Line #20 Film/FriendsTilTheEnd


1	''Friends Til The End'' is a 1997 television movie that first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} starring Creator/ShannenDoherty and Jennifer Blanc.
2
3	The plot revolves around two college-aged women, the popular sorority member Heather Romley and the shy studious Zanne Armstrong, whose lives first intersect at a school dance, where the former was just crowned the queen of her sorority's sweetheart dance and the latter is covering the event as a photographer with the yearbook.
4
5	What soon follows is a tale involving jealousy, betrayal and murder. It's somewhat similar to ''Film/SingleWhiteFemale''. Although the film first aired on [=NBC=], it has enjoyed numerous airings over the years on Creator/{{Lifetime}}, to the point that some believe that it's one of their productions.
6
7	!!'''This film has the following tropes:'''
8
9	* TheAce: Hinted at with Heather: aside from her beauty and popularity, she's also a good singer and the leader if the popular college band Dead Pink, wins a sorority pageant at the beginning of the film, and is a good student to boot, even winning a scholarship to attend her college.
10	* AgeCut: The beginning of the film has a preteen Heather taking the stage at a talent show and singing her song. It immediately cuts to her onstage for the sorority girl contest and still twiddling her fingers in nervousness.
11	* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Averted: drummer Nick is the calmest and most soft-spoken of all the band members.
12	* AlphaBitch: Paige, the head of the sorority that Heather and Zanne belong to.
13	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: How Zanne views her place in the world.
14	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Young Suzanne believes her mother to be this when she encourages before taking the stage at a talent show. [[spoiler:This also extends to her adulthood, as she tries and fails to cut ties with her and pretends that she was dead.]]
15	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "You want Heather?"
16	* AssholeVictim: Downplayed with [[spoiler:Brad:]] he's clearly not the film's villain, but he [[spoiler:still knows about Zanne killing her competitor years earlier and is [[NightmareFetishist turned on by it]] and also witnesses her pouring ipecac in Heather's drink [[BystanderSyndrome and does nothing to stop it.]]]]
17	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Nick. He's the friendliest male member of Dead Pink, but doesn't like others trying to harm the band, especially Heather.
18	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Zanne. She has been carrying a grudge against Heather for years due to her beating her in a competition when they were little girls.]]
19	* BlandNameProduct: When Allison gets the news that [[spoiler: she's not pregnant,]] she gets the call from a public phone booth that has a logo similar to the Bell Phone Company.
20	* BoulderBludgeon: How [[spoiler: Brad]] ends up dying, getting bludgeoned with a brick.
21	* CallBack: Zanne sings "Beautiful Dreamer" at her singing competition as a child and at Dead Pink's competition in a battle of the bands.
22	* CassandraTruth: Nick is immediately suspicious of Zanne, even telling his fellow male bandmates that there was something [wrong] about her, only for them to dismiss him as paranoid.
23	* DaddysGirl: Heather is close to both her parents, but when visiting them with Zanne, she happily hugs him from behind and he appreciates the affection, holding onto her as she does.
24	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Zanne [[spoiler: as she claims to have although she is lying]]: her parents died in a plane crash when she was five, her grandfather soon followed and that she was shuttled around to foster homes for a while after that.
25	* DeadGuyJunior: A particularly icky downplayed version: [[spoiler: Suzanne "Zanne" Boxer took her new surname "Armstrong" from the girl who beat her in a big competition as a child who she later killed.]]
26	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Heather, due to some manipulation from Zanne, ends up plugging the music competition on sn interview in the news. Unfortunately, the news subject was about hazing in sororities and a girl was declared clinically dead. She ended up having her piece edited out, to her relief.
27	* DrivenByEnvy: What drove [[spoiler: Zanne to gradually ruin Heather's life, having held a long grudge against her from the competition she beat her at when they were children.]]
28	* EasilyForgiven: Zig-zagged: obviously Simon and Sammy are sorry for their betrayal and Nick tells them that they shouldn't expect to be forgiven just because they're groveling, but the ending still implies that they've all made up.
29	* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: Played with. When we are reintroduced to Zanne, she is seen wearing a heavy amount of eyeshadow. It soon comes out that she's the film's antagonist.
30	* FakeBand: Dead Pink, the college rock band that the protagonists are apart of.
