Series / Trace

One of the main trends of 2000s was Forensic Drama. Of course, this wave couldn't omit Russia, so here we go!

Trace (Russian: След) is a Forensic Drama with Cop Show elements which focuses on special forensic department of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs - Federal Expert Service (FES). FES can investigate the most difficult cases from all over the Russia (but mostly from Moscow and Moscow Oblast), ranging from organised crime to serial killers. FES in headed by Colonel Galina Nikolaevna Rogozina who is a strict but loyal and devoted policewoman who always gets her man with the help of the detectives and forensic specialists.

This show started in 2007 on Channel One, and, after moving to Channel 5 - St. Petersburg in 2011 is still airing, having more than 2700 episodes (mostly unrelated with each other). It makes Trace the longest-running show on Russian TV and one of the longest-running shows in the world.

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This show provides examples of:

• AB Negative: After being poisoned with psychotropic drug, Danilov needs blood transfusion in "Insanity" to keep him sane. The biggest problem is that he has Type AB negative blood. Selivanov was not able to find enough AB- blood in the blood bank. Thankfully, Kholodov has AB- blood type, so the transfusion becomes possible.
• Agent Mulder: Tikhonov tends to believe in the paranormal.
• Alliterative Name: Konstantin Kotov.
• Asshole Victim: Many an example. In "The Laughers", Anatoly turns out to be guilty of at least two rapes; in addition, he helped cover up Vasily's Accidental Murder of the second victim.

• Axes at School: The most notable example is "Wonderful School Years" where a bullied teenager takes hostages (including Antonova, who came to give Drugs Are Bad lecture and ends with chest wound).
• Baby Be Mine: The kidnapper (the first one) in "The Prince on a White Horse" is motivated by a fanatical wish to become a parent and by a desire to rescue the child from what she believes to be a hateful family.

• Bait-and-Switch: "Unidentified Person" features dialogue where Antonova seductively offers (mixed with Erotic Eating) Tikhonov to go to shooting range ("I'll reboot you!"). It ends with them shooting from the Flare Gun.
• "Basic Instinct" Legs-Crossing Parody: In "Peculiarities of the National Car Service", Amelina complains to Kholodov about the bad treatment of women by the car repairmen. Suddenly, she goes from complaints to seduction, using the legs-crossing as her Finishing Move. She does it to show how easily men can be manipulated. (For those who are interested: we see nothing special, since Amelina is wearing pantyhose).
• Berserk Button: Never, EVER try to insult or humiliate orphans in front of Danilov.
• Big Damn Kiss: Lisitsyn and Sokolova share a kiss at the end of Spin-Off "The Gardener".
• Big Eater: Antonova explains it the best way:
  Antonova: Kholodov can eat a plywood with jam! And Tikhonov... He doesn't even need a jam.
• Big Fun: Andrey Kholodov, an overweight forensic expert with good sense of humour.
• Bittersweet Ending: In "The Quarantine", the virus is revealed to have an extremely low mortality rate given proper treatment, the epidemic is localized and stopped in the space of a day, and several of the deceased victims had it coming since they got the virus from the meat they stole from a truck after killing its driver. However, several innocent people die slowly and painfully as well: the burglars' respective wives, since there is no evidence they knew of the crime, and Yegor and his wife, a loving and hard-working couple who just dreamed of starting their own farm. In the latter case, it's all the more heartbreaking, since during the entire episode we get to watch them lose all of their money for no fault of their own and then gradually fall sick without realizing how serious it is. In the end, Kruglov rushes to give them the vaccine, but doesn't make it in time.

• Bland-Name Product: Most notable one is "Face to Face", social network which resembles OK.ru (interface) and VK.com and Facebook (functions).
• Blood Sport:
  • One episode features illegal no-holds-barred-fights ending with deaths of the fighters.
  • "Falcon Hunt" provides example bordering with Snuff Film. Criminals run a website with videos of scantily-clad women who fight (and kill) in gladiator-like fights. Sokolova, who was sent to infiltrate fight club in order to investigate women's disappearances, is abducted herself and turned into a fighter but saved by Kruglov and SOBR.
• Book Safe: Danilov hides a gun in a book in "Right to Trust".
• Bound and Gagged: Trace was never shy of showing victims or detectives this way. Most of the FES roster (Antonova, Amelina, Belaya, Dunaeva, Vlasova, Kotov, Lisitsyn, Tikhonov, Kholodov) were BOTH bound and gagged at one point or another.
• Boxing Episode: There are several episodes which are related to boxing and other martial arts.

