History Recap / NightmareTimeS1E3JanesACarAndTheWitchInTheWeb

* SupernaturalIsPurple: When "Lex" drops her facade and reveals her true identity as Willabella Muckwab at the climax of the story, this is represented by Angela Giarratana putting a purple filter over her screen (the same one she used when she played Snigglette in "Watcher World").

* ColorMotifs: The "Black and White" is represented by Hannah's ukulele shifting from white to black depending on whether it's the real one or Willabella's substitute. There's also Willabella herself having [[SupernaturalIsPurple a purple filter]] when she reveals her true form, the Lords in Black being represented by their ColorCodedForYourConvenience doll forms, and Webby showing up in her [[LightIsGood white dress with white hair]].

* AbsenteeActor: They manage to squeeze ''almost'' the entire cast of ''Nightmare Time'' into this episode, even if some make only minor cameos as voices and visions in Hannah's dreams -- all but Creator/DylanSaunders, who sits this story out completely.

* AMFMCharacterization: Tom is described as a ClassicRock fan in the script, and the TitleSequence shows him listening to "Witchy Woman" by Music/TheEagles on Spotify (and the song "Jane's a Car" itself is an {{Homage}} to classic Eagles {{Driving Song}}s like "Take It Easy").

* OpeningShoutOut: The TitleSequence for this story intersperses a simple shot of Hannah playing the ukulele with the same StockFootage of [[LostWoods creepy-looking woods]] from the ''Nightmare Time'' main theme; it turns out this is supposed to be footage of the Witchwood Forest, whose OriginStory takes center stage in this story.

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* AdultFear: From Becky's perspective, after things ''finally'' seem to be going well, her boyfriend suddenly has a psychotic breakdown and runs her over with his car, in the very same woods where she escaped from her abusive ex.

* MrExposition: A lot of what we learn about the Hatchetfield {{multiverse}} in this story is the result of Uncle Wiley giving a lengthy EvilGloating MotiveRant about how close Willabella Muckwab's EvilPlan is to fruition.

* TheBusCameBack: Some social media waves were made by Mariah Rose Faith jokingly piggybacking on Robert Manion announcing the return of Ethan Green, announcing that she also had a returning character in "Jane's A Car": Her [[BitCharacter unnamed police officer]] from ''Theatre/TheGuyWhoDidntLikeMusicals'', whom she'd joked on Instagram was named "Doug" and was [[{{Transgender}} non-binary]].

* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The lyrics of the ThemeTune, the MusicVideo created for it and the actual story are all only related in BroadStrokes. In particular, the lyrics of the ThemeTune go back and forth as to whether the song takes place in Hatchetfield, Michigan or in Southern California where the creators actually live (the lyrics describe driving along the [[ScenicRoute Pacific Coast Highway]]), and the description of the car in the lyrics conflicts with the car in the story (it describes a "stick shift" while the car in the story is an automatic, it mentions an "8-track" while the car in the story has a compact cassette tape deck) and with itself (it says "the carburetor groans" and "the fuel injection moans", even though these are mutually exclusive systems that can't be on the same car -- see WordSaladLyrics).

* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Tom seems to repeatedly refuse to take the hint from Jane that the reason she's making him choose the girl he finds most attractive at the beach is she's looking for a new body to KillAndReplace -- possibly because he's [[SelectiveObliviousness intentionally in denial about how evil she's become]]. Unfortunately, this means he lets her talk him into stalking the Greenpeace Girl all the way up to the point of ''almost'' running her over before he balks (which, predictably, leads to her [[RealityEnsues calling the cops]] and turning him into a suspect for attempted murder).

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: No one can hear Jane's voice except Tom, and Jane's actions involving controlling Tom's systems only occur with Tom in the driver's seat (minus the prologue with Lex and Ethan, which Tom didn't witness), making it seem awfully likely that [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness the whole thing is just Tom's hallucination]].

** Mariah's other character from ''TGWDLM'', the Greenpeace Girl, also comes back and plays a major role in the plot (although she technicaly doesn't have a [[TheVoiceless speaking role]] this time).
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The three major female characters in this story -- Jane, when she was alive (and as we see her represented by Creator/JaimeLynBeatty as a ghost) was a brunette, the Greenpeace Girl is a blonde and Becky Barnes is a redhead. Lampshaded by Jane, who talks about how much she likes the Greenpeace Girl's hair when considering her as a host, and when she settles on Becky talks about looking forward to seeing what life is like with red hair.

