Courtney and the team regroup after a dramatic confrontation leaves battle lines clearly drawn. A terrifying discovery made by Mike and Jakeem forces Pat and Sylvester to go on high alert. Finally, Paula and Larry take matters into their own hands to make things right.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Origin Connection: While the Ultra-Humanite's origin story is very similar to what it was in the comics, in this case it's revealed that Dragon King was heavily involved as well, often assisting the Ultra-Humanite in his horrific experiments including his Brain Transplants.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- The Thunderbolt mentions that Cindy pulled a Stealth Hi/Bye like Batman. It's unclear if Batman exists/has existed in this universe, or if he's a comic book character.
- In-universe, Pat and Sylvester aren't sure whether or not the Mad Scientist body they first encountered the brain-swapping Ultra-Humanite in was actually his original body.
- Big Damn Heroes: Lily tries to murder Barbara in retaliation for Jordan's death, but Paula shoots an arrow at her and warns that she won't intentionally miss the next shot, convincing Lily to leave before she has to fight a seasoned killer.
- Book Ends: The beginning and the ending of the episode focus around the Crocks, first with their morning routines, and then their final moments.
- The Bus Came Back: Cindy returns after her absence from the last few episodes. It turns out she had been out in the woods trying to fend off the Ultra-Humanite, and capture him to prove herself innocent of the Gambler's murder.
- Call-Back: Starman notes that Ultra-Humanite has many names beside his most common moniker. Mike and Jakeem share a silent look of realization when they remember that Thunderbolt described the killer as such before.
- Character Death: Crusher and Paula Crock end up getting killed by a somehow resurrected Icicle.
- A Death in the Limelight: The Crock parents are heavily featured in the episode's recap at the beginning, and throughout the episode. While the episode tries to convince the viewer that Lily will murder them in cold blood when they visit her as she did with Mr. Deisinger and that she simply cannot be persuaded to end her crusade, this is not what happens at all, and they appear to be successful in getting her and Sofus to change their ways. However, the Crocks are murdered after all in the final scene, by a mysteriously resurrected Icicle.
- Dramatic Irony: Much of the episode deals with the Mahkents' anger with the JSA over Jordan's death. Lily is still hellbent on revenge (though it's hinted that the Crocks may have managed to talk her out of it by the end), while Cameron angrily tells Courtney he never wants to see her again after she claims she killed him. The ending of the episode reveals he's actually still alive.
- Dramatic Unmask: The mysterious figure behind the cameras unmasks himself to reveal that he's none other than Jordan Mahkent, who's still alive following his supposed death in Season 1.
- Dying Declaration of Love: As Jordan freezes both the Crocks solid, they use their last breaths to express their love for one another.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After the Crocks (possibly) convince her and Sofus to mend fences with the JSA, Lily breaks down in tears on Sofus' shoulder, sobbing about how much she misses their son. It's implied she's been so focused on avenging his death that she's never actually taken the time to mourn him properly.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Discussed by Courtney, who hopes to invoke this trope soon by having everyone including the Mahkents band together to defeat the Ultra-Humanite the same way the JSA, Cindy, the Shade and the Crocks did last season to defeat Eclipso.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing:
- Crusher and Paula talking to Artemis on the phone about her going to college, telling her they'd see her soon to celebrate and they loved her felt eerily like it would be the last conversation they'd have.
- When Paula is fatally stabbed by the mysterious figure behind the spy cameras, her wound begins icing over, leading one to realize it was one of the Mahkents. It ends up being one nobody expected.
- Foreshadowing: As the Crocks go for a morning jog, the camera pans (rather ominously) to a manhole cover on the street. The episode ends with the Crocks getting lured into the sewers through the same manhole, where they're tragically killed by Icicle.
- From Bad to Worse: The JSA dealing with the Ultra-Humanite on his own seems to be an enormous challenge, but the episode's final scene reveals they also now have to deal with a mysteriously resurrected Icicle, who may or may not be connected to the former.
