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Recap / Criminal Case: World Edition - Case 54: Operation Spyfall

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Elliot: First, someone diverts BØB during re-entry... Then we find a dead spy near the wreckage, and another spy injured... There must be a connection!

The Bureau rushes to the Northern Canadian wilderness near Quebec to intercept BØB, whose trajectory was forcibly redirected and now has crashed somewhere in the forest, to get the satellite's hard drive and use it to prove SOMBRA's existence. Taking Carmen and Elliot with them, the player rushes to the zone of the crash, where they find the body of French spy Jean Connerie stabbed in the back, Mossad agent Asal Hawaa gravely injured, and the hard drive missing.

Tropes:

  • Agents Dating: Asal and Jean were dating at the time of Jean's death, something that Jack doesn't take very well when he hears about it.
  • All for Nothing: The Bureau's efforts to prevent the United States leaving the Unified Nations is rendered moot in this case when President Hewett announces that the US will no longer be affiliated with the UN.
  • All Your Powers Combined: During the Additional Investigation, the Bureau receives help from the MGB, the CIA, and the MI6 to recover the hard drive that Anya stole, finally giving those organizations a change at fighting against SOMBRA.
  • Back for the Dead: Jean Connerie, who you met all the way back in Case 10, makes a return here as the victim.
  • Back Stab: Jean was ultimately killed this way after fighting his attacker.
  • Badass in Distress: Asal, a Mossad agent who always had the upper hand against the Bureau, gets gravely injured during a mission and almost gets killed by Jean's murderer.
    Carmen: Asal's a tough cookie... If she got so badly injured, something horrible must've gone down here.
  • Bears Are Bad News: When you first encounter him, Vadim tells Carmen and the player they should flee the scene before the polar bears get attracted to Jean's blood, since they're much more aggressive and dangerous than the grizzly bear he fought back in Russia.
  • Becoming the Mask: During his interrogation, Vadim tells you he got distracted while following Jean because he saw two polar bear cubs and, since he's posing as a wildlife enthusiast, he sometimes gets too much inside of his cover.
  • Call-Back: Every suspect and even the victim are people you previously met during your world travel: Forrest Hunt, Vadim Efremov, and Anya Ivanova were last seen in Russia, while Asal Hawaa and George Pryce made their last appearances in South America.
  • Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Lars tries to do this after Elliot teases him because he's getting a little too close with Jack.
    Elliot: I don't know what you're talking about... Vanna and I are only texting!
    Unlike you and your bro Jack, with your movie nights and-
    Lars: Hey, let's talk about more important matters...
  • City of Spies: Every suspect and even the victim in this case are/were spies in one way or another: Asal for the Mossad, Forrest for the CIA, Vadim and Anya for the MGB, George for the MI6, and Jean for an unknown French organization.
  • Cliffhanger: The case ends with the Bureau discovering that the new El Rey will be in Montreal, which leads to a race to inform the Canadian Prime Minister about them and SOMBRA.
  • Collapsed Mid-Speech: When you find Asal gravely injured at the start, she asks for you help and tries to explain what happened before blacking out.
  • Continuity Nod: Due to every suspect and the victim being returning characters, lots of events are referenced during your interrigations with them, such as that time Vadim fought against a bear or Anya being fired from the MGB.
  • A Day in the Limelight: A minor one for Elliot, as he becomes one your partners during Chapter 1 since he decides to accompany you to the crash site.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Anya says this word by word during her trial, claiming that she had to kill for SOMBRA.
    Anya: I did what I had to do, Your Honor. Agents are trained to kill and be killed if necessary.
  • Eat the Evidence: Jean ate a microfilm containing classified information and how El Rey would be in Montreal, which requires Grace to analyse his stomach during the Additional Investigation to retrieve it.
  • Faceā€“Heel Turn: Anya, previously a MGB agent and also COSMORUS worker, is revealed to be working for SOMBRA now, changing sides after realizing they were the ones with the biggest chance to win.
  • Fallen Hero: Anya became a murderer and a SOMBRA agent after years of working for national security and the world's well-being, since she saw no point in fighting a battle that seemed hopeless.
  • I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Anya's reason for deciding to work for SOMBRA can be resumed to pretty much this.
    Carmen: YOU? You work for SOMBRA? You used to be hell-bent on bringing them down!
    Anya: Until I realized they appreciated my talents so much more than the MGB or COSMORUS! I decided to join the winning side!