31	* FalseSoulmate: [[spoiler:Simon. He initially seems like he truly loves Heather, his college sweetheart, but once Zanne gains more confidence, bogarts herself into the band and flirts hard with him on his birthday, he engages in an affair with her which Heather was totally unaware of until she catches them in bed.]] He eventually comes to ''deeply'' regret his actions.
32	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Quite a bit between Zanne, Heather and Nick:
33	** Zanne, whilst photographing Heather at the sweetheart dance, recognizes her as the girl she competed against in a pageant years earlier and decided to go after her.
34	** Nick's attraction towards/loyalty to Heather was seen at the beginning. Aside from being her songwriting partner, he also defends her when the rest of Dead Pink thinks her poisoning was simply nerves and is immediately suspicious of Zanne when she first became associated with the band. [[spoiler: He also quit the band after learning of Simon cheating with Zanne and convinces Heather to form their own band.]]
35	** Nick's attraction of Heather wasn't one-sided; when Zanne complains that he hit on her (although she was trying to usurp her role in the band, amongst other things, and he was calling her out on it), she asks if that's a bad thing and even defends him back, saying, "I think he's sweet!"
36	* GoodParents:
37	** Heather's parents are very loving towards her.
38	** [[spoiler: Suzanne's mother also loves her dearly, although she was erroneously portrayed as being a StageMom earlier in the film.]]
39	* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler: Zanne]], and it's not just limited to [[spoiler: Heather]] either; she even blows out a candle at the initiation ceremony of a new girl in her sorority, angering her and the other women at the ceremony.
40	* HeelRealization: As said by Paige:
41	-->"We lost [[spoiler: Heather]] for ''this?"''
42	* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler: Poor Brad gets killed because he recognizes Zanne as Suzanne Boxer and knows about the murder she committed as a child. In spite of him ''not'' being freaked out by this and not giving any implications that he would blow her cover, Zanne still kills him.]]
43	* INever: Halfway through the film, the characters play a game of this. This is where they learn about Alison's PregnancyScare.
44	* InformedAttribute: Played with regarding Sammy. His girlfriend Alison keeps going on about him apparently having a HiddenHeartOfGold and loving her, in spite of him mostly acting like a douche onscreen throughout the film. That said, even after the situation of learning of Alison's PregnancyScare (which he knew nothing about and was quite angry about when Paige blurted it out at the club), they did manage to work things out and continue dating. Also, at the Battle of the Bands competition, he expresses regret at allowing [[spoiler:Zanne is push both Heather and Nick out the band]], Alison is with him at the club and gives him a preemptive SmoochOfVictory and the end implies that they've all made up.
45	* IRejectYourReality: Zanne still holds onto [[spoiler:the lie that she lost her parents in a plane crash as a child,]] even when both Brad and Heather confront her about it.
46	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: In-universe. Heather tells Nick that they won't be musically successful as a duet, saying that two people don't make a band. To this, he points out a lot of successful two-person bands, including Music/TheyMightBeGiants.
47	* KickTheDog: After Heather catches [[spoiler:Simon and Zanne in bed together, the latter kisses his shoulder and snuggles up with him, all to showcase her lack of remorse.]]
48	* LimpAndLivid: Zanne ends up this after her breakdown and right before Heather and Nick took the stage at the battle of the bands competition; she is seen hunched over and LaughingMad with rage only for [[spoiler:her mother to [[LetMeAtHim hold her back from storming the stage.]]]]
49	* TheMentallyDisturbed: [[spoiler: Zanne is seen to have a mental disorder of some sort, even staying in a hospital because of it.]]
50	* AMinorKidroduction: The film starts off with the two main characters performing at a talent show as children.
51	* MoralMyopia: Zanne has this and tries to invoke NeverMyFault towards Heather after the latter slapped her, even trying to tell their sorority sisters that ''she'' had mental problems. This is ignoring how she stole her term paper and turned in a plagiarized paper in its place, took her car keys to meet up and make out with Simon, blabbed a secret about Alison that she had eavesdropped upon and poured ipecac into her drink to sabotage her so she could sing her lead, amongst other things.
52	* MyGreatestFailure: Stated and implied by the remaining members of Dead Pink and Heather's sorority sisters, respectively, after [[spoiler:choosing to keep the jealous and unstable Zanne over her.]]
