Line #28 Series/TheOrder


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_order_poster.jpg]]
2
3	->''"It appears you've been summoned. Will you heed the call?"''
4	-->-- '''Edward Coventry'''
5
6	''The Order'' is a 2019 horror/drama Creator/{{Netflix}} original series featuring western esoteric traditions and myths, most notably werewolves.
7
8	In modern times, in Belgrave University, there lies a branch of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, a cult that practices magic. Jack Morton (Creator/JakeManley), a freshman, seeks to join this order to take down its head, the Grand Magus Edward Coventry (Creator/MaxMartini). Not long after being accepted, Jack is forcefully inducted into another secret organization: the Knights of Saint Christopher, a pack of vigilante ''werewolves'' dedicated to protecting the world from evil magics by any means necessary - especially the violent ones. As the Knights' inside man, Jack struggles between two conflicting desires; protecting the innocent from the sociopaths among mages - especially Coventry - and learning how to channel magic for the forces of good with his love interest Alyssa. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have enough time to sort out his issues - The Order has found something fundamentally wrong, and they're pulling out the stops to unleash it.
9
10	The series presents the viewers with ethical dilemmas along the way, showing situations that put [[GoodIsNotNice 'good' at odds with 'nice']], making the characters seem flawed, their choices questionable, but still maintaining the audience's sympathy for the characters, since there is no [[GreyAndGreyMorality clear right choice much of the time]].
11
12	Season 2 premiered June 18th, 2020. It has been announced that the series will not be renewed for a third season.
13
14	No relation to the [[ComicBook/TheOrder2007 comic series of the same name]]. Or [[Film/TheOrder the film of the same name]]. [[RuleOfThree Or]] [[VideoGame/TheOrder1886 the video game of the same name]]. [[OverlyLongGag It is, however]], [[TheOrder related to the trope of the same name]].
15
16	----
17	!!This series provides examples of:
18
19	* AccidentalTruth: Randall covers for Jack with Hamish and Lilith by saying that he killed [[spoiler:Professor Clarke]] because he was weaponized by dark magic. This turns out to be exactly what happened, and Hamish and Lilith are less then pleased when they find out Randall was basically guessing (though he was pretty confident his guess was correct).
20	* AGodAmI: The ''vade maecum'' gives those willing to pay the price power like no one has ever seen. [[spoiler: It triggers this in its only known user, Edward Coventry.]]
21	* AmbitionIsEvil: Coventry personified; he actually has humanity, but throughout the first season he casually sacrifices any morals he has in his quest to become a Niffin.
22	* AmnesiaMissedASpot: [[spoiler:In Season Two, the Knights are slowly developing a resistance or outright immunity to the Order's LaserGuidedAmnesia powder, needing more frequent applications and dedicated Order handlers to avoid them recovering their memories on their own.]]
23	* AmnesiacVillainJoinsTheHeroes: [[spoiler:If the werewolves are the heroes, then Lilith is an instance of this.]]
24	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Jack's mother was driven to suicide from an obsession spell cast on her by Coventry - and it never stopped after she died. When Jack and Pete use necromancy to talk to her from the afterlife, she still obsesses about Coventry over her own father and son.]]
25	* AndThisIsFor: Season Two, [[spoiler:after Lilith punches Gabrielle, Jack cheerfully announces "That is for [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange dying my hair!]]]]
26	* ArchnemesisDad: Edward to Jack, who is trying to set some ancient evil magic up while Jack is trying to stop him and get revenge for the death of his mother.
27	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In Season Two, [[spoiler:Gabrielle's guidelines for yet again modifying Jack's memory.]]
28	-->'''Gabrielle''': [[spoiler: You are Jack Morton. You go to Belgrave University. You have a full scholarship. Your mom died in a car crash when you were eight. Your grandfather recently died of a stroke. You have never heard of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose or the Knights of St. Christopher. And you're so in love with Gabrielle Dupres you're willing to ''wait until marriage.''. ''({{Beat}})'' And you think all blonde girls are stuck-up skanks.]]
29	* ArtisticLicense: The Introduction to Ethics (presumably, a first year arts course) only has twenty five people? Belgrave isn't a small university, so such introductory courses should have hundreds of people in a section, not twenty-five.
30	* AsHimself: [[spoiler:Creator/IanZiering and Jason Priestly play themselves as high-ranking Order members in Season Two. Because of course they do.]]
31	* BarBrawl: One ensues between some Tough Guys and the undercover werewolves. It does not go well for the Tough Guys.
32	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Hamish is the quietest, most soft-spoken member of the Knights, often smiling and pleasant and dressed in a very dapper suit. When he finally has enough of Jack's bullshit, he performs a NeckLift and delivers a spine-chilling TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. Tellingly, [[NervesOfSteel Randall]] and [[BloodKnight Lilith]] back away immediately.
