Line #49 Series/TheBrink


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8fb4cdf490355f1373b9bbc04426faf0.jpg]]
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3	A 2015 Political BlackComedy series on Creator/{{HBO}}, which will focus on a different international crisis each season. It focuses on three main sets of characters; a low level State Department officer played by Creator/JackBlack and his driver, the philandering US Secretary of State along with the presidential cabinet, and an ActionDuo of two bumbling US Navy pilots.
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5	The first season focuses on a crisis in UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}, after it is taken over by a MilitaryCoup. Low level State Department employee Alex Talbot must act as the US government's [[TheMole guy on the inside]], as he is the only diplomat outside of the sealed US Embassy, whilst also dealing with his driver, Rafiq, and his family he has dragged into the problem. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Walter Larson must battle stateside to ensure a peaceful resolution, much to the chagrin of the {{Warhawk}} Secretary of Defense, who endeavors to use AcePilot Zeke and his partner to bomb Pakistani nuclear sites and potentially start WorldWarIII.
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7	The show was already renewed for a second season, but got cancelled anyway.
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10	!!This show contains examples of:
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12	* AmbiguousSyntax: Between the Director of the CIA and President Navarro in the pilot as a funny moment.
13	--> '''[=SecState=] Larson:''' Smells like a coup d'etat.
14	--> '''President Navarro:''' Led by who?
15	--> '''CIA Director:''' I can't tell you that.
16	--> '''President Navarro:''' I'm the ''president''.
17	--> '''CIA Director:''' No, I mean, we don't know.
18	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Raja's requests [[spoiler:to overthrow Zaman]]: $200M in cash, a communications satellite, a nuclear submarine and a golf club membership in Augusta. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Larson finds this last request to be the craziest one.
19	** Ali later has the same thing. Except that he wants two giraffes so that he can show them off to his daughter. And for a drone strike on his car that was going to have its lease expired.
20	* AttackDrone:
21	** The use of drones over Pakistan is one of the main qualms of the leader of the coup, but only because he believes they are a Zionist conspiracy to render Pakistani's infertile.
22	** Glenn [[spoiler: accidentally shoots down an Indian Air Force drone whilst high on morphine pills Zeke accidentally gives him]]. This sparks international tensions even further.
23	* BattleCouple: Martin and Vanessa, two eccentric British expats living in rural Pakistan. Their [[EuropeansAreKinky kinky role play often involves antique weapons]], and Vanessa even ''shoots Martin in the leg'' with a crossbow during a 'role play'.
24	* BilingualBonus: Rafiq's family openly insulting Talbot in Urdu, and then telling him they were just talking about 'how much we admire American foreign policy'.
25	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Nuclear war is averted, Larson is able to keep his job and reconcile with his wife, Zeke and Glenn end up in Africa with an expensive artifact intent on living their dream, and Alex and Rafiq rekindle their friendship. However, the wreckage of the Pakistani aircraft, and the intact nuke, is discovered by Eritrean rebels, who are last seen transporting it away from the crash site with unknown intentions]].
26	* BloodKnight: The pro-war members of the U.S. Cabinet are exaggeratedly eager to begin a war with Pakistan. Larson even notices that [[ColonelKilgore a general]] is ''drooling'' at the prospect of bombing the shit out of the country.
27	* BodyguardBetrayal: Zaman orders his guards to arrest Raja after he returns to Pakistan, only to have them turn on him instead. [[spoiler: They later continue working for Zaman after Raja is killed when the US bombs the presidential residence]].
28	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Talbot is given a briefcase containing $80 million in $1000 bills to [[spoiler: give to Raja as an indication the US is serious about helping him to usurp Zaman]].
29	* CellPhonesAreUseless: The first thing the Pakistani Army does during the coup is block cell phone reception. This prevents Talbot and Rafiq from contacting the embassy, and the US presidential cabinet from contacting anyone in the country.
30	* ChekhovsGun:
31	** Alex giving the seven Pakistani girls the embassy wifi password. [[spoiler: Their tweets break the internet silence across Pakistan, and lead General Zuman to believe they are being held against their will, and vows to get them out, putting the embassy under threat]].
32	** The $200,000 Raja gives to Alex Talbot. [[spoiler: Talbot later uses it to bribe two chopper pilots evacuating the embassy to take the seven schoolgirls to the Massoud residence is rural Pakistan, instead of a US airbase in Afghanistan where they would be further from their parents]].
33	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "Operation Infinite Wisdom, in which the full bicep of the American military machine flexes its...bicep."
34	* DrinkingOnDuty: Larson gets his aide, Kendra, to bring him booze in the ''White House Situation Room''.
35	--> '''Larson:''' I need hair of the dog, pronto.
