Tropes:
- Adam Westing: In-universe. Philo Pennyworth, in stark contrast to his I Am Not Spock attitude in the previous season, has since come around to embracing the character and even changing his name to Featherly after Midtown Cowboys became a surprise hit in Germany.
- The Bet: The intro reveals that Sam and Max made a bet of five dollars as to whether or not Jurgen would go for the "cheesy evil laugh".
- Damsel in Distress: Girl Stinky ends up being taken hostage by the disembodied, reanimated hand of Jesse James.
- Death Is Cheap: Despite both of them getting killed by Jurgen's soul-stealing machine, Sam and Max come back as zombies not soon after and are eventually able to retrieve their respective souls with no ill effects whatsoever.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: When Sam and Max are turned into zombies, they can suddenly understand what the other zombies are saying, and find many of them are quite well-spoken.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: In-Universe, Midtown Cowboys became super-popular in Germany due to the character of Mr. Featherly.
- Fantastic Racism: Sybil scolds Harry Moleman for his (not entirely irrational) fear of zombies, which Sam and Max exploit to their advantage.
- Funny Background Event: While Sam talks with Flint Paper at the end of the game, Zombie Max is seen chasing his soul around, trying to get it back into his body.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Or rather, Jurgen's. Unlike its direct inspiration, however, the monster is very well-spoken and mild-mannered.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Upon getting the soul mater, Sam and Max get their souls back, but they end up in the wrong bodies.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe; Midtown Cowboys, which was cancelled in the last season, gets a revival and becomes a Cash-Cow Franchise when it becomes popular in Germany.
- Hair-Trigger Sound Effect: In what is no doubt a nod to Young Frankenstein, every mention of Agent Superball's (horse whinny) name is followed by ominous thunder and the whinnying of a horse. Even when Superball (horse whinny) switches locations to New York City. And it's the middle of the day.
- How We Got Here: The episode starts with Sam and Max in some sort of trap before Sam flashes back to what made the two end up here.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: after Sam and Max have a Frankenstein moment bringing Jurgen's monster to life, the Monster proclaims "Happy Birthday!" a la Frosty the Snowman. Much like the last two episodes, this causes a Mariachi with a violin to appear out of nowhere ("Did somebody say... BIRTHDAY?") and play a celebratory song. Max comments that it kind of sucked all the horror out of the scene.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Before Sam starts the flashback, Max asks him to do it "with the music and everything" to which Sam snaps his fingers and the title card and intro music begins.
- Literal Metaphor: Sam and Max have to give Jurgen's Monster a literal heart of gold (which they do by running a chocolate heart through an alchemy machine).
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: As Jurgen's death trap closes in, Sam claims that his life is flashing before his eyes... then he remarks "I wondered where I left my wallet!"
- Not Quite Dead: Sam and Max end up getting killed by Jurgen's death trap, but they come back as zombies and manage to finish the case that way.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Sam and Max faced Jurgen in "the most epic battle of our lives", but Max brushes over that part in the recap.
- Piss-Take Rap: One of the contests Sam and Max have to beat Jurgen at is a poetry contest. This takes the form of Sam and Max busting out a series of rap lyrics that nonetheless impress the zombies, provided the lyrics are gothy enough.
- Shout-Out:
- Sam can find a typewriter ribbon at the Zombie Factory, and Max complains that healing herbs would have been more useful.
- While being interviewed for a position as Sybil's new boyfriend, Pennyworth offers to recite from "The Cloaca Monologues".
- Sissy Villain: Jurgen, the villain of this episode, is a giggling, effeminate, club-kid vampire. Still doesn't stop him from actually beating and killing Sam and Max.Max: I never knew vampires were so... fruity.
- The Stinger: An after-credits scene features Max addressing the press as President, while still in zombie mode.
- Stock Scream: A Wilhelm scream is heard when Jurgen falls into his own soul sucking machine.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted. Sam spends quite some time recapping to Max how the two of them got trapped in Jurgen's soul-stealing machine. By the time he's finished, however, the machine kills them both before they can plan an escape.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: A bizarre example; in order to keep Jurgen from sucking Max's blood and stealing the Freelance Police's rhymes during the poetry contest, you have to get Max to drink holy water beforehand, thereby spiking his own blood with vampire poison.
- The Three Trials: After you break into Jurgen's castle, you have to threaten Jurgen's villain cred by sabotaging his trendiness, dancing, and poetry. After Sam and Max get turned into zombies, you have to find three parts to fix up the Monster in Jurgen's lab to make him the ideal partner for Sybil, so you can borrow her "Soul Mater" and get Sam and Max's souls back in their bodies.
- Very Special Episode: In-universe, the Freelance Police shoot a VSE of Midtown Cowboys where they confront Mr. Featherly about his drinking problem, which turns into a shameless plug for the malt liquor he's been drinking. The player can also change the contents of the bag to various other substances, such as clove cigarettes or bottled water. No matter the substance, it will be given the same treatment.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Sybil picks the Monster as her new boyfriend, but the Monster's hopes at no longer being lonely are dashed when Sybil realizes she actually does miss Abe and runs off to make up with him.
