Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and Swift Wind head to the outpost Alwyn, which has been mysteriously abandoned. Meanwhile, Entrapta sneaks into Hordak's lab and discovers what he's been working on.
Tropes
- Air-Vent Passageway: Entrapta uses them to travel around the Fright Zone because it's faster.
- Bad Boss: Hordak would make a lot of threats in previous episodes but this one sees him be an outright Jerkass to his underlings. When Catra enters his sanctum, he deactivates the atmospheric life support to punish her for barging in. Shadow Weaver states he treated her in the same way.
- Berserk Button: Anything that meddles with Hordak's work, be it his experiments going wrong or someone simply interrupting him.
- Boring, but Practical: Catra has repeatedly been shown to ignore routine briefings to focus on fighting and bold plans. Turns out that's an unfortunate attitude for Hordak's Number Two to have since when those details are neglected, it eventually starts affecting the army's ability to function.
- The Chains of Commanding: As Catra has increasing difficulties being Hordak's second-in-command, she goes to Shadow Weaver to vent her frustration. Shadow Weaver mockingly asks if Catra honestly thought she'd be able to do whatever she wanted, pointing out that being in a position of authority isn't an easy job.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: When Catra arrives at Hordak's sanctum in order to "touch base," as she assumed he and Shadow Weaver did, Hordak calmly activates an atmospheric life support system to make it difficult for her to breathe. He then tells her to never bother him with the minute details again, or next time he won't stop.
- The Comically Serious: Hordak is playing off Entrapta. It's inevitable he's this.
- Delayed Reaction: Adora tells or alludes to four different "cursed Princess" ghost stories before realizing Shadow Weaver had an ulterior motive in telling them to her as a child.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Entrapta is looking for a six-sided hex driver. ("Hex" is the prefix for "six")
- Demonization: The Horde/Shadow Weaver kept telling Adora ghost stories involving princesses.
- Dystopia Is Hard: As Catra finds out, the Horde war machine requires a lot of logistical details to be handled, or else it grinds to a halt.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Adora is disappointed at seeing holograms of First Ones showing them to be regular people.
- Get Out!: Hordak screams "Get out!" at Entrapta when he catches her in his quarters and messing with his work. His anger completely goes over Entrapta's head though, with her finishing her work and explaining it to Hordak before leaving, and then instantly returning when Hordak sees she was right.
- Hologram Projection Imperfection: The First Ones' hologram messages are so degraded that the protagonists— as well as the people of Alwyn— think they're ghosts.
- I Meant to Do That: Bow says that when one of his arrows fizzles.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: While looking through the various documents detailing why the Horde can't send out more soldiers, Catra grumbles that Shadow Weaver probably never had to deal with this level of micromanagement. Scorpia then points out they're looking through Shadow Weaver's files, so she probably did.
- Internal Reveal: Hordak tells Entrapta that there are other inhabited planets in the universe, which intrigues her.
- Jump Scare: Adora and her gang keep scaring each other by talking loudly.
- The Madness Place: Entrapta is firmly ensconced here while working on the portal tech she's indifferent to Hordak circling her like some predatory animal no she's focused on the 'Science'?
- Magic Versus Science: Glimmer says the Horde might have Entrapta's technology, but the rebellion has magic. Bow opposes the notion of treating them as separate things and notes that Entrapta actually specializes in combining them.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Entrapta decides it'll be okay to break her promise to Catranote if nobody finds out.
- Odd Friendship: Hordak and Entrapta, of all people, strike up the beginning of a friendship when they collaborate on the interdimensional portal. Entrapta is enthralled by Hordak's portal project, and Hordak is pleased to meet an Etherian who can understand his technology.
- Pet the Dog: Hordak is a Bad Boss who is quick to lose his temper when someone barges in on his work, but since Entrapta actually proved able to help experiments, she is the first person he treats with any kindness or respect.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Hordak. He doesn't like it when people interrupt him in his lab for no reason and promises "dire consequences" upon catching Entrapta there, but he changes his mind when he notices she fixed the problems he had with his experiment.
- The Reveal: Hordak is an alien and his goal is to develop an interdimensional portal. Entrapta assumes it's a weapon to conquer Etheria but he states she is thinking too small.
- What You Are in the Dark: Subverted. Entrapta is briefly concerned that, even if she sneaks into Hordak's lab without anyone finding out, she'll know but eventually decides to do it anyway.
- Worthy Opponent: Bow admits Entrapta is one of the few people who know how to combine magic and technology.
