Recap / Film Reroll Last Action Hero

We crash our way into Last Action Hero! Kara steals a knife! Paulo doesn’t look at an explosion!

Episode 114-117 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1993 parody film.

For Arnold Schwarzenegger superfan Danny Madigan, getting a special theater showing of the latest installment in his idol’s (fictional) long running Jack Slater series by his projectionist friend Nick was a nice surprise. More surprising but less appreciated was getting transported into the film itself by a magical golden ticket. Now, Danny has to team up with Jack Slater himself — and his newfound partner, Rabbi Jacob Lagget — who are both completely unaware of being fictional movie characters, and in the former’s case, suspects his new friend of being an informant for the mob boss Vivaldi...

This is the first campaign to feature Lisa Kopitsky as DM, previously she had only been a player on the show. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the first two episodes of the campaign were recorded in 2020, prior to the pandemic putting it on the backburner.

Starring Kara Strait^note  credited under her new name, but still referred to as "Pitr Strait" for the first two episodes, due to the lengthy production of the campaign as Danny and Rabbi Jacob Lagget, Paulo Quiros as Jack Slater, and Lisa Kopitsky as The Dungeon Master.

Followed by The Mighty Ducks.

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Tropes:

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: After Danny talks Old Mel into joining the party, Paulo jokes that "two years from now, Old Mel will be one of Andy Hoover's most iconic roles"; this was before the pandemic forced the campaign to be put on hold for two years. Granted, Andy Hoover still has yet to play him...
• The Ahnold: Paulo Quiros's portrayal of Jack Slater very much falls into this. Not exactly surprising, given that the film was the man himself poking fun at his public persona.
• All for Nothing: Played for Laughs: When Jack and Danny take Offjob to the police station, Lisa is asked who is in at that time of night. She starts to list names... only for Paulo and Kara to start laughing their asses off. Paulo explains that they had actually cut the recording for 10 minutes so that Lisa could get a list of Patreon supporters so she can name characters... only to instead give generic names.^note Granted, given how one of the characters, Candice O'Malley, later has sex with Jack, it's probably for the best they didn't use a Patreon supporter in that case.
• All Just a Dream: While he initially worries that he might be suffering from Sanity Slippage, Danny eventually comes to think that the whole adventure is just a very elaborate lucid dream. It takes going into a Looney Tunes cartoon for Danny to finally realize this is all actually happening.
• Alternate Continuity: Discussed. The Rerollers propose that the ticket only causes this particular showing of Jack Slater IV to go off the rails, essentially making it one for the "main" series.
• Ambiguous Syntax: When Rabbi Lagget is trying to find out where Vivaldi went after fleeing from the funeral, Paulo creates a one-off OC, Paulie Stoolpigeon, who claims he went "that way". Not only is this complicated by the fact that they had to determine if Paulie was lying, but Kara is severely hung up on the fact that Paulo didn't actually state a direction; he pointed to a random part of the apartment, rather than saying where.
• Apocalyptic Log: In the second part, the Rerollers joke that the world might completely end before said episode gets released. This ultimately wasn’t the case.
• The Artifact: The Rerollers speculate that the cartoon cat was this, originally only appearing as an imaginary character in Jack Slater II where it mostly made sense. The fourth film then included a Call-Back where he's portrayed as being entirely real, which quite frankly made no sense at all. Possibly a Jumping the Shark moment for the In-Universe franchise.
• Artistic License – Religion: Parodied Trope. Lagget is given beliefs which are clearly not part of Judaism, the implication being that the In-Universe Jack Slater writers utterly screwed up the research.
• Ascended Extra: The rabbi — now named Lagget — goes from being a one-off gag to becoming a proper main character.
• As Herself: The Rerollers are baffled as to why Brigitte Wilson is the only cast member not credited under her own name in the In-Universe film, as she's apparently playing fictional actress Meredith Caprice playing her character.
• Atrocious Alias: In-Universe, the Rerollers get a lot of mileage out of mocking the criminal named Leo the Fart.
