History Recap / TheHardyBoys2020Season3E2AVanishingAct

* NotMeThisTime: Quill confirms George's guess that the organization he works for threatened the unknown witness, who saw "Frank" leaving the Demon's Paw mine right after the explosion that killed Kanika and Stacy, to retract their statement. Joe expresses his suspicion of the fact that "Frank" really ''was'' at the mine last night, and George shortly replies, "I didn't blow it up, if that's what you're asking." Despite Joe's skepticism, George is being honest in this instance, since he barely survived the explosion himself; however, considering that he was planning on killing Stacy and Kanika himself before the bomb interrupted them, he's hardly an innocent party, either.

* BerserkButton: Downplayed, but George initially refuses to say a word after the Hardy Gang ties him up, until they start mocking his intelligence, and Joe outright says he was never as smart as he thought he was, soon after which he tries to give them all {{Breaking Speech}}es.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Much of why George is such a SmugSnake is because the Eye has shown him "my destiny" and "the end", so he truly believes he knows everything that'll happen and mocks the TrueCompanions that their efforts to oppose him will fail because YouCantFightFate.
* BerserkButton: Downplayed, but George initially refuses to say a word after the TrueCompanions tie him up, until they start mocking his intelligence, and Joe outright says he was never as smart as he thought he was, soon after which he tries to give them all {{Breaking Speech}}es.

** JB, still dressed in all-black for the Heritage Museum robbery, claims to Jessie that he just happened to be walking by the museum the night before when the Bridgeport cops arrested him. Jessie doesn't believe him, of course, but just tells him he's not being charged with the robbery anyway and has been sprung from jail.

** "Frank", after escaping through the Estabrook mine entrance, is quickly found by Jessie, who asks him what he's doing there. He just lamely replies that he's "looking for some clues" in a poor attempt to channel Frank, and she obviously doesn't buy it and brings him to the station.

** "Frank", after escaping from Joe and co, is brought into the station by Jessie for questioning when Biff is also there waiting to talk to her after the meeting with Tess, so she sees him and calls Joe to report where he is. And then JB is being released from jail at the same time, sees Biff and then the bag of codexes that was confiscated from "Frank" after she glances at it, and snatches it on his way out.

* FightScene: One of the few in the series. George tries to kill Joe--first by shooting him, then stabbing with a sword, then choking him to death--in his own brother's body, while Joe mostly just evades him and fights him off until he can grab the bag of scrolls and flee the SecretRoom to where his friends are waiting outside.

* GuileHero: After having no luck in getting George to answer his questions about Frank, Joe tries a different tactic of [[DealWithTheDevil offering George a deal]]: they'll give him the relics, and even help him find the Core, in exchange for leaving Frank's body afterwards and swapping to another one. In truth, Joe knows how unlikely George is to keep his end of the bargain, but [[ILied the offer itself is insincere and just a ploy]] to get him to tell them where Frank is and how to save him, which George finally does; Joe then beans him and re-kidnaps him as soon as he gets the chance.

* MamaBear: Despite their relationship, Trudy's not very happy with Jessie for bringing her nephew in for questioning without her being present there with him from the start.

* MeaningfulEcho: In "An Unexpected Return", after briefly pretending to be Aaron to get Munder to set him free, George revealed the lie and said to him, "[[EyesNeverLie Look into my eyes. Do you see someone who loves you?]]" Here, as Callie explains her hunch to Drew that "Frank" isn't really Frank, she states (in reference to their breakup) "All I know is, when I looked into Frank's eyes, I didn't see someone who loved me."

* PresentAbsence: This is the only episode in the series where Frank Hardy, the character, doesn't actually appear[[labelnote:*]]not including the non-voiced, blink-and-you'll-miss-it snippets of him in the Eye's visions, which are all taken from other episodes[[/labelnote]], as all of Rohan Campbell's screentime is of him playing George. Naturally, though, finding out where Frank is, what happened to him, and how to get him back is the driving motivation for his brother and their friends and all of their actions.

