History Series / ThePlayer

** In "Tell" Johnson, Alex, and Cassandra [[spoiler: all are finally on the same page, at least insofar as Ginny's disappearance is concerned, and all realize that someone is playing them against each other, someone more powerful than the Players]].

** Alex and Cassandra are both working to find out the truth about what happened to Ginny, but neither trusts the other enough to tell them.

* HollywoodHealing: Averted for the most part. For instance, the gunshot Alex gets in episode 4 carries over to episode 5 and the wound reopens from exertion. In the same episode, a jump out a two-story window leaves Alex limping for the rest of the Game.

'''''The Player''''' is an action-thriller starring [[Series/StrikeBack Philip Winchester]] and Creator/WesleySnipes that began airing on Creator/{{NBC}} in 2015. It was created by Creator/JohnRogers (''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', ''Series/{{Leverage}}''). Originally scheduled to air 13 episodes, it revamped to 9 episodes.

'''''The Player''''' is an action-thriller starring [[Series/StrikeBack Philip Winchester]] and Creator/WesleySnipes that began airing on Creator/{{NBC}} in 2015. It was created by Creator/JohnRogers (''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', ''Series/{{Leverage}}'').

* EnemyMine: [[spoilers: Invoked by Mr. Johnson to Cassandra in "A House Is Not A Home." He tells her that even if they don't trust each other, it's time to work together because someone's trying to take down the House.]]

* BoringInvincibleHero: Very much averted. All past Players had a tendency to die within a year of taking the job. Alex himself loses fights and has to double down on his second Game. Even in "The Big Blind," when he has the drop on a fleeing assassin, the quick draw shootout doesn't end with only one guy falling down, but Alex getting shot as well. And in "The Norseman" [[spoiler: it's clear that Alex and his niece would have been killed had not Johnson intervened after the bet deadline had passed]].

* FoeYay: FBI Special Agent Nolan and Mr. Johnson have it in spades, even from their first meeting.

* {{Deconstruction}}: A downright ''brutal'' one of VigilanteMan series like Literature/TheExecutioner or Literature/TheDestroyer; the The Player's backers actually have authority ''over'' the system any other vigilante would see himself as superior to, and Alex would much rather [[LawfulGood work within the system]] as he has [[DarkAndTroubledPast personal experience]] of [[HeWhoFightsMonsters what working outside the law will do to his psyche]]. However, his resources are under the control of an AncientConspiracy of [[{{Fiction 500}} absurdly rich]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney sociopaths]] who can't be considered civic-minded by any definition of the term - they're only supporting him to [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing watch him kill people/blow stuff up]] and roughly half the funding comes from fat cats who hope he'll either ''fail'' or '''die.''' Mr. Johnson agrees that it would be much better if [[ReedRichardsIsUseless the technology]] the Player uses to "[[TheyFightCrime fight crime]]" was part of [[CutLexLuthorACheck legitimate law enforcement]], but the Gamblers wouldn't find that to be [[ForTheLulz as much fun]], and they're the PowersThatBe and things would be a lot worse if the Game didn't exist for the Gamblers' amusement.

** And the whole idea of a OddlySmallOrganization that pulls a WeHelpTheHelpless routine gets broken down. It's small but effective because it doesn't focus on helping those in need, but only on the crimes that the Pit Boss thinks are interesting enough to keep the Gamblers amused. It manages to avoid detection from the authorities not by guile or plot holes, but through blackmail and intimidation. It's well-funded, but also seems to run through personnel rapidly. Alex is only the latest of a long line of quickly dead Players.

** The gunshot wound aversion is lampshaded by Mr. Johnson. "A bandage and aspiring didn't do the trick?"

** In the first three episodes, the Player is looking to stop criminals from continuing to prevent more crime (such as a Syndicate assassin who's already killed three)

* BoringInvincibleHero: Very much averted. All past Players had a tendency to die within a year of taking the job. Alex himself loses fights and has to double down on his second Game. Even in "The Big Blind," when he has the drop on a fleeing assassin, the quick draw shootout doesn't end with only one guy falling down, but Alex getting shot as well. And in "The Norseman" [[spoiler: it's clear that Alex and his niece would have been killed had not Johnson saved them because Alex had lasted just long enough to have won the bet]].

* BoringInvincibleHero: Very much averted. All past Players had a tendency to die within a year of taking the job. Alex himself loses fights and has to double down on his second Game. Even in "The Big Blind," when he has the drop on a fleeing assassin, the quick draw shootout doesn't end with only one guy falling down, but Alex getting shot as well.

* {{Deconstruction}}: A downright ''brutal'' one of VigilanteMan series like Literature/TheExecutioner or Literature/TheDestroyer; the The Player's backers actually have authority ''over'' the system any other vigilante would see himself as superior to, and Alex would much rather [[LawfulGood work within the system]] as he has [[DarkAndTroubledPast personal experience]] of [[HeWhoFightsMonsters what working outside the law will do to his psyche]]. However, his resources are under the control of an AncientConspiracy of [[{{Fiction 500}} absurdly rich]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney sociopaths]] who can't be considered civic-minded by any definition of the term - they're only supporting him to [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing watch him blow stuff up]] and roughly half the funding comes from fat cats who hope he'll either ''fail'' or '''die.''' Mr. Johnson agrees that it would be much better if [[ReedRichardsIsUseless the technology]] the Player uses to "[[TheyFightCrime fight crime]]" was part of [[CutLexLuthorACheck legitimate law enforcement]], but the Gamblers wouldn't find that to be [[ForTheLulz as much fun]], and they're the PowersThatBe and things would be a lot worse if the Game didn't exist for the Gamblers' amusement.