33	-->'''Jack''': Look, just let me talk to them first. You owe me that much.\
34	'''Hamish''': ''(grabs Jack by the throat and shoves him against the wall)'' [[TranquilFury Everything bad that has happened up until now is because you haven't listened to a word we've said. We don't owe you anything. You understand?]]
35	* BigBad:
36	** For Season One, Edward Coventry, a man who [[spoiler: date raped Jack's mother with magic which drove her to obsessive suicide, and who is perfectly willing to sacrifice anyone, even his sons, if it means he gets [[AGodAmI the power of the]] ''Vade Maecum''.]]
37	** For season two, [[spoiler:Salvador Grant, leader and founder of Praxis, which wants to give magic to everyone. Sounds like a swell idea on paper, but a lot messier in practice. Alyssa herself takes over for the final few episodes, committed to finishing Salvador's work.]]
38	* BigGood: A duumvirate of Hamish and Vera take this position, especially towards the end, in which the Knights work together with Vera and Alyssa. While Hamish is the leader of the knights and keeps them with their goals, Vera is the TokenGoodTeammate among the ''magus'' despite her snarkiness and is not on board with blind subservience to Edward and his ill-defined goals.
39	* BitterSweetEnding:
40	** Season One: [[spoiler: Coventry is dead and the ''vade maecum'' is destroyed. But The Order is still strong and they've erased the memories of the all the Knights including Jack. Now there's nobody who can stand stand up to them or keep [[SpoiledBrat magicians]] from doing whatever they want to people.]]
41	** Season Two: [[spoiler:The Apocalypse Eruption is closed and the leader of Praxis are dead, but the organization itself still exists, may potentially restart the cycle of Tartarus Eruptions, Vera had her magic stolen by Alyssa, and Alyssa, as one of the leaders of Praxis, is dead at Midnight's fangs, something Gabrielle will have to come to terms with.]]
42	* BloodKnight: Lilith. Her first response to practically any danger is to kill them all and ask questions never. Jack nicknames her [[RedBaron Killith]], which she doesn't hate.
43	* BloodMagic: The magic of the Order requires a cost, typically paid with the caster's own blood. This is portrayed as the "good" version, with darker magic being "cost free," because it kills its targets and that is the cost in and of itself. Notably, if you ''don't'' pay the cost yourself, someone else pays it for you, with a minor spell used "free" causing the target to have an immediately minor, but painful, accident. Some really serious magic requires HumanSacrifice, and the Order doesn't seem to be all that bothered by this.
44	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Exaggerated when Jack and Alyssa take Renee home after the Elemental Transference.
45	-->'''Renee''': You kids want a drink? Hard drugs? An orgy?[[note]]Renee is later revealed to have celebrated the ritual's seeming success with ThreeWaySex, meaning her offer of an orgy was likely NotHyperbole.[[/note]]
46	* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:The Order goes through this in Jack's and Alyssa's eyes, and in the audiences'. They don't care about anyone but themselves and are perfectly willing to let kids kill adults or sacrifice innocent people for their spells.]]
47	* CastFromHitPoints: Most spells require some sort of sacrifice. In the case of the smaller spells, this means some blood from the caster. Higher level spells require greater cost. However, that cost needn't necessarily be from [[HumanSacrifice one's own hit points]].
48	* CastFromLifeSpan: [[spoiler:The ''Fors Factorum'' makes all magic stupid easy, at the cost of turning all your spells into this. Vera describes it as a "magic cancer" that eats you alive in years. Or months.]]
49	* ChildSoldiers: As the series goes on, it's increasingly clear that Jack is basically this, having been raised by his grandfather toward the single-minded goal of infiltrating the Order to take down Edward Coventry. As Jack gets deeper into the various conspiracies around him and they keep pulling him in different directions, he starts to realize that he's never been more than someone else's pawn, and starts getting mighty sick and tired of it.
50	* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:Spoofed when Vera announces to Jack that the Order has long had a prophecy about a Chosen One who will lead them out of darkness, and she believes Jack is that Chosen One. Jack quickly realizes that this is one of Vera's very rare, completely dry and deadpan jokes.]]
51	* ConspiracyTheorist: Jack's grandfather. Except [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight he is right]], of course.
52	* CrazyCatLady: Renee dunks on Vera when the former catches the latter eavesdropping by implying this.
53	-->'''Renee''': You should go home to your cats, Vera, they're missing you.\
54	'''Vera''': ''(defensively)'' I don't have cats.\
55	'''Renee''': [[{{Seers}} Oh, you will.]]
56	* DamselOutOfDistress: [[spoiler:Lilith is kidnapped by the order at one point, and is tortured for information by Gabrielle and a councilwoman. Eventually she manages to cut herself with a knife when Gabrielle tries to attack her, uses the blood for a spell to knock them out and get free from chains and runs back to the house. Subverted in that it turns out that it was part of Kepler's plan to track the house down by following her.]]
57	* DeadPersonConversation: the Necrophone enables you to talk to the dead.