* TapOnTheHead: Once Joe is done pretending to play nice with George, he bludgeons him in the back of the head with the Eye relic, knocking him out. Chet [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that [[HypocriticalHumor this is despite Joe stopping him earlier from beating George up]] because it's Frank's body.
* TraumaCongaLine: Biff invokes this to Jessie as a cover for why "Frank" is acting strange and NotHimself: that his grandmother died, his dad's still gone after leaving, and he and Callie broke up.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: A combination of this and [[SmugSnake overestimating himself]] is how George gets so thoroughly OutGambitted by Joe. The latter ''will'' stop at nothing to save his brother, but gets the former to mistake his determination for ''desperation'' by offering him what appears to be a last-ditch bargain where George has the upper hand the whole time. Thus, he overestimates his importance to the Hardy Gang and thinks they need him more than he needs them (as he straight-up boasts to them later), tells Joe what he wants to know as bait to reel him in, and never seems to consider that Joe, GuileHero that he is, was lying to him all along; since George gave him exactly what he needs to save Frank, Joe no longer has any reason to play nice or pretend to work with him, and just knocks him out and captures him again.
* VillainousRescue: A witness saw "Frank" leaving the mines the previous night after the Chamber explosion, so Jessie brings him in to talk to him, but by the time Trudy comes to pick him up, they've recanted the statement and he's free to go. After the boys meet Quill, he makes it explicit that the shady organization he works for [[JuryAndWitnessTampering threatened the witness to "forget" what they saw]] because they want to hire and/or use the Hardys to find the scrolls and can't do that if "Frank" is held up by being arrested or jailed.

* WritersCannotDoMath: When Biff meets her older sister Tess, their conversation indicates that the latter was largely raised by their father because Abigail was mostly an absent mom. In the previous season, Abigail was said to be 17 when she had Biff, and since Tess is ''at least'' 3 years older than her (probably more) because she's old enough to drive, that would've put Abigail at ''14'' at the oldest when she had Tess. Not only is this pretty creepy, but if their father were around the same age, he wouldn't have been able to raise her by himself as a minor and probably would have needed parental help, and if he were older than that, would've been arrested for statutory rape for having a relationship with Abigail. It's possible that this is a {{Retcon}} and Abigail was supposed to have been 17 when she had (or even when she was pregnant with) '''Tess''', and then in her early 20s when Biff was born (with their dad being similar in age), which would make more sense.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In the past, George had his loyal chauffeur kill the doctors who knew about Project Midnight once they'd set it up [[LeaveNoWitnesses ensure there were no loose ends]]. George tells Joe that, in his letter to Gloria, he instructed her to do the same to the chauffer himself, too, after he finished driving her to where she could hide the codexes. Joe is doubtful that she would've actually done it.

* YouWouldntShootMe: Joe says this to "Frank" at the beginning when George holds him at gunpoint. George quickly proves he would, in fact, [[HeKnowsTooMuch kill someone who's figured out his ruse]], [[WouldHurtAChild even if it's a kid]], and pulls the trigger. Luckily, Joe is able to fend him off.

* OffscreenTeleportation: The gang, after knocking George out near the end, somehow manage to get him all the way from the Hardy home to Rosegrave and into Callie's dorm room without getting caught or George escaping.

* NoodleIncident: However the Hardy Gang managed to get George, after knocking him out, all the way from the Hardy home to Rosegrave and into Callie's and Drew's dorm room without getting caught or George escaping.

* VillainousRescue: A witness saw "Frank" leaving the mines the previous night after the Chamber explosion, so Jessie brings him in to talk to him, but by the time Trudy comes to pick him up, they've recanted the statement. After the boys meet Quill, he makes it explicit that the shady organization he works for [[JuryAndWitnessTampering threatened the witness to "forget" what they saw]] because they want to "hire" and/or use the Hardys to find the scrolls and can't do that if "Frank" is held up by being arrested or jailed.

* BrickJoke: Doubling as HypocriticalHumor. When the gang first captures George, Chet gets angry enough to punch him in the face, but Joe stops him from doing it again by pointing out that it's still Frank's body and they need to keep it as intact as possible. At the end, once Joe himself [[TapOnTheHead smacks George in the head with the Eye to knock him out]] so they can get Frank back, Chet lampshades, "[[HypocriticalHumor So much for keeping Frank's body in one piece!]]"

