Seasons of Love

An original web series created by Shrikecatcher, focused on the lives of High School students living in the suburbs of Los Angeles. The title comes from Rent, and refers to the three metaphorical "seasons" (autumn, winter and spring) of the relationship between the two leads, Kent Thomas and Holly Snow. Since there is a fairly certain plan as to the progress of the series, tropes relating to the as-yet unwritten second and third seasons are featured below in spoiler tags.

Can be read here.

Tropes used in Seasons of Love include:
  • Seventh-Episode Twist: In "The Mall", Kent is hit by a car and he (informally) begins a relationship with Holly. It becomes formal in the very next episode, "The Sin."
  • Above the Influence: Jimmy subverts the trope when he takes advantage of a drunk Samara on the anniversary of her late sister's birthday in "The Performance."
  • Absolute Cleavage: When the gang is at a Coolest Club Ever in "The Renewal," this is why Jimmy suggests it will be easy to find their classmate Stacey Milano. He tries using his hands to demonstrate their size, but this doesn't go so well.

Claire: "We're looking for Stacey Milano, not Christina Hendricks."

Rusty: "Because sex is a classy thing, right? Sure, there's a smelly, messy exchange of bodily fluids going on, but it's like Pearl Harbor, you know? Everything is fucked up, but Michael Bay sure made it look incredible."
Claire: "Did you seriously just compare sex to Pearl Harbor?"
Rusty: "Well, Kate Beckinsale does have that effect on people."

Jimmy: "...unlike you, I'm not ashamed of anything. If my parents were to catch me in my room right now with my pants down, listening to you, I'd tell 'em to fuck off."

Holly: "You know what? You should make sure not to look for me sometime! Then you can not add me as a friend and we can not see each other every time we don't log on!"
Kent: "I'll be sure to not do that."
Holly: "I know you won't."

Melanie: I think I might be a lesbian. (everyone does a double take, and the girls sitting next to her scoot to the side) I just said that out loud, didn't I?

  • Disproportionate Retribution: In "The Sin," when Kent pulls Holly in for their First Kiss, Claire immediately calls him a rapist and inadvertently (via Rowan) ends up getting him sent to the office. The misunderstanding is cleared up, but not before Rod finds out and the trope is taken even further.
    • Rick joins this camp when he sleeps with Cassie and sends the video of it to her ex-boyfriend Mike in response to Mike beginning to date Rick's ex Iris.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Rusty and Claire both have moments of this in "The Distance," when they both spend the day with each other in their underwear to get back at Jimmy.
  • Double Entendre: Besides being a common feature of the dialogue, this is also seen in many episode titles (e.g., "The Treasure" refers both to the episode's theme and to the movie the gang sees in it).
  • Drama Class: Holly, Claire, Rusty, Tom, and Samara are all in this class at school from the beginning; Kent and certain others join them in the later seasons.
  • Dramatic Pause
  • Dramedy
  • Drugs Are Bad: Averted with Rusty (a sympathetic drug dealer who provides marijuana to his friends), played straight with Jimmy, who begins taking harder drugs with his descent into villainy.
  • Dysfunction Junction
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Rod, when he finds out what Jimmy's been up to.
  • Everyone Can See It: Said by various classmates of Kent and Claire, though both of them vehemently deny any such attraction.
  • Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Averted with the main cast, played straight with several supporting characters.
  • Everybody Must Get Stoned: In "The Renewal."
  • Everyone Owns a Mac
  • Everythings Better With Bunnies: Subverted with Holly (in a Shout-Out to Buffy the Vampire Slayer), but somewhat justified given that her father is from Australia and has told her stories of the chaos they've caused.
  • Evil Gloating: Jimmy brags about cheating on Claire right after she finally tells him she loves him in "The Charm."
  • False Start: How Kent and Holly's relationship begins.
  • Fan Girl: Several, primarily Mila (Twilight), Emily (Justin Bieber, KidComs) and Dana (Star Wars). However, only Emily's fandom could be considered shallow, with Mila scoffing at the more obsessed Twilight fans and Dana having inherited a deep-rooted family love of Star Wars.
  • Finishing Each Other's Sentences
  • First-Name Basis: The high school drama teachers, Roger and Diane Bowman, get this from their students due to the laid-back Nakama nature of their class.
  • First Kiss: Kent and Holly share this in "The Sin".
  • Five-Man Band: Rick's circle is a classic example:
  • Flyover Country: Josh and Mila lived in Oklahoma City before moving to Los Angeles, and Jimmy spent the early years of his life in Lincoln, Nebraska.
  • Foe Yay: Samara and Jimmy. Consummated in "The Performance."
  • Forceful Kiss: Although the kiss Kent plants on Holly in "The Sin" isn't really forceful, it's treated as such by Claire, who calls Kent a rapist for it.
  • Foreshadowing
  • Freudian Slip: How Kent finally admits his crush on Holly in "The Censor".

