As the chopper Black Sheep has stowed away on flies out to the job site, Black Sheep's phone rings. Player has been able to track Black Sheep for the first time since he made contact thanks to the phone leaving the vicinity of V.I.L.E. island's encrypted frequencies. Black Sheep cuts the conversation short as the mission's entry point approaches. Noticing that the graduates are going to parachute into the site, Black Sheep realizes she doesn't have a way off the helicopter. El Topo, Le Chevre, and Tigress bail out but Crackle is caught off guard by Black Sheep diving onto him before he jumps, forcing him to jump with her.
On the ground, Crackle regroups with the others after lecturing Black Sheep on her recklessness but Black Sheep remains undeterred and follows the thieves to their objective. Back at V.I.L.E. island, Mime Bomb, who had followed Black Sheep when she made her escape through the sewer system, gives a report to the faculty members. Though they have trouble grasping his charades, Black Sheep stowing away with the graduating class is made clear. Fearing a possible mission compromise, Professor Maelstrom dispatches "the cleaners" to remedy the situation.
At the mission site, Black Sheep takes in her first look at the outside world of Casablanca, Morocco and is mesmerized by it all. She follows a bright light that leads her to a large pit that is actively being dug out. A man approaches her and asks what she's doing at such a late hour, which prompts Black Sheep to inquire about her whereabouts. It is an archaeological dig site that has recently uncovered "the Eye of Vishnu", a large jewel thought to be lost centuries ago. While the value of the item is without question, the man is more interested in preserving it purely for its own sake in the interest of maintaining a record of history. However when the lights go down at the dig site, Black Sheep realizes that the dig site is the mission objective and that V.I.L.E. is here to steal the Eye of Vishnu.
Le Chevre and Tigress descend on the dig site and take out all the personnel as El Topo retrieves the objective itself from under the earth. The site manager realizes Black Sheep was one of the thieves and tries to take back the Eye of Vishnu but is cut off by Crackle. He is overpowered and thrown to the ground, at which point Crackle pulls out his EMP rod and attempts to eliminate the dig site manager. Black Sheep dives onto him and wrestles the weapon away as the manager evacuates, his life still intact. Tigress tries to break up the fight but only gets smacked with Crackle's weapon when Black Sheep takes possession of it. Black Sheep direly tries to get answers out of her friend but before she can, the school janitors suddenly appear from behind and neutralize Black Sheep with chloroform.
Back on the train in the present day, Carmen Sandiego expresses her disappointment at Crackle's unabashed use of lethal force for a simple heist, which gives Crackle the chance to explain his side of things. After being inducted as full V.I.L.E. operatives, the organization's true purpose was made clear to the graduates. Beyond simply being a thieves guild that steals valuable items, V.I.L.E. is actually a deeply-rooted criminal enterprise that engages in any manner of unlawful opportunities with no expense spared, even if that expense is taking lives. The true meaning of the organization's acronym is the "Villains International League of Evil". Carmen is disgusted to learn that her "family" was so heartless.
Having just pulled into another station, Interpol's Chase Devineaux manages to catch up to the train in his car only for the train to once again depart from the station just as he arrives, forcing him to continue the chase. A call comes in from Chase's partner, Julia Argent, who informs him that the apartment that he encountered Carmen Sandiego at previously was filled with various stolen objects. Through some background examination, Julia is able to connect the apartment's holding to an import and export company and the recent heists that Interpol has been trying to apprehend Carmen for in Switzerland, Shanghai, and Cairo have ties to the same group. Given this pattern of thefts, Julia proposes that Carmen is a thief who only burglarizes other thieves. At that moment, Chase's car runs out of fuel next to an airfield, which forces Chase to commandeer a plane to continue his pursuit.
Carmen continues telling her story to Crackle, explaining that she was returned to V.I.L.E. island after her interference in the mission. While she was welcomed back without any severe punishment, the staff at V.I.L.E. kept an especially close eye on her from then onwards. Now without the rest of her class, "Black Sheep" felt painfully alone and lost access to the phone that allowed any sort of communication beyond the shores of the island. Fed up with all things V.I.L.E., Black Sheep quietly went about her days on the island until the moment arrived when she could finally escape for good.
