- As the Second Wave is nigh,
Four must be chained strong as one,
Hammer can smite victory
If honor is granted to Xevallah.Coded in the algorithm of other quatrains
The final battle between Mabus and Cade, Joshua, Jordan and crazy Eddie.
Tropes:
- Call-Back:
- Mabus' husk is grown from the child he forced Cade and Jordan to conceive in Checkmate.
- In the very end, Cade uses the Hammer to go back to the first episode and say goodbye to Hannah, who thinks he just left for the meeting from that episode.
- Death Is Cheap: Cade shoots Joshua, Eddie and Jordan to pretend to believe Mabus that he's secretly Gua, allowing him to use the Hammer against Mabus. Once Mabus is dead, he uses the Hammer to bring them back.
- Fingore: Cade defeats Mabus by hitting him in the hand with the Hammer. Mabus explodes, hand-first.
- Ironic Echo: Cade's explanation of how he defeated Mabus echoes Mabus' Breaking Speech to him (see Tomato in the Mirror).Joshua: How did you do that?
Cade: I believed. - "Leave Your Quest" Test: Mabus offers to use the Hammer to give Cade Hannah back. When that doesn't work, he tries to convince Cade he's Gua.
- MacGuffin: The gang realise what the Gua need Thor's Hammer for: the Gua invasion force isn't coming, it's already here, caverns full of husks ready for a consciousness. Joshua says that a download that big would require a massive power source... like the Hammer.
- Mind Screw: The gang find themselves in a mental institution, where they're told they're various shades of delusional. The institution itself turns out to be a delusion, a security device the gang ran into while breaking into the facility. Later, they end up in it again, but worse: Eddie's been lobotomized, Joshua's now convinced he's human after all and Jordan's committed suicide.
- Putting on the Reich: When Jordan remembers Mabus' new husk emerging from an incubation chamber, the Gua scientists salute him in a Naziesque fashion. The visions Mabus forces Cade to see when he's trying to convince him he's Gua also include a shot of him saluting Mabus. The style of the salute, his uniform and the background all have a distinctly Nazi flavour.
- Riding into the Sunset: The episode ends with Cade using the Hammer to go back in time and say goodbye to Hannah. Then he returns to the present, where he drives off into the sunset with Jordan, Eddie and Joshua.
- Shattering the Illusion: The gang break out of the shared illusion the first time when Eddie proudly declares that he's found the Hammer... and proudly holds up an ordinary ball-peen. Cade uses it to shatter a nearby mirror, releasing them from the illusion.
- Shipper on Deck: Eddie can be seen taking a photo of Cade and Jordan hugging after Mabus' defeat.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Mabus can't use the Hammer alone, and needs Cade to help him power the download. So he Mabus tries to convince Cade that he's been some kind of Gua deep cover operative all along: Osmosist Operative One-One-Seven, infiltration expert. Cade pretends to believe him to gain access to the Hammer so he can use it against Mabus.Cade: On the contrary, Foster. You've fulfilled every mission objective I asked of you. Obtaining info on the Hammer. Exposing the Raven Nation. Delivering these resistors. [...] What do you think you know, 117? I'll tell you: you know nothing! Operative Cade Foster, Osmosist 117, information expert! Until you started believing your cover. Think about it! Tear the lies away! We gave you an identity: standard for an Osmosist. A seamless past. And a mission to gain followers; to become a false Messiah, chosen for Operation Twice Blessed. You played the part to perfection! But I always knew, somewhere inside that husk, you knew who you were! Because you BELIEVE in Gua! [...] Your entire journey through this wretched world comes to this one purpose! Now join with me! Initiate the download of the Second Wave. Show them what you believe, 117! Together, we can weild the full power of the Hammer!
- Wedding Ring Removal: After using the Hammer to say goodbye to Hannah, Cade takes off his wedding ring.
- Where It All Began: Invoked by name. The psych ward the gang find themselves in is the same one Cade escaped in the pilot.Cade: Does everything end where it began?"
- Wham Shot: An army of Gua husks, waiting for Gua conciousnesses.Cade: The invasion isn't on its way. It's already here."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Is Cade still a fugitive? There is certainly a bunkerful of evidence of the invasion, and it does seem to survive the episode; is it used to clear him?
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Mabus needs Cade's help to use the hammer. Plan A is to trick Cade through illusions. When Cade realises this, he tries offering to give him Hannah back. Finally, he tries convincing him he's been a Gua operative all along. And he makes a pretty good case.
