After the reveal of Gwen and Duncan's kiss, tensions run high within Team Amazon. The next challenge takes place in the alien-infested Area 51, guarded by an elite security system. Against all odds, every contestant makes it out alive, some more injured than others.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite not totally trusting Alejandro, Duncan thinks it's incredibly funny when Alejandro hypnotized Owen to give himself a wedgie and sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" while doing the Running Man. Who wouldn't?
- Affectionate Nickname: Duncan calls Gwen pasty after they officially become a couple.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Gwen can deal with all the vitriol she's been getting lately, but Sierra calling her "New Heather" hits her where it hurts.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: At the beginning of the episode, Courtney's to-do list includes "pummel Duncan", "pummel Gwen", and "wash socks".
- Bag of Kidnapping: Courtney recalls the events in London and reimagines her and Gwen abducting Duncan in a bag as Gwen shoving her out of the way and abducting Duncan to keep for herself.
- Big "NO!": Gwen shouts one in slow motion when Courtney trips her to try to make their team lose.
- Blatant Lies: Even after we see her Tantrum Throwing, Courtney insists in the confessional that she still has her pride. She immediately starts crying again.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: As the plane is under attack by UFOs, the lights go out. All that's left to see of the contestants are their eyes.
- Cactus Cushion: To get past the lasers protecting Area 51, Team CIRRRRH comes up with the idea to throw a rock one way and run the other way to trick the system. When Tyler does it, he throws the rock as per the plan, but runs without looking and comes to a prickly standstill embracing a cactus.
- Call-Back: The inflatable dummy Chef put in his place in the cockpit, first seen in "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better", returns here when the flying saucers come into view.
- The Cameo: Ezekiel is also briefly seen in the cockpit of the plane at the beginning.
- Comically Missing the Point: Owen points out that Duncan has hooked up with two hotties, Courtney and Gwen, assuming everyone else is jealous of him because he has two women in his life, failing to realize that everyone is mad at him because he was unfaithful.
- Death Glare: Courtney has a livid one when she hears her team has won again, as it means that Gwen stays for another challenge.
- The Diss Track: The song "Boyfriend Kisser" is a thread of death threats and insults towards Gwen for kissing Duncan, therefore destroying his relationship with Courtney. Curiously, Duncan gets very little hate, all of it being directed towards Gwen."You're not my new sister, you're a pus-y gothy nasty blister!"
- Energy Weapon: One of Area 51's main defenses are these. They give the contestants X-Ray Sparks.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Both Sierra, who is clearly a Gwen/Duncan shipper, and Heather, one of Gwen's enemies, are visibly sickened by the fact that Gwen and Duncan were cheating on Courtney. This is despite the fact that Sierra is a stalker and Heather has done a lot of awful things to Gwen, especially in Island.
- While Heather wants Gwen gone as much as Courtney, she is clearly livid when Courtney tries to deliberately throw the challenge.
- Tyler is aghast at the concept of cheating on a loved one, considering it a deep betrayal. When Courtney flirts with him to try to make Duncan jealous, Tyler refuses out of complete devotion to Lindsay.
- Eye Scream:
- Courtney hit Duncan hard with the bowl to leave a nasty eye bruise.
- Tyler is about to eat a banana, but turbulence causes the banana to go into his eye instead of his mouth.
- Floorboard Failure: An alien robot in Area 51 takes out a big gun to shoot Courtney, but the movement causes the floor underneath it to give way. Same for the next floor, and the next floor, and the next floor...
- Foot Popping: As Gwen and Duncan share their second kiss, it's Duncan who lifts his leg to accentuate the moment.
- Groin Attack: In the flashback, Courtney breaks up with Duncan with a kick to the groin. Tyler later states that he's disgusted by Duncan's cheating and that Duncan, in fact, deserves two kicks.
- Hated by All: Gwen and Duncan are the most hated members of their teams as a result of Tyler exposing the relationship.
- Hypocrite: Courtney is still rightfully upset with Duncan for cheating on her. But how does she try to stick it to him? She flirts with Lindsay's boyfriend to make Duncan jealous. Luckily Tyler doesn't bite.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Tyler expresses momentary awe that Courtney is hitting on him, but promptly declares, "I couldn't do that to my Lindsay!" D'awwww.
- Ironic Nursery Rhyme: Sierra sings one to show her frustration and hatred towards Gwen to the tune of "Rock-a-Bye Baby".
- Irony: Heather is delighted how, for once, all the inter-team tension has absolutely nothing to do with anything she did.
- It Runs in the Family: When Alejandro explains how he learned hypnosis from his uncle Julio, he says that manipulation runs in his family.
- Madness Mantra: Courtney has one after she failed to get rid of Gwen in this episode's challenge.Courtney: (muttering to herself while writing on a notepad) Gothy's going down, gothy's going down, gothy is going down...
- Male Gaze: While Heather is talking to Cody and Sierra in the warehouse, the camera focuses on Heather's butt for a few seconds.
