Wicky's latest job, cleaning up in an abandoned mansion after a vagrant died there, is hampered by the presence of a shaman employed to cleanse the property of the various spirits that haunt it.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Dan a genuine shaman or is he faking it? There’s evidence to support either interpretation.
- Artistic License – Ornithology: A barn owl is seen overlooking the wake at the end. A hoot is heard. Barn owls are the owls that don’t actually hoot.
- As Himself: Well, almost. Shakin’ Stevens plays “Shaking Stephen”, the Shakin’ Stevens tribute act who Wicky hires to play at Keith’s wake.
- The Atoner: Wicky makes up for his bullying of Keith at school by organising his wake according to the specific instructions related to him via Dan. Even though he thinks a free bar in a homeless shelter is not really a good idea.
- Big Eater: Wicky says that he was once the runner-up in a whelk-eating contest. The winner died.
- Big "NO!": Dan does this when he sees that Wicky is about to fumigate the maggots he finds underneath the mattress.
- The Bully: At school, Wicky and his mates bullied Keith Patterson because he wet himself just before he was due to go on stage in a school play. This would appear to have set his life on a downward spiral which led to him dying as a vagrant.
- Flat "What": Wicky’s response on finding out that Dan’s being paid £450 to spiritually cleanse the house.
- Haunted House: Wicky’s first thought on arriving at the house is that it’s creepy. Dan is convinced that it’s haunted by several spirits, as (presumably) are the house’s new owners who have hired him.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Wicky starts to believe that Dan may actually be communicating with the ghost of Keith Patterson when he addresses him as “Wicky”, a detail Dan couldn’t have known as Wicky hadn’t actually introduced himself to Dan. Dan also mentions one of the nicknames Wicky made up for Keith that he had not previously mentioned.
- Line-of-Sight Alias: After Dan leaves, Wicky finds evidence that suggests he might have been doing this to get the names of the people whose spirits he apparently communicated with. It’s also how he might have known Wicky’s nickname, as it was written on his travel mug.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Wicky can’t believe it when Dan’s advice about burning sage and chanting actually gets his van to start. Dan subsequently goes into a trance and apparently communicates with several spirits who inhabit the house in front of the cynical Wicky. One of them turns out to be that of Keith Patterson, a boy Wicky was at school with — he was the vagrant who died in the house. While Wicky does come to think that Dan actually was communicating with Keith’s spirit, he later finds evidence after Dan leaves that suggests he may not have been.
- The Nicknamer: Wicky again. He had a lot of nicknames for Keith Patterson on account of the fact that he once wet himself at school. Most of them involve puns on the word “piss”. That said, he insists on Dan telling him his actual name.
- Ominous Owl: At the start, Wicky crashes his van when a barn owl flies into the windscreen. Dan finds this very distressing.
- Shout-Out: A couple of musical ones. Wicky catches Dan listening to “Sweet Like Chocolate” by Shanks & Bigfoot when he’s supposed to be doing some spiritual cleansing. He calls him out on this, leading Dan to ask him why he thinks a shaman shouldn’t like listening to Shanks & Bigfoot. Keith was a fan of Shakin’ Stevens and apparently wants Wicky to book a tribute act for his wake, which Wicky actually does.
- Special Person, Normal Name: The shaman’s real name (as in, the one that’s on his birth certificate) is Dan Watson.
- Witch Doctor: Dan is, or at least comes across as, one of these.