• Busman's Holiday: "Strictly Cottage Murder", where the Shustovs (Igor and Elena) go to the countryside and find the body of a local thug (who was getting on nerves of everyone [including Igor and Lena]). The episode ends with Shustov being poisoned with kompot from the berries used for poisoning the thug and saved by Lena at the eleventh hour.
• Calling Card: "The Bat" revolves around the eponymous burglars' gang whose main shtick was releasing the bats in robbed flats.
• Car Fu: Dmitry Tsukanov, Serial Killer in "Night Witness" drives over his victims (after raping them).
• Child by Rape: In "The Laughers", Yaroslav was conceived after his mother was drugged and raped.
• Christmas Episode: Or, rather, New Year's episode. During Channel 5 era every year ends with three or four Lighter and Softer episodes dedicated to the holiday.

• The Coroner: The series has two active (Valentina Antonova and Artyom Tukaev) and two retired (Pyotr Romashin and Boris Selivanov) coroners.

• Crime After Crime: The plot of "Loneliness" revolves around the disappearance of high-rank army officer's daughter. The truth is her friend (orphan) wanted to rob their house and accidentally killed their personal driver. Then, she killed the girl as a witness and was kidnapped by the competitor of aforementioned officer, playing role of the murdered girl.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Alyona Karpova from "Diagnosis: Blonde" shows all shades of Dumb Blonde (including pink rolling luggage) and Brainless Beauty... yet creates a plan to cover her Meal Ticket's murder that's complex enough to make it a real thorn in FES' side.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • The first victim in "Liquid Fire" is burnt by prussic acid added to shower gel.
  • Another example is "Bamboo de Sade". The first victim is impaled by bamboo sticks grown through his body.
• Daddy's Girl: Rogozina is shown to be very close with her father, a retired judge.
• Dark Horse Sibling: In "The Sunday Dinner", Anna is the most downtrodden of the siblings and lives completely under her mother's control, but she ends up adopting the son she so desperately wanted and getting the entire inheritance of her mother's, thanks to the simple fact that she the only one of the siblings who is not a murderer.
• Date Rape: Heavily implied in "Friday!", where Sokolova goes to Tsiolkovsk to investigate deaths of teenagers due to drug overdose. She meets her school sweetheart Grigory Melnik. Yuliya performs some weird dances before being found by Subbotin in Melnik's car wearing nothing but lingerie and boots. It's because Melnik poisoned her with the drug dissected in a bottle of water and filmed all that happened with her to compromise her.
• Deadpan Snarker: All characters have their snarky moments, but most notable one is Margarita Vlasova.
• Death by Origin Story: Grigoriy Amelin, Oksana's father, is mentioned only once (in "Tantra", when she introduces herself to Rogozina). His murder on the line of duty is stated as Oksana's main reason to become a policewoman.
• Dirty Harriet: Oksana Amelina usually works undercover as prostitute or stripper. However, "The Supermarket Girl" shows Sokolova in this role.
• Downer Ending: In "The Infection", the murderer is caught, but thanks to his and his Asshole Victim's actions, several people have been infected with HIV. In particular, Nina is infected, and even though her husband stays by her side and loves and supports her, they can never have children (and, it's implied, they abort the child Nina is already carrying, a child who was beloved and expected).
• Drives Like Crazy: Early episodes show Tatyana Belaya as horrible driver (she even fails her exams in her Establishing Character Moment). She later became more capable driver, though.
• Drop Dead Gorgeous: "Necroromantic" starts with the police officer seeing the photo of a woman whose murder he was investigating two years before. Then, the plot revolves about A Sher, well-known photographer. His shtick was staging photoshoots with models posing as murder victims. But the real killer is his assistant, who wants to overshadow him. So he strangles the woman and makes photos of her minutes after her death.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Kruglov leaves FES and goes to countryside in "End of the World". All he does there is drinking. The reason is death of his friend (Kruglov wrote off his suspicions as paranoia). Serious effort (a fictional murder case) was taken by FES to bring Kruglov back to normal life.

• Epic Fail: Mayskiy once tried to explain his absence from work by claiming to have stuck in a traffic jam... during a call from a home phone.
• Everyone Has Standards: In "The Living Corpse", Andrey might be an unrepentant Gold Digger who is ready to cheat on his loving girlfriend if it means being an escort to a very wealthy older lady, but he won't get involved in anything criminal, and he absolutely Wouldn't Hurt a Child. When Larisa attempts to use her sister's baby as a human shield, he is disgusted and horrified and manages to persuade her to let the baby go.
• Evil Twin: Played With in "Where Evil Hides". FES detectives found a grave of famous psychologist's twin who never existed. It was part of the village's beliefs while the real cause of killings was the psychologist's Split Personality.
• Explosive Leash: A bankrupt businessman in cooperation with a disabled Chechen War veteran uses explosive collars for revenge in "Blasted City". The aforementioned businessman puts one on Rogozina in the end of the episode, but her collar is dismantled by Kholodov and Amelina, who found the vulnerability in its design.

