Jessica arrives on a private island, summoned by millionaire Mr. Reynard for mysterious reasons. Upon her arrival, Reynard tells Jessica he thinks one of his heirs means to kill him, a concern which appears justified when he turns up with blood and powder burns on his temple during a blackout.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder: One of the show's rare examples. The victim attempted to take a gun off someone who was attempting suicide and was accidentally shot. The attempt to cover it up may push it into criminal manslaughter territory.
- Awful Wedded Life: Jason and Valerie may be married and even call each other endearments, but neither of them love each other. Valerie implies she married Jason for his father's money and both of them seem to have cheated on the other.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Reynards.
- Closed Circle: The storm prevents anyone from leaving or getting to the island. In addition, it's discovered that the radio telephone and the motor launch are both sabotaged. Once the real death results in Reynard's deception being revealed, the "sabotage" is quickly fixed.
- Driven to Suicide: Distraught by the nasty things her grandfather said about her and the truth of her fiancé, Kimberly takes a gun and goes to the pool house to shoot herself.
- Faking the Dead: The patriarch of a wealthy family fakes his own murder to see how his heirs react to his death. However, his charade ends up resulting in an actual death.
- Faux Affably Evil: Alice, Reynard's daughter, can speak very politely when she wants something, but as soon as she's rebuffed, the claws come out.
- Interrupted Suicide: Kimberly tried to shoot herself but Preston caught her and tried to intervene, causing her to accidentally shoot him instead as they struggled over the gun.
- Karmic Protection: It's implied Kimberly won't face any charges for her actions possibly due to temporary insanity, most likely a result of her being the Token Good Teammate of the Reynards and from being manipulated and/or abused by her grandfather, mother, and fiancé.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: When the lights go out during a storm, everyone scatters and then a shot rings out. When they return to the den, they find the patriarch of the family sprawled on the floor, seemingly having been shot through the head. However, this turns out to be a case of faked death.
- Mock Millionaire: Preston is a Con Man pretending to be a member of a prominent Boston family in order to marry a wealthy heiress. He is killed just after his real identity is exposed.
- Never My Fault: When Kimberly leaves for good at the end of the episode, Mr. Reynard accuses Jessica of messing with her mind rather than accepting that his charade pushed her too far.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Because of Reynard's machinations, the granddaughter who genuinely loved him and was actually heartbroken when he "died" now openly hates him. And whatever respect Jessica had for him has evaporated.
- Only Friend: Mr. Reynard considers Dr. Dabney the only friend he has.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After everything she went through, Kimberly decides she's had enough of her horrible family and leaves with Jessica to face the legal consequences of her actions.
- Spiteful Will: Mr. Reynard leaves a will that does nothing but insult everyone in his family, even his granddaughter who was always kind to him, and bestows his fortune to Jessica. It later turned out Mr. Reynard was still alive and the will was a fake meant to gauge everyone's reactions. His granddaughter is outraged when she learns the truth and calls him out on his cruelty, while her spineless mother tries to force her to apologize so they get back in his good graces.
- Token Good Teammate: Kimberly, Reynard's granddaughter, doesn't show any greed over his fortune and she alone bursts into tears when Dr. Dabney pronounces him dead. When Jessica uncovers the hoax, she chastises Reynard for not considering how his trick would affect her.
- Unwitting Pawn: Jessica discovers she was only brought to the island as part of Reynard's scheme to watch his family's reaction to his death and Spiteful Will, by supposedly leaving her his entire fortune.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Jessica is absolutely appalled at Reynard's behavior when she finds out he faked his death and spied on everyone just to see how his family would react.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The general story of a number of people trapped on an island and apparently at risk of murder resembles And Then There Were None, especially after the reveal that Mr. Reynard faked his death.
