Cruel Twist Ending: One of the apparent victims of the killing tournament turns out to have been the abusive husband of the woman George loves, and George is arrested in the final scene under suspicion of killing the man.
The man who kills professional thug Archie McCann in the opening scene (and may have also killed Richards, the exterminator) as part of a Hunting the Most Dangerous Game competition with a cash prize for the winner turns up dead himself less than halfway into the episode.
Murdoch's rigid investigation into the competition turns up how the "competitors" are using horse code names in a racing sheet to keep track of who is still in the game. The game's organizer is frightened enough of Murdoch to include him (as the horse "Artful Detective") in the next racing sheet, causing the remaining gladiators to go after Murdoch.
Mad Scientist: One of the killers, Blechman, is a struggling inventor who uses a garroting device he invented as his weapon and has been unsuccessfully seeking funds to build a flying train powered by magnets. He uses the codename "Dares-to-Dream".
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Brackenreid is alarmed by Murdoch's choice to offer himself as bait against a Deadly Game contestant who calls himself "Big Game Hunter," correctly guessing that the owner of that moniker is a particularly bloodthirsty man with years of experience with deadly weapons.
Trapped by Gambling Debts: At least three of the Deadly Game contestants, Edith Abernathy, Archie McCann, and Profesor Gideon Galbraith, have a series of serious gambling losses that help make them desperate (although since McCann works as an enforcer for his bookie, he has less to worry about than the others).
Still Wearing the Old Colors: The competitor calling himself "Soldier Boy" is quickly identifiable by how he wears his old army jacket.
Suicide by Cop: Richards/"Ratcatcher," one participant in a Deadly Game, takes out a life insurance policy and doesn't arm himself against rival "contestants," implicitly letting himself be killed.
Too Dumb to Live: The deadly game's organizer confesses when confronted, gloating that all of the participants were willing and that he never killed anyone himself and thus can't be arrested. Murdoch reminds him that 1) offering a cash prize for people to kill each other counts as murder for hire, and 2) he told the contestants to try to kill a police detective by "entering" Murdoch in the competition as the "Artful Detective."
