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Recap / From Dusk Till Dawn S 1 E 1 Pilot

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Outlaw brothers Seth and Richie Gecko head for the border after pulling off a thirty million dollar heist, but wind up getting into a deadly standoff with Texas Rangers Freddie Gonzalez and Earl McGraw after making a pit stop. Meanwhile, Richie is plagued by visions of a mysterious woman.


Tropes:

  • Almost Dead Guy: Earl spends most of the episode dying after getting shot in the chest by Richie at the beginning.
  • Covert Distress Code: Richie accuses Pete the liquor store clerk of trying to tip off Earl by mentioning "vaults" and "crime scenes", though Pete insists that they're just figures of speech and Richie is being paranoid.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Carlos sarcastically offers to call the Geckos a cab when Seth asks him to pick them up.
  • Defiant to the End: Earl manages to get to his feet, put his hat back on and offer up a See You in Hell before Richie finishes him off with a second gunshot to the head.
  • The Dog Bites Back: The two female hostages start kicking the crap out of Richie when he's incapacitated by his visions after the shootout at the end.
  • Eye Scream: In the crime scene photos that the Rangers are looking over in the car at the beginning, the victims' eyes have been gouged out and embedded in their palms.
  • Faking the Dead: Freddie plays possum after Seth shoots him multiple times in the chest, only revealing after the brothers have driven away that he was wearing a Bulletproof Vest.
  • Fiery Cover-Up: Seth sets fire to the liquor store before he and Richie vacate the premises.
  • Hallucinations: Richie has visions of Santanico Pandemonium throughout the episode, and also hallucinates the female hostages as strange, demon-like creatures at two different points.
  • I Have a Family: Inverted; Seth asks Freddie whether he has a wife and kids to try and persuade him to surrender.
  • Impaled Palm: Richie is shot clean through the palm during the shootout.
  • In Medias Res: The episode opens with a flashback to Santanico being turned into a culebra, then jumps forward to Richie shooting Earl, before cutting back a few hours to show how both the Rangers and the Geckos arrive at the liquor store.
  • It's Personal: Freddie's quest to take down the Geckos becomes this after Richie kills Earl.
  • Last Request: Earl makes Freddie promise to kill the brothers, even if he has to "follow them to the gates of hell".
  • Oh, Crap!: Seth's reaction when he comes out of the bathroom to find Richie holding up the liquor store.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: The girl who Richie tries to hit on seems to have no idea who Jesse James is.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Trigger-happy, Ax-Crazy Richie plays the red oni to blue oni Seth, who is more pragmatic and tries to minimize casualties where possible.
  • Run for the Border: The brothers are fleeing to Mexico after pulling off a thirty million dollar heist.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Ranger Earl McGraw, whose death in the first episode inspires Freddie's quest for vengeance.
  • Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: The Teaser ends with Richie pointing his gun directly at the camera.
  • Snake Pit: Santanico is thrown into one during the flashback sequence at the beginning of the episode.
  • Tempting Fate: Before arriving at the liquor store, Earl estimates that he has around two hundred good days left. After getting shot, he claims that he "miscalculated".
  • Villain Protagonist: The Geckos firmly establish themselves as this in the first episode, holding up a liquor store and murdering two people after pulling off a bank heist.

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