"But mark me, child, if you want to last in this world, you must learn to be both the fox and the wolf."
— Ambessa Medarda
Silco finds Jinx in the aftermath of the bridge battle and realizes she managed to steal back the Gemstone. He brings her to Singed, who uses Shimmer to heal her; in the process, Jinx hallucinates Caitlyn and Vi.
Ambessa Medarda, mother to Mel, arrives in Piltover warning of an upcoming war. Viktor's experiments with the Hexcore give him the ability to run, but at the cost of the life of Sky, his assistant. Heimerdinger visits Zaun and is disheartened by the living conditions in the undercity; he meets a still-injured Ekko and the two hit it off.
Caitlyn and Vi gain an audience before the Council, but fail to convince them that Silco is a threat. Vi convinces Jayce to attack one of Silco's Shimmer factories alongside her, but Jayce becomes conflicted upon realizing he has killed a child.
Meanwhile, as Caitlyn returns home after she and Vi go their separate ways, she is confronted by a Shimmer-infused Jinx.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Accidental Murder: As Jayce is blasting away at the chemtanks, one of his blasts hits the child who had pressed the alarm earlier, causing him to fall from the catwalk.
- All for Nothing: Vi on realizing that Jinx palmed the Hexstone before the container was snatched off her.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Vi and Jayce fight mooks back-to-back on a catwalk during their raid on Silco's Shimmer plant.
- Carry a Big Stick: Jayce finally gets his signature hammer and unleashes it in the fight against Silco's shimmer-enhanced chemtanks. Despite not having been subjected to a life of violence like Vi has, he proves capable of keeping up with her and uses his weapon's multiple functions to cover his deficiencies in hand-to-hand combat.
- Catapult Nightmare: After reliving a childhood memory of her mother killing a prisoner, Mel is shown waking up in her bed while gasping and sitting up in a panic.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Vi breaks into Jayce's workshop to ask if he still wants to take down Silco. Jayce threatens to have her arrested. She counters by asking if he's ever been to Stillwater or thought of what it does to those sent there. The realization leaves Jayce silent for a moment, then he responds to Vi's first question, quietly conceding the point.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends before Jynx attacks Caitlyn in her bathroom.
- Condensation Clue: When Caitlyn finishes her shower, she realizes she's in imminent trouble when Jinx's monkey sigil appears on the mirror as the steam clears.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The Turbo Chemtanks tear through the Enforcers like tissue, their armor easily deflecting any bullets that hit them.
- It's turned on them when Jayce and Vi join the fight, the two easily bashing their way through one after another with barely a scratch to show for it.
- Death of a Child: Jayce accidentally kills one of the child laborers as he's firing at the chemtanks.
- Declaration of Protection: Discussed. Vi tells Caitlyn about how back in the day she promised her sister to protect her from all the monsters but then ran away once the real monster appeared.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- The scene where Vi and Caitlyn go through Caitlyn's bedroom window only to be confronted by Caitlyn's parents, one of whom has a scattergun, plays out a lot like someone sneaking a boyfriend/girlfriend their parents disapprove of into their house. The fact that Caitlyn's mother is clearly displeased she's made friends with a girl from the slums only adds to the subtext.
- Vi convinces Jayce to fight back against Silco by hitting hard and fast before he can react. Sounds awfully a lot like a gank, especially since Vi is a jungler who would participate in such tactics.
- Dynamic Entry: Vi joins the fight against the chemtanks by sliding down a support beam and jumping fist-first at a chemtank about to attack Jayce, knocking it out instantly.
- Emerging from the Shadows: When Ambessa Medarda arrives at Piltover, she emerges from a cloud of smoke.
- Empty Piles of Clothing: After Sky is Reduced to Dust, only her clothes are left behind, covered by her dusty remains.
- Enter Stage Window: Vi smuggles injured Caitlyn back into her bedroom via the window.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: This episode makes it clear that Silco really does think of Jinx as a surrogate daughter; it's not just a ploy he adopts to manipulate her. He rushes her to Singed in a desperate attempt to bring her back to life with Mad Science.
- Face Framed in Shadow: During the flashback with Mel and her mother Ambessa at the start of the episode, Ambessa's face is covered in shadows as she talks to Mel about war and death.
- Facepalm Of Doom: Vi kills one chemtank by grabbing its faceplate with her gauntlet and slamming it into the floor, crushing the faceplate in her grip as she does so.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the very last seconds of the episode, Caitlyn realizes she is Alone with the Psycho Jinx while looking into her bathroom mirror, before looking to the side as she hears something. Right before the cut to credits, the steam in the bathroom dissipates enough to make out Jinx's silhouette - and in particular, her now-glowing pink eyes.
- Gray Rain of Depression: After being rebuffed by the council, Vi leaves while the rain is pouring outside while Caitlyn follows her, and the following sad scene of Vi rejecting Caitlyn's offer of help is done while they both stand dejectedly in the rain, raindrops running down Caitlyn's cheeks like tears.
