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Comatose Canary

 Comatose Canary
type
FeatureClass
 Comatose Canary
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary
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ComatoseCanary
 Comatose Canary
comment
Someone's lying in a hospital, badly hurt, outright unconscious, in a Convenient Coma or otherwise incapable of talking, hooked up to a heart rate monitor. The bad cop is in need of information, so they walk up and speak unpleasantness. Cue the ECG spiking to indicate that it's working. The positive variant is also seen, with a person apparently unconscious suddenly reacting to someone talking. Again, the ECG will act as the mood ring. Variations include squeezing the hand and so on.
Not to be confused with somebody suffering from the Locked-in Syndrome, who might or might not be able to communicate, and which frequently results in a Disability Superpower. Also unrelated to Canary in a Coal Mine, which is a plot device used to detect danger.
 Comatose Canary
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2024-04-12T19:47:12Z
 Comatose Canary
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2024-04-12T19:47:12Z
 Comatose Canary
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 Comatose Canary / int_1251e752
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_1251e752
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There's the Clip Show episode of The Simpsons where Homer is put in hospital by Bart's beer bomb. When Bart confesses, Homer starts to come around, and the ECG actually shows Homer's heart line as Bart outlines.
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Comatose Canary / int_1251e752
 Comatose Canary / int_2221ecbd
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_2221ecbd
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In CSI: NY:
Subverted in the series pilot, "Blink", Mac was able to communicate with a woman who appeared to be in a coma, but was really locked-in, through blinks. Unfortunately, she had something happen during the questioning that plunged her into an actual coma.
Mac does the squeeze-my-hand version with Flack, who's unconscious after surgery following the explosion in "Charge of This Post."
Mac does the once-for-yes, twice-for-no thing with a victim in "Damned If You Do," but it's with the raising of a finger instead of blinking.
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 Comatose Canary / int_22e860f4
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_22e860f4
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Tweaked in Psych. Shawn, posing as a doctor, admonishes the interns to speak positively around the coma patient, lest they frighten him into remaining comatose. This is a dodge to get them to speak layman to Shawn about the patient's condition.
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Comatose Canary / int_22e860f4
 Comatose Canary / int_26eb8bf3
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_26eb8bf3
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In Ceres, Celestial Legend, Aya visits her coma-ridden mother in the hospital with Tooya. Aya introduces Tooya to her mother, and Tooya then promises to always take care of Aya... then Aya's mother squeezes their hands.
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 Comatose Canary / int_26faa01e
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Comatose Canary
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In Spice World, three of the Spice Girls visit an unconscious boy in the hospital. Victoria jokingly suggests that Geri should take her top off, then realizes that it wouldn't do him much good as his eyes are closed. He wakes up immediately.
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 Comatose Canary / int_2bb4ae0f
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_2bb4ae0f
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Used in an episode of Heroes when Matt Parkman is talking to Molly Walker just before he confronts his dad. In this case, though, it's probably related to Matt's mental powers.
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Comatose Canary / int_2bb4ae0f
 Comatose Canary / int_43576f5
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_43576f5
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A variation was used in Supernatural at the beginning of season 2. Dean was in a coma after a car accident, but he could hear what was being said to him because he was having an out-of-body experience and "haunting" his hospital room. Also used in an episode where the spirit of a comatose girl whose father read her fairy tales was causing people to reenact those fairy tales.
Sam is dreaming that he's driving down a road at night, unaware that he's actually in a coma. In the real world Dean shines a penlight in his eye, freaking out Dream!Sam when he's suddenly driving in broad daylight. The song playing on Dean's radio is also playing on his car radio.
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Comatose Canary / int_43576f5
 Comatose Canary / int_58808436
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_58808436
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A talking variation occurs in the Yakusamashi filler arc of Higurashi: When They Cry when, after the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, Mr. Ooishi monologues in front of a catatonic Satoko about all the things he wanted to interrogate her about. After a while, he mentions Rika's murder, and it's at this point that Satoko's face starts. Ooishi later figures out too late that it was this that she had information about, and not the Hinamizawa Disaster. It's also worth noting that the part of the arc referred to was a hasty adaptation of the ending of another arc, although the comatose character was different.
