The castmates are divided up into teams, heroes and villains, and are sent into an all too familiar dive into shark-infested waters for the keys to the season's new 5-star hotel and spa.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Duncan laughs when Jo calls him "Dud-can" after he picks the wrong key and says it was a good one. Jo is surprised by this reaction, and says in a confessional it is nice someone finally appreciates her zingers.
- All for Nothing: Sam says he only came back to the island so that he could be mutated by the toxic waste like Dakota. He's disappointed to learn all the waste has been cleaned up.
- Apology Gift: At the campfire ceremony, Gwen brings Courtney flowers in hopes of setting the first step in being forgiven for kissing Duncan. But as it turns out, Courtney is allergic to those flowers and begins sneezing. Gwen is accused of doing it on purpose.
- Big Damn Heroes: Zoey pelts Fang and the other sharks with rocks to save Mike.
- Big "WHAT?!": Gwen's reaction to being assigned to the Villainous Vultures.
- Call-Back: Quite a few, fitting given the theme of the season:
- The diving challenge is explicitly called a callback to the very first challenge of the series in "Not So Happy Campers, Part 2".
- The Carriage half of the challenge is one to the World Tour episode "Broadway Baby!".
- The treasure hunting challenge is also one to the World Tour episode "Jamaica me Sweat".
- Alejandro was stuffed into the robot suit in The Stinger of "Hawaiian Punch".
- Zoey still has the medallion Mike gave her last season, and uses it as a sling to chase sharks away from him.
- Lindsay voting herself off, just like she did in the elimination ceremony of the Action episode "Rock'n Rule".
- Description Cut: When Mike ponders whether Sierra is okay after jumping off the cliff, we cut to her effortlessly beating up the sharks attacking her.
- Designated Villain: In-universe. Gwen gets assigned to the villains team, despite (as she puts it) three seasons of largely good behavior. She is aghast over being called "New Heather."
- Enemy Mine: Jo proposes an alliance of sorts with Lightning: staying out of each other's way until the teams merge. Of course, in the next episode while Lightning's on Boney Island, she discusses with the others about the need to eliminate him ASAP.
- Evil Laugh: All of the Villainous Vultures barring Gwen engage in one after Gwen suggests they work together for the challenge.
- Foreshadowing:
- In prison, Chris used cockroaches to act out reality show contests. He named one after Duncan and one after Lightning, foreshadowing two generations of casts competing against each other and those specific characters being among those featured.
- The robot constantly getting near Heather.
- Before the teams are chosen, Gwen jokingly says that she and Duncan won't be on the same team unless Chris considers Duncan a hero, which she then laughs about. Ironically, Chris would indeed consider Duncan a hero two episodes later.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Lindsay is actually rather happy about being eliminated because the first challenge was so exhausting.
- I Can't Feel My Legs!: Alejandro lampshades this in his second confessional, as being in that robot for a year made his legs numb.
- Infernal Background: Gwen's plea for the Villainous Vultures to work as a team is met with deceitful agreement. As Heather, Jo, Duncan, Scott, Alejandro, and Lightning enter the confessional to voice their real thoughts, a Split-Screen Reaction shows all of them laughing evilly against a backdrop of fire.
- Internal Reveal: While The Stinger of the Season 3 finale made it clear that Alejandro is in the robot, none of the other contestants know this, so they're shocked when he's blown out of the suit.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lindsay does an awful job pushing. Courtney's also at fault because she volunteered Lindsay for the job. Chris lampshades it before announcing the elimination.
- No Sense of Direction: Lindsay, causing her to be the first voted off of the show.
- Oh, Crap!: Mike, Zoey, and Scott when they see Fang among the sharks.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Gwen's kiss with Duncan while he was with Courtney has her put on the villain team.
- Only Sane Woman: Gwen is the only Villainous Vulture who advocates they all work together and get along. Everyone else openly distrusts and insults each other.
