Grappling with Baby Doll's death, Dorothy leaves Earth on a spaceship to avoid hurting anyone else. The Chief forces Cliff to help him retrieve Dorothy from the outer reaches of space. The Pioneers of the Uncharted, the Chief's old research team, return to Doom Manor and provide Larry with some clarity into the Negative Spirit. Meanwhile, Rita attempts to participate in a local theater production. Vic discovers that Roni's old enhancements are killing her and attempts to find a cure. Jane attends a funeral in the Underground.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Dead All Along: The fates of two-thirds of the Pioneers. Specs and Zip died fifty years ago. What's left is simply a fungus piloting around their corpses.
- Exact Words: "I promise I'll never ask another favor of you."
- Heel–Face Door-Slam / Redemption Rejection: A complicated spot between both tropes. Niles has made several strides to apologize to Cliff and even promised him a new body. When Cliff decides to fully commit to working with Niles again, the Chief is clearly stunned for a second... because by this point, he's decided to betray Cliff once again. Which he proceeds to do without regret.
- Innocently Insensitive: Isabel Feathers, the actress playing the Blob Lady in a local play about Rita's attack on the town manages to completely nail the source of Rita's problems and inner turmoil, describing them all in pain-staking detail and nuance... completely unaware that the Blob Lady is Rita.Isabel: There's a neediness there, like a little girl trapped in a woman's body, still desperately vying for the approval of her father.Rita: Mother.Isabel: ...right! Of course it's the mother, that lines up so much better! Thank you!
- Lampshade Hanging: Jane herself points out that split personalities can't die and that the Underground isn't technically real.Jane: Secretary, I'm gonna need you to be like, 10 percent more self-aware. This? Is a construct.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Zig-zagged. Niles has a complete breakdown in the spaceship, where he shifts between blaming Dorothy for running off to blaming himself for pushing her and Jane too far. By the end of the episode, he learns the wrong lesson.
- "No More Holding Back" Speech: Cliff manages to overcome his own rage issues and help Dorothy in a particularly beautiful one.Cliff: The truth is... we're all struggling to figure out what kind of people we are. Jane included. She'll understand, I promise you. Sometimes a person hurts so bad, all they can imagine is that everyone wants to hurt each other. But it's not true. You're not alone. I know you want to be alone right now. But... trust me. That'll pass. It always does.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Miranda comes Back from the Dead to take control as primary.
- The World Is Just Awesome: The majesty and beauty of space provides Cliff (and eventually Dorothy) with a much needed sense of calm and self-understanding.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: What Niles does to Cliff.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Cliff is clearly quietly uncomfortable during Niles's Never My Fault ranting and can only softly mutter a "no wonder she left".
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Dorothy realizes that she's one of these. It nearly throws her over the Despair Event Horizon.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: While alone on the moon, Cliff finally reaches a sense of peace. He successfully comforts and bonds with Dorothy, helping her gain some confidence and hope at long last. He even tells Niles that he's fully committed to helping Dorothy from now on. Then Niles shoves him out the airlock, immediately putting Dorothy back in danger and destroying Cliff's new restraint on his anger.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Roni's old military attachments turn out to be slowly poisoning her.