* PresentAbsence: This is the only episode in the series where Frank Hardy, the character, doesn't actually appear[[labelnote:*]]not including snippets of him in the Eye's visions, which are all taken from other episodes[[/labelnote]], as all of Rohan Campbell's screentime is of him playing George. Naturally, though, finding out where Frank is, what happened to him, and how to get him back is the driving motivation for his brother and their friends and all of their actions.

* LoveInformant: As George is insulting each of the TrueCompanions in turn, he tells Biff (and everyone else present, though they already knew) [[KickTheDog rather mockingly]] that Phil's in love with her. The latter is quite upset that that's how she learned of it, instead of him confessing.

* IronicEcho: As George goes around the room insulting all the TrueCompanions, he calls Joe an "incessant little pest, chasing glory." Later, once Joe finally has something to hold over George to negotiate with, he comments during this scene, "I'm an incessant pest, remember?"

* FightScene: One of the few in the series. George tries to kill Joe--first by shooting him, then stabbing with a sword, then choking him to death--in his own brother's body, while Joe mostly just evades him and fights him off until he can grab the bag of scrolls and flee the SecretRoom to where the rest of his friends are waiting outside.

* BrickJoke: Doubling as HypocriticalHumor. When the gang first captures George, Chet gets incensed enough to punch him in the face, but Joe stops him from doing it again by pointing out that it's still Frank's body and they need to keep it as intact as possible. At the end, once Joe himself [[TapOnTheHead smacks George in the head with the Eye to knock him out]] so they can get Frank back, Chet lampshades, "[[HypocriticalHumor So much for keeping Frank's body in one piece!]]"

* NoodleIncident: However the Hardy Gang managed to get George, after knocking him out, all the way from the Hardy home to Rosegrave Academy and into Callie's and Drew's dorm room without getting caught or George escaping.

* SpottingTheThread: Used to determine that "Frank" actually has someone else's consciousness inside his body.

* BrickJoke: When the gang first captures George, Chet gets incensed enough to punch him in the face, but Joe stops him from doing it again by pointing out that it's still Frank's body and they need to keep as intact as possible. At the end, once Joe himself [[TapOnTheHead smacks George in the head with the Eye to knock him out]] so they can get Frank back, Chet lampshades, "[[HypocriticalHumor So much for keeping Frank's body in one piece!]]"

** The Eye gives Joe a vision of a man stealing one of the leftover pieces of the Crystal from George's desk. The audience knows it's the chauffeur, but Joe's never seen him before, so he can only describe to George what he looks like, though he does soon suggest him as a possibility.

** The Eye gives Joe a vision of a man stealing one of the leftover pieces of the Crystal from George's desk. The audience knows it's the chauffeur, but Joe's never seen him before, so he can only describe to George what he looks like, though he does suggest him as a possibility by referring to him as "they guy who was on the beach with you when you found the Crystal

* BadBoss: George states that no one who worked for him would have betrayed him...because he didn't give them the chance, [[YouWouldntShootMe killing them or having them killed once he no longer needed their services]].

** Then once Quill offers to give them "the thing you want most"--Laura, as he provides a picture taken of her with a security camera--Joe tells his friends that they need to work together with George, who claims to be willing to accept his earlier offer of the relics in return giving up Frank's body (though is likely not sincere), but Joe's [[ILied actually just lying to get him to let his guard down]] and [[TapOnTheHead knocks him out]].

* GuileHero: After having no luck in getting George to answer his questions about Frank, Joe tries a different tactic of [[DealWithTheDevil offering George a deal]]: they'll give him the relics, and even help him find the Core, in exchange for giving up Frank's body afterwards and swapping to another one. In truth, Joe knows how unlikely George is to keep his end of the bargain, but [[ILied the offer itself is insincere and just a ploy]] to get him to tell them where Frank is and how to save him, which George finally does; Joe then beans him and re-captures him as soon as he gets the chance.

* PresentAbsence: This is the only episode in the series where Frank Hardy, the character, doesn't actually appear, as all of Rohan Campbell's screentime is of him playing George. Naturally, though, finding out where Frank is, what happened to him, and how to get him back is the driving motivation for his brother and their friends and all of their actions.