As usual, the V.I.L.E. bookkeeper arrived on the first of December with her typical drop of the hard drive containing intel on possible high-value targets for V.I.L.E. to focus on for the coming year. Black Sheep, knowing this from years of pranking the bookkeeper on her arrival, decides that this is the best opportunity to escape V.I.L.E. island, leaving behind her treasured Russian nesting dolls in the process in order to travel light. Before setting out, Black Sheep steals back the phone she had originally taken from the bookkeeper's bodyguard.
She calls Player, her computer-savvy contact on the mainland, in order to solicit his help with her escape. Believing V.I.L.E. can't be allowed to continue wantonly thieving with no regard for anyone but themselves, Black Sheep decides she needs to steal the hard drive containing their intel to disrupt their operations. Before she can steal the drive, however, the bookkeeper takes the drive to be uploaded to V.I.L.E.'s servers. Black Sheep follows the bookkeeper but runs across Mime Bomb, who was hanging around the halls. After a brief "conversation" she tries to move on until realizing that Mime Bomb was stalking the halls in order to get the drop on any suspicious activity. She goes after him and throws him into a broom closet, taking away any means he might have to escape.
Black Sheep chases the bookkeeper to the elevator. The elevator is a secure transport to the server room, preventing anyone from getting inside without authentication. Black Sheep is forced to catch the elevator by throwing the toolkit she took from Mime Bomb into the door of the elevator so she can board as well. Masquerading as an IT trainee, she impresses the bookkeeper, Cookie Booker, who praises her on the growth she's demonstrated from being a wild and unruly prankster. After offering some good advice on where to take her career, the pair separate amicably. However when Ms. Booker discovers that she's been had and was switched the hard drive with the toolkit Black Sheep was carrying, she puts the facility into lockdown, which compromises Black Sheep's communication with Player.
Black Sheep tries to escape the same way she did when she stowed away, through the sewers, only to discover that thanks to Mime Bomb's reconnaissance from that escape, V.I.L.E. bolted shut the sewer's grate. The other faculty members realize that Black Sheep was probably responsible for the theft and order her capture while she sneaks back into the facility. Now with the main door being the only way in or out and being guarded by the Cleaners, Black Sheep realizes she'll have to find some way to slip out unnoticed. Sneaking around the facility, she overhears an argument between Ms. Booker and Professor Maelstrom. Maelstrom, although highly upset with Ms. Booker for letting such a thing happen in the first place, accedes to her demand to be let off the island. As she runs through the facility, Black Sheep comes across Ms. Booker's highly distinctive red coat and hat, which gives her an idea of how to get out.
In the main hall, the Cleaners are told by Professor Maelstrom to do with Ms. Booker as they please; either by letting her pass or eliminating her. As the order comes through, a tall woman in a red coat and fedora comes strides by slowly, her head down. Beneath the hat, Black Sheep looks out from her disguise, fearful of what might happen if she's found out. However the Cleaners are fooled by her disguise and wish her well, allowing Black Sheep to leave the campus unabated. Back in the facility, however, Professor Maelstrom comes upon Ms. Booker, who was bound and gagged in a closet, and orders the Cleaners to eliminate the woman in red.
Shadow-san joins the Cleaners at the front of the school and orders them to take to the sky to chase down Black Sheep as she runs to the shoreline to catch the boat Ms. Booker came in on. The captain of the boat is notified by Professor Maelstrom to the identity of the woman in red but before he can do anything, Black Sheep uses one of the telescopic stilts she was wearing to imitate Ms. Booker's height to knock the boat captain unconscious. As the Cleaners try to start the helicopter to give chase, they discover that the engine had been sabotaged, preventing them from pursuing.
