A neighborhood party is soon home to demonic visitors.
Tropes
- Always Save the Girl: Aziraphale notes that Crowley always rescues him when he's in trouble.Aziraphale: Saving me makes him so happy.
- Bothering by the Book: Crowley tells Shax that there are rules about angel/demon fights which require her to give the mortals in the line of fire an opportunity to flee before they end up as collateral damage. He later admits to Aziraphale that this was a lie, but because the demons are too dumb to actually know the rules, they believe it long enough for all the civilians except Maggie and Nina to flee.
- Broken-Window Warning: The demons throw a chunk of concrete with "Surrender the angle [sic]" written on it through the window of the bookshop to get Aziraphale's attention.
- Celebrity Paradox: Aziraphale lures Mr. Arnold to the meeting by offering him a rare Doctor Who annual. David Tennant is also in the scene as Crowley and Aziraphale himself is played by Michael Sheen, who voiced House in "The Doctor's Wife."
- Crowley also dons a fez the moment he gets his hands on one in the magic shop, a habit multiple Doctors (most famously his successor) have exhibited.
- Continuity Snarl: It’s a minor detail but a Freeze-Frame Bonus last season note implied that this series shared a universe with Doctor Who while this episode firmly establishes it as fictional. It's possible that there's a "real" planet named Gallifrey out there with the show still being fictional.
- Dance of Romance: Aziraphale tries to invoke this for Maggie and Nina by having the guests at the party dance. He eventually gets swept up in the mood and drags Crowley out on to the floor to dance with him even though Crowley's trying to warn him about the demons outside.
- Dystopia Is Hard: Shax tries to get a legion of ten thousand bloodthirsty demon warriors to attack Aziraphale's bookshop, but the personnel manager is only able to provide her with less than a hundred dimwitted recruits.
- Everyone Has Standards: As much as Crowley loathes Gabriel, he can't bring himself to let him jump out a window. Especially since Gabriel/"Jim" doesn't even remember what he did wrong, but was fully willing to jump on Crowley's orders if it would make up for it.
- Gaydar: Nina asks Crowley how long he has been romantic partners with Aziraphale. When Crowley denies they're a couple, Nina immediately asks if Crowley has another boyfriend or husband instead—not even including a potential female partner for Crowley as an option.
- Godzilla Threshold: Played for laughs, Aziraphale is somewhat reluctant to bribe people to help with the meeting in exchange for letting them read some books out of his collection.
- Gone Horribly Right: Crowley lampshades it when Gabriel tries to give himself up but, thanks to the "miracle" they performed, Shax literally doesn't recognize him and continues to demand they send the angel out.
- Gratuitous French: In-universe example. Aziraphale insists on talking in French to the French restaurant owner, despite her answering in correct English and reminding him that she has been living in the UK for 15 years. Aziraphale also does not use his powers to speak French, despite Crowley reminding him that they can speak any language, and insists on using the French lessons he took some decades ago, meaning he's talking French with a particularly strong accent and the occasional mistake.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Nina asks Crowley how long he and Aziraphale have been together. Crowley denies they're a couple and Aziraphale would never be someone's "bit on the side". Nina doesn't seem convinced.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: Happens In-Universe during the party. Thanks to Aziraphale's influence, everyone speaks as if they were in a Jane Austen novel. Mrs Sandwich is unable to describe her true profession and keeps saying "seamstress" no matter how hard she tries.
- No-Sell: Aziraphale attempts to use his divine powers on Maggie and Nina to get them to leave with Crowley, but for some reason neither of them are affected.Maggie: Are you trying to hypnotize us? Is that what's happening here?
Nina: You're doing something to us. - Non-Human Non-Binary: Mrs Sandwich calls Crowley "a good lad." Crowley pointedly responds, "I'm not, actually. Either. But thank you!"
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Aziraphale resorts to giving away books to increase attendance at the meeting.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Demons aren't good at spelling, so their message reads "Send out the angle" and Shax spells "toast" as "T-O-S-T", and tries to correct herself by adding an "E".
- Ship Tease: Several.
- After denying that he and Aziraphale are a couple, Nina states other people's love lives always seem less complicated than one's own, prompting tender music as Crowley looks in Aziraphale's direction.
- Aziraphale hosts a ball specifically to engineer an Austenian Dance of Romance that will encourage people to fall in love…and then Aziraphale drags Crowley out onto the floor to dance with him.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Aziraphale invites Nina to the meeting, he says, "Street Association meeting tonight at 6:30 in my shop, perfectly ordinary invitation with no hidden agenda of any kind."
- Too Dumb to Live: While he probably didn't die, since demons can only truly be killed by holy water, Eric keeps on interrupting Shax even when she explicitly stated that she would punish him if he interrupted her again.