* VillainousRescue : A witness saw "Frank" leaving the mines the previous night after the Chamber explosion, so Jessie brings him in to talk to him, but by the time Trudy comes to pick him up, they've recanted the statement. After the boys meet Quill, he makes it explicit that the shady organization he works for [[JuryAndWitnessTampering threatened the witness to "forget" what they saw]] because they want to "hire" and/or use the Hardys to find the scrolls and can't do that if "Frank" is held up by being arrested or jailed.
* WouldHurtAChild: George has no hesitation in trying to murder the 13-year-old Joe, his own great-grandson whose older brother's body he's using, first for figuring out his identity and then to try to take the Eye from him, and tries to shoot, stab, and/or strangle Joe numerous times.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Part of the reason George is such a SmugSnake is because the Eye has shown him "my destiny" and "the end", so he truly believes he knows everything that'll happen and mocks the TrueCompanions that their efforts to oppose him will fail because YouCantFightFate.

* ContrivedCoincidence: "Frank", after escaping from Joe and co, is brought into the station by Jessie for questioning at the same time Biff is there waiting to talk to her after the meeting with Tess, so she sees him and calls Joe and report where he is. And then JB is also being released from jail at the same time, sees Biff and then the bag of codexes that were confiscated from "Frank" after she glances at it, and steals it on his way out.

** Then once Quill offers to give them "the thing you want most"--Laura, as he provides a picture taken of her with a security camera--Joe tells his friends that they need to work together with George, but he's [[ILied actually just lying to get him to let his guard down]] and [[TapOnTheHead knocks him out]].

* ILied: After Quill's visit, where he promises to give them Laura (who's apparently still alive) in exchange for the scroll map, Joe pretends to agree to work with George to get it back from JB and convince the rest of the gang it's necessary, but since he's already told them where Frank is, Joe decks him unconscious when his back is turned so they can re-capture him and get Frank back without making a DealWithTheDevil.

* LetsJustBeFriends: After Biff finds out from George that Phil has feelings for her, she asks him about it later, and tells him that she does like him, just not in ''that'' kind of way. He accepts it and tells her it's okay, but is obviously bummed she learned about it like that.

* TapOnTheHead: Once Joe is done pretending to play nice with George, he beans him in the back of the head with the Eye relic, knocking him out. Chet [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that [[HypocriticalHumor this is despite Joe stopping him earlier from beating George up]] because it's Frank's body.

* WhamShot: As Joe runs from the SecretRoom, it's shown that he didn't come alone to confront George, and he tosses the bag of codexes to Biff, who's waiting outside along with Chet, Belinda, and Phil, after Joe filled them all in ahead of time about "Frank" being an impostor.
* WouldHurtAChild: George has no hesitation in trying to murder the 13-year-old Joe, his own great-grandson whose older brother's body he's using, for figuring out his identity, trying to shoot, stab, and/or strangle him numerous times.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: George, SmugSnake that he is, is [[PsychoticSmirk smirking]] almost the entire time he gives {{Breaking Speech}}es...until Chet asks him the following question, at which point the sneer fades and he swallows and clenches his jaw.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Part of the reason George is such a SmugSnake is because the Eye has shown him "my destiny" and "the end", so he truly believes that he knows what'll happen and mocks the TrueCompanions that their plot to save Frank will fail because YouCantFightFate.

* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: George cites this word-for-word about the gang's option of working with him (whom none of them trust, and with good reason) vs. cooperating with Quill and his shady employers. Instead, Joe [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]] and just pretends to agree before knocking him out at the first opportunity so they can get Frank back without making any kind of deal and have one fewer "devil" altogether.

** JB claims that he just happened to be walking by the Heritage Museum the night before when the Bridgeport cops arrested him. Jessie doesn't believe him, of course, but just tells him he's not being charged with the robbery anyway and has been sprung from jail.

** After capturing George and holding him prisoner in his own study, the Hardy Gang keeps him bound to a chair with a belt, and later have to briefly stuff a cloth in his mouth as the hide him in the SecretRoom so Trudy won't catch them.

