The Empire closes in on the Batch.
Tropes:
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Pabu is discovered and invaded by the Empire.
- Bad Boss: After Hunter manages to grab onto one of the Imperial Low Altitude Assault Transports and holds on to it as it flies, X-2 simply shoots the pilot with a sniper rifle in order to crash it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: X-2 successfully recaptures Omega, and what's more, injures Wrecker in the process and manages to leave Pabu before Crosshair can get a tracker onto his ship.
- The Bus Came Back: Shep makes his first reappearance this season.
- Call-Back:
- Hunter has decided for the Batch to leave Pabu for the planet’s own safety as per Ventress’s warning in "The Harbinger", and X-2 lands his CX Dagger vessel ship in the same cave where Ventress hid hers in that same episode, arriving just as unnoticed as she did.
- Omega tells Crosshair to focus on the bigger mission, recalling what he advised her back in the first episodes of the season.
- Continuity Nod: Omega decides to leave Tech’s broken glasses behind; Hemlock had tossed them to Hunter as a grim taunt that further casualties would come if he didn’t submit in "Plan 99".
- Contrived Coincidence:
- X-2 managed to trip two alarms (one on Phee's ship and one in the Marauder) while getting to Pabu but both times the ones who set the alarms were otherwise distracted and X-2 manages to disable them in time.
- Phee almost catches X-2 sneaking off her ship but Olly demanded payment at that exact moment and gave X-2 the opportunity to slip away.
- TK Stormtroopers find Crosshair right as he's about to shoot the tracker.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: With Pabu a peaceful planet of former refugees with only really the Batch for protection, the arriving Imperial forces take over the city, island and planet while scarcely firing a shot. The Imperial troops' threat to go door-to-door burning every building down is only averted when Omega gives herself up to them.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Despite Pabu's rapid subjugation by the Empire, Hunter is able to overpower the crew of an Imperial gunship (even though he doesn't actually get to hijack it), Crosshair takes out several troopers who come after him, and even Wrecker managed to save Gonky the droid from being caught in the explosion of the Havoc Marauder. However, it's far from enough to avert the Downer Ending of the episode.
- Downer Ending: Pabu has been subjugated by the Empire, and Omega is willingly recaptured but Crosshair misses the shot to put a tracker on her ship, leaving the Batch without her or a way to Tantiss, assuming that they can even get off of Pabu with the Marauder destroyed.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A non-lethal example, but Omega chooses to give herself up to the Empire rather than let them continue terrorizing the people of Pabu in their search for her. (She's also hoping to enable the other members of the Batch to track her back to Tantiss, but that doesn't go according to plan.)
- Hope Spot:
- Within hours of the Batch planning to leave Pabu for the safety of both Omega and the people there, X-2 arrives and quickly brings with him an Imperial occupation.
- Crosshair, despite being found by TK Troopers, quickly defeats them and takes the shot to land a tracker on X-2's CX Dagger vessel... and misses, meaning that even if the Batch can get off Pabu, they have no way of tracking X-2 or Omega back to Tantiss.
- It's All My Fault: Omega is quickly horrified upon realizing the Empire is invading Pabu just to get her. Hunter is quick to reassure her that it's the Empire's fault, not hers.
- Kick the Dog: When Shep argues against the Empire's brutal tactics, X-2 casually threatens to do much worse if Omega isn't turned over. His troops are about to begin burning down homes when Omega surrenders herself. Once she does, X-2 proceeds to blame her for the Empire's actions, replying to her insistence that the people of Pabu are innocent by saying that she shouldn't have gone there if that was the case.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Omega has this seeing the carnage inflicted on Pabu by the Empire’s search for her.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: The Empire is done pulling punches with the Bad Batch, and it shows; X-2 quickly destroys the Havoc Marauder, knocking out Wrecker in the process, and an Imperial Venator-class Star Destroyer with a full garrison is sent to retrieve Omega. The Imperial invasion quickly proves to be more than the heroes can handle, as X-2 efficiently puts an end to Hunter's attempt to hijack a Low Altitude Assault Transport gunship and the Batch aren't even able to put a dent in the Imperial forces before Omega is recaptured, and the team is left stranded on a now-occupied Pabu.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Wrecker, when he notices the explosives attached to the Marauder.
- Crosshair has it when he misses the shot to hit the CX Dagger vessel containing Omega with a tracker.
- Shoo Out the Clowns:
- He isn't killed, but after being his usual goofy self at the start of the episode, Wrecker is injured and left unconscious right when the Imperial invasion of Pabu begins, leaving no room for any kind of further levity as the heroes are rapidly overwhelmed.
- The Batch's resident Robot Buddy Gonky survived the explosion of the Havoc Marauder thanks to Wrecker, but is left on Pabu alongside him as well.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Omega gives herself up to the Empire to save Pabu so that Crosshair can mark the ship that takes her with a tracker to finally get them the location of Tantiss. However, not only is it implied that the Empire will not stop terrorizing Pabu, but Crosshair also misses the shot to put a tracker on the ship, leaving the Batch with no way to find her and Tantiss once again.
- Spanner in the Works: Crosshair might have been able to land the tracker on X-2's CX Dagger vessel if he hadn't been discovered by TK Troopers at exactly the wrong moment.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Even putting aside Crosshair's shaking hands, sniping accurately requires stillness and a preferably stationary target; having to quickly realign his shot after having to fight off some TK Troopers, as well as needing to aim at a ship that's now taking off means that Crosshair misses the all-important shot to land a tracker on X-2's CX Dagger vessel.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The problem here is Omega said exactly how they should track her—she can carry her trackable commlink, and for Crosshair should plant a secondary tracker in case her comm link gets confiscated during a search. As you’d expect, it fails entirely. To be fair, Crosshair knew this wasn’t going to work.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Phee tries her best to cover her tracks but her ship is compromised by X-2 nonetheless, leading him straight to Pabu.
- We Have Reserves: When the pilot of the Low Altitude Assault Transport Hunter hops aboard reports he can't shake him, X-2 simply shoots him so the now-pilotless ship will crash into the ocean before Hunter can commandeer it.
- Wham Episode: Pabu is invaded by the Empire, the Havoc Marauder (the Batch's home since their debut on The Clone Wars) is destroyed, and Omega is recaptured by X-2 with the Batch once again having no way of tracking her and only the vaguest idea of where she's going.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Pabu has been compromised by the Empire, and the Marauder has been destroyed as well.
