Line #65 Series/Glue


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glue_2586.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Hills. Horses. Murder.]]
3
4	->''"We all got fucked and now he's dead."''
5	-->-- '''Tina Fallon'''
6
7	''Glue'' is a British 8-part crime drama shown on [[Creator/{{Channel4}} E4]], commonly described as "''Series/{{Skins}}'' meets ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}''" (understandably, since it was created and written by ''Series/{{Skins}}'' writer Jack Thorne). The plot revolves around a tight-knit farming community shaken by the brutal murder of local Romani teenager Cal Bray. The investigation to find the killer reveals his friends' dark and dirty secrets, hidden behind the picture-perfect English countryside.
8
9	Unrelated to Creator/IrvineWelsh book ''Literature/{{Glue}}''.
10	----
11	!! The series contains the following tropes:
12
13	* AbusiveParents: Much like on ''Series/{{Skins}}'', the parents in ''Glue'' are either absent, emotionally distant, dead, or outright abusive. The only character who has a stable relationship with his parent(s) is Dominic.
14	* AccidentalMurder: Ruth deduces that [[spoiler:Janine's]] attacker never intended to harm her that bad. Later it's revealed that [[spoiler:Cal's murder was also accidental]].
15	* AloneWithThePsycho: [[spoiler:James]] in the finale.
16	** ThwartedEscape: Makes two attempts to flee during the ordeal, both equally unsuccessful.
17	* {{Arcadia}}: The show is set among the seemingly peaceful rolling hills of the English countryside.
18	* BetterAsFriends: [[spoiler:Tina and Rob break it off but decide to remain friends]].
19	* BettyAndVeronica: Tina is torn between careless goofball Rob and noble loner Eli. [[spoiler:Rob's the Betty since Eli is a serial killer by the series' end]].
20	* BigDamnHeroes: At the end, [[spoiler:Tina, Rob and Ruth arrive just in time to save James from being ganked]].
21	* BigSecret / DarkSecret: most characters have one. The first two to come out are [[spoiler:Rob cheating on Tina]] and [[spoiler:Janine being an identity thief and drug dealer]].
22	* BingeMontage: The series starts with a night of drugged debauchery - at a grain silo of all places.
23	* BittersweetEnding:
24	** The culprit is arrested, but [[spoiler:it's Eli Bray, who Tina is helplessly in love with by that point;]] Cal is still dead, [[spoiler:and so is Janine]].
25	** Ruth is accepted back into the Romani community and into her friends' circle, [[spoiler:but she's out of a job since she's quit the police]].
26	* {{Blackmail}}: Rob [[spoiler:receives videos of his sex tryst with Janine from an unknown source. Turns out it's a Romani girl whose sister he seduced years before, and she just wanted an apology.]]
27	* BreakTheCutie: This happens to the cast with their friend(s) murdered. Special mention goes to James [[spoiler:who was Cal's boyfriend, and who gets put in jail at one point and later kidnapped (and almost killed) by Cal's murderer]].
28	* BritishBrevity: Only 8 episodes long.
29	* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Two of the three deaths in the series - Cal and Ian - fall into this category, with one more such murder narrowly averted.]]
30	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Several instances of this (Rob and Tina, [[spoiler:James and Cal, Tina and Eli]]), which makes sense since everyone has known each other since forever.
31	* CloseKnitCommunity: The small farming village of Overton is a seemingly idyllic place whose inhabitants all know each other.
32	* CoolHorse: Blackout, the horse belonging to James's family [[spoiler:and the Brays]], that Tina rides when racing.
33	** Crowley, Eli's horse, is pretty cool as well. As Eli says, he "never complains".
34	* CorruptTheCutie: In-universe, [[spoiler:Cal and James joke that the latter was a good boy before Cal got to him]]. On a darker note, [[spoiler:Eli believes that Cal got corrupted by his experience in foster care - and, sadly, he's probably right]].
35	* CountryMatters: How Cal describes his mum [[spoiler:- which tips Eli over the edge and causes him to accidentally kill his brother]].
36	* CrowdSurfing: Done in episode 2 to James and Rob at a woodland rave, to the former's discomfort and the latter's glee.
37	* CurbStompBattle: How Cal was killed, apparently. [[spoiler:James also does this to Rob in episode 5 after getting fed up with the latter's behavior; and Eli does this to James in the finale]].
38	* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler:Both James and Eli]] have one with Cal at different points in the story. See HelpfulHallucination below.
39	* DeathOfAChild: Since the series is about the death of a minor... [[spoiler:averted with Ruth's daughter]].
40	* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:Janine Riley is actually Elizabeth Marshall - a girl who failed vet school and took on the identity of her dead, and more successful, classmate.]]
41	* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: [[spoiler:Eli rips the Moon Horse necklace off James's neck, claiming the latter has no right to a keepsake that was only about Eli and Cal. James defiantly spits out that Cal had felt differently.]]
42	* EveryoneIsASuspect: Specifically everyone in Cal's group of friends, although several supporting characters [[spoiler:notably Sgt Ian Salter]] come into suspicion as well.
43	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Cal is foolish (doing drugs, getting in trouble with the law, etc.) whereas Eli is responsible (trying to make a life for the two of them). [[spoiler:Turned on its head when it's revealed that Cal was meticulously planning to start a new life with James, while Eli is a killer unable to control his fits of rage]].
44	* {{Foreshadowing}}: This line of dialogue:
45	-->'''DCI Simpson''': Do you think if you love someone you don't hurt them?
