Wong hires Jen to stop a stage magician from misusing real magic.
Tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: The demon that Madisynn has forged a pact with is called Jake.
- Affectionate Nickname: Wong and Madisynn have an Odd Friendship going on, and she refers to him as "Wongers".
- Air Quotes: Wong makes frequent use of these when explaining to Jen how Donny Blaze is a "magician" at the "Mystic Castle", all the while explaining how he's using the gesture to show his displeasure with Blaze.
- All Part of the Show: An egg that Donny Blaze summoned hatches into a demon, which worries the audience. After kicking it into a portal, he claims this is part of the show, and the audience calms down, only for a much angrier demon to crawl through, followed by a horde of demons. While trying to contain them, Blaze still claims this is all planned.
- Amazon Chaser: Jen's date is highly attracted to She-Hulk and even lets her Bridal Carry him to bed. He loses all interest in her when he sees her Jen form in the morning.
- Ambiguously Gay: Nikki makes a quip about how bad "hetero life" seems while browsing Jen's dating prospects on an app.
- Artistic License – Law: All over the place.
- Jen and Wong hurriedly bringing in Madisynn via Sling Ring portal mid-trial would simply not be allowed, especially considering that the witness in question is visibly drunk, since all witnesses and case evidence would have been submitted and vetted ahead of the trial in a proper legal proceeding.
- Jen having Donny Blaze's contact information in her phone is highly improbable, since it's outright against procedure for her, as the Prosecution's Attorney, to question or have contact with Donny, the Defendant, without Donny's own attorney present.
- As detailed under Shame If Something Happened below, Jen gets Donny to agree to her Cease-and-Desist order by threatening him with one of the demons he summoned. In reality this would not only disqualify the order, since Donny's consent for it to go ahead was obtained under duress, but Jen would also be facing possible disbarment for threatening the Defendant's life, which certainly qualifies as "grossly immoral conduct" under Rule 139-B of the Rules of Court.
- Bad Date: Jen only manages one date through the app. The guy is a complete weirdo ("'No, Officer. That stroller hit me.' And that's how I got a lifetime ban from Winnipeg, Canada."), and while she talks about herself, he's looking at his phone and barely listening, even as she mentions the ability to become a Hulk.
- Black Comedy: Madisynn gets portalled to Hell (or Hell-like dimension of some sort) and manages to portal herself out by selling six drops of her blood (and holding what looks like a human heart) while under threat of a curse on her soul and the souls of her entire family... completely drunk and in nothing but a party dress. Even Wong, who is well-versed in such matters and therefore would be the most concerned, just shrugs this off.
- Bothering by the Book: Titania takes her revenge on Jen by buying the trademark "She-Hulk" and then suing her for misuse of the trademark.
- Bratty Food Demand: One of Jen's dates yells for someone to take their order, making Jen decide she has no desire for a second date.
- Break the Haughty: Donny Blaze is forced to turn to Wong for help after accidentally opening a portal to a hellish dimension which unleashes a horde of demons. Then after Wong and Jen stop the demons, Donny is forced to agree to the cease and desist by Jen.
- Brick Joke: Wong makes good on his threat to send Donny Blaze to the mirror dimension, as depicted in the Creative Closing Credits.
- Canon Foreigner: While Donny's full-name sounds oddly similar to Johnny Blaze (who is established as existing in the MCU in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), he is otherwise an original character.
- Continuity Nod: When Jen says they're going to pursue Donny Blaze by the book, Wong asks if she means The Book of Vishanti. He's less than pleased when Jen clarifies she's referring to American law.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Madisynn, who by all accounts might look like some Hard-Drinking Party Girl of limited ability, manages to return from an alternate dimension having forged a pact with a demon to get home - and having performed some activity which resulted in her having a heart in her hand.
- Cuteness Proximity: The judge can't stop herself from cooing a little when Donny Blaze and his lawyer (badly) conjure a rabbit during the trial.
- Deal with the Devil: Madisynn had to sign a pact with a goat demon named Jake to escape from his realm. It cost her six drops of blood and discussing the specifics will lead to him claiming the souls of her and her family.
- The Ditz: Madisynn, all the way through the parties, the courtroom scene and, evidently, the three days she spent in the demon dimension, scarcely seems aware of what is going on or the stakes involved. The fact that she's also a Hard-Drinking Party Girl, and drunk every time we see her, might explain it.
- Dramatic Sit-Down: When Madisynn spoils a character's death in The Sopranos to Wong, he has a look of shock on his face before heavily sitting down on the couch. The spoiler-drop is what pushes Wong to pursue an injunction against Donny Blaze.
- Enemy Mine: Blaze has to reluctantly call Wong for help when he accidentally unleashes a horde of demons at his show.
- Evil Is Petty: Titania has trademarked "She-Hulk" and is now suing Jen for the use of it. This is after she managed to get out of attacking a courtroom scot-free, mind you.
- Failed a Spot Check: The whole of Kamar-Taj. They kick out Blaze after a week for trying to host a kegger via portals, but don't confiscate his sling ring? And look what happens.
