"Look who it is. The boy savior."
"There is always a choice."
— Viktor
Vi is overjoyed to learn that the leader of the Firelights is Ekko, who has carved out a niche for the group in a large tree away from Silco's territory. Ekko, who believes Jinx irredeemable, wants to use the Gemstone to defeat Silco, but Caitlyn and Vi convince him to help them return it to Jayce instead.
Meanwhile, Jayce and Viktor's paths diverge. Mel convinces Jayce to develop weapons from Hextech, while Viktor visits the undercity to consult Singed about using the Hexcore to heal himself.
Ekko escorts Vi and Caitlyn to the bridge, where Marcus and several enforcers are waiting. Vi bids them farewell, saying she wants to keep looking for Jinx. But Marcus betrays Caitlyn, forcing Vi to return; this convinces a spying Jinx that Vi has thrown her lot in with Caitlyn. Jinx detonates a number of robotic insect-like bombs, killing Marcus and the enforcers and injuring Caitlyn. Ekko fights Jinx to give Vi and Caitlyn time to escape. He easily overpowers her, but is unable to deal the killing blow, giving Jinx time to detonate a grenade.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Art Shift: As Ekko steps up to take Jinx on, the scene shifts to a stylized flashback detailing one of their childhood games. It looks brighter, more static, and more graffiti-esque than the show's regular animation.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted! After taking a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Ekko, Jinx's face is bruised, bleeding, and even missing some teeth.
- Big Damn Hero: Ekko rushes in to save Vi and Caitlyn from Jinx.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Caitlyn is impressed by the swarms of little firelights glowing in the dark.
- Bulletproof Vest: Ekko's chestplate is sturdy enough to take a shot from Marcus's pistol, saving his life.
- Call-Back:
- An In-Universe one. When Ekko and Jinx face off at the bridge to allow Vi to flee with Caitlyn and the hexstone, Ekko pulls out his pocket watch and starts swinging it like a timer, a gesture Jinx seems to recognize and accordingly adopts a shooter's pose with amusement. The stylized flashbacks that occur make it clear the situation is similar to a childhood game they used to play together, with Powder trying to shoot Ekko with a harmless paint gun before he charges towards her to 'tag' her, now with real life-or-death stakes by their current time. This is actually a Batman Gambit on Ekko's part, because he can remember Jinx's shooting habits from the game to predict her bullets' trajectories and actually close the distance on her when he lost the game before in their youth.
- Earlier Vi is noticeably disturbed walking across the bridge where her parents were killed, while Jinx hums the same song she was singing to calm herself in the opening scene of the series.
- Call-Forward: Ekko's tactic of predicting Jinx's bullets by recreating the childhood game they used to play together to goad her into taking on a shooting stance he can respond to is visually represented by the younger Ekko and Powder playing the game, Ekko losing and then time 'rewinding' to before they started, now with the older Ekko and Jinx in a life-or-death fight. This is visually similar to Ekko's Time Rewind Mechanic from his future self's usage of the Z-Drive in battle, rewinding time every time he suffers a loss to adapt his enemy's fighting habits and weaknesses into his battle strategy until he wins in the end. Also, the cylindrical canister he keeps the hextech gem in looks a lot like the Z-Drive itself as he uses it in his original cinematic Ekko: Seconds.
- Character Death: Marcus.
- Commended for Pushback: Vi acknowledges how much Ekko has changed after he manages to attack and kidnap her, as well as interrogate and criticize her.Vi: "I remember when you wouldn't stand up to me."(undoes her handcuffs and hugs Ekko)
Vi: "I missed you, little man." - Critical Hesitation Blunder: After disarming Jinx and knocking her down, Ekko has her dead to rights, but freezes up at the prospect of actually killing his old friend. But this gives Jinx enough time to activate a grenade against both of them.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Played for Drama when Viktor is examining one of Jinx's grenades as a part of Jayce's ongoing investigations; Viktor notes that while the materials are rather crude the design itself is incredibly meticulous and ingenious, to the point that he has a tough time trying to dissect it and even has a minor Wire Dilemma when he accidentally triggers it with an errant movement of a piece of metal. If Jinx weren't... well, Jinx, she could've easily made a killing as an engineer in Piltover, even if she is a Zaunite as Viktor himself proved.
- Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: Vi blinks when she steps into the sunlight after having been captured in the dark by the Firelights.
