Line #72 Series/ThisIsWonderland


1	[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/this_is_wonderland.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:340:Left to right: Alice, Elliot, Nancy, Max]]
3
4	->''Series/LawAndOrder'', but without the Order.
5	-->--Series {{tagline}}
6
7	Canadian courtroom {{dramedy}} that ran from 2004 to 2006, winner of four Gemini Awards. Set in Toronto's Old City Hall courtrooms, it gave a much more realistic and unromanticized view of courtroom procedure than most similar shows: instead of a MysteryOfTheWeek, there would be multiple cases per episode, and most of them would go to Plea Court, Bail Court, or the ever-depressing Mental Health Court. Very rarely would a trial actually commence, and even more rarely would the case be particularly high profile. It was usually stuff like illegally being on the premises or drugs.
8
9	It focused primarily on a young defense attorney named Alice De Raey, who is good-natured but has the tendency to swear under her breath. She is occasionally helped by scarily efficient law student Nancy Dao, scruffy and sex-crazed defense counsel Elliot Sacks, and her boss, James Ryder, who is in the middle of a nervous breakdown.
10
11	Not to be confused with the Australian relationship dramedy ''Wonderland''.
12
13	----
14	!!Provides examples of the following tropes:
15	* AliceAllusion: The main character's name is Alice [=DeRaey=]. And it's Wonderland.
16	* AmbiguouslyGay: Crown Prosecutor David Kaye (not to be confused with the [[Creator/DavidKaye voice actor]]). He's fashion-conscious, moonlights as a hairstylist, and mentions that he loves musical theatre.
17	* AmoralAttorney: Notably averted. The lawyers in the show are portrayed as ordinary people doing their best to work with a painfully flawed system, sometimes doing some genuine good and sometimes just trying to get through the case without making things worse for their client. Played straight with Jack Angel in Season 3.
18	* AnimalWrongsGroup:
19	-->'''Alice''': You are a member of PETA, are you not?\
20	'''Witness''': Yes. Does that make me a criminal?\
21	'''Judge Fraser''': No, but it does make you an opinionated pain in the butt.
22	%% * BeardOfEvil - Fortella
23	%% * BittersweetEnding
24	* BunnyEarsLawyer: In Season 3, Elliot goes through an identity crisis and tries new "looks" for himself, including Goth and dressing exactly like Kaye. Judge Frasier also has the tendency to hum loudly when people he doesn't like are talking, and to complain of boredom.
25	* CatchPhrase: Judge Malone gradually acquires "There must be something we can do to help this man/woman/child."
26	%% * CaughtWithYourPantsDown - Elliot accidentally implies that his mother once walked in on him.
27	* ChronicVillainy: As part of its more realistic approach to court drama, the show frequently features repeat offenders coming through the system.
28	* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the main cast has shades of this, but it's especially apparent in Alice, Kaye, and Judge Frasier.
29	* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: Alice occasionally gets called on her external monologue.
30	-->'''Alice''': It was nothing. I was just talking to myself.
31	-->'''James''': Oh. That's not good.
32	* DomesticAbuse: Quite common in the cases Alice and her coworkers work on. The show doesn't shy away from the uglier sides of the topic, or the effect it has on people who live through it.
33	%% * DrivenToSuicide: A few suicide cases came through Mental Health Court, but they were all saved.
34	* FreudianSlip: After Elliot reveals too much about his adolescence during a trial, Judge Serkis accidentally calls him "Mr. Sex".
35	%% * HeterosexualLifePartners: Alice and Nancy.
36	%% * HeroicBSOD - James Ryder is recovering (poorly) from a nervous breakdown.
37	%% * ItsPersonal - Elliot has the tendency to drag too much of his personality into cases and embarrass himself.
38	%% * JerkAss - Quite a few come through the courts.
39	* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Nancy is Vietnamese, but also speaks Chinese and Tagalog. When dealing with Asian defendants from other backgrounds, she chastises them for making "us" (i.e. Asians) look bad.
40	* LatinLover: Elliot dates the courtroom's Spanish translator for a little while, though it ultimately doesn't last.
41	%% * LeftHanging - The final episode leaves quite a few loose ends.
42	* MagicalNegro: Subverted with Mr. Jackson, who ''is'' a highly religious and sweet-natured homeless black man, but also very smart and asks for respect from the people he talks to.
43	%% * MartyrWithoutACause - One guest character, played by Ron White.
44	* MonsterClown: Played with. Judge Frasier develops a bizarre obsession with clowns and fills his office with porcelain ones, which frighten children in one scene. They ultimately serve as a sort of MoralityPet for him.
45	%% * NiceGuy: Judge Malone, benevolent ruler of Mental Health Court. There's also Mr. Jackson, a genial homeless man.
46	* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are two characters with the surname Davis: Anthony Davis, a black lawyer who used to be a cop, and Rosemary Davis, a white drug addict who appeared in a few episodes.
47	* ParentsAsPeople: ZigZagged. Alice's mother was an alcoholic, but Alice claims she always did her best and was always there for Alice when she needed her. However, her older sister claims that their mother was terrible and Alice was just too young to understand that she was sheltered from the worst of it. It's never revealed which of them, if either, is right.
48	* PromotionToOpeningTitles: In Season Two, Yanna [=McIntosh=] (playing Zona Robinson) is added to the opening sequence. Creator/VikSahay (playing Anil Sharma) is added in Season Three.
49	* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
50	** Judge Frasier's infamous "BIZARRE! MEXICAN! NIGHTMARE!"
51	** Also, Richard Waugh's character, repeatedly questioned as to the location of his mom, eventually screams "AT! THE! LAKE!"
52	* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Very much averted. Characters frequently speak over each other, don't enunciate their words, and generally talk as naturally as possible rather than overexaggerating for the camera. This is something of creator George Walker's trademark.
53	* SassyBlackWoman: Zona can come off as this. The show occasionally features much more blatant examples as one-off characters who appear in the courtroom for a case.
54	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Elliot tries to use this as a way of hitting on a woman, speculating that in her native South America, her beauty must have been a curse.
55	* SpecialGuest: Quite a few actors did guest spots as defendants, complainants, or witnesses, including Frank [=McKenna=] of ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'', Graham Greene, and Richard [[Franchise/ResidentEvil "Albert Wesker"]] Waugh.
56	%% * StalkerWithACrush - Happened in a few cases.
57	%% * StepfordSmiler - Nancy, to some extent, but Pamela Menon even moreso. Alice lampshades this, with an explicit reference to the original Stepford.
58	%% * SuicideByCop
59	%% * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial, combined with INeverSaidItWasPoison
60	* VerbalTic: Alice has the tendency to swear under her breath.
61	%% * WaifFu - A more moderate example: a HuskyRusskie gets a bit pushy with Alice, so she twists his arm around. BewareTheNiceOnes.
62	%% * WhereDoYouThinkYouAre - The title is meant ironically
63	%% * WholesomeCrossdresser - Mr. Jackson is friends with a pair of them.
64	* WireFu - A defendant claims to have been intimidated by the martial arts stance of a Chinese man he put in the hospital.
65	-->'''Defendant:''' "I had just seen that movie, ''[[Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon Crouching Tiger]]'' or whatever--"
66	-->'''Judge Frasier:''' "And you thought he was gonna fly?"
67	* YouAreNumberSix: In one episode, a mentally unstable woman claims a man, who is an agent of the Catholic Church, kidnaps her every week. This nefarious man has no name and is only known by a roman numeral. It turns out to be her son taking her to doctor's appointments.

Context Series / ThisIsWonderland