The TV stops working due to a power outage... what's in the basement?
A severe storm cuts the power to the Showgrounds, so Meggy and Tari go to the basement to turn the power back on. In the process, Meggy learns of the existence of Tari's sapient robotic arm Clench and forms a rivalry with him. Meanwhile, Mario goes insane without TV and makes SMG4 the victim of his ensuing electricity-deprived rampage, while Bob and SMG3 set out to capture literal lightning in a bottle to profit off the situation.
- Aesop Amnesia: Tari apparently forgot about the bravery that she developed in WESTERN SPAGHETTI.
- Brick Joke: Once the power goes out and the gang screams, SMG3's scream sounds particularly high-pitched. He then follows up with a deeper, more manly sounding one when he realizes everyone is looking at him. This joke comes up again when they end up in the basement.
- Cliffhanger: The gang restore the power to the new Castle... before they notice to their shock that their television has somehow followed them down to the basement, and it is on an ominous Please Stand By screen...
- Gave Up Too Soon: Lightning strikes immediately after SMG3 not only gets fed up from waiting, but destroys his own bottle.
- Hypocritical Humor: Bob and SMG3 call each other a "greedy pig" while fighting over who gets the lightning bolt in a bottle Bob managed to catch.
- Mood Whiplash: Despite the episode's ominous ending, the outro splash screen still has the same cheery jingle as a normal episode.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The ending merely closes in on the TV.
- Off with His Head!: SMG4 chops off Mario's when he pulls a Shining reference. Unfortunately for him, Mario immediately reattaches his head and resumes chase.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Tari is hit with one when SMG3 and Bob volunteer her to join Meggy in the basement, and when she loses the Monopoly game badly to the boys, she keels over in a ball of trauma. As the finishing touch to her bad luck, Meggy makes a weak reassurance that "the spiders have already eaten", to which she can only respond by screaming in terror.
- On a more serious note, the gang are visibly unnerved when they see that their TV, on one familiar "Puzzlevision" standby screen, has somehow followed them down to the basement.
- Sanity Slippage: Without any television to keep him occupied, Mario goes nuts, to say the least. Once SMG4 realizes something is wrong, Mario spends the bulk of the episode hunting him down to harvest his "electricity" (i.e neurons).
- Secret-Keeper: Meggy becomes the first crew member to learn about Tari's sentient arm Clench, even expressing excitement of having a living limb someday, while Clench continues to act like an ordinary arm around everyone else.
- Shout-Out: Mario's insane rampage throughout the episode is based off Jack Torrence's own insane rampage from Stephen King novel The Shining, with Mario even using Jack's famous line "Here's Johnny" from the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation.
