Season 8, Episode 10
- Tracy being taken as a hostage causes great unrest and conflict as Troy closes in.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- When Strand is about to be killed by walkers, an armored vehicle pulls up and massacres them, and a woman with a prosthetic saves his life, tricking the viewer into thinking it’s Alicia. It’s lampshaded by Strand.
- Frank makes Strand promise to come back to him, a classic Tempting Fate trope, and when the group returns to find the destruction left by Troy and Strand is looking for him, the viewer can expect that Frank has been mortally wounded. However, Frank is alive and well and is instead tending to a dying friend from the hotel.
- Battle Discretion Shot: By the time Madison, Strand, and Daniel return to Luciana’s gas station, Troy instigated a firefight that caused a lot of death and destruction.
- Both Sides Have a Point:
- Strand says that Troy wouldn’t attack the island if he learned Tracy was being held hostage there. Dwight counters that it would just as easily give him more incentive to attack to save his daughter, backed up by June who insists Troy’s Papa Wolf traits will override any pragmatism Strand is hoping for.
- The Bus Came Back: Al’s armored vehicle returns after last being seen in "Amina".
- Continuity Nod:
- June recalls the death of John Dorie, Sr. in Season 7's "Sonny Boy".
- Strand reminds June of her past as "Naomi".
- Tracy says she’s been told of the history of the feud between Madison and the Otto family.
- Foreshadowing: Alicia’s group is heard searching for Madison on the radio.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Defied. June has not forgotten Strand’s actions in Season 7, let alone forgiven him.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Averted. The characters regularly anticipate Troy’s actions due to knowing how he operates. June and Dwight figure he’d attack the island because of Tracy being held captive; Daniel also figures that even if they gave Tracy to Troy, he’d inevitably attack them just to take their resources.
- He Knows Too Much: Strand takes off Tracy’s blindfold to try to get her to memorize PADRE’s location, so that June and the others won’t return her to Troy.
- I Hate Past Me: Strand’s face falls as June forces him to remember his crimes as the leader of The Tower. He later is remorseful when faced with the woman who was a child when Strand turned her and her father away from the Tower, and upon hearing many tried to come to the Tower only to find it in ruins.
- It's All About Me: Though he has nobler intentions, Strand still possesses a nasty self-preservative streak that causes a lot of problems for the group.
- Legacy Character: Alicia’s former group dresses like her to keep her alive in a way.
- Meaningful Echo: When Strand accuses Daniel of only helping Madison to take his own revenge on Troy, Alicia be damned, Madison repeats his line to him - "there’s something fundamentally wrong with you."
- Mexican Standoff: A particularly large one occurs when Luciana’s group and PADRE surround Troy’s militia.
- Misplaced Retribution: Defied, as when Tracy is brought before her, Madison refuses to kill her to get back at Troy. It’s not until Tracy proves willing to kill her for killing her mother that Madison is willing to kill her in turn.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Defied by Strand when Dwight asks if Troy doesn’t have his capacity for change.Strand: He’s a sociopath on a revenge tour, I have issues. There’s a difference.
- Papa Wolf: June invokes this trope, knowing that Troy would surely be willing to attack the island to get his daughter back. This comes true by the end of the episode, as Troy attacks despite being heavily outgunned and the danger of having a firefight at a gas station.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Madison and Daniel find a herd of walkers that are stuck in frozen mud. Eventually, they get excited enough by the presence of prey to break free.
- Spanner in the Works: Strand’s attempts to rewrite what happened to make himself look more favorable are constantly undermined by Tracy who tells Madison what actually happened.
- Would Hurt a Child: Madison decides to kill Tracy for trying to get her killed.