• Fair Cop: Pretty much all the female cops are young and beautiful.
• False Rape Accusation: The modus operandi of the antagonists in "The Rapist" is Gaslighting rich young men into believing they raped and beat Kamila and then demanding money, claiming that the "victim" wouldn't press charges if paid off. Their scheme fails when the mother of one of their targets turns out to be an actual rape victim and deduces that Kamila is lying.
• Fat and Skinny: Tikhonov (skinny) and Kholodov (fat), two forensic experts.
• Fiery Redhead: Yuliya Sokolova is ginger and has a rather tough demeanor.
• Fille Fatale: One of the episodes features Victim of the Day who was sleeping with rich men while being underage^note  Age of consent is 16 in Russian Federation. Since she's turned 16, she uses staged rapes for blackmail, instead of being underage.
• Fish out of Temporal Water:
  • In "A Trap in Time", a businessman obsessed with the idea of time travel suddenly finds himself in Nazi-occupied Pskov, captured by the Nazis as an apparent spy. He manages to escape, shooting the German officer who interrogated him, and soon finds himself (and the officer's dead body) back in the 21st century. The "time travel" was an elaborate but harmless prank, a gift from his friends, but the director of the company that staged it deliberately put real shells into the gun, since he had a personal vendetta against the actor who played the officer.
  • "Wormhole" begins with a Soviet car discovered in a forest, with an old man in Soviet clothing who insists he is a high-ranked Communist party member and refuses to believe he is not in the USSR. The old man was a high-ranked Soviet official, but fled in 1978 under an assumed name to avoid investigation and has been mentally ill since the 1990s. The apparent time travel was a setup by two conspirators to make their victim remember where he had buried his illegally-acquired treasure.
  • "Seeking Charon" focuses on the murder of the mobster Kirill Kuzin. His corpse was found dressed in a typical "New Russian" style, which was typical for the 90s. In fact, he spent 25 years in a Portuguese prison and was completely out of touch with the world. For example, he had no idea about the smartphones or broadband Internet.
• Flesh and Bombs: A bomb in a body kicks off the plan to wipe Tikhonov's hacker friends out in "Morgue Explosion".
• Flipping the Bird: Played with in "Liquid Fire", where Amelina shows the perp's ring finger without the ring.
• Foreign Remake: The show was remade in Poland, named Ślad.
• Football Hooligans: Igor Shustov claims to have been a football hooligan in his early years.
• Gambit Pileup: In "The Prince on a White Horse", several crimes are committed by different people for entirely different reasons. Marina kidnaps a baby girl to raise her as her own and then murders her partner when he finds out, German vandalises the lab in revenge for Zhenya plagiarising his work, and Valeria kidnaps Alisa in revenge for Zhenya agreeing to be her sperm donor but neglecting to tell her about his genetic disorder.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble:
  • With every episode featuring Rogozina as head of FES, two detectives, two forensic experts and one pathologist, there are good chances for a gender-equal cast.
  • "Original Six" cast featured three female (Rogozina, Antonova, Belaya) and three male (Kruglov, Tikhonov, Mayskiy) characters.
• Ghost Extras: There are background lab employees whose job is just to be there.
• Gift for an Outgrown Interest: In "Not in the Brow but in the Eye", Larisa Gavrilova tries to get back into her daughter Masha's life after effectively abandoning her, and attempts to give her a Barbie doll. The problem is that Masha is seventeen and tells her bluntly that she hasn't been interested in dolls in years; she views Larisa's sister Albina as more of a real mother, wants nothing to do with her, and Larisa is just trying to mooch off of Albina's family.
• Glorified Sperm Donor: Played for Drama with Aristov. It's mentioned that he has an illegitimate daughter with a businesswoman who didn't want Aristov to see her.
• Gratuitous German: New Year's Episode "Call Snowgirls" features Amelina pronouncing name of some cosmetics with erotic intonation and Tikhonov calling her "Mein kleine Schtrudel". Given that the German language in Russia is associated with one certain movie genre...
• Gratuitous Spanish: Kholodov's reply to Tikhonov's offer to call to Peru during the investigation made Andrey to show his fluency in Spanish this way: "Eres un tonto, pero yo te amo". (You're a bonehead, but I love you).
• Grief-Induced Split: Vlasova left her partner, Artyom Biryukov, after the abduction of their daughter, Liza.

• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
  • Non-romantic example: Long-time coroner duo - Boris Selivanov and Valentina Antonova. Oleg Valkman (Selivanov) was 30cm taller than Anna Dankova (Antonova) and was big enough to qualify.
  • Sergey Mayskiy towers over EVERY woman in the FES. The contrast is best seen with Tatyana Belaya.
• If I Can't Have You…: Very jarring example in "Everybody Hates Gleb", where trans teenager Gleb Skvortsov is constantly bullied at school and is stabbed by his only girlfriend who can't handle the news. He leaves for China for doubtfully legal sex-reassignment surgery.
• I Have No Son!: Vlasova rejects Liza at the end of "Deposit" after understanding that her long-lost daughter grew in a cold-blooded killer.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • Vlasova drinks a shot of rubbing alcohol after seeing the body of her ex in FES morgue in the beginning of "Deposit".
  • Selivanov needs to calm himself down with alcohol after examining the hanged boy's body in "Dead Partisans".
• Identical Stranger: One of the victims in "Night Witness" looks just like Oksana Amelina (except for red hair). She was played by Anastasia Gulimova (who plays Oksana).
• In Love with the Mark: In "Beauty and the Beast", Abramtsev falls in love with the woman he and his accomplice have kidnapped.
• In Medias Res: Some episodes (like "Worthier than Money" and "Order of Choice") start in the middle of the action.
• Iron Lady: Galina Nikolaevna fits this trope to a "T" (strong will, devotion to her work, strict but supportive view of her subordinates).
• It's All About Me: In "Children in a Cage", when Yana's baby daughter is kidnapped, Yana is more worried about the ransom being too large than about her child's safety, because if her husband pays the kidnappers a lot of money, he won't be able to afford a new car for her.
• Jack of All Trades: Shustov and Belaya work both as detectives and forensic experts.
• The Kindnapper: In "The Prince on a White Horse", it is revealed Marina has kidnapped Alisa allegedly for the child's own good, believing Alisa's own family didn't love her. It turns out, however, that Alisa's real parents' irritation with her was merely a case of Parents as People and they truly love their daughter, as they never give up hope in the two years their daughter's been missing and keep constantly looking for her.
• Kill and Replace: In "The Living Corpse", Larisa impersonates her sister after killing her, taking advantage of the fact that the latter was on maternity leave and that their voices are virtually identical.
• Kill It with Fire: The notorious anniversary episode "The Hottest Greetings" features burning people alive, starting with retired FES detective Pavel Granin.
• Let Off by the Detective: Defied in "Blood on the Hands". When it turns out Alexey killed his utterly sociopathic brother, Lisitsyn suggests to pass it off as self-defense (it was dark, there were no witnesses, and Alexey is known as a very honest man). However, Alexey refuses to lie and says he deserves to be tried for murder for not being able to raise his brother right.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Oksana Amelina (blonde Girly Girl fashionista who prefers bright clothes and is more-or-less easy-going) and Margarita Vlasova (abrasive Deadpan Snarker with hazel hair who prefers darker colors).
• Lighter and Softer: Episodes dedicated to New Year's Day or the 8th of March (International Women's Day, which is widely celebrated women's holiday in Russia). They are definitely lighter and rarely connected with murders.
• Like an Old Married Couple:
  • Bickering is a stand-by communication mode for Sokolova and Lisitsyn and also for Tikhonov and Amelina. Being heavily Ship Teased, well, guess...
  • Kholodov and Amelina performed one while being undercover as... well, a long-married couple in "Resented Husbands' Club".
  • There was also an example showing Rogozina and Antonova talking this way.
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: Only two characters ever rank up in their careers (Sokolova and Belaya), everyone else staying the same the whole time.
• Loophole Abuse: In "The Sunday Dinner", Lisitsyn needs to retrieve the cash stolen from the murder victim as evidence. Problem is, the money has been paid to a hospital, to finance a lifesaving operation of a little boy, and if it is taken away, the operation cannot begin. After weighing his options, Lisitsyn comes up with the idea of letting the doctor start operating and then pretending to come for the cash half an hour later: if the payment is taken away after the operation begins, then the operation won't be stopped.
• Love Father, Love Son: "Antonova's Mistake" tells the story of Olga Frolova's murder. Her body was found in Alexey Khlebnikov's flat (Alexey was a surgeon and and Antonova's university sweetheart). lga was going to marry Alexey... but then fell in love with his wealthy father and married him. Olga was killed by Alexey when she begged to forgive his terminally ill father.
• Love Makes You Dumb: In "Beauty and the Beast", when Anastasia learns her husband has ordered a hit on her instead of paying a ransom for her return, she insists he is a good man and is simply too weak.
• Manchild: Tikhonov is a geek with an interesting sense of humour.
• Madness Mantra: "Free the clams"^note  rus. Освободите мидий is the phrase repeated by a drugged Danilov in "Insanity".
• Mama Bear: Valentina Antonova who has four children and is ready to do anything to protect them.
• May–December Romance: Frequently a bad idea for at least one of the partners.
  • In "In the Eyes of a Child", young Veronica regularly cheats on her elderly but wealthy fiancé Arkady and views him with utter disdain behind his back. However, the trope is for once played straight when Veronica's sister Lyudmila is revealed to be in love with Arkady and he has a Love Epiphany about her.
  • In "The Pharaoh", a professor in his sixties is married to his former student, more than thirty years his junior. She cheats on him, and he is so obsessed with her he kills her to invoke Together in Death.
  • In "The Big Game", middle-aged Victor and young Victoria hit it off almost immediately. Except not, because Victor, whose name is really Lev, is just using her to get the papers incriminating him and his boss.
• Mexican Standoff: In "Worthier than Money", where Danilov and Amleina (who was needed in the episode for Rule of Drama) meet FSIN^note  Federal Penitentiary Service officers in the ambush for criminal.
• Mock Millionaire: In "Played Too Much", Irina and Leonid, each living on a minuscule salary, pretend to be wealthy to impress each other.

