Marco and River must escape their cells before Ludo makes River order all of Mewni to love him.
Tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: No one likes Ludo, not even after River's disastrous stint as ruler.
- Air-Vent Passageway: River tells Marco to escape through the AC vent. The fact that there's such a thing in a world of apparent Medieval Stasis is Lampshaded.Marco: The dungeon has air conditioning?
River: It's a dungeon, not a torture chamber. - Bedmate Reveal: Variant- Marco sees someone in the royal bed and creeps up to them, expecting a sleeping Ludo he can steal the key from. He pulls the sheet off and sees....a mime, causing him to scream.
- Boring, but Practical: Levitato is the simplest of spells, but Ludo demonstrates that it can be a terrifying weapon when he uses it to send River flying up into the sky.
- The Caligula: Ludo has even less idea about how to rule than River, and really just seeks to be adored in all things. Everything else will be allowed to go to hell as long as that happens.
- Cat Fight: The fight between Ruberiot and Fool Duke mostly involves them grabbing at and tearing each other's clothes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Marco, while sneaking around the castle, finds Ruberiot and two other performers, a jester and mime, who have been resting in the King's chamber while Ludo is away. They eat his leftovers and use his bath. The mime on the bed, mimes sleeping but then starts bouncing up and down. Ruberiot quickly adds that they've all been sleeping on the royal bed.
- Downer Ending: River is blasted into the sky and while Marco clearly plans to fight, his only allies are the three nigh-useless artists.
- Everyone Hates Mimes: Inverted. On Mewni, the mime is the most beloved of the artists.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Ludo's main reason for wanting the throne is for the people to love him.
- Irony: After Marco takes the key, he returns to the dungeon to free River, but Ludo comes in and Marco has to pretend to be still shackled, dropping the key in the process. Ludo finds the key and assumes he left it there earlier, and mocks the prisoners for not trying to get it and escape, not knowing that Marco did just that.
- Public Execution: Ludo Levitato-ing River into the sky is clearly meant to evoke this.
- The Quiet One: As befits her profession, the mime is utterly silent for most of the episode. The only time she speaks is when she tells Marco to get the key to River's chains from Ludo.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Deconstructed. The artists aren't very eager to get involved and only Ludo's desperation for praise covers the fact that their impromptu song is terrible and the jester can't sing. While they get the key, they flee at the first sign of trouble and don't help Marco try to free the king before it's too late.
- Retcon: Foolduke marvels at there being a "solid gold toilet" in the royal bathroom. In "Royal Pain", River showed total ignorance regarding the very concept of a toilet, so unless he recently added that to the castle, he's actually always had one close at hand.
- Running Gag: The mime, inverting Everyone Hates Mimes, is frequently referred to as a genius and praised as the best artist while doing almost nothing. The other artists consider her far above their level.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Marco gets the key back to the dungeon and goes to free River, but River refuses, feeling that he'll just bungle things up like before. Marco tries to talk him out of it, only for Ludo to show up. The artists flee, and Marco has no choice but to drop the key and pretend to be locked up again since he doesn't have time to free River. Ludo assumes the key was on the floor all night and mocks Marco for never taking it, before taking River away to be Levitato'd.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: King River's banishment via Levitato continues after this episode throughout most of the dramatic conclusion.
- Take That!: The artists are a jab at pretentious artists who think they only have to create and make commentary, not actually do things to alter events. The Jester is also a jab at people who pretend their comedy is some great statement when it's really just lowbrow humor.
- Vocal Dissonance: The mime's voice is very deep and masculine for a thin, graceful girl.
- Written by the Winners: Immediately after seizing the kingdom, Ludo creates a revisionist version of history where he descended like an angel to liberate the mewmans from a savage and animalistic River. Not that his story is fooling anyone.
