Line #89 Series/Taboo


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taboo_xlg.png]]
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3	''Taboo'' is a 2017 period drama series airing on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC One]] in the United Kingdom and Creator/FXNetworks in the United States.
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5	The year is 1814, and the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 is winding down. James Delaney (Creator/TomHardy), a man who has been missing for 18 years, returns to Britain after the death of his father, and his impending inheritance of Nootka Sound, a strategically valuable strip of land on the western North American coast being sought by the East India Trading Company, the British Crown, and the United States.
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7	The series is produced by Creator/RidleyScott and Creator/TomHardy, who along with his father, Edward "Chips" Hardy, and Steven Knight created it. Hardy also headlines the cast. Along with Hardy, the series stars Creator/OonaChaplin, David Hayman, and Creator/JonathanPryce.
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9	A second season was announced in 2019 but is seemingly stuck in DevelopmentHell - [[https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/tom-hardy-taboo-season-two Steven Knight]] has said in interviews that he had hoped to release the second season in 2020, but due to the pandemic and then the cast and crew's other commitments the season might not actually get filming until late 2023/early 2024.
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11	%%Not to be confused with the Creator/NationalGeographicChannel documentary series with the same name.
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13	----
14	!! This series provides examples of the following tropes:
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16	* AdiposeRex: The Prince Regent is fat and constantly stuffing his face with sweets. He's also suffering from gout.
17	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Horace Delaney's passing is largely a matter of happy business to many both of the great and the "good" of UsefulNotes/{{London}}, as well as the small and tattered on the dockside. Including his daughter.
18	* AnimalMotifs: Birds, including the tattoos on James and Winter, Lorna Bow's canary, James' mother in his visions, [[spoiler:the marks left by James' mother in the fireplace]], the raven feathers on [[spoiler:Salish and Zilpha's]] dresses, and the bird that [[spoiler:Zilpha]] sees before jumping off the bridge.
19	* AssassinOutclassin:
20	** Delaney turns the tables on an assassin sent by the EITC at the end of the second episode, though it is [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] in that he doesn't walk away unscathed.
21	** And again in the fourth episode, in which Delaney is also injured. This time it's an assassin sent by the Americans, and given his huge size proves to be far more dangerous than the previous one.
22	* AnyoneCanDie: In season one, that includes [[spoiler:Thorne Geary, Winter, Helga, Dumbarton, Pettyfer, Wilton, Sir Stuart Strange, and Zilpha Geary.]]
23	* BastardUnderstudy: James makes himself a busy bunny by turning the very knowledge and skills the EIC took pains to teach him when he was being trained (at one point, under Strange himself), apprenticed and then employed by them right back on the Company. They're not taking the fully acknowledged irony of the situation all that well.
24	* BedlamHouse:
25	** James' mother Salish/Anna ended her life in the original Bedlam, Bethlem Royal Hospital. [[spoiler:Later used, after being abandoned as a mental hospital, to store James' gunpowder.]]
26	** Bethlem is also where Dr. Dumbarton [[spoiler:the American spy]] has set up, ostensibly to assist in a [[spoiler:fake]] cholera outbreak.
27	* BestialityIsDepraved: James is frequently compared to an animal and called a savage. When Zilpha starts to have very vivid erotic dreams about her brother, he claims that he is using his mixture of American and African native magic to reach out for her. Zilpha asks if he is doing this in the form of an animal because she heard the same from a priest who visited an African mission, which James confirms.
28	* BlackAndGreyMorality: The entire cast consists of characters who engage in murder, blackmail, theft, and betrayal, and the series has just started. James is capable of loyalty and basic kindness, but he's still a dangerous criminal himself. One of the few unambiguously good characters is George Chichester, since his only goal is getting justice for past crimes rather than any personal gain.
29	* BlasphemousBoast: In episode 1, Sir Stuart Strange boasts that the honorable East India Trading Company has more money than god. He acknowledges this is blasphemous, but says [[{{Pride}} it's justified]].
30	* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:Winter's]] corpse at the end of episode six.
31	* BrotherSisterIncest: James and Zilpha once had a ''taboo'' sexual relationship, and they still seem to be in love with each other at present. He even starts visiting her in her dreams in animal form ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe]]) to have sex. [[spoiler:It's later re-consummated for real after she kills her abusive husband.]]
