Students don't usually like having to go to school under normal circumstances, so imagine how the students at Kent High School feel considering what's happening to them. While the teens are attending Saturday detention at the school, a chemical plant meltdown causes an explosion of their small town. They survive but are now trapped inside the educational institution — and they are not alone. Predatory mutant freaks have taken over the school and town, leading to a battle between them and the students. Escape is not an option because venturing outside into the dangerous unknown presents its own life-and-death stakes for the teenagers.
Freakish is a Horror television series on the network Hulu, in junction with Awesomeness TV. The show is memorable for featuring social media stars who received their fame on the now-defunct Vine video site. This show has been described as "The Walking Dead meets The Breakfast Club" for its similarities. Season 1 premiered on October 10th, 2016. It was renewed for a second season, which premiered on October 16th, 2017.
This show provides examples of:
- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: When the freaks are attracted to gangrene or when they are especially ravenous, the doors can be seen as this, even if they have been barricaded by pieces of wood.
- Action Girl: Zoe has a great deal of agility and thinks on her feet. Violet in season 2, without killing anyone.
- All for Nothing: Ollie and Anka reveal that they have a beacon, however only Ollie manages to escape.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Natalie gradually falls for Diesel in season 1.
- Anyone Can Die: Oh man.
- Noodle dies after being "eaten" by mutant!Mary.
- An already-dying Natalie sacrifices herself to save her friends who were trying to ward off freaks.
- Barrett kills La Shawn, who was already slowly dying due to gangrene and diabetic complications.
- Jake kills Red with Red's skateboard and stuffs his body in a nearby locker.
- Felicity sacrifices herself to save the survivors on the roof from the freaks.
- Violet gets stabbed in the eye by Earl.
- Hailey shoots a window, allowing the fallout to enter through the cracks and a bunch of freaks attack Earl and Jake. However, Jake disappears.
- Apocalyptic Log: Violet, Zoe, and Natalie make short logs in season 1. Seems to be aborted in season 2.
- Arc Villain: Barrett manages to be a villain at least once each season. In the first season, he's already established as a Jerkass who sold out his friends for an app. Then he becomes a villain again when Collins shows up and claims he's been wanted by the FBI for hacking into Keller Chemical. In season 2, he becomes an Arc Villain again, maintaining that status as villain when he kills La Shawn.
- Anka, to a lesser extent. She manages to piss all of the survivors off by reading Diesel's files over the intercom and lies to Ollie about his ex-girlfriend Tanya.
- Artistic License – Medicine: Collins shows up with a vaccine so the survivors can walk into the fallout air without getting sick. Barrett suspects foul play, because no one can even understand how the contaminated air can cause civilians to turn into cannibalistic mutated freaks.
- Averted with La Shawn's portrayal of type II diabetes. La Shawn is perfectly healthy in season 1, where he is a well-respected jock amongst Kent, but when his sugar levels go dangerously low, he starts to hallucinate and eventually falls into a diabetic coma. Diabetics also must be on antibiotics when they have an open wound injury because diabetics cannot heal from wounds as fast as non-diabetics, so his time was very short, even with Grover going outside to get supplies.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: The survivors prepare themselves to find and subdue a recently turned Mary, however Grover, La Shawn, and Zoe drop their weapons when they see her.
- Basically, when any survivor prepare themselves to ward off any freaks in their path, they end up dropping their weapons and making a run for it!
- Back for the Dead: La Shawn comes back in the season 1 finale to be killed by Barrett two episodes into the second season.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Zoe & Violet in season 1. Anka & Violet, and Grover & Barrett in season 2.
- Badass Crew: The high school survivors in season 1. The drug store survivors in season 2.
- Badass in Distress: Zoe, especially in season 2; after losing her boyfriend and her best friend, she betrays her friends for the Keller siblings in order to get to her brothers.
- Batter Up!: Diesel's weapon of choice, adorned by a couple loose screws on top to make for a true apocalypse weapon.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Elise wants her brother to eat something.
- Berserk Button: Don't try to harm Mary, even if she's a freak.
- Barrett tends to push everyone's Berserk Button, whether intentionally or not.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mary turning makes her into a cynical badass.
- Also, Hailey's not as useless as people around her claim to say.