* MusicalWorldHypotheses: We're told one of the ways Webby communicates to Hannah is [[MagicMusic "singing songs to her"]], and after seeing this show it's really obvious the MusicVideo of "The Witch in the Web" is Hannah literally singing a song Webby taught her to try to keep the nightmares away -- as, despite being performed by Hannah, a [[RewatchBonus second listen]] makes it clear that the lyrics depict a message from Webby to Hannah. "The Web I Spin for You" is also obviously one of Webby's songs, although it's unclear whether she's ever taught to Hannah (since it seems to be about personal secrets about her relationship with her brothers Hannah may not be ready for).

* {{Flashback}}: Hannah and Miss Holloway's "Nightmare Time" is a DreamLand cobbled together from their own traumatic memories -- although unlike a typical flashback, just because these worlds ''based on'' the past doesn't mean [[YourMindMakesItReal their imagination can't twist them into new events that threaten their lives]]. Also, part of what's going on with Nightmare Time is that the Witch has been invading Hannah's mind and replacing her bad memories with the Witch's own PastLifeMemories.

* TheEighties: This decade comes up multiple times in the story -- Miss Holloway is a DiscoDan whose fashion senes and lifestyle seem stuck in the 1980s, and the first Tree-Person from an earlier time period we meet in the Witchwood is Casey, a teenage girl who was "planed" in 1986.

* WholePlotReference: A very obvious one for Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Christine}}'', although Christine was ''just'' a SinisterCar with no real explanation for why she was sentient and evil. A car that's specifically haunted by the ghost of a woman who died in it is the subject of Creator/RLStine's ''[[Literature/{{Goosebumps}} The Haunted Car]]'', and, interestingly, there was an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' (inspired by ''Literature/{{Christine}}'') that has a very similar plot in a ScienceFiction setting. ([[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E5Alice "Alice"]], Season 6 Episode 5, which has a haunted spaceship that demands [[NamesTheSame Tom]] Paris kill his girlfriend B'Elanna Torres so the consciousness inside it can take over her body and live again.)

** TheReveal of the five dolls representing the five brothers who make up the Lords in Black show us that three of the dolls are familiar to people who've seen ''Theatre/BlackFriday'', "Watcher World" and "Time Bastard", one of them is oddly suggestive of the primary supernatural agency (the meteor and "blue shit") of ''Theatre/TheGuyWhoDidntLikeMusicals'', and the fifth and final one is {{Foreshadowing}} for a story yet untold.

** Tom and Becky's LoveTheme is "Take Me Back" from ''Theatre/BlackFriday''. It plays under Becky's initial BigEntrance at Pizza Pete's, under the parallel scene to Tom and Becky's first kiss in ''Theatre/BlackFriday'' where they make love in the living room while ''Santa Claus Is Goin' to High School'' plays on TV.

* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Hannah ends up vividly demonstrating the Judge's (and Creator/SamRaimi's) maxim that "[[InnocenceLost You must taste blood to be a man]]" (or woman). Her PowerIncontinence has been a curse for her whole life, but it isn't until she almost sees Miss Holloway killed by Uncle Wiley -- the nightmare she accidentally reanimated -- that in a burst of guilt and desperation she finally uses her powers ''on purpose'', enabling her to blast Uncle Wiley back into oblivion with a [[CurbStompBattle single burst of energy]]. Following that, her direct confrontation with Willabella Muckwab's spirit is what enables her to discover and control the source of her own power inside her -- as symbolized by [[ArtifactOfPower the white ukulele]] -- and not just destroy the Witch in the Web once and for all, but set her up as the ChosenOne to finally defeat the Lords in Black and resolve Hatchetfield's shattered timelines. personally.

** They also have a secondary cutesy, upbeat LoveTheme for their {{Adorkable}} interactions in public, which is "What Do You Say?" from ''Theatre/BlackFriday''. "What Do You Say?" gets a DarkReprise when Jane reveals that she's witnessed Tom and Becky hanging out and is plotting to kill her out of jealousy, and plays under Jane forcing him to drive to Becky's house to break it off with her.

* AllThereInTheScript: The script and the end credits reveal that Uncle Wiley's full name is, as [[IKnewIt fans long predicted]], "Wilbur Cross".

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Miss Holloway's desperation move of dragging Hannah out of the "Nightmare Time" Willabella arranged in Hannah's mind into her own "Nightmare Time" nearly proves disastrous -- Miss Holloway has the residual memories of some very powerful, malignant entities lurking in her own consciousness, and letting Hannah into those memories -- whose powers are to [[YourMindMakesItReal make nightmares real -- almost brings Uncle Wiley back into the world.