History Theatre / RideTheCyclone

* {{Hypocrite}}: Ocean displays this. In the beginning, she gives a speech about how she wants no part in Karnak's game... and ''immediately'' backpedals once Karnak states this is tantamount to conceding. Apparently, her RousingSpeech was only to prove to Karnak that she was a good person, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction though given her next attempt at winning over the judges is]] [[IAmGreatSong "What the]] [[ItsAllAboutMe World Needs"...]]
** Also, for someone whose catchphrase is "Democracy Rocks!", she seems perfectly happy to act undemocratically when it helps her case. [[spoiler: Subverted at the end, when Ocean, despite being given complete control over who gets brought back, maintains the unanimous vote structure to give Jane a second chance at life.]]
--> ''' Ocean''': And this is why you both [[note]] Mischa and Noel, who had just agreed to vote for each other[[/note]] ''sucked'' at math! What part of "unanimous vote" is ''eluding'' you two geniuses? If you vote for each other- ''if you vote for each other...!'' Okay! No one else is going until I find out how ''everyone'' is voting!

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Constance may be known as the "nicest girl in town," but she also has a resentful, subversive side. [[spoiler: She punches Ocean in an act of pent-up aggression, and reveals she had sex with an older man right before she died.]]

* SexIsCool: Played with. On the one hand, considering the cast is mostly made up of HormoneAddledTeens, most of their fantasies and musical numbers involve sex, with Ricky Potts defending that sex is the way human life began and it should be seen as beautiful. Noel, as the only gay man in Uranium, is especially frustrated that he never found anyone compatible, and even [[SourPrudes Ocean]] laments that they all died virgins since they died so young. [[spoiler: On the other hand, Constance revealing she lost her virginity to a 30-year-old in what was clearly an act of self-hatred is a secret shame that is not seen as a good or cool thing.]]

** Ocean bullies Constance into participating in the choir (which Ocean runs) and joining an improv theater group (which Ocean founded). She teases Constance about her weight, her lack of confidence, and her down-to-Earth ambitions. Ocean would argue she behaves the way she does because they're "best friends" and she's only looking out for Constance, deliberately pushing Constance out of her comfort zone so that she can develop confidence in herself, or at least a thicker skin. ''Certainly'' not because she’s the only girl in their class who’s too polite to walk away from Ocean's pushy, self-centered personality, and too much of a doormat to call out her cruelty.

** {{Averted}} with most of the cast--the teens died in a horrific roller coaster crash, but as ghosts, their bodies are largely whole and uninjured. They show up to the afterlife in the school uniforms they were wearing during the crash, which are perfectly clean (free of bloodstains, rips, tears, or other unsightly features.

* DeletedRole: The show has gone through many reworkings with songs and characters being changed and cut; two of the most well-known examples are the characters of Hank and Astrid. Astrid was Ocean's cousin from Ukraine who liked deathmetal and would bite Ocean during the show because "she deserved it." Hank was Astrid's boyfriend who was unable to walk, like Ricky. Their song was essentially an earlier version of the song "Talia," as a dream ballet duet with puppets and whatnot. During it they get attacked by a bear and Astrid shoots it. However these two had a short run and were cut from it in under a year.

* DeletedRole: The show has gone through many reworkings with songs and characters being changed and cut; two of the most well-known examples are the characters of Hank and Astrid. Astrid was Ocean's cousin from Ukraine who liked deathmetal and would bite Ocean during the show because "she deserved it." Hank was Astrid's boyfriend who was unable to walk, like Ricky. Their song was essentially an earlier version of the song "Talia," as a dream ballet duet with puppets and whatnot. During it they get attacked by a bear and Astrid shoots it.

--> '''The Amazing Karnak''': The one who wants to win it the most shall redeem the loser to complete the whole.