Kent: "Melanie, when I told you that I liked Holly, did you believe me?"
Melanie: "You didn't tell me you liked Holly. You told me you liked Claire."
Kent: "Oh, no."
Melanie: "Freudian Slip?"
Kent: "No."

Rusty: "This is a stupid pact."

Claire: "Samara, does Nickelback suck?"
Samara: "Oh, yes. I'm not even going to waste my breath expanding on the thought. They suck."
Claire: "Straight from the horse's mouth. They suck, Jimmy!"
Jimmy: "Let's not insult the horse by comparing it to Samara."
Samara: "I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: The entire premise of "The Twist."
  • I Uh You Too: When Jimmy tells Claire he loves her, her decision to not tell him the same until she feels it is one of many things that helps to drive them apart. When Holly tells Kent she loves him over the phone while he's in New Jersey, he chooses not to respond until he gets back to California.
  • Joisey: Kent's parents are originally from here, and that's where the rest of his family lives, including his godparents, Aunt Theresa and Uncle Calvin, who specifically reside in Pemberton, part of the Philadelphia metro area.
  • Just Friends: Josh and Holly; John and Stacey.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Rampant.
  • Land Down Under: Mark is originally from Melbourne, and his daughter Holly sometimes speaks in the accent.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "The Renewal":

Tom: "...I know this is our lives and not some TV writer's script, but does anyone else think the whole 'Person A cheating on Person B' storyline is starting to get ridiculous here?"

Jimmy: "Nobody's cheating on anybody!"

Holly: "The lot of us, we're all pretty dumb."
John: "Now why would you go and say something like that?"
Holly: "We're teenagers, and we're in love."
John: "Point taken."

Claire: "Are you messing with Texas?"
Rusty: "No, ma'am."
Claire: "Did you just call me ma'am?"
Rusty: "No, ma'am."

Rowan: (speaking into his cell phone) "No, Dad, that wasn't me."

Kent: (after being asked for his opinion on National Treasure 2) "I for one think there are much better Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movies starring Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris out there. Those movies are called The Rock."

Kent: "What smells like weed?"
Dana: "Probably the weed."

Claire (to Kent): "Sin City? You're not a comic book guy, are you?"
Rusty: "Worst. Comparison. Ever."

    • In "The Noodles":

Kent: "What are you talking about? You and Oriel are inseparable! You never fight!"
Tom': "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

    • In "The Club":

Claire: "Where are Holly and Jimmy?"
Rusty: "In the club."
Claire: "What are they doing there?"
Rusty: "They're into having sex, they ain't into makin' love."
Claire: "Do me a favor, Rusty, and don't ever quote 50 Cent around me ever again."
Rusty: "So come give me a hug."

    • In "The Mall":

Holly: "Look at what they do have. The new Britney Spears and the new Backstreet Boys. But no Eagles. What is this, 1999?"
Kent: "I sure don't feel like partying."

    • In "The Parents":
    • In "The Cross":

Claire: "Well, when you put it that way it sounds bad, I'll agree."
Rusty: "'That way' is called the facts, Claire."
Claire: "I reject your reality and substitute my own."

Holly: "Good news, everyone!" (Beat)
Jimmy: "So just tell us already, Farnsworth."

    • In "The Birthday":

Kent: "Twenty-seven?"
Holly: "It's just a number, Kent. Also, I think you might be reaching a bit here."
Kent: "Yeah, I know but Weird Al's my favorite artist, which makes that my favorite number, which means I'm going to notice it everywhere."
Tom: "Just be careful not to turn into a psychotic Jim Carrey when you do."