53	* NeverMyFault: After the fallout of [[spoiler:Simon cheating on Heather with Zanne, he has the nerve to get mad at her for quitting Dead Pink, citing how Nick will quit too and that she's wrecking their chance to win the battle of the bands competition.]] She then retorts back, ''"You're'' the one that ruined it, not me!"
54	* NiceGirl:
55	** Heather, through and through. Sadly, Zanne is willing to take advantage of her kind and giving nature, which lead to some hardship for her.
56	** Alison, Heather's best friend and Sammy's girlfriend, can also be seen as this (she did briefly pull away from her in the aftermath of her slapping Zanne, though to be fair she didn't know the whole story, just what Zanne wanted her to see, but by the end she still cheers Heather on in the Battle of the Bands competition).
57	** Zanne, though she soon is revealed to be [[spoiler:a BitchInSheepsClothing.]]
58	* NiceGuy: Nick, who is also something of a DoggedNiceGuy.
59	* [[NobodyLovesTheBassist Nobody Loves The Drummer]]: Drummer Nick gets the least amount of attention and respect of the whole band, even as the one who writes the songs. Even Zanne is dismissive of him when she first joins. [[TheRival Not that this bothers him too much.]]
60	* PrecisionFStrike: When Nick and Heather are at the competition and she nervously asks if they're going to do well, he assures her that "you're going to blow that bitch away."
61	* PregnancyScare: Alison has one after she slept with Sammy after the Sweetheart Dance. She had confided in Heather, but unfortunately [[spoiler: Zanne had overheard this, blabbed to Paige and the other sorority sisters and blew the poor girl's cover, allowing Heather to take the blame.]]
62	* RemovedFromThePicture: At one point, Zanne uses an X-acto knife to cut Heather's head out of a photograph of her and Simon dancing. Heather eventually discovers it--with Zanne's own head taped on her body--and comes to the horrifying conclusion, "You were after me from the beginning."
63	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The act of betraying Heather by reducing her role so Zanne can sing more leads causes [[spoiler: Nick]] to quit the band in disgust, even commenting "This is ''not'' the band I signed up for!"
64	* ShoutOut: While rehearsing at Simon's house, there's a poster of Music/MazzyStar on the wall.
65	* StaircaseTumble: This is how [[spoiler: the girl who beat Zanne in a big competition when they were children, who is only identified by the name of "Armstrong", died (via a broken neck).]]
66	* StartMyOwn: [[spoiler: Heather and Nick form their own two person band after quitting Dead Pink.]]
67	* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: Nick is immediately suspicious of [[spoiler: Zanne when she first joined the band. He also tries to get her to abandon any ideas of replacing Heather as lead singer and [[CassandraTruth even attempts to tell Simon and Sammy about her motives as well, only for them to dismiss it.]] Turns out, he was right along, prompting both he and Heather to eventually quit the band.]]
68	* TokenGoodTeammate: Aside from Heather herself, Nick is the only one who cares about the band and its members and remains loyal to it, [[spoiler: [[UndyingLoyalty even quitting in disgust after Heather is pushed out of the band.]]]] Sammy's a jerk. Simon [[spoiler:cheated on Heather. Zanne usurped her role, slept with Simon and is certifiable.]] Videographer Bryan is a downplayed example: he's not as vicious as the others, but he's also quite distant from Heather and never defends her.
69	* UnconventionalFoodUsage: Discussed in a conversation between Heather and Paige. While the former is grossed out by the story, the latter talks about a past roommate of hers who used to condition her hair with mayonnaise whose smell got so bad to the point of making her gag. Whereas the unknown woman defends herself by saying, "Well, don't I have the right to use conditioner?", to which she replies. "Well, don't I have the right to hate mayonnaise?"
70	* UndyingLoyalty:
71	** [[spoiler:Nick]] for Heather, as we soon find out, even over the rest of Dead Pink.
72	** Zanne's [[spoiler:estranged mother, Christy, also truly loves her daughter, even staying by her side in spite of her ''murdering'' two people.]]
73	* VerbThis: When Heather is storming into Zanne's room, Paige protests this, saying that it violates the sorority house rules, to which she brilliantly replies back, "Violate yourself, Paige!"
74	* VomitDiscretionShot: Heather gets sick to the point of vomiting after [[spoiler: Zanne [[PoisonIsEvil pours ipecac into her drink]] so that she could sing lead at a competition for the band.]]

Context Film / FriendsTilTheEnd