  • From Bad to Worse: President Hewett announcing that the United States will be leaving the Unified Nations is seen as this, as it means a victory for SOMBRA after the Bureau's relentless efforts to bring them down and having to deal with a stolen hard drive and a dead spy.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Vadim, Forrest, and George join you during the Additional Investigation to help you recover the information that was stolen by Anya and hidden by Jean, providing you with some powerful weapons against SOMBRA.
  • Harmful to Minors: Elliot didn't expect to see a stabbed body while going to retrieve BØB's hard drive, which he apparently finds a little disturbing.
    Carmen: Elliot, I'm sorry you had to see this scene. Sometimes, I forget you're only 17, and not used to leaving your tech lab...
  • Implied Death Threat: The killer left a message in a tablet telling the Bureau to back off from the investigation or else they would end up like Jean.
  • Incredibly Obvious Bug: Like last time, Jean had a "hidden" camera sticking out of an apparently normal object, in this case a croissant.
  • Kick the Dog: Asal attempts to do this with the Bureau by telling Marina she has no right to accuse her of being a member of SOMBRA when her own mother is in prison because of it and also telling the player that they should "clean up their backyard" before someone else ends up being a traitor too.
  • Kissing In A Tree: Lars' newest "Knock Knock" Joke and musical number has him singing this regarding Elliot and Vanna, which leads to the Change the Uncomfortable Subject described above.
  • Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Asal is seen with tattered clothes in addition to her bruises due to being ambushed and knocked out by Jean's killer.
  • New Job Episode: For Anya, as she had been fired from the MGB in her last appearance and was now working for COSMORUS, though the later turns out to be a sham as she's actually working for SOMBRA.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Carmen and the player indirectly lead to President James Hewett retiring the United States from the Unified Nations by marking Forrest, a CIA agent, as a suspect, which Hewett sees as a direct attack towards the country that the UN is endorsing.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Vadim's obsession with mammoths and polar creatures turns out to be just a cover, as he's actually a MGB agent with high enough clearance to be assigned a mission involving following another spy.
  • Operation: [Blank]: Going with the case's name and theme, many operations and missions are mentioned throughout it, these being Opération Toutatis (Jean following George), Operation Silent Frog (Vadim following Jean), and Operation Falling Sky (George following BØB).
  • Patriotic Fervor: Forrest explains to you that the reason why he and Jean got into a fight was because Jean insulted President Hewett, which Forrest couldn't tolerate as a patriotic CIA agent.
  • Precision Crash: Thankfully Averted. Anya at least had the decency of redirecting BØB to an inhabited forest north of Canada instead of letting it crash near a populated area.
  • Right Under Their Noses: After killing Jean, Anya took the hard drive from BØB and hid it inside of an ice box at a hotel.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: By the end of this case, Asal has been so fed up with the Mossad and Bureau's incompetence and SOMBRA agents that she decides to take a break by herself.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Elliot claims that he and Vanna are "just texting" after Lars teases him with a Kissing In A Tree song.
  • Shout-Out: The case's title comes from the film Skyfall
  • Spy Versus Spy: Throughout the case, you learn that most of your suspects were against another one in some way: Vadim had been assigned to follow Jean, Jean to follow George, and Forrest to make sure none of them got into trouble. For her part, as a member of SOMBRA, Anya was enemies with everyone, and she was the one who killed Jean.
  • Undercover Cop Reveal: Vadim Efremov is revealed to be a member of the MGB, the Russian security agency.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Asal accuses Jack of being this, as she had just told you valuable information about where Jean was last seen (a hotel), which makes Jack jealous rather than grateful.
    Asal: I thought you might say "thank you" for once, Jack. I see I was mistaken.
  • Villain Ball: For being a former member of the MGB and a SOMBRA agent, Anya did a really sloppy job covering her tracks and ultimately getting herself caught, from leaving her map inside of BØB after stealing the hard drive to also leaving the same kind of explosives she used to blow up the satellite's interior in the hotel with her fingerprints all over them. The final nail in the coffin is how she decides to hide the hard drive in, of all places, an ice box, making it easy for the Bureau to recover it.
  • I Work Alone: Asal hid information from the Bureau regarding where El Rey would be next because she had no reason to share it with them, claiming that each one is on their own.
  • You Are Too Late: By the time you arrive to the crashed satellite site, Jean's killer has already stolen the hard drive, which is what you wanted to obtain in the first place.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: SOMBRA manages to take the United States out of the Unified Nations in this case, giving them a victory in the grand scheme of things.

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