Lasko – Die Faust Gottes (Lasko – The Fist of God) is a German TV show produced by Action Concept and RTL, the companies behind Alarm für Cobra 11, and is based on the movie Lasko - Im Auftrag des Vatikans (released as Death Train in the USA), which serves as a prologue to the series.
It is about a German monk named Lasko, who used to be a soldier in the Kosovo force but decided to become a monk after a traumatizing event. In the order of Pugnus Dei, he is trained in martial arts and uses these to fight against evil organisations and terrorists.
Lasko – Die Faust Gottes provides examples of:
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: The premise of the series.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: The order of Pugnus Dei contains several of these.
- Church Militant: The secret society Ares play with the trope, for they are not the church themselves, but "merely" wish to strengthen the Vatican.
- Dirty Old Monk: Brother Gladius.
- Girl of the Week: Subverted since there are one-episode-only female characters with attraction to the main character, but Lasko is a Celibate Hero.
- Heroic BSoD: Lasko has one of these in the Kosovo war and decided to become a monk afterward.
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: Secret society Ares take this role.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: "The 5th Gospel", where the eponymous book ends up being burned (along with the villain).
- Poisoned Weapons: Taken to extremes when an evil pharmaceutical company plans on poisoning a whole city with a train coated with contact poison.
- Police Are Useless: While our main heroes are aided by policewomen (mainly from the Bundeskriminalamt), they are not too useful very often.
- Rated M for Manly: Hello? A monk kicking arse all over the place, what more could you want?
- Religious Bruiser: Lasko obviously, but (with maybe the exception of Brother Gladius) the whole order Pugnus Dei.
- Shirtless Scene: If it gets serious, you get one of these: a muscle-bound, bare-chested monk fighting another man.
- Stock Phrases:Scientist: Only over my dead body.
Villain: If you wish... - Title Drop: "Pugnus Dei" is Latin for "The Fist of God".
- Traintop Battle: Well, it's actually inside the train...
- Warrior Monk: Obviously.
