Season 2, Episode 4
The Hitchhiker
In this episode, we flash back to one of the past sequences in "Hard Times", specifically, London, 1941. After the church is bombed and kills the Nazi spies, Aziraphale and Crowley leave, not knowing that down below, those spies are making a deal.
Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
- Anti-Magic: Furfur has a "miracle blocker" license that allows him to temporarily negate miracles in a certain location, though he can only use it a limited number of times.
- Brain Food: The Nazi spies as zombies have the classic craving for brains that they do satisfy in the land of the living.
- Bullet Catch: Aziraphale decides to do this trick as his "showstopper" with Crowley acting as his planted gunman. They agree to use miracles to save him if something goes wrong, but Furfur blocks their abilities just before they go on stage. Despite never firing a gun before, Crowley successfully misses Aziraphale as the trick calls for.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Furfur has a big moment telling Crowley he finally has him after all their centuries fighting together. He's naturally put out that Crowley has zero memory of ever meeting the guy, let alone fighting on his side, pointing out it was a pretty big battle.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: It's revealed that damned souls are processed into Hell by passing in paperwork to receptionist demons who tell them where they need to go.
- Chekhov's Skill: Aziraphale's fondness for stagecraft magic was briefly mentioned in the first season; here it becomes the focus of the entire episode, and applying slight-of-hand at the end is what allows him to swipe a key piece of evidence against Crowley.
- Curse Cut Short: Mrs. Henderson is cut off both times she tries to say "fuck".
- Deal with the Devil: The Nazi spies make one with Furfur to avoid being spider food for the rest of time. If they can bring him proof Crowley and Aziraphale are working together, they'll avoid damnation. Furfur keeps his end of the bargain, but he didn't tell them they’d be condemned to be zombies forever.
- Drunken Song: The first person the zombies eat is a drunk staggering around a bombed-out London singing "The Farting Contest".
- Epic Fail: In the magic shop, Mr. Glozier twists the wrong ring when he gets proof Crowley and Aziraphale are working together. Said ring, while similar to the one Furfur gave him, is clearly a different color, and he put it on the opposite hand to boot. Additionally, he had absolutely no reason to put the fake ring on in the shop, he just did.
- Evil Gloating: Furfur can't resist the urge to go to Crowley and gloat about how he has proof of his treason, which gives Aziraphale an opportunity to steal the evidence back.
- Failed a Spot Check: Pat tells Mr. Glozier to wait his turn while talking to Aziraphale and Crowley, not noticing that this man is dirty, bloody, and has a weird gait.
- Giant Spider: The Nazi spies' planned punishment in Hell is to be turned into Nazi-headed flies, eaten by a giant spider, pooped out, reformed, rinse and repeat.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When the zombies eat brains, they thankfully do it offscreen.
- Loophole Abuse: Furfur pulls this, telling the Nazis that if they return as zombies and successfully complete their task, they won't spend eternity in Hell. After they complete the job, they expect to become living again, only for Furfur to point out nothing was ever said about that and (as per "Clause 17") they'll spend eternity wandering the Earth in zombie form instead.
- Public Domain Character: Furfur, the demon who sends the Nazi spies back up as zombies, is an actual demon from the Ars Goetia, though his Ars Goetia version is more powerful (being a Duke of hell) and is generally depicted as a winged deer.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The Nazi spies have avoided eternal damnation, but they are still condemned to walk the Earth as zombies with the frequent hunger for human brains. Adding to how their parts are falling off in a span of a day after their deaths, their time on Earth is going to pretty hellish in its own right.
- Reckless Gun Usage: The bullet catch trick not only nearly kills Aziraphale, it also nearly kills some of the girls backstage, since the bullet kept going after missing the angel. Real magic tricks of this nature usually have the magician show the audience a real bullet, then use sleight of hand to switch it with a blank before loading it into the gun, providing the illusion of danger without putting anyone at real risk of harm.
- Sleight of Handiness: Aziraphale switches the incriminating photos with a theater flyer, in what is possibly the only time he's done a sleight of hand trick right.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Both Aziraphale and Crowley have this reaction when they're about to do the incredibly risky magic trick and their miracles aren't working thanks to Furfur.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: No mention is made of the ultimate fate of the Nazi zombies.
- You Just Told Me: Shax coaxes the location of Gabriel out of Aziraphale by saying he told her. When he asks how or when he said so, Shax states that he didn't, but that since he asked how she knows where Gabriel is, it effectively confirms her suspicions that he does have Gabriel under his care.
