After a disastrous mission, Mermista is certain there's a Horde spy in Bright Moon and vows to sleuth them out with her mystery novel experience.
Tropes
- Arm Cannon: The episode shows Hordak's arm cannon for the first time and reveals that he's taking an active role in conquest again.
- Bishie Sparkles: Around Mermista in Sea Hawk's very embellished flashback.
- Call-Back: The buff Plumerian dude and Entrapta's kitchen staff from Dryl both make appearances.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The plan that the Horde has been working on in the background for the past several episodes is revealed to be a massive assault on Salineas in order to gain complete control of the seas. Thanks to Double Trouble's efforts the plan goes off without a hitch.
- Complexity Addiction: Double Trouble's choice to frame everyone for something (because doing so makes them feel more powerful) is one thing that makes their plot noticeable: if the alibis are to be believed, everyone is a spy, and that doesn't make sense. Reasoning from that, the alibis must not be reliable. Yet, most of the alibis cannot be treacherously motivated either, because- again- it's not realistic that so many spies would be in such a small team.
- Dramatic Thunder: Mermista's pronouncements are punctuated by thunder. Lampshaded by Frosta.Frosta: How are you doing that?
Mermista: I practiced... at home! [ka-BOOM] - Empathy Doll Shot: A doll floats in the water by the destroyed Salineas.
- False Confession: Bow insists he must be the spy simply because of minor mistakes that contributed to the loss at Dryl. His confession is so melodramatic that Mermista immediately rules him out as a suspect.
- Foreshadowing: While Adora and Glimmer interrogate Shadow Weaver, Shadow Weaver suggests they set a trap to capture the spy, which Adora dismisses and still accuses her of being the spy. While everyone is arguing, Double Trouble sneaks out to disable the back-up communication device they brought up, but it turns out to be a trap for them and Shadow Weaver helped with it.
- Frontline General: For the first time in the series, Hordak leads the charge himself during the battle for Salineas- even getting off the first shot with his Arm Cannon.
- Graceful Loser: After Double Trouble gets caught, they compliment Adora and Glimmer's performance and admits they really bought their fighting.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Mermista's detective experience comes entirely from one novel series.
- Insists on Being Suspected: Bow repeatedly agonises over his conviction that he 'could' have been the mole, and insists that he could have been the spy all along.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Adora accuses Shadow Weaver of being the spy, she tells her, "I'm not the villain of this story."
- Little Girls Kick Shins: Flutterina kicks Adora to escape when they find out she's the spy.
- Lured into a Trap: Double Trouble is caught this way.
- Mood Whiplash: Mostly a comedy episode, has one of the darkest conclusions in the season.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: Discussed by Mermista. Since Shadow Weaver is Obviously Evil, she can't be the spy. Unfortunately, because of Adora's history with Shadow Weaver, Adora hates Shadow Weaver too much to accept the fact.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mermista spends most of the episode having fun solving a mystery with her usual sarcasm. The news that Salineas has been conquered completely shuts her up and leaves her in shock.
- Shout-Out:
- Mermista's pointing gesture during the beginning is reminiscent of Phoenix Wright in the courtroom.
- Seahawk's dramatic expression in this frame
is based on a shot from Golden Boy.
- Show Within a Show: The Mer-Mysteries novel series, which Mermista uses to help solve the mystery.
- Silent Credits: The credits have no music this time as the fall of Salineas sinks in.
- Sudden Downer Ending: What had mostly been a comedy episode, with some tension here and there (mostly with Adora and Glimmer), ends on an incredibly bleak note when its revealed that the Horde successfully conquered Salineas while the heroes were distracted with Double Trouble.
- Skewed Priorities: Perfuma is taking very diligent notes...on which Mer-Mysteries novel to read next.
- The Only Way They Will Learn: Since Adora won’t believe Shadow Weaver isn’t the spy and argues with Glimmer over it, Shadow Weaver convinces them to think harder about it, and leaves them with these words: To catch a rat, you must spring a trap. Naturally, Adora thinks it’s just another one of her pointless riddles, but she eventually comes around and she understood what the words meant; to catch the spy, they had to think like the spy.
- Unreliable Narrator: Sea Hawk. Oh, so much. He constantly embellishes details when recounting his take on what happened at Dryl, and keeps drastically upping the number of how many soldiers he took out. Mermista lampshades this.
- Wham Episode: The Alliance figures out that Flutterina (aka Double Trouble) is the spy, only to learn that they were a distraction from The Horde taking over Salineas.
- Wham Line: "The Battle of Salineas is over. It happened earlier this very evening. It's too late."
- You Are Too Late: Double Trouble finally confesses that Dryl was a distraction and the real target was Salineas... and that it's already fallen.
- You're Just Jealous: During an argument, Glimmer incorrectly suggests Adora is jealous of her because that she's now Shadow Weaver's "favorite". Granted, it's later revealed to be part of a ruse.