** He calls Joe "an incessant little pest, chasing glory" and Phil an "insecure loser" who's just trying to impress Biff, and [[KickTheDog cruelly tells Biff outright]] that [[LoveInformant Phil loves her and has been telling everyone]], while he can only weakly try to deny it. He then wonders aloud if the reason he can't figure Chet out is because he hasn't figured out himself and has no direction or plans for the future, outright asking why he cares and why he doesn't just walk away.

* ChokeHolds: George pins Joe to the ground, straddles him, and tries to strangle him at two different times. The first time, Joe grabs something heavy from the floor nearby and smashes George in the head to get him off, and the second time, Chet and Belinda pull George off him.

* CombatPragmatist: Joe is fighting George in Frank's body, who's bigger, stronger, and burlier than him, and also doesn't want to risk doing permanent damage to it, so he mostly pulls evasive maneuvers, but does smack him in face a couple of times with the nearest thing he can grab.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: As Chet and Callie separately lampshade, George is so selfish and lacking in any kind of compassion for others that he truly doesn't get why the Hardys' friends, especially those two, are so determined to stop him when he's not directly causing harm to ''them'' personally with his plans. The way he sees it, they don't have any direct stakes in opposing him, so they should just walk away. He can't understand that, since the rest of them consider Frank a dear friend, the stakes ''are'' [[ItsPersonal very personal]] to them for that reason, or that they also care about all the other people he's hurt and are determined to prevent him from causing any more damage.

* {{Hypocrite}}: George, unsurprisingly, is a big one. He gets angry at Joe ''for lying to him'' after the latter reveals he still has the Eye, despite ''everything'' that George has done and lied about himself. Joe calls him out on it without missing a beat.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Joe gets some in-universe in one of the visions he gets from touching the Eye, showing him snippets, all from the next episode, of being reunited with his brother and facing off against George.
* GilliganCut: Joe repeatedly asks George where Frank is, if he's still alive, and how they get him back, while George just smirks and laughs at him. Joe vows that "somehow, someway", he ''will'' get him to talk...and then cut to Joe opening the study doors later after some one-on-one interrogation, "Man, he is ''really'' not talking!" Ultimately, though, Joe ''does'' persuade George to tell him what he wants to know.
* ILied: After Quill's visit, where he promises to give them Laura (who's apparently still alive) in exchange for the map, Joe tells the rest of the gang that they need to work together with George so they can accomplish this, but it turns out to just be a trick to get him to let his guard down, and Joe decks him unconscious so they can re-capture him and get Frank back by force instead of by making a bargain with George.

* IdiotBall: Biff sees JB, who was earlier competing with the Hardys and friends for the scrolls, being released at the police station. When he looks over and sees her too, she casts a ''very'' nervous glance at the black bag nearby with the scrolls in it, which "Frank" was forced to leave there after being brought into the station and which she was just about to try to take back. Since she couldn't have been more obvious about this if she'd tried, JB unsurprisingly sees the bag and covertly steals it on his way out of the station, and when Biff tries to follow, she's stopped by her mom coming up to talk to her, letting him get away with the scrolls.

** George's {{Breaking Speech}}es to the gang are full of this, like--in addition to all the name-calling--casually referring to Frank as "collateral damage", cruelly [[LoveInformant telling Biff that Phil's in love with her]], and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain mocking Belinda and Biff for coming from "broken homes" just because they live in one-parent families]]. Not to mention telling Callie that her relationship with Frank is "just a fleeting teenage romance."
** George also reveals to Joe that, despite promising his loyal chauffeur who helped him with his plans that he'd be rewarded when George returned, he actually included it in his instructions to Gloria for her to kill the chauffeur, too, to further to LeaveNoWitnesses just like with the doctors he killed, although Joe speculates she didn't go through with it. The next episode answers this for sure.

* LetsJustBeFriends: After Biff finds out from George that Phil has feelings for her, she asks him about it later, and tells him that she does like him, but makes it pretty clear that it's not in ''that'' kind of way. He accepts it and tells her it's okay, but is obviously bummed.