* SelflessWish: As Karnak finds himself running out of time and the teens unable to reach a consensus as to who should be revived, [[spoiler: he changes the rules of the game and gives Ocean the deciding vote, "based on grade point average." Ocean refuses to vote for herself, realizing that if she does, the moral of the story is that "humans suck", and that Karnak [[TheChessmaster knew all along]] that she'd never actually do it, despite [[TheFinalTemptation seemingly affirming Ocean's initial belief that she was the most deserving of a second chance due to her lost “potential” and ambitions.]] She admits it shouldn't be her due to her selfishness in life (she'd never bothered to get to know more about her so-called “friends” despite being in the same club, bullied Constance, treated others like Ricky with CondesendingCompassion, and [[ItsAllAboutMe made everything about her and]] ''[[ItsAllAboutMe her]]'' wants), and adds that while they ''did'' die young in a random accident, saying they died needlessly just because they were teens discounts the time, experiences, hopes, and dreams they had, and she would gladly take the seventeen years she got over nothing. She then votes that Jane Doe be the one returned to life, as she has no memory of her life at all and the other choir members at least have theirs to comfort them.]] Of course, Karnak had [[ProphecyTwist predicted earlier]] that "the one who wants to win the most the most shall redeem the loser to complete the whole," so he already knew how that would play out.

-> ''"Tonight I shall speak of these teenagers whose tales ended abruptly on a roller coaster in a small Canadian town in the middle of nowhere. The former St. Cassian Chamber Choir. And my part in the story? I read all of the children's fortunes. I felt their hopes, thoughts, dreams, knowing they would board the doomed roller coaster, and could tell them nothing. I even suggested they ride the Cyclone.\\

-->-- '''The Amazing Karnak'''

So begins ''Ride the Cyclone,'' an uproarious, tragi-comic musical about living, dying, and loving told from the point of view of half a dozen dead teens vying for a second chance at life. Those teenagers are:

With book, music and lyrics by Creator/JacobRichmond and Creator/BrookeMaxwell, ''Ride the Cyclone'' premiered as a cabaret at Atomic Vaudeville in 2008, later being adapted into a full-length show and playing across the U.S. and Canada.

* AutoTune: Mischa is an aspiring rapper (he goes by the name "Bad Egg" on his [=YouTube=] page), and his first song makes gratuitous use of autotune, parodying the "the last bastion of pure strength and masculinity in society: [[BoastfulRap self-aggrandizing commercialized hip-hop]]" of the 2000's.

* BackFromTheDead: The Amazing Karnak has the ability to bring one of the six teenagers back to life, allowing them to survive the accident. He makes this the "grand prize" of the evening, forcing the kids to vote on who amongst themselves deserves another shot at life.
* BackhandedCompliment: Ocean is an expert at these. Special mention goes to one levelled at Noel after "What The World Needs".

* CatchPhrase: {{Lampshaded}} and {{Parodied}}--when The Amazing Karnak gives the introduction for each kid, he includes their catchphrase alongside information like their star sign and favorite carnival ride. Ricky might be the only one to take it seriously, using his catchphrase unironically in conversation now that he's able to speak.

--> '''Ricky''': Level up! [[note]]In some versions, Ricky's catchphrase is: 'Ever since I was six years old, I knew I wasn't long for this world. Unlike the other kids I was always in a place to face that realm called outer space. [[ThrowingOffTheDisability Thank you, Lady Marzipan. Thank you, Dame Judy Dench. It appears your loyal service is no longer needed in this stratosphere.]] 'Game on.' He still uses "Level up!" in certain points in the show, such as after "Noel's Lament" in response to Mischa's comment on his accordion playing.[[/note]]

* TheChessmaster: Karnak, by virtue of his fortune-telling ability, knows what will happen, and manipulates the characters so they turn out that way. Downplayed, since in life he was set in "Family Fun Mode", unable to do anything.

--> '''Ocean''': Just learn to take a compliment!

** Ocean bullies Constance into participating in choir (which Ocean runs) and joining an improv theater group (which Ocean founded). She teases Constance about her weight, her lack of confidence, and her down-to-Earth ambitions. Ocean would argue she behaves the way she does because they're "best friends" and she's only looking out for Constance, deliberately pushing Constance out of her comfort zone so that she can develop confidence in herself, or at least a thicker skin. ''Certainly'' not because she’s the only girl in their class who’s too polite to walk away from Ocean's pushy, self-centered personality, and too much of a doormat to call out her cruelty.

