History Series / Fortitude

Sky Atlantic/Pivot co-production (2015-present), ''Fortitude'' is what you get when you take a Scandi noir drama, do it in English and take it even further north. Oh and chuck in Creator/StanleyTucci as a British cop just for the co-prod money.

'''Petera:''' "Yes. And then hid her car afterwards.\\

-->'''Munk:''' "Hildur committed suicide."\\

* MultinationalTeam: Fortitude, despite being located on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, is home to an international community.

* HealingFactor: In the second season it is revealed that if the [[spoiler: wasp parasite]] doesn't kill you (or force you or others to kill yourself), it has the ability to [[spoiler: alter the host's genetic code in a way that enables soft tissue and even certain organs to be regenerated]].

** Erling Munk is cheating on his wife with his secretary back in Oslo. This proves useful to Hildur, who [[spoiler: blackmails her into providing his laptop password, allowing her to discover his corruption]].

** Jason Donnelly, who is shown to have a loving wife and young daughter, sleeping with HotScientist Natalie.

* UnexpectedRecovery: When Dan is found by Eric and Hildur at the start of the second season, he is suffering from such intense alcohol and chemical poisoning that the doctor is surprised he could even walk. Everyone is then more surprised when he seemingly recovers in a matter of days. [[spoiler: It is revealed to be a result of being infected by the wasps. By fighting the parasite and not dying from it, it altered his genetic code which enabled his body to regenerate damaged tissue]].

* WouldHurtAChild:[[spoiler: Tomak kills and decapitates Bianca, making it look like the work of the serial killer, simply because she accessed the research centre database and may have seen information about the illegal research Dr. Khatri was conducting on behalf of Shentel Biotech]].

* MercyKilling: Played with. At the very start of the show, Henry Tyson comes across Billy Pettigrew being eaten alive by a bear, and shoots him in the head in what appears to be a mercy killing. However, Henry was actually aiming for the bear, and thus holds himself responsible for Pettigrew's death, despite Anderssen trying to convince him that he did the right thing in putting Pettigrew out of his misery.

* BrickJoke: When DCI Morton first comes to Fortitude he remarks to Trish that he has heard about a dish called lutefisk and wants to try it. In Episode 5, he finally gets the chance.

** In Episode 1, Vincent asks Elena whether Dan Anderssen is a [[GoodCopBadCop good sheriff or a bad sheriff]]. She tells him that since there's never any crime in Fortitude, he's never had to do anything, so nobody knows. In Episode 5, she angrily confronts him about his beating of Frank and tells him, "You're a bad sheriff".

* CountryMatters: Yuri Lubimov calls Eric this, multiple times. Also used rather humorously by Hildur in the second season when talking about Erling Munk to the mayor of Vukobejina.

* Cliffhanger: The season two finale. [[spoiler: Dan descends further into madness due to the adverse effects of the wasp parasite, the status of Natalie is left unresolved, what caused the crazed eyeless Russians from Vukobejina (and why the Russian military has a presence there) is left un-elaborated, and after the death of Erling Munk the town is now left without a Governor]].

* AssholeVictim: Pettigrew, who is seen being [[spoiler: eaten alive by a polar bear and then shot]] in the first episode. Difficult to feel too sorry for him when its later revealed he is an [[spoiler: alcoholic, a misogynist and a rapist]].
** Dr Allerdyce. Although she may be a bitch to Jules, the Governor and even her own daughter, its hard not to feel sorry for her when [[spoiler: she is hacked open with a fork and later ''eaten alive from the inside'' by prehistoric parasitic wasps.]]

* FBIAgent: DCI Morton was formerly one. His team was sent to Scotland in the 80's to investigate the Lockerbie Bombing. Shortly after he fell in love with a Brit, moved to the UK and joined the London Met.

* AllThereInTheManual: The three mercenaries who attempt to kidnap [[spoiler Dan]] in the season two finale are never named onscreen. However, the episode credits reveal their names to be Devlin, Spindoe and Hogg.

* [[spoiler: FunctionalAddict]]: Charlie Stoddart is a successful professor of Biology and lead research scientist at the Fortitude Arctic Research Centre. It is later revealed he is also a [[spoiler: cocaine user]].

