Zatanna makes a birthday wish that forces her to confront the dark side of her magic.
Tropes
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Zee's self-centredness and love of glamor get kicked into overdrive on her birthday.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: It isn't stated how old Zee is turning this year, and given that she is intended to be a teenager, it's impossible to figure it out by counting the candles on her birthday cake, since there's only nine.
- Birthday Episode: Zee makes a big deal out of her birthday; it's later revealed that it's because her mother left on her birthday, and her father tried to make every birthday since the best she's ever had.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The spell Zee accidentally casts makes the other girls obsessed with celebrating her birthday, no matter what.
- Be Careful What You Wish For/Exact Words: Zee sings a song saying that she wished her friends could see how important birthdays should be. This makes her inadvertently brainwash the others into thinking that her birthday is so important to the point when Zee calls it a night, the others don't want her birthday to end. Ever.
- Dark Reprise: Zee sings a darker version of her birthday song after overhearing her friends complaining... and in doing so accidentally cast a spell on them.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way Zee's friends show up at her house trying to flatter her and them trying to get in is very reminiscent of real-life stalkers who have an obsession with their crushes.
- Double Take: This exchange.Zee: You're under the spell too?!John Zatara: You were having so much fun with your friends—wait, did you say "spell"?
- Freudian Excuse: Zee's unrealistic standards for her birthdays are subconsciously tied to how her mother ran out on her on her fifth birthday. Getting lavish gifts and parties assure her that her friends care about her and won't abandon her too.
- Icy Blue Eyes/Mind-Control Eyes: The girls (sans Zee) get this after being affected by the spell.
- Madness Mantra: Zee's brainwashed friends start to chant the word "birthday" when they start to become more unhinged.
- Psychoactive Powers: As her father explains, Zee's light magic is powered by positive emotions, while her dark magic is powered by negative ones. When Zee was upset that her friends weren't as enthusiastic about celebrating her birthday, she accidentally tapped into it and cast a spell on them. By reminding herself of her mutual love with them she's capable of dispelling their enchantment.
- The Reveal: Zee's powerful but uncontrolled magical outbursts are finally explained. Her mother was a dark mage, making Zee a Yin-Yang Bomb.
- Shout-Out: Zee's birthday song and singing scene is like one of Alan Menken's songs for Disney.
- Wham Episode: We learn that the dangerous parts of Zee's magic come from her mother's dark magic. Also, we learn through a flashback that when Zee was a little girl her mom left her and her father John on her fifth birthday, and that affected her greatly.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Zee has inherited both light magic from her father, and dark magic from her mother. That's why her magic gets so unstable when she gets emotional.
