Shout Out / The Ultimate Evil

The Ultimate Evil

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• Valerie finds Finn's outfit to look something straight off of Saturday Night Fever when she first sees it, and she describes Jade demonstrating the Rabbit Talisman's power as turning into a mini version of the The Flash.
• In the second chapter, Valerie cites Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Persuasion and a supposed William Shakespeare quote.
• Some quotations from classic literature — like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, Brave New World and Les Misérables — are read out loud to make references to Shendu and Valerie's relationship as it develops.
• The ninth chapter has a quote borrowed from Red Riding Hood:
  Shendu: …that's all that matters, Valerie…
  Valerie: You know my name…
• When Uncle decides to find an apprentice, Valerie jokingly asks if it's going to be like Hogwarts wizard training.
• When Valerie meets Nataline for the first time, she describes the demon hunter as Buffy The Vampire Slayer's long lost cousin.
• Nat calls Bai Tza "Ariel-wannabe" at one point.
• When Valerie swims frantically in the flooding Embarcadero Station, she compares the experience to being in close proximity to Jaws.
• Valerie and Shendu's confrontation in the antepenultimate chapter has lines borrowed from the climax of Labyrinth.

The Stronger Evil

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• Valerie, who already compared her first visit to Section 13 to being in a Men in Black film in The Ultimate Evil, hums the theme song when she first returns there.
• Valerie can't help but think of Jurassic Park when she enters the zoo where the resurrected Shendu has followed her friends. When she and Jade are later hiding from Drago in a school library, she mutters that no one had better start humming the theme.
• Valerie mentions The Terminator when Jade assumes Drago to have a similar reason for coming to the present.
• While trying to meditate in the ninth chapter, Drago mutters that "the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children".
• When reading the newspaper, Valerie comes across an article about homeless people spreading stories of gargoyles in New York.
• Nat makes a reference to Star Wars by calling Tarakudo's telekinetic powers the Force and saying that she's not a Jedi.
• Nat's last line in the 11th chapter ("We are in very serious trouble…") is a reference to The Mummy (1999) and the author's direct defiance of the 2017 version.
• Nat and Valerie mention the spells Wingardium Leviosa and Petrificus Totalus in the 14th chapter.
• Shendu showing Valerie his human disguise and his disappointment at her reaction are borrowed from The Ancient Magus' Bride.
• Valerie is called Shendu's "Harley-Quinn rip off" by the burglars' leader in the 17th chapter.
• A citation from The Bloody Chamber continues the recurrent habit from The Ultimate Evil to describe Shendu and Valerie's relationship.