Season 2, Episode 5
Cheat Day
Eliot is attacked by an assassin from his own kingdom, and must decide what to do with him. Penny goes to Mayakovsky for help with his hands, and is dragged into a strange project in exchange. The Dean has given Quentin a non-magical job at some normal company, where he meets Emily Greenstreet again.
Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- Child by Rape: Julia discovers that she's pregnant, and knows that it's either Richard's (consensual) or Reynard's (rape). She doesn't have the time or the inclination to figure out which is which, so she decides to get it aborted. The fetus proves it is Reynard's by mind-controlling the people at the abortion clinic to stop the procedure—first by getting the secretary to delete the appointment, and then making the doctor kill herself.
- Don't Create a Martyr: Eliot doesn't want to kill the assassin because he's afraid the FU-fighters will make a martyr of him. Margo understands the risk, but insists that it's better than the alternative.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Emily's reaction to Quentin.
- Fantastic Racism: Not too fantastic. Eliot and Margo's advisers claim that since the assassin is a peasant, he's not important. Fen (who was a peasant before she married Eliot) is clearly annoyed, but holds her tongue. Eliot and Margo, likewise, find the attitude pompous and backwards, but they wait to express it until they send everyone away.Margo: When we're the least snobby people in the room, there's something wrong with the room.
- Heroic BSoD: An anti-heroic version, as Julia freaks when she learns that she is pregnant.
- Love-Interest Traitor: Fen turns out to be one, to an extent. She states to the assassin that she is no longer with the FU-fighters.
- More Deadly Than the Male:
- Margo argues fiercely for killing the assassin, and tries to overrule Eliot when he orders him spared.
- Fen says she'll kill the assassin herself if he tries anything.
- Muggles Do It Better: Abortion magic is centuries out of date, since all muggle methods are so much better. Kady mentions that there's a possibility that the spell could destroy Julia's uterus and kidneys in addition to the fetus.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Margo argues that despite the risk of martyrdom, the only way of handling an attempted assassin is to kill him. In fairness, she and Eliot did the research, and the overwhelming majority of successful examples of putting down a riot used violence, in comparison to just one (the Cuban Missile Crisis) that was an example of successful diplomacy. Eliot ultimately vetoes the execution because he doesn't want his child to grow up in a kingdom where murder is the first solution.
- Not Named in Opening Credits: Olivia Taylor Dudley is credited at the end of the episode to hide her two appearances in this episode.
- Panicky Expectant Father: Eliot initially freaks out over the idea of having a baby, saying that his own father was terrible, so he doesn't really know how to be a good parent. In the end, he decides a good start would be to make his kingdom a place where they don't just kill people when it's convenient.
- Replacement Goldfish: Emily shows Quentin a "party trick" spell that turns someone into the person you love most while their skin is wet. Emily turns Quentin into Mayakovsky, and then Quentin turns Emily into Alice.
- The Unreveal: Eliot goes to the assassin in the middle of the night and asks what he would do if he were in charge. We don't see what he said, but apparently it was persuasive, because Eliot decides to spare him.
