Line #13 Series/BodyOfProof


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6	[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bodyofproof01_9631.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:301: Megan Hunt examining one of her "patients."]]
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9	What if Dr. Series/{{House}} was a female medical examiner?
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11	Megan Hunt (Creator/DanaDelany) was a brilliant neurosurgeon until a car accident caused unknown neurological damage that makes her hands numb occasionally. After she accidentally killed a patient, she decided to switch jobs and become a medical examiner -- because, after all, "I can't kill anybody if they're already dead."
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13	Blunt and to the point, she has no problem in butting heads with not only the medical investigator Peter Dunlap (Creator/NicBishop) and the Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kate Murphy (Creator/JeriRyan), but also with the police detectives she helps. One consequence of her previous life as a workaholic, though, is her estrangement from her daughter and her striving to make up for the neglect she had in the past.
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15	Not to be confused with the erotic thriller ''Film/BodyOfEvidence.''
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18	!! Tropes found in ''Body of Proof:''
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20	%%* AloneWithThePsycho: Megan, in the second season finale.
21	* AmateurSleuth: Technically, Megan Hunt is only supposed to examine the bodies, not solve the crimes. But she doesn't care.
22	* AmoralAttorney: The lawyer the victim was sleeping with in the first episode -- and the victim herself before she had an accident falling down stairs which changed her.
23	* AtonementDetective: Megan is still trying to make up for killing a patient on her table.
24	%%* BerserkButton: Adoption for Peter, since [[spoiler: he was adopted himself.]]
25	* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}. Shot in UsefulNotes/{{California}}.
26	* CastingGag: Creator/ChristinaHendricks plays the love interest of ''Geoffrey Arend'''s character -- her husband.
27	* CatchPhrase: Curtis has a very particular way of saying: "Mmm-hmm."
28	%%* TheCoroner: The main character and pretty much everybody who works at the Medical Examiner's Office.
29	%%* DaChief: Kate Murphy, The Chief Medical Examiner, played by ''Creator/JeriRyan.'' She is briefly sacked from the role, but reinstated.
30	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Megan Hunt.
31	* DoubleStandard: Mentioned by Megan when she describes how her husband got full custody of her daughter: She claims the court ruled against her because a man who works 18 hours a day is a "good provider," a woman who works 18 hours a day is an "absentee mother."
32	%%* DrJerk: Megan again.
33	* EurekaMoment: As soon as Peter says he has a nut allergy, Megan gets a total Series/{{House}} face. And that's just one of many moments.
34	* {{Fanservice}}: Hello, Creator/JeriRyan in 3x06, walking around in BlackBraAndPanties, after a hot hookup the previous night.
35	* FairCop: Peter, who is an ex-cop and now a medical investigator. Megan is a Fair Medical Examiner.
36	%%* FieryRedhead: Megan.
37	%%* ForensicDrama
38	* GoodCopBadCop: Megan says she was just trying to be bad cop after accusing a suspect of killing the victim in the first episode.
39	* HeroicFireRescue: One episode kicks off by having Peter run into a burning house to rescue one of the inhabitants, underlining his bravery credentials.
40	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: In the second season finale, Peter was stabbed while protecting Megan from a crazy serial killer and died in her arms.]]
41	* INeedToGoIronMyDog:
42	-->'''Ethan:''' I think I left something in a place that isn't here...
43	%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Megan for sure.
44	%%* {{Jerkass}}: Megan, full stop.
45	* KnowWhenToFoldThem: Megan quit being a neurosurgeon very quickly after accidentally killing a patient. She accepted fault and settled with the family out of court. She does ''not'' seem to know when to fold them while investigating a case.
46	* MissingMom: Megan was this to her daughter, since she worked 18 hour days. After a lot of effort on her part, they got far better, to the point that [[spoiler: her daughter stays with her when her father, who had custody, left for a new job in California in season 3]]
47	* TheMissusAndTheEx: For a while during seasons 1 and 2, Megan's boss Kate was dating Megan's ex-husband, Todd Fleming.
48	* NeverSuicide: Subverted, Megan has a ANA (antinuclear antibody) panel run on a suicide -- not because she thinks it's murder, but because she just wants to know ''why'' they committed suicide.
