Hope springs from an unlikely source when Gunmar learns that Jim's friends are in the Darklands on a mission to bring him home.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Bat Deduction: Dictatious' makes a bit of a leap in logic that Blinky using words like "nature", "bark", and "tree" means that he must have hid the pieces of Killahead Bridge in a forest, though this could be explained by him knowing how Blinky's mind works, as they grew up together.
- Big Brother Bully: Dictatious' interrogation methods on Blinky come across as this.
- Blinded by the Light: Blinky manages to permanently blind Dictatious using his flare.
- Broken Pedestal: Safe to say, seeing that his brother Dictatious was not only still alive, but a Gumm-Gumm within Gunmar's confidence, does not do much for Blinky's admiration of him.
- Fighting Your Friend: In hopes of breaking Jim's will, he has him fight Nomura to the death. Seeing no other options for either of them, Nomura goes along with it.
- First Kiss: It is not until now, after escaping the Darklands and after 31 episodes, do Jim and Claire kiss for the first time.
- Heroic Sacrifice: While Jim was hellbent on taking Nomura with him to freedom, Nomura offers herself to hold off the Gumm-Gumms for them while they escaped. They were later able to pick her up on the gyre and escape, voiding the "sacrifice" part in the process.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: Nomura to Toby.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Nomura helps gain the advantage by releasing a caged stalkling, giving them time to open the gates.
- Improvised Lockpick: Gnome Chompsky is used to unlock Claire and Toby's cell.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Gunmar denies considering Nomura one of "his kind", punctuated by calling her an "impure."
- Saying Too Much: Blinky accidentally revealed the whereabouts of the bridge through select words, Dictatious smart enough to piece together that it is in a forest through context clues.
- Wham Shot: Everything seems to be all resolved without a hitch. That is until the camera pans to a footprint in the forest... and pans up to Gunmar walking off in the distance.