Line #8 Series/HumanTrafficking


1	[[quoteright:266:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/human_trafficking.jpg]]
2
3	''Human Trafficking'' is a Creator/{{Lifetime}} {{miniseries}} released in 2005. It stars Creator/MiraSorvino, Creator/DonaldSutherland and Creator/RobertCarlyle. Sorvino stars as Kate Morozov, an NYPD agent who is soon hired by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Bill Meehan (Sutherland) and eventually goes undercover to infiltrate the seedy underworld of [[TitleDrop Human Trafficking]] and to stop the efforts of a brutal European crime boss named Sergei Karpovich (Carlyle).
4
5	!!This series has the following tropes:
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7	* BigSisterInstinct: Helena has this towards Nadia when they were captive together, which is why the latter takes what happens extra hard.
8	* BittersweetEnding: For everyone; [[spoiler: Helena is dead and the women and girls have been through a nightmarish experience, but at least Helena's Aunt and daughter are safe, Annie is reunited with her parents, Nadia is back with her father, Ludmila has her passport returned to her and the other kidnapped women and children under Sergei's contract are freed.]]
9	* BoomHeadshot:
10	** [[spoiler: Helena]] dies this way after stepping out onto the balcony of a house.
11	** [[spoiler: Tommy]] also dies this way while on the phone since he was eventually identified by authorities.
12	* BreakTheCutie: All the the women and young girls go through hell during their captivity.
13	* CassandraTruth: When Nadia first arrives in New York, meets Helena and is unaware of what the "modeling" was really supposed to be, the latter tells her what's in store. She initially does not believe her, even calling her crazy.
14	* CoolBigSis: Kate is this to her kid brother, Misha.
15	* CoolOldGuy: Bill Meehan and Viktor Taganov.
16	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kate has this: as a child, her favorite Uncle raped her at a family reunion. She tried to tell her father, his brother, what he did, but he refused to believe her, calling her a "dirty little girl". The very next year, he did it again.
17	* DarkerAndEdgier: From the usual fanfare of your average LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, so much that there are ContentWarnings displayed before the beginning of the miniseries and on every half hour of every part.
18	* TheDragon: Co-dragons Sophie and Andrei work for Sergei. Tommy himself is an arguable example as well.
19	* DrivenToSuicide: The fifteen-year-old girl at the beginning of the first part kills herself by jumping out of the window to escape her torment. [[spoiler: Nadia also attempts this by overdose after learning of Helena's murder.]]
20	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
21	** One of the Johns in the Philippines blatantly refused to sleep with the children, saying how depressing it is to be with someone young enough to be his daughter and demanded a grown woman.
22	** Once the pressure of more of the houses being busted gets too much thanks to Kate's efforts and Viktor's presence, Andrei suggests that Sergei gives up the whole operation. He in turns says that if they close down one house, [[IgnoredEpiphany he would open up three more in response.]]
23	* FreudianExcuse: It's no excuse for the actions that transcribed, but we eventually learn that [[spoiler: Sophie was trafficked herself by Sergei years earlier before he made her his dragon.]]
24	* {{Greed}}: The driving factor behind Sergei's criminal empire: it makes him millions of dollars a year.
25	* HiddenWire: Kate wears one in the form of a butterfly hair clip, which is eventually (but accidentally) knocked off and she had a code phrase of "I feel sick" to signify that she needs backup.
26	* HolidayInCambodia: Played with. Annie and her family were taking a family vacation in the Philippines and while it wasn't supposed to come off like this, the Grey family sadly came to experience this firsthand.
27	* HoneyTrap: What ended up baiting Helena, Annie and Ludmila; the former was wined and dined by a [[ManipulativeBastard "nice" guy]] who broke up a fight at her job, Annie was tricked by a boy who flirted with her who was working for child traffickers and the latter fell into the world while trying to find a husband through an online dating service.
28	* HumanTraffickers: The series is about the efforts to infiltrate and thwart a ring of these.
29	* {{Hypocrite}}: One of the clients in the Philippines, Sergei's doctor, is a loving husband and father who wanted to sleep with young prostitutes on his trip. Even the cops who arrested him called him out on this, asking how he would feel if someone tried to do the same to his own daughters.
30	* IllKillYou: Upon Annie reaching her mother and as Tommy interrupted her (and was unaware that she used his phone), Samantha began to threaten him, even telling him that she'll kill him. Unfortunately, her desperate screaming caught his attention to what she did and after he hung up, he punished the girl.
31	* ImpromptuTracheotomy: After Nadia almost escapes, Sergei repeatedly stabs his henchman in the throat with a ballpoint pen for his failure, killing him.
32	* KarmaHoudini: As far as we know, Frédéric was never punished for selling out Helena or any of the other crimes that occurred in the film.
33	* KnightOfCerebus: Even with the DarkerAndEdgier atmosphere of the film, Sergei's presence makes it even worse.
34	* MamaBear: Annie's mother, Samantha, is this in her pursuit of locating her daughter.
35	* MissingMom: Nadia's mother died some time before the events of the film took place.
36	* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Of all of the missing women and girls, news of only Annie's abduction gets widespread attention. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to the fact that she was the only one who had a confirmed kidnapping, she was an American tourist when she was taken and her parents helped to publicize her dilemma. Nadia and Helena went off willingly (albeit unaware the true nature of what was to happen) and Yasmin was ''sold away'' by her father.
37	* ModelScam: What initially lured Nadia and her friend into the world: the guise of a modeling contest. Her friend is not chosen, but she is.
38	* MultipleGunshotDeath: [[spoiler: How Sergei meets his end to Kate's chagrin, as she would have rather had him arrested.]]
39	* PapaWolf: Nadia's father, Viktor, is this to her, even going undercover as an enforcer to find her.
40	* ParentalSubstitute: Meehan serves as this towards Kate, even alternating between scolding her and commending her when appropriate.
41	* ThePenIsMightier: Sergei kills his henchman, Bruno, with a pen after he fell asleep and almost let Nadia get away (to which Sophie herself had to stop her by tackling her). It happens in front of both her and Helena, although Sergei didn't know that either woman viewed the gruesome murder.
42	* SayMyName: Poor Helena desperately cries out for Frédéric to save her after he sells her to the traffickers.
43	* SoftSpokenSadist: Sergei usually speaks in a soft and calm voice, almost never raising it except for when he's really angry.
44	* SuddenlyShouting: While talking with one of the interested men on the dating website, Kate screams out to her brother how much the guy doesn't look like their [[EvilUncle Uncle]] after he insisted. She then apologizes and he hugs and kisses her as she begins to cry.
45	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Viktor [[spoiler: while working undercover as one of the enforcers,]] vomits after viewing a video of [[spoiler: Nadia being [[NightmareFuel gang-raped.]]]] This even causes Andrei to order it to be shut off.
46	* WouldHitAGirl [=/=] WouldHurtAChild:
47	** One of many ways to keep the women and children in line. Tommy even punches the woman helping Samantha locate Annie in the face for intruding on his business.
48	** Sergei also threatens to kill Helena's young daughter if she tells anyone else that he's letting her go.
49	* YouHaveFailedMe:
50	** Sergei brutally murders a henchman for almost letting Nadia escape.
51	** He also has [[spoiler: Tommy]] murdered due to his greed, getting one of the brothels shut down and for going rogue regarding trying to take the sex slaves elsewhere without permission.

Context Series / HumanTrafficking