Line #16 Podcast/AVeryFatalMurder


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uploads_2f1515613587106_r7ex2pi1r7j_52c0f837acd8bf1dbe3be7d414a13d95_2favfm_icon_new_3000x3000.jpg]]
2	%% [[caption-width-right:350:''A Very Fatal Murder'']]
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4	->''"After years of searching for the perfect murder, a murder that's engrossing and mysterious, a murder that perfectly reflects our nation's current economic and social conditions, a murder that comments on the past and future of intersectional feminism, a murder in which a ''really'' hot white girl dies...we found Hayley Price."''
5	-->-- '''David Pascall'''
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7	''[[https://www.theonion.com/c/a-very-fatal-murder A Very Fatal Murder]]'' is a satirical podcast by Website/TheOnion. It follows the fictional Onion Public Radio reporter David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) as he tries to create an award-winning podcast by solving a murder case which comments on the fabric of America in the 21st century. Pascall finds this case with the help of the MIT supercomputer ETHL ([[AICronym Extremely Timely Homicide Locator]]), and goes to [[EverytownAmerica Bluff Springs, Nebraska]] to solve the murder of 17-year-old Hayley Price.
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9	----
10	!! This podcast contains the following tropes:
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12	* AffectionateParody: Parodies TrueCrime podcasts such as ''Podcast/{{Serial}}'' and ''Podcast/STown''.
13	* AICronym: ETHL, which stands for Extremely Timely Homicide Locator.
14	* AIIsACrapShoot: [[spoiler:ETHL kills Hayley Price to create a perfectly podcast-worthy murder]].
15	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Hayley Price was "shot, stabbed, drowned, strangled, and given a haircut."
16	* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler:ETHL returns for the finale after disappearing from the story after Episode 4.]]
17	* BlackComedy:
18	** The death of Hayley Price is way over the top, such that she was "shot, stabbed, drowned, strangled, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking given a haircut]]."
19	** Pascall's reenactment of the crime scene ends with an OPR intern shooting and killing another intern.
20	* ClueEvidenceAndASmokingGun: Averted. While searching through the case's evidence, Pascall thinks he found the smoking gun. However, it turns out that it's just a RedHerring.
21	* CluelessDetective: Pascall tries to solve the murder, but often times he's more preoccupied with creating a compelling podcast.
22	* CrimeReconstruction: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]]. David Pascall takes the crime scene reconstruction so seriously that it ends up killing an intern.
23	* DaChief: [[spoiler:Pascall becomes chief of the Bluff Springs Police Department in Episode 5, Part 1.]]
24	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The podcast's title, ''A Very Fatal Murder''.
25	* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:The podcast's ending skips to ten years after Pascall started investigating Hayley Price's murder.]]
26	* EccentricMillionaire: [[spoiler:The town millionaire W.O. Calloway turns out to be a simple old man who's unphased by a SWATTeam storming his residence.]]
27	* EccentricTownsfolk: The inhabitants of Bluff Springs, Nebraska.
28	* EverytownAmerica: Bluff Springs, Nebraska
29	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Hayley's dad says his daughter loved animals and people. W.O. Calloway says that Hayley was his only friend.
30	* GoingNative: Pascall moves from New York to Nebraska [[spoiler: and spends a decade in Bluff Springs and considers himself a local.]]
31	* InnocentlyInsensitive: While Hayley's mom is still crying over the loss of her daughter, Pascall doesn't pass tissues to Hayley's mom to get her sniffles on audio and he has her read an ad for the podcast.
32	* MultiPartEpisode: Episode 5 is a "juicy" two-parter.
33	* NonHumanSidekick: ETHL
34	* NeverTheObviousSuspect: Pascall is certain that W.O. Calloway murdered Hayley Price, [[spoiler:while the murder was actually orchestrated by ETHL.]]
35	* OnlyKnownByInitials: W.O. Calloway
36	* ParodyCommercial:
37	** Parodies popular podcast ads such as Complete Meal (Blue Apron), [=BrickShorts=].com ([=SquareSpace=]), etc.
38	** The commercial for the US Postal Service acts as a counter for Stamps.com ads, arguing that since the USPS is so old it doesn't matter that you might have to wait in long lines or your mail arrives a little late.
39	* PoliceAreUseless: The police can't solve Hayley's murder, [[spoiler:even after Pascall joins their ranks.]]
40	* PrecisionFStrike: Used in an ad in the season finale.
41	--> '''David Pascall''': This episode of ''A Very Fatal Murder'' is sponsored by the US Postal Service. Tired of waiting in line at the post office? Well, fuck you. The United States Postal Service is one of the greatest courier services known to man. It started in 1792. 1792! Have some respect. What, your package is a few days late? [[QuitYourWhining Well, suck it up, Jesus]]. Support your local post office, just mail something, okay.
42	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:ETHL reveals that she orchestrated Hayley's murder for the podcast.]]
43	* ScatterbrainedSenior: [[spoiler:W.O. Calloway]]
44	* SocietyIsToBlame: David Pascall initially believes that W.O. Calloway murdered Hayley Price, so he wonders if FlyoverCountry is to blame for her murder.
45	** [[spoiler:Pascall ultimately concludes that podcast listeners are to blame for her death, because they wanted her murder to happen in the first place.]]
46	* SWATTeam: [[spoiler:Pascall's police department deploys one on W.O. Calloway.]]
47	* TakeThatAudience:
48	** The podcast is brought to you by "listeners more generous than you".
49	** Pascall concludes that [[spoiler:the audience killed Hayley Price because they wanted her to die for his podcast.]]
50	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: PlayedForLaughs. Hayley Price was "shot, stabbed, drowned, strangled, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking given a haircut]]."
51	* TimeSkip: [[spoiler:Episode 5 takes place in 2018, ten years after the previous episode.]]
52	* TrashyTrueCrime: The podcast is a series-long parody of true crime podcasts, and as such features mainstays like characters investigating "the perfect subject for a true crime podcast" - the death of a "really hot dead white girl" in a small, apparently corrupt town in Nebraska. Exaggerated with the revelation that [[spoiler:ETHL murdered Hayley for the podcast, as she calculated that Hayley really was the perfect subject for one.]]

Context Podcast / AVeryFatalMurder