Echo Rose is a comedy-mystery webseries produced in 2019, starring Julia Dapper of Daisy Brown fame as Echo.
Echo Rose is an Empath from New York City, who had decided to move to the small town of Nettlebrook. Feeling lonely and out-of-place, she started vlogging on YouTube, telling viewers about her experiences and taking them along on her investigation of the town. Meanwhile, people around the town of Nettlebrook start to make it clear she isn't welcome there, save for a few fellow YouTubers calling themselves Zipper Films, who wound up experiencing their own paranormal activity.
Echo's channel is here
, and Zipper Films is here.
Tropes found in this webseries:
- Affectionate Parody: Lovingly parodies YouTube vlogger culture, down to the low budget, stylistic editing, and the boisterous, talkative, young vlogging star... all while also telling the mystery of a small town.
- All of the Other Reindeer: The people of Nettlebrook are...not very welcoming to Echo, to say the least; at best the people stare, and at worst they outright bully her.
- Alternate Reality Game:
- Including Echo speaking to and interacting with her audience on Instagram, typical ARG-codecracking elements emerged in "bog vlog 1", when a strip of binary appears in cuts for just a few frames. In-universe, this freaks the characters out when they see it, as nobody in Zipper Films put it in.
- In-Universe, Carma claims in "the truth" that everything in Zipper Films going forward would be fake, even if it mentions things such as ghosts, describing it as an "alternate reality".
- Animal Lover: Echo loves animals, to the point of feeling nauseous at the sight of an animal skull.
- Aside Glance: Carma gives one in "dr0nk makeup tutorial *(VERY HELPFUL)*" when Echo asks her why her fingernails are so short, while the camera zooms in on her "are you serious?" facial expression.
- Blatant Lies: As Carma says, there's nothing strange going on in Nettlebrook. Zipper Films isn't doing anything subversive or rebellious, and everything is fine. In fact, Carma and Zipper Films are just after likes, not artistic integrity, and certainly not the truth. And in no way was she forced to say all of this on camera.
- Breather Episode: As "Full Moon Party" and "dr0nk makeup tutorial(VERY HELPFUL)", which just feature Echo and Carma having a make-over, talk about their life and having a (botched) seance, came after the shocking "nettlebrook stop being mean to me challenge" they count as this.
- Brooklyn Rage: Discussed. When she compares Nettlebrook to her home city of New York, Echo mentions finding it annoying how kind everyone is to each-other, asking why they don't just say "get the fuck out of my way" like "everyone else". She also claims that, because she's from New York, the coal miner that interrupted her in the woods shouldn't try and bother her again.
- Butch Lesbian: The "clinically lesbian" Carma wears Hawaiian shirts, short tank tops, ripped jeans, and beanies, primarily hangs out with guys, chugs beer, and burps frequently as a result of said beer-chugging.
- Captain Obvious: Carma starts "the truth" by informing the viewers that what they are watching is a YouTube video she is filming at that moment.
- Country Matters: One of the letters Echo received called her a cunt. It's the word that gets the most dramatic zoom-in.
- Cyberbullying: Upon arriving in town, Echo decides to follow an Instagram account called "Nettlebrook's Fallen Angels", and discovers it to be nothing more than a bunch of spoiled high-school girls targeting, harassing, and Slut-Shaming other students. She is appalled, but unsure of what to do about it, as she works as a janitor at their school, and didn't want to be seen as creepy.
- Dead Animal Warning: Along with a note telling her to stop investigating, Echo also received the skull of an animal, a targeted strike as the sender knew she was an animal-loving Empath.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The "Fallen Angels" responded to Echo claiming that they were being mean to other students by making up a lie to get her fired from her job as school janitor.
- The Empath: Echo describes herself as such, claiming to pick up on the energy of others, whether or not they're human or even alive. She was able to pick up a strong feminine energy during her night in the bog, and felt so sick upon seeing an animal skull that she was forced to stop filming.
- Gallows Humor: Echo, Carma and Zipp are all convinced they'll be murdered...so they make a video where they literally write their wills, and spend the whole time joking about the bleak situation. They bicker playfully over who gets what, joke about Carma being buried alive or giving a "lucky viewer" her beanies in a giveaway, and discuss who they'll haunt in the afterlife.
- Hot-Blooded: Echo is boisterous, emotional, and filled with boundless energy. Even after having a breakdown, she bounces right back into being passionate and determined to live her life in Nettlebrook. Her videos are filled with emotion, and even her quick, humorous, stylistic editing is full of character and life.