- Game-Breaking Injury: After spending some time in the hospital to recover from his heart attack from the previous episode, Sofus is more or less back to his old self, but now walks with a cane, and it's implied he would absolutely not be up for physical combat again.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Crusher and Paula spent the entire season up to this point trying to reform and proving that they can shed their ISA past and be law-abiding civilians, if not outright anti-heroes. They do at least manage to achieve something good by defusing the situation with the Mahkents, but then a resurrected Icicle literally — and fatally — stops them cold.
- Idiot Ball:
- After the pay phone tells them that they need a dime, neither of the boys thinks to use the Thunderbolt to wish for a dime. To be fair, it probably would have either been play money or foreign, and therefore unusable, currency given Thunderbolt's track record with wish-granting.
- Crusher and Paula also pick it up when they happen upon the Ripped City flyers clearly meant to taunt them arranged in a trail leading back to an open sewer. Admittedly, they are both highly capable fighters and unused to needing backup, but they also acknowledge that someone is intentionally baiting them and presumably knows who they are.
- Irony: The Crocks seemingly manage to peacefully settle things with the elder Mahkents on the Whitmores'/JSA's behalf by invoking Jordan's memory. The episode ends with them being ambushed and murdered by a very much alive Jordan.
- Literal Genie:
- Once again, Jakeem messes up a wish by wishing to go home without specifying the meaning of "home". Thunderbolt doesn't move them an inch, because "home is where the heart is". Jakeem gets a better result when he wishes for himself and Mike to be at Richie's Diner drinking milkshakes.
- Subverted when Jakeem wishes for a means to call for help and Thunderbolt produces a phone booth. Surprisingly, it somehow functions in the middle of the woods (likely thanks to the Thunderbolt's magic). Unfortunately, they don't have change to pay for it and likely aren't familiar with collect calling.
- Literally Shattered Lives: After freezing the Crocks solid, Jordan shatters them into dust.
- Lured into a Trap: Jordan leaves a trail of Crusher's Ripped City fliers leading to the sewers, knowing the Crocks will take it as a challenge and willingly follow it under the assumption that they can handle the threat.
- Oh, Crap!: Both Sylvester and Pat are utterly terrified when Mike and Jakeem tell them they found a malevolent albino gorilla, as they now both know exactly the horrific nemesis they're up against.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The latest evidence that the tampered hourglass is negatively effecting Rick. He disrespects and snaps at Beth, his closest friend amongst the JSA.
- The Reveal: Jordan is shown to be alive, even after he was smashed to pieces in the Season 1 finale, and is the person who was spying on the heroes. It's implied but not directly stated that he's been working with the Ultra-Humanite and that, as the JSA surmise in this episode, the latter was the one who physically killed the Gambler for discovering the spy feed and assaulted Sylvester at the trailer park—although it's entirely possible Jordan killed Sharpe himself with his icicle finger. What the meaning of the jigsaw puzzle was, other than a Red Herring or a general desire for fatal Revenge, is still unknown, although it could have been an oblique hint at the Ultra-Humanite's brain transplants.
- Sacrificial Lion: Crusher and Paula are tragically murdered at the end of the episode as a means of revealing that Icicle is alive and the one behind the spy cameras.
- Skewed Priorities: Played for Laughs. After learning that the Ultra-Humanite once transplanted his brain into the body of famous actress Delores Winters, Beth focuses on which one of them it was who actually appeared in her mom's favorite movie and won the Oscar (it was the Humanite).
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Cindy pulls this on Mike and Jakeem. Thunderbolt even notes how it's similar to what Batman does.
- Taking the Heat: When Cameron demands to know who killed his father, Courtney — unwilling to throw Mike under the bus — claims it was she, even though she knows he will hate her for it.
- Thicker Than Water: Cameron acknowledges before Courtney that he now knows his dad wasn't always a good person but still considers Jordan his father and demands to know who his father's killer was. When Courtney tells him that she did it (rather than potentially endanger her stepbrother Mike, the person who actually ran Jordan over by accident), Cameron doesn't attack her but angrily tells her that he never wants to see her again.
- Together in Death: Jordan places Paula next to Crusher so they can be together in their final moments.
- Wham Episode: Icicle is alive, and he's the one who had been spying on everyone this whole time. The episode also ends with him murdering Paula and Crusher in cold blood.
