Release date: July 15, 2017
WARNING: Untagged spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.
Tropes
- Absurd Phobia: Patton freaks out over... cartoon spiders in the curtains behind him, despite the whole of Anxiety's room being covered in real spider webs.Roman: Those are just silly cartoons, they're not even realistic! But if need be, I will destroy them for you Patton.
Patton: Thanks, but let's just call them what they are, Roman.
Roman: Spider curt...
Patton: Creepy Crawly Death Dealers.
Roman: Okay... - Achilles in His Tent: Anxiety decides to quit his job because he doesn't feel appreciated by the rest of the team. They in turn discover that they really need him so they try to convince him to come back.
- Audience Surrogate: Patton briefly acts as this right before Anxiety reveals his name in "Accepting Anxiety".Patton: It's totally fine, this is a very accepting environment. But I have to tell you that I've been theorizing on it for a very long time, so if it's not exactly the name I think it is... I will lose it.
- Brutal Honesty: When under the effects of The Corruption, Logan starts losing all filters in regards of his opinions about Thomas, calling him a Couch Potato man and a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins. This one makes Thomas, Roman and Patton elicit a huge Gasp!.
- The Corruption: Lampshaded by Anxiety. The more time the Sides spend in Anxiety's room the more corrupted they get, starting to work actively to make Thomas extremely anxious.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The Sides want Anxiety back from quitting his job of being Thomas' anxiety, and they end up entering his room to find him, which steadily increases Thomas' anxiety overall by dangerously corrupting the other Sides.
- Flashback: Subverted. At first, it looks like there's going to be a flashback of the previous episode at the beginning. But Roman didn't cut any footage so he decides to perform the review himself in Motor Mouth mode.
- Foreshadowing:
- Patton is the first to notice that Roman may be having self-esteem issues that would be further explored in much later episodes.
- After revealing the existence of the Others, Roman claps a hand over his mouth and looks shocked. The next time one of the Sides does this hints that Roman may not have been acting of his own free will...
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Anxiety's justification for leaving in "Accepting Anxiety".Anxiety: [to Thomas] I always aimed to protect you! But lately, it seems like I only keep you from doing anything!
- Jump Scare: Anxiety appears suddenly yelling what are the Sides doing in his room. All the Sides jump scared and yelp, especially Roman, who screeches with a woman's voice.
- Kindness Button: Anxiety refuses to come back no matter what the other Sides say. It's only after Roman gives him a speech about how important he is for the team and how he makes them all better when Anxiety gets emotional and changes his mind.Roman: Anxiety, you're...what pushes Thomas to rehearse and rehearse before performances. You're that nervousness he feels right before going on stage, but just as he does so...you ease up. And you let his excitement and passion for performance take over. I think that's as good a sign as any that you're willing to work as a team. And that you make us... better.
[Anxiety tears up and shows a flattered, grateful smile]
Roman: WAS I GOOD? DID I DO GOOD!? - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For the first time ever, Thomas gets short with one of the Sides, bluntly telling Roman he needs to shut up when he keeps (unintentionally) offending Anxiety.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When trying to give Anxiety reasons to come back... Roman only comes out with one ofensive remark after another against him.Roman: Well, you surely knew we were preparing ourselves for the worst po...
[Anxiety frowns at Roman]
Roman: Okay, umm... Maybe I can rephrase that... We were just tensing up, because something bad would...
[Anxiety shows an angry face]
Roman: [after an Oh, Crap! gesture] Um... look, it's just... you're never really fun and...
Thomas: Roman, shut up. - Previously on…: The episode starts with a quick summary by Roman of all the events that happened in the previous episode.
- Pun: "EEE equals MC Scared!"
- The Reveal: After all the previous unreveals and the buildup in previous episodes, Anxiety reveals in this episode that his name is Virgil. Also, Roman reveals that there are "others."
- Season Finale: This episode gives an end to the main story arc of season one with the last of the Main Sides' names to be revealed, and also sets up two new arcs for the next season, discovering the Sides' rooms and who "the Others" may be.
- Strike Episode: Virgil quits being Thomas' anxiety, and Thomas and the other Sides work together to get him back.
- Too Much Information: "…and you are nothing compared to the others."
- Voice of the Legion: Virgil shows for the first time his "tempest tongue", the voice he gets when he gets too anxious or heightened. He gets in that state when the Sides start reaching their limit of corruption and he gets worried about their safety.
- Weird Aside: Anxious Logan gives a slightly disturbing example:Logan: Look, Virgil, you're a natural fight-or-flight reflex. That's what you're instilled in humans to act as you do. And for some people... Yes, you're a little heightened, but what's a little extra height? I mean, that just means you're tall enough to ride every ride at Disneyworld. Unless you're too tall and you get decapitated on "It's a Small World"... Wow! I'm sorry for that little tangent, I am reeling right now! The point is too much of anything can be counterproductive.
- We Really Do Care: The whole premise of "Accepting Anxiety" is based on this trope.
- Wham Line: By accident, Roman reveals something that wasn't meant to be known by Thomas:Roman: Yeah, and you're nothing compared to the Others. [covers his mouth with his hand]
- Wham Episode: The episode is full of revelations: Anxiety decided to duck out because he truly believed he was not wanted. Also, his real name is Virgil. Others exist.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Inverted when Thomas reins Logan and Roman in after they get out of control for a moment.Thomas: That's enough outta you! Logic!
Thomas: Pump the brakes, Princey! - You Do Not Want To Know: When Roman lets it slip that other Sides exist, Virgil tells a confused Thomas to "table that question for another day."
