Deet and Hup find themselves unwelcome in the Stonewood clan's village, with Hup arrested while defending Deet's honor. Deet is denied an audience with Maudra Fara to appeal for Hup's freedom, while Fara and Ordon attempt to capture Rian before he escapes them. Rian and Deet encounter each other after nightfall, with the latter inspired by Rian with a scheme to free Hup. Meanwhile, as skekSil provides skekTek with Gruenak slave assistants the mouths of which he stitched shut, Aughra arrives at the Castle and learns of the Crystal's corruption before the Skeksis order her removal. Brea is sent to join the Order of Lesser Services for one year as punishment for the diplomatic incident she caused by wiping out Cadia's memories. Brea escapes the Order while they are cleaning Podlings, encountering Tavra who reveals that their mother sent her on a mission to retrieve Rian. She then returns to Ha'rar and acquires her mother's brightest jewel for Onica—an Imperial Unamoth chrysalis. With Onica's guidance, Brea asks the chrysalis for answers and follows the newly emerged Unamoth to a secret passage beneath her mother's throne.
Tropes featured in this episode include:
- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Cleaning dirty Podlings in the Order of Lesser Services is humiliating enough for Brea. But then she also has to do it while wearing a ridiculous jester-like hat.
- Bait-and-Switch: Once Rian has presented his evidence to Maudra Fara and requests her to dreamfast with him, Fara's response is "You're right," as if agreeing with him...only to say "Your son is not well." Cue Ordon entering the room.
- Bar Brawl: Hup gets into one of these to protect Deet from the the Stone-in-the-Wood Gelflings bullying her. It gets him jailed.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Mira's fate is revealed to be this. When Gelflings die their essence returns to Thra, but not when the Skeksis consume Gelfling essence.
- Bathtub Scene: Scroll-Keeper is taking a bath when Aughra drops by unexpected. He is quite embarrassed that Aughra caught him in this situation, and Aughra intentionally embarrasses him further by taking out her eye and putting it in the tub, allowing her a good look at the Scroll-Keeper's privates.
- Cassandra Truth: Hup tries to warn Deet that the Stone-in-the-Wood Gelflings won't be friendly to them, and urges her to carry on to Ha'rar instead. Deet convinces him otherwise, and she's instantly singled out for Fantastic Racism, Hup gets into a Bar Brawl to defend her honor, and he's thrown in the rascal cell for it.
- As the Chamberlain predicted, no one believes Rian when he tries to tell them of the Skeksis' true nature.
- Character Tics: Brea and Seladon both complain that their sister Tavra tends to go very quiet when they complain about something she disagrees with (usually their opinion of each other), and both push her to tell them what she really thinks.
- Dramatic Irony: Deet is offended that the Stone-in-the-Wood Gelflings let Rian cut in line to see the Maudra ahead of her, not knowing he's a wanted fugitive who just turned himself in. Though, said guard just rubs it in by telling her, "Because Rian is one of us! Unlike you."
- Et Tu, Brute?: Rian expected most other Gelflings not to believe him, but he didn't expect his own father to turn on him.
- Expecting Someone Taller: The Gelfling guards that are ordered to escort Aughra out of the castle remark that they thought mother Aughra was taller.
- Fantastic Racism: Grottan clan Gelflings are subject to xenophobia among Gelflings of the surface, as experienced by Deet. In fact, in the beginning of the episode, Hup explains to Deet that all the Gelfling clans distrust one another. We also see that the Vapras view the Sifa clan as Space Jews.
- Gelflings also seem to dislike Pod People, with the head of the Order of Lesser Service calling them the filthiest creatures on Thra.
- Utilized by the Skeksis, see Gossip Evolution below.
- Gossip Evolution: By the time word of Rian's supposed murder of Mira reaches the Stone-in-the-Wood, the story has morphed into just a Stonewood Gelfling murdering a Vapran Gelfling. While the idea of a Gelfling killing another is still shocking, everyone takes it as an extreme case of Fantastic Racism.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The brightest jewel Brea is meant to find is one out of many glowing unamoth cocoons hanging from her mother's bedroom ceiling.
- I Am the Noun: Aughra declares herself to be Thra. The Emperor then makes the same boast on behalf of the Skeksis.
- I Hate Past Me: Inverted. When Aughra sees the corrupted crystal, it shows her a vision of her past self, who is clearly not happy with what Aughra has become and how she allowed the Skesis to corrupt the crystal.
- Innocently Insensitive: Brea may be one of the good guys, but she still needs to work on overcoming her ingrained views of the other clans. Onica is quite offended by her assuming the unamoth chrysalis was supposed to be a payment to go with the Sifas' Space Jews stereotype.
- Rian and Deet both inadvertently do this to each other when they meet. While Deet is being denied an audience with the Maudra because she is a "dirty" Grotton, Rian turns himself in and is seemingly allowed to cut in line. Deet then exclaims that Rian is even dirtier than her, so why does he get to cut in line?! Not realizing the horrible ordeal he's been through.
- Meet Cute: Deet first meets Rian when he (unknowingly) cuts ahead of her in line to see the Maudra, though he has a lot on his mind and doesn't realize she's been subject to Fantastic Racism all day. Rian first officially meets Deet when she sees him struggling to make a fire, and helps him create sparks.
- Mouth Stitched Shut: The Chamberlain stitched the Gruenak pair's mouths shut to avoid having them spill secrets.
- The Pig-Pen: Brea has to help clean Podlings who love playing in the mud and making angels in the dirt, and seemingly throwing mud (or is it dung?) at each other. And they don't clean themselves apparently, since the Gelfling Order of Lesser Services has to do it...
- Psychological Projection: Tavra realizes that Seladon's rants about Brea being spoiled and inconsiderate are really her projected frustrations about how her mother places so many responsibilities on her shoulders, and never seems to appreciate all the things Seladon does to gain her approval.
- Rank Up: Apprentice Onica promotes herself to Elder Onica, since she served as Elder Cadia's apprentice for years and, given his recent memory loss, that makes her the Elder.
- Rule of Symbolism: Deet helping Rian start a campfire in the woods could be read as sparks flying between them in more ways than one.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Deet insists that she and Hup can help the Stone-in-the-Wood Gelflings overcome their Fantastic Racism by being friendly enough. She's proven wrong.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Aughra hears the two Gelfling guards escorting her out bring up rumors about how she supposedly cursed a whole village with ear mites because they forgot her birthday, and caused a mountain to crumble by sneezing, she seizes the opportunity to claim these rumors to be true, and that they are just the tip of the iceberg of what she can do. It scares the two Gelflings out of forcing her to leave the castle, and thus allows her to finally see the crystal.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Deet offering to help Rian when she finds him struggling to light a fire, at a time when every other Gelfling (save Gurjin) believes him to be mad and a murderer.
- Villains Never Lie: Defied. When Ordon claims that Rian's friend Gurjian confessed to witnessing him murder Mira, rather than feel Et Tu, Brute?, Rian demands to know if Gurjian told his father directly, or if the Skeksis just told him that he had confessed? Based on his father's humbled reaction, it was most likely the latter.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Seladon struggles to gain her mother's attention and affection. Even though she's the one being groomed to be the next All-Maudra, her mother barely seems to notice her, often doting on her other two daughters Tavra and (especially) Brea, and only ever acknowledging Seladon's presence to criticize her. The only time in the entire episode that her mother actually compliments Seladon is when Seladon reminds her of her duties as All-Maudra.
