Season 1, Episode 6:
In Plain Sight
Frank and Callie grow closer during an entrance exam to a prestigious school, only to find more secrets. Joe and Biff decide to hide his lucky charm from a threatening pursuer. Fenton takes another step in his search.This episode contains examples of:
- Absurdly Exclusive Recruiting Standards: The Rosegrave Entrance Exam that Frank and Callie take. Students have to be incredibly high achievers and/or fairly well-connected to even have their application accepted to take the exam in the first place. Then there are four written test segments—one each for math, science, English, and history—and after each one, the one or two students with the lowest scores are eliminated from the running and sent home. And then after this, the final one or two contestants receive an Ultimate Final Exam where they're locked in a room and have to solve a series of puzzles to find the key to get out. Frank and Callie manage to beat out all the other students and pass the final exam, earning them both admittance to Rosegrave.
- Bookcase Passage: Just as Frank and Callie solve the final test of the exam and are about to leave Gloria's study, Frank sees a book on her shelf with the same familiar mysterious symbol on it, and attempting to remove it causes the adjacent bookshelf to swing open like a door. There's another locked door hidden right behind it, though; Frank doesn't know how to open it or have time to figure it out at the moment, but promises to come back for it later.
- The Bus Came Back: After being MIA for three episodes since "Where the Light Can't Find You", Fenton returns as he continues his investigation into Rupert's disappearance.
- Chase Scene: While Joe and Biff are walking down the streets of Bridgeport trying to decide where to hide Joe's piece of the Eye, the Tall Man catches up to them and starts chasing after them while they run for their lives. Luckily, they're able to lose him by sneaking in the back door of a movie theater before he sees them.
- Cryptic Conversation: As Kanika denies being the one to hire the Tall Man, she tells Gloria that "we're not the only ones involved" and "there's another party to be considered," which Gloria concedes. It's not until "The Key" that we get more context for what this means.
- Dirty Cop: Joe and Biff take the fabric that the Hardy Boys found at the factory last episode—which came from the coat of the person who came to get the idol—to a tailor in town to learn what kind of clothing it may have come from. The tailor concludes after his inspection that it probably came from a police-issued military-grade jacket, and the pair realize the person at the factory must be a cop secretly working for JB's buyer.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Kanika Khan is hinted to be no less shady than Gloria (and we learn more of the details about this later in the season), but implies that she Wouldn't Hurt a Child. Gloria asks if the Tall Man is one of her people and adds that he threatened her grandsons, and Kanika responds, "Then he definitely wouldn't be my person."
- Hastily Hidden MacGuffin: While fleeing from the Tall Man, Joe and Biff take shelter inside a movie theater. Not wanting to risk keeping the "lucky charm" on their person anymore, they decide to hide it inside one of the speakers behind and near the top of a movie screen, with Biff holding the ladder so Joe can climb up there.
- High-School Sweethearts: Frank and Joe learn from looking at their mom's old high school yearbooks that she and Rosegrave Academy Dean Paul McFarlane were this.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Implied for Frank with his lack of enthusiasm about the Rosegrave application. When Aunt Trudy, trying to encourage him, points out that Rosegrave graduates go on to be big-shot successes, he answers quietly, "What if I don't want to be a big success?"
- Implied Death Threat: Gloria to Kanika when she believes the latter is the employer of the Tall Man, the killer who's been going after the boys.Gloria: If any harm comes to another member of my family, you will have me to answer to. And that's a fate you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
- Innocently Insensitive: As Biff talks with Joe about how great Bridgeport is, she casually comments, "Your mom must have loved growing up here." Joe grows far more solemn at the mention of Laura, and Biff quickly apologizes, though he assures her it's fine.
- Internal Reveal: Callie only now finds out from Frank, during the Ultimate Final Exam, that he and Emma broke up two episodes ago.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: There are nine or so applicants at Gloria's home taking the Rosegrave Entrance Exam, with only two of them, Frank and Callie, being named characters. Naturally, they are the two who make it to the end, pass the exam, and are accepted to Rosegrave.
- Mama Bear: Gloria gives an Implied Death Threat to Kanika out of the belief that she hired the Tall Man, who's repeatedly pursued and attacked her grandsons. Kanika, however, denies having anything to do with it, pointing out that there's "another party" who could be responsible.
- Papa Wolf: Fenton is concerned to hear that his sons have been investigating in Bridgeport and asks them to stay away from it, saying, "I need you guys to stay safe." Since the boys know they're not going to drop the case and don't want to lie to him, they just sidestep this request.
- Oh, Crap!: How Joe and Biff react when the Tall Man, who broke out of jail not long before, drives up to them in his car, and they start running away while he chases them.
- Three Lines, Some Waiting: In addition to Frank and Joe once again having separate subplots for the episode, Fenton's storyline also returns after a three-episode absence.
- Ultimate Final Exam: Once Frank and Callie are left as the two remaining Rosegrave candidates after the written exam portion, their final exam then consists of being locked in Gloria's study with a cryptic multi-layered clue that they must decipher to find the key to the study doors and let themselves out within a time limit. They succeed, but not before Frank also discovers a Bookcase Passage that's decidedly not part of the test.