** Shentel Biotech's plan in the second season is to [[spoiler: extract Dan and all of the data from Dr. Khatri's research, then kill her and Erling Munk to cover their tracks]].

* MadDoctor: Dr. Sarinda Khatri has elements of this. [[spoiler: She literally ''vivisects'' Elena, who is drugged and unable to move, in order to observe the regenerative properties of the parasite. Later, when Natalie seems to catch on to her actions, she poisons her]]. She does however attempt to justify her actions by [[WellIntentionedExtremist claiming the research is for the greater good]].

** The police (Dan, Eric, Petra and Ingrid), as well as Erling Munk and Freya Lennoxare Norwegian. In the second season it is implied Ingrid and her brother Rune may be part American, as their father is Michael Lennox.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Dan issues one to [[spoiler: Frank]] when he arrests him.

* HealingFactor: In the second season it is revealed that if the wasp parasite doesn't kill you (or force you or others to kill yourself), it has the ability to [[spoiler: alter the host's genetic code in a way that enables soft tissue and even certain organs to be regenerated]].

** Subverted by Ingrid and Petra, who are seen getting hammered and partying off the clock.

* SuperToughness: A side effect of the [[spoiler: parasitic wasp infection. If you are able to survive the initial infection without dying/killing yourself/being killed by someone else, the parasite goes on to alter your genetic code to enable tissue to regenerate. The effects of this are impressive. In the 1942 flashback, an infected Soviet researcher is able to withstand 4 rifle shots and later regrow his appendix after it is removed. It allows Dan to recover from otherwise deadly alcohol poisoning in a matter of days, swim in freezing water without noticing the cold and close up the holes in his hands from when Vladek nails him to a pole in a matter of hours]].

* AllThereInTheManuel: The three mercenaries who attempt to kidnap [[spoiler Dan]] in the season two finale are never named onscreen. However, the episode credits reveal their names to be Devlin, Spindoe and Hogg.

* MurderSuicide: [[spoiler: Henry Tyson shoots DCI Morton in the stomach, leaving him to bleed out. He then blows his brains out.]]

* ArtisticLicensePolitics: In real life, the position of Governor covers the entirety of the Svalbard archipelago, not just one settlement on it, meaning Hildur's real life title would be Governor of Svalbard, not Governor of Fortitude.

* AnyoneCanDie: Made brutally apparant halfway through season 2 when [[spoiler: Hildur]] is killed.

** The EpiPen's Freya steals from Dr. Adebimpe. [[spoiler: She later uses them to give her the energy to drive to the abandoned mine and confront Vladek for abandoning her]].

* EmpatheticHealer: Vladek, a practitioner of Sami Shamanism, believes himself to be one. [[spoiler: He is actually a mentally ill junior electrician of Sami descent, whose intense belief in superstition causes him to murder several people and give Freya Lennox false hope he can cure her illness]].

* ParasiteZombie:[[spoiler: those infected by the parasitic wasps have their central nervous system and brain hijacked, forcing them to coldly hack open others in order to deposit the larvae into a secondary host. It also makes them impervious to the elements and even ''frostbite''.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Dr. Sarinda Khatri. [[spoiler: Although she has no problems performing illegal research by ''literally vivisecting'' people, and poisoning her colleagues, she argues that it is necessary in order to better understand the regenerative effects of the parasite, which if utilised in medicine could literally save millions]].

* BigFancyHouse: Professor Stoddart has the nicest house in the town.

* ChekhovsGun: Yuri's handcuffs he finds in Sheriff Anderssen's desk. It is later revealed they were [[spoiler: used by Pettigrew to restrain Elena whilst he raped her, then by Dan to cuff Pettigrew to the pylon where he was eaten. In the season 1 finale, Elena uses the same cuffs to try and restrain herself when she becomes infected with the parasite.]]

* DawsonCasting: In the second season, 16 year old Rune Lennox is played by 22 year old actor Edvin Endre.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Tomak, a barman in the Blue Fox, is a mercenary wanted by Interpol. [[spoiler: However he is murdered by Vladek before the police can arrest him]]. In the season 2 finale, three other mercenaries employed by Shentel Biotech are sent to Fortitude to extract [[spoiler: Dan]], who is wanted for research.