58	* DecapitationPresentation: Jack makes his entrance to the Blue Rose by [[spoiler:tossing the head of the golem that's been killing their neophytes into the midst of the gathering to invest neophytes as acolytes.]] This gets him quite a bit of attention, as aside from the obvious, he [[spoiler:took down a golem single-handedly and the golem provides the necessary evidence to punish its creator.]]
59	* DopeSlap: Jack suggesting there's such a thing as "good" magic around Lilith earns him one.
60	* TheDulcineaEffect: Jack meets Alyssa. After a few days together, Jack seems about ready to put his mission on the line and give everything up for the chance of them getting together.
61	* EtTuBrute:
62	** [[spoiler:The one who betrays Jack at the end of the season? Supposedly reformed love interest, Alyssa Drake.]]
63	** [[spoiler:Alyssa and the Order clearly told Jack that they would have no choice if Jack rejected them. Instead, he tries to TakeAThirdOption , which both sides told him wasn't possible.]]
64	* EurekaMoment:
65	** Jack has several, as his keen observation skills and intellect let him piece together clues to the assorted supernatural mysteries that others easily miss. Perhaps most notable, in the first season, he realizes he's not [[spoiler:in the Afterlife per se, but in the collective unconscious, as he saw a memory he was never present for. None of the other dead people made this connection, and Jack realizes he can use this to gain intelligence on Coventry leading up to the final battle.]]
66	** Vera when she finally realizes that Jack [[spoiler:is not only a werewolf and the one who's been sabotaging the Order's efforts of late, but that as a werewolf, his blood is a necessary ingredient for the potion that can destroy the ''Vade Maecum''.]]
67	** Alyssa, upon figuring out that her feelings for Jack are not the [[spoiler:cause of her malfunctioning magic]], thinks about her other relationships, arriving at her admiration for Coventry as a mentor. . . [[spoiler:before realizing she was part of his ''Vade Maecum'' ritual as an official magical witness, thus binding her to the book as well, that being the cause of her magical problems.]]
68	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Spelled out as only [[DeadpanSnarker Vera]] can when she briefs the Council on Tartarus Eruptions, and them building towards an Apocalypse Eruption.
69	-->'''Councilor''': And that is. . . ?\
70	'''Vera''': ''(as if speaking to a very small child)'' An eruption that's big enough to cause the apocalypse.
71	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Come Season 2, [[spoiler: Jack's hair is blonde, Lilith and Alyssa are wearing theirs shorter, with Lilith adding blue highlights. In Jack and Lilith's case, they have redefined their identities (or had them redefined) due to having their memories wiped by the Order. In Alyssa's case, she's committed now to climbing within the Order. . . but can't quite let go of her sympathy to the Knights. Jack undoes his blonde midway through Season Two. . . Gabrielle does not take it well.]]
72	* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:The Order, and magicians in general, sum up their view of muggles as oblivious cattle for their spells. If a magician murders a human, accidentally or otherwise, the Order will simply cover up the incident with mass-brainwashing and pretend it never happened. The Knights, on their end, view every member of the Order as pond scum for this reason.]]
73	* FiveManBand: The Knights of St. Christopher. Each hide has certain talents and traits, and selects champions they feel share those traits. [[spoiler:They are missing Alpha's pelt, presumably the one who's supposed to be the leader.]] The team includes Tundra, the Wise One, bonded to Hamish, oldest and most experienced of the Knights; Lilith, the most aggressive at challenging Hamish's decisions; Greybeard, bonded to pre-med Randall Carpio; Silverback, described as the most powerful and bonded to Jack Morton; and Midnight, The Reckless One, who will bond with anyone who gets close enough.
74	* ForcedSleep: A sleep spell exists, while the powder used to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wipe people's memories]] also makes them fall down unconscious.
75	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
76	** When Edward gets all four parts of the ''Vaede Maecum'', Alyssa wonders why the book doesn't have a cover. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the cover is a fifth part of the book, and it's Silverback's pelt.]]
77	** In Season Two, [[spoiler:Zecchia tells Lilith and Jack that she's brought them to "The last place I was before you resummoned me. A hidey-hole filled with magical artifacts." She notably ''[[ExactWords does not]]'' say that it's where she delivered the goods she stole from them, or who the place or the goods within belongs to. This leads to the entirety of the Order's conflict with the Prometheans, because it's ''the Prometheans'' magic vault she's brought them to. From this, one can infer (especially when the Prometheans make noise about having their "magic stolen") that Praxis enlisted Zecchia to rob them in addition to the Knights and the Order. Zecchia just hadn't cleaned the Prometheans out yet for whatever reason.]]
78	** When [[spoiler:Jack and Lilith enter the "Fear Corridor" as werewolves, they see a devastated landscape, a large glowing blue orb in the sky, and hear a [[HellIsThatNoise thunderous booming horn-like sound.]] Several episodes later, we're introduced to Tartarus Eruptions, which are preceded by a thunderous booming horn-like sound, manifest as a glowing blue orb before it turns red and explodes, and can build up into [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Apocalypse Eruptions]].]]
