Carmen is forced to carry out a series of missions for the Villains International League of Evil - also known as V.I.L.E. After V.I.L.E. kidnap Carmen's friends (Zack and Ivy), the villains threaten to wipe their minds and brainwash them into becoming V.I.L.E. operatives, unless Carmen agrees to steal some priceless artifacts for them.
Tropes in the interactive short include:
- Affably Evil: If Carmen chooses to work with El Topo at the dinosaur lab, he informs her that he never hated her despite being on opposite sides, and is actually excited at the prospect of working alongside her.Carmen: Not one of V.I.L.E.'s haters, huh?
El Topo: El Topo hates no one. We are merely pawns in a bigger game. - Airvent Passageway:
- Used by Carmen while stealing the dinosaur bone from the research facility.
- She uses one again while rescuing Zack and Ivy from V.I.L.E.’s arctic base in the path where Tigress does not help Carmen.
- All Part of the Show: During the caviar mission, if Carmen chooses to stash the caviar and escape with it later, she notices Mime Bomb choking on some hors d'eouvres. She is the only one who realizes it’s not an act.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Carmen asks what Saira Bellum wants her to steal, guessing between launch codes, bio-weapons, or a device that plays cat videos on an endless loop.
- Ballroom Blitz: The caviar mission requires Carmen to infiltrate a fancy party for the rich elite.
- Black-Tie Infiltration:
- Carmen infiltrates a high-end charity party on orders from Cleo to steal some rare caviar. Carmen dons a stunning red dress.
- Mime Bomb has also infiltrated the same party to be Carmen's help and observer, but as the entertainment rather than a guest.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: If Carmen tricks Julia instead of confiding the truth to her during Countess Cleo's caper, then Julia gets back just in time to watch Carmen escape and calls after her "La Femme Rouge!" in the same way Devineaux usually would.
- Brainwashed: Zach and Ivy are threatened with this fate if Carmen does not comply. It happens to them in several bad endings and to Carmen herself in the worst ending.
- But Thou Must!: Carmen has to interact with Tigress at the start of Brunt's mission. If Carmen tries to avoid her by infiltrating the facility over the wall, guard dogs will come after her and chase her back over the wall, where Tigress will approach Carmen.
- Chekhov's Gun: Back in "The Opera In The Outback Caper", Player warns Carmen that Bellum's love of mind control experiments could have turned Gray into a sleeper agent. In one of the bad endings, Carmen sees Bellum now doing this to Zack and Ivy.
- Contrived Coincidence: In the Golden Ending, Carmen only wants to rescue Zack and Ivy. That the stolen Terracotta soldier happens to be in the same helicopter they use to escape is just an added bonus.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Zack and Ivy briefly sing the Rockapella song used as the theme of the Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego game show. The song is sung by the entire cast in a bonus scene that becomes available if the two best endings are reached.
- Dramatic Drop: If Zack and Ivy become Manchurian Agents, they will drop their dishes of ice cream when Bellum switches their programming on.
- Foreshadowing: In the intro, Zack makes a joke about Carmen getting "Shanghai'd in Shanghai." Someone gets Shanghai'd alright, but it isn't Carmen...
- Gamebooks: The episode is structured this way, with path choices offered periodically. It is always a choice between two options.
- Glowing Eyes: Anyone subjected to the brainwashing gains green, glowing eyes.
- Gratuitous Disco Sequence: During the caviar mission, if Carmen accepts the offer to dance, it starts with a waltz but eventually turns into this.
- I Have Your Wife: V.I.L.E. take Zack and Ivy hostage to force Carmen to work for them.
- Imagine Spot: During the Caviar Caper, Carmen has a vivid one when she chooses to dance with the host of the party. She does a solo routine with kicks and athletics, letting her hair down in the process, while Julia watches with awe and pleasure.
- MacGuffin: When Carmen is forced to steal for VILE she has to steal the following items for the faculty: A Chinese Terracotta Warrior for Coach Brunt, Beluga Caviar for Countess Cleo, and a Tyrannosaurus Bone for Dr. Bellum.
- Manchurian Agent: If Carmen refuses to help Tigress out of the hole and chooses the Arctic Base rescue mission, Carmen will rescue Zack and Ivy, but not in time to prevent them being turned into these. She will be oblivious to it until their celebration at an ice cream shop is interrupted by Bellum switching on their programming.
- Multiple Endings: With this being a Choose Your Own Adventure-style episode, naturally it can end in more ways than one. The endings, from worst to best:
- Carmen steals all the objects that V.I.L.E. wants. After, V.I.L.E. arrange for an exchange of their hostages, Carmen quickly figures out that it's a trap and what they really want is to wipe her mind and turn her into a V.I.L.E. operative. She asks Julia for help, but she refuses since Carmen tricked her earlier. Carmen tries to rescue Zack and Ivy by herself, but she is taken captive and brainwashed.