• Author's Saving Throw: Invoked In-Universe... sort of. Danny takes the opportunity to ask Jack Slater about several lingering questions he has about his movie series.
• Author Tract: invoked Lampshaded: When Danny is watching Hamlet at school, Kara decides to (as Danny) shoehorn in her own opinions about Hamlet's motives.
• Bad Liar: Nick is painted as one due to the fact his story about how he got the magic ticket makes no logical sense.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: As Jack Slater IV is wrapping up, Danny makes a wish on the ticket for someone to show up to be the villain of Jack Slater V, with Kara's intention being that it's actually Benedict, having survived his supposed death, and is seeking revenge. But, because it wound up becoming a Crit Fail, Vivaldi's driver winds up showing up, and shoots Jack... only for Lagget to jump in front of the bullet. Although this doesn't kill him, Jack believes otherwise, and winds up killing the driver (and in a visceral manner due to it going against the "Slaterverse" rules), immediately breaking Danny's faith in him. Or, in other words, Danny got his wish. Jack is the antagonist.
• Big Entrance: Jack Slater and company enter the mob funeral by parachuting onto the hotel roof where it’s being held, with Jack himself landing on the coffin while holding a dog and a child in his arms.
• Bloodless Carnage: Very deliberately Averted with Jacob’s "killer", who receives a very gory death. It sticks out even more coming shortly after Big Bad Vivaldi’s cartoonishly harmless Tap on the Head.
• Bomb Disposal: Made rather tricky, as the bomb is inside the corpse of Leo the Fart.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Invoked. Danny decides to use Jack Slater quotes from earlier in the series while interrogating Offjob. Jack himself doesn’t notice.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Not only does Jack's act of killing Vivaldi's driver cause Danny to no longer look up to him as a hero, but Jack reaches the conclusion that this means this case is now over, meaning he no longer cares about Danny, and attempts to confiscate the ticket from him.
• Brick Joke: It’s already established in the earlier episodes (and in the film) that cartoon characters exist in the Jack Slater series, meaning that Jack and Jacob aren’t that surprised to find themselves in the world of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
• Broken Pedestal: At the end of Jack Slater IV, Jack killing Vivaldi's driver in cold blood right in front of him causes Danny (who tried stopping it from happening) to no longer see him as the hero.
• Call-Back:
  • During the Knights and Knaves bit, Lisa openly asks if they had just recreated the two-headed NPC.
  • When Lisa is faced with figuring out how to roll for cartoon mallet damage, Kara brings up Jon Miller's homebrew "Home Alone" rule^note namely that, unless it's intentionally lethal, all damage done is 1.
  • Once more, Kara winds up using a Luck roll to choose a Crit Fail result, only for it to have severe negative results this go around.
• Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Implied: Jack is of the apparent belief that Truth Serums exist due to seeing a "documentary" about them, and thinks the EMT Suzy carries one on her.
  Jack: Can you fill [Offjob] up with some of that truth serum while you're at it?
  Suzy: (tired) Okay, for the last time, that's not a real thing. Just- I'll- I'm doing it, let me do my thing.
• Captain Ersatz: The Rerollers all agree that Benedict’s henchman is a carbon copy of Oddjob. They end up calling him "Notjob" and "Offjob".
• Captain Obvious: Once Nick asks Danny for the magic ticket he just gave him so he can tear it for his admission into the theater, Kara decides to do an intelligence roll to figure out what to do (since, again, Danny just got the ticket). When the roll succeeds, Lisa responds:
  Lisa: Yeah, I- it's a movie ticket.
• Celebrity Paradox: Jacob Lagget informs his back-up that the suspect looks just like Anthony Quinn, the actor playing him. This is in contrast to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is said to not exist In-Universe.
• Cliffhanger / Downer Ending:
  • Part 2 of the campaign ends in two down notes: Jack’s one night stand with Candice goes poorly, causing her to decide to stop pursuing him, while Danny (due to being left behind in Notjob’s cell) is assumed to be a criminal and is taken to be placed in a separate cell (thanks in part to him deciding to repeatedly kick the officer arresting him in the nuts).