79	** Alyssa figures out that [[spoiler:Salvador was the one who robbed the Order and the Knights when, as the two are [[ItMakesSenseInContext chilling in Vera's kitchen]], Alyssa sees Acheron's Cauldron next to where Salvador is making her risotto. Earlier in the season, the Knights needed the Cauldron to brew the potion that would make their minds proof against the Order's LaserGuidedAmnesia, so at the end of the episode when Alyssa shrugs off the same and Salvador triumphantly states "Told you you'd like my risotto," it's easy to figure out what happened. . . Salvador made the same potion and included it in the food.]]
80	* GenuineHumanHide: Fun fact about Belgrave University: its library has the world's largest collection of anthropodermic bibliopegy -- books bound in human skin. The freshmen are appropriately squicked when this is revealed during their campus tour.
81	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Everyone takes a second off from [[spoiler:Jack rejecting Silverback's hide thanks to the ''Vade Maecum'']] when Lilith drops this gem ([[spoiler:courtesy of her recently-restored memories]]):
82	-->'''Lilith''': Who did this to him? Was it that bitch, [[spoiler:Alyssa]]? Whom I loved, once. ''({{Beat}})'' Like a sister, you perverts.
83	* {{Golem}}: The setting has a Golem, of the biblical sort, who is curious about human nature, since Golems don't have human experiences.
84	* GoodIsNotSoft: The Knights of St. Christopher, who represent the only known check on The Order or Magicians' appetites in general, are most definitely not soft on their targets. Which is ironic, since their being werewolves gives them soft, fluffy fur.
85	* GratuitousFrench: The Knights and their "''après''-kill cocktails."
86	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Season Two adds some incantations in Gaelic, though most incantations are in:
87	* GratuitousLatin: Many magical incantations are Latin phrases or words, for example, ''respondeo'' is Latin for 'reply'.
88	* HellIsThatNoise: The "ominous droning" of an impending Tartarus Eruption.
89	%%* HermeticMagic: The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose is a secret society that practices Hermetic magic.
90	* HiveMind: The Sons of Prometheus are this, communicating by telepathy, and in "The Commons Part 1" they start seducing Alyssa to join.
91	* INeedAFreakingDrink:
92	** The Knights and their "''après''-kill cocktails." Part celebration of a victorious hunt, part numbing the violence inherent in their lives. They also drink a toast [[ToAbsentFriends to fallen Knights]] and have a cocktail (Forever Young) reserved for hide returns.
93	** Vera, upon realizing [[spoiler:she needs to ally with the freaking werewolves to stop Coventry and the ''Vade Maecum''.]]
94	--->'''Vera''': Mr. Morton. [[CatchPhrase This is the part where]] you buy me a drink.
95	* InsistentTerminology: According to Lilith, the Knights are not a "Brotherhood." They're a "Gender-Neutral Collective." Her fellow Knights (all male) start to say that too later.
96	* InternalAffairs: In Season Two, [[spoiler:what Vera wants the werewolves to be for the Order. And what they once were, back in the day.]]
97	* ItsNotYouItsMe: Said word-for-word when Jack turns down Sigma Sigma Delta fraternity. It's basically the sadistic version, as Jack immediately states he's "holding out for another offer," (the Blue Rose), but he's trying to be as polite as possible while telling the frat boys he's not interested.
98	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Used by the Order to conceal their inner workings from outsiders, washouts, and defectors.
99	* LieDetector: The Glove of Truth, it will cause intense pain whenever the person it is touching lies, described as "burning someone's soul" and often makes them bleed for the eyes.
100	* MadScientist: Dr. Hemmings attempts to artificially create werewolves by putting subjects through magical experiments in hopes of fueling their SuperpoweredEvilSide.
101	* MagicalLibrary: Called "reliquaries" by the Order. The Order, of course, has one, and you need special permission to enter it unsupervised below a certain rank. [[spoiler:The Knights also have one, calling it an "evidence locker," a place they store all the stuff they confiscate from practitioners they've killed. It also contains journals from previous Knights and basically instruction manuals for being a werewolf, which none of the current Knights bothered to read until Jack came along.]]
102	* MindRape: Alyssa delving into [[spoiler:Sir Richard's dream realm]] prompts him to use this on her to repeatedly [[CatapultNightmare kick her out.]] Aside from the first JumpScare, we don't see what happens, but she comments that he's got "one twisted imagination."
103	-->Don't shoot, don't shoot!\
104	Grandma, no!\
105	Holy fucking shitballs!
106	* MoralityKitchenSink: The show slides all over this even in its first few episodes, with Jack trying to cling to semblance of BlackAndWhiteMorality (killing is '''wrong''') and most of the supernatural people around him being far more blase about deaths, deserved or not. At their best, the Order and Knights are GoodIsNotNice. Exemplified when Jack's Ethics professor puts moral dilemmas in the simplest possible terms: don't act now based on what might eventually come of it later, ask yourself if, right now, a given action is wrong or right.