Black Sheep tries to start the boat but discovers it needs a key, which is still attached to the boat captain's belt. As Shadow-san closes in, she manages to start the boat and pull away from the dock just as he reaches the dock's end. The two make eye contact one final time before she speeds off into the night. Now out of range of the island, Black Sheep's phone begins working again and she contacts Player, who helps her determine she's near the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa. Realizing she would need an identity to survive in the world beyond V.I.L.E. island, Black Sheep co-opts the name "Carmen Sandiego", inspired by the label of the hat she stole from Ms. Booker, which reads "Carmen's Outer Wear" from "San Diego".
Carmen finishes her story just as the train pulls into the Paris station. Crackle proposes Carmen come back to work for V.I.L.E., having proven that she's a capable thief without their tutelage. However she refuses, with the hopes that she could have convinced Crackle to work with her instead of the other way around. Disheartened he couldn't get Carmen to see things his way, Crackle prepares to eliminate her but is subdued in hand-to-hand combat by Carmen, who breaks his EMP rod and allows her to reestablish communication with Player. With the train at the station, Chase Devineaux finally manages to board and corner the red coat, only to discover that Carmen had left an unconscious Crackle inside the coat and was standing on the station platform the entire time. The train pulls away just as Chase notices that he's been had.
Julia Argent calls Chase to let him know that the Eye of Vishnu was still at the crime scene, left in such a way that would imply it was meant to be found by Interpol. Chase rationalizes that if the Eye of Vishnu wasn't worthwhile enough for Carmen Sandiego to steal, there must have been a much better treasure she did escape with. Aboard a boat cruising down a canal, Carmen confirms that she did indeed steal something else: the Russian nesting dolls she was found with as a baby. The dolls were equipped with a tracker, which is how Crackle traced Carmen to the train and were left in the apartment, knowing that the sight of them would represent more personal importance to Carmen than the Eye of Vishnu.
Player confirms that he's sent the funds from Carmen's Shanghai heist to the charitable organizations she requested and that he's decrypted the next target of opportunity from V.I.L.E.'s hard drive, somewhere on the island of Java in Indonesia. The boat speeds away through the Parisian night but is surreptitiously being tailed by a pair of well-dressed agents, who seem to be tracking Carmen Sandiego's movements.
- Actually Pretty Funny: While he holds her at gunpoint, Carmen and Gray laugh over their first encounter at V.I.L.E. Academy, where she intimidated him for trying to call her Lambkins.
- Bait-and-Switch: Carmen looks like she's stealing the Eye of Vishnu. In truth, she was after the matroyshka dolls.
- Chekhov's Gag: In the previous episode, Coach Brunt always tells her students to protect the face. Carmen uses Crackle's staff to knock him out.Carmen: They never protect the face.
- Also in the previous episode, Professor Maelstrom demonstrates the bait-and-switch in class using two briefcases. Carmem pulls a similar stunt on Cookie, leaving her with Carmen's tool kit while she absconds with the hard drive.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He's only visible from behind, but Zack can be seen driving Carmen's boat in the closing scene of the episode before being introduced properly in the next episode. Curiously, Ivy is not present during this scene.
- The Reveal: "Carmen" is the brand of Black Sheep's first red hat, which was made in San Diego. That's what inspired her into renaming herself Carmen Sandiego.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The head archaeologist explained to Carmen about all these artifacts are to help preserve a country's culture. He also was going to be killed by Crackle if Carmen didn't save him. Without him, Carmen would've gleefully become one of V.I.L.E's best agents; instead, she became the biggest thorn in their side.
- This Explains So Much: Player's reaction upon learning the truth about Carmen's school.
- That Man Is Dead:Crackle: Bye bye, Black Sheep.
Carmen: You weren't listening. I go by Carmen now! - Wham Line: "Crackle, remember, leave no witnesses" - Hearing this marks the moment that both Carmen and the viewer realize that this incarnation of V.I.L.E. is not a lighthearted organization of goofy thieves. They aren't screwing around when it comes to their criminal operations.