32	* ComfortingTheWidow: [[spoiler:James and Zilpha have sex together immediately after her husband's funeral, whom she killed herself.]]
33	* CoitusInterruptus: Delaney introduces himself to Cholmondeley by deliberately walking in on him during the act.
34	* {{Confessional}}: Ibbotson confesses his complicity in James's gunpowder plot to the local priest. Subverted since the priest turns out to be on the payroll of the East India Company. [[spoiler:Ibbotsen's body is subsequently left behind for the corrupt priest to find.]]
35	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The EIC board of directors, although most of them sans Strange are also [[UpperClassTwit bumbling and incompetent sycophants.]]
36	* CrapsackWorld: You'd be hard-pressed to find a nastier or more physically ''disgusting'' depiction of [[WretchedHive London]] outside of the DungAges.
37	* CreateYourOwnVillain: It's unclear exactly what the turning point was. But, James went from a loyal Company man to a wrecking-ball targeted at their interests. We've got more than a few hints that the Company itself was the catalyst for the change, possibly by increments.
38	* DarkSecret: [[spoiler:Godfrey]] is homosexual and a transvestite, perhaps even an outright transexual. DeliberateValuesDissonance is in effect here, of course, as that kind of thing could easily destroy his life and have him institutionalized with the key thrown away if anybody who cared were to find out.
39	* DeadPersonConversation:
40	** James has one with [[spoiler:Winter]] in episode seven.
41	** He may or may not have had a one-sided one with the "ghosts" (if they aren't hallucinations) of [[spoiler:the slaves sunk aboard the ''Influence'']] in episode one.
42	* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Winter is killed at the end of episode six by the East India Company, in order to set James up.]]
43	* DefectorFromDecadence: James used to be a part of the EIC, but he utterly and completely '''despises''' them now. The more we find out, the more cause they give him to continue the hate.
44	* DefiledForever: Thorne has got some disgusting ideas about Zilpha, and claims she "smells of [James]". He's also irate that her CountryMatters will not "open" for him, and apologizes for "not being related to [Zilpha]".
45	* TheDeterminator:
46	** James Delaney. Has survived at least one shipwreck and two assassination attempts, that we know of. He continues with his obscure quest, allowing only the bare minimum of recuperation. What are his goals? Dunno; but, he's acting like an especially blinkered arrow zooming towards the target -- any side-issue social niceties can go hang.
47	** George Chichester has been working for years to get an investigation into the sinking of the slave ship ''Influence.''
48	* DomesticAbuse: Thorne is one to Zilpha.
49	* DoubleMeaningTitle: The title can refer to several taboo acts that ByronicHero James Delaney engages in, including incest and cannibalism.
50	* DuelToTheDeath: Thorne Geary and Delaney have one in episode five. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Geary, his second works for the EIC and doesn't load Geary's pistol. Even worse, from Geary's point of view, Delaney declines to fire back.]]
51	* DungAges: Essentially this trope applied to the early 1800s rather than the Middle Ages. There may have never been a BBC depiction of London in more nauseating squalor.
52	* EverybodyDiesEnding: The season one finale ''really'' racks up the body count, with [[spoiler:Wilton, Pettyfer, Helga, Dumbarton, Stuart Strange, possibly Cholmondelay, and, most likely but not for certain Zilpha]] all bite the dust.
53	* EvilDetectingDog: Delaney's horse alerts him to the presence of the assassin in episode four.
54	* ExcrementStatement: The late Horace Delaney's response to the EIC's offers to buy his shipping company was to sent them some literal horse shit. James carries on the tradition.
55	* ForegoneConclusion: The British Crown will eventually gain control of Nootka Sound one way or another, as it and the island of Vancouver are part of the present-day Canadian province of British Columbia.
56	* {{Fingore}}: Delaney amputates a man's thumb in episode five in order to stop anyone else in his crew from even thinking about betraying him.
57	* TheGhost: [[UsefulNotes/JamesMadison 'Mr. Madison']] is mentioned in passing a few times. Justified in that, well, he's back in the states, fighting a war.
58	* GoodScarsEvilScars: James has a noticeable scar beneath one eye.
59	* GothicHorror: Definitely has elements of this genre, particularly whenever the supernatural elements come up. Some reviewers have compared it to the films of Film/HammerHorror.