107	* MundaneUtility: The series provides a ''very'' good reason why you [[SubvertedTrope shouldn't use magic for this]]. All magic has a cost, either from your own body (usually blood) or someone else. When the Acolytes start using glamour spells to pawn off pieces of paper as hundred-dollar bills and completed essays without paying the price, the person they hand the glamoured paper to immediately suffers a minor-but-painful accident. Later, when they start trying to get out of school work by doing spells with such vague goals as "have no more English tests ever," the result is attempts to ''murder the English professor''. [[PlayedStraight However]], Coventry comments to Alyssa that, of all the magic he's learned, the "open/close doors with a flick of the hand" is the one he uses most often. "It never gets old."
108	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: The werewolves hear a high-pitched ringing noise whenever magic is being performed. For really big and powerful spells, the ringing is sharper and lasts much longer than usual. Though it doesn't seem to happen every time. . . Vera and Edward routinely open and close the doors of the temple with magic, and many other spells pass without the werewolves being any the wiser, indicating it may need to be specific kinds of spells. Also, as Jack learns to use magic himself it stops causing a ringing (for him and for other werewolves), and when [[spoiler:Alyssa uses a tracking spell to find Randall]] the werewolves are a bit intrigued that they didn't hear ringing, but don't really pause to question why. [[spoiler:Season Two advances two separate and potentially complimentary hypotheses: that werewolves only hear ringing in response to "bad" magic (i.e., magic meant to harm or kill), or that magic performed by those officially "allied" with the wolves won't trigger ringing. Neither one is explicitly confirmed, though evidence for both exists.]]
109	* MysteryCult: The Order of the Blue Rose - they are secretive (see above), although they do teach their new members about magic soon after they join.
110	* {{Nepotism}}: A high-ranking member of the order attempts to place her son in the Order.
111	* NoNudityTaboo: Since ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing, the werewolves are pretty casual about nudity. They tease Jack when he goes into a separate room to disrobe before changing, and Lilith at one point stops an Order van while in wolf form, knocking out everyone but Jack within, then has a conversation with him in her nude human form before running off. Where necessary, the show protects the werewolves' human modesty with SceneryCensor.
112	* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: The house rules, as enforced by Randall. Possibly also an example of IllPretendIDidntHearThat.
113	-->'''Randall:''' Okay, house rules. If I catch you breaking them, I gotta report you, so...
114	-->'''Jack:''' Don't break any rules.
115	-->'''Randall:''' Don't let me catch you, that's right.
116	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In Season Two, [[spoiler:to get out from under the control of the Order, the Knights enlist the demon Zecchia to steal all the Order's most important magical artifacts, including the ones the Order confiscated from the Knights at the end of Season One. Among those artifacts are specially-enchanted sickles to deal with Demon Emperor Rogwan, who just so happens to be about to make his every-27-year appearance. While the Knights fully intend to "lend" the sickles back to the Order to keep everyone from dying, because they failed to follow proper demon-summoning and contract-negotiation protocol, Zecchia has stolen the stuff from them and delivered it to a third party, who ''did'' follow the procedures, so Zecchia can't just steal it back again.]]
117	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Werewolves can learn and use the Order's magic. Jack hadn't progressed far enough into the Order to learn anything before becoming a werewolf, but Alyssa still teaches him some spells and they work just fine for him. [[spoiler:Lilith also retains her magical abilities, once she gets her memories of her time in the Order back. Alyssa also notes that Jack's spells are more powerful than hers, and hypothesizes his werewolf nature empowers his magic.]]
118	* OneHeadTaller: Lilith is a short woman, while both the people she shows attraction to, Randall and Nicole, are tall. She has to train her head up as she's kissing Randall.
119	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The werewolves don't transmit their abilities through bites, nor are they born lycanthropes. The ones we've seen consider themselves a knightly order whose purpose is to hunt down those who use magic to hurt people. The become werewolves through bonding with the hide of a werewolf. There are five [[spoiler:and a sixth is revealed late in the first season]]: [[TheSmartGuy Tundra]], [[NervesOfSteel Greybeard]], [[InformedLoner Timber]], [[LeeroyJenkins Midnight]], [[TheBigGuy Silverback]], and [[spoiler:Alpha, presumably the "true" leader]], and the hides are attracted to "champions" who share their personality traits. If a werewolf is killed, the pelt returns to a special box, where it waits for a new champion to bond with.
120	* TheOrder: The Hermetic Order Of The Blue Rose, hence the show's title. [[spoiler:Season Two adds another, separate magic order, the Esoteric Sons of Prometheus, as well as Praxis, a magical communist-anarchist rebel movement started, not by new Ethics Professor Foley as it seems, but by his unassuming TA Salvador Grant.]]
