Crackle works with A.C.M.E. and Carmen's friends to save her from V.I.L.E.'s brainwashing.
Tropes:
- And the Adventure Continues: The series skips ahead two years where A.C.M.E. agents Chase, Julia, Zack, and Ivy find Paper Star tied to the front door of a museum and see Carmen's silhouette up on the roof.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether the Carmen we see silhouetted in the final scene of the series is Black Sheep or a successor is unknown.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Apparently, V.I.L.E. never thought to have any security at their new headquarters. Even after six months to a year since moving to a new location.
- Book Ends:
- It's fitting that the first time Carmen appears is when she's talking to Player (Carmen via phone and Player via earpiece) and before she meets her mother, she ends up talking to Player again (with Player on the phone and Carmen on earpiece).
- Carmen's first caper in the series was retrieving the Eye of Vishnu from Morocco. A.C.M.E.'s plan is to have her steal the very same jewel from the same location. This is also Lampshaded by Julia, who points out that she and Chase have "come full circle".
- On a meta example, the first season and the last season both debuted in January.
- Brick Joke: The police officer is researching turtles when Gray turns himself in.
- Chekhov's Gag: In "The Chasing Paper Caper" Maelstrom starts the episode talking about how he has been classified as deranged and even psychotic by society. When he is imprisoned, he isn't in a jail cell but a padded room for criminals with mental instabilities.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- One that has been there since the first episode. A subtle and never drawn attention to fact is Carmen's set of dolls lacked the baby doll. It turns out Carmen's mother had it with her. Finding it in turn helps Carmen fight through the brainwashing after A.C.M.E.'s tech started the process.
- Graham's early escape from the Reykjavík jail cell allows him to make contact with A.C.M.E. by simply walking back to them and getting recaptured. Without Roundabout's connections to monitor things, V.I.L.E. has no knowledge of his actions.
- *Click* Hello: Chief pulls off a version when she is waiting by the hidden exit Maelstrom uses to escape the castle raid.
- Continuity Nod:
- Roundabout is revealed to still be in the V.I.L.E. dungeon.
- When Shadow-san is telling Carmen how she's inspired plenty of other people to fight the good fight, we see a montage of all the minor characters that Carmen's helped and worked with over the course of the series.
- During his last appearance, Player is in the same diner he and Carmen ate in at the end of "The Himalayan Rescue Caper", and reiterates his statement from that scene that he's not going anywhere.
- The crackle rod still needs fingerprint identification to use, as Crackle tells Carmen. She retorts that as V.I.L.E. faculty, her fingerprints do give her authorization to use it.
- Chase and Julia recall their first job together when they encountered Carmen. Chase's fall on his car is recalled.
- Hideo and Shadowsan's reunion at the end of "The Daisho Caper" is repeated when Hideo first notices his brother arriving in a reflection.
- The Dog Bites Back: Julia is the one to arrest Cleo, after having been on the opposite end of the equation in their last encounter. Even Cleo realizes the irony, since she's shown to surrender peacefully.
- Dramatic Irony: After Carmen has seemingly played A.C.M.E. (actually brainwashed by the Faculty), the Chief tries to lure her in by using Julia's blog to trick Carmen into meeting with her for the information they've found on her missing mother. Because of her brainwashing, Carmen doesn't remember the deal she'd made with the Chief or even anything about her mother, so she never shows...but Shadow-san, who figured out the blog clues after being alerted by Player, goes instead and is able to steal the file on her mother. This in turn allows him to track her down and the last missing matryoshka doll, and it's this doll which jogs Carmen's memory and restores her to herself. So in roundabout fashion, the information on Carmen's mother does end up leading to Carmen telling all she knows about V.I.L.E. and bringing them down.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: V.I.L.E's top brass along with Tigress and Mime Bomb are arrested, Shadow-san reunites with his brother, Graham walks away a free man, and Carmen has reunited with her mother. Two years later, Julia and Chase are teamed with Zack and Ivy (now A.C.M.E. agents themselves) where they see Carmen again as she heads off into the night.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Graham's feelings for Carmen make him regret the brainwashing and forcing her into a life of crime. As he notes to Chief, Gray chose his criminal life. Carmen is being forced into something she rejected.
- Grand Finale: The final episode of the show.
- Heel–Face Turn: Out of all the V.I.L.E. agents, only Graham Calloway, Le Chévre and El Topo turn clean.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The Cleaners evade A.C.M.E.'s raid and hide out as professional window cleaners.