60	* {{Greed}}: The MO of The East India Trading Company can be summed up thus-"scam or undercut everybody out of everything for maximum profit". With a dash or eight of {{Pride}} over doing it, too.
61	* GraveRobbing: During the time period it was an unofficial practice among some medical professionals to perform experiments on recently buried, excavated corpses. After James hires a doctor to perform a post-burial autopsy on his father so he can confirm that the man was killed through poison, the latter makes a sly remark that it would be wise to bury him a bit deeper the second time around. James immediately threatens to kill him and any of his colleagues if the body is desecrated in any way.
62	* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: During the big escape from the Crown's soldiers in episode 8, the men do have muskets, but they also spend a great deal of time using their fists. Helga and Lorna (and an unnamed member of the crew) use pistols.
63	* HateSink: Thorne Geary is a racist, {{Domestic Abuse}}r SmugSnake with zero redeeming qualities, and does something (or says something) shitty to somebody else in almost every single scene he's in.
64	* HeirClubForMen: It seems that Horace Delaney cut his daughter out of his will in the years preceding his death. Everything he had, he left to his son James, who had been presumed lost at sea or gone "savage" in Africa.
65	* HeroicBSOD: Brace enters this state twice. He lies on his bed in a near-catatonic state for hours prior to confessing that [[spoiler:he administered a MercyKill to Horace Delaney]], and in the finale, sits staring, teary-eyed, into space for some time after [[spoiler:Delaney leaves him behind.]]
66	* HidingBehindReligion: Thorne Geary uses his Christianity in order to justify abusing Zilpha.
67	* ImAHumanitarian: We're not quite sure if James is ''actually'' a cannibal, but the rumors coming out of his time in Africa certainly raise the possibility. Pettyfer, Thorne, Zilpha, and Atticus all make references to James's supposed cannibalism, and one of the hallmarks of James's kills is taking the heart or internal organs of his victims, which he may or may not eat. In a scene with Atticus, James also refuses to eat pork, which is historically connected with cannibalism (i.e. "To Serve Man's" "long pork").
68	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Thorne Geary by Zilpha.]]
69	* InadequateInheritor: Everyone assumed that Horace Delaney would leave his few remaining assets to his daughter Zilpha. Instead Zilpha is cut out of the will completely, and everything is left to James Delaney, who has been presumed dead for years.
70	* IncompatibleOrientation: [[spoiler:Godfrey]] mentions that he had been in love with James when they were attending the seminary together.
71	* IronicName: A case of [[TruthInTelevision being true to history]]. The series makes it plain that there's little noble, let alone ethical or moral, about the Honourable East India Trading Company. Having the ears of both Court, Westminster and, specifically, the Exchequer ''doesn't'' make them as great or as good as they sound on paper.
72	* {{Jerkass}}: Thorne Geary and Sir Stuart Strange stand out. But, very few characters escape a brush with this trope to some degree. [[spoiler:Only Winter escapes, really.]]
73	* LackOfEmpathy: The guys over at the EIC think nothing of running slaves to the Americas (despite it being abolished in the United Kingdom proper) [[{{Greed}} just to make more money than they already make.]] When it becomes clear that bribes and flattery won't work, and James refuses to sell his land to them, they openly (and casually) speak about murdering him like it's become a bothersome inconvenience for them. Worse, it's made more than plain that this is just standard operating procedure at work; nothing special. (The only special thing here is how stubbornly immobile James manages to be as a roadblock.)
74	* LawOfInverseFertility: Thorne Geary desperately wants an heir, but he can't impregnate Zilpha; he suspects that she's preventing it intentionally, but it's left unclear. [[spoiler:She definitely prevents it later on, when she kills Geary.]]
75	* LecherousStepparent: There's a degree of sexual tension between Lorna and her stepson James. She had no part in raising him however, given that he only met her after his father's death, and are [[AdoptivePeerParent about the same age anyway]].
76	* MagicalNativeAmerican: James's mother was a Native tribeswoman who was sold to his father as part of a deal he made with her tribe. It's [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane implied]] that she was some sort of witch who passed her affinity with the supernatural on to her son.
77	* ManBitesMan: James Delaney kills an assassin by stabbing him back and then biting out the man's throat for good measure.