* YourCheatingHeart: Instead of looking after his ill son Liam, Frank Sutter chooses to go off with his mistress Elena and have sex. This comes back to bite him in the ass ''big time''. While he's gone, Liam escapes from his room, [[spoiler:somehow ends up at the scene of Charlie Stoddard's murder,]] and ends up with serious frostbite on his feet. When Frank returns and finds Liam covered in [[spoiler:Stoddard's]] blood, he panics, and in the process of cleaning Liam up he ends up covering his own shirt in blood. When the frostbite is discovered, his wife Jules is furious at him, and when she realizes why he was gone, she kicks him out. Frank's discarded, bloody shirt is later found, implicating him in [[spoiler:Stoddard]]'s murder, and when Dan Andersen arrives at Elena's apartment to arrest him, he loses his temper and beats him senseless. With the bloody shirt, and his alibi hinging on the testimony of [[spoiler:a convicted murderer]], he's an inch away from being charged with [[spoiler:Stoddard's]] murder before a repentant Anderssen realizes exactly ''how'' the blood got onto Frank's T-shirt and his HumiliationConga ''finally'' comes to a halt... for now.

** Vladek Klimov, a crazed and deeply spiritual Sami Shamanic who [[spoiler: goes around killing people to collect body parts, convinced that by using them in a ritual he will be able to banish a "demon" from Fortitude. Of course the evidence he has for this "demon" can actually be explained by the wasp parasite and its effects on people (violent temperament, change in personality and even regenerative healing factors)]].

** The police (Dan, Eric, Petra and Ingrid) are Norwegian.

** Many miners living on the island are Russian.

* MonstrousCannibalism: Polar bears on Svalbard have started to eat each other, something that the researchers at in Fortitude are trying to determine the cause of.

* ProductPlacement: Most characters wear Canada Goose brand coats. Even the police coats sport the logo on one shoulder.

* AnyoneCanDie

* BreakTheCutie: Applies to both Petra and Ingrid, who despite being cops are unaccustomed to the levels of violence and murder that sweeps the previously safe town.

* BodyHorror: What happens to the [[spoiler: secondary hosts of the virus]].

* CountryMatters: Yuri Lubimov calls Eric this, multiple times.

* DeadpanSnarker: DCI Morton. Especially evident when a startled Ciaran Donnelly draws a revolver on him when he knocks on the door of the hunting stores gun room.

* DrinkingOnDuty: Subverted. Sheriff Anderssen gets hammered once he is off the clock, but is then forced to go back on duty minutes later after hearing of [[spoiler:Stoddards]] murder. He realises the implication it could have, so promptly creates a vomit inducing concoction of salt water to puke away the evidence.
* DrowningMySorrows: Henry Tyson, due to his cancer and order to leave Fortitude
** Sheriff Anderssen after his advances are rejected by Elena.

* FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler: Elena is able to tell when the wasp parasite is taking control of her brain, and attempts to handcuff herself to the bed so she can't harm anyone. Sadly for Carrie, she fails.]]

* KillItWithFire: How Dan, Natalie and Vincent kill the [[spoiler: swarm of prehistoric wasps that emerges from Dr. Allerdyce.]].

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Yuri almost kills the driver of the ice drill so he can't identify him and Max when he regains consciousness. Thankfully, Max is able to stop him.

* ShootTheDog: Dan shoots [[spoiler: Professor Stoddart's]] dog before it can attack Vincent.

* StalkerWithACrush: Dan verges on this a couple of times, staring aimlessly at photos of Elena on the police database.

* VikingFuneral: [[spoiler: Shirley]] is given one by Markus after she [[spoiler: dies of a heart attack after being infected by the parasite]].

Sky Atlantic/Pivot co-production (2015-present), '''''Fortitude''''' is what you get when you take a Scandi noir drama, do it in English and take it even further north. Oh and chuck in Creator/StanleyTucci as a British cop just for the co-prod money.