49	%%** [[spoiler: Megan's father.]]
50	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/MarciaGayHarden plays a TV personality based on Nancy Grace in "Sympathy for the Devil." The character is given HiddenDepths, as she was a dedicated journalist before she got famous.
51	* NoSympathy: Megan is the character trait variation, although she certainly has her moments of empathy. Her daughter and ex-husband appear to have a certain amount as well: The latter lying to their child to make Megan look heartless and badmouthing her when she's actually doing something nice, the former quick to shoot Megan down any time she makes an effort.
52	* OldFlame: In the third season, the new police detective Tommy Sullivan turns out to be an old flame of Megan. He claims he returned to Philadelphia to get her back. She wasn't very interested.
53	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Evidently, it's easy to go from being a neurosurgeon to being a pathologist / medical examiner! The two disciplines are about as far apart as you can go without completely falling out of the realm of medicine. The only unifying subject that both disciplines deal with, neurohistology / neuroanatomy, is interestingly the only subject that the show has yet to touch on.
54	** Furthermore, it takes a regular doctor about 4 to 7 years to achieve board certification in forensic pathology.
55	* PretentiousLatinMotto: A sign over the lab door reads ''Hic Locus est Ubi Mors Gaudet Succurrere Vitae''. Megan points it out to Ethan in "Sympathy for the Devil."
56	-->'''Megan Hunt''': What does that sign say?
57	-->'''Ethan Gross''': "This is where I get a lecture from Dr. Megan Hunt." The--Oh, I'm sorry. That's-It's-"This is where death rejoices to teach the living."
58	-->'''Megan Hunt''': [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead It is never a place where the living disparage the dead]], so keep your opinions to yourself and focus on the facts.
59	-->'''Detective Bud Morris''': Both translations seems to work.
60	* PutOnABus: Bud Morris, Samantha Baker and Peter Dunlop after the second season finale: [[spoiler: Bud took a leave of absence to take care of his new son; Samantha went to the FBI and Peter was killed (see Heroic Sacrifice above)]]
61	** Megan's ex-husband, Todd Fleming, also left to a new job in California.
62	%%* SherlockScan
63	* SteppingOutForAQuickCupOfCoffee: Megan asks a friend who performs vasectomies to reveal one of his patients. He can't break doctor-patient confidentiality, but he pointedly leaves his cellphone on the table in clear view and goes to the restroom.
64	* TheStinger: In "Lost Souls," the "DemonicPossession" turns out to have a perfectly rational explanation, but something the "possessed" person said during the exorcism is still bothering Megan. She asks about it, and the victim says she doesn't really remember much of anything that happened while [[spoiler: she was under the influence of the PCP she'd been poisoned with. Then she says, in a voice that isn't her own: "Now go learn something," which was the rest of the quote that she'd started to say the first time that she was "possessed."]]
65	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Peter Dunlop ([[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0084153/ Nic Bishop]]) [[spoiler: dies]] in the second season finale and is replaced by Tommy Sullivan ([[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0885090/ Mark Valley]]). Both men are handsome, square-jawed, have similar build, similar voices, and the characters have similar personalities. Peter was introduced in the pilot as having an ongoing working relationship with Megan; Tommy was given a built-in history as an OldFlame, so was able to drop into place without a hitch.
66	* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: Curtis interviewing new drivers. The candidates are mostly unqualified and/or creepy (i.e., talking about how interested they are in dead bodies). There is one one experienced, normal sounding candidate, and it looks like the montage is over... And then she starts texting in the middle of the interview.
67	* TyrantTakesTheHelm: When Kate gets (unfairly) demoted, Curtis takes over. Not only does he become an obnoxious martinet, he also makes rookie mistakes like entering a crime scene without gloves.
68	%%* UnresolvedSexualTension: Somewhat between Megan and Peter.
69	* YouGetMeCoffee:
70	** Megan does this to Detective Morris during the autopsy in the first episode.
71	** In a later episode, Megan gets her comeuppance in this regard by an arson investigator and [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] of herself.

Context Series / BodyOfProof