"All hail the king!"
Callum and Rayla go through the dangerous desert to find the kidnapped Zym.
Viren's takeover of the kingdom is successful and he now sits at the throne of Katolis. Opeli, Corvus and Soren realize that things are going from bad to worse and get ready to flee and rescue Ezran.
Tropes:
- Amazon Chaser: Callum is so awestruck witnessing Rayla's fighting skill properly for the first time when she saves Nyx from the soulfang serpents, he momentarily forgets to flee with them. Their Relationship Upgrade occurs immediately afterwards.
- Big Damn Kiss: After Rayla's awkward kiss last episode, she and Callum share a proper kiss after Callum kisses her in the same fashion.
- Call-Back: Bait glowing under the hay is a reference to episode "Moonrise" where Ezran tried to hide Bait in the same way and Rayla already pointed out that it's not a good hiding spot for him.
- Character Witness: The first soldier to leave the Army is the same soldier Rayla spared in Episode One. Perhaps showing the empathy that grew from such a show of mercy.
- Continuity Nod: In the first few episodes, it was shown that when hiding, Bait had the bad habit of glowing. This comes up again when Soren is hiding him and Ezran in a stack of hay.
- The Coup: Viren manages to successfully manipulate Ezran into giving up the throne and setting up the whole court for a takeover.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Say what you will about Viren, but he clearly cares deeply about Claudia. He doesn't appreciate Aavaros calling her "an asset", angrily countering that she's not an asset, she's his daughter.
- Exact Words: Ezran demanded that the people who didn't want to fight be allowed not to. Viren follows through with his side of the bargain and allows them to leave, but with the caveat that they'll be publicly shamed for doing so.
- Headbutt of Love: Rayla and Callum do this just before their Big Damn Kiss.
- Heel–Face Turn: Already on the verge, Soren crosses to outright helping Team Zym by smuggling Ezran out of Castle Katolis once Viren takes over.
- Hey, Wait!: Two guards notice that the hay Soren is carrying out of Castle Katolis is glowing (due to Bait being unable to control himself hidden within)... but mainly stop him because glowing hay is pretty neat.
- I Am the Noun: Viren, when accused by Opeli of not being above the law due to him abandoning the laws of succession in the case of a family's abdication, says he is the law.
- Intertwined Fingers: The end credits show Rayla and Callum's hands intertwined, her four fingers fitting perfectly between his five.
- Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Nyx shrugs and walks off-screen when she sees that Callum and Rayla are having a moment.
- Loophole Abuse: The Kingdom of Katolis has a law that in order to start a new royal line that the person must be an orphan. Viren, a divorced father of two, uses the fact that his parents are dead to justify his self-appointment to be king after Ezran abdicated the throne. Played with, as he is clearly just saying so to get under Opeli's skin and has absolutely no regard for the laws of succession at all, mostly doing so out of sarcasm alone.
- Love Revelation Epiphany: Callum hadn't really thought about Rayla as a potential love interest before she kissed him in the last episode. He's clearly thinking about it pretty hard this whole episode, though, from the beginning where he is unusually awkward around her and culminating in the Big Damn Kiss.
- Medal of Dishonor: Soldiers of Katolis who are branded as cowards (read: didn't want to march into Xadia) are forced to wear a sigil of a broken link.
- Relationship Upgrade: As of this episode, Rayla and Callum shift from friends to becoming an Official Couple.
- Romantic Ride Sharing: With the loss of one of their mounts, Callum and Rayla are forced to share a ride on Rayla's shadowpaw to pursue Nyx, with Callum getting flustered when she tells him to hold onto her when he starts slipping off.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Rayla interrupts Callum's post-kiss rambling to take hold of his scarf and pull him into another kiss, the both of them relaxing into it as their Mutual Pining finally culminates in a Relationship Upgrade. Given how she's acted around him all season since her Aborted Declaration of Love, she's likely wanted to do this for a while.
- Stunned Silence: As Callum begins to sing her praises, Rayla can only silently gaze at him, as the boy she's grown to adore continues to, once again, earnestly exposit the reasons why she's wonderful to him.
- Suicidal "Gotcha!": When Nyx, with the dragon prince in her arms, lets herself fall backwards off the ambler. Turns out she is fine because of her wings.
- Title Drop: Played with. In the episode, Soren is called a "Mastermind" and Rayla is called a "Hero".
- Toilet Humor: Soren covers his actions when freeing Ezran by telling Claudia that he was in the bathroom due to some bad cheese, which she plays up when informing their dad for her own amusement.