- Big Bad: Keller Chemical. From what we have seen, the company has caused a genocidal apocalypse, has tried to kill the high school survivors, and has tortured La Shawn for information. When Zoe and Violet discover that Anka and Ollie are part of the Keller family and that Zane works as Keller Chemical security, the school survivors are immediately disenchanted and start distrusting them. Even the drug store survivors start distrusting them.
- Project Wednesday may be considered a Big Bad as well. Using civilians as humanoid soldiers without their consent? Check. Bombing an entire county to test said soldiers' abilities? Check. And possibly having your child as a retrieval target to become an experiment? Check.
- Bittersweet Ending: The season 1 finale. The high school survivors have warded the blue suits off their backs and La Shawn is shown to have been survived from being outside, however Natalie is dead and there is no other way for anyone to escape, while the freaks take over the Kent science wing.
- The drug store survivors and the high school survivors celebrate finally being able to escape the school, thanks to the Keller Siblings' beacon. It is also Violet's birthday, so they are celebrating her birthday during an apocalypse. Then Ollie drugs the survivors as well as his little sister with his anti-anxiety medication after having his trust broken by her, and escapes with the beacon.
- Earl has been ambushed by the freaks, ridding Hailey of her abusive guardian. Also, it's implied that Jake has survived being eaten by the freaks. Birdie has a seizure but there are no freaks nearby, which means someone is turning. The person hasn't been revealed as of now so it is fair game, except for Birdie who cannot turn. Violet is now dead. Grover survives from breathing the contaminated air and from being shot, which may imply that his father turned him into an experiment.
- Black Dude Dies First: The coach in season 1.
- La Shawn in season 2.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Season 2, for not only having the most significant deaths but having many survivors covered in blood on occasions, and the survivors are killing more freaks with a little less guilt than before. Also, there is blood splattered in parts of the school.
- Bloody Horror
- Boom, Headshot!: Collins shoots a freak attacking Grover.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Barrett kills La Shawn in season 2. Had he not kill La Shawn, the high school survivors would have died due to the many freaks in their vicinity. Zoe responds by calling Barrett a monster who wanted to get rid of La Shawn, which is also true.
- The show's minor theme is mercy killing. There are instances where characters (namely Hailey and Violet) who express discomfort with killing a freak. Grover cries when he kills his first freak in season 1, however he refuses to kill mutant!Mary, or have anyone lay a finger on her. Zoe expresses her distaste over killing anyone in both seasons, despite killing a couple freaks in self defense. Diesel kills a couple freaks in the science wing to cope with his girlfriend's untimely death and to deplete the freak population, but can't bring himself to kill another one after Felicity's death. However on the other side, Barrett expresses killing — or at least testing — the freaks for survival. La Shawn also expresses killing mutant!Mary after she kills his best friend Noodle. Both sides have valid points; there is still a bit of human in the freaks so it may be hard to kill them, however when it comes to survival, killing a mutated freak may be necessary.
- Break the Cutie: Mary after she gets bitten by Addy and slowly turns to a freak.
- Zoe, gradually through season 1 and season 2.
- Averted with Sadie.
- Break the Haughty: Barrett has a emotional breakdown over killing La Shawn, losing Zoe's trust, and leaving Grover to be shot and captured by Keller.
- The Bus Came Back: La Shawn goes to alert the fire department that water is running out in "Outsiders". He comes back in "Prey", with more blue suits.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In "Saved", Barrett tries to expose Collins for making a "vaccine", but he doesn't have much proof until he hacks the Keller Chemical server. Grover exposes him in "Prey".
- Birdie, Jake, and eventually Hailey stand up to Earl throughout the second season.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Barrett. So much.
- Also Anka and Ollie, after it's been revealed that they are part of the Keller family.
- This was Zane after he revealed to be Violet's ex-boyfriend as well as a Keller employee, but Diesel finds out that Jake stole the guns.
- Central Theme: Mercy killing. Look at the Both Sides Have A Point entry for an explanation.
- Friendship. In a matter of a season, the high school survivors become friends, or at least have a mutual respect for each other in Barrett's case. Some examples including: Natalie rekindling her friendship with Zoe; Violet growing closer with Zoe, especially after Natalie's death; and Barrett finding a friend in Grover when they both are shunned by the survivors and get to know things about Keller, Grover's dad, and each other.
- Love and relationships. Zoe's relationship with La Shawn is one of the healthiest relationships. They have a mutual respect for each other and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. They also manage to make up in the same episode they fight in. Diesel and Natalie manage to be a short-lived Beta Couple who understand each other and don't necessarily care about each other's reputation, until Natalie dies. Grover and Violet replace Diesel/Natalie in Season 2 as Beta Couple until they break up.
