History Series / Salvation

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Darius Tanz is obviously a fictionalized [=SpaceX=], perhaps with a bit of UsefulNotes/SteveJobs thrown in.

* HeroesWantRedheads: By Season 2 at least three protagonists have been, or still are, pining for Claire.

* KillSat: [[spoiler:The reason RE/SYST launch Russian ICBMs is so they can leave one in orbit and use it to threaten the world governments into doing their bidding, lest they use the missile's 13 nuclear warheads to wipe out the capitals of the global powers.]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/salvation_intertitle.jpg]]

''Salvation'' is a 2017 suspense drama TV series. Originally announced in 2013, it was only picked up in 2016.

Currently, the original 13-episode run has been completed. It's announced that the second season will be aired soon after it was renewed.

* TheArk: Tanz has built a bomb shelter/launch pad for a spacecraft meant to take survivors and some of the greatest cultural treasures to Mars in the event of a global catastrophe. He assign's Liam's girlfriend to select the viable candidates. He doesn't plan on joining them, as he has the gene for Huntington's, and it would be irresponsible to allow it to spread in the surviving humankind.

* AteHisGun: The government traces a hack to [[spoiler:Lazlo, Tanz's chief of security and best friend]], finding him dead, apparently having shot himself with his own gun. [[spoiler:Tanz, of course, doesn't believe it. The true culprit is Professor Croft, who injected Lazlo with a tranquilizer and then staged the "suicide". ]]
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: Harris is about to be shot by Claire for "treason", even though she's the traitor. There's a close-up of her gun, then a gunshot... and she falls. The camera focuses on Grace, who's standing behind Harris with a gun.

** Darius becomes this to... well, just about anyone who had sympathies for him when he [[TookALevelInJerkass turns into an even bigger jerk]] in Season 2.
* CliffHanger: Season 1 ends in one, with Liam leaving the Ark to help Tanz solve the problem with Samson's iron core. Meanwhile, Russia (or RE/SYST hacking into Russia) has launched three [=ICBMs=] at the United States with President Mackenzie about to retaliate.

* {{Cult}}: Bass Shepherd and his merry band of fatalists in Season 2 are touted as a self-help group but really feel more like a cult instead, what with the messianic leader, "donating" your material possessions to the group, and so on. [[spoiler:True enough, they turn out to be an ApocalypseCult that ''wants'' Samson to hit the Earth and resorts to sabotage to make it happen.]]

** In season 2, it's revealed that [[spoiler: he's ''much'' worse than originally thought]]. [[spoiler: He is one of the founders of Q-17, an evil CIA-esque organization who is behind the assassination of President [=McKenzie=]]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: Cult leader Shepherd preaches acceptance of the inevitable extinction of human life on Earth, only to spend at least part of the money he rips off of his followers on a spot in a luxury doomsday bunker.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In order to keep Bennett from using Twitter to turn public support against Mackenzie, the latter orders the internet shut down. Unfortunately, this nearly results in [[spoiler:the RE/SYST-controlled ICBM in orbit engaging its fail-safe, when it doesn't receive the expected signal once a day]]. Fortunately, internet access is restored, thus averting disaster.

* OhCrap: Many such moments, but one that stands out is when Samson is struck by another, smaller asteroid (a billion to one chance)... and ''nothing happens''. Liam and Tanz realize that the asteroid isn't porous like they'd assumed. It must have a solid iron core, which means the government's ShootTheBullet approach not only won't work, but will destroy the [=EM=] drive and end any hope of saving human civilization. Another even greater moment near the end of Season 2, when [[spoiler:Samson ''dodges'' a railgun shot, revealing itself to be an alien spacecraft]].

* UnexpectedSuccessor: After Bennett's betrayal, President Mackenzie makes [[spoiler:Darius Tanz]] as her new Vice President. [[spoiler:Just before Tanz decides to resign in order to devote all of his time to the railgun project, Mackenzie is murdered, leaving him in charge.]]

* GreaterScopeVillain: RE/SYST appears to fall here in the season 1 finale, almost starting a nuclear war between Russia and the United States, then taking thw world hostage with a hacked ICBM.

* AteHisGun: The government traces a hack to Lazlo, Tanz's chief of security and best friend]], finding him dead, apparently having shot himself with his own gun. [[spoiler:Tanz, of course, doesn't believe it. The true culprit is Professor Croft, who injected Lazlo with a tranquilizer and then staged the "suicide". ]]

* AteHisGun: The government traces a hack to Lazlo, Tanz's chief of security and best friend]], finding him dead, apparently having shot himself with his own gun. [[spoiler:Tanz, of course, doesn't believe it. The true culprit is Professor Croft, who injected Lazlo with a tranquilizer and then staged the "suicide".

** Later, [[spoiler: Q-17 and C.O.P.E.]] use chemical torture on [[spoiler: Darius to force him to reveal the launch codes for the ark]].

* LoveTriangle: Harris, Grace, and Darius.

* {{Cult}}: Bass Shepherd and his merry band of fatalists in Season 2 are touted as a self-help group but really feel more like a cult instead, what with the messianic leader, "donating" your material possessions to the group, and so on.

* {{Cult}}: Bass Shepherd and his merry band of fatalists in Season 2 are touted as a self-help group but really feel more like a cult instead.

* BrokenPedestal: Professor Malcolm Croft to Liam, who turns out to be working for the Russians all this time. Liam is forced to shoot Croft in self-defense, although Croft is shown to have survived.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Darius Tanz is obviously a fictionalized [[UsefulNotes/SpaceX Elon Musk]], perhaps with a bit of UsefulNotes/SteveJobs thrown in.

* WhamLine: The end of season 2: [[spoiler: "If it's not an asteroid, what is it?" "Whatever it is...it's here."]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: RE/SYST, emphasis on the extremist part. Their main goal in season 2 is to [[Spoiler: divert the asteroid]]. But the way they try to accomplish this is by blowing up two aircraft carries to trick Russia into nuking the U.S., then taking control of an ICBM to hold the world hostage in order to form an international group of scientists to come up with an idea to stop the asteroid.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: It doesn't seem likely that a British-born man like Darius Tanz would be allowed to [[spoiler:ascend to the presidency of the United States, since the Constitutione explicitly forbids this]].

* TakeThat: Monroe Bennett is partially based on UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, claiming to want to make the country great again and using terms such as "fake news".

* OhCrap: Many such moments, but one that stands out is when Samson is struck by another, smaller asteroid (a billion to one chance)... and ''nothing happens''. Liam and Tanz realize that the asteroid isn't porous like they'd assumed. It must have a solid iron core, which means the government's ShootTheBullet approach not only won't work, but will destroy the [=EM=] drive and end any hope of saving human civilization.