78	* MassOhCrap: The general response to James Delaney's unexpected reappearance at his father's funeral.
79	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: There's a level of mysticism in the series that's kept fairly low key, but some things stand out. James knows quite a bit about his father and his mother that, according to Brace, he should have no way of knowing. He claims to have heard his father calling out his confessions on the river bank from across the sea, and that he would answer back. Then there's his visions/hallucinations; first of the [[spoiler:drowned slaves]] in episode one, the hunt in the forest in episodes three and seven, and his mother [[spoiler:drowning him as a baby]] in episode six. He also visits his sister Zilpha in her dreams, which may either be supernatural in nature or the result of Zilpha succumbing to James' mind games. WordOfGod says that all this is to get across a deep spiritual quality that was very present even in post-"Enlightenment" European cultures.
80	* MayDecemberRomance: If the pretty young Lorna is to be believed, this occurred between her and old Horace Delaney in his last years. She then uses her short marriage to him to lay claim to half of James's inheritance.
81	* MenacingStroll: James Keziah Delaney (or perhaps Tom Hardy, if you interpret this stride as the actor's stride) has a ''very'' distinct walk and somehow, Tom Hardy makes it look effortless. Delaney ''feels'' like a big man and if you look closely, anyone who sees him approach from afar often looks unsettled by it.
82	* MercyKill: [[spoiler:What Brace says was his reason for killing Horace Delaney.]]
83	* MightyWhitey: A rather vicious deconstruction. James Delaney is a white man who plans to fight the evil EIC after seeing their abuses of the native populations, and has apparently spent a great deal of time learning from and practicing the African traditions, but his GoingNative means that people back home in Britain see him at best as a madman and at worst as an agent of the Devil. Not to mention the fact that his motives for fighting the evil colonialists are more about revenge and less about protecting the poor natives, or the fact that James himself is [[AntiHero not exactly a nice man.]]
84	* MistakenForServant: Sir Stuart initially mistakes George Chichester for a golf caddy. Chichester isn't fazed in the slightest.
85	* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: It was never clear whether the associate of Atticus lost his thumb because James really knew he was a traitor, or he was just picked at random to set an example. In either case, [[spoiler:he pays back the thumb amputation by turning a blind eye while on guard duty for James' ship, letting the East India Company blow it up]].
86	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Deconstructed and averted:
87	** After bribery fails, the EIC try to deal with James by killing him. When this fails repeatedly, Strange is incredulous that his employees can't seem to come up with another solution to the Delaney business other than to just keep on trying.
88	** He then makes out a will leaving Nootka Sound to the Americans if he dies, making murder the ''worst'' solution for both EIC and the Crown.
89	** The Americans (through Dumbarton and Carlsbad) offer to kill Thorne so that James and Zilpha can be together. James seems fine with this plan. However, when [[spoiler:Zilpha murders her husband to free herself from his abuse]], James is ''not'' fine, and believes that the act was a sin.
90	** [[spoiler:James then refuses Atticus' suggestion to kill Helga, when it becomes obvious Helga will betray them due to the death of Winter]].
91	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:According to Brace, Salish was sent to the asylum after she attempted to drown the infant James in a river.]]
92	* OldRetainer: The Delaneys' servant Brace.
93	* OnlyAFleshWound: In episode four, after Delaney receives a blow to the head that should have resulted in a severe concussion, at least. He shows up in the subsequent scene without even a ''wound''. Then again, considering the whispers people share about James, it's possible [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane there are other forces at work protecting him.]]
94	* OnlySaneMan: Brace is this for a while until Lorna shows up.
95	* OpenSecret: James and Zilpha's lingering [[BrotherSisterIncest affection for each other]] is widely rumored around London and is apparent to all who see them together, including her enraged husband. The Americans even go so far as to offer her as part of their bargain with James for Nootka Sound.
96	* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: Delaney excelled for the first two years apprenticed to the East India Trading Company.
97	* ParentalAbandonment: Horace had a son that was left to be raised by a family near the docks. James thinks the kid is better off for it. If Robert is, indeed, Horace's son. It's possible he's the child of [[spoiler:James and Zilpha]]. Either way, still abandoned.
