Written by Justin Michael
Storyboarded by Angela Kim & Jessie Wong
Storyboarded by Angela Kim & Jessie Wong
The group splits up in order to solve a color-based, shifting-maze puzzle, forcing Simon and Tuba to amicably work together.
Tropes:
- Bait the Dog: Tuba and Simon seem to bond while solving the puzzle of the clock car. When he goes back under the pretense of rescuing her, he tells her that she's not a person and murders her instead.
- Break the Cutie: Hazel did not take Tuba's death well...
- Brutal Honesty: Instead of lying about how he failed to save Tuba, Simon outright tells Hazel that he killed her.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Simon killing Tuba and Hazel transforming into a turtle.
- Didn't Think This Through: No Simon, you're not getting "Friend of the Year" award when you tell a kid that you murdered their best friend and that this is a good thing. Moreover, when you are told to wait until you reach home to wheel Tuba and go against the plan, of course your best friend is going to be pissed off at you.
- Disability Superpower: Being colorblind, Tuba is able to perceive and interact with both the red and green parts of the clock car when usually only one color is visible and solid, allowing her to grab the green key when it isn't shifted in and use it to unlock the red lock on the door.
- Dissonant Serenity: Simon is downright casual when he brags about killing Tuba to Hazel, as if he were consoling her about a broken toy.
- Downer Ending: Simon kills Tuba and a heartbroken Hazel turns into a turtle.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Simon gloats at how he killed Tuba in front of Hazel and brags about how his number rose from it... all while Hazel is bawling and Grace walks away from him in disgust.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Grace is utterly furious when Simon brags about killing Tuba right to Hazel's face. It's unclear if the reaction is for Tuba’s sake or if she's just upset with him for ignoring the plan and upsetting Hazel.
- Exact Words: Simon quotes the motto of the Color Clock Car to Tuba ("Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other."), only to add that Tuba isn't a person before murdering her.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Simon kills Tuba by electrocuting her as she hangs on a ledge until she drops off and lands on a train wheel.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The same green scanning light seen in the first episode of the season passes over the clock car before it moves.
- Foreshadowing: When Simon looks at his number tracker, the Apex reads as a large red circle as opposed to the lumpy collection of smaller red circles from the first episode, foreshadowing that it's not the Apex's many smallish numbers, but one large one; they're already tracking Amelia instead.
- For Your Own Good: This is how Simon rationalizes killing Tuba to Hazel. Unsurprisingly, neither she nor Grace accept that logic.
- Four Is Death: Tuba, a member of this group of four, dies. Also this is Tuba's fourth and last episode.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The scene cuts away just as Tuba falls onto the wheels to a flash of lightning.
- Hope Spot: Simon repeats Roy's "Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other" but then adds that Tuba is not a person before he causes her death.
- Idiot Ball: Grace made clear in previous episodes that she intended to wean Hazel off her attachment to Tuba so they could separate the two without losing Hazel's trust. Simon instead decides to murder Tuba and brag about it to Hazel, completely missing the point.
- Ignored Epiphany: The train places the group in a situation where Simon has to trust Tuba, the literal motto of the car being "Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other." Simon works with Tuba to solve the car and then kills her the moment an opportunity arises.
- Kick the Dog: Simon wheeling Tuba and happily telling Hazel about it shows how much of an asshole he is..
- Lack of Empathy: Simon does not understand why killing Tuba is a horrible thing. Hazel is broken and even Grace walks away in disgust.Simon: (to Grace) Told you I could take [Tuba] solo! (when Grace storms off) ...I thought you'd be happy!
- Musical Assassin: Tuba is able to use her dual tubas to amplify her roar and blow apart a cage she and Simon are trapped in.
- No, You: When Simon groans that he's stuck with Tuba, Tuba replies with "No, I'm stuck with you."
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know things are messed up when Grace is disgusted by Simon's deeds.
- The Reveal: Hazel's transformation in front of Grace proved that she isn't human...
- Rule of Perception: How the Color Clock Car works in-universe. At certain times only objects of certain colors are visible and tangible, which is a problem when the door has a red lock but the key is green. If you're colorblind and perceive two hues as the same, then you can interact with both sets of them.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Simon and Tuba do not like working with one another.
- Wham Episode: Simon murders the gentle gorilla Tuba and Hazel is revealed to be something not human.
- Wham Shot: Hazel mutating into a turtle when she's distraught about the loss of Tuba.
- Wham Line:Simon: Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other. But you... you're no person.
- What You Are in the Dark: Simon shows off how he is a sociopathic, apathetic, uncaring asshole when he decides to murder Tuba without remorse and even tells her she's not a person.