121	* ParentalAbandonment: Jack's story is kicked off by his and his grandfather's desire to get {{Revenge}} on the man they believe is responsible for Jack's mother committing suicide. He'd sired Jack without knowing it [[ChildByRape via]] [[LovePotion love spell]].
122	* PopUpTexting: Being set on a college campus in 2019, the main characters naturally communicate a lot through text messages. They pop up on the screen for the benefit of the viewer, being just as important as spoken dialogue.
123	* RedShirt: Subtly and snarkily {{Lampshaded}} when [[spoiler:the blood parasite claims its third victim,]] who starts talking about all the great times she's had with her fellows in the Order, how important those memories are, and how much she loves everyone.
124	-->'''Randall''': ''(whispering to Hamish)'' Who is she again?\
125	'''Hamish''': ''(whispering back)'' I've literally never seen her before today.
126	* RewatchBonus: Season Two, in particular, has lots of very small moments that mean a great deal more once you're aware of all the assorted twists, motivations, and complications. [[spoiler:Most notably any interaction between Foley and Salvador, as well as everything Zecchia says. . . and what she ''[[ExactWords doesn't]]'' say.]]
127	* RunningGag: The snarky chalk sign outside The Blade And Chalice, the campus bar and restaurant.
128	-->Today's Special\
129	Tomorrow's OK.\
130	\
131	Today's Special\
132	Buy Two Drinks\
133	+ Drink Them\
134	\
135	If you are looking for a\
136	[[LiteralMetaphor SIGN THIS IS IT!]]
137	** Jack's. . . [[IndyPloy lack of planning]]. Both Hamish and Clay respond to two different plan outlines by Jack with "That's more of an end goal," and Vera even asks if he has something against devising an actual plan.
138	* SequelHook:
139	** For Season One:
140	*** In the first season finale, [[spoiler:Vera has a book in her desk drawer with a cover very similar to that of the ''Vade Maecum''.[[labelnote:Resolution]]It's the actual ''Vade Maecum'', which cannot be destroyed.[[/labelnote]]]]
141	*** [[spoiler:Where is Alpha, and what happened to his pelt? How does this tie in with the "dumb luck" that resulted in Jurgen Sawyer being trapped in the ''Vade Maecum''?[[labelnote:Resolutoion]]Alpha was hosted by Salvador Grant's father, and she took up the hide after him, and started Praxis to bring magic to all the people.[[/labelnote]]]]
142	*** [[spoiler:Silverback is free of the ''Vade Maecum'' and needs a new champion, since Jack is now bonded to Midnight.[[labelnote:Resolution]]Jack rebonds with Silverback accidentally, then has to choose as the two hides are killing him. He chooses Silverback.[[/labelnote]]]]
143	*** [[spoiler:Vera reclaims all the "confiscated" magical books and artifacts from the Knights, as well as everything from Edward's house.[[labelnote:Resolution]]The Knights steal these back, along with several of the Order's own potent artifacts, only to have the lot stolen out from under them by Praxis.[[/labelnote]]]]
144	*** [[spoiler:How much of the Knights' memories did the Order take? And the Knights had figured out how to reverse that process; do they still possess that capability and will they figure out to use it?[[labelnote:Resolution]]Vera assigns Order handlers to the amnesiac wolves to try and bring them into the Order, but the Knights are remembering things and need fresh mindwipes every few days. Alyssa eventually gives up and restores their memories, the Knights brew a potion to protect their minds from ever being tampered with again, and begin working with the Order.[[/labelnote]]]]
145	** For Season Two:
146	*** [[spoiler:Gabrielle is still bonded to Midnight, and has just killed Alyssa. Based on her reaction afterward, she'll have a hard time coming to grips with it. Related, Randall killed Kepler for the sacrifice to rescue Lilith from Hell. These both set up many potential conflicts for a following season.]]
147	*** [[spoiler:Lilith was rescued from Hell, but has become a demon.]]
148	*** [[spoiler:Vera had her magic stolen and never returned by Alyssa, but has Hamish literally at her side, boding a large and delicate shake-up for the Order's power structure going forward.]]
149	*** [[spoiler:Salvador, host to Alpha, is dead, and Alyssa stated that Alpha's locker was in a safe place, awaiting a worthy champion. Where is that safe place, who knows about it, and who will Alpha choose to bond with next. . . and will he be an ally or enemy of the Knights of the Blue Rose? Notably, Alyssa evaded answering when Jack asked if Alpha's pelt had chosen her. . .]]
150	*** [[spoiler:And the last shot of the season is Jack carrying Alyssa's dead body, with the ''Vade Maecum'', into the woods. Alyssa broke her contract with the book to restore the proper functionality of her magic, but the lingering nature of the shot hints that their stories aren't quite over yet.]]