  • In a sense, this is how Part 4 and the campaign itself both end: while the heroes wind up taking care of the bomb and saving the day, as a result of Vivaldi's driver showing up and shooting Lagget, Jack (under the misbelief that he's dead) decides to kill the driver in cold blood. Not only does this cause Danny to see Jack as the bad guy, but Jack tries to confiscate the ticket outright (due to no longer seeing a need to care about Danny), causing both of them to enter the real world.
• Comically Missing the Point: At one point, Jack keeps throwing the word ”fries” into his sentences as a form of code, which Jacob (and Kara) completely fail at decoding, believing it to be an instruction to speak only in Yiddish (which Jack doesn’t understand.)
• Could Say It, But...: When Paulo tries to ask how to parachute, given how Jack is doing so after Danny jumped out of the helicopter, Kara mentions that if they had to know everything their characters rolled well on in order to do things in a reroll, it would take forever... prompting Paulo to crack "We'd have to stop and look up Kabbalah every time." before (as Lisa puts it) throwing his arms out and looking side-to-side like a stand-up comedian.^note Earlier, when everyone was noticing the ticket sparking after Jack pulled it out, Kara decided to roll for Kabbalah to see what Lagget had to say for it. Paulo later explains that they needed to take a 11 minute break to read Kabbalah to get it exact.
• Cutting the Knot: Done twice by Danny while in the Looney Tunes universe:
  • All it takes is one cartoon mallet to the head for Vivaldi to be dealt with.
  • In order to get back to Los Angeles, Danny pulls out a paintbrush and paints a picture of Jack’s police station.
• Denser and Wackier: In-Universe, Jack Slater has noticed that his cases are getting increasingly ludicrous, which is why he doesn’t rule out to idea of a kid being a criminal informer.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • After calling the cops to report the robber that's in his apartment, instead of waiting for the cops to arrive, Danny decides to go to the movie theater to see Jack Slater IV... and it's only because of Kara passing a will roll that Danny decides to go back with Nick, even though (as pointed out by Nick and the DM) that the robber had most likely left in the time it took Danny to walk to and from the theater.
    • In fact, when he gets back, Danny gets so impatient that not only does he (blatantly) try and steal Old Mel's knife for protection, but he indirectly forces Nick to offer him a free movie ticket in exchange for helping them.
  • Inverted: Right as everyone is planning on parachuting out of the helicopter towards Leo the Fart's funeral, Danny states he doesn't need to parachute... before jumping out of the helicopter. As it turns out, while Danny did this because he still thinks this is all a dream, the intention wasn't that he would suddenly start flying. Rather, it would be that Jack (who would parachute) would jump after him and grab him before he would die.
  • Paulo Quiros creates a one-off NPC who tells Jacob Lagget where Vivaldi went, leading to an extended discussion about who this guy is, whether or not he’s telling the truth (or even knows it) and what direction ”that way” would even be In-Universe.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: By virtue of managing to blow up their car by shooting at it after the shootout at his apartment, Jack Slater kills Offjob and Benedict midway through Part 2. But after talking about it for a bit, Lisa walks it back slightly so that Offjob barely survived.
• Digging Yourself Deeper:
  • Understandably, Danny knowing exactly where Vivaldi lives only convinces Jack further that he’s working for him.
  • Also, Danny’s attempts at convincing a police officer that he’s not a criminal basically lose any chance at succeeding once he starts inflicting multiple Groin Attacks on the very same officer.
• Dodge the Bullet: When approaching Jack Slater’s apartment, he and Danny are ambushed by a hail of gunfire. Jack manages to dive out of the way, but Danny is shot in the arm.
• The Dragon: A Discussed Trope, complete with TV Tropes itself being name-dropped. The Rerollers conclude that Benedict was this to Vivaldi’s Big Bad in the movie before managing to usurp him. Of course, here he dies in a car explosion before ever getting that opportunity.