- Trust. It is defintely a slow build, but the high school survivors learn to trust each other. It waives off every now and then, but they can trust each other to kill if they ever turn, and have each other's backs in any dire situation.
- Corruption. Throughout season 2, Grover learns that his father is part of Project Wednesday, an experiment that turns normal people into humanoid soldiers, in the case of Jake and Birdie. He slowly understands that his father may be corrupt, especially after he reaches the help point with Barrett and obtain more information about Project Wednesday. Also, the government doesn't seem to care much about Kent County, because it's been over a week and no one has been saved.
- Characters Dropping Like Flies: It is inevitable that most of the characters may die at the end of the show. This may be averted with Grover because of his status as a retrieval target, and Barrett because of his knowledge of Keller Chemical and its corruption.
- Chekhov's Skill: Anka's knowledge of archery is enough to subdue Jake to save the survivors from the fallout shelter.
- Cliffhanger: Most episodes end with a cliffhanger.
- Comforting The Window: Sadie unknowingly does this to Diesel.
- Barrett comforts Zoe after Natalie's death. He does it again after he kills La Shawn.
- Crapsack World
- Creepy Basement: The fallout shelter doesn't look like a nice place to stay in. It becomes even more creepy in season 2 after the freaks escape and when Diesel discovers a secret wall that holds a mysterious vault, with a 30-year-old corpse in there.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Natalie, Natalie, Natalie.
- Violet didn't deserve to die instantly, either.
- Darker and Edgier
- A Day in the Limelight: Mary gets one in "Secrets" as she slowly turns to a freak. Everyone is understandably worried and distrustful of Grover for not telling anyone of Mary's affliction.
- Zoe gets one after La Shawn's death, where she goes through a great deal of guilt and grief, until Barrett reveals he killed La Shawn.
- Violet and Zane receive one of their previous relationship on "Dare".
- Barrett gets this in the season 2 finale, when he breaks down over his guilt.
- Dead Star Walking: Chad L. Coleman is a pretty well-known actor in television, and he dies in the second episode of the series.
- A Death in the Limelight: Natalie in season 1. La Shawn in season 2.
- Death of a Child: When Natalie dies, her baby dies too.
- Devoured by the Horde
- Diabolus ex Machina: Every damn time the survivors are so close to escaping, they take two steps back.
- Season 1: Collins shows up with the promise to help them escape from the school, until Grover and Barrett reveals that Collins doesn't work for the government; he works for Keller. The "vaccines" he tries to distribute to the survivors are actually poison; and Collins has a mission to eliminate them instead of saving them. In season 2, it is revealed that they were to turn into experiments by Project Wednesday.
- Season 2: Anka and Ollie Keller have a beacon for any dire circumstance and the reason why they've been stalling is because they need a place to land the helicopter. However, Ollie's trust has been shattered by Anka and he realizes that the survivors are not his friends so he escapes on his own.
- Eaten Alive: The Walking Dead style.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: YMMV about Barrett, but he has genuine care for Zoe, his old babysitter Elise (and his neighbors), and eventually Grover.
- Everyone Has Standards: Grover refuses to kill mutant!Mary or let anyone kill her.
- Violet refuses to kill any freaks.
- Barrett doesn't mind testing a freak, but he refuses to trust the Keller siblings, or any of the Keller employees.
- Eye Scream: How Violet dies.
- Fog of Doom: The chemical fallout causes civilians to turn into mutated freaks once inhaled.
- Foil: The one off character, Elise, serves as a small one for Grover. She has an infected younger brother she is desperate to save. Her decision to sacrifice Grover to her brother suggests that Barrett was right when he told the group that Grover couldn't be trusted about Mary.
- Good Is Not Nice: Barrett when Collins shows up.
- Gory Discretion Shot: In season 1, you see a Freeze-Frame Bonus of the freaks eating the coach inside the fallout shelter.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: It's been implied that the reason why Keller caused the chemical accident is to have control over the county and create experimental humanoids using the survivors. That also might mean that "retrieval targets" like Grover are people meant to become experiments.
- Hell Is That Noise: In "Attraction", it is revealed that the freaks are really, really attracted to gangrene. When Diesel tries to fight a freak, the freak is distracted by the smell, and lets out a shrill noise.