- History Repeats: Vi once again fights numerous opponents on a catwalk while wearing bulky gauntlets. This time, however, she has backup in the form of Jayce watching her back.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The boy who summoned the Turbo Chemtanks ends up getting killed in the crossfire when Jayce fired on one that got near him.
- Instant Sedation: Silco goes out instantly when Singed knocks him out with a syringe before operating on Jinx, knowing the painful nature of the operation will cause him to interfere.
- Internal Reveal: Vi finds out that Caitlyn isn't just an Enforcer from topside, she's the daughter of a Councilor and absolutely rolling in cash.
- In the Hood: Heimerdinger visits Zaun covered under a hoody.
- Modesty Bedsheet: When we see Mel waking up in her bedroom, both her and Jayce are seemingly nude under a bedsheet, implying they had been intimate the night before.
- Mood Whiplash: The joy and excitement of watching Jayce and Vi finally go all out is abruptly ended with the death of a child caught in the crossfire.
- Off with His Head!: During a flashback to Mel's childhood, we see her mother executing a political prisoner against Mel's wishes by cutting off her head with a sword. The memory is implied to have traumatized Mel.
- Oh, Crap!: Caitlyn has an understandable one after she finishes her Shower of Angst and heads to the bathroom mirror to freshen up, only to see the telltale signature of Jinx's monkey sign drawn through the condensation on the glass as she gets closer. Caitlyn can only gasp in horror at realizing she's Alone with the Psycho before hearing Jinx behind her as the episode ends.
- Past Experience Nightmare: The episode starts with Mel having one remembering how her mother executed a prisoner, a girl her age, in front of her for refusing to kill.
- Pet the Dog: After Vi storms out of the Council meeting, Caitlyn's mother gives her daughter the nod to go after her.
- Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Played for drama in Mel's nightmare.
- Plot Armor: Ekko and Jinx both survive Jinx's suicide bomb. Downplayed, however, since Jinx is barely alive and needs Mad Science to survive, while Ekko appears to have used his hoverboard to Outrun The Fire Ball only for the blast to knock him off, as he's found below the bridge with a broken leg and a damaged board.
- Power Fist: Vi gets hers in the form of Jayce's mining gauntlets.
- Reduced to Dust: Sky rushes to help Viktor when she sees that his attempt to enhance himself with more of the Hexcore is seemingly harming him, but her attempt to pull him to safety gets her turned to dust instead.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Turns out this is why Mel was sent to Piltover, though her mother now chooses to spin it as her daughter overseeing their family interests.
- The Reveal: Mel is from Noxus.
- Ruling Family Massacre: Ambessa insists on wiping out the royal family of the kingdom conquered in the flashback, viewing it as killing one to avoid killing thousands in a future uprising.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Vi convinces Jayce to strike back against Silco against the wishes of the Council.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: During Ambessa Medarda and Jayce's meeting in the bathhouse, Ambessa suddenly stands up and steps out of the bath, with a close-up Male Gaze shot of her abs and Sideboob as she does so. It also causes Jayce to get visibly uncomfortable, which was likely her intention.
- Ship Tease: Caitlyn's mother acting like she's trying to smuggle some rough trade through her bedroom window, Vi and Caitlyn lying on her bed, and the "oil and water" speech by Vi on why they can't be together which doesn't quite sound like she's referring to their alliance to take Silco down.
- Shoulders-Up Nudity: During most shots of Caitlyn's Shower Scene, the camera never shows anything below her shoulders.
- Shower of Angst: After Vi leaves her, seemingly for good, Caitlyn remembers her through sorrowful flashbacks while taking a shower. Shoulders-Up Nudity and other creative camera angles obscure any actual nudity. And her leg is still bleeding into the water.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Discussed by Vi in the Gray Rain of Depression scene where she tells Caitlyn that any relationship between them is futile because they are "Oil and Water".
- Sword Beam: Or rather Hammer Beam. Jayce can shoot laser beams from his hammer.
- Tea Is Classy: Caitlyn's Rich Bitch mother stirs her tea while lecturing her daughter.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Victor can walk again without crutches thanks to his Shimmer injections.
- Title Drop: Vi says that the topside and Zaun will always be apart, like "oil and water".
- Toplessness from the Back:
- There's a shot of Ambessa Medarda's naked back as she surfaces from her bath to walk up to Jayce. Her butt remains covered by Censor Steam.
- When Caitlyn steps out of the shower and is toweling herself dry, she has her bare back facing the camera.
- Villainous Face Hold: In the opening A Minor Kidroduction flashback, Ambessa Medarda grabs the captured king's daughter rudely by her chin.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Jayce can't help but vomit after witnessing the carnage left by Jinx's explosion.
- Wham Shot: The end of the episode has Caitlyn coming out of her shower and finds a steam drawing of the same monkey symbol that Jinx leaves usually behind after her carnage. She then sees Jinx herself in the reflection, standing right behind her.
- X-Ray Sparks: There are various shots of the Hextech weapons lighting up the skeletons of those they impact... as said skeletons disintegrate from the force of their blows.