• Drinking on Duty: The EMT, Suzy Order, shows up to assist with Offjob, and blatantly drinks from her flask while doing so (implied to be partially because it's because she's dealing with another of Jack's suspects). That isn't to say she's against sharing it, though:
  Jack: (sees Suzy drink from her flask) Can I have some of that?
  Suzy: Yeah, here you go-
  Jack: No, I'm on duty.
  Suzy: Yeah, well, so am I.
  Jack: That's a good point. (takes a swig)
• Enforced Method Acting: As it turned out, Kara Strait had only seen the beginning of the film, making her portrayal of a character watching Jack Slater IV unfold for the first time quite convincing.
• Everyone Is Armed: All two hundred guests at the mob funeral turn out to be carrying guns, including the nun and the old lady in the wheelchair.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • Quite literally: a bad perception check on Kara’s end means that Danny doesn’t notice anything wrong as he leaves his apartment:
    Kara: Love a hallway. I mean, good old reliable hallway. I mean, in this dog eat dog world, who can you trust... if you can’t trust... a hallway?
    Lisa: Probably the dude with the knife.
  • The Rerollers admit to having completely forgotten that Danny was wearing Jack Slater cosplay, meaning that apparently nobody noticed that they were dressed the same throughout all of Part 2.
• Failed Future Forecast: In Part 2 of the campaign, everyone decides to date the episode (given how the pandemic had just started), with the date stated being March 15th. When bringing this up in Part 3, Lisa dryly comments on how, upon re-listening to that statement, they had unknowingly omitted a particular detail:
  Lisa: And we were like "It's March 18th," and I was like "...2020." Right, like, that's a really important missing factor that we know now that was not... relevant at the time.
• Fan Edit: invoked Kara proposes that Danny has compiled one such example (in his head, since he doesn't have access to editing technology) of both Jack Slater and Jack Slater II by combining both films and removing the unnecessary bits in order to focus more on the action (or, as Kara summarizes, Danny's speedrunning Jack Slater).
• Fanon: invoked Because Last Action Hero kept the details of the other Jack Slater films vague, Kara invents the plot for Jack Slater 2. In her head, Jack went up against a disgruntled children's television host, spurned by the child audience that had abandoned him, and at one point Jack teams up with the cartoon cat, only for it to turn out those scenes never actually happened (even though later movies confirms Whiskers was real).
• Filching Food for Fun:
  • Adding insult to injury with Danny’s apartment getting ransacked, Old Mel steals a can of beans and tucks in.
  • At the movie theater, Lisa casually mentions Old Mel is shoving candy bars into his pockets.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Our heroes ultimately decide to disguise themselves (and Gary, their dog) as rabbis for the Fart’s funeral... including actual rabbi Lagget.
• Fridge Horror: invoked Discussed: After the apartment is ransacked, Nick has to get Danny to leave a note for his mom so she doesn’t think he’s dead.
• Fridge Logic: Pointed out In-Universe by the Rerollers. Back in the olden days, the projectionists had to change the film reels partway through the film. So either Nick failed to notice that his friend Danny was now in the film, or Jack Slater IV somehow kept playing all by itself even though the projectionist slept through it all.
• Gargle Blaster: Because no one is sure if Mountain Dew Code Red existed in 1993, Kara decides to invent it by combining Mountain Dew with cough syrup.
  Kara: I call it "Code Red"! And so do the EMTs when they find me!
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: invoked Discussed: When Jack and Candice wind up having sex, Lisa points out this is pushing the boundaries of a PG-13 movie, with Kara managing to argue that it would be allowed if "L-shaped blankets" are at play, and nothing is shown.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Because of both the pandemic ramping up and all three having socially distanced for a few days, the recap portion of the start of Part 2 takes about fourteen minutes due to everyone repeatably going off on tangents and losing their shit.
• Harmful to Minors: invoked
  • In regards to Danny's teacher, not only does both Lisa and Kara call out her claims that Hamlet^note something on its own that shouldn't be taught to children was one of the first action heroes^note "Um, Beowulf is calling, please?", but Paulo states "[t]hat is a teacher there that has stopped giving a shit".
  • After letting Jack take a swig from her flask, EMT Suzy offers Danny a swig as well, before Jack stops her.