- False Reassurance: When their first court appearance doesn't play out well, Wong offers to send Donny Blaze to the Mirror Dimension, assuring Jen that he "probably won't even die."
- Fantastic Legal Weirdness: While the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj are sworn into service for a noble cause and most of them agree to their traditions, they rely entirely on a verbal agreement with no contracts, legal documents or any meaningful safety-net to prevent misuse of the mystic arts. When Wong tries asking Jen to help him set a precedent and legally ban Donny Blaze from using sorcery in his magic act, Jen has to focus on the potential dangers of it since it's literally the only play she has. By the end, she's able to get Donny to agree after saving him from a legion of demons he accidentally unleashed.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: A snippet of "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3 plays while looking over Nepal. We then cut to Wong sitting down and watching The Sopranos on TV.
- Flipping the Bird: After the judge denies Jen's preliminary injunction, Donny (who had previously made a rabbit "appear") tells Jen, Wong, and Madisynn that he also has "a bird". Cue the middle finger.
- Frat Bro: After only a week into his training, Donny manages to get himself kicked out of Kamar-Taj after he uses a Sling Ring to invite his fraternity there for a kegger.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Madisynn is almost never seen sober and parties all day. Wong actually portals her from a party when she's called as a witness.
- Hero of Another Story: Cornelius claims to know Jake, the demon that Madisynn met.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Simultaneously averted and played straight. Madisynn doesn't seem too upset by her trip to an alternate dimension, having to treat with goat demons, from whatever resulted in her having a heart in her hand, or from actually holding said heart. But this could all be because she was too drunk to really mind.
- Idiot Ball: Wong argues that Donny Blaze's irresponsible use of portals could destabilize the material and astral planes, and turns to Jen to make him legally desist. He could solve this problem himself by simply confiscating Donny's (presumably stolen) Sling Ring, severely limiting Blaze's access to magic. Of course, this could just be him thinking ahead, not wanting to waste time doing the same to every wannabe-wizard doing parlor tricks, though the fact that it took this long has its own list of problems.
- Interrupted Intimacy: While Jen is trying to seduce her date, Wong opens a portal to her home to recruit her in helping take down demons in Donny's magic show. Jen and her date resume the intimacy after the work is done, though.
- Joke Name Tag: Jake the demon goat helpfully has a name tag hanging from his neck.
- Karma Houdini: Titania was somehow cleared of all charges for everything she did in the first episode (destruction of government property, endangering citizens, etc).
- Kill It with Ice: Wong portals the demons to somewhere extremely cold, since their native environment appears to be a Fire and Brimstone Hell.
- Lampshade Hanging: Donny uses smoke bombs in court, which the Judge wonders how he got through security.
- Lethally Stupid: Donny pretty much reeks of this, not knowing where he sends his "stage girls" to via portal and not closing the portal to a hell dimension during his act, resulting in a horde of demons invading the theater.
- Mad Scientist: One of Jen's dates calls her a "specimen" and is highly interested in her strengths and weaknesses, implying he might be this.
- Magicians Are Wizards: Donny Blaze is a Kamar-Taj dropout who tries using what little sorcery he learned to spice up his failing (and cliché) magic act. As Wong's case and the episode demonstrates, a novice using cosmic energies so flagrantly can be disastrous to the universe.
- Moment Killer: Wong grabs She-Hulk in the middle of date night to help with the demons. Fortunately, her date's still in the mood by the time she's sent back.
- Mundane Utility: Donny Blaze uses a sling ring and other magic to prop up his unimpressive show. However, with only a week's worth of training, he's barely competent at real magic, too, and causes even more problems.
- My Nayme Is: Madisynn's name is an unusual spelling of "Madison". She introduces herself to the court by saying, "Madisynn, with two N's and one Y, but it's not where you think". Jen asks her to just spell it out.
- Mythology Gag: The magician's stage name Donny Blaze is curiously similar to Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider, who's best known for making an actual Deal with the Devil. Oddly enough, he was indirectly responsible for a drunk party girl making such a Faustian pact, though it's Played for Laughs.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: The demons aren't harmed by anything She-Hulk does to them, even though she admitted to being able to bench-press a literal ton earlier in the episode, simply stretching as if they were made of rubber while also growing bigger as time passes. This doesn't stop her from being covered in a copious amount of viscera and a plucked claw, however.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Donny Blaze is visually modeled after Criss Angel, while sharing the initials of David Blaine.
- Noodle Implements: When Madisynn first arrives in Kamar-Taj, she's holding a heart which she promptly drops on the floor. She never explains where it came from and considering how drunk she usually is, even she may not remember how she got it.
- Noodle Incident: Wong swore off vodka and yak milk cocktails after an incident at a wedding, although he still has some left over.
- Wong isn’t too surprised at Madisynn appearing in his room and quickly susses out how she got there, implying that this isn’t the first time either Donny or some other sorcerer has caused incidents like this.
