[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BitF_4486.png]]
[[caption-width-right:225:A Viciously Funny Comedy]]

''Bullet in the Face'' is an ultraviolent, [[BlackComedy blackly comedic]] Canadian-American television series created by Alan Spencer (''Series/SledgeHammer'') that premiered on August 16, 2012 on Creator/{{IFC}}. It follows sociopathic criminal Gunter Vogler (Max Williams) who, after being shot by his lover and partner-in-crime Martine (Kate Kelton) during a botched jewel heist, wakes up in a hospital three months later with the surgically-transplanted face of the last man he killed.

Brüteville Police Commissioner Eva Braden (Jessica Steen) gives him an ultimatum: die or work for her undercover to take down the city’s powerful crime lords, Tannhäuser (Creator/EddieIzzard) and Racken (Creator/EricRoberts). Aided by Lt. Karl Hagerman (Neil Napier), the partner of the man whose face he now bears, Vogler must adapt to life as a cop if he wants revenge on those who betrayed him.

A police procedural with clown shoes, the story takes the BoxedCrook theme to its logical extreme: ComicBook/TheJoker being poached by law enforcement to help solve crimes. Just as ''Sledge Hammer'' was a pastiche of 80's cop shows, the jokes also draw inspiration from Creator/JohnWoo films (particularly ''Film/FaceOff'') and [[MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] graphic novels such as ''ComicBook/SinCity''.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* AGodAmI: Tannhäuser thinks of himself like this.
-->'''Martine:''' You think you're God, don't you?\\
'''Tannhäuser:''' No, he thinks he's ''me''.
* AgentPeacock: Hagerman and his old "partner" bonded over a mutual taste for musical theater and crochet. Gunter's loft is full of Music/BarryManilow and ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}'' [=CDs=], and a flashback reveals Braden trying (and failing miserably) to stimulate his transplant donor sexually. Nevertheless, Gunter's victim seems, from what little we see of him, to have been an inordinately badass detective.
* AmbiguouslyGay: But just barely. It’s ''strongly'' implied that, in addition to working together as police officers, Hagerman was a different sort of “partner” to the man who originally owned Gunter’s new face.
* TheAtoner: Averted.
* AxeCrazy: Gunter Vogler and all of the other criminal main characters (Racken likes to shoot henchmen for frivolous reasons, etc.).
* BadassLongcoat: Gunter. Averted with Hagerman, as his coat is far more badass than he is.
* BadBoss: Merely the ''possibility'' of betrayal prompts Racken to murder a whole room full of his men, despite his pointing out he’s known them all for years and that any one of them would take a bullet for him, as well as arguments they offer which he admits are convincing. Tannhäuser’s not much better, killing a mild-mannered man who keeps beating him at chess.
* BattleCouple: Martine and Gunter occasionally act like one. [[spoiler: It doesn't last. Either time.]]
* TheBeard: Despite compounding evidence that he is gay, Lt. Hagerman mentions a wife and daughter a few times.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Gunter and Braden appear to share this, but Gunter’s actually just toying with her for the lulz.
* ButtMonkey: Lieutenant Hagerman. Even his boss can't stand him.
* ChessMotif: The last three episodes in spades.
* TheChessmaster: Tannhäuser wishes he were this, given all the chess motifs he uses and the lessons in chess he's taking.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Lt. Hagerman. He feels compelled to protect the man who wears his partner’s face, regardless of Gunter’s despicable antics. Taken to its logical extreme in a dark comedy, he [[spoiler: dies while vainly trying to defuse a bomb]].
* CityOfAdventure: Brüteville
* CliffHanger: [[spoiler: Tannhäuser barely escapes his apartment, and sets off a bomb that may have killed Commissioner Braden. Meanwhile, Martine dispatches Racken and his thugs with the submachine gun she has hidden in her fake belly, pointing her gun at Gunther. Finally, Hagerman tries to defuse a bomb in the basement of a hospital...the episode ends on a shot of chess pieces falling over, leaving all three threads hanging.]]
* ClintSquint: Hagerman very rarely smiles, and even that expression looks contorted with recollected pain.
