When Alaric decides to postpone the school's annual talent show, Lizzie and Josie are determined to make sure the show goes on. Meanwhile, tensions arise when the students face a creature that lowers their inhibitions. Lastly, Alaric decides to play hooky with Emma.
- All Myths Are True: When Dorian points out that he can't find any myths or stories about such a parasite, Landon tells him that movies are modern myths, name-dropping several horror movies with a similar premise.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Initially, everyone assumes that the unicorn is the Monster of the Week. Instead, it's a slug parasite that is inside the unicorn.
- Also, when Dorian confronts the unicorn, there's a shot of a parasite crawling up his leg. Later, Hope and Landon walk up to him and start talking about a parasite. Dorian slowly turns to face them, and the viewer is clearly meant to expect an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-type ending... Then Dorian lifts up a jar with a slug and asks if that's what they're talking about. Turns out he caught the slug before it managed to enter his body.
- Bittersweet Ending: While the students and professors have been freed from the parasite, Alaric is infected afterwards and tosses the urn into a river. Also, Alaric learns he has feelings for Emma, except she's dating Dorian (although it's implied she feels something for Alaric too). Lizzie also decides to be even more of a bitch than before.
- Harmless Electrocution: Electricity weakens the parasite and makes it exit the body as quickly as possible, at which point anyone nearby crushes it in disgust. Hope accidentally shocks herself with a faulty light switch. Emma and Alaric then grab a pair of wires, likely connected to the outlet. They experience just a brief shock and don't actually electrocute themselves. Landon then spreads a special conductive gas in the common room and Emma produces a spark with a spell, shocking all the students.
- The Immune: Landon is somehow immune to the parasite, which is possibly related to his Malivore-related conception.
- Love Triangle: It's revealed that Alaric has feelings for Emma, who's dating Dorian but may also harbor feelings for Alaric. Also, Rafael has feelings for Hope but doesn't want to jeopardize his friendship with Landon.
- Oh, Crap!: The reaction of Dorian, Landon, and Hope, when they use UV light to look for trails of slugs and find dozens of them all over the school.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The real Monster of the Week. It enters a person's body through an orifice (ear, nose, or mouth all work), then starts removing inhibitions, before planting a suggestion to do its bidding (take the urn in this case). It also reproduces inside the body, so that it can infect more people. The final stage is death (meaning it's a terrible parasite, since a parasite's job is to keep the host alive as long as possible).
- Shock Collar: Lizzie's mother puts a bracelet on her hand, enchanted to shock her whenever she says something mean. This is to condition her to be a nicer person. It also keeps her from being infected by the parasite, since it has a weakness to electricity. She puts the bracelet on Josie and asks her to tell her the truth about what sort of a sister Lizzie is. Josie honestly tells her she's a terrible sister, causing the bracelet to shock her and stun the parasite.
- Shout-Out:
- The close-ups of the slug, especially with it roaring its three-jawed mouth, are all very Graboid-like.
- Landon also mentions several sci-fi movies with a similar premise, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Faculty.
- Spoken Word: Rafael's act for the talent show. Landon winces, knowing Rafael's skills at this. He ends up revealing his feelings for Hope. When Landon confronts him about this afterwards, Rafael brushes it off as the influence of the parasite, even though it clearly wasn't.
- Talent Show: The annual talent show is taking place during the episode. When Alaric tries to cancel the event (well, postpone it indefinitely), the twins demand that the student council puts it to a vote, forcing Alaric to give in and allow it to continue. Most of the acts end up being performed under the influence of the parasite, so Alaric ends up asking for a redo after the students are freed.
- The Unfettered: The parasite makes its hosts lose all inhibitions.
- Unicorn: One ends up in the magical trap, and everyone assumes it's the Monster of the Week. The real monster is a Puppeteer Parasite and the unicorn is only the first host it used to get to the school before possessing Hope and subsequently using her to spread its offspring through the rest of the students.