• Ms. Fanservice: Oksana Amelina, who usually wears short skirts and high heels with blouses. She is also featured in the most notable unconsensual sex scene in "Night Witness".
• murder.com: "Shadow in the Cave" features the livestreaming of a murder which was overtaken by man who was denied position in FES to conspire an attack on squad.
• Mutual Kill: In "The Wench", Angelina murders Nelya for stealing her fiancé, unaware that Nelya has been gradually poisoning her to get her apartment.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • In "Dance with Me", Tamara begs her husband to seduce the forensic medic: their son Denis is charged with voluntary manslaughter and potentially facing ten years in prison. The husband agrees, the medic reexamines the case and concludes that the victim's death was not directly caused by the injuries inflicted by Denis, so Denis is convicted of involuntary manslaughter instead and only receives a year of confinement. However, the husband has gone through a Romantic Fake–Real Turn, prompting Tamara to Murder the Hypotenuse. Then the FES gets the files on the manslaughter case, and it's revealed that the medic was actually honest and it was involuntary manslaughter after all; the medic hid the fact from her lover to prevent him from dumping her. Tamara breaks into tears when she is informed that she provoked her own husband into cheating and then committed murder for absolutely nothing, since her son would have been saved from a ten-year sentence regardless.
  • In "Not All There", the culprit murdered her son's pregnant fiancée since all her relatives are crazy and she doesn't want "bad blood" in her own family, so she regards her actions as regrettable but Necessary Evil. Then she is told that the girl's mother and aunt were placed in a mental institution after a severe CO poisoning and the girl's brother got a fake diagnosis of a mental illness to avoid serving in the army. She is absolutely horrified and breaks down.
  • In "The Victim", Zhilin genuinely thinks he had consensual sex with Polina because she never pressed any charges (in fact, Polina didn’t want to hurt her mother who was being treated for a heart disease and might not have survived the news of her daughter getting raped). When he realizes what he has done, he tries to kill himself.

• Near-Death Experience: Dunaeva almost dies after being strangled with plastic bag in "Beyond".
• Necro Cam: How the victim(s) died is shown near the end of the episode, during the perp interrogation.
• Never My Fault: In "Children in a Cage", Yana can't understand why she is blamed for her daughter's kidnapping. After all, all she did was leave the baby in the care of a journalist she just met! Ironically, though, the journalist is actually innocent and gets kidnapped along with the baby.
• Newscaster Cameo: News anchors of Channel 5 sometimes take part in episodes. The funny thing is that, while Trace is set and filmed in Moscow, Channel 5 is the only main TV network in Russia which is not.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In "The Prince", Pavel pretends to be George Douglas, famous animal conservation enthusiast, to catfish his classmate who spurned him. When she realizes she has been swindled, her enraged father contacts the real George Douglas... and the girl falls mutually in love with the latter.
• Nightmare Fetishist: "Hangman's Rope" features Artyom Zhuk, whose collection consists of portraits of people painted with their ashes, a book with an autograph of Ian Brady, handgun with was used for execution of Sergey Golovkin (mistakenly "Golovkov") and, finally, rope which Sergey Yesenin used for his suicide. The rope turns out to be fake.
• Noodle Incident:
  • There was some incident with ants and popcorn at the lab which left scars on Oksana's body.
  • Mayskiy once did something... unusual while being drunk at New Year's party (it's mentioned in "Absinthe Admirer" episode), but it's not explained.
• Not Now, Kiddo: In "The Laughers", nine-year-old Yevgeniya claims her neighbor's murderer was a grown-up man in a skirt. Everyone thinks she is making it up, but it's perfectly true (except that technically, the person she saw is an accomplice covering up the tracks rather than the one who actually struck the blow): it was Anatoly Burakov, a drag queen still in costume.
• Novelization: There are three books based on Trace: "Bite of the Lancehead" (which is based on first four-parter, "Kiss of the Lancehead" (which gives the readers alternative version of the first story) and "Professor Stern's Head" (which is a compilation of several episodes).
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Averted with Konstantin Lisitsyn and Konstantin Kotov, who even used to work together frequently.
  • Also averted with Sergey Mayskiy and Sergey Belozerov.
• Off with His Head!: Decapitation happens pretty frequently. Sometimes it's shown rather graphically.
• Operation: Jealousy: In "Kruglov's Personal Case", where Kruglov tells Rogozina about his decision to marry another woman. It was part of the plan to involve FES in the case of dangerous cult orchestrated by FSB, no less!
• Pædo Hunt: The father of a molested girl offers a reward for the head of local paedophile in "Kill Katsugovsky". It drives to whole town to insanity, which cost the innocent man his life.

