Grayson solves the clue by recognizing that the supposed wheel or circle is actually a pie, a wordplay that points to Xander’s puzzle style. Lyra follows the logic: pie without the E becomes pi, and the related phrases become the formulas for a circle’s area and circumference.

The realization sends Lyra to the film tins marked with the Greek letter pi. Grayson explains that he already checked forty-two such canisters and found only film reels, so Lyra looks for another way to narrow the search.

Because the montage they saw included mostly older films, Lyra suggests focusing on years. Odette, who clearly knows more than she has revealed, sharply instructs them to pull every pi-marked tin from the sixties and watch samples, despite the time cost.

On the twenty-second film, titled Changing Crowns, Odette immediately declares that they have found the correct one. Grayson connects the title to the earlier clue about a crown, a scepter, and an empty throne.

Odette then reveals why she recognized the film: it is one of hers. She removes her gloves and says that although her first husband never made her father a star, Odette herself was another story, suggesting a hidden past tied to the clue.