On Ryloth, the Empire comes with the promise of jobs, but not all in the Free Ryloth movement trust their intentions.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The credits let us know at long last that Hera's mother is named Eleni.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Rampart successfully captures the Ryloth insurgents and pins the attempted assassination of Senator Taa on Cham Syndulla. Though he does fail to get Hera taken care of before her trial, which will ultimately have dire consequences for the Empire.
- Batman Gambit: After capturing Hera and Gobi, Rampart allows Gobi's spies to report back about it, knowing that Cham Syndulla will launch a rescue mission to save his daughter and, in the process, incriminate himself as an insurgent.
- Call-Forward:
- Hera was inclined to trust Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor because a group of clones helped her once. At the time, viewers assumed she was talking about the Battle of Ryloth.
- Hera also mentions to Omega that she dreams of living on a spaceship, something she gets to do with the Ghost.
- Hera still has her accent, which she masks by the time of Rebels, though slips back into when arguing with her father.
- We finally see what it means when Cham said he was captured before, due to Hera being on a supply run with Gobi.
- HCVw A9 Turbo Tanks are already being used as prisoner transports now that the war is over. They’ll still be performing this duty by the time of Rogue One.
- Orn Free Taa apparently survives his attempted assassination at the end of the episode so that he can make it to Lords of the Sith set a few years later. Hilariously, a deadly incident that puts him out of the story makes Darth Vader wonder if he survived and Sidious responds that he expects him to somehow find a way to do so.
- Rampart showing Eleni and Gobi the Imperial doonium refinery, which he claims will help parts of the Galaxy affected by the Separatists and their corporate backers during the Clone Wars, is eerily similar to Krennic's claims about Project Celestial Power providing free renewable energy to parts of the Galaxy during the events of Catalyst. Likewise, Cham's role in the episode is a Foil to Galen Erso, whose daughter will also be part of the Rebellion years later.
- Character as Himself: As in Rebels, Chopper is credited as playing himself. This also helps to avoid any late arrival spoilers for that show regarding who actually voices him.
- The Chessmaster: Admiral Rampart outmaneuvers the Twi'lek rebels quite handily and remains fully in control of the situation at all times.
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode is focused entirely on a young Hera Syndulla, and serves as her official introductory episode. Omega and the Bad Batch only appear in a single scene, to set up the next episode.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Cham doesn't want Hera to live fighting a war for the rest of her life… which is exactly what happens. Not only that, but like Cham, Hera will lose people she cares about.
- Despite being known as a resistance leader, Cham is very cooperative with the Empire and in many ways, actually helps them solidify their rule far better than Senator Orn Free Taa ever did, pacifying and persuading the angry crowds into accepting the Imperial presence and planetary disarmament with his charisma and reputation. And the only reason he went back to his resistance ways is because Orn Free Taa could not stand a rival who threatens his position. So all the trouble that Ryloth will give to the Empire for years to come is the result of their "loyal" Senator's selfishness.
- Exact Words: When Rampart and Orn Free Taa ask Eleni if she agrees that having Ryloth under Imperial occupation is a great thing, she merely responds that she believes in doing whatever is for the good of Ryloth.
- False Flag Operation: Rampart and Crosshair entice Cham and Eleni into trying to rescue their daughter Hera when she is captured, then have Crosshair shoot Senator Taa in the head as Cham is confronting him, falsely accusing Cham of attempted assassination. They do this as a way of discrediting Cham and Eleni and justifying their imprisonment.
- Foreshadowing: The Bad Batch giving weapons to Gobi, Hera, and the Free Ryloth movement from Cid's contacts hints that Cid herself is more aware of the state of the Galaxy than she let on.
- Frame-Up: Rampart has Crosshair shoot Taa so he can pin it on Cham, a potential threat to the Empire's rule on Ryloth.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Orn Free Taa is still jealous of Cham Syndulla's natural charisma, as he was during the Clone Wars.
- Hero of Another Story:
- Cham Syndulla and the Ryloth Resistance.
- Hera and Chopper at the start of their careers as rebels.
- Honor Before Reason: Howzer invokes this to Charm when he points a blaster at Taa.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Eleni gently reveals to Hera that she knew about her and Chopper spying on the doonium refinery on Gobi's orders, even though Hera never said that to Cham.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Admiral Rampart orders his men to surrender to Cham and his fighters, but does so to lure the rebels into a trap.
- Les Collaborateurs: Cham has shades of this in the beginning of the episode, as he is working with the corrupt Senator Orn Free Taa and Admiral Rampart to sway his fellow Twi'leks into cooperating with the Imperials and voluntarily disarm themselves, to maintain the peace that has been won during the Clone Wars. But the events of the episode force him to once again take up arms as a rebel, this time against the Empire.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The Bad Batch have a short scene delivering weapons to Gobi, but otherwise are absent, the plot focusing on Ryloth and the Syndulla family, specifically Hera before she became a rebel though with Crosshair as the main villain of the episode.