46	** [[spoiler:James and Cal's SecretRelationship]], revealed in episode 5, is heavily foreshadowed early on: [[spoiler:out of all Cal's friends James is the most shaken by the death, behaving in an erratic fashion consistent with heavy grief; the two have matching pendants, with James wearing his covertly under his clothes; etc.]].
47	* HelpfulHallucination: [[spoiler:While tripping on acid James hallucinates Cal, who tells him where to find the contract for Blackout.]]
48	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Annie and Tina; Rob and James (the latter two even have a break-up episode).
49	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:Cal andf Chris]] were blowing men for money, yet it doesn't take anything away from their genuinely good nature.
50	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Like on ''Series/{{Skins}}'', the episodes are named after the characters (two per each, e.g. Episode 4 is "Tina/Dominic"). The first and last episodes are both titled "Everyone".
51	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Cal is the only minor in his group of friends (except James, who turns 18 during the course of the series). It never seems weird since everyone grew up together and Cal is wise beyond his years.
52	* IntoxicationEnsues: [[spoiler:Rob drugs James in order to get the latter to confess to blackmail. Played for drama rather than laughs]].
53	** KissingUnderTheInfluence: [[spoiler:While tripping on acid James kisses Rob, confusing him for Cal]].
54	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Most of the characters fit under this trope, but Rob best of all - he's cocksure and careless, [[spoiler:and among other things cheated on his girlfriend and drugged his best friend]], but he also shows a more considerate side such as when he [[spoiler:works hard to get James out of jail]]. Moreover, he's in general seen trying to cheer his friends up in various (somewhat awkward) ways.
55	* MaleFrontalNudity: James, Eli, Cal and Rob, though not at the same time.
56	* ManlyTears: James, at a frequency of about once per episode (occasionally crossing into InelegantBlubbering). To be fair, he usually has a reason.
57	** BerserkerTears: [[spoiler:When he learns that Eli is Cal's murderer]].
58	* MementoMacguffin: The night of his murder, Cal is wearing a necklace which is later missing from the body. James is seen in possession of a similar necklace which he promptly throws out. [[spoiler:James recovers his, Cal's is found in his shirt pocket, and Eli also has a matching trinket - all three feature the Moon Horse, a local nature phenomenon. Eli and Cal's are to remember their mum whose ashes were scattered there, and James received his from Cal as a token of affection.]]
59	* NeverOneMurder: [[spoiler:The series ends with a body count of three, with one more murder barely avoided.]]
60	* OneWordTitle: As a PunBasedTitle / StealthPun. "Glue" refers to what horses end up as, as well as to the ties binding the main characters together.
61	* ParentalAbandonment:
62	** [[spoiler:Eli and Cal's mum left the family - and a week later was found to have committed suicide]].
63	** [[spoiler:Ruth's mum leaves her and Cassie for a couple of episodes]], though not without warning.
64	** Annie's parents are... where exactly?
65	* PlotTriggeringDeath: Cal is found dead the morning after the grain silo party; his murder jumpstarts the plot.
66	* PluckyComicRelief: Rob and Annie. [[spoiler:Annie is a straighter example in that she lacks a character arc]].
67	* PunBasedTitle: "Glue" refers to what horses end up as, as well as to the ties binding the main characters together.
68	* QueerRomance: [[spoiler:James and Cal, whose relationship is treated as an epic, albeit tragic, love story - and in fact turns out to be the catalyst of the series' events]].
69	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:Eli goes on a murder spree in order to harm those who, in his opinion, contributed to Cal's sucky life]].
70	* SadisticChoice: When Eli was younger, his mother [[spoiler:made him choose between leaving with her or staying with Cal. Eli chose Cal and his mother killed herself]].
71	* ScarySurpriseParty: Happens to James in episode 2, complete with a kidnapping.
72	* SecretRelationship:
73	** [[spoiler:James and Cal]]. Unusually for this trope, nobody else knew about it while they dated.
74	** Ruth and Dominic, in a more straight (ha-ha) example, seeing as everybody knew about them sleeping together.
75	* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler:Ruth never told anyone that her daughter's father is Tina's dad, and the reasons for her ostracization were never understood by anyone but Tina]].
76	* StealthPun: "Glue" refers to what horses end up as, as well as to the ties binding the main characters together.
77	* TheStoner: Most of the characters get high once in a while, but Rob's the standout example. In fact, [[spoiler:the last we see of him in the series is him rolling a joint]].
78	* TroubledButCute: Both the Bray brothers, although in different ways: Eli is a brooding loner while Cal is basically [[spoiler:a rentboy]].
79	* TokenMinority: Rob (half-black), the Romani characters (Eli, Ruth) and [[spoiler:James (gay)]].
80	* TheirFirstTime: [[spoiler:Eli loses his virginity to Tina]].
81	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The promotional stills of the characters show [[spoiler:Cal and James wearing matching Moon Horse pendants]], hinting at the closeness of the characters.
82	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: The entirety of Cal's character. He's a 14-year-old doing drugs with his older friends, planning on [[spoiler:running away to Argentina with his older boyfriend, prostituting himself]] and continuously getting in trouble with the law (albeit for minor crimes). Some of this is due to him having a messy home life and a very harsh upbringing.
83	* TwoferTokenMinority: [[spoiler:Cal - Romani]] and gay.
84	* UptightLovesWild: [[spoiler:Goody-two-shoes James fell for TroubledButCute Cal]].
85	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Ruth used to be friends with the rest of the main cast, but was ostracized for reasons revealed later in the series.

Context Series / Glue