Time to put those sewing skills to work, for the sake of your brother.
Cuphead has been having constant nightmares about the Devil chasing after his soul, following the brothers' escape from the Carn-Evil. So Mugman takes him to an elderly sage for a solution to this problem.Coincidentally, the Devil himself is frequently reminded of this incident by Stickler, the accountant who logs every soul taken by the Devil, and so the Devil sets out to collect Cuphead's soul, personally, to shut him up.
Tropes
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The Devil enacts the fiery battle with the cup brothers in his effort to make Cuphead take off the invisible sweater.
- Call-Back: The beginning of Cuphead's nightmare is similar to the beginning of "Carn-Evil". Also, Stickler reminds the Devil of Cuphead's adventures in that episode and also in "Roll the Dice".
- The Cat Came Back: The Devil can't seem to get away from Stickler, who insists on reminding him that he still hasn't collected Cuphead's soul. He eventually gets rid of him by shooting his ledger, forcing him to rewrite it from scratch.
- Comically Small Bribe: When the Devil tries to convince Cuphead to take off the invisible sweater for $10, Mugman tells Cuphead that his soul is worth more than $10. Cuphead agrees and then tells the Devil to make it a 20.
- Deflector Shields: The protective invisible sweater Cuphead is wearing, combined with Mugman's "one last hug", creates an invisible forcefield that protects them from the literal firestorm unleashed by the Devil. Even though the flames scorch the forest area around them, they are still unharmed when the smoke clears away.
- Fake-Out Opening: The episode begins the same way the pilot episode begins, with Elder Kettle making pancakes. Then suddenly things start turning weird and the Devil appears to collect Cuphead's soul. This turns out to be Cuphead's nightmare.
- Hated by All: Nobody in the Underworld really likes Stickler. Henchman hates him, the Devil is annoyed of how overbearing he is, and even the minions seem a little peeved at his presence in the party.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: Stickler is the Underworld's log keeper for souls collected, and won't shut up about the Devil not claiming Cuphead's soul, when the latter just wants to party. In fact, he's one of the few people to actually annoy the Devil into submission, and the following episode has the Devil admit he's somewhat terrified of Stickler's due diligence.
- Limited Wardrobe: It is revealed that the cup brothers have a wardrobe of long-sleeved black shirts and pairs of red and blue shorts, in addition to the red/white and blue/white striped pajamas and nightcaps for their bedtime, and the other blouses shown in the next episode.
- Meaningful Name: Stickler is a name given to those who often follow rules, oftentimes to the detriment of everyone else around them, which is precisely how he acts at the Devil's party.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: The musical background voices enact their ominous chanting when the brothers' heated battle with the Devil gets intense in his effort to make Cuphead take off the protective sweater.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Throughout the episode, the Devil shapeshifts into forms that still have certain features of his in order to convince Cuphead to take off the sweater, and the brothers don't notice these details. The one subversion being when he tries to impersonate Quadratus which Mugman notices quickly on account of the fact that Quadratus doesn't have horns.
- The Power of Family: The invisible sweater is only effective when it is lovingly knitted by somebody close to Cuphead. In this case, his brother Mugman. This trope also comes into play when Mugman hugs Cuphead to protect him from the Devil's fire.
- Rhymes on a Dime: As in the game, Quadratus speaks in rhyme. It gets subverted eventually, as he admits that it's boring to do all the time. Cuphead later agrees with him at the end of the episode.
- Summoning Artifact: Mugman summons the elderly Quadratus from the forest well, using one in the form of a sour jawbreaker (which Cuphead worked so hard on making), which he drops into its pool.
- Villainous Breakdown: The Devil has an absolutely terrifying one, where he starts rapidly shifting into all sorts of giant and monstrous forms, in what's essentially the equivalent of a demonic tantrum...before quickly settling and leaving in a huff.
- Voice of the Legion: The goat in Cuphead's nightmare speaks in an odd tone moments before transforming into the Devil himself.
- The Devil: Uuugggh... I hate those cups...
