigBad]]
387	* WillNotTellALie: The Middleman, at least when he's not undercover. Hilariously used in the pilot:
388	-->'''Middleman:''' If there's one thing I hate more than mad scientists trying to take over the world, it's scientists who twist innocent primates with computer-enhanced mind control to live out their sick and perverted fantasies of criminal power!\
389	''[minutes later]''\
390	'''Wendy:''' Is it true what you said up there?\
391	'''Middleman:''' What?\
392	'''Wendy:''' [[PhotographicMemory That if there's one thing I hate more than mad scientists trying to take over the world, it's scientists who twist innocent primates with computer-enhanced mind control to live out their sick and perverted fantasies of criminal power?]]\
393	''[{{beat}}]''\
394	'''Middleman:''' ...why would I lie about that?\
395	'''Wendy:''' I don't know, it just seems like an oddly specific thing to hate.\
396	'''Middleman:''' Self-knowledge is the gateway to freedom.

Context Series / TheMiddleman