--->'''Ocean:''' Ricky, I love you! I got you into the choir, even though you couldn't talk and were, like, super sick and made every one feel bad for us. Accessibility for all!
* CrappyCarnival: Wonderville Traveling Fairground--a cheap, poorly maintained traveling carnival and amusement park that [[AmusementParkOfDoom unintentionally kills]] riders on its faulty rollercoaster. Even their best asset, a fortune teller machine that can ''actually tell the future'', is minutes away from being destroyed and is locked on a mode that prevents it from doing its job (because it exclusively predicts when its customers will die).

** The UncannyValleyMakeup on the actress playing Jane Doe is meant to evoke a creepy doll (with the implication that Jane Doe is using the doll's head a replacement for her own lost skull). Most productions include porcelain-pale skin, blacked-out contact lenses, and a blonde wig with ringlets.

* DecidedByOneVote: [[spoiler:Near the end of the show, with only a few minutes before his own time is up, Karnak switches the method of choosing who comes back from "unanimous vote" to "Ocean picks", on the grounds that Ocean has the best GPA. Ocean chooses "Jane Doe" for a second chance at life because the amnesiac Jane is the only one of the teens who doesn't have a lifetime of memories to look back on.]]

* DyingTown: Uranium, the children's home town, is the "mall took over and killed off all the local business" variant, as conveyed in the "Uranium Suite" opening. Apparently "the smart ones all packed up and went," but the kids were stranded there since their parents wanted to stay.
* EmotionlessGirl: Jane Doe lost her head and memories in the accident, and now uses a doll's head as a replacement. As such she doesn't emote well in conversation, or seem to understand the nuances of body language and sarcasm. Even the character notes describe her as a someone who "reacts in a literal way and largely without emotion, almost robot-like; the other contestants are totally freaked out by her."

* FastForwardGag: PlayedForLaughs with Ocean's speech after "Talia." Karnak, at the beginning of said speech, remarks that his death continues to approach, before [[PaintingTheMedium speeding her up from the audience's perspective.]] the others, namely Noel and Mischa, are seen growing increasingly frustrated at her rambling.

* FortuneTeller: The Amazing Karnak is an amusement park fortune telling robot who just so happened to be gifted with self-awareness and the legitimate ability to predict the time, place, and cause of anyone's death--including [[ForeseeingMyDeath his own]].
--> '''The Amazing Karnak''': I was designed to predict the exact cause, time and place of someone's death. A rather morbid function, I grant you. Which is precisely why I was set on 'family fun novelty mode' when sold to the Wonderville Traveling Fairground. Turns out being told the place and time of your death in front of your family, with a mouthful of corn dog at a fairground, is the very opposite of fun.

*** He reads aloud the {{Dramatis Personae}}-esque character introductions throughout the show to familiarize the audience with the other characters.
*** The Amazing Karnak also forewarns the audience that the show will effectively end when he dies in "little over an hour" (said at the beginning a show with an approximate ~90 minute runtime), as he won't be around to narrate anymore.

* GenreRoulette: The musical ricochets between different musical stylings to reflect the wildly different tastes and personalities of the six main characters. Numbers vary from a cabaret-inspired BadGirlSong to a horned up rock opera power ballad, and from a bubblegum pop IAmGreatSong to an autotune-heavy BoastfulRap that abruptly morphs into a [[OneWomanSong heartfelt lament]] for a far-off lover.
* GhostAmnesia: {{Exaggerated}} in the case of Jane Doe, who arrives at the afterlife without a head because was decapitated in the accident. She's missing all the memories of who she was in life, even her name and what she looked like. The actress who plays Jane Doe carries a [[CreepyDoll headless doll]] and is [[UncannyValleyMakeup made up with]] porcelain-pale skin, a pale blonde wig, and blacked-out contact lenses, as if Jane Doe has taken the doll's head for her own as a replacement. Averted with the other dead kids.
* GhostSong: Nearly every song in the musical, by virtue of being sung by ghosts. The only ones that don't count are the songs that make up "The Uranium Suite": "Sailing Through Space" (sung seconds before the cast's death) and "Uranium" (which is sung in a flashback).
* GoGetterGirl: Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg is a classic overachiever. She's been president of the choir for nearly four years, class president for two, and she plans to be the Prime Minister of Canada when she grows up.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Ocean displays this. At the beginning, she gives a speech about how she wants no part in Karnak's game... and ''immediately'' backpedals once Karnak states this is tantamount to conceding. Apparently her RousingSpeech was only to prove to Karnak that she was a good person, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction though given her next attempt at winning over the judges is]] [[IAmGreatSong "What the]] [[ItsAllAboutMe World Needs"...]]

