History Series / IAmTheNight

* TheSixties: The decade the series is set in. Smack dab in the middle of the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement.
* TheAlcoholic: Fauna's adopted mother, Jimmie Lee, drinks heavily. Corinna Hodel does the same.
* BasedOnATrueStory: The trailer states it's "inspired by true events". Every episode ends with photos of the real-life people featured in the drama (Fauna, Jimmie Lee, George Hodel, etc.), and also of the Black Dahlia murder, the "John Sowden House", and works by famous artists (Dali, Man Ray, Max Ernst) who the real George knew socially.

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted. Fauna can pass as white, but her white classmates lump her in with the other black students, cops lose interest in seeing if "colored boys are bothering her" once she tells them she's mixed race, and is derided by a fully black girl who thinks she fits this trope. Her adoptive mother says she was accused of kidnapping her as a baby by white people, which forced her to pretend she was her nanny in public. Given the setting, this may as well be SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, if not downright deconstruction of the trope. [[spoiler:It later turns out that Fauna isn't black at all; her mother told the doctors that the father was a "Negro" in order to hide that Fauna was the product of incest.]]

** Corinna does a show that's an apeing of Music/YokoOno's ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_Piece_1964 Cut Piece]]'' performance art.

* ShoutOut: Specifically to ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'', but subverted significantly from the classic film.
** [[spoiler:Tamar and Fauna Hodel's story in the series closely matches that of the film's Evelyn and Katherine Mulwray, but the two Hodels survive to potentially hopeful ends.]]
** [[spoiler:Jay's narrowly successful escape from the police car brings to mind the Mulwrays' failed escape attempt in the film's climax.]]
** [[spoiler:George Hodel in the series is made out as being similar to the film's Noah Cross. Unlike Cross, George does not go completely unscathed.]]

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted. Fauna can pass as white, but her white classmates lump her in with the other black students, cops lose interest in seeing if "colored boys are bothering her" once she tells them she's mixed race, and is derided by a fully black girl who thinks she fits this trope. Her adoptive mother says she was accused of kidnapping her as a baby by white people, which forced her to pretend she was her nanny in public. Given the setting, this may as well be RealityEnsues, if not downright deconstruction of the trope. [[spoiler:It later turns out that Fauna isn't black at all; her mother told the doctors that the father was a "Negro" in order to hide that Fauna was the product of incest.]]

* RuleOfThree: Each episode concludes with displaying three historical photos connected to either Fauna, or George, or the Black Dahlia murder. The final episode only shows one photo (in two differing views side-by-side: full and close-up), but still displays three: Fauna with her two daughters.

* ShoutOut: Specifically to ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'', but averted significantly from the classic film.

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted '''hard'''. Fauna can pass as white, but her white classmates lump her in with the other black students, cops lose interest in seeing if "colored boys are bothering her" once she tells them she's mixed race, and is derided by a fully black girl who thinks she fits this trope. Her adoptive mother says she was accused of kidnapping her as a baby by white people, which forced her to pretend she was her nanny in public. Given the setting, this may as well be RealityEnsues, if not downright deconstruction of the trope. [[spoiler:It later turns out that Fauna isn't black at all; her mother told the doctors that the father was a "Negro" in order to hide that Fauna was the product of incest.]]

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Corinna Hodel (formerly Corinna Huntington) is an {{Expy}} of George Hodel's third wife Dorothy Harvey, previously married as Dorothy ''[[Creator/JohnHuston Huston]]''.

* AutopsySnackTime: Jay Singletary is almost caught trying to steal a photography of a body in the pilot episode, but a morgue worker passing through is too wrapped up in a conversation about his mama's sweet potato pie to see him in a conspicuous place.

** [[spoiler:Jay's narrowly successful escape from the police car brings to mind the Mulwray's failed escape attempt in the film's climax.]]

** [[spoiler:George Hodel in the series is made out as being similar to the film's Noah Cross, played by Creator/JohnHuston. (Amusingly, Huston had known the real Hodel socially, and Huston's ex-wife became the third of Hodel's four wives.)]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: Specifically to ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'', but averted significantly from the classic film.

** [[spoiler:Jay's narrowly successful escape from the police car is an averted near-ShoutOut to the Mulwray's failed escape attempt in the film's climax.]]

* BasedOnATrueStory: The trailer states it's "inspired by true events". Every episode ends with photos of the real-life people featured in the drama (Fauna, Jimmie Lee, George Hodel, etc.), and also of the Black Dahlia murder, the "John Sowden House", and works by famous artists (Dali, Man Ray, Max Ernst) who socialized with Hodel.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hill_Hodel George Hill Hodel]], a famous suspect in both the "Black Dahlia" and "Zodiac" cases. Also important in the drama is the historical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sowden_House Sowden House]], and works of Surrealist and avant-gard art.
* {{Homage}}: Specifically to ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'', but with significant inversions from the classic film.
** [[spoiler:Tamar and Fauna Hodel's story in the series closely matches that of the film's Evelyn and Katherine Mulwray, but the two Hodels survive to potentially hopeful ends.]]
** [[spoiler:Jay's narrowly successful escape from the police car is an inverted near-ShoutOut to the Mulwray's failed escape attempt in the film's climax.]]

* TheAlcoholic: Fauna's adopted mother drinks heavily.

** Jay's escape from the police car is a near ShoutOut to the Mulwray's failed escape attempt in the film's climax.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The finale ends with a 2015 picture of the real-life Fauna Hodel and her daughters. (Not noted is that Fauna Hodel died in 2017.)

* {{Homage}}: Specifically to ''Film/{{Chinatown}}, but with significant inversions from the classic film.

* ForgoneConclusion: History dictates that George Hodel at the very least would not be charged with any murders or crimes involving him on the show.

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted '''hard'''. Fauna can pass as white, but her white classmates lump her in with the other black students, cops lose interest in seeing if "colored boys are bothering her" once she tells them she's mixed race, and is derided by a fully black girl who thinks she fits this trope. Her adoptive mother says she was accused of kidnapping her as a baby by white people, which forced her to pretend she was her nanny at time in public. Given the setting, this may as well be RealityEnsues, if not downright deconstruction of the trope. [[spoiler:It later turns out that Fauna isn't black at all; her mother told the doctors that the father was a "Negro" in order to hide that Fauna was the product of incest.]]

* BasedOnATrueStory: The trailer states it's "inspired by true events". Every episode ends with photos of the real-life people featured in the drama (Fauna, Jimmie Lee, George Hodel, etc.), and also of the Black Dahlia murder, the "John Sowden House", and works by famous artists who were social with Hodel.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hill_Hodel George Hill Hodel]], a famous suspect in both the "Black Dahlia" and "Zodiac" cases. Also important in the drama is the historical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sowden_House Sowden House]], and works of Surrealist and avant-garde art (Dali, Man Ray, Ernst).