Humungousaur attempts to catch an escaped prisoner.
After Area 51 is attacked, Ben and the others investigate, and Max is infuriated when they learn it was a secret alien prison facility. While Max argues with the officer in charge, the team tries to locate an escaped prisoner.Tropes in this episode:
- Advice Backfire: After Prisoner 775 explains his backstory, Ben and Kevin try to console him by telling him to seek justice and "even the score". This leads the alien to ultimately decide to take revenge on Rozum and his family for his imprisonment. Gwen even lampshades the boys' mistake.
- Batman Gambit: Knowing how he always gets the wrong alien when he yells out the name before transforming, Ben hesitantly asks for Goop to try and transform into Humungousaur. Amazingly, it works.
- Bait-and-Switch: Played for Drama. When pressed for how many years he's been keeping these aliens prisoner, Colonel Rozum admits he's had them for four or five... decades. Ben is astounded that these aliens have been imprisoned for 50 years.
- Brick Joke:
- The beginning of the episode has Ben wish for to call an alien "Overkill". Cue the end of the episode where he transforms into the alien form of Prisoner 775 to which he shouts "OVERKILL!"
- Ben also explains that calls out the names of his enemies to strike fear into his enemies, something that Kevin thinks is ridiculous. When Ben transforms into Big Chill to investigate Colonel Rozum's secret alien prison, Kevin is quick to ask whether Ben shouting his name out actually scared anyone.
- When Ben transforms into Wildmutt to sniff out Prisoner 775's location, Gwen shouts his name out on Ben's behalf, awkwardly justifying it by pointing out that Wildmutt is unable to speak. Later on, Ben transforms into Ultimate Wildmutt, complete with Transformation Name Announcement...much to Gwen's disappointment, who wanted to be the one to say it.
- Cassandra Truth: Prisoner 775 explains to the heroes that he was banished to Earth by an oppressive dictator and when he was captured by the Air Force, they did not believe his story and kept him locked up in Area 51.
- Darker and Edgier: The implication of aliens being imprisoned in inhumane conditions, and Prisoner 775 trying to invoke Suicide by Cop doesn't exactly make this the cheeriest episode in the series.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Peter David confirmed that the idea of Area 51 being a prison where non-locals were locked up with little evidence and treated inhumanely was borne from Dwayne McDuffie’s distaste’s for Guantanamo Bay continuing to function.
- Downer Ending: Prisoner 775 has to go back to his prison cell, which is a punishment unto itself, and Grandpa Max is disappointed that the Colonel hasn't learned a thing from this whole experience. The only bright side to all of this is Ben getting a new alien out of all of this.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Ben turning into a new alien form (based on Prisoner 775) and calling him "Overkill" (see Brick Joke) has Gwen and Kevin glare at him at the timing.
- Fluorescent Footprints: This is how Wildmutt sees Prisoner 775's footprints.
- Impact Silhouette: Rath creates one after dropping off the plane. And then he gets out of it and starts kicking it.Rath: LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, RATH-SHAPED HOLE! RATH WILL DESTROY YOU!
- Lampshade Hanging: The beginning of the episode has the heroes discuss Ben's tendency to announce his alien forms.
- Mood Whiplash: Several moments are pretty comedic such as Kevin asking Cooper if been doing his Transformation Name Announcement struck fear into him, Rath's brief appearance and Ben turning into Humongousaur only to let out an "Oh, truck!" when Prisoner 775 pushes an eighteen wheeler at him.
- No Name Given: Prisoner 775's real name is never revealed and he is only known by his prisoner number and his species (Merlinisapien).
- Nothing Is Scarier: Ben turns into Big Chill in order to investigate the holding facility and when he returns, describes the prison conditions for the captive aliens as "inhuman". We never actually get to see what these conditions are.
- Not So Above It All:
- Though she initially is upset at Kevin's thoughts on what Rath does, Gwen agrees that she wouldn't mind having popcorn while watching him go to town on the spaceship Prisoner 775 stole.
- When Ben turns into Wildmutt later in the episode, Gwen is the one who does the name calling since she knows Wildmutt is incapable of human speech. She's also disappointed when Ultimate Wildmutt reveals he can talk, and thus doesn't require Gwen to say his name for him.
- Pass the Popcorn: When Ben transforms into Rath, Kevin notes that Rath is the only alien that wants to make him get popcorn and watch. Gwen tries to dissuade Kevin before admitting that, yeah, she also agrees.
- Pet the Dog: When Prisoner 775 attempts to kill a cop, he hesitates when the cop begs for his life and asks if he has a family. When the cop confirms that he does, Prisoner 775 spares his life. This foreshadows that the alien had a family of his own.
- Revenge by Proxy: Prisoner 775 plans to kill Rozum's family first so the Colonel will know what it's like to lose his family.Colonel Rozum: They had nothing to do with this!
Prisoner 775: Neither did mine. - Shoo Out the Clowns: Rath appears in the first part of the episode to briefly talk smack about neither gravity nor a Rath-shaped hole being enough to keep him down. After he leaves, things get worse (though there's still a handful of comedic moments).
- Suicide by Cop: When Ben (as Ultimate Wildmutt) has Prisoner 775 pinned down and at his mercy, the latter hysterically begs the latter to finish him off. If he goes free, he'll have nothing to return to except a conquered home planet and a long-dead family. If he's captured, he'll be sent back to his prison which, according to Ben, is in "inhuman" condition. In his eyes, getting killed by Ben is the best case scenario. Max tries to convince the Colonel the error of his ways by pointing out how broken this "dangerous criminal" is.
- Tempting Fate: Prisoner 775 mocks Wildmutt, calling him an "overgrown pet" and boasting that the alien is no match for him. Cue Ben transforming into Ultimate Wildmutt, who proceeds to annihilate 775.
- Tranquil Fury: Max is pretty quiet while Ben is searching the holding facility, but his anger at Colonel Rozum is plain as day.Colonel Rozum: You haven't said much.
Max: I'm trying not to throttle you. - Transformation Name Announcement: Ben's liberal usage of this trope is finally lampshaded and discussed amongst our main trio in this episode. Ben himself attempts to justify it by claiming that it "strikes fear into his enemies", something Kevin is reluctant to believe. Meanwhile, Gwen is initially dismissive towards Ben's name shouting early on...but later gets in on the fun when Ben turns into Wildmutt, as he's the only alien incapable of proper speech.
- Wham Line: When asked how long Colonel Rozum kept the aliens prisoner, he said it was four or five... decades.
- Wham Shot: Wildmutt's transformation into Ultimate Wildmutt, something which came out of nowhere and wasn't advertised beforehand.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Colonel Rozum justifies subjecting the captive aliens to inhuman conditions by saying they're not human. This only makes everyone else angrier, especially Ben and Max.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Max tells off Colonel Rozum for his inhumane treatment of aliens they capture lead up to the events that transpired, including Prisoner 775 trying to get revenge on him. Rozum is still convinced he's doing the right thing.
- Your Other Left: Gwen tries to help Kevin by tracking Prisoner 775's Mana. Ben eventually just goes Wildmutt to track his scent, since he's blind anyway.Gwen: He's back to your left. No no no, behind you!
