Rest In Metal
Charlie's got herself a new gig, working the merch and other roadie dutes for metal band Doxxxology. The band killed back in the day with their hit song "Staplehead" and... eh, just that really.
The bandmembers, vocalist Ruby Ruin (Chloë Sevigny), guitarist Al (John Darnielle), and bassist Eskie (G. K. Umeh) are joined by a new drummer by the name of Gavin (Nicholas Cirillo). Gavin is a bit of a weirdo, but ultimately shakes things up for the band with a song he wrote by the name of "Sucker Punch," and when he plays it for them, they smell a hit and likely a comeback.
Unfortunately for Gavin, Doxxxology need the credit for writing the song for success to come, and that means he'll have to go. In order to bring that about, the crew rig up an old amp like Gavin's own, and electrocute him to death on stage.
Charlie soon sniffs bullshit, and needs to find out just how far the band went for their comeback...
This episode contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Doxxxology's dream of a new limelight is snatched at the last possible second by the revelation that their new song has the melody of the theme song from Benson. Also, a popular true crime podcast (with info from Charlie) is alleging they killed Gavin, so whatever musical careers any of them had left are finished.
- Alliterative Name: Ruby Ruin.
- Amoral Attorney: Er, kinda sorta-ish. Eskie joins in on the murder plot, while taking a law course. An online law course, because in his words:"Law school? You think I can afford law school? It's an online MSL degree. I can't even afford to sell out."
- Artistic License – Law: Doxxology may not have the rights to the song's composition but they would have had the rights to their performed version of "Staplehead." Which means that either they've been unknowingly cheated for decades, they lost the rights, or Staplehead's success is by someone else's cover.
- Berserk Button: Ruby may hate "Staplehead," but Gavin learned the hard way that you DO NOT steal her big scream when performing it.
- Call-Back:
- In "The Night Shift," the trucker Charlie helps teaches her that if she does anything that leaves a digital imprint, she will be found within 4 hours. Sure enough, when a video of Charlie punching out a Krampus at the Krampus Fest goes viral, Cliff is there for her 4 hours after it went up.
- Also from "The Night Shift," Charlie fixes a gash in Gavin's head with super glue.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Murder Girl podcaster introduced as a quick gag earlier turns out to be one of two big problems when Doxxxology's record deal is snatched from them.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: Ruby doesn't even try to hide that Gavin wrote "Sucker Punch" when Charlie confronts her on it, which throws Charlie off the scent for a bit.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: Downplayed, but "Sucker Punch" stealing the theme from Benson is said by the record executives to be the least of Doxxxology's problems. What's higher? Being accused of murder on the popular Murder Girl podcast.
- Creative Sterility:
- Doxxxology just can't write good songs. Their retired drummer wrote and retired off their marquee hit. Even after 20 years, they can't write a song that doesn't suck. It's such that when Gavin has a hit on his hands, they immediately plot murder to steal it from him.
- It turns out Gavin suffered from this as well. He's certainly more talented than the drips of Doxxxology combined, but he got the lyrics of "Sucker Punch" from various slogans and names on ads and foods while on the journey. Even moreso considering the instrumental of the song is just the opening theme of the sitcom Benson, but in a metal style.
- Creator Backlash: Played with In-Universe. Because they didn't write it (and presumably only did music/vocals), Doxxxology get no royalties on "Staplehead," their only hit. Because it's their sole hit, they still have to play it every stop on their tours. They openly call the song a curse. Ruby Ruin has contempt at not only having to play it so much, but hear it everywhere.
- Crowd Surfing: Charlie is able to escape Cliff by running into the crowd of Doxxxology's opening for Krampus and doing this. By the time Cliff makes his way through the crowd, Charlie's long gone.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Charlie tears into Ruby when Ruby tries to justify killing Gavin for, in Charlie's words, "a stupid little song about sucker punching".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way Ruby describes hearing Staplehead for the first time and trying to write the next hit for the band makes her sound like a drug addict chasing their first high.
- Ear Worm: Gavin's song - "Sucker Punch" - is called this by Charlie.
- Entertainingly Wrong: When putting together that Gavin was murdered, Charlie first thinks that Al alone murdered him by switching out his amp. She gets the real story later when she reviews Gavin's recording of that night.