* ManipulativeBastard: As Chet lampshades, George was like this his whole life, never having real friends and manipulating and backstabbing everyone around him. This includes his own daughter Gloria, whom he [[WellDoneDaughterGal always knew craved his approval]] and consistently exploited it for his own benefit.

* ShutUpHannibal: The main friends give George several in response to his {{Breaking Speech}}es:
** Belinda snaps at George that the times have changed since he was around in "19-dickity" and family standards are not at all the same, with Biff adding that they and their families are functioning just fine. And then Chet, ''trembling'' with anger, actually does seem to hit a nerve by mocking the fact that George has obviously never had a real friend in his "entire sad life", because if he had, he wouldn't need to ask the question of why Chet cares.
** Callie responds to George calling her and Frank's relationship a "fleeting teenage romance" by asking him if he really thinks she's just some broken-hearted girl trying to stop him over a boy, stating that she wants to bring him down because of all the lives he ruined with Project Midnight and the Circle, clearly thinking about Drew's brother Orrin and the Munder twins as well as Frank.

* TalkToTheFist: As George starts going on about how the Eye showed him his "destiny" and he knows how everything will unfold, Chet punches him in the face out of anger that all George has done has been based on a some vision.
* TraumaCongaLine: Biff invokes this to Jessie as to why "Frank" is acting strange and NotHimself: that his grandmother died, his dad's still gone after leaving, and he and Callie broke up.

* WritersCannotDoMath: When Biff meets her older sister Tess, their conversation indicates that the latter was largely raised by their father because Abigail was mostly an absent mom. In the previous season, Abigail was said to be 17 when she had Biff, and since Tess is ''at least'' 3 years older than her (probably more) because she's old enough to drive, that would've put Abigail at ''14'' at the oldest when she had Tess. Not only is this pretty creepy, but if their father were around the same age, he wouldn't have been able to raise her by himself as a minor and probably would have needed parental help, and if he were older than that, would've been arrested for statutory rape for having a relationship with Abigail. It's possible that this subtle {{Retcon}} and Abigail was supposed to have been 17 when she had (or even when she was pregnant with) '''Tess''', and then in her early 20s when Biff was born (with their dad being similar in age), which would make more sense.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In the past, George had his loyal chauffeur kill the doctors who knew about Project Midnight once they'd set it up [[LeaveNoWitnesses ensure there were no loose ends]]. Now, George tells Joe that, in his letter to Gloria, he instructed her to do the same to the chauffer himself, too, after he finished driving her to where she could hide the codexes. Joe is doubtful that she would've actually done it.
* YouJustToldMe: Joe is either bluffing or being sarcastic when asking about George living the rest of his life on his private island in Frank's body, only for George's reaction to confirm to him that he does actually have his own island.

* YouWouldntShootMe: Joe says this to "Frank", word-for-word, at the beginning when George holds him at gunpoint. George quickly proves that he would [[HeKnowsTooMuch kill someone who's figured out his ruse]], [[WouldHurtAChild even if it's a kid]]. Luckily, Joe is able to fend him off.

** He calls Joe "an incessant little pest, chasing glory" and Phil an "insecure loser" who's just trying to impress Biff, and cruelly tells Biff outright that Phil loves her and has been telling everyone, while he can only weakly try to deny it. He then wonders aloud if the reason he can't figure Chet out is because he hasn't figured out himself and has no direction or plans for the future, outright asking why he cares and why he doesn't just walk away.
** That being said, George's criticisms to the girls of the team are pretty weak and based on prejudice. He accuses Biff and Belinda of trying to "fill a void" created by their "broken homes" just because they don't have "nuclear families" and have one parent in their lives (never mind the fact that both of them are very close to and happy with said parent). His question to Callie later of why she cares so much about saving Frank, mocking her that they just had a "fleeting teenage romance" that was doomed to eventually become nothing more than a "fond memory", is rooted in sexism, clearly assuming she's just a hysterical ex-girlfriend and not considering that she wants to stop him for any other reason.
* ChekhovsGun: In the second season, when the boys were hanging out in George's SecretRoom, Joe was shown admiring his sword on display there before Frank told him to put it down. George, with Frank's body, uses this same sword to try to ''kill'' Joe during their confrontation in the room.

