L to R: Captain Gunpowder, Jack, Dan, and Conrad
Wild Boys is a story set in Australia about bush rangers, power and government corruption, set against the backdrop of an 1860s penal system. The wild colonial boys Jack, Dan, Conrad and Captain Gunpowder are determined to keep ahead of the troopers or wind up at the end of a noose. It aired in 2011.
Wild Boys contains examples of:
- Bad Habits: The bush ranger Captain Moonlight masquerades as Preacher Scott.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: The end of episode 1.3.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Happens to Hogan in the first episode, although it was probably unintentional.
- Catchphrase: Conrad's "I'm not a bush ranger, I'm a farrier."
- Cliffhanger: Each episode other than the finale ends with one, with each new episode picking up with the same scene.
- Clear My Name: Jack has to do this after being accused of murdering the Ryans. He may be a bush ranger, but he is no murderer.
- Dead Guy on Display: The corpse of bush ranger ends up on display in Hopetoun, much to the disgust of the railway man who was visiting from Sydney.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Jack. Despite sharing a smoldering look in the finale, Mary ends up staying with Mick, and Jack rides off with Dan.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Mick
- Ear Ache: 'Mad Dog' Morgan claimed he got his nickname because he once bit a man's ear off in a fight. Later in the episode, he actually does a bite a man's ear off, indicating that this may be a regular thing for him.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the first episode, Fuller captures Hogan, gives him back his pistol and tells him to leave town, then uses the fact that Hogan is holding a loaded pistol as justification to gun him down.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Fuller has no time for cowards, especially those who hit women.
- Faking the Dead: The bushrangers attempt to fake their deaths by blowing up a cottage with pig carcasses inside.
- Gentle Giant: Conrad
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Hogan smashes a bottle and uses it to attack Jack in the pub in the first episode.
- Gun Struggle: At the climax of the second episode.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Jack and Dan. For all their extreme teasing, the amount they rely on one another and worry about one another is extremely endearing. And while Jack doesn't end up with Mary in the end, he still has Dan.
- Hidden Depths: Dan is a goofball who rarely takes anything seriously and just wants to gamble and womanize, so it's surprising to find out that he's actually British aristocrat William Jamieson.
- It Works Better with Bullets: Conrad does it to Mad Dog Morgan, unloading his gun while he is gone. Morgan has another pistol, but it does buy Conrad enough time to make a bolt for it.
- Karma Houdini: Fuller escapes scot free at the end of the series (probably as result of the series not being picked up for a second season so they wrapped up the plot lines and included a Heel–Face Turn for Fuller).
- Knight Templar: Fuller will completely disregard the law in his quest to wipe out the bush rangers.
- Love Triangle: Jack/ Mary/ Mick
- Mad Bomber: Captain Gunpowder
- Man Bites Man: 'Mad Dog' Morgan is said to have got his nickname by biting a man's ear off during a fight, and does exactly that during the episode.
- Miss Kitty: Mary Barrett
- Morally Bankrupt Banker
- Only a Flesh Wound: Jack, Conrad, and Mick all get shot in the shoulder/ chest, and recover quickly. Captain Gunpowder and Fuller get shot in the stomach, and are also apparently fine. Particularly ridiculous when you consider this was an era before antibiotics, and even blood transfusions.
- Outlaw: The heroes are all bush rangers.
- Railroad Plot: The series finale reveals that the murder of local settlers had been part of a plot by the local Commissioner of Lands to secure control of their properties before the railroad came to Hopetoun
- Reckless Gun Usage: Jack wakes up to find Mary's young son Tom pointing his gun at his (i.e. Jack's) head as a joke. Jack is understandably angry.
- Reformed Criminal: Mick, who used to be a bush ranger with Jack but is now a soldier.
- Revealing Injury: Hogan is identified because of a wound he took to his hand during a robbery.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: The black tracker Fuller uses to pursue the bush rangers in the second episode. Despite the bush rangers uses every trick they know to lose him (riding along a creek, etc), he stays right on their tail. And he isn't fooled by the pig carcass they blow up in an attempt to fake their deaths either.
- Schoolmarm: Captain Gunpowder is sweet on the local school mistress.
- Secretly Wealthy: It turns out Dan is the son of an earl...
- Serial Homewrecker: Dan Sinclair's Establishing Character Moment happens when he's roused from sleep by his buddy, Jack Keenan when he whispers "Hey, you've been sleeping with my wife." in his slumbering ear.
- Sexual Extortion: The Morally Bankrupt Banker extorts sexual favours from the wives of clients in exchange for loans and lines of credit.
- Shoot Out the Lock: In the first episode, Jack shoots the lock off the strongbox they steal from the stagecoach.
- Shoot the Rope: Captain Gunpowder does this to save Jack from being lynched in the miners camp.
- Shoot Your Mate: Jack attempts to infiltrate the Butler Gang only to find that Mick has been captured by them. Frank Butler thinks Jack might be there to free him, but Jack instead claims he followed Mick there in order to kill him. Butler gives Jack a gun with one bullet and tells him to shoot Mick. Jack does so, shooting Mick through the shoulder and Mick has enough nous to play dead.
- Showdown at High Noon: The final confrontation between Jack Keenan and Frank Butler.
- Soiled Dove: Ruby
- Take Off Your Clothes: A female bush ranger holds Jack and Dan at gunpoint and demands they take off their trousers.
- Taking Over the Town: The Butler Gang does this to Hopetoun in the final episode.
- Treasure Map: The Mad Dog Morgan episode centres around a map to a cache of stolen gold.
- Vehicle Vanish: Joe Butler vanishes during a gunfight with Jack, when the gold coach and its escort of troopers passes between them.
- We Used to Be Friends: Jack and Mick rode together until Mick went to jail and then became a trap.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Mick is nothing but a stand-up guy throughout the series... except for episode 11, where he inexplicably loses his morals and attempts to get his hands on the stolen map and the gold.
