Written by Justin Michael
Storyboarded by Angela Kim & Marie Lum
Storyboarded by Angela Kim & Marie Lum
Deciding to trust this woman, the group continues on towards the Apex, only for some shocking revelations to occur while waiting to traverse the Hey Ho Whoa Car.
Tropes:
- Actually, I Am Him: Amelia reveals herself to the gang to be the false Conductor.
- The Atoner: Amelia is working with One-One to undo all the damage she's done.
- Awful Truth: Grace and Simon finally get the true purpose of the train and Simon does not accept it.
- Berserk Button: When Amelia tells Simon that he's nothing but a child, he reacts by trying to attack her. Though he only succeeds in hurting himself because of her Deflector Shields.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Stuck in a Moment of Weakness, Grace tells Hazel that she'll "Do whatever I want, Null" to spare the turtle girl from Simon's wrath. Good news? Hazel doesn't get killed. Bad news? Grace permanently ruined her relationship with Hazel as next episode, Hazel leaves with Amelia for good.
- Broken Record: The episode ends with Simon hearing Grace telling Hazel that they "won't tell Simon" about Hazel's true self on a Rewind, Replay, Repeat loop.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Grace recalls the day the Conductor saved her in the Pumpkin Car. Amelia doesn't even remember it.
- Call-Back: Two from "The Past Car"
- Hazel mentioning about the "pancakes" Amelia made may seem odd, but a Freeze-Frame Bonus in "The Past Car" shows that one memory Amelia had with Alrick was making pancakes with him.
- When Hazel tells Amelia "We're all here for you", it's what Amelia's friends said to her before Alrick's funeral.
- Cassandra Truth: Simon continues to be in denial whenever something that contradicts his worldview is revealed. Grace is more receptive because she actually met Amelia as the Conductor and recognizes her modulated voice when Amelia demonstrates it.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Simon crying Broken Tears while watching Grace's memories.
- Continuity Nod: Amelia still carries around Alrick's voice modulator and even uses it to imitate the Conductor's voice.
- Cooldown Hug: Hazel hugs Amelia when she brings up how she lost Alrick.
- Counting to Three: Amelia does this in an attempt to get Simon to back down before she puts him down. He refuses, but Hazel revealing her turtle form interrupts whatever she would have done to him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Simon tries to pick a fight with Amelia when she calls him a child throwing a tantrum, and it does not go well for him. Amelia doesn't even need to raise a hand against him, since her sound shield protects her from him and he only ends up hurting himself. It is implied Amelia could have done much worse to him if she had fought back at all, given her threat to him that he has until the count of three to stop before she puts him down for good, but Hazel transforming spares him that outcome.
- Deflector Shields: Amelia has a sound shield generated by her belt that protects her from physical attacks.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends with Simon rewinding Grace's memories about her and Hazel not telling him about Hazel with tears falling down his face.
- Foreshadowing: When Hazel knows that Amelia's "pancakes" are good even though the two just met a day ago, Amelia replies "You and Alrick both". We later learn that Hazel was originally created with Alrick in mind.
- Internal Reveal:
- Amelia learns about how the Apex revere her "Conductor" identity.
- Amelia reveals how she became the Conductor and explains her reasoning for usurping One-One.
- Hazel's true nature is revealed to Simon and Amelia.
- Simon learns that Grace kept Hazel's true nature secret.
- Jerkass Has a Point: By the end of the episode, everyone except Grace agrees that Hazel should go with Amelia; while Simon and Amelia are both kind of jerks about it, they're not wrong, since as long as One-One is trying to quarantine her there's little other option anyway.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Grace is having a hard time hiding that she knows about Hazel's true self to Simon. Simon finds out anyway by looking at her memories.
- Kick the Dog: After learning about Hazel's true identity, Simon decides to leave her because she isn't human. Grace makes it worse by yelling at her saying that she's a worthless Null after being put on the spot by Simon, though it's clear Grace is immediately horrified by her backslide. Unfortunately this ends up ending her and Hazel's relationship for good.
- Lethal Chef: Amelia's attempt at scrambled eggs, but then again she admits that she was never a good cook.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: The Cat warned Simon about this in the previous episode. Sure enough, Simon seeing Grace promising to hide Hazel's true nature from him makes him break down into tears.
- Moment of Weakness: Throughout the season, Grace becomes a sister figure to Hazel. While at first Grace was manipulating Hazel with kindness, she starts genuinely caring about her. After Simon wheeled Tuba (Hazel's companion and adoptive mother figure), Grace learns that Hazel is a denizen, which she and Simon view as inferior to passengers, but she keeps it a secret from Simon to protect Hazel. During a pivotal moment in this episode, when Hazel starts stressing out and transforms into her turtle self in front of everyone, Grace acts surprised so Simon would not know that she knew Hazel's secret. Simon suggests that they leave Hazel with Amelia. When Hazel asks Grace if she'll really leave her, to save face in front of Simon, Grace angrily says she will and calls Hazel a Null, breaking Hazel's heart. Grace is immediately horrified by her backslide, but does not apologize to Hazel with Simon there. In the next episode, Grace thinks on it and decides that she wants to protect Hazel even knowing what she is and what her mere presence does to the cars. But, the damage was done, and the bond of trust Hazel had with Grace is gone. Hazel rejects coming with Grace, choosing to leave with Amelia despite Grace begging to come with her. Hazel just sadly says goodbye to Grace, leaving her heartbroken.
- Morton's Fork: Grace is stuck in one of these: if she sides with Simon, Hazel will lose her complete trust in her. If she sides with Hazel, then Simon will be ready to wheel the girl. Amelia offering to take Hazel off their hands seems to give Grace enough of an out that she's willing to side with Simon despite her reservations, as she's otherwise spared from the consequences of her actions. As the next episode shows, Hazel sided with Amelia.
- No Social Skills: Amelia isn't really good with interacting with others, unless it's about explaining her past.
- Pokémon Speak: The car is named after living granite slabs that shout "Hey", "Ho", or "Whoa" as they drop from the chutes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Amelia does not mince words about how Simon is nothing more than a child.
- The Reveal:
- Hazel was a failed experiment of Amelia sent to bring Alrick back in some capacity (Hazel's number was Amelia's original number).
- The green lines are a scan pulse sent out by Amelia to detect and quarantine cars with corrupted code created by her, and Hazel moving though the cars has been inadvertently triggering the quarantine protocol. This is why the Unfinished Car was moved even though Hazel wasn't there.
- Shooting Superman: Simon keeps attacking Amelia despite her force field effortlessly deflecting his blows.
- Shovel Strike: Amelia attacks a large winged golden snake with a shovel.
- Villainous Breakdown: Simon goes berserk and tries to attack Amelia when she tears into him a few times too many. The only reason she doesn't hand him an unspecified form of beatdown is because Hazel reveals her turtle form.
- Wham Episode: Hazel is a failed experiment by Amelia, Grace and Simon finally learn about the Conductor and the true purpose of the train and Simon sees Grace's memories on how she kept Hazel's true self secret from him.
- Wham Line:Amelia: The girl [Hazel] is not a passenger, she's one of my failed attempts at making Alrick. She's the anomaly!
