The brothers check into the Dew Drop Inn motel, where Richie watches over their hostage while Seth goes to give his ex-wife Vanessa her share of the money. Freddie consults Professor Aiden Tanner, an expert on Mayan religion, to find out more about the significance of the ritual killings he believes Richie to be responsible for. The Fullers' trip to Mexico is delayed when their RV breaks down.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Seth mentions during his conversation with Vanessa that his and Richie's father used to beat both boys, but especially Seth.
- After Action Patch Up: Monica treats Richie's wounded hand, though it's not played romantically in the slightest.
- Ancient Artifact: Professor Tanner reveals that Richie's knife is a mythical ancient weapon believed to be used in ritual sacrifices.
- Arc Symbol: The eye-in-hand symbol shows up repeatedly again, as Tanner explains its association with the cult of the vision serpent.
- Bad Liar: Tanner's pathetic attempts at trying to convince Freddie that he told him to take the knife.
- Body Horror: Richie twice hallucinates an eyeball in his wounded palm; the second time, it transforms into a snake that then forces its way down his throat.
- Bullying a Dragon: Two people traffickers hired by Carlos attempt to rob him instead. It doesn't end well for them.
- Continuity Nod:
- Santanico being thrown into the Snake Pit is shown again, this time with the context provided by Tanner.
- Seth orders horchata from the burger joint.
- Dead Guy on Display: Carlos leaves the decapitated bodies of the people traffickers on display in one of their trucks as a warning to their colleague.
- Description Cut: Seth angrily insists to Vanessa that Richie isn't crazy; cue cut to Richie scribbling madly in his notebook and muttering under his breath while staring at Monica, who is bound and gagged on the bed.
- Dirty Old Man: Tanner makes a comment about Kate immediately after observing that she's much too young to be hanging out in bars.
- Dissonant Serenity: Richie is disturbingly calm after killing Monica.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Jacob gets drunk at the bar after the RV breaks down.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Seth is noticeably unnerved by Richie's gruesome killing of Monica, repeatedly saying that "this is not who [they] are".
- Eye Scream: Richie cuts Monica's eyes out and embeds them in her hands, confirming that he is responsible for the other killings being investigated by Freddie.
- Flashback: The episode opens with a flashback to Seth's time in prison prior to the beginning of the series.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Despite having his own doubts as to Richie's sanity, it's revealed that Seth beat up an inmate twice his size for casting aspersions on his brother's abilities while in prison, and he later walks out on Vanessa when she admits that she had Richie see a psychiatrist.
- I Have a Family: Monica makes a point of telling Richie about her children.
- I Owe You My Life: Seth reveals that he feels he owes it to Richie to try and save him as Richie pulled him out of a house fire that killed their father when they were kids.
- Incest Subtext:Vanessa: You love your brother so much, why don't you go screw him?
- It Works Better with Bullets: Monica grabs Richie's gun whilst he's in the grip of his hallucinations and repeatedly pulls the trigger, only to realize that the chamber is empty.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Seth and Vanessa have sex in the bathroom of the burger joint.
- Mr. Exposition: Tanner explains the culebra mythology to both Freddie and the audience.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Jacob's reaction when he accidentally backs the RV into Kate while still half-drunk.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Richie has a notebook filled with drawings of naked women being ritually sacrificed with their organs spilling out.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Tanner makes a point of comparing Christianity to the blood cults that Freddie (a devout Christian) is investigating, describing the former as a cult in which the faithful are asked to consume the blood and the body of their savior.
- Oh, Crap!: When Monica tries to shoot Richie and realizes that the gun is empty, and then later when Seth returns to the motel and sees what Richie has done to her.
- Outlaw Couple: It's revealed that Vanessa was responsible for much of the planning of the bank job, and was originally supposed to cross the border with Seth. She also holds a cop at gunpoint to allow Seth to escape the burger joint when he's about to be recognized.
- Percussive Therapy: Jacob takes his anger out on the RV upon realizing how bad the damage is. Later, Vanessa smashes Seth's windshield with a tire iron.
- Plot-Driven Breakdown: The Fullers' RV happens to break down outside the same bar where Freddie and Tanner are meeting.
- Sanity Slippage: Richie grows increasingly unstable.
- Semidivine: Tanner describes Santanico as a powerful demigoddess.
