Cate and Kentaro go looking for May after she is kidnapped at the airport.
Tropes:
- All of Them: When asked how much of Outpost 88's explosives he wants to take, Shaw replies, "All of it."
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Shaw's group seize Outpost 88 to raid it for resources.
- Big "YES!": Shaw shouts one at the top of his lungs when he sees that his explosives have successfully closed off the Vile Vortex in Alaska.
- Connected All Along: May was working for Applied Experimental Technologies, a company owned by Walter Simmons, the owner of Apex Cybernetics in Godzilla vs. Kong. Indeed, at the end of the episode Applied Experimental Technologies is shown being rebranded as Apex Cybernetics.
- Curse Cut Short: The "cut to another scene" version happens when Tim wakes up after the helicopter crash in Algeria:Tim: What the f-?! [Episode cuts to the town of Tindouf]
- Deadpan Snarker: Tim, when at his wit's end after the previous episode's events, gives the Randas this piece of snark after they accuse him of kidnapping their friend: "Actually, I'm trying to get hydrated, figure out a way to get the hell outta here. How are you?"
- Disproportionate Retribution: Verdugo declares Tim suspended from Monarch duty for nothing more than some snark over the phone.
- Dramatic Irony: Tim explains the Monarch MUTO alert to the Randa kids without realizing they’ve already experienced it in Japan (as seen in the first episode).
- Fire Alarm Distraction: Tim triggers a beta version of a Titan Alert System to drive everyone out of Applied Experimental Technologies so they can rescue May. Unfortunately Brenda sees right through it and blackmails May into telling the Randa twins to leave.
- Foreshadowing: Hints that the AET corporation is directly related to Apex Cybernetics, the evil tech corp who build Mechagodzilla and control it with a Brain/Computer Interface in Godzilla vs. Kong, are peppered throughout the episode. The "Cybernetic Neuro-Interface Unit"'s very name is one ringer. Brenda's suit in 2015 is bright-purple, Apex's signature color. May mentions that there's a "Walter" with very deep pockets above Brenda, without giving his last name. Holland mentions to May that AET is currently undergoing a messy rebranding process. Holland also describes in detail to May that the Cybernetic Neuro-Interface Unit is geared towards psionically piloting a Titan-sized machine. Even the rather careless methods of The Men in Black, who abduct May onto a privately-owned jet but leave a blatantly obvious piece of evidence for her friends to realize she was kidnapped instead of abandoning them, smells of Apex's Powerful, but Incompetent methodology in Godzilla vs. Kong.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Applied Experimental Technologies—rebranded as Apex Cybernetics—was developing a neural interface that would later be implemented in Mechagodzilla, and Natalia Verdugo cuts a deal with them to get May out of hot water with them that Brenda Holland assures Walter Simmons will be highly profitable. The novelization for Godzilla vs. Kong reveals that Apex Cybernetics' contract with Monarch led to the construction of the USS Argo from Godzilla: King of the Monsters and other hi-tech goodies, and that Apex parlayed this into secretly building Mechagodzilla under Monarch's noses.
- Happy Flashback: May's first flashback is to a dinner date with Brenda Holland, which is the onset for a Troubled Backstory Flashback.
- Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed with Tim. He’d been an unintentional antagonist for the series, but in this episode, he firmly joins the Randa kids’ side, and they seem to finally accept that he is truly not their enemy, even if their agreement is tenuous at best.
- In the Hood: May is wearing a hood and an overcoat when she sneaks into AET's secret facilities at night while no-one's around.
- Meaningful Look: Verdugo casts Tim a subtle glare during her televised speech to the world when she mentions the false Titan alarm in Seattle (which he caused).
- The Men in Black:
- They work for an Evil, Inc. rather than a government agency, but this trope otherwise applies to the two dark-suited, silent spooks whom AET sends to apprehend May and bring her to Brenda Holland. Fitting with AET's Powerful, but Incompetent characterization as Apex Cybernetics in Godzilla vs. Kong, the men in black abduct May from a public women's restroom, and they leave all her belongings behind, which clues May's friends in within minutes that she's been kidnapped instead of running off.
- Monarch sends a pair of men in black of their own to all but abduct Cate, Kentaro and Tim off the street in broad daylight into Verdugo's limousine for a talking-to from the deputy director.
