Hagen appears to have kidnapped Neal's girlfriend, Rachel, in an attempt to coerce Neal and Mozzie into solving the riddle concealed within the Mosconi codex.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Elizabeth asks one when she and Peter are talking about his argument with Neal:Elizabeth: You said you made your peace with what he did.
Peter: That’s right.
Elizabeth: Have you actually made your peace with him? - Cloudcuckoolander: Mozzie’s comments to Hagen, that leave even Hagen perplexed:Hagen: Tell me something useful. [about Mosconi’s 13th chapter]
Mozzie: Okay. Um, there's a certain tiger fish that's been known to eat crocodiles.
Hagen: You are an odd little creature. - Conflict Ball: Invoked by Neal. Wanting to return to Hagen as soon as possible to save Rebecca, he deliberately picks a senseless fight with Peter, even though he had just offered Neal an olive branch. Reminding him that he does not regret stealing the coins to clear Peter’s name, Neal successfully provokes Peter into snapping, and he angrily sends Neal home.
- Decoy Damsel: Rebecca has faked being kidnapped and in distress, knowing that Neal would do anything to save her.
- Disappointed in You: A variant, as Peter doesn’t know that Neal hears him. When Neal eavesdroppes on the conversation between Peter and Jones, Peter states, matter of fact, that he needs to keep a distance to Neal, that it was a mistake to take him on to the forgery case, and cautions Jones not to volunteer to be Neal’s handler, telling him he would regret it. Upon hearing this, Neal looks sticken, and the conversation may have informed his later actions.
- Dissension Remorse: Both Peter and Neal are clearly upset about their argument. Peter keeps thinking about it even when running trying to distract himself, and Neal is hesitant to involve Peter in Rebecca’s kidnapping because he is worried about his reaction since he is still angry with Neal.
- Faked Kidnapping: In Rebecca’s apartment, Neal finds a camera pointed at the wallpaper that was visible in the video showing her bound and gagged, making him realize that she staged everything.
- Frame-Up:
- When the FBI confronts Hagen with the forgery, he tries to blame it on Neal. Peter does not buy it for one second.
- In Rebecca’s apartment, Neal and Peter find attempts to forge Hagen’s signature, showing that she framed him by forging the painting.
- Going by the Matchbook: In Hagen’s wallet, Neal finds a recipe from a coffee shop, on the back of it several timestamps. He and Peter discover that Hagen has been watching the building across from the restaurant, which turns out to be the same building that was on Siegel’s radar (Cooper 3).
- Greater Need Than Mine: Neal considers involving the FBI after Rebecca is kidnapped, even though this would get him into massive trouble, as he would have to reveal that he has been blackmailed by Hagen into committing several crimes.
- Heroic BSoD: When Neal discovers at the end that Rebecca is not who she pretend to be and has lied to him about everything, including her kidnapping, he is in shock and doesn’t react when Peter says his name several times.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Hagen seemingly threatens Rebecca in exchange for the window and Neal and Mozzie deciphering the hidden message in the 13th chapter.
- Hostage Video: When Neal tries to renegotiate with Hagen, he gives Neal a phone that shows Rebecca bound and gagged. Later, he has a screen at the hideout showing the same picture while he has Neal and Mozzie deciphering the pages.Hagen: Funny, isn't it? Don't need a gun. Don't even need blackmail anymore. Just one striking image.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Neal says this to Hagen, as he seemingly has kidnapped Rebecca and threatens to harm Mozzie if Neal does something while he is away:Neal: If anything happens to her or him, you'll see what I'm capable of.
- I Have Your Wife: Hagen seemingly kidnaps Rebecca to force Neal to help him decipher Mosconi’s 13th chapter.
- Implausible Deniability: From the FBI’s POV, Hagen’s claim that he did not forge the painting seems ridiculous, since his initials are hidden on it, which is his MO.
- Instant Death Bullet: Hagen is instantly killed when he is shot by a sniper.
- Invented Individual: Rebecca has multiple different photos of herself on her mirror, showing that she is an expert in pretending to be someone else.
