All Love Is Unrequited: It was around long before #MeToo, as this episode bears out. It's revealed that Perkins was long guilty of trying to court women that had either ignored him, he knew were in an active relationship or had otherwise turned him down.
Berserk Button: In the final scene, where Hoarce Perkins tries to suggest that he would have been the one for Sally Bristol, Joe's (now-deceased) girlfriend and he was upset he couldn't have her, Joe finally snaps and really lets loose on him.
Beware the Nice Ones: In a more literal sense, and frighteningly so: A seemingly nice-but-shy banker becomes obsessed with a young co-worker whom he already knew to be engaged and had told him she wasn’t interested in a relationship with him. It leads to tragedy.
Dark Secret: The town's new bank clerk, Perkins, seems to be on the surface a nice but somewhat awkward and shy young boy who is just looking to settle down, find a pretty woman to be his wife and live happily ever after. Deep down, he has a violent temper, he stalks women he becomes fixated on (even if they have a boyfriend or rejected him) ... and is suspected in the death of another woman in another town.
If I Can't Have You…: Perkins decides to "apologize" to Sally for his drunken behavior earlier in the evening (when she and Joe were kissing on the porch swing and he was getting ready to propose) but when he gets too close to her and she tries to tell him to leave or she'll scream, he strangles her. Earlier in the episode, at a dance, town livery owner Cliff tries to ask Sally to dance (Joe let her entertain Cliff) but, feeling threatened — and perhaps not wanting to accept that Sally was never his girl — Perkins shoves Cliff so hard a fight nearly breaks out.
Let The Wookie Win and Throw the Dog a Bone: Perkins' character is that of a young man with awkward social graces and can never seem to get the girl, and his frustration that he was unable to convince women to date him leads to his killing Sally Bristol (and his suspected role in the death of another young woman in a city in which he left town under unexplained circumstances). This all leads to the tropes' being invoked, where — when in the climantic scene Joe gets him to confess to the killing — Perkins screams out that he would have been the one to court and date Sally had it not been for Joe (which pisses Joe off even more). Mrs. Cutler even tries her reasoning on Joe, suggesting that all he had to do is, once he became aware of Perkins' interest, step aside ... justifying this as she knew Joe to have good luck with the ladies (and that he'd find another girlfriend easily), while Perkins was always unable to say the right thing or do the right thing and was this tantalizingly close to convincing Sally to be his girlfriend (of which Joe is also not convinced).
Like a Son to Me: Perkins becomes this to Mrs. Cutler, the boarding house owner whose son had died several years earlier. It is this that motivates her to protect Perkins to a fault.
Punched Across the Room: Perkins does this to Cliff during the dance when he (Cliff) asks Sally to dance with him.
Would Hit a Girl: Joe almost does this at least twice to Mrs. Cutler when she tries to get him to stop screaming at Perkins before coercing a confession out of him.
Vigilante Man: Joe becomes this when circumstantial evidence isn't enough for Deputy Clem to bring Perkins to justice.