- The Mole: Holland wants May to become this for her within Monarch.
- Not Me This Time: When May disappears with evidence that she's been kidnapped by spooks, Cate, after her experiences in the last several episodes, naturally assumes Monarch are behind it the second she sees a disheveled Tim walking into the same airport. This time, Monarch had nothing to do with it. Just to be on this safe side, Tim calls Monarch to confirm that they didn't kidnap anyone recently.
- Not Quite Dead: Tim turns out to have survived the helicopter crash after Shaw believed there were no survivors.
- One-Steve Limit: Subverted when May passingly mentions that Holland's wealthy superior in AET is named Walter, which is the first name of two previous characters (Walter Riccio and Walter Simmons) in the MonsterVerse. It's a piece of foreshadowing, as it turns out that AET's Walter and the latter aforementioned Walter are one and the same.
- Rage Breaking Point: When Tim runs into the Randa half-siblings again at the airport just after surviving the helicopter crash, and a furious Cate immediately approaches him and accuses him of kidnapping May, he's naturally in no mood for it after having barely survives a helicopter crash in the previous episode which killed everyone else and after having hiked his way across a North African desert back to civilization with no water.
- "The Reason I Suck" Speech: May gives Holland such a speech about herself:May: Man, I used to love telling people I didn't care about money or the recognition. And the moment you dangled it in front of me, I bit. I was pissed at you, but I was pissed at myself. The night that I broke into the lab, I couldn't handle that. So I screwed us both over.
Brenda: So this is the moral of your story then?
May: From now on, I'm the only one who’ll pay for my mistakes. - The Reveal: We finally learn May’s true story - she destroyed AET’s a.k.a. Apex Cybernetics' data that will eventually play a part in the creation of Mechagodzilla, and she went on the run to escape their wrath.
- Rise from Your Grave: Played With. The first scene of Tim in the episode is him crawling out of the sand amid the wreckage of the previous episode's helicopter crash after being presumed KIA.
- Romantic Candlelit Dinner: Downplayed. There were warm yellow but electric lights in place of candles, and Brenda insists it was just dinner without anything romantic, but Brenda and May in the latter's Troubled Backstory Flashback have their first interaction over dinner at a warm, dimly-lit fancy restaurant.
- Say My Name: Verdugo hisses Tim's name in tranquil fury when she catches wind of the fire alarm distraction using the citywide Titan warning system in Seattle.
- Scrubbing Off the Trauma: A guilt-ridden and self-loathing May is washing her face in front of a restroom mirror before she's kidnapped.
- Ship Tease: Though Kentaro similarly doesn’t want anything bad to happen to May, it’s Cate who is the most focused on finding her. After getting May back from Applied Experimental Technologies, Cate affectionately wraps her arms around May while in they're riding in the Monarch van. Kentaro notices this and is clearly annoyed by it, shooting them a Disapproving Look that gets ignored.
- Shout-Out: Verdugo snarkily chides Tim and the Randa half-siblings for "playing Goonies" with their going behind her back trying to commit espionage against AET for their friend. She also comments that she always thought Goonies deserved a sequel.
- Sibling Seniority Squabble: A long-lost half-sibling variation when Cate uses the fact that she's older than her half-brother Kentaro to pull rank on him in Tindouf.
- Spotting the Thread: Holland isn’t fooled by the false MUTO alert since with her connections, she’d have been given advance notice beforehand.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After her falling out with her friends, May's reaction when she sees AET's agents coming to apprehend her is to snarkily say with a resigned look on her face, "I've never been kidnapped before, so, how does this work?"
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cate and Kentaro call a truce with Tim to rescue May, but Cate spells out that she still doesn't trust him after their previous encounters.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Over the course of the episode, May's backstory with AET which led her to running away to Tokyo and meeting the Randas is revealed in a series of flashbacks.
- Wham Shot: Brenda Holland is sent a rebranding graphic for Apex Cybernetics at the same time that she bids "Mr. Simmons" goodnight over her call, revealing that AET was a pre-rebranding Apex all along.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Tim reminds Verdugo that treating the Randa kids like criminals just created a whole lot of the mess Monarch is currently in.
- "You!" Exclamation: Cate shouts this when she clocks a disheveled Tim stepping into the Algerian airport just after May's kidnapping, assuming Monarch to be behind May's disappearance.
