History Series / Life2007

* ReformedButRejected: Crews was found innocent of mass murder but he is still mistrusted. He is also accused of killing a prison guard. "Not for Nothing" reveals that [[spoiler:Ted might have been done that.]]

* NoodleIncident: In a non-humorous example, there are several vague references to an incident involving something Charlie did to a correction officer during his years in prison.

* UndisclosedFunds: Charlie's settlement, which is rumored to be somewhere between 5 and 50 million dollars. In one episode, where several suspects are part of a lottery winners support group, Charlie is told that you have to have won at least 20 million to join. He then pulls up a chair and sits down.

* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: In "Badge Bunnies", Bob goes to Crews house to get his sister Kathy who is SkinnyDipping at his pool. When she leaves wearing only a ModestyTowel, he tells her to PleasePutSomeClothesOn and she makes a move to take off her towel right there in front of everyone before he yells at her to get dressed ''outside''.

** Jane Seever, Crews temporary partner is pretty easy on the eyes and also doubles as a HelloAttorney.

* BrokenAce: Crews is a ChickMagnet and a talented detective with lots of money to burn, but he's obsessed with finding out framed him and he's still very bitter his wife left him.
* BrokenBird: Reese who used to be a model cop until became a drug addict after an undercover assignment on a narcotics case before the series started. She's recovered from it but the trauma remained, and uses [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol]] or {{sex|ForSolace}} to help her cope. "Tear Asunder" suggests that she sees self-destructive behavior as a way of punishing herself.

* KnifeNut: Crews is fond of knives, a habit he apparently picked up in prison. Reese takes his knife away after he pulls it on a suspect in an early episode (the suspect pulled one on him first), but returns it to him later, after she's satisfied that he can be trusted to use it properly.

* FiveManBand: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in "Everything… All the Time".
** Benny the PluckyComicRelief makes Patrick laugh but knows he's weak and Patrick's right to not trust him.
** Marty TheBrute is actually childish and looks up to Patrick.
** Annabelle the DarkMistress hates Patrick and wants to get away from him.
** Patrick the BigBad envies Benny because [[IJustWantToBeNormal "Everyone knows who he is but no one knows who I am"]].
** The psychiatrist thinks she is their TeamMom but as Crews puts it, she's just the help to them.

* SuspiciouslyIdleOfficers: None of the [[DirtyCop FBI agents who secretly work for Roman]] seem to have any duties other than those he gives to them.

* MixedAncestry: Reese has a white father and a Persian mother. This doesn't come up a lot except in one episode of season one (it's also close to an ActorSharedBackground for Creator/SarahShahi, who has an Iranian father and Spanish mother).

* PoorCommunicationKills: "Jackpot", wherein [[spoiler: the killer murdered his partner/lover because she removed the tattoo of his name and replaced it with someone else's. It's all part of a con]].

* CoolCar: Charlie starts the series out driving a Bentley. After it gets crushed (by his own tractor) he switches to a Buick Grand National (with a hand-built throttle box!) and it's even cooler. Possibly {{Subverted}} though; Charlie and Dani mostly drive their department-issued Ford 500 everywhere.

** {{Subverted|Trope}}, Crews and Reese are definitely not close off-duty ''or'' on duty. Though they grow an increasingly symbiotic relationship over the course of the show, and they clearly take their partnership seriously. They care about each other quite a bit.

* AlliterativeName: '''C'''harlie '''C'''rews.

%%* CallBack:

%%** From the season two finale: "I am not attached to that gun."

%%* DirtyCop: Practically everyone, it seems.

%%* EpiphanicPrison: "Not for Nothing".

%% ** Seever drops the statistic that 97% of cops never fire their guns off the range.

** In the pilot, Charlie kept saying he is not attached to his beautiful car. At the end of the episode, Ted runs it over with a tractor.

%%* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler: Rachel Seybolt]].

There are a [[TheExoticDetective few things notable]] about ''Life'': in prison, Crews found a copy of ''The Path to Zen'' and thus, as a result of long years of (a) being in prison while (b) studying Zen philosophy on his own and (c) having the crap beaten out of him by other inmates has come out a cross between a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, a DefectiveDetective, and a CowboyCop. To top it off, Crews won a huge lawsuit against the police department (which included his reinstatement and promotion to Detective), so he's basically a [[TheyFightCrime crime-solving]] EccentricMillionaire.

Other characters include Dani Reese (Creator/SarahShahi) his alcoholic ex-drug addict partner, Ted Earley (Creator/AdamArkin) his financial advisor, roommate, and friend from prison, Constance Griffiths (Creator/BrookeLangton) his lawyer and with whom he shares UnresolvedSexualTension, Karen Davis (Creator/RobinWeigert) his captain), Bobby Stark (Creator/BrentSexton) his former partner from before he was convicted and Kevin Tidwell (Creator/DonalLogue) as the second season's commanding officer.

