After losing her promotion to her Orwellian father, Reagan decides to sabotage him.
Tropes:
- Accidental Kiss: Rand and Dietrich end up being forced to make out during the pissing contest due to Reagan and Ron having accidentally turned the nanobots on while making out. Both of them are not pleased, but everyone else takes it as a sign that the two have ended their feud and become lovers.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The Catholic Church and the Insane Clown Posse are two of the six societies running the world.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Turns out the Insane Clown Posse make up one of the six organizations that make up the Shadow Government. Even they don't know how that happened.
- Brick Joke:
- The final event is a literal pissing contest wherein the contestants try to put out a fire. Reagan and Staedler accidentally cause Rand and Dietrich to make out instead and the contest is called off. Said fire winds up burning the owl statue down because no one bothered putting it out.
- During the Anonymous Anonymous meeting, Bigfoot complains a child mistook him for Chewbacca. At the end of the episode, J.R. runs into him and makes the same mistake.
- Broken Ace: Ron Staedler runs The Illuminati's memory-erasing department. He had originally joined under the premise that the Shadow Government knew what it was doing, only to realize that it's run by hedonistic idiots no different from the regular government. The only reason why he's even in AA is because he reached a breaking point and was caught trying to wipe his own mind clean.Reagan and Ron: ...it's just assholes all the way down.
- The Caligula: Under his control, Rand has turned Cognito Inc. into his own personal ego trip. Black ops agents are seen wearing his personal bathrobe as part of their uniform, security cameras litter the women's bathroom, a sculpture of him as Atlas is being installed, there are posters of him everywhere and anyone who criticizes him (even under their breath) is banished to the Shadow Prison. It also doesn't help that he declares war against the Shadow Board to his entire staff, very obviously makes it about his mid-life crisis and ends up exposing himself through his robe.Reagan: My dad is an amoral sociopath. Having him in charge will literally destroy the world.
- Chekhov's Gunman: At the end of the episode, the man who was set to be hunted and was forgotten by everyone is revealed to be J.R., who escaped in the confusion.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Staedler accidentally motivates Reagan to act on her vendetta, everyone else in AA gives him a dirty look. He insincerely apologizes for bringing his mind-eraser gun to therapy. Again.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Illuminati entourage mock Gigi for trying to apply for work at the Illuminati.
- After Oprah suffers from the effects of Andre's mushrooms, she realizes that she's a clone and that the real Oprah died.
- Covert Group: It's here we learn that there are six societies total that rule the world on the Shadow Board's behalf: Reptoids, Atlanteans, The Catholic Church, the Juggalos, Cognito Inc and the Illuminati.
- Deep-Fried Whatever: Gigi says she's from Atlanta, where "we deep-fry iced tea".
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Reagan had gotten a tramp stamp labeled "Mommy Likey Drinky" without remembering getting it.
- Freudian Excuse: Slenderman suspects at the Anonymous Anonymous meeting that his MO of driving people to madness may stem from his mommy issues.
- Heel Realization: Andre, Gigi, and Brett spike the Illuminati members' drinks to force this on them. One politician commits suicide on the spot after being forced to confront the fact he's helped place humanity on a course towards extinction.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: One of the Power Struggle games is the "Manhunt" where the contestants try to hunt down a prisoner dressed in furs and a deer skull mask. Due to Reagan and Staedler's interference he manages to escape.
- Interservice Rivalry: The Power Struggle is basically a party where the six societies that make-up the Shadow Government meet at Bohemian Grove, get wasted and try to outdo each other in a series of games. One of those games is a literal pissing contest.
- Ironic Echo: The episode opens the same as the series premier; with a drunken Ridley rattling off real conspiracy theories in front of the White House with someone coming in to pick them up and getting tased.
- Mistaken for Terrorist: At first a few bystanders think Reagan has a bomb strapped to her body, only to realize that she just has Toblerones taped to her body.
- Monsters Anonymous: Anonymous Anonymous is basically a support group for people who work in the Shadow Government, led by The Mothman.
- Shout-Out:
- According to Reagan, Minions are real.
- One of the members of the Anonymous Anonymous group is the Slenderman.
- Bigfoot mentions a time he ran into a kid who mistook him for Chewbacca.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda mentions his work in Moana.
- Lin-Manuel is also wearing his Alexander Hamilton costume, and there are a couple references to songs from the musical.Lin-Manuel Miranda: If you need us, we’ll be in the room where it happens.
(later)
Gigi: (tearing her Illuminati contract) I guess I am throwing away my shot!
- Take That!:
- Reagan seems to think that drinking a Bud Light Lime-A-Rita is a new low for her.
- Reagan declares Rand's plans for Cognito Inc. would be "the most globally damaging midlife crisis since Elon Musk."
- Alex Jones is seen in Bohemian Grove jail. He's portrayed as a sweaty, overly-intense weirdo begging for money to fund his insane, supplement-based ideas, he believes in the Flat-Earth Conspiracy, is a misogynist and takes his shirt off for no reason. He even keeps a tape-recorder on himself because he's the only person who listens to him anymore.Reagan: Great, now we're stuck here with the school-shooting denier who looks like an orangutan fucked a fire hydrant...
- Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Oprah Winfrey (more specifically, a clone) are Illuminati members and are a bunch of narcissistic and elitist scumbags.
- While dosed on LSD, Lin-Manuel says that he really is “Corny white history teacher bullshit”, obviously poking fun at Hamilton being an R&B musical based on a historical figure
- Tropaholics Anonymous: Anonymous Anonymous is a group for supernatural creatures, cryptids and people in secret societies like Cognito Inc. and the Illuminati to express their grievances.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Manhunt target starts running while the contestants are distracted by Rand shooting at the Illuminati head and isn't seen again until The Stinger, where he's shown to have escaped, and is J.R.
