The gang face an unlikely threat to the school as Landon faces a unique afterlife.
Tropes
- Be Yourself: MG has finally decided to listen to Kaleb about focusing on his own happiness and starts telling the others "no" when they come to him. Unfortunately this also means he's acting a bit like a jerk.
- The Bus Came Back: Dorian has returned as the new principal of Mystic Falls High, as Emma made him promise to get a monster-free job.
- Call-Back: Gaby mentions the witch school in Belgium and talking to Penelope about the Salvatore School. Apparently, the witch school is in a restored castle.
- Crazy-Prepared: Being a seasoned hunter, Alaric brings a sedative to his attempt to woo Gunther to enroll in the school. It turns out to be the right move, as Gunther plans to kill Alaric for all the vampires he's staked in his lifetime.
- Distressed Dude: The Necromancer gleefully tells Landon he doesn't expect Landon to be able to save himself. Instead, he'll sit there and wait for Hope to rescue him, as he always does. This finally pushes Landon to take the initiative.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Both Landon and the Necromancer realize at the same moment that the way out of Malivore is in the locked freezer in the ice cream shop.
- Ironic Hell: Malivore's punishment for the Necromancer is to be forced to work at the recreation of the ice cream shop he worked at as "Ted". Even worse, the workday is is 9-to-5, which means the Necromancer has the rest of the time to dread the coming day.
- Jerkass Has a Point: After trying to kill Alaric and being rude most of the tour, Gunther tells Alaric that someone who's killed "ünternaturals" has no business running a school meant for them.
- Layered World: At the end of the episode, Landon makes it out of Malivore, but he's still stuck in the prison world. He leaves behind a note and goes to explore the world to find a way out.
- My God, What Have I Done?: MG's reaction to rejecting Lizzie basically asking to cry on his shoulder. After he explains why he doesn't want this to be their dynamic anymore, she says he's right, and they probably would've done something stupid in her vulnerable state, like have sex or something.
- Oddly Small Organization: The wolf pack at the school appears to consist of just Jed and two other wolves. They try to play it off as a good thing to prospective students, but the two werewolves among them decide they've had enough and leave.
- Power Incontinence: Hope keeps flashing back to her times with Landon, causing her to unintentionally affect the surroundings, like making the lights flicker. A particularly strong memory results in a concussive blast that knocks out the prospective students. Cleo helps her work through the issues.
- Riddle Me This: Malivore enchanted the shackles on the Necromancer to only open when he does something that he would never do in a million years. When Landon starts quizzing him, it turns out the Necromancer has already done everything. Except, Landon realizes, the Necromancer refuses to sing that damned jingle he was forced to sing at the ice cream shop as "Ted". He realizes that the song is what unlocks the shackles. Also, after the Necromancer puts the shackles on Landon, it's Landon beating the Necromancer to a pulp that causes them to unlock, as his thing was that he always expected someone else to save him instead of taking the initiative.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The German vampire Gunther never intends to enroll in the school. He hopes to find himself alone with Alaric so he could exact revenge for all the vampires he's killed over the years. Alaric is prepared, though, and sedates him.
- Skewed Priorities: After sedating and tying up Gunther for trying to kill him, Alaric still continues to pitch the school to the vampire. Even Gunther just begs him to stake him already and be done with it.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It turns out that after all the near-disasters of monster attacks, Lizzie going crazy and several deaths, scores of parents have decided to yank their kids out of the Salvatore School. This means that without those tuition checks, the school faces being closed down and their reputation makes it harder to get anyone to join.
- Title Drop: The episode title is the first words Landon writes in a note he leaves behind at the burning school in the prison world before leaving to look for a way out.
- Unlikely Hero: Sort of. When Lizzie asks Hope to help her guide prospective students, Hope suggests that Wade do it, causing Lizzie to give her an "are you kidding?" look. In the end, Wade is the one who convinces one of the prospects to enroll, bringing the numbers to 30, which is necessary for the school to remain open.