* CloudCuckoolander: Almost everyone, apart from Commissioner Eva. And even then, it's iffy.
* CombatPragmatist: Martine and Gunter.
* CompanionCube: Tannhäuser treats his snow globes like these.
* CopShow: A parody of one.
* CowboyCop: Gunter behaves in like fashion after he goes undercover, mostly by dint of being a complete psychopath who has no real interest in anything but getting his own face back. He soon proves to be an exemplary cop (to his disgust).
* CrapsackWorld: Brüteville. It doesn't help that gets reduced to cinders as the show continues.
* CreatorCameo: Creator Alan Spencer can be seen as a hapless bystander juggling a severed head in a post office, in "The World Stage".
* DaChief: Commissioner Braden.
* DarkActionGirl: Martine.
* DepravedDentist: Gunter faces one in “Angel of Death.”
* DrivenToSuicide: In “Angel of Death,” Gunter and Hagerman investigate a string of priestly suicides. Turns out [[spoiler: all the “priests” are ex-criminals being picked off as a part of the Racken-Tannhäuser gang war]].
* EagleLand: From Braden and Racken's dialogue, the series probably takes place there.
** Racken comes off as a strong type 2, with every stereotype of the New York mobster.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: The villains are occasionally prone to bad jokes and puns.
* EvilVersusEvil: A LaughingMad AxeCrazy CowboyCop against two LargeHam gangsters
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* {{Expy}}: Tannhäuser's agoraphobia is inspired by [[Film/CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]], as hinted by his snowglobe obsession.
** Hagerman's dresses and sounds a lot like Rorschach from ''Film/{{Watchmen}}''. Averted, because Hagerman is an emotional wreck, while Rorsch is a borderline sociopath.
* FacialHorror: Gunter is shot in the face three times in the first three episodes. There's also the fact his face is not ready, as there are slips and cracks happening.
* FantasticRacism: Rakhen is prejudiced against the French, preferring American snails to French escargot.
-->'''Racken:''' I'm going to drag his agoraphobic ass out in the street and make him eat snails. And I do not mean escargot. Hell no. I mean live, American slugs from the garden of a Detroit City autoworker.
** Despite this, Racken is very sensitive about being an equal-opportunity employer.
-->'''Racken:''' Seriously. I got lots of black guys in my mob. You may not know this, I was the first guy to recruit kids from low-test-score schools. It was like, it was like no--no juvenile delinquent left behind. It was a hell of a program.
* ForTheEvulz: Gunter's main motivation.
* GangOfHats: A group of thespians-turned-prostitutes who [[spoiler: kill gangsters in revenge for their theater falling into ruin]] employ ''Theatre/TheMikado'' as their gimmick.
-->'''Gunter:''' Using Creator/GilbertAndSullivan for genocide is ''very'' creative.
* GermanicDepressives: The lethargic Tannhäuser rarely raises his voice above a whisper (even his primal scream over the snowglobes is edited out), and his idea of celebrating his wife's delivery is to off-handedly hang a few black helium balloons.
* GhostMemory: In "The World Stage", Gunter's surgeon explains rather casually that transplant recipients sometimes experience flashacks of the donor's life. The idea of compulsively "saving puppies and thinking of penis" doesn't sound like Gunter's idea of a good time.
* GigglingVillain: Gunter himself.
* GoodIsImpotent: Quite literally with Hagerman, who winds up traumatized as a result of a lap dance. Other than rescuing Gunter from killer masseuses in "The World Stage", he contributes nothing to the proceedings besides shame.
* HiddenDepths: Most of the time, Gunter comes off as a wanton killer and insufferable asshole, but at the same time he seems to have genuine affection for his girlfriend Martine (even after she ''shot him''), is excited about the prospect of becoming a father and often quips and waxes philosophical about society, his fellow man and the nature of good and evil.
* {{Hikikomori}} The sophistic Tannhäuser has never been seen in the flesh. Not because he's some sort of ShadowDictator, but because he can't step outside of his house without having a panic attack.
* LargeHam: Gunter, though he could be very subdued if he wants to. Logically so, since his face can not handle him laughing all the time.