- Not So Above It All: Wong gets his contempt for Donny's "magic-tricks" across by using his own magic to make Donny's trick ball appear in his mouth.
- Not Staying for Breakfast: A rare one that actually involves breakfast, made by Jen the morning after. The guy doesn't disappear, but being around to tell her to her face first is NOT any better.
- Odd Friendship: Wong the stoic sorcerer and Hard-Drinking Party Girl Madisynn are watching This Is Us together in The Stinger and discussing cocktails.
- Older Sidekick: Cornelius to Donny Blaze. Leon Lamar, Cornelius' actor, was 104 years old
at the time. - Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Madisynn's adventures in a hellish world for three days involving goblins, volcanoes, a contract with Jake the goat demon and ending with her at Kamar-taj with a human heart.
- Papa Wolf: After hearing about the attack by the Wrecking Crew, Jen's dad brings over various security equipment (locks, cameras, etc.) and a shovel for digging holes. The latter he leaves open-ended.
- Police Are Useless: Jen didn't even bother reporting the attack by the Wrecking Crew, because she's familiar enough with the police to know they'll never be caught under the circumstances.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Cornelius to Donnie. Much of Cornelius' dialogue is just repeating what Donnie says, praising his tricks, or covering up his mistakes.
- Serious Business: Wong decides to press charges against Donny not because he accidentally sent a woman to a demonic dimension, but because said woman ended up in his room and dropped spoilers for The Sopranos.
- Shame If Something Happened: She-Hulk holds up the last snarling demon as she asks Donny if he's willing to agree to the cease and desist order.
- Shout-Out:
- On Jennifer's day planner, we see the note "File discovery request for Kraft v. Soule." David Anthony Kraft wrote 24 of the 25 issues of the original Savage She-Hulk run in 1980. Charles Soule—-who is also a lawyer—-wrote 12 issues of a legal-themed She-Hulk in 2014.
- On that same planner we also read "Compile depositions for Lee v. Byrne." Stan Lee wrote the first issue of Savage She-Hulk #1 and is the official co-creator. (She-Hulk was the last character Stan Lee created for Marvel Comics.) John Byrne both wrote and drew She-Hulk in Fantastic Four and Sensational She-Hulk which greatly popularized the character, and first introduced She-Hulk's habit of talking directly to the reader, which has been incorporated into the TV series.
- Still further on that same planner is "Follow up on Jansen Class Action." If this is a spelling mistake, it may be a reference to inker Klaus Janson, who is well-respected in his field and has worked on many Marvel comic books. On the other hand, if the spelling is correct, it may instead be a reference to Mallory Jansen, an actress who previously appeared in Agentsof SHIELD.
- Donny Blaze is barely competent in his field, has an overinflated opinion of himself, and has a penchant for repeating his own name. Wasn't there someone like that, and with a similar name, in another legal dramedy with a very fragile fourth wall?
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Donny Blaze to Wong, who is annoyed by the messes caused by his misuse of magic.
- Smoke Out: Donny Blaze is fond of smoke bombs as part of his act. The judge questions why he was allowed into the courtroom with them.
- Spoiling Shout-Out: When Madisynn sees Wong is about to watch The Sopranos episode "Long Term Parking" she spoils that Adriana La Cerva gets whacked, much to Wong's anger. She later also spoils Tony killing Christopher Moltisanti in "Kennedy and Heidi" for him.
- Stage Magician: What Donny Blaze became after getting kicked out of Kamar-Taj. His initial performance is a flop with his audience until he uses his Sling Ring to send Madisynn through a portal.
- Stylistic Suck: Donny Blaze is a terrible performer and his tricks are cut-rate. He has to turn to sorcery to keep his audience's interest, and during a meeting with Jen later, she points out that something he "disappeared" is sticking out of his shirt.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: The dating version happens when Jen tries dating as She-Hulk. Never date in your 30s, she informs the audience.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When Madisynn originally drops in (literally, out of a portal) on Wong, he's not too put out - he'll just return her to where she came from, sometimes sorcery goes wrong. If she's not entirely sure where she actually came from, well that can be sorted. But revealing spoilers to The Sopranos? Right, this hideous abuse of sorcery must now be clamped down upon, and hard!
- Tom the Dark Lord: Madisynn made a deal with a demon from an infernal dimension named... Jake. While it's possible Madisynn (being The Ditz and a Hard-Drinking Party Girl) couldn't remember his real name, the demon has a "Hello, my name is Jake" sign over his neck if the end credits drawings are to be believed.
- Unfazed Everyman: Madisynn is sent to another dimension filled with demons and has to make a Deal with the Devil to escape but is completely unfazed by it. Then again, she was heavily drunk so the alcohol might've kept her calm.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In his second show, Donny's latest volunteer refuses to use his portal because a friend of hers ended up stranded in a parking garage. This forces him to up his game when the crowd starts mocking him, leading to the demon horde.
- Valley Girl: Madisynn talks like this, coupled with a drunk slurred speech.