- Misspelling Out Loud: Tyler calls Duncan a "jerk with a capital G" for cheating on Courtney.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Chris makes an announcement to "all players and brooding goth chick" to attend the elimination ceremony. Gwen's the player who got her team the victory that day, but it's overshadowed by the hate she has garnered from cheating with Duncan.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Owen gets taken prisoner when the teams infiltrate Area 52. Alejandro and Duncan couldn't care less, but Tyler ditches the challenge to save Owen. He locates Owen's cell and tries to bash through the door with his bare hands to the rhythm of Never! Leave! A Man! Behind!" By coincidence, trying to save Owen gets Team CIRRRRH ahead in the challenge and Owen is freed through other means.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Tyler runs into a landmine and gets blown a good distance away. When he crashes, he barely consciously wonders why the purple meatball is playing the piano.
- Ocular Gushers: In two scenes where Courtney cries, her tears shoot out of her face; during the scene where she struggles to write in her journal and in her confessional when she tries to get a hold of herself after her break up with Duncan.
- Operation: Jealousy: Courtney attempts to flirt with Tyler to make Duncan jealous, similar to how she flirted with Justin to make him jealous in Season 2 (minus the cheating back then). She's not successful this time around.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a play on the show The X-Files.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Played for Laughs. When Courtney sees Heather getting sucked into what seems to be a portal to a different dimension, she says this before pulling her out:Courtney: Hmm, she is a pain... ugh, but I need her vote to get rid of Gwen. (proceeds to pull Heather out of the portal)
- Record Needle Scratch: Used in the scene with Tyler and the alien.
- Rejected Apology: Duncan apologizes to Courtney for his cheating, only to immediately get kicked in the groin right afterwards.
- Revenge Before Reason: Courtney becomes obsessed with getting revenge on Gwen and Duncan to the point of being happy to risk losing just to get Gwen eliminated.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Courtney screams "I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!" and it becomes obvious that she will stop at nothing until she gets it.
- Sanity Slippage: "Gothie is going down, Gothie is going dooowwn, Gothie is going down..." while making a list.
- Shoe Slap: In an attempt to make Duncan regret cheating on her, Courtney tries to flirt with Tyler despite the fact that he already is with Lindsay and loyal to her. While Tyler is performing some hanging leg lifts, Courtney throws a few compliments his way. However, one of Tyler's shoes slips off and accidentally but fittingly hits Courtney in the face.
- Shout-Out:
- Sierra's anti-Gwen song shares a melody with "Rock-a-bye Baby".
- Chris' line about blaming a casualty on a "freak weather balloon accident" is a reference to the Roswell Incident.
- The Black Box warehouse resembles the warehouse seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
- The robot that Courtney stumbles upon looks like a Rock 'em Sock 'em Robot, only it is a different color.
- The portal Heather gets sucked into looks like the ones in Stargate SG-1.
- Tyler and an alien touch fingers like in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the aliens then attach themselves to Alejandro and Tyler's faces like the Facehuggers.
- Tyler's line of "Don't probe me, bro!" is a parody of the University of Florida Taser Incident.
- Cody touches a pod which an alien clone of him emerges from, much like the pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the green slime that covers Cody and Sierra after it gets squeezed to death is similar to the green innards that are seen coming out of The Thing in a scene of the movie of the same name.
- The makeup that Owen gets forced on him by the Area 51 machinery makes him look like The Dark Knight's depiction of the Joker.
- After being hypnotized by Alejandro, Owen sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer and dances the "Running Man".
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Duncan to Gwen.
- Side Bet: Duncan and Alejandro make a bet for five bucks whether or not Alejandro can hypnotize Owen. Alejandro learned hypnotism from his uncle and so wins with ease. Duncan is impressed and doesn't mind losing.
- Smelly Feet Gag: After learning about Duncan's and Gwen's cheating, Courtney writes herself a to-do list. It starts with pummeling Duncan, proceeds to pummeling Gwen, makes a detour with a reminder for Courtney to wash her socks, and then she stops writing to cry uncontrollably.
- Tantrum Throwing: In her breakup with Duncan, Courtney is seen on the floor, crying, kicking, throwing spaghetti and screaming like a toddler who got told "no".
- Team Killer: As Gwen is running toward the finish line with a glowing box, Courtney intentionally trips her to make the Amazons fail the challenge, guaranteeing Gwen would be eliminated. However, the box flies into the air and lands in Chris' hands, allowing the Amazons to win.
- Tempting Fate: The good kind. When Alejandro says that an alien artefact isn't going to fall out of the sky, one promptly falls on Tyler's head and bounces into Al's arms.
- There Was a Door: Duncan and Alejandro try to tell Tyler that there was a door-like opening in the electric fence, only for Tyler to painfully climb the fence anyway.
- X-Ray Sparks: A character's skeleton as is shown when they're being shocked with a laser (but not with other electrocution methods), as seen with Duncan and a bunny.