- The noise is doubled when a bunch of freaks are trying to break in the school while La Shawn is slowly dying.
- Heroic BSoD: Zoe experiences this after La Shawn's death. Barrett starts to feel immense guilt after Grover gets captured by the government, to the point where Grover is his imaginary conscience.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Natalie and Felicity.
- Hidden Depths: Zoe is agile from her extensive background in gymnastics.
- Grover can easily evade the freaks inside the bunker.
- Violet can make a low-grade ether with high school chemicals, which allows the survivors to knock out the freaks and get a couple masks from the fallout shelter.
- Anka is knowledgable in archery.
- Hollywood Darkness: Season 1 is definitely darker than season 2, in lighting.
- Hope Spot: The Keller siblings' beacon.
- Collins.
- How We Got Here: The entire "Trespass" cold open explains how La Shawn gets to the police station and found out some disturbing truths about Keller.
- Improvised Weapon: Diesel's nail-studded baseball bat. Doubles as Iconic Item.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Barrett may be the worst person to be around during a genocidal apocalypse, but he is definitely useful. He distrusted Collins from the beginning and finds his own way to prove that Collins was lying the entire time, and he also has tried to expose Keller before the chemical explosion.
- Anka has this in shades.
- Jump Scare: More often than you think, which is to be expected. There are some false ones.
- Last Episode, New Character: Grover's dad in "Turning".
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Very often in different episodes. Sometimes some people are forced to separate from the group, in the case of Grover and Barrett.
- Love Confession: Grover to Violet in "Saved".
- Diesel to Natalie in "Outsiders".
- Love Triangle: Barrett, Zoe, & La Shawn. Barrett has an unrequited crush on Zoe, who is dating La Shawn. There are many hints in season 1 that Barrett would do anything to get La Shawn out of the picture, and he gets his chance in "Attraction", even though he doesn't want to. He admits it out loud to Grover when they lament on their past relationships inside the fire truck.
- A subtle one is Grover, Violet, & Zane.
- Made of Plasticine: Diesel beats a freak's arm so hard it falls off in "Attraction".
- Averted with La Shawn.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The high school survivors have one when the freaks escape the fallout shelter in "Prey".
- Mercy Kill: Barrett to La Shawn.
- Averted with Mary.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: The mutated freaks. Their only source of food are other humans. They are esecialy attracted to gangrene.
- A scene in season 2 with Barrett and Elise reveals that freaks will not eat raw animals. Elise tries to feed her mutated brother their pet, but he doesn't and would much rather attack a human instead.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Barrett and La Shawn have this in common.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Barrett experiences this after killing La Shawn and abandoning Grover.
- My Greatest Failure: Violet thinks that blowing up Zane's car inadvertenly caused the explosion, when it wasn't.
- Barrett didn't get to expose Keller and Project Wednesday before the chemical explosion. He also thinks that losing Zoe is this.
- Never Trust a Trailer: Season 2's trailer shows that someone will be burning freaks with a flamethrower. Fire doesn't even make an appearance...at all.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Grover tampers with the Keller siblings' beacon so they won't call any more "blue suits". However, the group who decided to leave the beacon where unable to use it in a safe spot as originally planned due to Freaks claiming it. They were forced to use a alternate spot leading to Felicity’s brutal death. This lead to the groups fracturing due to mistrust and Grover's exile.
- Nightmare Face: The freaks.
- No Periods, Period: It has only been over a week in-universe but it's kind of suspicious that none of the girls mention having any menstrual symptoms.
- Not a Zombie / Not Using the "Z" Word: Even Grover corrects Zane, calling them freaks.
- Once per Episode: The survivors fight a freak every episode, either killing them or evading them in time.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Downplayed with Diesel after Collins shoots him on the leg.
- Played straight with Jake. He has been shot with an archery bow and has been eaten by freaks but he survives, each time.
- Also downplayed with Sadie.
- Only One Name: Most of the high school survivors are only known by their first name in season 1, until their last names are revealed.
- Played straight with a few of the drug store survivors (Red, Felicity, Sadie) and with the experiments (Jake, Birdie).
- Party Scattering: Season 2 has the most Party Scattering due to a growing number of survivors and experiments.
- Grover, Barrett, Diesel, and Violet after Zoe betrays them for the Kellers.
- The drug store survivors and Zoe.