  • Understandably, seeing Jack Slater execute a subdued criminal in cold blood in the closing minutes of Jack Slater IV forces Danny to re-examine his feelings on his (now former) idol.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jacob Lagget ends up taking a bullet intended for Jack. Subverted in that he doesn’t actually die, Jack just becomes convinced that he did.
• Hyperspace Mallet:
  • After entering the Looney Tunes universe, Danny summons a literal ACME hammer and whacks Vivaldi on the head with it, harmlessly knocking him out long enough for Jack to arrest him.
  • Later, Danny manages to summon a paint brush he uses to draw a Portal Picture to the Los Angeles police station.
• I Hate Past Me: invoked
  • When discussing the episodes they recorded two years prior at the top of Part 3, Kara expresses genuine annoyance over recounting how she in particular was talking about how bad it was without any personal contact with people three days into what would become a 2+ year pandemic.
  • Downplayed: During that same discussion, Kara also calls attention to the fact her performance of Rabbi Jacob amounted to a bunch of Jewish jokes that were "30% as funny" in hindsight.
    Kara: It's not antisemitic, it's just unfunny. (starts to realize what she said) It's a really important distinct- (breaks)
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: To get an opportunity to look around Vivaldi’s mansion, Lagget excuses himself, saying that he needs to visit "the little rabbis’ room."
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Jack Slater thinks that Danny knowing about Vivaldi is a sign that he’s probably working for him, since Jack of course doesn’t know that Danny has seen him in the film he’s living in.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Danny of course has one with Nick, but also with Old Mel.
• Kick the Dog: In order to go have sex with Candice, Jack tricks Danny into going into Offjob's cell, and then locks him in before leaving.^note To be fair, though, Jack still has his suspicions that Danny's a perp.
• Knights and Knaves: When Paulie Stoolpigeon tries to tell Lagget what vehicle Vivaldi drove away in, Paulo tries to say it was a Mustang, while Lisa corrects him by saying it was a white Cadillac. And while Paulo tries (and fails) to instead claim he doesn't know (due to trying to get Lagget to bribe him in order to tell the truth), Lisa just keeps on going:
  Lisa: (as Paulie; talking over Paulo) I did say a Mustang at first. You don't know. One of us only tells lies.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Danny knicks a couple of pistols from the glove compartment of Jack’s car, knowing exactly where he keeps them thanks to having watched his films.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Unintentionally: On more than one occasion during Part 3, the present year of the campaign is accidentally said to be 1995 instead of 1993, meaning there was a two-year game in-universe as well as out of it. Lisa corrects it before the episode ends.
• Loophole Abuse: Towards the end of Part 3, when it appears that the gang is about to enter a shootout with Vivaldi's men, Jack tells Lagget to throw the bomb at them. As Kara (in character) contemplates this:
  Kara: There's nothing in the rules that say... a rabbi can't throw a bomb...
  Lisa: Is this the Air Bud defense?
• Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Neither Jack nor Candice roll particularly well during their one-night stand.
• Loving a Shadow: Candy comes to realize that this is what her Stalker with a Crush behavior towards Jack amounts to, and flat-out encourages him Not Staying for Breakfast.
• Mistaken Identity: Danny and Jack both have issues with this regarding each other. Danny of course thinks that Jack is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor playing him in real life. Meanwhile, Jack crit-fails reading the missing persons report and regrettably informs Danny that his mother died in 1875!
• Modesty Bedsheet: The sex scene between Jack and Candy is said to have an obligatory one. The film is rated PG-13, after all.
• Mood Whiplash: Thanks to the influence of the ticket, the climax of Jack Slater IV goes from Vivaldi being swiftly taken out after being taken into a Road Runner cartoon... to Rabbi Jacob getting shot in the police station, and Jack deciding to execute a subdued criminal.
• My Greatest Failure: Lisa is the most upset that Gary the bomb-sniffing dog did not become a Talking Animal.