Jimmy: "Am I wrong?"
Rusty: "No."
Jimmy: "Am I wrong?"
Rusty: "You're not wrong, Jimmy, you're just an asshole."
Claire: "I know you're both shamelessly competing for my affections, but I sure appreciate that you can work together to make Big Lebowski references when you argue."

    • In "The Treasure":
  • Show Within a Show: In addition to the several student plays, there's also The Swanson Princess, a fictional Disney Channel show watched fervently by Emily.
  • Sibling Triangle: Scott ends up in a brief one between his girlfriend, Sloane, and her older sister, Nicole, after they engage in Three-Way Sex per Jimmy's suggestion. Besides the Squick factor both sisters admit to, it becomes worse when Jimmy's plan to sleep with a disgruntled Sloane afterward comes to fruition.
  • Something Else Also Rises
  • Spell My Name with a "The": Jimmy, aka "The Big Bang."
  • Spit Take
  • Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded by Kent at the beginning of the third season.
  • Sweet Home Alabama: Mike spent his earliest years in Huntsville before his family moved to California; Cassie was much the same, except she came from Memphis, Tennessee.
  • Suspiciously Apropos Music: Both for chapter titles and in-universe, sometimes concurrently.
  • Take That: Michael Bay, Nickelback, and Twilight are frequent targets, though fans of each exist in-universe with varying amounts of sympathy.
  • Teen Pregnancy: Claire and Sloane.
  • Thanksgiving Episode: Holly and Kent meet each others' families and Claire opens up to her own about her flawed relationship with Jimmy in "The Parents," set on this holiday.
  • Their First Time: Jimmy and Claire consummate their relationship in "The Twist," with bad results. Kent and Holly attempt to lose their virginity in "The Charm," but the consequences of Jimmy's revelations earlier prevent them from thinking clearly and they are unable to continue.
  • There Are No Therapists: Subverted.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Invoked in "The Renewal," when Jimmy and Cameron are discussing solutions to the latter's frustration with ex-girlfriend Samara:

Cameron: "And you don't think this is overkill?"
Jimmy: "There's no such thing as overkill. There's just kill."
Cameron: "All she did was use me for sex!"

  • Thirteen Is Unlucky: In "The Birthday," Tom remarks on the fact that Kent (December 14) and Holly's (December 27) births are separated by only thirteen days.

Kent: "Since when are you triskaidekaphobic?"

Claire: "The world can always use more happy couples."
Jimmy: "So, how are Kent and Holly?"
Claire: "They're happy, so, not much to tell."

Jimmy: "Sweet, I get to punch somebody." (except he doesn't)

  • Villain Team-Up: Jimmy and Rod.
  • Visit by Divorced Dad: Claire gets one in, naturally, "The Parents."
  • Viva Las Vegas: Lex's older sister Brooke attends UNLV and works as a stripper to pay her dues there.
  • Waxing Lyrical
  • Wham! Episode: "The Charm," the mid-season finale of Autumn, in which, after Claire finally tells Jimmy she loves him, he immediately rejects her and gloats about his affairs with three other girls, two of whom are at the dance that night with other dates. Shortly afterward, Jimmy begins his secret collaboration with Rod.
  • Who's Your Daddy?: Sloane's is either Rick or Jimmy's.
  • The Windy City: Terra's family is from Chicago, and she moves back there along with boyfriend Alex at the end of the series.
  • World of Snark
  • Wrong Name Outburst: In "The Twist," Jimmy claims to the others that Claire shouted Kent's name instead of his in the moment; Claire insists she was just mumbling incoherently. Needless to say, this combined with what instigated the sex helps to drive a wedge between them.
  • Your Cheating Heart: Jimmy cheats on Claire (three times) after becoming suspicious of her relationship with Kent. Through backstory, we learn that Holly's mother Pam cheated on her father Mark; Claire's father Walter cheated on her mother Lisa; and Kent's (still-together) parents are both notorious cheaters to this day.
    • Barely subverted with Rick when he and Iris break up before he has the chance to cheat on her with Mila. Played straight again some time later when Mike is seduced by Kristen while in a relationship with Iris. Later still, Rick sleeps with Sloane (and possibly puts a bun in her oven) when she turns to him to escape from Jimmy's corrupt ways. Yeah, this trope is awfully prevalent in the series.
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