Panic turns political as Sabrina and Roz run for Baxter High co-presidents. Harvey struggles with Roz's reveal. Blackwood takes control of the terror.
Tropes in this episode:
- A God Am I: Blackwood believes he rules the world, as does (almost) everyone living in Greendale. In reality, as we discover through Ambrose, the Perverse has no effect outside Greendale town limits.
- Boomerang Bigot: Blackwood's dictatorship is very much active in persecuting witches, with Sabrina as public enemy number one. Blackwood, of course, is himself a warlock. Although Subverted because his actual goal is to hoard all magical powers to himself.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Perverse turns many of the people in Greendale, including Harvey and Prudence, into aggressively loyal followers of "Emperor" Blackwood who are willing to turn in and/or execute their friends, before the other protagonists manage to get through to them.
- Burn the Witch!: Averted. Nick is sentenced to be crushed to death like Giles Corey (who is name-dropped) from the historical Salem Witch Trials.
- Double Entendre: The Perverse perverts both reality and the wishes of whoever controls it at a given moment.
- Fake Memories: The Perverse warps reality so that Blackwood's the Emperor of a dictatorship in Greendale and Sabrina Spellman is public enemy number one. Most witches forget about their powers and there are families shattered that weren't before the Perverse. The real memories are restored via the Stone of Omphalos.
- La Résistance: There are a couple of people on whom the Perverse has less effect. They're led by Hilda. They end up cooking a soup of Stone of Omphalos and serving it to everyone, thus restoring their memories.
- Has a Type: When Harvey tells Theo that Roz is a witch, he sarcastically asks why his romantic partners always turn out to be one. Theo remarks that he has a type and jokingly offers to ask Robin if he knows of any lady hobgoblins.
- Putting on the Reich: The uniforms of Blackwood and his minions have a definitely Nazi-like feel, including a Hitler-Youth-like group of cadets within the high school that Harvey belongs to.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the Alternate Universe version of Greendale, Ambrose's life is so shattered he just skips town and tries to rebuild his life elsewhere.
- Student Council President: Sabrina and Roz are running for Baxter High co-presidents.
- The Reveal: Roz confesses to Harvey that she’s a witch and a seer. He’s in shock, as Roz previously told him that she wasn’t. She asks if she should go home, as Harvey is clearly upset. He becomes almost antagonistic towards her, asking how she's going to find the time between being school council President and being a Sentinel. Roz replies that she’ll figure it out, sarcastically remarking that she has the unconditional support of her boyfriend.
- Traveling Salesman:
- Blackwood steals the Perverse in trinket form from a trinket salesman.
- Its antidote, the Stone of Omphalos, is sold by the same salesman to Sabrina.