• Never Live It Down: invoked Self-inflicted: Lisa refuses to let go of the "Do you wish you were that little girl?" incident, even after Kara officially went public with her transition.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After the protracted debate over Nick ripping the ticket he supposedly got from Harry Houdini, Paulo then claims Nick proceeded to snap a baseball bat from Babe Ruth over his knee, with Lisa and him jokingly claiming he broke his leg... only for Kara to insist Paulo make a damage roll. He crit-fails, meaning he indeed broke his leg (albeit on his way to the projector, not immediately after snapping the bat).
• No Sympathy: After Nick manages to break his femur on his way to the projector, Danny cares more about the fact that the theater is getting replaced with a Lowe's Multiplex than the fact that Nick is on the ground in pain.
• Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Defied: After Lagget gets shot by Vivaldi's driver at the end of Jack Slater IV, Kara decides to roleplay Lagget losing consciousness (before making Jack promise to train Danny), with the implication being that he died, something that causes Jack to begin sobbing violently. ...but then Kara decides to actually roll for it, with the result being that Lagget passed the consciousness check and didn't die. But because of how tired Lagget is, he just opts to conserve his energy and stop talking, meaning that Jack still thinks he's dead.
• N-Word Privileges: The Rerollers defend their various jokes about Jews by pointing out that both Lisa and Kara are Jewish.
  Kara: It’s not antisemitic, it’s just unfunny.
• Oh, Crap!: After Danny decides to jump out of the helicopter sans parachute, Lisa practically has a heart attack as Jack and Jacob jump after him to save him.
  Lisa: (freaking out) Why, 'cause- because [Danny thinks he's] dreaming?!
  Kara: 'Cause [Danny thinks he's] dreaming.
  Lisa: Aaaah!
  [...]
  Paulo: (quickly) So, what I wanna do is catch Danny- catch Danny, then open the parachute, and guide myself to the hotel's rooftop. That's what I wanna do.
  Lisa: I'm sorry. I was panicking. Say all of that again.
• Original Character:
  • Old Mel, a guy from the rougher parts of town who gives Danny a knife and agrees to engage in some vigilante action in exchange for a free movie ticket. He also steals some beans and silverware from Danny's (already robbed) apartment.
  • Kara winds up playing two additional characters in Part 2:
    • First there's Suzy Order, the EMT Jack calls for when he brings Offjob back to the police station in order to get him medical attention. Kara opts to play her as someone way too accustomed to Jack's line of work, who also openly carries a flask while on duty.
    • There’s also Candice "Candy" O’Malley, a normally desk-bound officer who fancies Jack, and manages to get him to spend a night with her. Kara Strait is estatic to play the part.
• Out of Focus: Due to the fact that the campaign ends right as Danny and Jack enter the real world, Nick and Old Mel never reappear in the narrative again after Part 1.
• Parody Displacement:
  • Pointed out In-Universe by Kara Strait, who feels that the real Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't quite as over the top as some impressions of him.
  • On a related note, Paulo Quiros admits to exaggerating Jack Slater into an outright oblivious Dumb Muscle, whereas the original was mostly just Wrong Genre Savvy by virtue of being unaware that his life was just a movie series.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Unlike the movie, it takes longer for Danny to enter Jack Slater IV (when Jack is getting assigned a partner, rather than in the middle of the opening chase). As such, the rabbi (who is given the name Jacob Lagget) not only becomes Jack's partner, but (because of Danny taking part in Jack's investigation) effectively becomes the third main character.
  • Due to a Crit Fail on Lisa’s part, Jack winds up blowing up Benedict’s car after the shootout at his apartment, thus resulting in his death.
    • In response, Kara, Paulo and Lisa then discuss how the trope was also in effect in the film, as how Benedict only became the Big Bad due to Danny’s direct involvement in the plot, resulting in Benedict escaping into the real world.
• Portal Picture: Aside from letting Danny enter the movie in the first place, the golden ticket also lets our heroes teleport into a News helicopter through a TV screen broadcasting its live feed.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: Nick is portrayed as significantly more senile than he was in the film, with Paulo even sprinkling in some of the Jeff voice.