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 Higurashi: When They Cry (Visual Novel)
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Comatose Canary / int_58808436
 Comatose Canary / int_5a3533fe
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_5a3533fe
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On My Name Is Earl, Earl is hospitalized after being hit by a car (again) after he doubted Karma. This time, his injuries are a lot more serious than they were the first time around, and he goes into a coma. His condition starts to deteriorate rapidly, and he's actually dying. Randy and co. decide to take care of a list item, and Earl's ECG comes back up. As they do more and more list items, Earl gets better and eventually comes out of the coma.
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Comatose Canary / int_5a3533fe
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_6108ba8d
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The Last Jedi: Leia is unconscious for some time after being Thrown Out the Airlock, but reacts when Luke reaches out to her with The Force for the first time in years.
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Comatose Canary / int_6108ba8d
 Comatose Canary / int_625e571
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_625e571
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On an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, based loosely on the Terry Schiavo case, Goran and Eames set up a phony situation with "yes" and "no" cards, making it appear as though the persistent vegetative person can look at a card, and her visual angle tracked to determine her responses to questions. The set up is to get the criminal who killed her doctor to believe that she can tell everything to the detectives so he will confess.
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Comatose Canary / int_625e571
 Comatose Canary / int_691be369
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Comatose Canary
 Comatose Canary / int_691be369
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A variation of this trope happens on The X-Files in season two's "One Breath". Scully is returned, unconscious and near-death, after her abduction. In this episode, we meet Dana's New-Age sister, Melissa, whose Establishing Character Moment comes when she looks up from hovering her hands over her sister and says that Dana told her not to call Mulder by his first name (which he hates.) She informs him that her soul is here, and invites him to try and communicate with her as well. From Dana's comatose hallucinations, we see that Melissa might be communicating with her, but Mulder is too angry and doesn't believe her.
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Comatose Canary
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In the 2nd season of ReGenesis, Caroline's nephew Greg has been in a coma following a stoke. A neurologist is able to set up a brain scan that lets them see Greg's brain's reaction to stimulii in real time and discover they can communicate with him in a limited manner, but believe there's enough hope that brain surgery could help him emerge from the coma. Following the procedure, while he is still unconscious, they communicate with him by asking him a question, and then reciting the alphabet one letter at a time until there is a reaction on the brain scan and then starting the alphabet over again to get the next letter. After asking him what he wants them to do, he spells out the answer "Let me die"
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Comatose Canary
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In an early third season episode of Babylon 5, Lennier is injured saving Mollari from an explosion and spends the rest of the episode unconscious in MedLab. Mollari visits Lennier and tells a joke. At the end of the episode, Dr Franklin starts telling the same joke. Lennier wakes up, tells the punchline, and mentions that he'd heard that one before.
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G.I. Joe: Renegades features this. When Tunnel Rat finds himself in a coma, Roadblock fits him with his MP3 player, which is playing loud Rock and Roll music. Scarlett asks what he is doing and adds that Tunnel Rat hates that music. Roadblock simply smiles and says that he loves to complain about it. With that, they leave the hospital and Tunnel Rat wakes with a start just to rip the ear buds off his head.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Comatose Canary
processingCategory2
Crime and Punishment Tropes
 Comatose Canary
processingCategory2
Indexitis
 Kaleidoscopic Grangers (Fanfic) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Fate of the Jedi / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Son of Rosemary / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Finder Series (Manga) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 El corazón nunca se equivoca / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Law & Order: Criminal Intent / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 The Haves and the Have Nots / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Grisaia no Kajitsu (Visual Novel) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Higurashi: When They Cry (Visual Novel) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 Love, Election & Chocolate (Visual Novel) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary
 The Fruit of Grisaia (Visual Novel) / int_1e3b0d2a
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Comatose Canary