98	* PetTheDog: James is a dark character who downright walks the line dividing sympathy from antipathy, at times; but, he has warmer moments that contrast his usual behavior. [[CrapsackWorld Nobody in this series is particularly clean, anyways.]]
99	** He pays off all the people his father owed debts to, even though he is not legally obligated to. He simply asks that they form an orderly line when coming to collect what they are owed.
100	** He's briefly tender with his old friend Godfrey, which he tries to cover over shortly afterwards by insulting him.
101	** He has occasionally exhibited concern for Winter and Lorna.
102	** Despite their contentious relationship and constant trading of barbs, he and Brace seem genuinely devoted to each other.
103	** He goes out of his way to insist the [[WholesomeCrossdresser Ladies]] leave their meeting place before [[spoiler:his arrest, warning them that their club was soon going to be occupied by British soldiers who were likely to inflict horrible violence upon them.]]
104	** Also, he has an actual dog - a vicious hound from the dockside that feeds off dead bodies - who seems to adore him.
105	* PrecisionFStrike: A favorite tactic of both Strange and the Prince Regent.
106	* {{Pride}}: The EIC and Strange in particular. He seems almost personally galled that James won't sell him the land that he feels he's entitled to, and angrily ''demands'' that James accept his offer for the land, throwing the money in the man's face like he's a spoiled child who's enraged that he's not getting what he wants.
107	* RelativeError: Subverted when Lorna Bow sees James Delaney paying a lot of attention to Zilpha during an upper class party they were invited to. The two women later run into each other in the ladies room, and Lorna inquires of Zilpha whether she should consider her a rival for James's affections. Zilpha defiantly states she has no cause to worry since she and James share the same father. The subversion results from the fact that the two half-siblings actually [[BrotherSisterIncest used to be lovers]] as teenagers and still share a large amount of sexual tension.
108	* {{Revenge}}: James' implied motivation against The East India Trading Company. He clearly just ''oozes'' contempt for them, having witnessed their atrocities and excesses first hand during his time with them.
109	* SelfHarm: [[spoiler:According to Brace, Horace Delaney was in such despair that he began burning himself.]]
110	* ServileSnarker:
111	** Brace does what he's told, but he reserves the right to snark while he's at it.
112	** This exchange between Coop and one of the Prince Regent's footmen:
113	--->'''Coop''': How is he this morning?\
114	'''Footman''': Toe and arse this morning, sir.\
115	'''Coop''': Oh, God. I know about his toe. What happened to his arse?\
116	'''Footman''': One can only imagine.
117	* ShootTheMessenger: Both [[spoiler:Wilton and Pettyfer]] die this way in the season finale when they're delivering information and/or people to [[spoiler:Delaney's]] men. An ironic version of the trope, as in both cases, they're bringing what the recipients want.
118	* SpannerInTheWorks:
119	** Sir Stuart Strange assumed that Horace Delaney would leave Nootka Sound to his daughter and her husband who would then turn around and sell it to the East India Trading Company. Horace throws the first spanner into the plan by instead leaving everything to his son James. James then wrecks the plan completely by showing up at the funeral and then telling the EITC that he will never sell the land.
120	** Lorna Bow disrupts James's plans by showing up with proof that she was married to Horace and that by law, she owns half of James's inheritance.
121	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Horace Delaney died because [[spoiler:Brace]] put arsenic in his beer.
122	* TattooedCrook: James Delaney and Atticus, among others.
123	* TilMurderDoUsPart: [[spoiler:Zilpha finally has enough of her husband's abuse and rape, and stabs him through the heart with a marlin spike.]]
124	* UnderwaterKiss: After James is informed of [[spoiler:his sister]]'s suicide by jumping into the Thames river, he imagines kissing her corpse one last time in an underwater embrace.
125	* VillainousBreakdown: Sir Stuart Strange has one at the end of the fifth episode when he realizes that the Crown has decided to target ''him'' directly, not just the EIC.
126	* VillainousBSOD: Geary is in this state after his [[spoiler:sabotaged]] duel with Delaney in the fifth episode.
127	* WretchedHive: London is basically this, [[AristocratsAreEvil with the debauched excesses of the aristocracy,]] the brutal intrigues of warring nations, and the wealth, power, and privilege of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive amoral corporate executives]] serving to crush the common people beneath the heels of their masters.

Context Series / Taboo