- Plot Allergy: At the campfire ceremony, Gwen brings Courtney flowers as a sign of good faith. But as it turns out, Courtney is allergic to those flowers and begins sneezing.
- Post-Kiss Catatonia: Mike gets a variation just from being kissed on the cheek by Zoey and falls off the cliff as a result.
- Properly Paranoid: Heather finds something about the robot unsettling.
- Robotic Reveal: Inverted, as it's revealed the robot's actually Alejandro.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Alejandro, as being inside that robot could be a metaphor for this.
- Series Continuity Error: Quite a few, which is sadly a common occurrence throughout the season:
- Gwen says that Duncan wasn't Courtney's boyfriend at the time that he kissed her in World Tour, despite it being pretty obvious that yes, he was and henceforth did cheat on Courtney. Gwen was even present when Courtney took Duncan back after telling him off for leaving.
- Like everyone else, Heather doesn't seem to be aware that Alejandro is inside the Drama Machine. However, her looking annoyed at him holding her in his arms in the Season 4 premiere "Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!" seems to show that she was aware in that episode.
- Likewise, Courtney apparently wasn't aware that Alejandro was in the Drama Machine, even though in "Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!" she was glaring at Alejandro (in a robot suit) holding Heather in his arms, which could've only been explained with her knowing the robot's identity and being jealous that Alejandro chose Heather over her.
- Scott mentions he thought the robot could talk. The only occurrence when the Drama Machine talked was when Alejandro was inside it in the exclusive clip of "Hawaiian Punch," which would suggest Scott actually watched that clip and should've known about the robot's true identity. However, he's unaware of it, like everyone else.
- Alejandro mentions being in the Drama Machine for a year. However, a year has passed since the finale of Revenge of the Island. A huge amount of time must have passed between the finale of World Tour and the premiere of Revenge of the Island as Heather's hair grew back to its original waist length from a short ponytail, and some of Sierra's hair had grown back as well. This means Alejandro actually had to have been in the Drama Machine for anywhere between a year and a half to two years.
- Shout-Out:
- Split-Screen Reaction:
- Heather, Courtney, Duncan, Lightning, Scott, Mike, and Cameron are all part of a shredded reaction shot when it is revealed that Alejandro was inside the Drama Machine all along. Each of them is differentiated with a unique color background and the composition highlights the reactions' level of importance. Heather, Alejandro's love interest and rival, is large and in the center. Courtney and Duncan, who've worked with Alejandro, are smaller and flank Heather. The Gen 2 cast members get the least space each and theirs are pushed to the side. With the unexplained exception of Lightning, none of them have much of a reaction because they have no history with Alejandro.
- Gwen's plea for the Villainous Vultures to work as a team is met with deceitful agreement. As Heather, Jo, Duncan, Scott, Alejandro, and Lightning enter the confessional to voice their real thoughts, the next shot consists of close-ups of all seven Vultures in H-formation with Gwen in the middle. She's laughing amicably because she thinks she got through to the rest, the rest is laughing evilly against an Infernal Background.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Like Heather in World Tour, Sierra now has one.
- Token Good Teammate: Gwen, due to both her general personality and being the only one to suggest teamwork and cooperation.
- Unexplained Recovery: Scott, after Fang brutally beat him up last season.
- Unishment: After Chris was arrested last season for dumping toxic waste on Camp Wawanakwa, he actually enjoyed prison. He enjoyed to the extent that he named two cockroaches after Duncan and Lightning, and making Chef Hatchet out of a cashew. Chris even lampshaded this when he told Chef (who came to pick him up after one year) that he refuses to leave and that he has everything. Chris reconsiders when Chef told him that the producers renewed "Total Drama" for another season and they made Chris the host.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After somehow recovering from his ordeal last season, Scott still has a crushing fear of sharks. He absolutely refuses to do the challenge once he sees Fang is waiting for him to hit the water.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Heather's reaction to the Drama Machine being revealed to have Alejandro inside it.
