Sprung is a Freevee web-streaming series created by Greg Garcia. It stars Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton.
Jack is a convict who's been in prison since 1994 for dealing marijuana, thanks to minimum-sentencing requirements at the time of his arrest. Released due to being a non-violent offender during the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, he moves in with Rooster, his cellmate, and Barb, Rooster's mother. Joining them is Gloria, a female inmate from the same prison.
Although he wants to go straight and not be reincarcerated, Jack finds himself needing to turn back to crime as Barb, a thief and scammer, will only allow him to stay in her home if he joins her crew.
Also in the mix are Wiggles, Rooster's ex-girlfriend, and Melvin, a crook who's cornered the local toilet-paper market thanks to pandemic-related panic buying.
This series provides examples of:
- All for Nothing: During his first night as a free man, Jack finds a dollar bill in the street and decides to use it at a snack machine. Terrified of catching COVID-19, he does everything he can not to touch the money or the machine with his bare skin and succeeds in buying a roll of mints. As he enjoys his snack in triumph, a nearby homeless man points out just how many people probably touched those mints without proper protection, prompting Jack to spit them out and throw the rest away.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Jack doesn't want to fight. This doesn't mean he doesn't know how to kick ass. In fact, he's very good at it.
- Brainless Beauty: Wiggles is very attractive, but doesn't have much in the brains department. To illustrate: she thought she was able to produce diamonds like oysters produce pearls because she once pooped out a diamond ring (she'd swallowed it by accident).
- Catfishing:
- Jack and Gloria had struck up a long-distance romance while in prison (communicating through the toilets in their cells), but Jack portrayed himself as a much younger man out of insecurity. Gloria isn't happy when she learns the truth.
- Barb is in a long-distance relationship with what seems to be the perfect man. Turns out it's the man's much homelier father, and Barb isn't thrilled when she finds out.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Barb expresses surprise that Jack was in prison for nearly 30 years for selling marijuana, since it's become decriminalized and legalized in many jurisdictions over the years.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: At the end of the season, Jack has reunited with his parents and uses his new identity to become a teacher. Barb finds happiness with Stan. Rooster and Wiggles get married and open their own Dunkin' Donuts franchise. Gloria continues running scams and enjoys the excitement.
- Everyone Can See It: Stan's crush on Barb is obvious to everyone. However, Barb doesn't really understand that she reciprocates those feelings despite others noticing.
- Foregone Conclusion: Various characters talk about how COVID-19 will blow over in a few weeks and everything will get back to normal. History tells us that it was three years before things really started easing up.
- Generation Xerox: Jack looks at Rooster's family photos and notes that Rooster looks exactly like his late father.
- Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: Jack was a marijuana dealer, but he picked up a thing or two about thievery by befriending other criminals while in prison. This ends up coming in handy when he joins Barb's crew.
- Karma Houdini: Spike, Jack's supplier, manages to escape punishment while Jack is incarcerated for 30 years. Jack later discovers that Spike became a successful dispensary owner. Jack gets a bit of revenge through torture, but decides to forgive Spike and let him go without any real comeuppance.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Jack comes across various people who're doing their best to help others during the pandemic and scumbags who're taking advantage of the situation. He steals from the scumbags and distributes some of his take to those who're doing good in the world.
- Melvin is a seedy character who's taking advantage of pandemic-era panic buying to earn himself a steep profit. The crew eventually dismantle Melvin's operation while Jack uses psychological trickery to get Melvin to do his bidding.
- A Lighter Shade of Gray: Barb sees herself as justified in her criminal activity, as she's just taking enough to survive. She points out that corrupt politicians are pocketing millions while bigger street-level criminals are taking too much and making life difficult even for regular folks.
- Mundane Luxury: Jack is happy that the water at Barb's house doesn't taste like rotten eggs, like the water in prison. Plus, one of his goals after release is to buy himself a pack of gum.
- My Beloved Smother: Gloria observes that Barb has an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with Rooster that's stunted his overall development.
- Never Trust a Trailer: Played for laughs. Each episode ends with a teaser for the next, edited to make the show seem like a dark and edgy drama when it's actually a feel-good comedy.
- No Party Given: Paula Tackleberry is only identified as "U.S. Congresswoman" with no indication of which party she's affiliated with. There are hints, however, that she's a Republican.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Rooster picked up his name after playing the namesake character in a school production of Annie. He's been going by "Rooster" for so long that Barb, his own mother, doesn't remember his birth name. Likewise, Wiggles is only ever addressed by her stage name.
- Shout-Out: Jack, Rooster, and Gloria are released from H.I McDunnough State Penitentiary, named after Nicolas Cage's character from Raising Arizona.
- Stripperific: Wiggles is a stripper and dresses scantily even when not working.
- The Unseen: There are occasional mentions of Rooster having twin brothers, and Gloria and Jack take up residence in their bedroom. However, the two never make an on-camera appearance (since they went to Mexico to join a cartel) and aren't even featured in any of the family photos in Barb's house.
- Token Good Teammate: Barb and Rooster are thieves, while Gloria is a scammer. Jack, on the other hand, was a marijuana dealer and extremely uncomfortable with taking things without payment or permission. He agrees to participate in Barb's crimes if they only target other crooks. Even so, he feels guilty about it and makes sure to share his spoils with deserving people.