• A Rare Sentence:
  • After Jack decides to help Lagget find out who Danny is at the start of Part 2, Paulo (after having listened to Kara's near-rambling monologue as Lagget) asks:
    Paulo: Now, if I kill Danny, [Kara]'s trapped as the rabbi, right?
  • At the start of Part 3, Kara discusses having listened to the raw audio, and having heard Lisa quietly say to herself (while seemingly alone in the room): "Do I make... [Kara]... a rabbi..."
• Reckless Gun Usage: While interrogating “Offjob”, Jack uses his guns to point at his own muscles.
• Remembered Too Late: Played for Laughs: After the EMT, Suzy, patches up Offjob and leaves the room, Kara realizes that she somehow didn't question the fact that a child was in the room with a half-dead criminal, something Lisa brushes off as being well within the realm of reality for Jack Slater's world.
  Kara: (as Suzy) The child doesn't need medical attention. Not my problem!
• Retired Badass: Nick agrees to arm himself with a baseball bat and take on the criminal in Danny's apartment, even though the latter already called the police. (Danny thinks that they're just wimps anyway compared to Jack Slater.) It's also noted that Nick claims to have not killed anybody since 1945.
• The Reveal: A cross-campaign in that might’ve been Played for Laughs: If Paulo’s response to Danny realizing “this is the longest, weirdest dream [he’s] ever had”^note Cracking “second longest”, before explaining he was making a Time Bandits bit. was serious, then Paulo had accidentally confirmed the Time Bandits campaign is All Just a Dream.
• Running Gag:
  • "So, are you going to X?" / "Are you going to use the regular X?"
  • Paulo would like to let you know Harry Houdini died in 1926.
  • "Do you wanna be that X?"
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After managing to slip by the robber, Danny escapes the apartment building... after locking the robber in his apartment.
• Secret Test of Character: Danny just can’t accept that Jack Slater would genuinely believe him to be a criminal, and decides that getting locked up in jail must be part of one.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Attempted, but subverted (sort-of): As Jack Slater IV is wrapping up, Danny (now fully aware that he's in a movie) tries to use the ticket to wish for this to come into effect, in the form of Benedict showing up, revealing that he survived his supposed death earlier in the film. Kara winds up rolling to try making it happen, only to instead (due to failing the roll by one, and using Luck) choose to make it a Crit Fail just to see what happens. What happens is that Vivaldi's driver shows up with intent to kill, only for Lagget to block the bullet at the last moment, and makes Jack promise to train Danny (he doesn't die, but Jack doesn't notice). While the rest of the cops pile onto the driver, Jack decides to avenge Lagget's "death"... by killing the driver.
  • An interesting variation with the campaign itself: Towards the end of Part 4, Danny (no longer trusting Jack) and Jack (no longer caring about Danny) wind up traveling to the real world^note due to Jack trying to confiscate the ticket right as the ticket is about to pull Danny out of the film, whereupon Lisa openly states (since she didn't have any time to continue from that point that recording session) that she's unsure if she should continue the campaign (meaning the next episode is Part 5), or if they should call it for the campaign (meaning the next part of this narrative would be the start of Last Action Hero 2). It takes less than a minute for all three Rerollers lean in on the second choice.
• Shout-Out:
  • The presence of a character named Benedict in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie leads to a Twins (1988) reference.
  • "What do your rab-eyes see?"
  • "Blue streak, speeds by. It's the Road Runner."
• Sleeping Single: Variation: Her less-than-ideal one night stand with Jack causes Candice to realize that she needs to focus more on her life than trying to pursue a man. As such, she comes to realize that she deserves to have a bed all to herself, rather than sharing it.
• Something We Forgot: It's only when the gang makes it back to the police department towards the end of the campaign that Paulo and Kara realize Gary didn't follow the others into the cartoon, meaning he's still back at Vivaldi's mansion. Paulo jokes that he's being added to the pyramid of dogs.
• Spotting the Thread: Discussed in the mailbag segment of Part 2, in which the Rerollers point out that if you are going to do a twist campaign like "Summerspell", then you can’t use any source material with names your players will immediately recognize.