- Mama Bear/Papa Wolf: When Cham and Eleni find out that Hera has been captured by the Empire, they go out personally to rescue her.
- Never My Fault: Orn Free Taa insists that crowds booing at him and yet warming up to Cham Syndulla is part of a conspiracy from Syndulla to seize power. It couldn't possibly be the corrupt senator living a lavish lifestyle on Coruscant while his people suffer from war and poverty during the Clone Wars, now can it?
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had Orn Free Taa not begged the Imperials to find an excuse to get rid of Cham Syndulla, the Empire would have had complete control over Ryloth with little to no civil unrest thanks to Cham's charisma keeping the populace happy. By framing Cham for a crime he did not commit, the Empire will have major civil unrests and rebellions on Ryloth for years to come.
- One Degree of Separation: Hera meets the Bad Batch on the supply run to Ryloth's moon. Hera will go on to meet Kanan Jarrus, who was the padawan Hunter let go in the first episode.
- Origins Episode:
- How Hera and Chopper left Ryloth, and the background of her complex relationship with her father.
- How Cham and his family and clan returned to resistance, as he and his wife are now framed and imprisoned by the fledgling Empire.
- Out of Focus: The Bad Batch only show up for one scene, dropping off a weapons shipment to the nascent Twi'lek resistance movement. It's primarily to set up their involvement in the next episode.
- The Paranoiac: Orn Free Taa is utterly paranoid that Cham Syndulla and his followers will stage a political coup despite Rampart finding Cham to be a lot more cooperative with the Empire than anticipated and Crosshair's deduction that Gobi Glie is acting on his own.
- Properly Paranoid: Gobi and Eleni both don't trust the motives of the Empire, and while we don't see precisely what they're up to (in this episode, anyway), their mining operation is suspiciously well-defended for a galaxy supposedly at peace.
- Saved by Canon:
- Thanks to Rebels, we know that Hera, Chopper, and Cham will all survive this ordeal and go on to join the Rebel Alliance. Sadly we also know from conversations between Cham and Hera, Eleni dies sometime between the two events, making her fate in this two-parter ambiguous.note
- To a lesser extent, Orn Free Taa, as he has an appearance in the novel Lords of the Sith, which is set about 5 years after this episode. Possibly literally saved - except for very small details (a twitching finger and Rampart's quick "attempted assassination" at a time where his mouth can barely be seen), the scene feels like Taa was supposed to die in the script and only survived because someone belatedly remembered he's needed afterwards.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: Unlike the other clones, Captain Howzer still has the blue stripes of his clone division painted on his armour.
- Tamer and Chaster: The Twi'leks on Ryloth, especially the women, wear clothing that covers them up more than in The Clone Wars. Notably, the clothes seem more new and aren't the rags we saw before, suggesting these were given by the Republic occupation after the Battle of Ryloth.
- 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Orn Free Taa is shot in the side of his head by Crosshair, but can be seen still breathing and his hand moves after he collapses. Rampart has the Syndullas arrested for the attempted assassination of the senator, further confirming his survival. It's not too outlandish, considering the massive amount of blubber present even on his head.
- Token Good Teammate: Captain Howzer. For a post-Order 66 Clone trooper, he shares a very amicable relationship with Cham and covers for Hera when he catches her in a restricted area, and later tries to talk him down from shooting Taa at the end of the episode. He also objects to arresting Hera, as she's "only a child".
- Tracking Device: Crosshair tags Gobi's ship so they can arrest him after he buys illegal weapons.
- Tragic Dream: Now that the Clone Wars are over, Cham hopes that the Twi'leks, and especially his daughter Hera, can live peaceful lives free of war and strife. Sadly, anyone who has watched Star Wars Rebels knows that will not be the case; Hera will spend most of her adult life fighting as part of the Rebel Alliance, Cham will once again become a resistance leader, and the people of Ryloth will spend decades living under a brutal Imperial occupation.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Despite the fact that Cham Syndulla helped liberate Ryloth and stayed true to his word to not seize power, Orn Free Taa remains paranoid of Cham's influence and tries to find any excuse to get rid of him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Hera accompanying Gobi on his "supply run" ends up causing a massive incident, due to being Cham's daughter. The sad part is she didn't even want to go, but she is convinced with the promise of flying lessons.
- Xanatos Gambit: Rampart captures Hera and Gobi and allows the other Twi'lek insurgents to report back about it, knowing Cham will launch a rescue mission that will, at nthe very least, incriminate him as a fellow insurgent. When the raid succeeds, Rampart surrenders, putting Taa in front of Cham. Either Cham kills Taa, or Crosshair frames him for it.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Rampart thanks Taa for playing his part and orders Crosshair to kill him in order to make it look like Cham did it. Averted in that Taa survives (despite being severely injured) because of how fat he is.