--> '''Ocean''': And this is why you both [[note]] Mischa and Noel, who had just agreed to vote for each other[[/note]] ''sucked'' at math! What part of "unanimous vote" is ''eluding'' you two geniuses? If you vote for each other- ''if you vote for each other...!'' Okay! No one else is going until I find out how ''everyone'' is voting!

--> '''Ocean''': Put it into words, but it's plain to see,\\

** {{Averted}} with most of the cast--the teens died in a horrific roller coaster crash, but as ghosts their bodies are largely whole and uninjured. They show up to the afterlife in the school uniforms they were wearing during the crash, which are perfectly clean (free of bloodstains, rips, tears, or other unsightly .

** Later PlayedStraight with Jane Doe, who was decapitated in the crash and her head was never located. As a ghost, her skull has been replaced with a creepy doll's head.

* MeaningfulEcho: An interesting example where the echo retroactively gives meaning to the original iteration. In the beginning of the show, [[InteractiveNarrator Karnak]] introduces Ocean and her pre-programed catchphrase: "Democracy rocks!" [[spoiler:This turns out to be foreshadowing for her character arc. At the end of the show, Karnak gives Ocean the ability to be the sole arbiter of who gets to live, but she maintains the unanimous vote structure and the group chooses Jane Doe to return to life. Ocean passes the motion with a bittersweet "Democracy rocks!"]]
* TheMusicMeister: Karnak sets the rules of the game as a singing competition and says he has "taken the liberty of choreographing a few of [their] moves in advance," such as catchphrases and backup dancer blocking for the soloists. The kids essentially have to act out the soloist's fantasy (even if said soloist is insulting them).

From ashes I was made, and ashes I return...\\
and so I walk alone and wonder "why?"\\

--> '''Ocean''': What do we have to do to be brought back to life?
--> '''The Amazing Karnak''': The one who wants to win it the most shall redeem the loser in order to complete the whole.
--> '''Ocean''': That doesn't make any sense.

** Vergil the rat--who chews through Karnak's wires, causing Karnak to short-circuit and electrocuting himself in the process--is named after the poet Creator/{{Virgil}}. Virgil famously appears as a guide through the afterlife in Creator/{{Dante Alighieri}}'s Literature/TheDivineComedy. In a similar manner, Virgil the rat "guides" Karnak to the afterlife (by killing him).
* SelflessWish: As Karnak finds himself running out of time and the teens unable to reach a consensus as to who should be revived, [[spoiler: he changes the rules of the game and gives Ocean the deciding vote, "based on grade point average." Ocean refuses to vote for herself, realizing that if she does, the moral of the story is that "humans suck", and that Karnak [[TheChessmaster knew all along]] that she'd never actually do it, despite [[TheFinalTemptation seemingly affirming Ocean's initial belief that she was the most deserving of a second chance due to her lost “potential” and ambitions.]] She admits it shouldn't be her due to her selfishness in life (she'd never bothered to get to know more about her so-called “friends” despite being in the same club, bullied Constance, treated others like Ricky with CondesendingCompassion, and [[ItsAllAboutMe made everything about her and]] ''[[ItsAllAboutMe her]]'' wants), and adds that while they ''did'' die young in a random accident, saying they died needlessly just because they were teens discounts the time, experiences, hopes, and dreams they had, and she would gladly take the seventeen years she got over nothing. She then votes that Jane Doe be the one returned to life, as she has no memory of her life at all and the other choir members at least have theirs to comfort them.]] Of course, Karnak had [[ProphecyTwist predicted earlier]] that "the one who wants to win the most the most shall redeem the loser in order to complete the whole," so he already knew how that would play out.

* TheTrickster: Karnak acts as this throughout, particularly towards Ocean, as he keeps changing the rules of the game and withholding information [[spoiler: in order to get her to see just how undeserving of another chance she actually is (she'd never bothered to get to know more about her so-called “friends” despite being in the same club, bullied Constance all the time, treated others like Ricky with CondesendingCompassion, made ''everything'' [[ItsAllAboutMe revolve around her and her wants]], and believes that ''she's'' the most deserving of a second chance due to ''her'' lost potential and ambitions, which, in her mind, make ''her'' life matter more than the others). Karnak's actions finally get her to [[CharacterDevelopment realize her failings, see that a person's achievements aren't what make their life valuable, but simply living at all—no matter how short, dull, or seemingly unfulfilled their life was—and give her vote to the far more deserving Jane]]]].