• Take Your Time: Averted. The robber has already cleaned out Danny's apartment and left by the time a party has been assembled to take him down.
• Talking Animal: Averted. Gary the bomb-sniffing dog utterly fails his talking roll.
• Team Power Walk: Kara insists that the listeners imagine such a shot with our heroes in their rabbi disguises.
• Tempting Fate: "Are you just goin' out the door?"
• That Came Out Wrong: invoked When it becomes apparent the rabbi is going to be more prominent in the narrative, Paulo asks (out of concern for potentially inappropriate humor) if Lisa and Kara are Jewish. It is then soon acknowledged by all three that there was no good way to ask that:
  Kara: I can't expla- I understand why you did that, but- I can't explain why, there's something on what you just did that felt anti-Semitic.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Danny gives one to Wile E. Coyote of all people for always failing to catch the Road Runner.
  Danny: (to Jack) Jack, don't waste your time with this guy, he's a loser, can't even catch one bird. (Wile E. Coyote looks annoyed at Danny) Hey, man. Just 'cause you can't make it happen, doesn't make me the bad guy for pointing it out. You need to step your game up, Coyote^note pronounced Ki-yoat.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In-Universe, the Rerollers feel this way about the Welcome to the Real World premise of the film, as the supposed "real world" still feels like an action movie, just a Darker and Edgier one.
• Totem Pole Trench: The Rerollers consider going to Leo the Fart’s funeral in such a disguise, though they quickly discard the idea.
• Trans Audience Interpretation: In-Universe, with a hefty dose of Reality Subtext. DM Lisa Kopitsky asking Danny "Do you wish you were the little girl?" in the first episode leads to an extended conversation with player Kara Strait, who says that question has probably gotten burned into her subconsciousness now, before defiantly denying that she's consciously ready to crack that egg. The Rerollers consider cutting the whole segment, but the fact that they don't is obviously a Foregone Conclusion. Kara Strait's personal journey is also a Foregone Conclusion for the listeners, given that the episode premiered after she came out as trans herself, and that this very page refer to her with feminine name and pronouns.
  • Ironically, it's not this but rather the follow-up question "Do you wish you were the rabbi?" which finally draws Danny into the film.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Discussed In-Universe in Part 3, where the Rerollers mention how the first two episodes have really become a time capsule for both the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as Kara Strait’s own Coming-Out Story.
  Kara: I wanted to be that little girl, and now I am.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: A two-layered example: As opposed to the movie, Danny is a lot more mean towards Nick, something Kara attributes to the fact that Paulo is playing him.
• Welcome to the Real World: The very end of the campaign has Danny and Jack be taken out of the film and back into the movie theatre where it all began.
• Wham Line: While everyone is preparing to parachute out of the news helicopter to crash Leo the Fart's funeral, Jack asks if Danny knows how to parachute.
  Kara: I turn to Jack and I say "No. But I don't need to." And I jump out of the helicopter.
  Paulo: What?
  Lisa: What?!
• While Rome Burns: Downplayed: Part 2 was recorded on March 15th, 2020, right as the pandemic was ramping up, something acknowledged by everyone in the room:
  Kara: We recorded this on the Ides of March, and now, uh, dear listeners, if you can, I know this is probably coming out a little while later, if you can take your mind back to, uh, I know it's probably difficult to figure out what you were doing on, uh, March 15th, you know, when the world was fucking ending.
• Worth It: Downplayed: When Part 2 ends with Danny getting tossed in a jail cell, Kara remarks:
  Kara: Well, didn't end great for Danny, but, uh... of my four characters tonight^note Danny, Jacob, Suzy, and Candice... one of them had sex.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: The Rerollers discuss whether or not the timeline of Nick being given his golden ticket by Harry Houdini — who died in 1926 — makes any sense at all. They conclude that it just might if Nick was a child at the time. (He would also have to be older than his actor Robert Prosky, who was only born in 1930.)
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Danny fails a literal "Genre Savvy" roll, convincing him that he has ended up in a supernatural thriller.

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