Wrecker, Tech and Omega accompany Cid to Safa Toma for a race where she has a wager going on. But when her racer gets taken out before the race, Tech must go into the driver's seat and race.
Tropes:
- Ace Pilot: Tech proves to be an excellent riot racer.
- Actor Allusion: Tay-0 is a talkative blue speedster with a smug attitude who is voiced by Ben Schwartz. It also continues the running joke of how his voice roles tend to be blue characters.
- Affably Evil: While a menacing criminal, Millegi is generally polite, honors his agreements, and prevents those working for him from acting out.
- As You Know: When Cid warns Tay-0 not to take the left tunnel, Tay-0 responds that he already knows not to.
- Asshole Victim: When the smug, arrogant, self-important Tay-0 is sideswiped and wrecked (again), the crew's main concern is that they've lost their experienced racer, rather than any worry about Tay-0 himself (though he can presumably be repaired afterwards).
- Author Appeal: Star Wars creator George Lucas is an avid car race fan, having previously often worked the sport into the franchise.
- The Big Race: The plot of this episode.
- Black Comedy: Due to the lack of safety measures, a spectator is killed by a stray blaster bolt, which is played for dark laughs as the announcer points out that the circuit is not liable in a casual tone which suggests that that sort of thing happens all the time.
- Breather Episode: After the previous episode focused on Crosshair and the Empire putting down a rebellion, this one is more easygoing and focuses on Tech taking part in Vehicular Combat.
- Call-Back: One of the racers has a battle droid's head attached to a protocol droid's body, just like what happened to C-3PO's body in Attack of the Clones (though in this case, it's presumably deliberate).
- Car Fu: Riot racing heavily features and encourages this. The announcer outright says Tech has a death wish when he detaches his speeder's weapons rack to give himself more speed.
- Crippling the Competition: It's highly implied that the racer who takes out Tay-0 was paid to do so by Grini Millegi.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The dreaded "left tunnel", which Tay-0 and Tech are both warned not to go down, turns out to be a shortcut... with a gigantic hole in it. Tech takes it, using his stripped-down speeder's superior speed to drive on the tunnel ceiling and get through, while the racer pursuing him doesn't fare as well.
- Dark Secret: Grini Millegi hints that Cid has been keeping a very dark secret from the team, and he gives a cryptic warning that they should not trust her, as he was on the receiving end of it.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Tech, who is given the opportunity to get out of his comfort zone a bit in an intense sport.
- Deadly Dodging: Tech dodges the tag-team pincer move that stopped Tay-0 in the previous race at the last second, causing the two racers to disable each other while he wins the race.
- Deadly Euphemism: Tay-0 notes that the last sponsor who failed to pay Millegi is "taking a permanent pit stop" in a sand dune somewhere.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Grini Millegi may be a violent crook who is willing to use underhanded tactics to get an edge on Cid, but he honors his deal with Omega and even stops his racer from taking revenge on Tech. His warning about Cid seems to come from genuine concern that she doesn't deserve the loyalty the Batch give her, implying he was betrayed by her in the past.
- Fantastic Racism: Tay-0 is contemptuous of Tech's approach to racing, dismissively calling him "human" in a tone that implies that he considers droids far superior at such things.
- Foreshadowing:
- The episode begins with Wrecker losing to Omega at Dejarik and suggesting a double-or-nothing game rather than pay out the bet, only for Cid to recruit them for a mission. Omega is later forced to make the same kind of offer to Millegi when Cid loses the bet she made with him and can't pay immediately.
- Millegi warns that the Bad Batch shouldn't trust Cid as much as they do, believing their loyalty won't be reciprocated.
- Flesh Versus Steel: The rivalry between Tay-O and Tech. Amusingly, the roles are mostly reversed, with Tay-0 only giving a bit of lip service to fact he can calculate faster than a human brain. Otherwise, Tay-0 is the emotional and "performer" position, insisting on feeling out the course; while Tech is the, well, technician position, using his analytical mind and reason to figure out a better solution to the race.
- Graceful Loser: Millegi, in the end. He keeps up his end of the bet, acknowledges Tech as a Worthy Opponent and stops his racer from shooting him in revenge. He even gives him an apparently genuine warning that the Batch's loyalty to Cid may be one-sided.
- It's All About Me: Tay-0 doesn't seem concerned about Cid in the least when Millegi holds her as "collateral", demanding that the others stop yammering about "nonsense" and get back to fixing him.
- Jerk Jock: Tay-0, Cid's racer who is arrogant and dismissive of Tech's more analytic approach.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Tay-0 gets taken out by an errant speeder in the pit area while boasting to Tech. Downplayed as he lives just long enough to say "I regret nothing" before expiring.
- Large and in Charge: Millegi is much taller and bulkier than anyone who works for him, though his personality is much more easy-going than one might expect from a crime boss.
- Let's See YOU Do Better!: When Tech is surprised to learn that Tay-0 is a droid, Tay-0 takes offence and asks Tech whether he thinks he's able to do what a droid can. Tech replies that he doesn't know enough about riot racing yet to be able to answer that. He gets the chance after Tay-0 is put out of commission, and proves that his analytical approach is, in fact, better.
- Nerves of Steel: Tech keeps his usual level head throughout the race, never showing the slightest hint of panic and confidently pulling off some impressive stunts to get ahead in the race. The only time he even seems surprised is when the crowd starts cheering for him after his victory, prompting Tech to give a mildly awkward wave.
- No OSHA Compliance: Riot Racing makes podracing look safe by comparison, with it being just as dangerous to the spectators as it is to the racers. Not only are the speeders equipped with weapons like blasters to take each other out, there is nothing such as a blast shield stopping any stray shots from killing spectators (which one does), and the circuit claims no liability for it.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Though Cid insists otherwise, Millegi claims that hustlers like them never change, and even makes a point of warning the Batch that their trust in her is misplaced. Whether he's right is a matter for another day.
- Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Tech ejects the forward weapons array on his speeder to remove an unnecessary power draw and lose enough mass to significantly increase his speed, allowing him to use the damaged tunnel as a shortcut. In a twist, doing this actually makes his speeder more durable, because it allows him to shunt additional power to the shields at the cost of abandoning any offense.
- Sore Loser: Jet Venim, Millegi's racer, takes his loss to Tech much harder than Millegi does. At one point he even tries to draw his blaster on Tech and has to be stopped by Millegi before he can do so.
- Spectator Casualty: At one point, a speeder crashes while in the process of firing, sending stray blaster fire into the stands. One unlucky spectator gets hit in the chest and killed, prompting a PA announcement reminding spectators that the circuit takes no liability for such events.
- The Strategist: Tech extensively studies the layout of the track and other racers' tactics to try and give himself an edge during the big race.
- Technician Versus Performer: Tay-0 is the Performer, arrogantly confident that his abilities will see him through without the need for strategy. Tech is, of course, the Technician, taking a far more analytical, strategic approach to the race. The usual experience levels of the two are reversed, with Tay-0 being a seasoned riot racer whereas Tech has never even heard of the sport before.
- Underestimating Badassery: Tay-0, the race announcer, and virtually everyone else has no faith whatsoever in Tech's ability to win or even survive the race. Tech not only wins, but does so without firing a shot, easily outmaneuvers the competition, and never even seems to break a sweat doing it, earning an uproarious response from the crowd.
- Vehicular Combat: Riot Racing allows its speeders to be armed, and the racers are expected to shoot at each other to get ahead. Tech, impressively, manages to win after not only not firing a shot, but discarding his weapons altogether.
- Written-In Absence: Hunter and Echo do not appear in this episode, as they are away on another mission.