- Deadly Gas: Played With. Silco threatens the Chembarons into sticking with him with a cylinder full of what seems like poison gas. In actuality, it's the polluted air from the Lanes. Noticeably, he doesn't need a mask, to prove the point that wealth and a higher standard of living has made them fat and complacent (and thus in his mind, weak).
- Dodge the Bullet: Apparently, Ekko is quick enough to dodge Jinx's bullets.
- Double Entendre: While seemingly going in for a kiss, Mel instead hands Jayce a stray bolt and tells him to be careful not to lose his nuts.
- Dramatic Unmask: When Ekko removes his mask to reveal himself to Vi and the audience.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite all he's done, Marcus is clearly reluctant to kill Caitlyn. Jinx attacks before we learn for certain if he could have.
- He Knows Too Much: Marcus tries to kill Ekko and Caitlyn for knowing about Silco. Ekko has a bulletproof plate that protects him, and Jinx attacks before he can pull the trigger on Caitlyn.
- Hope Spot: Caitlyn convinces the Fireflies to hand over the hexstone. Unfortunately both Marcus and Jinx are waiting on the bridge to stop them.
- Hot Men at Work: A shirtless Jayce works the boiler.
- I Can Explain: Not easy to use this line with a psycho Jinx jabbing you in the face with your hypodermic needle, but fortunately Silco is able to explain his actions to her satisfaction.
- I Choose to Stay: Initially, Vi chooses to stay in the Undercity to keep trying to reach out to Jinx. But when she hears a gunshot and believes Caitlyn is in danger, she comes running back to help. Unfortunately, seeing that convinces Jinx that Vi really does care more for Caitlyn than her.
- Laughing Mad: An already unstable Jinx starts giggling in front of her broken mirror.
- Mechanical Insects: The Fireligths that bomb the bridge.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Vi's heroic act to save Caitlyn from Marcus's sudden betrayal. Her "reward" ends up just damaging her relationship with Jinx further, as the latter grows insane with jealousy, assuming Vi is about to abandon her again and now values an enforcer over her...
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ekko delivers one of these to Jinx. Except that he ultimately does hold himself back, letting her pull a grenade.
- Not What It Looks Like: Jinx, observing Vi and Caitlyn from the top of the bridge, sees them hug and insists to her hallucination of Mylo that it's just a goodbye hug. When Vi comes back for Caitlyn, she assumes that she's being replaced, and hallucinates Caitlyn smirking at her with devil horns.
- One-Woman Wail: Plays when Ekko hesitates to apply his finishing strike on Jinx.
- Plot Armor: Of all characters, it's Caitlyn who survives the series of explosions on the bridge.
- Self-Surgery: Jinx staples closed the slash on her leg she got at the end of the previous episode.
- Shrine to the Fallen: The Firelights have a mural of the faces of those who died, most of them fighting Silco's crime organization. Ironically one of the faces is of a young Powder, even though she's still alive as Silco's chief enforcer Jinx. Another face is Vi.
- Slipped the Ropes: Vi is easily able to slip out of her cuffs when talking to Ekko, and only reveals it after letting him question her for a bit.
- Take Me Instead: Caitlyn offers herself up to Ekko for Vi, unaware that Vi is perfectly fine and listening to her just beyond the door beside Ekko.Vi: My hero.
- Taking You with Me: As Ekko has her pinned to the ground and, for all intents and purposes, defeated, Jinx's next move is to pull the pin from one of her grenades the moment he hesitates.
- Title Drop: "Oh, look who it is. The Boy Savior." As said mockingly by Jinx before her duel with Ekko on the bridge.
- Treehouse of Fun: The Firelight hideout is built around a tree, an extreme rarity in Zaun.
- Uncertain Doom: The episode ends with Jinx pulling a Taking You with Me with Ekko by setting off a grenade. It is unclear if either survived.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: As children, Powder won the game she played with Ekko. While she's a much better shot and has a real weapon this time, she doesn't change her shooting tactics against him, allowing him to guess where she's going to shoot, evade her bullets, and overpower her.
- Wire Dilemma: When Viktor dismantles the supposed Firelights bomb, it activates and forces him to cut the right wire Just in Time to disable it.
- You Know I'm Black, Right?: When he's arguing with Viktor for violating the blockade, Jayce says that people from the Undercity are dangerous. Viktor points out that he's from the Undercity, and while Jayce quickly apologizes, it's enough to convince Viktor not to tell him about the Shimmer.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Ekko decides to take on Jinx himself and tells Vi and Caitlyn to move on to Piltover.
