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Basic Trope: An episode that revolves around a power outage.

  • Straight: The show Mary and Spencer features an episode that focuses on the power in Mary and Spencer's house going out, leaving them in the dark. Spencer has to face his fear of the dark, while Mary alerts the electricity company and tries to occupy herself in the meantime.
  • Exaggerated:
    • All the power devices in the city explode, and Mary and Spencer have to repair everything themselves.
    • Every power device and station in the world abruptly vanish, knocking every power in the world out, and Mary and Spencer must find a way to get them back.
  • Downplayed:
    • Mary and Spencer's apartment still has backup power, so the lighting is slightly dimmer than usual.
    • It's just a brownout, not a blackout. The electricity supply has dropped, but it isn't out completely.
    • The electricity is still on, but the Internet is out due to faulty cables under the house.
  • Justified:
    • The power has gone out because of a severe storm ravaging the area and knocking down the power lines.
    • Mary and Spencer didn't pay the electric bill, so they don't get to use electricity.
    • The local power infrastructure is so outdated that the government has to implement a so called rolling blackout just to handle Supply/Demand.
  • Inverted: Mary and Spencer are hermits who live simply, without any electricity. One episode revolves around them discovering the wonders of electricity while they have access to it.
  • Subverted: The power goes off flickers for a few seconds, then comes back on.
  • Double Subverted: Mary and Spencer have a solar grid hooked up to their house for when the power lines go out, and the power goes out for real the next day due to poor sunlight.
  • Parodied: Spencer gets plunged into darkness while on the toilet and thinks the electricity is out, but it turns out Mary just accidentally flicked the wrong switch outside the door.
  • Zig-Zagged: The power comes off and on throughout the episode.
  • Averted:
    • Mary and Spencer's apartment has a consistent supply of power and electricity.
    • No episode features the topic of the power going out.
  • Enforced:
    • It is a Very Special Episode on what to do in case your power goes out.
    • The set grid, and thankfully not the crew grid or there'd be no cameras to record the show with, shorted out on something and the producers decided to Throw It In! instead of wasting time on waiting for the problem to be fixed by the night crew.
  • Lampshaded: "What is up with this area? This is the third time the power's gone out in three months!"
  • Invoked: Mary and Spencer's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, Logan, cuts the power supply to their apartment.
  • Exploited: Mary wants to spend quality time with Spencer, but he's addicted to his computer. When the electricity and Internet go out, he can't use it anymore, and so they do something she wants to do.
  • Defied:
    • Mary and Spencer have a supply of backup power to use in case the electricity ever goes out.
    • Mary and Spencer are supplied with a generator while electricians fix the power supply.
    • Mary and Spencer use devices that are hand-powered and don't need electricity.
  • Discussed: "Looks like there's a pretty bad storm headed this way." "Do you think the power will go out?"
  • Conversed: "I wonder what I'd do if a power outage happened, like on that show."
  • Implied: Every shot of the apartment at day appears to have no light, and Spencer appears to be scared throughout the episode, yet the audience doesn't know why.
  • Played for Laughs: All we see is Mary and Spencer's eyes in the dark. Most of the episode plays out as a Noodle Incident, since they say all sorts of silly stuff of which we can only imagine the context.
  • Played for Drama: The electricity is out because Mary and Spencer are too poor to afford the power bill.
  • Played for Horror: A mysterious, dangerous being is lurking around the apartment, and neither Mary nor Spencer can identify it when it's so dark.

Get your backup generators at Power Outage Plot.

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