- Introductory Opening Credits: Parodied in "bog vlog 1", where every person in the crew of Zipper Films is introduced, alongside joke information, such as claiming that Polo is an "aspiring DILF", and including a random Chuck E. Cheese doll they called "Capitalist scum".
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Having the characters of your fictional ghost hunting web series attempt to deflect suspicion away from their real-in-universe ghost hunt by (unconvincingly) claiming they're just making a fictional ghost hunting web series and any ghosts that happen to be caught on camera are All Part of the Show leans on the fourth wall so hard it's leaving a dent.
- Like Is, Like, a Comma: Befitting her stereotypical millenial-vlogger persona, Echo peppers her dialogue with the word "like" as a verbal placeholder.Echo: I, like... I don't know, I, like, need something to do with my time, you know, like...otherwise, I'm just gonna be sitting here, like, rewatching The Office (US) again, and like, I love to do that, but I can't keep doing that, you know, like...
- Nice Girl: Despite her rough and stubborn exterior, Echo is genuinely kind. She wants nothing more than to help others, even expressing deep sympathy and concern for ghosts and animals.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, Echo broke into her neighbor's yard once.
- Occult Detective: Once Echo thinks there's a ghost trying to contact her and the Zipper Film's crew, she becomes determined to investigate what happened to this ghost, in order to help her rest in peace. She outright says that this is the sort of thing she does, being an Empath and a Psychic.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: So far, the characters only refer to themselves, and to each other, by their You Tube pseudonyms.
- Previously on…: "SPILLING TEA ON NETTLEBROOK (and some drunk ranting lmfao)" starts with a black-and-white segment of highlights from Echo's introductory blog.
- Protagonist Title: The series is named after main character Echo Rose.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: It's clear that the rich families of Nettlebrook are the ones in charge and the townsfolk just accepted it. Specifically, the mean girls at Bogwick Girls, used the influence of their wealthy parents to make Echo lose her job and increase the cost of her apartment.
- Self-Deprecation: There are numerous jokes, especially in captions, where Echo pokes fun at herself. She mostly makes fun of her appearance and her video editing skills.
- Signing Off Catchphrase: Videos end with "Don't forget to smell the roses!"
- Slut-Shaming: Seems to be a common occurrence in Nettlebrook— not only were students being shamed on "Fallen Angels", but Echo herself received a note calling her a "hooker", and the former homecoming queen Zoey was bullied with sexual rumors and the name "Hoey".
- Stepford Smiler: Echo claims to be fine and puts on a cheerful facade, but has several moments of admitting her true feelings toward her situation- which is, to say, misery and isolation. She'll break character for a moment, and then return to acting like she's in a good mood.
- Suspicious Missed Messages: Echo and Zip become very concerned when Carma stops answering her phone, and even try and get some presents for her, in case she's just too upset to talk for some reason. Then they discover that her mother doesn't actually know where she's gone, either...
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: The entirety of "the truth". No, there's absolutely nothing paranormal really going on. They're just making a totally fictitious web series for views and likes because they're chasing after YouTube fame, that's all. They definitely do not have any artistic integrity and are not investigating an actual ghost, because those don't exist of course. Carma was also in no way forced to make this video and they most certainly are not being sued.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Zoey, former homecoming queen of Bogwick High, was bullied following rumors of her having sex with her teacher.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Nettlebrook may just be a small town, but Echo realizes that something is wrong as soon as she moves there, and decides to start an investigation. She's almost immediately proven right, with the town's rash of bullying and paranormal activity as just the tip of the iceberg.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Echo likes pickles and the drink White Claw. She can sit and do nothing but eat both, and her mother even sent her a jar of pickles as a present.
- Unfinished Business: The woman who appeared in Zipper Film's "bog vlog 1" was believed by Echo to be a murdered ghost, filled with so much pain that she can't move on to the afterlife.
- Urban Segregation: Nettlebrook is divided into a rich side and poor side, with the poor side containing the town's infamous bog. It's said that the people on the rich side look down on and mock those on the other side, calling it "the bog side of town" and mistreating people like Carma, who just happened to move into the poor side of the town.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After being bullied, fired, and plagued by the paranormal, Echo receives what looks to be a present from a fan...which is really an animal skull, and a note demanding she stop her investigation. She doesn't take it too well, having to end the video immediately due to how horrible she was feeling.
