It's one of the odd little quirks of the series as a whole, really -- you've got hard-boiled spies, ruthless terrorists, child traffickers, etc. all running about, yet for all of the threats of death and/or serious bodily harm, the tone generally stays light and for the most part nobody even gets seriously hurt. But if you look at the side series focusing on Z and Klaus, they're deadly serious and violent, with a fairly high body count! (I've joked about it before, but it's almost enough to make you think one of the reasons Klaus is so cranky all the time is that he's used to living in a fairly dark, deadly serious John Le Carre sort of Cold War spy-thriller universe, and Dorian keeps getting him mixed up in stuff that's more suited for the worlds of Austin Powers or Get Smart or the Pink Panther...)