• Parental Substitute: "The Erinys" has Sharapov, the longtime partner to Rona's aunt who was like a father to Rona, so much so that she called him "Dad". His death is what triggered her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Personalized Pledge: In episode "The Last Message", Karina swears on her unborn baby's health that she didn't kill her stepdaughter. It convinces her fiancé of her innocence, and they quickly put their brains together and realize who the real culprit is.
• Phony Psychic: They are here and there. The most notable example of the trope is in "Don't Trust Anyone" where Danilov's visit to an alleged psychic is shown as his Despair Event Horizon.
• Poison and Cure Gambit: Rogozina performs one in "Hippocratic Oath" where she poisons criminals and promises to prepare the antidote recipe of which only she knew. It was done to save her life after surgery she performs on the gang's leader who knew her and her husband during The Chechnya Wars.
• Police Are Useless: The police are totally incompetent in most cases, in contrast to FES.
• Railroad Tracks of Doom: "The Last Commuter" features a victim who was hit by the train. Downplayed, as he was hit posthumously (he died of blunt force trauma), and, surprisingly, was not turned into bloody pulp by the train.
• Razor Floss: "Inverted Shakespeare" features the murder of a rock singer by decapitation with a wire strung across the road.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: In "Kill Katsugovsky", Lisitsyn and Shustov give a dressing-down to a whole town that went insane with mob violence.

• Reclusive Artist: invoked In "Jokesters", which revolves around murder of a member of once-famous comedy duo. They retired five years before the murder and had a good reason for it. They raped and accidentally killed a woman. Said comedian was killed by his partner in order to prevent their TV appearance without disguises, preventing from being identified by single witness.
• Recruiting the Criminal: Rogozina needs high-class hacker in first FES case - "Bite of the Lancehead" - so she goes to jail to free Tikhonov (her former student) who was arrested for wire fraud (he spent all the money on drug rehabilitation centers because his sister died of an overdose).
• Refuge in Audacity: Oleg Arkhipov, the bodyguard of the Mayor of Tsiolkovsk's daughter, is in fact Oleg Voevodin, a Federal Protection Service officer working undercover. His task was to infiltrate the protection agency, but he found out about the pedophile ring in the city. There was no reaction, so he decided to attract his bosses' attention by kidnapping the mayor's daughter. FES got involved in the case, and he even gets under Belaya's skin by flirting with her. The case ends with him revealing the truth to Rogozina, so he becomes a new FES detective.

• Riddle for the Ages:
  • One of the solved mysteries is Rogozina leaving FES for some time in "Berlin Blue". She gives Kruglov a paper, which he burns thereafter. "Don't Trust Anyone" shows us that it was the paper from FSB, that Rogozina is leaving for a secret mission (with a non-disclosure clause).
  • The riddle which is yet to be resolved is Sokolova's secret mission in the Middle East. What kind of mission was it? Why did she decide to leave FES?
  • The ending of "After the Closure" shows someone (whose face is not shown) stealing the medalion (related to female luck) from FES. Who stole it and why?
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • Shopping mall fire in "Don't Trust Anyone" is based on similar one which occured in Kemerovo in March 2018.
  • Serial Killer plotline in four-part spinoff "The Gardener" is based on Alexander Pichushkin's story. The story was altered by show's creators, though, as they didn't want to film a biography and deprive the story of suspense.
  • One of the sublots in "Knight's Move" revolves around the letters with used condoms sent to underage female chess players, accompanied with lewd stories about them posted on chess forums. This subplot is based on a true story that occurred in Russian-speaking countries.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: In "The Marriage Agency", Liza marries Vasily as part of the agency's long-running scheme of conning men out of their money during divorce. However, she falls genuinely in love with him, which leads to her killing the agency's director after the latter demands a million rubles for Liza dropping out of the con halfway through it.

