Series / Midnight, Texas

A small town with some odd folks.

Midnight, Texas is an American supernatural drama television series broadcast on NBC as a summer entry to the 2016–17 network television schedule. The series was commissioned on May 13, 2016. Midnight, Texas is based on the book series of the same name by author Charlaine Harris who also wrote The Southern Vampire Mysteries, the novels which were adapted into the True Blood television series. The series premiered on July 24, 2017.

Manfred Bernardo (François Arnaud) is a Romani with Psychic Powers who is advised by his dead grandmother to go to Midnight, Texas in order to escape his former clients. Midnight, Texas turns out to be a haven for various supernaturals who have decided to retreat from the world.

These include:

• Bobo Winthrop (Dylan Bruce): The human proprietor of the Midnight Pawn.
• Fiji Cavanaugh (Parisa Fitz Henley): A quirky free spirited witch who owns Midnight's magic store.
• Joe Strong (Jason Lewis): A fallen angel who has visions of the apocalypse coming to the town.
• Creek Lovell (Sarah Ramos): A mortal waitress and later Manfred's girlfriend.
• Lemuel Bridger (Peter Mensah): A vampire who feeds on energy rather than blood.
• Olivia Charity (Arielle Kebbel): A freelance assassin who is lovers with Lemuel Bridger.
• Rev. Emilio Sheehan (Yul Vazquez): A quiet weretiger who presides over the wedding chapel.

Cancelled after 2 seasons.