* RealityEnsues:
** As Charlie's old partner, Bobby was a pariah for several years once Charlie was convicted. He doesn't hold it against Charlie, but his wife does.
** Charlie's ex-wife moved on while Charlie was in prison, and she isn't particularly keen on so much as being friends with him again, let alone restarting their relationship.
** The lead detective on Charlie's case doesn't believe Charlie's innocence, even with the DNA tests. For one, he was the one who did all the investigating and formed a case that everyone thought was true for over a decade, only to have it busted by some miracle new invention that he doesn't believe in- and for two, who'd want to admit that they were wrong and sent the wrong guy to prison for over a decade?
** The police really aren't keen on having Charlie back in the force, given that he's walking proof that they fucked up, and also because they view him as unstable and a potential liability, hence why he gets his new partner straight from their shit list. In addition, multiple characters question why the hell Charlie even wanted his job back- after all, he got his freedom and millions of dollars, who'd want to be a cop after that?
** After getting out of prison, Charlie's got a very... unique mindset, and that causes him to clash with Reese a lot. He also sleeps around a lot and eats a lot of fruit- both things that he couldn't get in prison.
** In her backstory, Reese went undercover for a drug bust. She wound up sleeping with a junkie, and ended up getting so immersed in the cover that she became a junkie too.
** In one episode, a lab managed to make a cancer drug that was having really good results with a rare kind of cancer, but the company funding them stopped all research on the drug because it was a really rare kind of cancer, and therefore not profitable. Harsh, but unfortunately happens a lot.

Other characters include Dani Reese (Creator/{{Sarah Shahi}}) his alcoholic ex-drug addict partner, Ted Earley (Creator/AdamArkin) his financial advisor, roommate, and friend from prison, Constance Griffiths (Creator/BrookeLangton) his lawyer and with whom he shares UnresolvedSexualTension, Karen Davis (Creator/RobinWeigert) his captain), Bobby Stark (Creator/BrentSexton) his former partner from before he was convicted and Kevin Tidwell (Creator/DonalLogue) as the second season's commanding officer.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Bobby gets an in-universe example in "Hit Me Baby" and "Shelf Life", when Dani leaves for a short-term gig with the FBI. Charlie requests him as a temporary partner until a replacement detective is found. {{Subverted}} from an audience perspective, since Bobby ends up not contributing much to the first case and plays a similar role to his usual in the second half of the episode. He's there more in "Shelf Life" but still not as important as Dani.
* ADeathInTheLimelight: {{Subverted}}. He's poisoned and almost impaled, but ultimately recovers.

* [[AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering]]: Deliberately invoked by Crews.

* BrokenBird: Reese who used to be a model cop until became a drug addict after an undercover assignment on a narcotics case before the series started. She's recovered from it but the trauma remained, and uses [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol]] or [[SexForSolace sex]] to help her cope. "Tear Asunder" suggests that she sees self-destructive behavior as a way of punishing herself.

** {{Subverted}}, Crews and Reese are definitely not close off-duty ''or'' on duty. Though they grow an increasingly symbiotic relationship over the course of the show, and they clearly take their partnership seriously. They care about each other quite a bit.

* FiveManBand: {{Deconstructed}} in "Everything… All the Time".

* {{Tomboy}}: Reese at first but she becomes more a TomboyWithAGirlyStreak in Season 2. Tidwell even calls her "dude" which she resents.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: How do you stop a ProfessionalKiller who kills people using household objects from escaping? Put the diet soda you asked her for in her gas tank.]] Not to mention the fact that the victim [[spoiler:was a hitman himself, who she killed because the economy was bad and she didn't need the competition.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: "Jackpot", wherein [[spoiler: the killer murdered his partner/lover because she removed the tattoo of his name and replaced it with someone else's. It's all part of a con.]]

** Followed immediately by a PostMortemOneLiner: "Like that."

* ReallyGetsAround: Neither Reese nor Crews are [[ChasteHero chaste heroes]].

*** And Charlie saying something OnceAnEpisode that might be Zen but turns out not to be. For instance, telling a suspect who is about to hit him that "You strike me and you'll only be striking yourself." The suspect asks "What? Some kind of karmic payback?" Charlie responds "If only. No. My partner will just shoot you in the head."

* UnusualEuphemism: "Uncap the Sharpie." Reese is asked this and is horrified.
* {{UST}}: Averted, with both of Crews' female partners.

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