Your neighbours aren't who they appear to be.
The Gates is an ABC 2010 show, revolving around a rich suburban community and its... unique inhabitants.
Police Officer Nick Monohan and his family have just moved from the Chicago to the titular suburban community of The Gates, hoping to escape from some bad memories. The community welcomes them with open arms, but it soon becomes obvious that there are several people in The Gates with secrets. The Radcliffs are a vampire couple trying to raise their adopted human daughter without endangering her with their lifestyle. Brett and several of his friends at the high school are werewolves. The local MD Peg and Spa owner Devon are both witches, but with very different motivations. However, they all live in the gates because it offers protection from the outside world, and would do anything to help their families.
Its cancellation was announced in October 2010.
Tropes:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Brett to Andie in "What Lies Beneath", episode 1X02. Of course, taking into consideration the revelation about Andie later in the episode, it isn't Brett's fault.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Werewolf hierarchy. If you beat the Alpha in a fight, you become the new Alpha.
- Beat Still, My Heart: Leigh Turner apparently keeps hers in a box.
- Blackmail
- Came Back Wrong: Charlie.
- Cowboy Cop: And odd example because he also happens to be Da Chief and he gets pissed that his subordinates aren't cowboys like him.
- Dirty Cop: The late Officer Phelps.
- Also, arguably, Nick. We know that he carried out a Vigilante Execution on a suspect and then lied to make it look like self defense. The fact that he lost his job implies that not everyone bought it. Notably though unlike most dirty cops, Nick isn't corrupt so much as a victim of his own Cowboy Cop personality.
- Emergency Transformation: Subverted, as it was administered too late.
- Happened to Kat Russo, but she didn't take it too well.
- Emerging from the Shadows: Used effectively at the end of "Little Girl Lost", when the villainous vampire Christian is heading out of town by night... only for a completely shadowed figure to emerge from the darkened forest. It's Claire, come to stake him for kidnapping her daughter and general emotional torture.
- Expo Label: In one midseason episode, the producers wanted to remind viewers that Sarah was still drinking Devon's magic-poisoned tea without forcing that plot thread into an otherwise already busy episode... so they showed her drinking out of a giant ceramic mug labeled MUG OF TEA
◊. - Eye Scream: Milder than most but Devon seduces a gentleman, possibly a werewolf, online and invites him to her place. Then she drowns him in her tub and takes his eyes.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: The Ratcliffes
- Fur Against Fang: While not an all-out war, the mothers in The Gates who are werewolves do not like to associate with the vampire wives.Karen: Claire! With all the sunscreen you used, I'm sure a facial would do wonders.Claire: (holds up silver ornament) Silver choker?
- Both sides don’t associate with each other in the outside world and can only live side by side inside The Gates because of a truce, which is almost broken in "Dog Eat Dog."
- Subverted when Claire and Karen set aside their differences. As much as they dislike each other, they both like Sarah and agree that having Devon manipulate her is unacceptable.
- Glamour Failure: Subverted. The vampires put on sunscreen before they go outside, and show up in pictures.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Peg and Devon, respectively.
- Gray-and-Grey Morality: It's possible to make a case for any of the characters who have had enough screen time being the Woobie. But it could also be argued that they had bad intentions, and that their mistakes are unjustifiable.
- Gut Feeling: Nick goes snooping around the Radcliffe's property at 3 AM because his "instincts" tell him there's "something going on" with them. The fact that he was right is irrelevant.
- How We Got Here: "Identity Crisis"
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Kat Russo, who swears to kill not only her maker, but every vampire everywhere.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Sarah doesn't care what Nick thinks is going on with the Radcliffs, and tells him as much. Dylan and Claire as well, to a certain extent.
- Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: It's later revealed that Dylan and Claire killed Emily's birth parents while feeding on them and adopted her out of remorse.
- Kiss of Death: Andie nearly kills Charlie when her Succubus side takes over.
- And she does it again in "Jurisdiction," though this time she manages to stop herself.
- Lesbian Vampire: Gloria Bennett
- Life Energy: Succubi burn through their naturally generated supply quicker than normal people, and so they seek out men to replenish their own sources.
- Love Square: Andie, Brett, Charlie and most recently, Lexie.
- The Masquerade: The Gates in general. Also the monstrous inhabitants towards the normal members of the Gates.
- There are normal inhabitants?
- The Monohan family, at the least, and so far Marcus seems to be a Muggle.
- Dylan stated that about 90% of the Gates' inhabitants are muggles.
- Sarah is the focus of this among the adult cast though how much of that is concern for her and how much is because she's friends with the bad witch is up in the air.
- There are normal inhabitants?
- Mistaken for Gay: Charlie when his mom hears about him falling for Andie.
- Not Using the V Word: While the word succubus is used freely, the vampires and werewolves never get called that. Even when asked directly.Nick:What are you?!Dylan: You know what I am.
- Averted later, with the word vampire thrown around with wild abandon. They still tend to refer to themselves as "our people," though.
- Particularly, it's usually the vampires that do so and often with some reluctant. Nick seems more comfortable keeping that little bit of difference and Dylan seems trying very hard to be normal. It seems as much the uncomfortable nature of talking about it casually, the danger of untrustworthy people knowing, and that most people in The Gates being Muggles that makes everyone talk about what they are in roundabout ways. The better to hide it as a more innocuous conversation.
- Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Sarah wishes this was true.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Sunscreen lets a vampire walk around in daylight, holy water was made up by the Church, and garlic just gives Dylan heartburn.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Become full wolves and aren't controlled by the full moon. Have superhuman strength, Super-Senses, a Healing Factor, and In a Single Bound capabilities while in their human form. Silver has been implied to be harmful to them, but no specifics have been shown or described.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Sleight of Handiness: Nick uses his sleight of hand trick to hide a flash drive containing info on the identities of about 10,000 vampires.
- Stealth Pun: Peg is a witch. Who is also an MD. That’s right, she’s a witch doctor.
- Stepford Smiler: Karen Crezski
- Stepford Suburbia: The supernatural inhabitants of The Gates come here to be safe. They also take their dirty little secrets with them.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Apparently common for werewolves.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Lukas Ford is seen as an embarrassment by his father Simon, but earns his respect by beating him up.
- Werewolf Detecting Horses