- Hope Spot: Played for laughs as Roundabout, still stuck in the dungeons, hopes someone will let him out when he hears the raid on the castle. He is broken when it is A.C.M.E. agents Zari and her old partner who find him.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
- Attempted by Graham to Dark Carmen after he uses the A.C.M.E. tech on her, but the process is not working just yet and she attacks him for his betrayal.
- After she escapes, Shadowsan confronts her. Wanting revenge, Carmen tries to kill him, but Shadowsan holds back and attempts this.
- Jet Pack: Dr. Bellum tries to escape with hers, but is caught.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Whereas Maelstrom and Bellum try to flee and Brunt goes down fighting, Cleo calmly waits for the A.C.M.E. agents to arrest her.
- Legacy Character: "Carmen Sandiego" becomes this according to Shadow-san, with it even implied that the Carmen silhoutte seen at the end may not be the Carmen we know.
- Love Redeems: Whether it is platonic or romantic, Graham's love of Carmen is what in the end saves him. He betrays V.I.L.E. and turns mole for A.C.M.E. because of what's been done to Carmen. He even rejects it when Chief asks if he wants a pass or leniency for turning against V.I.L.E. He just wants to save Carmen.
- Lured into a Trap: By baiting Carmen with the Eye of Vishnu being back in the open, A.C.M.E. is able to trap and undo the brainwashing done on her. It helps that the other Faculty explain how while she did steal it, the traitor Shadowsan took it back when he defected. This adds fuel to Carmen's existing hatred of the man, and spurs her to personally do the job.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Carmen, after she's freed of the brainwashing, having remembered that she had just shot Graham with the taser stick on what she thought was a lethal setting.
- Mythology Gag:
- The background music playing during A.C.M.E.'s raid on V.I.L.E. headquarters is an orchestral version of the theme song to the 90s Carmen Sandiego cartoon Where On Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
- The ending has two pairs of A.C.M.E. agents watching as Carmen spirits off into the night. Julia and Chase were the agents originally from the video games in the Carmen Sandiego franchise, while Ivy and Zack were the agents facing Carmen in Where On Earth is Carmen Sandiego?.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Despite their concern over a brainwashed Carmen's extreme methods of theft, the V.I.L.E. Faculty decide to promote her as one of their own... which gives Carmen the exclusive knowledge of their headquarters' location, allowing Carmen to lead A.C.M.E. there when she's free from V.I.L.E.'s control.Tigress: "Promote Carmen to V.I.L.E. Faculty!" Truly spectacular idea, ladies!
Brunt, Cleo, and Bellum: Shut it! - Properly Paranoid:
- V.I.L.E. Faculty is still concerned about A.C.M.E. and their agents betraying V.I.L.E. They haven't yet revealed their new headquarters's location to any lower members of V.I.L.E. As Graham has secretly turned traitor to V.I.L.E., he cannot just give the information to Chief.
- Graham was concerned about Carmen getting access to his signature crackle rod to use against him or others, so he rigs it to not actually charge above stun setting even when dialed up. This ends up saving his life when Carmen uses it on him with the intention to kill him.
- Redemption Earns Life: Graham betrays V.I.L.E. to A.C.M.E. to save Carmen, knowing it could get him killed. It nearly does, but when it is all said and done, Chief lets the young man walk away without capturing him as a former V.I.L.E. operative.
- Ship Sinking: Graham, who has given up on being in Carmen's life, will be in charge of sinking forever the possibility of them being together.
- Storming the Castle: At the episode's climax, A.C.M.E. raids V.I.L.E. Castle and arrests the Faculty.
- Time Skip: The last two minutes of the episode take place two years into the future.
- The Unreveal: Just as Carmen is about to meet with her mother, the scene cuts to black.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
- Whereas Brunt goes down fighting and Cleo resigns herself to be captured, Dr. Bellum tries to fly away in her jetpack and Maelstrom attempts to leave by a secret passage. Neither are successful.
- The Cleaners do escape and are implied to be waiting for the next iteration of V.I.L.E to grow to help them.
- Where It All Began: Devineaux and Julia are now working together to hunt down and capture Carmen Sandiego who happens to be stealing the Eye of Vishnu. Sound familar?
- You Killed My Father: Carmen screams this to Shadow-san — under the false belief that he killed Dexter Wolf — but Shadow-san stops her by showing off the last matryoshka doll.
