"You call this doing better? Giving up isn't better."
— Monty
Clarke's past catches up with her.
- Ambiguous Situation: We are not given a clear context for Josephine's ex killing himself. He's presented mostly as a Stalker with a Crush, but given Josephine's near complete sociopathy, it's possible he actually was Driven to Suicide by her.
- Berserk Button: Josephine absolutely flips out when she catches Clarke viewing her worst memory in the diner.
- Boom, Headshot!: In her worst memory, Josephine's ex shoots himself in front of her when she turns him down again.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Clarke think she's killed Josephine in the mind space, only for her to walk back through the door connecting their two minds. As she does, she borrows Octavia's "We're back, bitches!" in a mocking manner.
- Call-Back: Too many to count. This episode is based entirely around Clarke's memories of events, and features several flashbacks, previously seen locations, items, outfits, and hairstyles, and pictures Clarke has drawn of current and former characters.
- The Cameo: Jake Griffin, A.L.I.E., Maya, Octavia-as-Blodreina, and Monty all make appearances in Clarke's mind space.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: Clarke was able to survive being wiped by the Primes thanks to the neural mesh from A.L.I.E.
- Continuity Nod: The EMP procedure used to fry A.L.I.E.'s chip was done on Abby and Raven, but not on Clarke—and it's what's saving her from being mind-wiped.
- Continuity Snarl: A lot of the drawings on the walls in Clarke's cell on the Ark make sense for the viewer, as they're taken directly from scenes in previous episodes. They don't, however, make sense as being Clarke's memories, because they aren't drawn at the correct vantage point. The most egregious is probably the sketch of Octavia stepping out of the dropship on Earth, which is drawn exactly how it was filmed: with Octavia's excited face and arms outstretched in the air. However, this isn't the view Clarke should remember, because she was standing behind Octavia at the time.
- Deadpan Snarker: Josephine, all over the place. Upon encountering Blodreina, she quips, "You look fun."
- Dramatic Irony: Clarke encounters Blodreina in her mind space, who accuses Clarke of being "good at hiding with other people fight," referencing Clarke being busy stealing the bunker while Octavia was fighting in the Conclave. Clarke has no idea that being "good at hiding while other people fight" was actually the strategy Octavia used to win the Conclave, drawing on her years of being the "girl under the floor."
- Everyone Knows Morse: Justified as Bellamy explicitly says that Pike taught them, and Played With in that Bellamy paid attention and remembered, but Miller admits that he slept through the class.
- Forced to Watch: Josephine's ex shoots himself right before her eyes so that she will have to live with that image for the rest of her life. Since it is her worst memory in the present, apparently his plan worked.
- Get Out!: Shouted by Josephine to Clarke upon catching her viewing her worst memory.
- Heroic BSoD: Josephine presents a skewed version of Bellamy making a deal with Russell, implying to Clarke that he hadn't cared much about her death and was better off without her. After seeing this, Clarke essentially stops fighting and hands over her death warrant to Josephine.
- Just Before the End: We get a glimpse of what the Earth was like before ALIE nuked it, and it gives off this vibe. Shaw had previously mentioned the "Water Wars", and we get to see why. A new dustbowl hit North America before the launch of Eligius III, though Josephine and her friends are mostly oblivious to the implications.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Kaylee VII gets Josephine VII drunk so that people will think she accidentally fell out of window instead of being pushed.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Clarke beats the hell out of Josephine. Unfortunately, Josephine can't die in the mind space, and this only buys Clarke some time.
- Not Big Enough for the Two of Us: Josephine scolds Clarke for opening the unfamiliar door in the mind space, because now their minds are mixing and "this body is not big enough for both of us."
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Zig-zagged. Josephine finds a literal locked box where Clarke is hiding away some of her most painful memories, and where she's hidden the memory of Raven frying A.L.I.E. with the EMP. Josephine, being Genre Savvy after a perusal of Clarke's memories, puts "100" as the combination, but is frustrated to find it doesn't work. After she's tricked Clarke into giving her the memory, Clarke looks at the combination and tells Josephine that she forgot about Bellamy and Raven—clicking the combination so it reads "102" and the lock pops open.
- Powering Villain Realization: Maya encouraging Clarke to cede control to Josephine gives Clarke the "Eureka!" Moment that this is her mind space and she is the one in control. She sets up a trap with the Maya projection that Josephine immediately falls for, ending with her trapped in a cave with a shock collar on. Unfortunately, Josephine is more adept at psychological warfare than Clarke counted on.
- Spotting the Thread: Josephine tapping her fingers in a slightly unusual way is enough for Bellamy to take note and realize that it's Clarke taking control, sending him a message in Morse: "alive."
- The Sociopath: Clarke calls Josephine one to her face. Josephine doesn't exactly deny it.
- The Unfettered: Josephine
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Dave, Josephine's ex-boyfriend. Had Dave not killed himself in front of Josephine, she wouldn't have changed her mind about leaving Earth with her parents, and probably would've perished in the first apocalypse, meaning that Russell and Gabriel wouldn't have tried to bring her back to life, and Sanctum's society would probably have been shaped very differently.
- Would Hurt a Child: Josephine. Before Kaylee VII killed her, Josephine was leaving null children in the forest to purify the bloodline.