- After two missions for V.I.L.E., Carmen figures out Zack and Ivy are held captive in the Arctic and goes rogue to rescue them. Since she didn’t help Tigress earlier, Tigress now refuses to help her. Therefore, it takes Carmen too long to reach Zack and Ivy, and they have been brainwashed already. They capture her for V.I.L.E.
- Carmen either refuses to work for V.I.L.E., or fails one of the missions they give her. Thus, Zack and Ivy are brainwashed as a punishment.
- After two missions for V.I.L.E., Carmen figures out Zack and Ivy are held captive in the Arctic and goes rogue to rescue them. Since she helped Tigress earlier, Tigress repays her by letting her into the base. Carmen thus reaches Zack and Ivy in time, and they are rescued. The only downside is that the objects she already stole for V.I.L.E. at this point (or at least the Terra Cotta soldier) are not recovered, but it still qualifies as a good ending.
- The Golden Ending: Carmen steals all the objects that V.I.L.E. wants. After V.I.L.E. arrange for an exchange of their hostages, Carmen quickly figures out that it's a trap and what they really want is to wipe her mind and turn her into a V.I.L.E. operative. Fortunately, Julia (whom Carmen trusted earlier) comes to her aid. She poses as a decoy to distract V.I.L.E., while Carmen rescues Zack and Ivy and retrieves all the stolen goods in the process.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Dr. Bellum thinks Carmen is joking when she refers to Zack and Ivy as her friends before realizing she means it.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: When caught by some guards while stealing a Terracotta soldier, the correct course of action is for Carmen to rapidly disguise herself with grey paint and hide among the Terracotta Army. It helps that the guards focus more on the one statue being airlifted out of the building through a hole in the roof than looking for any accomplices to the theft remaining inside the building.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Should Carmen elect to store the caviar and not run with it at the earliest moment, Mime Bomb will end up choking on some food. Carmen doesn't hesitate to save him, however by the time she gets to the kitchen, the caviar has already been plated for the charity. While Carmen still steals it, unsealed caviar has a shelf life of hours and the take is more than Countess Cleo can eat in a sitting. This results in Cleo considering the mission a failure and has Zack and Ivy brainwashed.
- Power of Trust: Excluding the failed missions, each conclusion's outcome for Carmen depends on two moments where Carmen has to choose between trusting someone or not:
- The first is towards Tigress, who falls down a pit when she and Carmen are after a Terracotta warrior for Coach Brunt. If Carmen helps her out, and later elects to break into the arctic base that holds Zack and Ivy, Tigress will pay back that trust by helping Carmen this one time. If Carmen betrays Tigress and leaves her, Tigress will refuse and Zack and Ivy will be brainwashed into capturing Carmen at the end of the story.
- The second is trusting to tell Julia some of the story rather than tricking her while on Countess Cleo's mission for the caviar. If Carmen is honest with Julia and Carmen completes all three heists for her teachers, then Julia will help Carmen and act as a decoy for V.I.L.E., allowing Carmen to rescue Zack and Ivy and recover all the stolen goods for Julia to return. If Carmen betrays Julia's trust, then at that same junction Julia will refuse to help. This leads to Carmen's capture and brainwashing by Maelstrom to being a V.I.L.E. operative once more and a montage of the other teachers enjoying their ill-gotten gains.
- Punny Name: Dr. Bellum changes the name of her mind wiping device from "The Wiper," which gets snarked at by Cleo, to either "The Mind Melter" or "The Cranial Dranial" if it pops up again.
- Save the Villain: During the caviar mission, if Carmen chooses to stash the caviar and escape with it later, she notices Mime Bomb choking on some hors d'oeuvres and saves him with the Heimlich maneuver.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The option to try and retrieve the dinosaur bone by boarding the plane it is on, rather than follow it to the research facility. After an action sequence, Carmen fails to get on board and has to go to the facility anyway.
- Side Bet: Coach Brunt and Professor Maelstrom have one. When the faculty explain they have Carmen's friends and tell her to serve them or risk her friends being brainwashed, if Carmen refuses their offer to work for them, Maelstrom owes Brunt a steak dinner as Brunt guesses Carmen would be too stubborn to work for VILE.
- Snooty Haute Cuisine: The story has Carmen stealing rare caviar from a Ballroom Blitz for charity.
- Tranquilizer Dart: Lady Dokuso is ready to strike Carmen with one and it results in Carmen being taken captive by V.I.L.E. in the worst ending.
- Universal Driver's License: Played with; when asked to pilot the helicopter, Zach complains that he only knows how to drive a car. He tries it anyway, and he gets the hang of it pretty quickly.