• Sadistic Choice:
  • In "Farewell", Rogozina has to make one. When FES detectives understand that Rodin killed himself by changing blank ammo for the live ones to get the insurance money, she has to choose whether to report his death as suicide and deprave his family of insurance money, stealing the chance for surgery from his ill daughter, or send his epileptic assistant (who knew nothing about his will to kill himself) to jail for murder. She selects the second option.
  • In "Proof of Love", burglars force a woman to choose which of her daughters gets raped. If she keeps silent, they threaten to have the entire family killed. The mother, sobbing, finally tells them to take Liza, the elder one. It has devastating consequences, since Liza goes Ax-Crazy after that.
• Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: Rogozina aims at the camera in the opening titles.
• Serial Killings, Specific Target:
  • In "Witch Hunt" a man murdered fortune-tellers to hide his first murder because that one accidentally named him as his father's killer.
  • "Jackal Breed" has Alexey Skorikov, a higher-class father killing his daughter's fiancé to prevent their marriage. He doesn't want his daughter to marry a tow-truck driver, so he killed the daughter's boyfriend and hid it among the similar murders.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Artyom Tukaev likes to speak with overcomplicated language (and annoy the detectives, too).
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Alyona Karpova from "Diagnosis: Blonde". When Danilov (supported by SOBR) came to arrest her, she was bathing. It ends this way:
  Danilov: Please, cover yourself. There are people watching you. (gives Alyona a towel)
  Alyona: (throws it) I DON'T MIND!
• Ship Tease:
  • Rogozina/Kruglov and Lisitsyn/Sokolova are all but confirmed.
  • Tikhonov/Amelina also show the dynamics with many teasing and flirtations (mixed with mutual trolling). And some of it (like "Female Instincts" and "Right to Trust") was Played for Drama.
  • After feature-length episodes "Don't Trust Anyone" and "Deposit" it seems to be that Danilov and Vlasova are in a relationship. And it isn't forgotten after aforementioned episodes.
  • There were examples of the trope which now look unexplainable (for example, teasing Rogozina and Selivanov).
    • There was some between Kotov and Dunaeva in "Mokosh" (Dunaeva asked whether Kotov can marry a woman like her).
    • FES detectives and experts also get some Ship Tease with perps. Most notable one is Vlasova with drug dealer Alexey Zakharov in "Order of Choice".
• Significant Name Shift: In the very first episode, a four-parter "The Pit Snake's Bite", Rogozina and Kruglov address each other in the most official manner possible — either as "Comrade Colonel" and "Comrade Major" respectively or at best by name and patronymic, a sign of the extremely frosty and distrust-filled relationship they have. In the fourth part, he ends up Taking the Bullet for her, whereupon she immediately switches to his first name's diminutive version "Kolya". The antidote she has developed saves his life in turn, and after he is healed he likewise begins to call her by her name's pet version, "Galya". From then on, they never call each other anything else and are absolutely devoted to each other (with a romantic relationship hinted at occasionally).
• Silver Fox: Kruglov is silver-haired, looks good for his years and has a beautiful voice.
• Sinister Deer Skull: The body of Elina Nikiforova, the victim in "Teeth on the Shelf" (who was making fineries of animal's skulls and teeth), is found with a deer's skull instead of her head.
• Standard Cop Backstory: Let's see...
  • Nearly half of FES squad were deployed in Chechnya. Bonus points for Rogozina (she lost her husband there) and Selivanov (he was a POW in Afghanistan).
  • Kruglov's fiancée disappeared many years ago.
  • Shustov is Serial Spouse (being married for the third time) and single father (according to "The Gardener"), though his son has grown up.
  • Vlasova is divorced. She has a son who lives with his father. And daughter who was abducted 20 years ago.
  • Tikhonov lost his drug-addicted sister and got put behind bars for wire fraud.
  • Amelina lost her cop father a few days after her prom and was raped back in her college years in Novosibirsk.
  • Granin lost his mom in his childhood.
  • Aristov has never seen his daughter because of her mother's decision.
  • Belaya's sister committed suicide because of child abuse by her stepfather.

