History Series / Patriot

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: John and his friends ambush a shop clerk, who shoots at them. After taking down and disarming the clerk, they all casually exit and walk down the street as if nothing happened. In the folk song narration, however, John reveals that he's pretty sure he's missing a few fingers and that several of his friends were also shot.
** Actually true of all of the injuries John sustains throughout, which are many. He maintains the same deadpan look throughout, although it gets increasingly glazed as the series goes on.
* MarketBasedTitle: Though it remained simply "Patriot" in many countries, it had to get the AmericanTitle treatment for German release. Justified, since most countries now associate the idea of 'Patriot' with {{Eagleland}}, but Germany still has their own brand of sensibilities (so does the UK, but they'd use their own slang to refer to a British Patriot).

* SitcomArchnemesis: Leslie Claret grows to gradually ''despise'' John at [=McMillan=] after numerous missed and finds increasing methods to make John's life even more difficult. [[spoiler:By the end of the show, he finally finds some respect for him and his struggles.]]

* TakeThat: The episode "Fuck John Wayne" includes a character noting that John Wayne's really name is Marion Morrison and that he shirked fighting in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII while later pretending to fight bravely in movies. He goes on to argue that Wayne's phony bravado has convinced lots of men to [[StiffUpperLip be ashamed of their own suffering]], so he wears a shirt reading "Fuck John Wayne" when exercising to remind himself not to try to hide his pain.

Nothing to do with the film ''Film/ThePatriot''.

* HurtingHero: Well, a hurting ''anti-hero'' at least, but John is clearly suffering from a combination of severe depression and PTSD, only worsened every time he's forced to commit another horrible act for the sake of his mission.

* TheSpeechless: Sophie, a female police officer in Agathe's crew, never speaks. In a second-season flashback, it's revealed that she's actually selectively mute and wouldn't even scream when attacked. Only Edward's hitting her with an entire bicycle (as per the manual) is extreme enough to make her scream.

* SitcomArchnemesis: Leslie Claret grows to gradually ''despise'' John at McMillan after numerous missed and finds increasing methods to make John's life even more difficult. [[spoiler:By the end of the show, he finally finds some respect for him and his struggles.]]

** John's prolonged attempts to requisition a chair for his safe house.

* BreatherEpisode: The second season includes an episode where John gets a very much-needed "day off" and is able to drink and smoke pot with his friends for most of the episode. It doesn't turn out well. Overall, it is kind of a VacationEpisode: while also other episodes are set in Paris, this is the only episode where they get to do touristy stuff (like freeing a slave, and laser tag) instead of going on missions.

* CatchPhrase: Overlapping with VerbalTic, John tends to react to statements sent his way with only a noncommittal "OK" or "Cool." When asked how he's doing, he usually replies, "Pretty good," which he admits in the second season is his default answer no matter how he's doing.

* CallBack: Edward says that he's going to quit being a congressman and instead look for buried treasure. This calls back to a flashback in which, while trying to buy beer as a child, he claimed to be an adult who finds buried treasure as a career.

* BreatherEpisode: The second season includes an episode where John gets a very much-needed "day off" and is able to drink and smoke pot with his friends for most of the episode. It doesn't turn out well. Overall, it is kind of a VacationEpisode: while also other episodes are set in Paris, this is the only episode where they get to do touristy stuff (like freeing a slave) instead of going on missions.

* BreatherEpisode: The second season includes an episode where John gets a very much-needed "day off" and is able to drink and smoke pot with his friends for most of the episode. It doesn't turn out well.

* VacationEpisode: After John spends the entire series so far on missions and on the brink of failure, the episode "Fuck John Wayne" is centered around him and many of the other characters getting to enjoy a day off together.

** Dennis insists that John include him in spy stuff, because he's so bored and capable.
** Birdbath insists that John [[spoiler:murder him so that a family he wronged can get his life insurance]].
** Ichabod insists that [[spoiler:he and John share a long, therapeutic hug]].

** Dennis insists that John include him in spy stuff, because he's so bored.

** Ichabod insists that John [[spoiler:give him a long, therapeutic hug]].

When a helicopter crash suddenly changes the course of the upcoming Iranian election, giving a religious hardliner a chance to actually become the new President, intelligence officer John Tavener is sent undercover as an employee at a piping firm as part of a plot to funnel money to a less volatile candidate. There's just one problem -- John is still recovering from a string of missions that ended badly, and has taken to smoking pot and writing overly-confessional folk songs in order to cope, which makes it hard for him to pose as a straight-laced mid-level employee. Luckily, his dad, who also happens to be his boss, has sent his older brother Edward to watch over him. Edward is well-meaning, but a little too excited to be doing something cool and important. HilarityEnsues. Or rather a {{Tragedy}} with funny PlotArmor.

* AntiHero: John Tavener. He's on a morally dubious mission for the good of America, doing very immoral things that obviously weigh heavily on his conscience. He exercises very little free will of his own, being effectively a puppet of his father, and his anti-hero status is weighted heavily on the fact that he clearly doesn't ''want'' to be involved in anything he's doing.

** Thomas Tavener uses his sons as field agents in highly dangerous missions that are outside US law, placing national security over his own family. The show examines the moral ambivalence of this.

* TheAlcoholic: Leslie is a recovering alcoholic who destroyed his life and his professional reputation. After his recovery, he's forced to get a job he's vastly underqualified for.

* TheAlcoholic: Leslie is a recovering alcoholic who destroyed his life and his professional reputation. After his recovery, he's forced to get a job he's vastly overqualified for.

* TheSpeechless: Sophie, a female police officer in Agathe's crew, never speaks. In a second-season flashback, it's revealed that she's actually selectively mute and doesn't even scream when attacked. Only Edward's hitting her with an entire bicycle surprises her enough to make her scream.

* TheSpeechless: Sophie, a female police officer in Agathe's crew, never speaks. In a second-season flashback, it's revealed that she's actually mute.

** Myna and John encounter Poullian on the subway. As an additional coincidence, Poullian is about to receive John's photo on his phone: early enough to recognize him, but not early enough to say "freeze!"

* VacationEpisode: After John spends the entire series so far on missions and on the brink of failure, the episode ''Fuck John Wayne'' is centered around him and many of the other characters getting to enjoy a day off together.