Bob and Linda head for a Downton Abbey-esque LARP weekend. Back at home, babysitter Teddy throws out his back.
Zero Trope Thirty:
- Artistic License – History: Despite the focus on historical accuracy, the treatment of the servants is unrealistically cruel.
- A lady's maid
, like Linda was supposed to be, wouldn't have been expected to do half the chores Linda was made to do, since she would have been needed to wait on her mistress personally at all hours. Lady's maids generally had lighter work than the other servants, rank, a personal room, and more leisure time (although her being expected to wait on her mistress well into the late hours of night is on point.)note At the very least, her being expected to work in the kitchen is a huge stretch. - The idea of servants being fed gruel is also far-fetched, since they would need to be well-fed in order to perform their duties. Realistically, servants would be at least given bread and meat. They also were usually expected to eat leftovers from the main dish, so the idea they would never have the rich foods that were sent upstairs, as Linda complains about, is untrue.
- A lady's maid
- Asshole Victim: The servants steal the aristocrats' seven-course dinner and hog most of the flambe for themselves. Considering how the aristocrats (especially Nancy) acted, this is the least of what they deserved.
- Bait-and-Switch: Bob stands up to the LARPer playing Mr. Winthorpe, arguing that the workers deserve better pay. Mr. Winthorpe initially appears very displeased, only for his demeanor to do a complete 180 as he admits he likes Bob's moxie.
- Becoming the Mask: Everyone gets a little wrapped up in their roles. Especially the ones who get the rich people roles, who end up Drunk with Power.Nancy: We've always been here!Linda: Oh boy.
- Born Lucky: Nancy not only wins the contest to join the LARP free of charge, she also gets the single best role to play by sheer luck of the draw.
- Busman's Holiday: Linda's contest won weekend break from cooking and serving in a restaurant leads to her cooking and serving the upstairs LARPers. Bob starts out this way, but gets off the hook when the upstairs LARPers take a shine to him.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Teddy spends most of the episode on the living room floor after his back goes out. The kids wind up having to find his chiropractor in order to fix him up.
- Didn't Think This Through: The entire LARP was arguably this from the start. Just expecting several participants to not just "act" like servants but endure being treated like servants and given old clothes and lousy food for an entire weekend was bound go poorly eventually. It would've been way better to have a smaller LARP where everyone was of the same class, or at least let the groups switch classes at some point.
- Expy:
- Winthorpe Manor is a pretty clear one to Downton Abbey, to the point that it's lampshaded.
Tina: Winthorpe Manor is the American Downton Abbey.
Gene: I thought that was Mike & Molly.- Additionally, it is an expy of the Downton Abbey-inspired LARP Fairweather Manor.
- Gilligan Cut: Bob is invited to drink brandy and smoke cigars by the upstairs LARPers. He tells Linda that he likes neither and will not stay long. Cut to...Bob: I love brandy and cigars! I finally get why people want to be rich!
- Henpecked Husband: Bob is unsure of whether to help with the revolt or go shooting with the rich LARPers until Linda growls at him. He winds up finding a way to do both.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Teddy promised he'd make sure that the kids have a healthy dinner. But because he's unable to move, the kids eat ice cream behind his back, and tell him that they are having steamed vegetables. When they ask if Teddy wants some dinner too, he tells them to bring him ice cream because he doesn't want those gross vegetables.
- Despite being so concerned with recreating an authentic early 1900s atmosphere, the manager has no objection to provide one of the upstairs LARPers with a special gluten-free alternative for dinner. To be fair, it is possible the guest might have celiac disease, in which case feeding him gluten would be a massive liability.
- Karma Houdini: The LARP organizers don't suffer any comeuppance (apart from the repair fees from the parfait incident) for essentially conning half the attendees into paying to act as servants.
- Kick the Dog: With all the stuff Linda goes through, Nancy deciding to take away the trip through the tulip garden from her at the last second, despite being the only thing she had to look forward to, was painful to watch.
- The Mole: Bob goes to the shooting range to help the servants hijack the aristocrats' car, leaving them far behind the servants when they go to steal dinner.
- Never My Fault: The end of the LARP shows everyone looking incredibly pissed off as they're brought to the entrance of the mansion, except for Linda who awkwardly asks "Good LARP, everyone?" The scene seems to imply that everyone is pissed off at Linda for what happened, despite that it was the organizers who poorly planned the event and the people who got the rich character roles abusing the situation that ruined the weekend.
- Original Position Fallacy: Linda assumes that role-playing a lady of the 1900s will be luxurious. She is naturally disappointed to find that she has been assigned the role of a lowly chambermaid.
- Red Herring: It initially seems poised for Bob to go through yet another episode of crap, but after standing up to the person playing Mr. Winthorpe he gets cut a break, and it's instead Linda who has to suffer through the LARP.
- Shout-Out: The title is a play on Zero Dark Thirty.
- Shown Their Work: Americans never had an official aristocracy, but wealthy American families having British-style servant systems actually did happen at times, especially by the Gilded Age. That said, the treatment of servants isn't entirely accurate.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: While Linda is unambiguously treated horribly, Bob finally gets a break from his usual Butt-Monkey status when the rich LARPers invite him to join them, meaning he doesn't have to go through the same crap Linda does. Additionally, since he's a servant he's not left behind during the revolt, meaning he's the only LARPer not to get the short end of the stick at any point during the event.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The people who were given the rich people roles quickly become self absorbed assholes who take advantage of Linda and the rest of the participants to be waited on hand and foot. Of note is Nancy, since she and Linda seemed to be getting along before the LARP.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Realistically, television shows that film on the East Coast are pretty much limited to New York and Florida. Considering the Belchers are otherwise implied to live in New Jersey...
- Ye Goode Olde Days: At the end, Linda lampshades how Winthorpe Manor puts the early 1900s on a pedestal despite life really being crap if you weren't rich and powerful. Linda herself believed in this trope until the LARP thoroughly disabused her of that notion.
