All of Them: When Fury asks Talos how many of the one million Skrull refugees fled to Earth, his response is all of the million Skrull refugees are on Earth.
Badass Boast: Fury to Rhodey, when Rhodey fires him:
Fury: I'm Nick Fury. Even when I'm out, I'm in.
Blatant Lies: Brogan, the Skrull that Sonya tortured, lies to Gravik that he fed her false information. Gravik, having seen one of their safehouses being raided and assuming him responsible, has him executed for it.
Bland-Name Product: The episode includes broadcasts from fake news channels CUV (modeled after BBC News) and FXN (modeled after Fox News)
Both Sides Have a Point: During the train ride to Warsaw, both Fury and Talos make valid points when discussing the Skrulls being on Earth. While Talos is right about how his people needed a home after Skrullos was destroyed and they were being hunted by the Kree Empire across the universe, Fury is right about how the Skrulls can’t stay on Earth when humans can barely tolerate each other.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Sonya Falsworth interrogates Brogan, the Skrull captured in the aftermath of the bombing, by cutting off one of his fingers, and then injecting him with a solution that literally makes his blood boil.
The news network that Stearns is spreading his conspiracy theories on is FXN, a Bland-Name Product parody of Fox News. Said network had previously appeared in Daredevil, where a reporter representing it can be seen in Karen Page's press conference regarding Bullseye pretending to be the titular character.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Fury talks about his experiences riding trains with his mother as a boy. They were segregated into separate cars for "colored" people, which were often run down and not well-kept, and they had no access to the dining car so they were forced to bring packed lunches instead.
Even Evil Has Standards: Gravik intends to wipe out humanity, but he'll only turn against a fellow Skrull if that Skrull is actively working against him. We see this when he allows the one Skrull councilor whom he didn't turn or browbeat into submission to leave safely when she refuses to follow him, commenting that he could take over the universe with 100 like her. It turns out to be a mistake, as she immediately contacts Talos and tells him that he has become the new Skrull general.
Fingore: Sonya cuts off one of Brogan's fingers to confirm he's a Skrull. The actual torture comes next.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: A news broadcast shows the responses of the UK Prime Minister, NATO Secretary-General, and an American news anchor to the Moscow bombing. The very next scene reveals that they're all members of the Skrull council, showing just how deeply the Skrulls have infiltrated Earth.
Flashback: The opening of the episode takes place in 1997, where Fury made a promise to the Skrulls, including a young Gravik, that he and Carol Danvers would find them a new home if they both blend with humans and help with a few missions in return.
Framing the Guilty Party: Under torture, Brogan divulges the names of Gravik's scientists to Sonya, while G'iah contacts the police about Gravik's safehouse. Upon seeing the police raid on the safehouse, Gravik suspects a mole in the Skrulls' ranks, and G'iah uses this opportunity to blame Brogan for making a really good educated guess about the safehouse.
Hollywood Silencer: During the shootout in the butcher shop, Gravik's and Pagon's guns sound as if they are suppressed, but they have nothing on their muzzles.
How Did You Know? I Didn't: As G'iah drives Gravik to the Skrull council, she asks him how he knew Fury would be at the square for the bombing.
G'iah: How did you know Fury would be there? Gravik: I didn't. Well, not to a certainty. But I hoped. I wanted to see how much of him was left. G'iah: And? Gravik: He's just vapors. Old. You know, I could've killed him if I wanted to. You don't punish a man by givin' him what he wants.
Fury calls Talos out for summoning a million Skrulls to Earth, saying we have been killing our own kind over differences for millennia, so how would we react to another species to share the planet with?
Hypocrite: Gravik, in his misanthropic rant, derides humans for destroying the environment. His ultimate plan is to trigger a nuclear war, which will wipe out humanity, but also Earth's ecosystem.
If I Do Not Return: Before going into the council meeting, Gravik surrenders his gun to G'iah, and directs her to shoot the bodyguard at the door if he doesn't come out within the hour.
Insistent Terminology: Throughout his emergency summit with the EU leaders, Rhodey refers to the sightings of Fury and Hill in Moscow as "alleged sightings", even correcting the leaders at one point.
Interspecies Romance: The end of the episode reveals that Fury's married to a Skrull. Viewers who pay attention to her voice can tell it's Varra, the Skrull who brought Gravik to Fury and Talos's meeting at the beginning of the episode.
In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves: Gravik justifies extermination of humanity by saying that humans are killing each other on their own already, and he's just speeding that up.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Sonya is a master of this, using mutilation and an injection of chemicals to get information out of a captured Skrull spy.
