"One thing you learn from my job, is no one knows anyone, not really."
— Sergeant Sophie Mason
Safe is a French-British television series created by crime author Harlan Coben. The show is available internationally on Netflix.
Englishman Tom Delaney (Michael C. Hall), is a pediatric surgeon and widowed father of two teenage daughters. He is struggling to connect to his daughters as they still grieve the loss of his wife from cancer one year prior. After his 16-year-old daughter Jenny goes missing, Tom ends up uncovering a web of secrets as he frantically searches for her.
Tropes in this series include:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Sophie sobs and begs Tom not to turn her in for murder because she loves him. Despite obviously trying to avoid going to jail, she seems genuine. Tom considers it, but his conscience gets the better of him and he calls the police.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Bobby, who held Jenny captive and killed Helen, and Sophie, who is the culprit behind the murder of Chris Chahal.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The community is gated to keep out crime after a school was set on fire. Sophie, Rachel, Helen, Bobby, and Craig didn't mean to set the school on fire. They snuck into school at night to mess up the classroom of a teacher that they hated, but they started setting papers on fire and it got out of hand. Unable to put it out, they escaped the school and stole the CCTV tape so no one would know it was them, but unbeknownst to them at the time, there were eight younger children doing a sleepover there and were killed. With no evidence as to who started the fire, the blame was pinned on a nearby drug-addicted squatter.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Tom disliked Chris when he was dating Jenny. It turns out he tapped her phone so that he could see and hear her conversations with Chris, and it's enough for her to want to stay with Helen for a while. This doesn't stop him from being as abhorred by his murder and wanting justice for him just as much as he wants to find his daughter.
- Dirty Coward: Rachel, Bobby, Helen, and Sophie never confessed to their crime. What Rachel would've done if she still had time is unknown, Helen never says anything (though she keeps the CCTV tape intact out of guilt), Bobby kills his own former friend Helen and kidnaps a girl to keep them quiet, and Sophie attempts to manipulate Tom and Jenny into letting her get away with it and Chris's murder.
- Disc-One Final Boss: After Bobby is confronted and killed, it seems to be the end of it. And then Tom realizes that Sophie killed Chris.
- Driven to Suicide: Bobby shoots himself in the head when Tom and Sophie confront him at the apartment, unwilling to kill Tom, Sophie, and/or Jenny.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Neil Chahal plants falsified evidence of his wife Zoe having a sexual relationship with one of her students after having witnessed disturbing proof of just that.
- He Knows Too Much:
- Jenny is kidnapped by Bobby, who intends to kill her for knowing the truth behind the school fire. He also kills Helen for being willing to tell the truth, unlike him or Sophie.
- Chris was killed by Sophie when he confronted her about the truth about the school fire.
- Hypocrite: Sophie, a teen arsonist, became a cop. When Chris learns about this, he wants to call her out on it.
- I Did What I Had to Do:
- Bobby states that he didn't want to do this and seems to feel guilty over what he's done to cover up his and his friends' crime.
- Sophie killed Chris to keep her family together.
- It's All My Fault: Jenny, when she learns that her boyfriend is dead.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Rachel, Bobby, Helen, and Sophie. They all lived with guilt over what happened, but Sophie attempts to bargain at one point that isn't their guilt enough punishment for their crime? Helen is killed by Bobby when she threatens to reveal the truth, Bobby kills himself out of guilt and unwillingness to further kill, and Sophie receives comeuppance at the end for both this and Chris' murder, which came as a result of this.
- Last Het Romance: Pete is gay, and what made him realize this was a relationship with Emma's mother, who never told him she got pregnant out of being with him.
- Long-Lost Relative: Emma has to tell Pete that he is her father. Once the truth comes out, the two get along extremely well.
- Manipulative Bitch: Sophie was actually manipulating Tom and Jenny into agreeing to keep her from getting arrested.
- My Beloved Smother / Mama Bear: Sophie is one to the point that she gets in the way of Henry's questioning by attempting to demand to Emma that she should accompany him and that he doesn't have to do it. Having your son be questioned about a case that relates to a crime you did certainly would make one feel defensive. It also foreshadows that Sophie's motive for keeping this a secret was so that her children wouldn't think less of her.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rachel, Bobby, Helen, and Sophie feel immense guilt for what they've done. Craig, due to his scars, cannot.
- The look of absolute horror on Sophie's face after realizing she just killed Chris. Though the feeling seems to be over quickly since the killer immediately gets out of the pool, destroys evidence, and evades capture at all costs.
- Necessary Evil: After Bobby dies, Sophie decides to turn herself in for arson, but Tom and Jenny persuade her not to, believing that she's changed and that she can't afford to be arrested as a mother. Later, Tom realizes that Sophie was the one who killed Chris, leading to her getting arrested anyway, whether she likes it or not.
- Once More, with Clarity: After Sophie is arrested, we are given a montage of the scenes of Sophie investigating Chris's murder.
- Red Herring:
- The bovver boys that stab Pete while he and Tom tried following them have no connection to either Jenny's whereabouts or Chris' murder.
- Pete and Emma turning out to be father and daughter ultimately has nothing to do with anything.
- Tom having bugged Jenny's phone, and her discovery thereof at the party has no contribution to a possible motive for her willingly running away, simply being a case of him being overprotective.
- Zoe secretly having a Teacher/Student Romance with Ioan during the party while Neil secretly followed her to see what she was up to has nothing to do with anything other than giving the people involved an alibi. An awkward alibi.
- The Marshall family has nothing to do with Chris's murder and Jenny's disappearance. Their father is just worried that because Chris died in their pool, it'll make them look suspicious and will make them look bad in front of everyone. So he moves the body, cleans away the evidence, and lies during interrogation. Great idea!
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: One of the Marshall daughters was dealing drugs at the party, which is why their father is worried about how the family looks in front of other people in light of the murder that happened at their house, leading to him screwing up the police investigation just to hide what his daughter did.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Craig staying behind to try to save the children from the burning school ends up being in vain, as the kids die anyway. He is crippled for life.
- Skewed Priorities: Jojo Marshall obstructs the investigation by moving away the evidence and even lying during interrogation all because he doesn't want his family to look bad in front of other people.
- Spanner in the Works: Ironically, Jojo, of all people; While cleaning up the crime scene in his pool, he fishes out Sophie's pendant, which fell into the water during her and Chris' struggle, and put it into Sia's jewelry box, assuming it to be hers. When Emma, having retrieved it from the Marshall residence of her own accord when Sophie was watching over a hospitalised Henry, presents it to Jenny and Tom, it suddenly dawns upon Tom that Sophie was responsible for killing Chris.
- Take Care of the Kids: Sophie asks this of Tom when they're about to confront Bobby, which afterwards they would have Bobby and Sophie arrested (or worst case scenario, one of them dead). She was counting on this trope to make her sound like she's willing to turn herself in.
- Token Good Teammate:
- Craig stayed behind in the burning school in an attempt to save the kids.
- Helen. When the others give her the CCTV tape, she refuses to destroy it out of guilt. After talking to Jenny and learning that Chris is dead, resolves to turn herself in and persuade her remaining friends to do the same. She is killed by Bobby before that can happen.
- Would Hurt a Child: Sophie kills Chris when he threatens to reveal the truth about her.
