Cinderella: less attractive after the wedding.
And they lived happily ever after.
Nick and Hank are called to investigate the mysterious death of a wealthy matriarch, after her stepdaughter loses everything in a Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, Juliette does some digging into the mysterious death of Nick’s parents in an effort to help him find closure.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Taylor drowns her sorrows over her mother Mavis's death with Bourbon. Tiffany immediately guessing that she's drinking while on the phone with her suggests that this isn't new.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lucinda. She plays the part of an innocent girl victimized by her cruel stepfamily. In reality she made their lives hell before she was "rescued" by her marriage to Arthur, and turns on him the moment he tries standing up to her.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Lucinda's husband loses his life savings to a Ponzi schemer named Bernard Aidikoff.
- Eye Scream: The Murciélago's scream ruptures the victim's eyeballs as they die.
- Fairytale Motifs: Cinderella.
- Gender Flip: The original Perrault version of "Cinderella" story had her get help from her Fairy Godmother. Here, Lucinda has a godfather named Spencer.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. Lucinda plays this part well. In reality she's a murderous, heartless monster.
- Happily Married: What Arthur thought he was, as long as he had enough money to keep buying his wife everything she wanted.
- Hysterical Woman: In contrast to Tiffany who, while shaken over her mother's death, does her best to remain steadfast, Taylor is shown for most of the episode holed up in her home crying and drinking Bourbon.
- Informed Attractiveness: Discussed. The episode uses "Cinderella" as its main motif, but unlike classic interpretations, Lucinda's stepsisters Tiffany and Taylor are far from ugly. The two of them may not be as feminine as their stepsister, but both are still portrayed by good-looking women. Arthur for his part simply calls them "not-so-pretty" in relation to his "pretty" wife, but one can't exactly expect him to say his wife isn't pretty.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: Spencer tells Mavis after the latter refuses to lend money to help Arthur that if it weren't for her marrying Lucinda's father, she'd "still be cutting hair in Beaverton." Mavis curtly replies that she at least invested wisely with the money she got, unlike Arthur.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Ponzi schemer who shoots himself in the Cold Open and precipitates the whole sequence of events is named "Bernard Aidikoff."
- Odd Name Out: Lucinda is the stepsister of Tiffany and Taylor. It helps highlight how she was an outsider in their home.
- Ponzi Scheme: the first crack in Arthur and Lucinda's seemingly Happily Married life.
- Red Herring: We see the Murciélago kill Mavis in the Cold Open. Later when Nick and Hank tell Spencer, Arthur, and Lucinda about the death and ask them to come down to the precinct for questioning, Spencer woges into a Murciélago in front of Nick (but glancing aside, and as a result does not catch Nick staring at him). Given the inspiration for the episode, and the fact that the murder happened in the dark, one can easily assume that Spencer is becoming proactive in his duty as Lucinda's godfather (Mavis had even called him out on it). Turns out, he's not the killer.
- Sarcastic Confession: While being interrogated, Spencer tells Hank the literal truth: that he's a mystical creature in human form, capable of emitting a supersonic scream powerful enough to kill someone. Hank dismisses it as a lame attempt at an insanity defense.
- Shout-Out: The actors playing Lucinda and her husband bear a strong resemblance to Cinderella and the Prince in Disney's Cinderella.
- Spiritual Antithesis: These events are basically a flipped version of the classic Cinderella tale; rather than Lucinda (the Cinderella equivalent) being a good girl abused by a cruel step-family, here she was essentially spoiled by her father before his death. As a result, Lucinda perceives any opposition to her wishes as her being treated badly when it would be better defined as 'tough love', as her stepmother in particular tries to get Lucinda to make her own way rather than relying on the family wealth.
- Spoiled Brat: Lucinda. Spencer admits to Nick that catering to her every whim was the only way he knew of keeping her under control, and not using her power to murder everyone she thought was in her way.
- Super-Scream: Murciélago can scream loud enough to kill their victim.
- Wicked Stepmother: Lucinda implies that Mavis was one to her. Judging from what Spencer says about how she made her step-family's lives miserable, the trope is actually the other way round.