• Start to Corpse: The time until someone's killed is usually from one to three minutes.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • "Life Without Swag" has a subplot about Tikhonov wanting to create a viral photo. He decides to plank in the morgue refrigerator. He spends rest of the episode sneezing and taking cold medicine (and scared Antonova).
  • "Best Intentions" ends with Belozerov trying to break a brick with a headbutt... and falling unconscious after the try.
• Sweet Tooth: Tikhonov basically runs on chocolate.
• Tag-Along Actor: There was Lyudmila Klimkina in "Death of Rogozina". She was set to play fictionalized version of Galina Nikolaevna in a show called "Basic Evidence".
• Take That!:
  • "Most Terrible Enemy" features jab at The Sniffer'. The jab doubles as an Actor Allusion in that said episode features Vlasova. Nina Gogaeva (who plays Rita) played protagonist's Love Interest in The Sniffer''.
  Tikhonov: I've seent on TV. There's a guy who sniffs something, and can tell your whole biography.
  Amelina: So write a letter on TV. Let them assign him to FES. We've got a lot to sniff.
• Team Dad: Kruglov is the FES Dad to Rogozina's Team Mom.
• Team Mom: Galina Nikolaevna is sometimes referred as "mum" by FES staff.
• Techno Wizard: Ivan Tikhonov, one of the best hackers in Russia, is presented as being able to do anything with tech. To a lesser extent, so is Amelina.
• Temporary Love Interest: If you see a romantic bond between one of the FES squad member and someone from outside, you should be prepared to see him (or her) dead or committing heinous crime.
• Theme Serial Killer: "The Most Important Of Arts" features Serial Killer basing his crimes on murder scenes from Russian silent movies. It was his revenge for leaving him being brutally beaten when he was walking home in St. Petersburg in drag as a lost bet during a silent cinema festival.
• This Is Not a Drill: Poisoning of the FES squad (combined with the kidnapping of Tikhonov and Amelina) in anniversary episode "Quest". Ruslan Sultanov (police general responsible for FES's creation) explains the emergency to Rogozina over the phone.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Oksana Amelina (a feminine fashionista) and Yuliya Sokolova (Fiery Redhead in plain clothes who likes bouldering).
• Trauma Button: "Take it easy" said by Tikhonov in "Night Witness" drops Amelina into PTSD attack reminding her of the rape she survived during her college years in her native Novosibirsk.
• Trickster Twins: Antonova's twin daughters Inga and Ira (or Kristina and Lera in "Bite of the Lancehead") are very restless and milk their mum's work for their curiosity. This painting for school competition sums is best◊.
• Turn in Your Badge: Danilov is forced to turn in his badge in "Right to Trust" (after being accused of stealing the gold).
• Twin Switch: A very sinister version in "From the Head to the Heels", where Katya is murdered and her organs are donated instead of those belonging to her recently-deceased twin sister Alina. It is done because Katya poisoned her sister, and the surgeon, who is also the latter’s fiancé, realizes the poison will cause the recipients to reject Alina's organs. That, and he wants to avenge his beloved Alina, so he kills Katya and gives her organs to be transplanted instead.
• Unholy Matrimony: Alexey Pan'kov and Inna Lentova from "Deposit". They used to kidnap babies and kids and put them to orphanages before asking the ransom years after it. Pan'kov later had fallen in love with Liza, who was used as Replacement Goldfish for their deceased daughter.
• Viewer-Friendly Interface: It's one of the genre's staples, so... The readable interface is used for both computers and phones.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Amelina and Sokolova go the way from mutual antipathy to a vitriolic friendship.

• Waking Up at the Morgue: Played more-or-less lightheartedly in "Comrades' Posse". Guy is drugged with tranquilizers (and guilty of rape) and wakes up at the morgue. All he sees is Antonova's face in the laptop's screen light with surgical scissors in her hand. She speaks very softly, and the guy is ready to tell everything... but Rogozina enters the morgue and turns the lights on.
• Walk and Talk: There is a long corridor in the FES office. It is used for the purpose of walking conversations.
• The War Room: There is a meeting room in the FES office, which has a round table for discussion of cases by all six participating squad members.
• Water Source Tampering: In "Water", where a nurse in a local hospital poisoned tap water with antibiotic. It caused the death of more than 40 people including her only target - surgeon whose negligence led to their son's death.
• Whole Episode Flashback: "Stolen Face" rewinds the clock to show how Selivanov became a FES forensic examiner.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Vlasova is afraid of snakes. So afraid, she could pull a gun and point it at her partner (Danilov) (as shown in "Good Intentions").
• Widowed at the Wedding: In "Insanity", Danilov's newlywed wife is killed just as they leave the registry office.
• You Can Keep Her!: An even darker version in "Beauty and the Beast", where Novikov, after his wife is kidnapped, offers to pay a sum even higher than the demanded ransom for her to be killed. Laser-Guided Karma hits him, since one of the kidnappers has fallen In Love with the Mark and offs Novikov instead.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Danilov reacts this way in "Diagnosis: Blonde", when he learns that 70-year-old Victim of the Day has medicine for curbing sexual potence in his blood.