--> '''Ocean:''' I ''champion'' Noel's journey of sexual discovery, but he dropped the F-bomb in the ''actual chorus.''
* UndeadChild: All the teenagers are ghosts, but Jane Doe is the only one to play up the creepiness (by virtue of not having a head). Even the other dead teens are creeped out by her.

* IAmGreatSong: Subverted in Ocean's number, "What the World Needs is People Like Me," where she boasts of how driven, passionate, and successful she is while spending most of the song gleefully putting down her fellow choir members instead of building herself up. Ocean "lovingly" describes them as future drug addicts, criminals, and losers. She divines her ''best friend'' Constance's future as a "soccer mom, minivan, four little brats, no steady man!" whose greatest achievement will be as an eventual "organ donor," and calls Jane Doe "a freaky monster!" Karnak even notes that it's amazing how something as disgusting as social Darwinism can be made palatable with a peppy-enough beat.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Downplayed as Ocean only thinks she's the hero in this situation, but while trying to save face after The Amazing Karnak reveals the consequences of Ocean's condescending IAmGreatSong, she approaches Ricky, claiming she loves him and using the fact that she got him into the choir despite the latter's inability to speak as evidence of this. Ricky summarily responds that had Ocean not brought him into the choir, he would still be alive.

--> '''Ricky''': Level up! [[note]]In some versions, Ricky's catchphrase is: 'Ever since I was six years old, I knew I wasn't long for this world. Unlike the other kids I was always in a place to face that realm called outer space. [[ThrowingOffTheDisability Thank you, Lady Marzipan. Thank you, Dame Judy Dench. It appears your loyal service is no longer needed in this stratosphere.]] 'Game on.' He still uses "Level up!" in certain points in the show, such as after Noel's Lament in response to Mischa's comment on his accordion playing.[[/note]]

* FunWithAcronyms: Jane suddenly bursts into song when Ocean complains about the use of the "f-bomb" in Noel's Lament, leading to this.

* TheJourneyThroughDeath: The dead teens are stuck in a sort of limbo with The Amazing Karnak before five of them go on being dead and one gets to return to life. [[spoiler: The final number of the show, "It's A Ride", is sung after Jane Doe is sent back to the land of the living and the remaining five journey onwards to "whatever comes next."]]

--> '''Ricky''': Yeah, and then I rode that rollercoaster. [[SnarkingThanks Thanks.]]

--> '''Ricky''': Level up! [[note]]In some versions, Ricky's catchphrase is: 'Ever since I was six years old, I knew I wasn't long for this world. Unlike the other kids I was always in a place to face that realm called outer space. Thank you, Lady Marzipan. Thank you, Dame Judy Dench. [his crutches] It appears your loyal service is no longer needed in this stratosphere. (beat) 'Game on.' He still uses "Level up!" in certain points in the show, such as after Noel's Lament in response to Mischa's comment on his accordion playing.[[/note]]

--> '''Ricky''': Level up!

Twenty years later, the quintet’s souls (along with a mysterious girl whose headless body was found in the wreckage of the crash and- since she was wearing the same school uniform- assumed to be a member of the choir) appear in the now dilapidated warehouse, only to be greeted by its own mechanical FortuneTeller, "The Amazing Karnak." Karnak himself is not long for the world (what with his wiring being gnawed on by a rat that's made its nest inside his case), but he does have legit mystical abilities- like the power to bring one of the kids back to life. They just have to make the case as to why ''they'' deserve life over death... over the other five teens that arrived with them.

* ...and "[[EmotionlessGirl Jane Doe]]," a mysterious girl whose headless body was found in the wreckage of the crash and assumed to be a member of the choir as she was in the same school uniform.

* AdoptionAngst: Mischa's adoptive Canadian parents thought they were getting a two-year-old Ukrainian toddler -- instead they got Mischa, with a "five o'clock shadow and a hint of alcohol on his breath." Since they can't send him back they do the next best thing and ignore him, leaving meals outside his basement room and shooing him away whenever he tries to speak to them. This turned Mischa into "the angriest boy in town."