** Where did Joe hide the Eye, in a place that Chet and Belinda failed to find it after searching? Behind the floor vent in his room, the same place Joe first found the idol containing a piece of the Eye after JB snuck in and hid it there.
** In "Conflicting Reports", Joe wondered aloud to Frank why George would've designed his SecretRoom with only one exit that locked from the outside, leaving the potential risk of him getting locked in. The gang discovers here that George ''did'' build in a second exit: a trap door in the floor of the office that doubles as the Estabrook secret entrance to the Demon's Paw mines (after they've previously used the Nabokov entrance).
* DramaticIrony: Joe and Callie both (separately) initially suspect(ed) that "Frank" is really Aaron Munder. Viewers would know this theory doesn't make sense because George ''pretended'' to be Aaron in "An Unexpected Return" long enough to trick Adrian into freeing him before revealing the ruse, which the real Aaron would've had no reason to do; however, Callie and Joe were still unconscious when this happened and didn't see it.
* EnemyMine: Now that the rest of the Hardy Gang have determined that "Frank" is George, they mostly just hold him prisoner until they can switch him back with the real Frank, but after George temporarily escapes, he and Joe have one of these in their meeting with Cadmus Quill. Despite Joe noting that he and "Frank" "[[{{Understatement}} haven't seen eye to eye lately]]," both are in agreement that they don't want to give Quill the scrolls.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: As Chet and Callie separately lampshade, George is so selfish and lacking in any kind of compassion for others that he truly doesn't get why the Hardys' friends, especially those two, are so determined to stop him when he's not directly causing harm to ''them'' personally with his plans. The way he sees it, they don't have any direct stakes in opposing him, so they should just walk away. He can't comprehend that, since the rest of them consider Frank a dear friend, the stakes ''are'' [[ItsPersonal very personal]] to them for that reason, or that they also care about all the other people he's hurt and are determined to prevent him from causing any more damage.

* IdiotBall: Biff sees JB, who was earlier competing with the Hardys and friends for the scrolls, being released at the police station. When he looks over and sees her too, she casts a nervous, ''very'' unsubtle pointed glance at the black bag nearby with the scrolls in it, which "Frank" was forced to leave there after being brought into the station. It's so obvious that it initially looks like she purposely draws JB's attention to it so he'll take the bag and get it away from George, but when he does indeed do this and walk out the door, Biff tries to follow, only to be stopped by her mom coming up to talk to her, letting him get away with the scrolls. So either it's this trope because she DidntThinkThisThrough before pointing the bag out to JB, or if it really wasn't on purpose, it's this because she couldn't have been more obvious about it if she ''had'' tried.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Interestingly downplayed for George.
** Despite being a chronologically-hundred-year-old white man who lived in the early and mid 1900's, he doesn't make overtly racist remarks about the Hardys' friends, most of whom are people of color. He also gives no indication that he's bothered by Trudy's and Jessie's interracial same-sex relationship, which would have been incredibly taboo in his heyday. Still, he does show prejudice against non-nuclear families by assuming that Belinda's and Biff's one-parent households, which had more stigma around them during the prime of his life, must be "broken homes", prompting Belinda to snap at him that it's not "19-dickity" anymore.
** However, there is also some underlying sexism in his assumption that Callie is only helping her friends stop him out of desperate love for and heartbreak over Frank, as opposed to sincerely wanting to save him ''and'' stopping George from hurting anybody else ever again.

** Belinda snaps at George that the times have changed since he was around in "19-dickity" and family standards are not at all the same, with Biff adding that they and their families are functioning just fine. And then Chet, ''trembling'' with anger, actually does seemingly manage to hit a nerve by mocking the fact that George has obviously never had a real friend in his "entire sad life", because if he had, he wouldn't need to ask the question of why Chet cares.

* YouWouldntShootMe: Joe says this to "Frank", word-for-word, at the beginning when George holds him at gunpoint. George quickly proves that he would, in fact, kill someone [[HeKnowsTooMuch who's figured out his ruse]], [[WouldHurtAChild even if it's a kid]]. Luckily, Joe is able to fend him off.