** Tannhäuser ''revels'' in this.
* LaughablyEvil: He may be a relentless bastard and murderer, but it’s his unrestrained behavior and nihilistic attitude that make Gunter so damn fun to watch.
* LampshadeHanging: Racken has a guy in his organization that lampshades almost everything he does in that scene.
* TheLoad: Hagerman grows steadily more useless as the show progresses, culminating in his inability to ''cross a room'' correctly (on multiple occasions). It's apt that he finally turns heel at the exact moment Gunter thinks to call "this city's only honest cop." He even fails at this, and instead empties his clip into the ceiling while screaming in classic ''Film/{{Point Break|1991}}'' style... killing Gunter's upstairs neighbor in the process.
-->'''Gunter:''' Hagerman, only ''you'' could [[EpicFail fail at redemption!]]
* MagicPlasticSurgery: Gunter constantly ignores his surgeon's advice, refuses to take the standard rotation of meds to sustain his facial transplant, and is repeatedly shot point-blank in the forehead. He nevertheless seems no worse for wear. This is likely a jab at ''Film/FaceOff'' and its protagonists' lack of need for such trivialities.
* ManipulativeBitch: Braden thinks she’s this to Gunter, except he spends most of his time ignoring her save when his original face is on the line. [[spoiler: Martine Mahler]] is one played straight.
* MobWar: Tannhäuser and Racken start one with each other that eventually dominates life in Brüteville. [[spoiler: By the end, it's revealed the whole thing was prompted by Martine]].
* MoodWhiplash: The last three episodes are noticeably more serious than the first three, more darkly comedic ones.
* NietzscheWannabe: Gunter argues that religion causes people unnecessary stress, but that he can “do no wrong as long as [he does] wrong” and that “civilization is a prison” and the world is wicked and “deserves to be punished for its hypocrisy.”
* NoNameGiven: The identity of the man Gunter killed and received the face of is never mentioned.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Gunter's look is some kind of unholy combination of Creator/KlausKinski and a J. Crew model.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Gunter always speaks with his German accent, even while he's suppose to be the cop that shot him. Said cop did not speak with such an accent. Gunter even [[LampshadeHanging refers about this]] in the first episode.
* ObviouslyEvil: Gunter. [[spoiler: And Martine]].
* PatrioticFevor: Racken is a criminal but also highly patriotic.
-->'''Racken:''' Tannhauser. He's not a normal criminal, obviously. Probably never ate a hoagie in his life. You know, I'm going to drag his agoraphobic ass out in the street and make him eat snails. And I do not mean escargot. Hell no. I mean live, American slugs from the garden of a Detroit City autoworker.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Commissioner Braden's (highly flawed) reasoning for forcing Gunter to work with the police.
* PerpSweating: Gunter fails at this. Over and over and over. Gunter has better luck with a bag of microwave popcorn and a hairdryer.
* PhraseCatcher: "Shut up, Hagermann!"
* [[spoiler: PillowPregnancy]]
* PsychoForHire: Gunter is introduced as Tannhäuser’s foremost hired gun.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: At the end of "Cradle to Grave," Martine reveals she isn’t pregnant at all and merely pretended to be in order to take out the three most powerful criminals in Brüteville.]]
* TeensAreMonsters: Gunter tries to encourage this mentality with a teenager in “Drug of Choice.” [[spoiler: {{Averted}} when it turns out the drugs made him that way.]]
* ThemeNaming: Most of the main characters and even the [[HeavyMetalUmlaut city they live in]] have Germanic names, although Gunter is the only recurring character with a German accent.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Gunter.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Braden had this with Gunter because of his new face, but he doesn’t feel the same way about her at all. Neither did the face’s original owner.
* [[spoiler: TheVamp: Martine again.]]
* ViceCity & WretchedHive: A cocktail of hard narcotics ends up being dumped haphazardly into the city's water supply in "Drug of Choice". Gunter remarks that it literally could not be easier to get high in this city.
* VillainProtagonist
* WhamEpisode: "Kiss Me Thrice" takes a more serious tone and cranks up the MythArc.
* WickedCultured: Tannhäuser. And Gunter, a little.
* [[spoiler: WoundedGazelleGambit]]
----