Non-Ironic Clowns already have it hard enough in today's world without all this Monster Clown propaganda.
Production Code: 201
After Rose apparently appears in Jake's dream to deliver a warning, Jake becomes obsessed with finding her. His efforts to locate Rose become complicated when one of the key ingredients to the locator potion—the venom of a magical creature called the Krylock Demon—gets accidentally mixed into the batter of cupcakes made for a school festival, turning all those who consume the treats into hybrid monsters who wreak havoc!
This episode provides examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts: Brad doesn't care in the slightest when the kissing booth girl suddenly mutates and develops Nested Mouths so long as he gets to smooch.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Krylock. Spud tries to reason that it's just "misunderstood", but it's holographic form snaps at him, proving him wrong about any notions it has any good in it.
- Bait-and-Switch: How Jonathan claiming to now know "the deep, dark secret" of Susan's side of the family is played.
- Beatnik: Jake went through a phase as one when he was seriously depressed about Rose being transferred away.
- Being Good Sucks: Jake has to give up a chance to see Rose in order to stop the Krylock and return everyone to normal.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Jake had to sacrifice his sure-fire chance at finding Rose, he hasn't lost hope that he'll find her, or that she feels the same about him. We cut to Rose training at the Huntsclan Academy.
- Body Horror: Anyone who eats a Krylock muffin will grow Krylock features.
- Comically Missing the Point: After witnessing Haley turn into a monster (and back) under the influence of a magical chocolate muffin, Jonathan dramatically claims he's just learned a dark secret about his family: "You're all allergic to chocolate!"
- Face Your Fears: Zigzagged. Spud tries to overcome his fear of clowns and is initially successful. Until the clowns eat the Krylock muffins and become understandably scary krylock-clowns. However, when Jake needs Spud's help, he summons the courage to dodge past the krylock-clowns. This time, his overcoming his fears sticks.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: When the location potion simultaneously opens a portal to the Krylock and to where Rose is located, Jake finds himself making a hard decision to choose the Krylock portal so he can cure everyone who ate the krylock muffins.
- Heroic BSoD: Ever since Rose disappeared, Jake has been depressed and heartbroken. One scene takes it up to eleven when, after a failed attempt to create a potion to locate her, he spends an entire morning in bed listening to heart-throb music and staring at Rose's picture.
- Meaningful Echo: "Destined for great things."
- Or Was It a Dream?: It seems like Jake only dreamed of meeting Rose in person. Subverted when he wakes to find he's holding the huntsgirl mask Rose was wearing.
- Retcon: One caused by the show's change in animation style and character design. In season one, Rose wears gloves as Huntsgirl. Starting here, Rose's Huntsclan uniform consists of no gloves. This one is particularly jarring in that it actually causes a fairly big continuity issue, as in season one, Rose's gloves are the only thing keeping Jake from seeing the birthmark and realizing that Rose is Huntsgirl. However, this could be explained away as Rose choosing to give up wearing the gloves once she realized that Jake already knew her secret identity, and she therefore no longer had a reason to keep it concealed.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Sun Park says she's taken an interest in Jake and talks about how he's different from the others, only backing off when a panicked Jake absolutely insists he's normal. After the Krylock is defeated, viewers see her observing Jake, as he leaves the festival.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Rose only appears briefly at the beginning and end of the episode, but the impact of her disappearance on Jake is clearly seen throughout the episode, and with her actual screen time, she sets up the main Story Arc for the season.
- So Proud of You: Lao Shi and later Fu Dog commend Jake for putting the greater good ahead of his own personal desire.
- Spit Take: Jake does one when he gets a call from Fu Dog warning him not to eat the cupcakes, one of which Jake had just taken a bite of.
- The Stinger: To make Jake feel better about the mess with the cupcakes, Fu Dog shows him some other magical recipes that are...less than savory.
- Time Skip: Three months have passed since "The Hunted".
- Trauma Button: Spud and several other parade attendees have been scared of clowns ever since a Clowny McHonk-Honk parade float got caught on a streetlight and collapsed on them.Spud: Me, twelve trombonists, and the cable access weather lady haven't been the same since.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Rose's warning to Jake about the Huntsman's plan is presented in this way. She can only tell him that it's "something big" and "something terrible", because that's all she knows.
- Vow of Celibacy: Jake attempted to become a monk after he decided to "give up on girls" post-Rose leaving, but he was ejected from the monastery after the other monks saw that he clearly hadn't moved on judging from the Stalker Shrine he made to her in his room.
- Weirdness Censor: The whole time Haley is under the influence of the Krylock-venom-infused muffin, Jonathan thinks it's just an allergic reaction.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Despite the Krylock venom only ever infecting one batch of cupcakes, all the batches seem to be imbued with it. Unless Spud really did just grab the wrong vial every single time.