151	*** [[spoiler:Despite the fact that both their leaders are dead, Praxis is still out there, has enough members to launch multiple simultaneous attacks on Order chapters all over, and has some two-thirds of the magical treasures of the Knights of St. Christopher, Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, and Esoteric Sons of Prometheus. They've been delt a harsh blow, but it seems very unlikely they'll go down forever without a fight.]]
152	*** [[spoiler:Alyssa didn't make it out of the Temple with the ''Fors Factorum''. . . but she '''did''' take a picture of at least part of it with her cell phone. Is that picture only on her phone, or did she send it to someone? Or several someones?]]
153	* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: The werewolves. This results in them tearing through their clothes if they change unexpectedly, disrobing if they plan to change, and lounging around in bathrobes after they've changed. Lilith's is a very nice short silvery affair which shows off her legs (the most skin she displays [[LegFocus since the camera often focuses on them while she's in this outfit]].
154	* ShoutOut:
155	** One of the artifacts in Edward's house that [[spoiler:Vera recovers after his death]] is [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk The Ark of the Covenant]].
156	** Another artifact is [[Film/{{Big}} a Zoltar machine that genuinely grants wishes in a way explicitly identified as]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor tricky]].
157	** Lilith and Jack sharing an ItHasBeenAnHonor moment.
158	--->'''Lilith''': Well, it's been a slice, watching you go from vomiting noob to professional hit-wolf.\
159	'''Jack''': I love you, too.\
160	'''Lilith''': I know.\
161	'''Jack''': You did ''not'' just [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Han Solo]] me.\
162	'''Lilith''': ''(chuckles)''
163	** Season Two, Alyssa being offered wine by the current BigBad.
164	--->'''Alyssa''': I don't take drinks from strangers who murder my friends. Plus, I've seen ''Film/ThePrincessBride''.\
165	'''BigBad''': ''(drinks wine from the glass offered to Alyssa)'' As you wish.
166	** [[spoiler:Salvador]] asks Alyssa to "[[Film/{{Tombstone}} Be my huckleberry]]." Lampshaded when Alyssa doesn't get the reference, and [[spoiler:Salvador]] promises to teach her all about Westerns.
167	** When [[spoiler:Vera promotes Jack, Randall, and Hamish to Magistratus]]:
168	--->'''Randall''': [[Literature/HarryPotter Five points to Gryffindor.]]
169	* ShownTheirWork
170	** The ethics lectures discuss actual ethics concepts, and covers a wide range of ethical theories.
171	** Golems have the word ''אמת'' written on their forehead, an allusion to the original tales. Additionally, a golem can be killed by removing that word. And the word is written from right to left.
172	** The Enochian language the Prometheans use is an actual language invented by the 16th century occultist John Dee.
173	* SideBet: Belgrave's professors (or at least, the Ethics and English professor) have "student excuse bingo." Professor Benson wins on Jack's "missing roommate."
174	* SlobsVsSnobs: Jack Morton, scholarship townie from literally the wrong side of the tracks versus The Order filled with elitist trust-fund assholes. [[spoiler:Becomes more prevalent in Season Two, with the Knights collectively as Slobs to The Order's snobs, while the Knights are working within the Order to highlight the difference between them. Interestingly, it's also revealed Hamish comes from a wealthy family but deliberately eschews being a "snob", while it's implied Vera started a "slob" before joining the Order, and has only become a "snob" to blend in with the others.]]
175	* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Jack thinks the first clue for getting into the Order, "find the coin by night five," translates to "Knight Five," and looks under the appropriate square of a plus-scale chessboard on Belgrave's campus. Alyssa comes across him during his failed search, and they play a brief match with stone pieces that come up to their knees. Alyssa beats Jack handily. Establishing Jack's own intellect and education (that he knows chess notations and thinks to interpret the clue this way), and that Alyssa is every bit as mentally formidable.
176	* {{Synchronization}}: Binding spells involve people sharing blood by cutting their palms and clasping them while they say an incantation. After this any harm that comes to one is shared with the other. This is used to keep trust and hold hostages.
177	* TakingUpTheMantle: The pelts of the Knights pass down the powers and some memories of those who wore them before and each comes with a specific characteristic and powers and qualities.
178	* TargetedHumanSacrifice: [[spoiler:The ''Vade Maecum'' requires the sacrifice of the caster's firstborn son.]]
179	* AThreesomeIsHot: Subverted. After Jack, Gabrielle, and Brandon get the hang of the minor glamour spell to pass pieces of paper off as hundred-dollar bills and completed papers, Jack starts noticing that something bad seems to happen every time they pass the glamoured paper off to someone. Gabrielle notes it's "pathetic" that they're using magic to scam pizzas and flatscreens, to which Jack states maybe they should cool things off. Gabrielle replies that they should turn things up.
180	-->'''Gabrielle''': You know what I'm saying?\
181	'''Brandon''': ''(leaning forward, simultaneously with Gabrielle)'' Threesome.\
182	'''Gabrielle''': ''(leaning forward, simultaneously with Brandon)'' Bigger magic.\
183	'''Jack''': ''(almost apologetically to Brandon)'' [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday I like her idea better.]]