36	--> '''Kendra:''' Yeah, well there is no alcohol in the Situation Room.
37	--> '''Larson:''' Then make it look like orange juice! You really think LBJ fought the Vietnam War down here sober?
38	--> '''Kendra:''' Yeah, well we lost that one, didn't we?
39	** Played with with Zeke and Glenn. They get hammered aboard the USS Grant after getting severely reprimanded and banned from flying by Admiral [=McBride=], so are technically off duty. However, as the only pilots left close enough to [[spoiler: take down the Pakistani fighter jet delivering a nuke to Tel Aviv]] ( as the rest of the fleet's fighters are still over Pakistan), they are forced get back in the F-16 and engage in aerial warfare, whilst ''very'' drunk.
40	* DressingAsTheEnemy: The Interpol agents who arrest [[spoiler: Martin and Vanessa]] are disguised as Taliban insurgents.
41	* FunctionalAddict: Lt Commander Zeke Tilson, and apparently half of the 5th Fleet on the ''USS Ulysses S. Grant'' aircraft carrier he is stationed on are addicted to prescription meds to keep them awake and focused.
42	* GoingDownWithTheShip: [[spoiler: When the White House is evacuated due to fears it may become a military target, President Navarro and his cabinet are sent to a bunker at an undisclosed location. Only Larson remains in the building to negotiate with other heads of state to avert the crisis]].
43	* GovernmentProcedural: A GenreDeconstruction of one, since it's a BlackComedy. The scenes featuring the President and the Cabinet highlight just how frustrating it is to be the OnlySaneMan in a room full of {{WarHawk}}s. Over the course of seven episodes, the Secretary of State goes from being a respected, if highly unconventional bureaucrat, to being the pariah of the Cabinet because he's the only one not on board with potentially starting World War III.
44	* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: Larson convinces Raja to return to Pakistan, which he does and places Zaman under arrest. And then right after, Raja is killed in an American drone strike meant for Zaman, who is being safely driven away]].
45	* MilitaryCoup: The main focus of the first season. Pakistan is taken over by a radical former general in the Pakistan Army, due to him losing the recently held democratic election.
46	* MorallyBankruptBanker: What most of Talbot's buddies from Dartmouth went on to be. Talbot instead joined the Foreign Service as he actually wanted to help people.
47	* MrsRobinson: Vanessa.
48	* NewscasterCameo: Wolf Blitzer shows up in a [=CNN=] breaking news story around Zeke and Glenn going missing and another regarding the several Pakistani schoolgirls the US Embassy is protecting.
49	* NoodleIncident: Involving Talbot, an embassy SUV, multiple women and a cricket match.
50	** Zeke bombing an Iranian arms shipment, an action that made him a 'celebrity' on the aircraft carrier.
51	* NukeEm: In Episode 8, with [[spoiler:Raja]] dead, Zaman feels confident enough to send a nuke into Tel Aviv. [[spoiler: Fortunately, it misfires and detonates while still in its silo. Even when he is usurped by General Ahmed Ali, it is revealed Zaman sent a jet armed with a nuke to Tel Aviv before his removal from power, and gave it orders to not turn back under any circumstance. In the season 1 finale, Israel launches its own nuke at Islamabad after hearing this information, but call it off once Zeke and Glenn take out the plane]].
52	* OperationBlank: The American plan for [[spoiler: attacking Pakistan]] is named "Operation Infinite Wisdom."
53	* OutlawCouple: Martin and Vanessa are black market artifact dealers who live in a BigFancyHouse in rural Pakistan. [[spoiler: They are arrested by Interpol agents in episode seven]].
54	* PretextForWar: The Indian government blames Pakistan for shooting down one of their drones, and Larson fears they will use it as an excuse to invade Kashmir. [[spoiler: The drone was actually shot down by Glenn, who mistakenly fired a missile whilst cleaning vomit off his trigger, whilst high]].
55	* RammingAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler: After Zeke and Glenn shoot down the Pakistani fighter that was heading for Israel, they realize that it was a decoy and the ''actual'' nuke is aboard a tanker plane they had passed earlier. Having used all their ammunition taking down the first plane, Zeke resorts to ramming the tanker with his fighter (though both he and Glenn eject in time).]]
56	* ThisIsReality: When Larson tries to get Talia Levy, the Israeli Foreign Minister, to let him speak to the PM by threatening to cut military aid.
57	--> '''Levy:''' Are you mad? Do I look like ''Latvia'' to you. We are Israel. IS-RA-EAL. Your congress wouldn't do anything that would hurt us.
58	--> '''Larson:''' Trust me, arms can be twisted. And plus, I'm close with all the Jewish senators: Boxer, Schumer, Feinstein.