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Tropes

• Abusive Parents:
  • Bobo's father a white supremacist criminal mastermind in charge of the biker group tormenting Midnight, and didn't take kindly to Bobo deserting the group.
  • In "Unearthed", a father abused his daughter so badly she killed herself. Unfortunately, this being Midnight, Texas, that's not the end of it.
• All Bikers are Hells Angels: The Sons of Lucifer are a Captain Ersatz of the Hell's Angels and not even remotely subtle about it.
• Ambiguously Bi: Creek wants to go to a strip club with Manfred the next time he goes (he was on an investigation but the reaction from Manfred was very telling).
  "You are perfect!"
• Asshole Victim: The Midnighters may be a collection of monsters and weirdos but they run on Dark Is Not Evil and Pay Evil unto Evil. Whenever they do kill people, they only do it to those worse than themselves.
• The Atoner:
  • Lemuel regrets his past as a blood-drinking vampire who would drink without remorse, causing him to suck energy instead and only do so in moderation.
  • Reverend Sheehan doesn't wish to harm anyone as a weretiger and locks himself up during full moons to protect the locals. This is due to him having killed the real Sheehan during a full moon a decade ago.
  • After killing Addie while Brainwashed and Crazy, Joe leaves Midnight so he can atone for his sins in the eyes of God.
  • After learning he's only been used the entire time, Kai seeks to redeem himself for accidentally aiding in Theophilus' resurrection, giving his life in the process.
• Back for the Dead: Creek returns after leaving only to show up as a ghost at the end of the episode.
• Becoming the Mask: Rev initially took the identity of Reverend Sheehan due to being a drifter and having killed the real Reverend. Over time however, he became a true man of faith, and transitioned into The Atoner as his means of penance..
• Big Bad:
  • The demon Colconnar serves as the Big Bad of the first season. He's an archdemon who tries to lead an army of evil via a gateway in Midnight, using Figi as a Catalyst. Manfred manages to stop him however using the souls of evil in Figi's pawn shop.
  • The second season initially sets up Kai as the Big Bad, with him gathering the energy of supernaturals to revive the Dark Witch ancestor Theophilus, only to be a Red Herring. His wife Patience is the true Big Bad, having used Kai and the Midnighters, Manfred in particular, to revive her twin brother and husband. Manfred and Delilah however manage to best them and seal them away for eternity.
• Big Brother Instinct: Connor, despite being the younger sibling, shows this towards Creek in the episode "Sexy Beast". It's subverted however once she learns he's a serial killer, his reckless behavior putting her in danger easily and him showing no concern whatsoever.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Patience pretends to be Kai's upset wife in order to get closer to Manfred, when she's actually the real Big Bad and had been using Kai as her patsy.
• Blood Knight:
  • Lemuel loves fighting but holds it back until he can unleash it against Asshole Victim types.
  • Joe begins hunting demons again and talks about how much he missed it.
• Break the Cutie: Creek undergoes this after finding out her brother was a serial killer and her father, essentially, let it happen. After Manfred is possessed by the evil spirits again and nearly kills her, despite knowing he wouldn't hurt her, she can't take it and leaves Midnight. Once she returns due to Basil's manipulations, she starts to mend her relationship with Manfred, only to lose her life to Patience so she can't convince Manfred to leave Midnight.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Patience and Theophilus are the ancestors to all of the Dark Witches, but are also twins. Their child, Everard, came about from them breaking taboo and falling in love.
• Broken Pedestal: After learning Bobo came from a family of white supremacists responsible for the death of her mother, and that he was a bystander to it, Figi loses he faith in Bobo. Becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal after he demonstrates her devotion to her and proves to her he's severed ties with his former family.
• Cats Are Snarkers: Fiji's familiar, Mr. Snuggles, has traits of this.
• The Chosen One: Manfred is said to be the one to stop the apocalypse by preventing demons from escaping the Veil and bringing about The End of the World as We Know It. He manages to do so by battling Colconnar after allowing thousands of evil spirits to possess him.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • The Residents of Midnight, Texas are primarily monsters and individuals with less than savory pasts, but not only are they still good people, they're the only thing capable of stopping The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Subverted regarding magic. While it was initially neutral in nature, after the union of Theophilus and Hypathia/Patience, magic was strictly labeled as light and dark, the good witches descended from the Light Witch Delilah, and the evil witches descended from the Dark Witches Theophilus and Hypathia/Patience.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Reverend Sheehan was initially a drifter, but had mauled the real Reverend Sheehan during one of the full moons. The real Reverend, with his dying breath, forgave the drifter, causing him to take up Sheehan's name to make his way to Midnight and attempt to redeem himself.
• Didn't See That Coming: The reactions of the gang after Joe finally reveals his angel wings to them and takes off.
  Manfried: Was I the only one not in the loop?
  Olivia: Nope
  Fiji: Did not suspect that.
  Lem: Well, that explains a few things.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: A number of multi-racial and interracial relationship Texas townsfolk (as well as a gay couple) are tormented by the local gang of Neo-Nazi bikers. The townsfolk are also harassed and abused by the nearby police. It's just said townsfolk also have superpowers.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Fiji fully embracing the darkness does not end well. Of course, removing one's soul in order to do that might have something to do with it.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • After Manfred and Kai talk it out, they soon realize they've both been played for suckers by Patience in her quest to bring back Theophilus. Kai then notes that Manfred is wearing a pendant Patience said would protect him, only for Kai to says it's meant to bond Theophilus' head to a body . . .