Jerkass Has a Point: Rhodey may have been needlessly tactless when chewing out Fury and firing him, but he isn't wrong that Fury's blunders have landed the US in hot water.
Gravik: You know, I remember when you first came to me, G'iah. The daughter of a failed General. I thought to myself, "What kind of coward sends his daughter to do what he wouldn't?" But you know, then I realized that kind of coward just doesn't have it in him.
Morton's Fork: Brogan finds himself in one. If he refuses to talk, Sonya will kill him; if he talks, Gravik will kill him. Downplayed in that the death Sonya has in mind for him is far more slow and painful than the one Gravik ultimately gives him.
"Not So Different" Remark: Fury attempts to give this to Rhodey as two high ranking black men in the US military. Rhodey isn't impressed, and counters that Fury's arrogance and dismissal of seeking any help just show he's not worth following.
Outliving One's Offspring: Maria Hill's mother Elizabeth appears in this episode and has to deal with her daughter's death.
Pain to the Ass: Sonya, while interrogating Brogan, jabs him with a syringe of chemicals into his buttock after he mockingly dares her to shoot it into his arm.
Pet the Dog: Gravik allows Shirley, the one member of the Skrull Council who doesn't submit to his new leadership, to leave the meeting in peace, respecting her strength of character.
Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Fury and Talos have a falling out after the latter reveals that he summoned almost a million Skrulls to Earth.
Previously on…: The episode starts with a minute-long recap of the events of Captain Marvel, in case you needed a reminder of who the Skrulls are and why they came to Earth in the first place. This leads into the opening scene, set two years after that film's events, in which Fury makes the title promise that the rest of the series hinges on.
The Promise: It's in the title. It's revealed that Fury, in return for the Skrulls' promise to be his spies and protect Earth, promised that he and Carol would find them a new home. By the present, there's still no progress on finding that new world, leading Gravik's faction to feel betrayed and break their end of the bargain.
Properly Paranoid: Before she interrogates Brogan, Sonya asks for the location of the escape hatch because she rightly suspects the Skrulls will come for their captured man. She makes her getaway as Gravik and Pagon break into the freezer to get him.
Gravik strongly suspects that Brogan gave vital intelligence to his torturer. He's right, but his suspicions are falsely confirmed when they pass by their safehouse to find it swarming with police. It was actually G'iah who contacted the police about the safehouse, and what Brogan divulged was information about the machine that the Daltons are building.
Subverted with Stearns, a news pundit who opines that the Moscow bombing is a False Flag Operation, with the implication being that he thinks the Russians were behind it. We soon learn he's a Skrull and a member of the ruling council, and that he was knowingly stirring the pot.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Shirley chooses to dismiss herself from the council meeting rather than support Gravik's appointment as Skrull General.
Shirley: I fear each one of you has forgotten our history. We did not end up homeless refugees because we were unwilling to wage war. We ended up homeless refugees because we were too willing. I do not support your coup. I will not support your war. And I do not submit.
Secret-Keeper: Rhodey reveals to Fury that he's been aware of the Skrulls' existence in Earth for years.
Sonya mentions "cake or death" during her "we can do this the easy way or hard way" spiel to Brogan.
Sonya lampshades that her escape from the shootout through a hidden tunnel in the floor is a "very Dostoevsky" move.
Single Tear: Maria's mother sheds a single tear when confronting Nick Fury about Maria's death. Nick does the same thing during his conversation with her.
Gravik: I think it's a war. [pounds the table] I think it's a WAR!
Sugary Malice: Sonya Falsworth dispenses it in spades, never changing her cheerful tone as she tortures Brogan.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Justified. Fury refuses to involve the Avengers presently because they might end up being impersonated by the Skrulls too and framed for terrorism before the threat can be located and neutralized.
They Died Because of You: Maria's mother blames Fury for her death, a fact he does not dispute. Rhodey also explicitly blames Fury for the death, something which spurs him into action.
Title Drop: In 1997, Fury and the Skrulls made a promise to each other: he and Carol Danvers would find them a home, and they would keep Earth safe.
Torture Always Works: Brogan ultimately breaks under Sonya's torture and honestly admits to what little he does know, even though, as he claims later, he could have lied to her and she wouldn't have been able to verify it.
You Have Failed Me: Gravik has Brogan executed because he rightly suspects the man admitted to something under torture, even if he's wrong about what.