* AutoTune: Mischa is an aspiring rapper (he goes by the name "Bad Egg" on his Youtube page), and his first song makes gratuitous use of autotune, parodying the "the last bastion of pure strength and masculinity in society: [[BoastfulRap self-aggrandizing commercialized hiphop]]" of the 2000's.

* BadGirlSong: {{Parodied}} in Noel's song, "Noel's Lament," a cabaret-inspired number where he fantasizes about being a "hooker with a heart of black charcoal" in post-war France. He describes his ideal life as a troubled but beautiful lady of the night -- murdering Johns who mess with her, burning herself with cigarettes "just to prove that she's alive," getting addicted to opium, catching typhoid, and dying in an alley.

* BoastfulRap: A {{Justified}} example -- Mischa aspires to become a famous, wealthy rapper. His first song, "This Song is Awesome," parodies the style of 2000's HipHop.

* BullyingTheDisabled: As part of her IAmGreatSong, Ocean belittles all of her classmates for their lack of potential and "personal failings" compared to her -- and with Ricky, she pulls no punches when it comes to his disability. She confidently tells her classmates Ricky will "never learn to read," and questions how much mileage he'd get out of a second shot at life with his degenerative disease.

* CatchPhrase: {{Lampshaded}} and {{Parodied}} -- when The Amazing Karnak gives the introduction for each kid, he includes their catchphrase alongside information like their star sign and favorite carnival ride. Ricky might be the only one to take it seriously, using his catchphrase unironically in conversation now that he's able to speak.

* CrappyCarnival: Wonderville Traveling Fairground -- a cheap, poorly maintained traveling carnival and amusement park that [[AmusementParkOfDoom unintentionally kills]] riders on its faulty rollercoaster. Even their best asset, a fortune teller machine that can ''actually tell the future'', is minutes away from being destroyed and is locked on a mode that prevents it from doing its job (because it exclusively predicts when its customers will die).

* ExtremeDoormat: Constance has won the "Nicest Girl in Town" award in her class three years in a row because she's kind and thoughtful and friendly -- but she also lets her best friend walk all over her.

* FortuneTeller: The Amazing Karnak is an amusement park fortune telling robot who just so happened to be gifted with self-awareness and the legitimate ability to predict the time, place, and cause of anyone's death -- including [[ForeseeingMyDeath his own]].

** Noel complains that being the only gay man in town left him with no romantic prospects, and his song -- while a parody of the typical BadGirlSong -- imagines a life where he's allowed to lose himself in carnal pleasures and “burn out”, rather than “fade away” in a dead-end job at Taco Bell.

** {{Averted}} with most of the cast -- The teens died in a horrific roller coaster crash, but as ghosts their bodies are largely whole and uninjured. They show up to the afterlife in the school uniforms they were wearing during the crash, which are perfectly clean (free of bloodstains, rips, tears, or other unsightly .

** Ocean points out that putting people in competitions where their lives are on the line is "super illegal," and points out a lot of the unfairness in the way Karnak has set up the "competition."

* TheJourneyThroughDeath: The dead teens are stuck in a sort of limbo with The Amazing Karnak before five of them go on being dead and one gets to return to life. [[spoiler: The final number of the show, "It's A Ride," is sung after Jane Doe is sent back to the land of the living and the remaining five journey onwards to "whatever comes next."]]

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: Jane Doe's song, "The Ballad of Jane Doe." She laments not knowing who she was in life, having no memories of her time on Earth, and not knowing what will happen to her spirit if she passes on -- the only thing she knows for certain is that no one claimed her body or mourned her passing.

* MysteriousStranger: Exaggerated with the Mystery Contestant, "Jane Doe," who is unknown to all the students (none of them can remember her), and The Amazing Karnak (he didn't read her fortune, so he doesn't know who she is), and to herself (she lost her head in the accident, and arrived in limbo without any memories of her life on Earth).

* NoTalkingOrPhonesWarning: As part of his opening monologue, The Amazing Karnak tells audience members to turn off their cell phones, telling the audience that none of the calls they'll receive in the next hour and a half will be important -- except for one.

