Peggy and Sousa form an uneasy alliance with Vernon and Thompson, and Whitney tries to get Zero Matter out of Wilkes. Thompson attempts to resolve the problems facing the SSR behind everyone else's back.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Vernon, once he is at the mercy of Whitney and Jack.
- Berserk Button: Jarvis calling out Peggy for everyone around her dying was enough to be too late for Jarvis to take it back as she brutally gives him a "Reason You Suck" Speech in response and terminates their partnership. Until he reveals Ana was rendered infertile, to which Peggy takes back everything she said and reconciles with Jarvis.
- The Bus Came Back: Angie Martinelli, no-show in Season 2 due to the series moving to LA, returns for the musical number in Peggy's head.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Jason unleashing the Zero Matter in his system without showing what happens after to him or Whitney.
- Chekhov's Skill: The fake-out defeat flip that Jarvis initially used on Peggy at Howard Stark's residence is used here, with Peggy subduing one of Manfredi's men by pretending to have fainted, then getting the drop on him.
- Creator Cameo: Louis van Amstel, who choreographed the musical number, appears as one of the dancers.
- Cutting the Knot: Thompson tries to do this by killing Whitney and Vernon with the gamma bomb, since they're both too connected and powerful to properly be brought to justice.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The beginning of Peggy's Dream Sequence is in black and white, like the movies would be in this time period. It is In-Universe — Peggy comments on it while looking at her hand, and her "brother" mocks her for invoking the trope in her mind.
- Didn't Think This Through: Peggy and Jarvis use a wonderful gadget to break out of Manfredi's truck — landing in the middle of the desert it was driving through. Their only way home? Walking, and eventually the same truck when their captors realize they're missing and drive back for them.
- Disney Acid Sequence: The titular song and dance is part of a weird dream that Peggy has while unconscious in the back of Manfredi's truck.
- The Dog Bites Back: Having been manipulated by Vernon all season long, Thompson is quite prepared to let his old mentor die.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Thompson is a master of this even on the fly. Within a minute of being targeted for assassination, he tricks both agents into freeing him and arresting Sousa and Samberly instead, then makes a convincing case for Masters to leave them both alive so they can power a device to kill Whitney Frost. But when delivering the device proves complicated, Thompson secretly reveals the plan to Whitney in exchange for Vernon's death and a seat on the Council... except that too is a trick for him to kill them both by secretly converting the gamma cannon into a bomb.
- Dream Sequence: The episode opens with one. First Peggy talks with her dead brother, and then it turns into a musical number.
- Enemy Mine: Peggy and Sousa reluctantly agree to collaborate with Masters to stop Whitney at Thompson's request
- Hypocrite: Peggy chews out Jarvis for letting his emotions cloud his judgement and endangering the mission, even though her feelings for Dr. Wilkes have clouded her judgement nearly all season long, leading her to make some very dumb decisions—like freeing Dottie Underwood.
- Insistent Terminology: It's not a "dump" Manfredi procured as Whitney's lab, it's a "waste management facility". He reprimands both Whitney and Thompson on this twice.
- Jerkass Ball: Peggy and Jarvis calling out each other at the desert, to a point Peggy briefly fires Jarvis as her partner for his recklessness and irresponsibility... until his reveal of Ana's barren prompts her to take it all back and rehire him out of sympathy.
- Jerkass Realization: Jarvis revealing Ana's barren prompts Peggy to take everything back and rehire him after just firing him.
- Knight Templar: Thompson, as he sees murder as a good solution for bad people and has no qualms on holding a gun on his colleagues to achieve his goals.
- Mood Whiplash: The episode opens with a 40s-style musical number taking place in Peggy's mind, with memories of her friends joining her too. It immediately ends with memory-Rose punching Peggy awake, coming to as a hostage inside Manfredi's van.
- Not Brainwashed: Jason insists that Zero Matter didn't affect his actions, they were all of his own free will.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: The episode contains the only song-and-dance number in the series, in the form of a Dream Sequence.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Wilkes warns Whitney that he is dangerous and needs to be in an isolated area after going into the Zero Matter rift. At the end of the episode, he appears to willingly release the energy inside of him as an explosion.
- Playing Both Sides: Thompson plays Vernon and Whitney against each other in an attempt to kill them both, something Vernon realizes at the last minute and rubs in her face.
- Precision F-Strike: Vernon figures out Thompson's real plan to kill both him and Whitney just as Whitney is strangling him with Zero Matter, and taunts her with "They got you too, bitch!"
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Peggy gives a rather brutal one to Jarvis as she instantly fires him as her partner, telling him that he's been treating their dangerous adventures like a game and that now there are serious consequences — the risk of Ana's death — he can't take it, so he's blaming Peggy instead since he knows nothing of personal sacrifice. Though she changes her tune and immediately rehires him when he informs her that Ana's barren as a result of her surgery.
- Save the Villain: Rather than let Thompson blow up Whitney with the bomb-rigged gamma cannon, Sousa and Peggy have Samberly build a signal jammer to block Thompson's detonator, because they want both Whitney and Vernon to be brought to justice and because Jason Wilkes is in the vicinity and would be blown up as well.
- Self-Serving Memory: Samberly liberally rewrites his role in the conversation between him, Thompson, Sousa and Masters while telling Rose about it.
- The Starscream:
- Thompson betrays Vernon at the end to Whitney, pointing out that he's taking his mentor's advice to take an opportunity to climb higher when he sees it. Somewhat subverted, though, as he's doing it to kill both Vernon and Whitney, seeing it more as sacrificing his integrity as Villains Do The Dirty Work.
- Vernon himself to Whitney, jumping on the chance to betray her and free the Council from her.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Parodied. During the musical number, Sousa tosses away his crutch and unleashes superb dancing skills.
- Unholy Matrimony: After a tease of it in the previous episode, Whitney and Manfredi actually become a couple.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Peggy rightfully chews Jarvis out for letting his emotions drive him to try and kill Whitney. In response, Jarvis chews out Peggy for trying to rescue Dottie since that mission is why Ana got shot in the first place.
- Sousa and Peggy rebuke Thompson for trying to use a bomb to kill Whitney and Masters, to which Thompson replies he's doing what has to be done, even if it means Jason dies in the crossfire.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In order to hijack the Maggia truck, Peggy pretends to have fainted while Jarvis lures one gangster away with his surrender, letting Peggy fight off the other one alone.
- You Have Failed Me: Manfredi shoots one of his men for the escape of Carter and Jarvis.
