Jessica's actress niece is the prime suspect in the murder of a daytime-drama writer.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Carol, assistant writer of Our Secret Lives has a crush on Todd Worthy, who sees her as a friend on his side in regards to his conflicts with Joyce. After she becomes head writer, the network ties her hands in regard to letting Todd off the show and they have a falling out.
- Anyone Can Die: When Joyce Holleran took over of Our Secret Lives, she introduced "The Masked Avenger", who killed off certain characters according to her plan, often over the protests of the actors involved.
- Asshole Victim: None of the cast are particularly sorry to see Joyce gone.
- Executive Meddling: In-universe. After Joyce's death, the network wants the new head writer and the new producer to continue the Avenger storyline. It's hard to blame them, as said storyline had taken Our Secret Lives from oblivion to No. 2 in the ratings.
- Family of Choice: Julian (a thirty-year veteran of the show) loved his fellow OSL cast members so much he dressed as the Avenger and tried to kill Joyce—but the Avenger's gun had blanks in it. Joyce's husband Larry took this opportunity to shoot Joyce for real.
- Gold Digger: Larry Holleran was with Joyce for the money and guaranteed spot on Our Secret Lives.
- Irony: Martin Grattop, who wanted to stay on the show, was getting killed off, Nita Cochran was going to be exposed as the Avenger, which would mean being written off against her will as well and Todd Worthy, who wanted to leave the show, was being kept on—at least according to Joyce's plans.
- Klingon Promotion: Averted. Joyce says that even though it comes with a nice new office and a fatter paycheck, she never regarded the position of head writer as being worth climbing over someone else's bones to get there.
- Lost in Character: Julian is an elderly man who has been playing his role on Our Secret Lives for thirty years, and Nita notes that the line between himself and the character has blurred somewhat in his mind. Jessica eventually gets him to confess to trying to (but failing to) kill Joyce by putting the confession into his character's lines. Right afterwards, he was still not out of character so in a state of some confusion he's was willing to confess more fully to other details.
- Mistaken Identity: Since Nita was the one who wore the identity-concealing Masked Avenger costume on the show, when someone in said costume showed up in Joyce's apartment and shot her (with blanks), she said that it was Nita when she called 911. It was actually Julian in the costume.
- Mr. Fanservice: Todd Worthy's role on OSL basically amounted solely to bedroom scenes, much to his annoyance as he wanted something to do, but Joyce refused to expand his role or to let him off the show to pursue other roles.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Larry Halloran killed Joyce because he was afraid her having found out about his relationship with Bibi Hartman would lead to a divorce that would cost him both her money and his acting career.
- Nice to the Waiter: Joyce was at least nice and polite to her assistant writer, even if she's overworking her a bit.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: When "The Masked Avenger" attacks Joyce he uses the Avenger's signature weapon—a .45 caliber handgun, which had been loaded with blanks. However, the bullet which killed Joyce came from a .38 caliber gun, specifically the Police Special used by a detective on the show. Larry, the killer, didn't know they used different guns and couldn't tell the difference.
- Raised by Grandparents: Nita's grandmother raised her for most of her life. Nita's using a large chunk of her paycheck to pay for the group home she's staying in and the long-term care she evidently needs.
- Red Baron: People on the show call Joyce "Dragon Lady" behind her back.
- Script Swap: Julian, one of the actors uses a teleprompter due to his age affecting his memory. Part of the plan to trap the killer involves introducing an Engineered Public Confession via said teleprompter.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Although Joyce was only shot with a blank, the shock and confusion of what was happening led her to believe she'd been capped for real and she collapsed to the floor, stunned long enough for her husband to actually shoot her.