** Karnak serves as one for the teenagers, introducing them to the limbo-like space they find themselves in and setting out the conditions of their afterlife -- being that one of them can go back to living, while the remainder must continue on to "whatever comes next."
** Vergil the rat -- who chews through Karnak's wires, causing Karnak to short-circuit and electrocuting himself in the process -- is named after the poet Creator/{{Virgil}}. Virgil famously appears as a guide through the afterlife in Creator/{{Dante Alighieri}}'s Literature/TheDivineComedy. In a similar manner, Virgil the rat "guides" Karnak to the afterlife (by killing him).

* SmallTownBoredom: Uranium is a shrinking, insignificant little mining town in northern Saskatchewan, home to the six now-dead teenagers. Noel was working in a Taco Bell in the mall because he wanted to save up enough money to move to France, Mischa wanted to become a famous rapper and move back to Ukraine [[spoiler: to be with his online girlfriend]], and Ocean wanted to leave Uranium so she could make a difference in the world. The only person in the group who ever expressed any fondness for Uranium was Constance, and she was teased mercilessly by her classmates for it, mocked for wanting to stay in a dead-end life instead of getting the hell out like everyone else. Several lines in "The Uranium Suite" reference their fears that they'll never leave the town -- a tragic irony because all six of them die (and five ''stay'' dead) without having gotten the chance to move away.

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: A {{Justified}} example -- arriving in limbo, Ricky Potts discovers that the degenerative disease that robbed his body of the ability to walk and talk (and that would have eventually killed him) no longer affects his ghostly form. He no longer needs his crutches to move around, and he spends the rest of the musical dancing, singing, and playing the accordion.

* TheTrickster: Karnak acts as this throughout, particularly towards Ocean, as he keeps changing the rules of the game and withholding information [[spoiler: in order to get her to see just how undeserving of another chance she actually is (she'd never bothered to get to know more about her so-called “friends” despite being in the same club, bullied Constance all the time, treated others like Ricky with CondesendingCompassion, made ''everything'' [[ItsAllAboutMe revolve around her and her wants]], and believes that ''she's'' the most deserving of a second chance due to ''her'' lost potential and ambitions, which, in her mind, make ''her'' life matter more than the others). Karnak's actions finally get her to [[CharacterDevelopment realize her failings, see that a person's achievements aren't what make their life valuable, but simply living at all - no matter how short, dull, or seemingly unfulfilled their life was- and give her vote to the far more deserving Jane]]]].

On Monday, September 14th, the five members of the St. Cassian High School chamber choir of Uranium City, Saskatchewan took a trip to the [[CrappyCarnival Wonderville Traveling Fairground]], where they rode the faulty "Cyclone" rollercoaster and [[AmusementParkOfDoom propelled to their untimely deaths]] when their cart derailed. Unsurprisingly, “The Cyclone Accident” made national headlines, and the resulting bankruptcy forced Wonderville to shut down and hastily pack everything up into storage.

* MeaningfulEcho: An interesting example where the echo retroactively gives meaning to the original iteration. In the beginning of the show, [[InteractiveNarrator Karnak]] introduces Ocean and her pre-programed catchphrase: "Democracy rocks!" [[spoiler:This turns out to be foreshadowing for her character arc. At the end of the show, Karnak gives Ocean the ability to be the sole arbiter of who gets to live, but she maintains the unanimous vote structure and the group chooses Jane Doe to return to life. She passes the motion with a bittersweet "Democracy rocks!"]]

* JacobMarleyApparel: Zig-zagged:
** Averted with most of the cast -- The teens died in a horrific roller coaster crash, but as ghosts their bodies are largely whole and uninjured. They show up in the afterlife in their school uniforms, which are perfectly clean.
** Subverted with Ricky Potts, who finds that as a ghost his disability no longer keeps him from walking, dancing, singing, or playing the accordion.
** Later played straight with Jane Doe, who was decapitated in the crash and her head was never located. As a ghost, her skull has been replaced with a creepy doll's head.

* InteractiveNarrator: Karnak, whose precognition and apparent [[FourthWallObserver fourth wall awareness]] enables him to directly address the audience, narrate the children's lives and the events of their deaths, and intentionally set up and predict the events of the story, all while interacting with them as a character in his own right trying to help the children in death in a way he couldn't when they lived.