Recap / Code Lyoko S 4 E 10

This episode contains examples of:

• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: When Aelita devirtualizes herself, XANA destroys the meteor, since he needs her alive on Lyoko to lure out Franz Hopper.
• Colony Drop: XANA's plan in this episode. He hacks a military satellite to change the course of an asteroid in order to destroy the Supercomputer (with Aelita inside, at his mercy).
• Continuity Nod: The Kill Sat X.A.N.A takes control of to divert the meteor to strike Paris is the very same one from way back in Season 1's episode "Satellite" that he used to nearly murder Yumi with.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Aelita leaves XANA in this position when she gets herself devirtualized and makes him choose between letting an incoming asteroid destroy the Supercomputer (and her with it, along with the entirety of Paris) or using the satellite to destroy it and let both Aelita alive and the factory intact. XANA ultimately chooses the second option as he needs Aelita to lure out Franz Hopper.
• Homage: The plot of the episode is based on Meteor ^note the Kill Sat is used to change the direction of the meteor which is similar to the satellite blowing up Orpheus that breaks it up into smaller meteors, Deep Impact ^note while Paris didn't appear in the film, most of Europe was affected by the megatsunami off-screen, which includes Paris and Armageddon. ^note Bonus points for the last one as a fragment of the giant meteor from the film actually strikes Paris itself, destroying the city and killing millions, and it seems to be the inspiration for X.A.N.A's plot.
• Irony: Hiroki tells Yumi that he won't let her forget how much he helped her dealing with XANA's attack, only for his memory to be wiped seconds later by a return to the past.
• Kent Brockman News: The newscaster mentions that a meteorite is heading close to earth. Guess XANA's plan.
• Near-Villain Victory: This time XANA's plan is so perfect, Jérémie actually gives up. The heroes only triumph because Aelita hedges all her bets on a hunch that XANA will abort his plan if it results in her death (meaning he'll lose access to Franz Hopper). Fortunately, she is right.
  Jérémie: I'll never make it. XANA is a flawless program and I'm only human.
• Pragmatic Villain: XANA aborts his plan and destroys the piece of the comet he was going to use to wipe out the factory and the Supercomputer, not out of pity, but because Aelita was devirtualized from Lyoko and he needs Aelita alive to lure Franz Hopper out of hiding.
• Smooch of Victory: Yumi gives one to Hiroki and Johnny, much the delight of the latter. Considering his age, it's also likely his First Kiss too.
• Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Aelita sets up a situation where the Supercomputer can't be destroyed without getting her killed, and XANA aborts his plan.
• Tagalong Kid: Downplayed with Hiroki and Johnny, as Hiroki's lock picking skills and Johnny's swiss army knife end up being useful to Yumi.
• Techno Babble: Jérémie and Aelita when discussing how to get out of XANA's firewall.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: X.A.N.A's plot to send a meteorite crashing down on the factory wouldn't have just killed Aelita and the Lyoko Warriors, it would have wiped out half of Paris, killing millions.
• Verbal Backspace: Attempted by the newscaster, who is very clearly flustered by the person on the other end of her earpiece telling her to disavow all knowledge of the laser mentioned earlier.
• Villainous Rescue: XANA is responsible for destroying the meteorite, as without Aelita, he cannot lure out Franz Hopper.

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