  • A more heartbreaking version than a shocked one. Fiji reveals she's pregnant and says the baby is someone they've never met but she already loves it. Bobo then remembers the deal with Basil, to take the soul of someone they're never met to restore Fiji to the light. Bobo's anguished face shows he doesn't suspect his unborn child was that person, he knows.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: One Monster of the Week takes the shape of a blonde woman.
• Evil Is Hammy: Some scenes at the end of season 2 seem to be about Patience and Fiji trying to out-ham each other.
• Evil Versus Evil: Manfred's plan to defeat Colconnar depends on this. He basically gets a bunch of demons to join together within him and directs them at the much more powerful one with the promise of freeing them. It backfires on him come the second season after they begin tormenting him, necessitating Kai to remove them from him.
• Fantastic Racism: The people of Midnight suffer a lot of this from the locals who suspect what they are. It's also implied they're just suffering the general kind as well.
• Faux Reigner: Patience comes across as a Southern Belle for most of her screentime. When she reveals she's really the Big Bad, she drops it in favor of a British accent. Manfred openly cites how the whole "Southern Charm thing" was just part of her act.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Lemuel is this way because he can feed on energy in addition to blood.
• Gender-Blender Name: Magic-users are called witches regardless of gender.
• Ghostly Death Reveal: Creek leaves town but comes back in a later episode. At the end of that episode, she calls for Manfred to come outside. He does and is very shaken to see she's a ghost.
• Hitman with a Heart: Olivia isn't a bad person at heart and prefers to kill "evil" targets with her one on-screen kill being a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • A few attempts, the oddest being Mr. Snuggles, who offered himself as the sacrifice needed in the Season 1 finale.
  • Kai disguises himself as Manfred and gives himself up to Patience so she can't use Manfred to revive Theophilus, making sure that both Manfred lives, and that Theophilus is weakened during the final battle.
• Hope Spot: Manfred and Creek's relationship took a hit at the start of the second season, and suffers even more when Creek finds out that he shacked up with Patience while she was gone. When it seems like Creek has left town without saying goodbye, Manfred leaves her a message on her phone, expressing his concern, regrets, and stating his love. Then he hears her voice outside, and an excited Manfred runs outside to see Creek's ghost. She says that she loves him, but moves on to the afterlife before revealing who killed her. He later learns it was Patience who killed her, leaving him with both of his love interests gone.
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Lemuel has a mild case of it with his creator, Zachariah. While he broke up with his creator over whether humans were worth killing or not, he decided to give him another chance. Zachariah ends up betraying Lemuel and getting killed along with all of his brood.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Not a fight, but a plea from Bobo to a Drunk on the Dark Side Fiji. It doesn't work.
• Jerkass Gods: Downplayed in that he's a demigod, but Basil is one. He's a Trickster God and self admitted sadist, who thrives causing strife for his own entertainment, subjecting Midnight to his own sick enjoyment and ruining several relationships in the process. His actions are ultimately what caused Chuy's and Creek's deaths.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Patience ends up being banished into the same mystical painting she trapped Delilah in for 800 years. Even better, the painting is then hung in the bar so Patience will be forced to watch the happy townspeople for who knows how long.
• Lighter and Softer: Is restricted to PG-13 sex and violence due to being on network TV, unlike True Blood. The supernaturals are also, by and large, much nicer people than the ones on that show.
• Manly Gay: Walker Chisum is a big hunky demon hunter who falls in love with Joe. For that matter, Joe also qualifies.
• Master of Disguise: Olivia is capable of impersonating a wide variety of looks. It's not an Informed Attribute either as she does well in changing her appearance during her hits.
• Missing Mom: Creek and Connor's mother is out of the picture.
• Monster of the Week: Along with Asshole Victim, this is how the Midnighters maintain their status as Friendly Neighborhood Monsters. The monsters they kill are much-much worse than themselves.
• Mr. Fanservice: Most of the male cast qualifies.
  • Manfred, having a nice body with lots of tattoos that he gets to show off frequently.
  • Having previously been turned into a dog, Bobo is completely naked after having his humanity restored. He also had a shower scene a few episodes previous.
  • Lem isn't particularly hard to look at either, and gets a fair amount of shirtless scenes.
  • Joe usually takes off his shirt when he unfurls his wings. He also gets a shower scene with a man who is not his husband.
• Neck Snap: Connor is killed this way by Lem after he flees Joe.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A driving theme of Season 2. Virtually all of the bad things that happen are direct results of someone making a personal sacrifice (Manfred) or people doing what they think is a good thing at the time (Kai and Fiji}. Manfred even cites the trope as the reason Fiji is Easily Forgiven in the finale.
  Manfred: We've all been there. No good deed . . .