184	* TokenMinorityCouple: Dark-skinned Lilith and Nicole (a young black woman) have a mutual attraction, but circumstances stop them from getting into a real relationship.
185	* TomeOfEldritchLore:
186	** Season One gives us the ''Vade Maecum Infernal'', descibed as the "most powerful incantation ever created." When Alyssa asks Edward what it does, he replies "This is more a 'what doesn't it do' scenario." Performing the proper rituals and sacrifices in the proper way to tap the power of the ''Vade Maecum'' yeilds AGodAmI. [[spoiler:Season Two reveals that, even without trying to bond with the book and gain absolute power, it is still a grimoire and contains exceptionally powerful spells that can be used "a la carte," as Vera puts it.]]
187	** Season Two adds the [[spoiler:the ''Fors Factorum''. Vera tells Alyssa point blank, when she takes hold of the ''Fors Factorum'' while already having possession of the ''Vade Maecum'', that she now possess the two most powerful incantations ever created. The ''Factorum'' is quite different, however. Salvador and Alyssa want it because it "frees a practitioner from sacrifice." Vera counters that '''nothing''' "frees" a practitioner from sacrifice, "You pay now or you pay later. '''Later costs more.'''" Vera states that while it does make performing all kinds of magic ridiculously simple, it also turns [[CastFromLifeSpan your body into the fuel for the spells]], meaning that a magic cancer starts to eat you alive, killing you in years. Or months.]]
188	* TooDumbToLive: Season Two, literally, [[spoiler:the Order member who gives the amnesiac Knights the starting test to be inducted into the Order. He does the "move gold coin from one to the other with magic" trick we saw in the first season, apparently forgetting that, as Vera says, "magic makes werewolves angry." He gets out an "[[OhCrap Oh, shit]]" before the Knights tear him apart.]]
189	* TrackingSpell: In "Undeclared Part 2" Alyssa casts one that uses a stick as a kind of lodestone or dowsing rod that uses [[SympatheticMagic a personal item from the target being tracked]], pointing toward them as it floats while on water.
190	* TrialByCombat: If you consider beer pong to be "combat," then sure, this is exactly how the werewolves settle internal disputes.
191	* TruthSerum: The Statue of Veritas can force the target to speak the truth as long as a substance it releases is ingested. It lasts for only a few hours and can cause some odd effects to the one who ingested. Unfortunately, there's a way around this - by enchanting the listener to think the target is saying something else.
192	* TwoferTokenMinority:
193	** Lilith is dark-skinned, having shown attraction to first Randall and later Nicole, which establishes she's bisexual.
194	** Nicole is black and shares Lilith's attraction.
195	** Gabrielle is Asian-American, implied to be a Filipina like her actress.
196	* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: All the main characters are balancing their membership in assorted secret orders, solving (or causing) supernatural catastrophes with their lives as college students. Jack gets a double-whammy of this, being in both the Order and the Knights, spying on one organization for the other, ''and'' working on his own secret mission to get close to Coventry and get revenge for his mother's death.
197	* WakingNonSequitur: Alyssa is throttled into unconsciousness by a zombie. When Jack wakes her up, her first words? "I missed Comparative Politics."
198	* WhamLine: Season Two, when [[spoiler:Vera reveals the full Oath of the Knights of St. Christopher: "I give my life to the cause of defending the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose from threats within and without."]]
199	* WhamShot: The Season 2 Premiere. [[spoiler:Jack has a CatapultNightmare from a [[PreviouslyOn montage of Season One events]], revealing he has blonde hair. . . and is sharing a bed with ''Gabrielle Fucking Dupres''.]]
200	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Renee's necromancer twin sister spends the entirety of ''Homecoming: Part Two'' relentlessly hunting Alyssa and Jack with her ability to predict the future to retrieve her [[PhoneCallFromTheDead necrophone]], killing people and turning them into zombies to aid her hunt. When she gets it she calls Renee, who warns her that Jack is a werewolf. She then runs away, escaping with just a few claw marks on her back and hasn't returned since.
201	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: When Jack is quoting from one of the journals, explaining [[spoiler:why the werewolves eat the hearts of their victims]]: "If you don't eat the heart, the magic continues on its way, following the necessary path to perform thy practitioner's bidding."
202	* YouDidntAsk: Come Season Two, Alyssa may have [[TookALevelInJerkass taken a level in jerkass]].
203	-->'''Diego''': Thought you said you wanted to try out a transformation spell.\
204	'''Alyssa''': [[ExactWords I do.]] ''(addressing the Grand Magus)'' The Knights possess a set of magic hides, each one imbued with the spirit of a werewolf.\
205	'''Diego''': You never said anything about werewolves.\
206	'''Alyssa''': You didn't ask.
207	----
208	-->''I give my life to the cause.''

Context Series / TheOrder