A joint mission brings about conflict between crew members.
Tropes:
- Amicable Exes: Aleida and her husband have separated, though are still on good terms. He even helps point her in the right direction in finding out who leaked NASA designs to the Russians.
- Armor-Piercing Question: In-Universe. Toward the end of a government hearing, Larry is bluntly asked if he is having an affair. His previous Deadpan Snarker attitude noticeably cracks.Senator Willie Baron: Are you, Larry Wilson, having a secret affair with a White House aide?
- The Bus Came Back: Pam returns after missing from the series ever since "And Heres To You".
- Cassandra Truth: Kelly tells her father to hold off on drilling. Her reasons - while totally legitimatenote - are not those that ultimately make drilling a dumb idea, but had Ed listened to Kelly, a lot of grief could have been avoided.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Among other things, Jimmy's new "friends" seem to believe the tale of his parents' noble sacrifice was somehow made up to "cover up what really happened." One mocks the statue of his parents as "memorializing something that never happened" when viewers know that pose is perfectly accurate to the moment.
- "Eureka!" Moment: It's implied that Aleida finally realizes that Margo leaked the engine plans when she leaves her office, glancing back at a portrait of her with a shattered expression.
- Historical Domain Character: Famed Republican political advisor Karl Rove makes an appearance in relation to the new scandal regarding Larry.
- History Repeats: When Margo realized her mentor was not all she thought him to be, she similarly glanced at his portrait in the lobby with new eyes. Now Margo is the mentor to disappoint.
- Hit Me, Dammit!: Ed encourages Danny to do this after getting into an argument. It later leads to Danny simply striking himself in the mirror in a fit of rage.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Margo is completely correct in criticizing Aleida for accusing a co-worker without evidence and for wasting her time trying to find out who the traitor is, as that is not her job. However, the viewer knows that Margo has no altruistic reason for saying this, as she is actually the traitor.
- Kick the Dog: Not only does Danny LITERALLY KICK A DOG, it's a TOY dog. Which he then smashes to pieces. Way to be super evil!
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ed assigns Danny to comms duty instead of having him work the drill, citing his substance abuse. The change results in the extremely high Danny ignoring the commands to stabilize the drill, which results in Ed and Isabel getting injured. If that wasn't already bad enough, the drill causes an earthquake that possibly kills or injures more of the crew and separates Danny and Ed from the others.
- Oh, Crap!: Margo has a big one when Aleida says she found out who the spy is. She is relieved however when she discovers that Aleida is following the wrong lead.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Aleida finally becomes suspicious of Margo when she suggests that Aleida take some time off to try to forget about the traitor's investigation. Aleida even asks in disbelief since when Margo offers anyone a break.
- Shout-Out: To Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy when Margot chides Aleida for working overtime to find who leaked the engine designs.
- Took a Level in Jerkass:
- Larry, while understandably cagey given his sexuality, outright tells his lover Jeremy to check into rehab to support a cover story to keep their relationship a secret.
- Danny, mostly thanks to his abuse of medication, acts more stand-offish towards the rest of the Phoenix crew. It reaches its breaking point where he stomps PJ, the small toy dog the crew had taken a liking to, into pieces.
- Margo emotionally manipulates Aleida in her attempts to get her to drop the investigation into who is leaking NASA information. To accomplish this, Margo uses Aleida's own past against her (remembering when her father was falsely accused of being a spy) and even threatening to suspend her.
- Uncertain Doom: The fate of two cosmonauts and two Helios astronauts are up in the air after the devastating earthquake and dust cloud.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By pressing for the drilling to happen now when there was no need to not delay for a week or a couple more, Ed gets the Disaster Dominoes rolling for this particular Space-SNAFU.
- Wham Line:
- When Margo tries to talk with Sergei to prevent him being taken back to the USSR, he says:"They're taking me to the airport now."
- When Margo tries to talk with Sergei to prevent him being taken back to the USSR, he says:
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Ellen lays into Larry for sleeping with a White House aide and potentially sacrificing everything they've worked for. It only gets more fierce as she also learns that he knew Pam left her so Ellen could further her political aspirations and said nothing about it.
- Kelly is enraged with Ed due to the possible presence of microbial life in the Martian water reserve that wasn't ruled out. Given what humanity in our timeline knows about Extremophile Lifeforms and given what viewers of this episode know about the other consequences of drilling into that aquifer, Kelly is 100% right.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Sergei is being taken back to the USSR after Russia finished ironing out their deal with Helios to gain access to equipment to get to the water reservoir on Mars; thereby making the joint NASA-Soviet mission null-and-void.