- After Grover is revealed to be a retrieval target, it separates again to Grover and Barrett.
- Diesel and Violet join the other survivors.
- Diesel, Zoe, Sadie, and Zane are locked inside the bunker while Anka and Violet aren't.
- Earl, Birdie, Hailey, and Jake.
- By the season finale, Barrett is alone with Tanya while Hailey and Birdie join the remaining school survivors. Grover is left with his father.
- The Plague
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Zoe: WE! WERE! TRAPPED!
- Another one in the same episode: FELICITY. DIED.
- Put on a Bus: Mary's last episode was "Weakness". After she's set free, she's never seen again but she is mentioned periodically.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Zoe calls Barrett out on his lies after he admits that he killed La Shawn, severing their friendship.
- Several people call out Grover when it is revealed that Grover is a retrieval target, and that his father may have started the chemical spill. The most notable one is Violet's, whch further severs Grover's relationships with the survivors.
- Ollie and Violet give a couple to Anka, on different occasions.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Anka and Hailey.
- Room Full of Zombies: Season 1 had most of the school freaks inside the fallout shelter until Collins sets them free.
- Rousing Speech: Ollie delivers one to the survivors, knowingly making them ingest his anti-anxiety medication with the alcohol and then escaping when they are sleeping.
- Run or Die
- Sacrificial Lion: Natalie.
- Safe Zone Hope Spot: Grover and Barrett find out about a help point nearby, but the trope is averted once they find out more information.
- Sanity Slippage: What the survivors think is happening to La Shawn in season 1, but they find out that he had a diabetic hallucination.
- The survivors go through this, little by little.
- Scare Chord: There are sharp ones for false jumpscares as well as whenever a freak is near.
- Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: The vault.
- Second Episode Introduction: The drug store survivors in season 2.
- Secret-Keeper: Grover. He keeps the secret about Mary and himself.
- Simultaneous Arcs: Season 2.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Violet.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Kent County is full of secrets.
- Token Minority:
- La Shawn is the only black person in season 1 after the coach's death.
- Violet is the only Asian until Felicity shows up.
- Zane, Tanya, and Birdie by the end of season 2 manage to be the only people of color.
- Took a Level in Badass: Zoe, Anka, and Violet.
- Hailey as well.
- Barrett.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Ollie, for ditching his sister with the survivors.
- Trailers Always Spoil: La S hawn barely shows up in the season 2 trailer.
- True Companions / Heterosexual Life-Partners:
- Noodle, Zoe, and La Shawn. Noodle doesn't feel like a third wheel and Zoe happily accepts Noodle as a friend rather than push him away.
- Anka and Ollie, until Anka reveals to Ollie a lie about Tanya.
- Grover and Barrett in season 2. Their relationship is hinted in season 1 when Grover is the first one to believe Barrett about Collins.
- Jake and Birdie.
- Unspecified Apocalypse: It is unsure if the show would ever really explore in-depth on how the air makes people turn into mutated freaks, but we do know some hints.
- Villain Decay: Barrett with the help of Grover in season 2.
- The Virus / Viral Transformation: The chemical fallout causes people to turn into cannibalistic mutated freaks overnight. It's also possible by being bitten by the afflicted, in the case of Mary. It slowly turns a human into the undead, with an appetite for human flesh, and it is not asymptomatic. Animals and experiments are unable to turn, as shown by Jake and Birdie.
- We Used to Be Friends: Natalie and Zoe's past relationship was severed due to Natalie throwing Zoe under the bus. They rekindle ther friendship, but not for long.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Elise believes that the government are making a cure/vaccine to restore humanity. She dies before she realizes that they are not.
- Felicity believes in this too. She dies as well.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Grover tampers with the beacon so that neither Anka nor Ollie can call in more blue suits, but that was their only way to get out of there. He also doesn't tell anyone that he's a retrieval target, making everyone mad at him.
- Zoe betrays her friends' trust for the sake of finding her brothers, after losing her best friend and boyfriend.
- Barrett is no means a hero, but he has his moments where he seems like he's redeeming himself and then does something stupid or unorthodox.
- Hailey shoots the window instead of Earl. Despite her badassery, she caused one, or more of the survivors to turn.
- You Are Already Infected: Earl shoots a survivor after he's been bitten by a freak.
- Mary.
- Someone (or multiple people) amongst the remaining survivors are turning. It isn't implied who, but Birdie is the only one who cannot turn.