• Our Vampires Are Different: Downplayed, as conventional vampires do appear regularly, but Lem is not a standard vampire. While he can drink blood, his primary form of sustenance is via draining energy from people, most cases non-fatally. This came from drinking the blood of Manfred's grandmother Xylda, a Romani with enchanted blood. Vampires he creates from turning humans are conventional ones however, as demonstrated with both Dawnette and Olivia.
• Overnight Age-Up: In "I Put a Spell On You," a woman dies giving birth in the church. The girl is a weretiger and goes from an infant to a toddler within minutes and by the next day is a fully grown teenager.
• Parental Abandonment: Olivia's father took off when she was young and hasn't seen him since. When he does appear, he admits he wanted to return, but was so broken up by his wife's death he couldn't, and was too late to stop his step-wife from hurting Liv.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The chief villains harassing the town in Season 1 are a gang of Neo-Nazi bikers called The Sons of Lucifer.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Creek leaves Midnight, Texas at the beginning of Season 2.
  • The Reverend leaves Midnight after Kai removes his weretiger abilities.
  • At the end of season 2 Joe leaves to make penance for killing Addie while Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Quirky Curls: Fiji has these, as did her Aunt Mildred.
• Quirky Town: Midnight is a town with a weird reputation even among the surrounding communities. It's Justified as most of the populace is supernatural.
• Red Herring: Kai Lucero is initially set up as the Big Bad for the second season, keeping the severed head of Theophilus in his office and promising "revenge" for it. Coupled with his draining the abilities of supernaturals, he is framed as the eventual final boss. He's anything but that however. He's actually a well meaning man deceived by his wife Patience into thinking Theophilus was unjustly cursed by an evil witch named Delilah, and his efforts were to, in his mind, revive Theophilus, get revenge on the evil witch, and help supernaturals burdened by their powers in the process. In truth, he's actually an Unwitting Pawn in aiding the real Big Bad's plans for reviving the ultimate Dark Witch.
• Self-Serving Memory: In "Patience is a Virtue", Hypathia/Patience shares how she loved Theophilus and Delilah was her friend who stole him away. Delilah tells Manfried she and Theophilus were in true love and Patience was jealous. Patience cast a dark spell upon Theophilus that she says was a "beautiful moment of energy" but Delilah snaps it was an abomination. The show continues to push how Patience honestly sees herself as the wronged party in the entire affair, instead of the monster who caused so much pain to others.
• Sex Slave: Olivia was forced into prostitution by her stepmother in order to feed the latter's drug habit.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Olivia gives Fiji a low-key makeover for her dinner date with Bobo and shows up looking quite nice.
• A Shared Suffering: Kai and Manfred get this in they both realized Patience didn't love either of them and was using them both.
• Shipper on Deck: Bobo appears to support Lemuel and Olivia as a couple.
• Sinister Southwest: A young man named Manfred makes a mistake and ends up in trouble; his grandmother advises him to come to Midnight, TX. Some of the denizens include a vampire, a werebeast, and an angel. Others dabble with magic and witchcraft. Oh, and his grandmother is a ghost. One of the only normal people seems to be a young waitress... but her father is a serial killer. Filmed in New Mexico, the series makes use of deserts and scrub brush.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Aubrey Harrison is dead by the time she's introduced, but it's her murder that puts the series into motion.
• Spiritual Successor: An obvious one to True Blood with it being about a rural Southern town populated with an inordinate amount of monsters. It also serves as something of a successor to Grimm as well, being an action series which is mostly about an oddball cast of humans and monsters.
• True Companions: The Midnighters all consider each other family, and will go to great lengths to protect one another. To betray them like Patience did is unforgivable, but to redeem themselves like Kai (posthumously) and Walker makes them apart of the family again. When one of their own dies like Creek and Chuy or leaves the town for good like Reverand, they will mourn the loss and never forget the family they had.
• Urban Fantasy: Midnight, Texas falls squarely within the genre as it's about a town with a fallen angel, psychic, witch, vampire, and weretiger plus a number of humans.
• Virgin Power: Fiji is wanted by Colconnar due to virgin witches being powerful sacrifices. Fiji and Bobo settle this, making her an impure sacrifice.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • After complaining about Bobo being turned into a dog, Mr. Snuggles disappears for the rest of the season. Considering Fiji's Drunk on the Dark Side Face–Heel Turn, this brings up the question of whether he's even still alive.
  • Madonna appears disguised as a Dark Witch in order to check on the imprisoned Olivia and Lem, looking nervous the entire time. She isn't seen again after.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Defied, as the Midnighters basically state they don't see any reason to treat a human serial killer any different from the numerous monsters they'd already slain, especially since a number of them are nonhuman themselves.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Olivia certainly doesn't. Which conflicts with Lem's desire to turn her, so their relationship can be endless. This becomes a moot issue at the end of season 2 when Lem turns Olivia so she can survive being burned at the stake. Her lack of regret shows her Character Development.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • The reaction of the gang when Mr. Snuggles suddenly starts talking in a bar.
    Olivia: Okay, is the cat talking?
  • Patience says this trope by word when Delilah escapes the painting.

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