- I Will Find You: Neal promises Rebecca over the phone that he will save her.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: When Neal leaves to join Peter on a case, Mozzie has to stay behind and Hagen threatens to harm Mozzie if Neal does something while away.
- Kill It with Fire: Having to improvise because the FBI is on the way to their location, Neal tricks Hagen into freeing Rebecca, and then burns the pages of the codex after Mozzie memorizes them so that Hagen cannot have them.
- Laser Hallway: Downplayed. Rebecca has one laser trip wire on the door of her apartment that alerts her in case someone enters it.
- No More Lies: After Hagne is shot, Peter demands Neal to tell him everything he knows. Neal then revealed that Hagen threatened Rebecca to make Neal solve a puzzle for him that leads to a the Hope Diamond.
- Out-of-Character Alert: When Peter calls Neal in on a case in the middle of Rebecca’s kidnapping, Neal has to pretend that everything is fine in order to not alert Peter. Peter nevertheless realizes that Neal is on edge which Neal covers up by being uncharacteristically snappy, pretending that it is because of their argument.
- Photographic Memory: Mozzie memorizes the revealed patterns on the pages, which allows Neal to burn the pages in front of Hagen without losing what they discovered.
- Prison Changes People: Hagen claims that prison humbled him but Peter counters that people like him can change.
- Ransacked Room: According to Jones, someone has ransacked Hagen’s apartment, presumably his killer.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mozzie gives a brief but appropriate one to Hagen:Mozzie: […Y]ou’re a stock thug. You can't even do your own dirty work. Your obvious weakness is your hubris. You speak with such authority. I've dealt with guys like you before.
- The Reveal: Rebecca is not who she claims to be, has faked her own kidnapping, and clearly has experience in espionage.
- Revenge: Hagen tells Peter and Neal that he wants to take revenge on them for putting him in prison, and plans to show them the video of Neal stealing the coins to ruin both of their lives.
- Silent Treatment: Following the revelation in the previous episode, Peter is effectively ignoring Neal, can’t stand to even hear his name, and does not want to take him on the case that Jones brings him until he talks to Elizabeth.
- Stealth Insult: When Hagen asks Neal why Peter called him in, Neal has this to say about the painting that Hagen seemingly forged:Neal: It's a forgery investigation. Second-rate hack trying to sell a Vermeer knock-off to the Met. Amateur hour.
- Targeted to Hurt the Hero: When Neal is horrified that Hagen seemingly has kidnapped Rebecca and declares that she has nothing to do with the business between Hagen and him:Hagen: She's in your life, and that makes her fair game.
- Third-Party Peacekeeper:
- Jones somewhat takes this role when he notices that Peter gets frustrated when he even hears Neal’s name and confronts him with it, wanting to know what is going on between them.
- Elizabeth later talks to Peter about his and Neal’s argument, implicitly telling him to try to stop being angry with Neal:Peter: When it comes to work, I can't let emotions cloud my judgment.
Elizabeth: I think you already have.
- Threat Backfire: Neal tries to re-negotiate with Hagen by trading the evidence video from the coin heist for the glass, but this fails when Hagen gives Neal a phone with seemingly showing that he has kidnapped Rebecca.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Jones sees Neal as this to some degree, telling Peter that Neal has been holding him back, and cautions Peter to stop taking responsibility for him, advising him to start to let Neal take responsibility for himself instead.
- Treasure Map: The coded pages lead to the Hope Diamond that used to be one of the eyes of a figure of “the Idol of Sita.” Neal and Mozzie do not yet manage to decipher the exact code that would lead them to it.
- Tuck and Cover: When Hagen is shot by a sniper right next to them, Peter immediately pulls Neal to the ground and shields him with his own body.
- Wham Episode: Rebecca is not who she pretends to be. She has lied to Neal, has composed a magnitude of files on everyone in Neal and Peter’s division, has framed Hagen, was likely the one who shot him, and Siegel, and framed her own kidnapping.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Hagen tells Mozzie that Neal has “served his purpose” when this last assignment is completed, which sounds like this threat.