59	--> '''Levy:''' It's not the Jews that protect us, its Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi. It's your right-wing, neo-con super Christians. And they don't even like Jews, they just need us here to keep the lights on for their fucking Messiah!
60	* RidiculousCounterRequest: In a conversation between Larson and President Navarro about a plan to destroy compromised Pakistani nuclear sites:
61	-->'''President Navarro:''' I want zero civilian casualties.\
62	'''Larson:''' Yeah, and I want to fuck Creator/ScarlettJohansson.
63	* RogueAgent: Secretary of State Walter Larson becomes this, operating out of the bathroom and interns offices in the White House after [[spoiler: President Navarro demands his resignation]].
64	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Secretary Larson, when, despite all his efforts, [[spoiler: America will launch a full-scale attack on Pakistan. He decides to head off and get very drunk]]. Fortunately, Kendra convinces him to stay.
65	* SecretPolice: How Rafiq and his family view the Pakistani [=ISI=].
66	--> '''Rafiq:''' I wouldn't get too cute with these guys, because they're ''kind of like our Gestapo''.
67	* SexyScandinavian: Talbot mentions wanting to 'nation build' with Melina, an attractive woman who works at the Danish Embassy.
68	* ShownTheirWork:
69	** The first season shows correct Indian and Pakistani military uniforms. The latter part includes berets and insignia.
70	** Larson correctly mentions that China has a border with Kashmir and that China could get involved if a war between India and Pakistan is centered around the area.
71	* SinisterSurveillance: With no way of directly contacting Raja, Talbot calls Rafiq's home number, assuming Raja's men are bugging their phone. Although Rafiq begins to claim the Pakistani government [[RippedFromTheHeadlines isn't like the NSA]], the call is interrupted by an ISI agent who gives Talbot a meeting point and time.
72	* SpySpeak: A hilarious example occurs when Talbot calls Larson on a non-secure line to confirm the $80 million was given to Raja.
73	--> '''Talbot:''' Hello, this is, uh, Puck, from a Midsummer Nights Dream just passing messages of the heart back and forth and trying to save the enchanted forest from total nuclear annihilation.
74	--> '''Kendra:''' I think its Alex Talbot, but it doesn't sound like he is on a secure line.
75	--> '''Larson:''' Okay Puck, did Grover Cleveland[[note]]Whose face is on the $1000 bills given to Raja.[[/note]] make it home safe from the prom?
76	--> '''Talbot:''' Yes, and when he got home his, uh, brown uncle chucked him into bed.
77	--> '''Larson:''' Don't make this weird, I get it, package delivered.
78	** And again when discussing the evangelical Ambassador Kitteridge's plans to ship Talbot to Baghdad and ruin their plans.
79	--> '''Talbot:''' Sir, one other thing. Jesus is having me transferred to Baghdad.
80	--> '''Larson:''' Negative, I need you there on the ground. Screw Jesus.
81	--> '''Talbot:''' Sir, I would love to screw Jesus but his...butt is, uh, too...tight? I'm sorry, talking like this is hard.
82	* TemptingFate: Talbot calls Rafiq's home number in the hopes that the ISI is listening in in order to arrange a meeting with Raja.
83	-->'''Rafiq:''' The ISI is not like the NSA! They're not listening to our phone calls! ''[someone says something in Urdu on the phone]'' They say they'll be here in forty minutes. ''[something else is said in Urdu]'' Fifty if there's traffic.
84	* TrappedBehindEnemyLines: Zeke and Glenn end up stranded in rural Pakistan after their plane is shot down during a reconnaissance mission.
85	* WarForFunAndProfit: Lampshaded by Larson after the President goes against his advice and decides to take direct action.
86	--> '''Admiral [=McBride=]:''' I have a high degree of confidence in the full array of assets we've deployed.
87	--> '''Larson:''' Ah, I see that golf jockey you took with your wife courtesy of [[MegaCorp Lockheed Martin]] is really starting to pay off.
88	* TheWarRoom: The White House Situation Room, where President Navarro and his cabinet watch the crisis unfold.
89	* TunnelNetwork: Located underneath the US Embassy in Islamabad, connecting it to multiple other embassies in the diplomatic enclave. Alex uses it to deliver weed to his friend in the Chinese Embassy, and later attempts to get the schoolgirls out of the US Embassy via the tunnels.
90	* WhamEpisode: "Sticky Wicket". [[spoiler: As Raja is preparing to become the new head of state, he is killed in a drone strike meant for Zaman, putting the future of Pakistan in an uncertain position.]]
91	** "Just A Little Crazy Talk". [[spoiler:Zaman reveals that he sent out a backup, which was a PAF loyalist with a nuke-equipped fighter to take out Tel Aviv.]]

Context Series / TheBrink