- Failsafe Failure: An intentional kind. Doxxxology fired their roadie/equipment checker so he wouldn't check Gavin's amp and notice something was off on the night of the planned murder.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Ruby's career is such that she has to work regular seasonal jobs to survive in between tours, while still pining for the next hit of limelight. Even the actual music gigs Doxxxology can get are a massive step down from when they were in their prime - they're playing pubs until a convention.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: While the video exposing how "Sucker Punch" is really just the theme to Benson is playing, other videos by the channel talk about debunking a Las Vegas suicide and "The Tastiest Murder".
- High-Voltage Death: Doxxxology tampers with an amplifier to electrocute Gavin and send him out on a high note.
- History Repeats: In an ironic way for Doxxxology. They couldn't make any royalty money off of their first hit, because the drummer wrote it and retired from the band. It turns out Gavin's song jacked the melody from the theme song for Benson. They couldn't make any money off it even if they had come up with it themselves.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Doxxxology steals Gavin's song because they can't make hit songs on their own. Turns out Gavin - while more talented than them - needed help of his own, and that ends up screwing them at the very end.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: By tampering with the amp and firing Deuteronomy, Doxxxology tried to make it look like Gavin was electrocuted because no one was around to notice his amp (or rather, the booby-trapped one) was malfunctioning.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: The band kills Gavin because they are fearful that they will have another "Staplehead"-level hit on their hands they can't monetize. Coming up with more songs together or simply tricking Gavin into a deal where they get equal writing credit is somehow out of the question.
- One-Hit Wonder: In-Universe: the only song of Doxxxology's that ever got anywhere was "Staplehead." None of the band can actually get a cent from it since the tune was written solely by their old drummer, who gets all the royalties they don't see a dime of.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: Doxxxology stole "Sucker Punch" from Gavin, and as it turns out Gavin stole the song too, from the theme to Benson.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Gavin doesn't wear shoes in order to keep him grounded, as he puts it. It also does wonders when a rock band is trying to electrocute you...
- Pyrrhic Victory: Thanks to Charlie having to run from Cliff, Doxxxology get away with Gavin's murder for enough time to achieve real success with "Sucker Punch." That success comes crashing down right before they're about to sign a new record deal.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Charlie has a small, but scathing one for Ruby after putting together that the whole band killed Gavin for the rights to his song:Charlie: You know what, Ruby? I knew that you were a has-been. But it's worse than that. Alright, you're a hack. And maybe I won't get to see you in an orange jumpsuit, but you'll be in that orange "Build Box" apron for the rest of your sad little hacky life!
- Stealing the Credit: The band kills Gavin to steal his song. In a twist of irony, Gavin copied the melody from Benson's theme song.
- Stolen Credit Backfire: It turns out the melody of Gavin's song was taken from the theme song for Benson, opening up Doxxxology to a lawsuit if they continue playing it. Which is the least of their problems as Charlie also sent evidence to a true crime podcaster that they killed Gavin.
- Stupid Crooks: They're all dumb to some degree:
- Al is monumentally stupid. After Gavin's death, he's not only trying to sell Gavin's amp on eBay, but Charlie spies him singing a warm-up song called "You Can't Un-Murder Someone" when sneaking into the trailer to check Gavin's amp for foul play.
- Ruby comes up with the murder plan, which is smart. Still, she is willing to admit to killing Gavin when cornered by Charlie, despite not knowing about Charlie's ability or whether she had a way to record the confession.
- Eskie doesn't do anything but follow Ruby's plan, but is really stupid about the law. He tries to pawn off "Sucker Punch" as a homage when the Benson connection is uncovered.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Subverted. It turns out that Scott, the narc looking guy asking for drugs is not actually a cop, but rather an actuary who is just bad at buying drugs. Really, really, really bad at buying drugs.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If Charlie hadn't convinced Ruby to take it easy on Gavin, they wouldn't have let him stay in their hotel for a night. That means they wouldn't have heard his song and later killed him for it.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: Ruby Ruin works a menial job in a hardware store, but still tours and is still chasing after the next hit for the band. She, more than any of them, wants a hit so bad that when Gavin has one, she resorts to murder.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Charlie's face is clearly thinking it when she spies Al strumming "you can't un-murder someone" in the Doxxxology trailer.
