Odds are against the Bad Batch as they operate behind enemy lines.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: Fitting for the penultimate episode of the series, "orders" comes up again twice as Rampart and Karr, both formerly loyal Imperials, discuss them with the Bad Batch.
- Ape Shall Not Kill Ape: Echo is disgusted that Emerie, a clone, would aid the Empire in their experiments on her imprisoned brothers and her sister Omega.Echo: You're a clone. How can you be part of this?
- Artificial Limbs: Since his interface tool sticks out like a sore thumb, Echo has to improvise by stealing a hand from a RA-7 protocol droid. Despite fitting onto the tool, it doesn't appear to be functional.
- Bad Liar: Echo does his best to impersonate a TK Stormtrooper, but he does end up struggling when he’s caught by both the Imperial RA-7 protocol droid and Dr. Karr.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Among the other things going on in Tantiss, there's a side room dedicated to testing weapons on the Zillo Beast.
- The Bus Came Back: The cloned Zillo Beast finally returns for the first time since "Metamorphosis".
- Call-Back:
- Scorch's search party is seen using the other lurca hounds last seen in "Confined" and "Shadows of Tantiss".
- Scalder follows Hemlock’s cold, detached approach to the children that he ordered Karr to follow to a tee.
- Continuity Nod:
- At the beginning of the episode, Dr. Hemlock and Scorch are alerted about Rampart and the Bad Batch's infiltration of Station 003 in the previous episode.
- Rampart taunts Crosshair that he once believed "good soldiers follow orders". Crosshair retorts that it depends on who's giving the orders.
- The cloned Zillo Beast is found by Omega during her investigation.
- Dirty Coward: Justified; Rampart is unarmed, unarmored, out of his elementnote , and is already being dragged along by the Bad Batch (who have a mutual disliking for him), so when they come across the Dylax, he has no problem fleeing for his life and leaving them to deal with the beast alone.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Echo swipes the uniform of the TK stormtrooper he knocked out in the previous episode. His new armor also grants him access various secure areas in the facility, including the lab. Since he's missing a hand, he has to appropriate one from a RA-7 protocol droid that catches him, which allows Emerie to figure out his identity when she catches him reattaching it in the lab.
- Heel–Face Turn: Karr decides to help Echo reach and rescue the children and the clones, turning her back on the Empire.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Hunter confirms that "unfortunately", Rampart survived the shuttle crash. An annoyed Rampart quickly chimes in that he heard Hunter's remark.
- Immune to Bullets: Despite Rampart's panicked insistence that the Batch shoot it, the Dylax's attack on a patrol of TK troopers suggests that blasterfire only agitates it, as their panicked shots make the Dylax focus on killing them rather than continuing to chase the Batch.
- Insistent Terminology: When Emerie refers to the vault's captives as "children", Dr. Scalder emphasizes that she considers them "specimens", a clear sign of her Lack of Empathy compared to Emerie.
- Internal Reveal: Deciding to help Echo rescue Omega, Emerie informs him of the existence of the other children kept in the vault.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Emerie tells Scalder to look after the children in her absence. Scalder immediately replies that Emerie's concern for the "specimens" is unwarranted.
- It's Personal: Echo is very disgusted with Karr's excuse of following orders since he's very painfully aware of what the trope has cost him and his brothers since their creation and especially since the end of the Clone Wars.
- Just Following Orders: Karr claims this as her excuse when she reaches out to Echo, but Echo has none of it.Emerie: I...I was doing my job.Echo: Yeah, I've heard that before...
- Lack of Empathy: Scalder follows Hemlock’s direction to be as cold to the children as possible, rudely scoffing at claims of their still being hungry and being annoyed when they claim to not feel good.
- The Load: Crosshair taunts Rampart by calling him dead weight slowing them down. Due to being unarmed and not being a fighter anyway, he’s in no position to argue the point. He ends up giving away their position when he wakes a Dylax and flees in terror, alerting a nearby search patrol in the process and eventually running right into another search patrol, getting himself captured.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The science vessel’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Novitz, is deeply annoyed when Scorch leads the ordered inspection of his vessel, completely unaware of the security breach he's suffered.
- Never Split the Party: As it's already bad enough the Batch has separated from Echo, they make it clear under no circumstance they get separated because their comms are being monitored and won't be able to radio for help if that happens.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Rampart and Crosshair butt heads, with Crosshair pointing out that they both got betrayed by the Empire, while Rampart tries to insist they’re both loyal to no one. Crosshair claims he's changed since then, but Rampart doesn't buy it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Rampart is absolutely terrified as the group arrives on Weyland and is screaming for his life as they descend from the crashing Rho-class transport shuttle, a far cry from his usual smarmy demeanor.
- I Owe You My Life: Crosshair gives this excuse as to why he's willing to risk death sneaking back into Mount Tantiss to rescue Omega.Crosshair: Omega didn't leave me behind when she could have. I owe her.
- Party Scattering: Dr. Hemlock’s welcoming committee forces Hunter to crash land their Rho-class transport shuttle, Alpha-44, separating them from Echo, who was the only one of them on board the science vessel and thus the only one who made it into Tantiss.
- Plug 'n' Play Prosthetics: Subverted. Even though Echo can fit a RA-7 protocol droid’s hand onto his interface tool, he can't actually manipulate the limb; even if he could actually manipulate the fingers, it would just spin around since it's not secured to anything. He ends up looking like a trooper with a defective hand.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Rampart pleads for caution if only for his own sake, terrified of the dangers of trying to infiltrate Tantiss.
- Properly Paranoid: Having gotten word of the Batch's infiltration of Station 003, Scorch correctly surmises that they may be attempting to track the inbound science vessel, and Hemlock has a fighter screen deployed to guard its approach and flush out any trailing ships. If the Batch survives being shot down, either his own troops or the wildlife would finish them off. He also orders the science vessel searched stem to stern and its crew checked before admittance, again correctly guessing that one or more of them may be aboard. The former works great, forcing Hunter to crash a fair distance from the facility. The latter, not so much, since Echo is just one man and more easily able to hide amongst the general population in disguise, but points for trying.
- Pun: After shooting an Imperial RA-7 protocol droid and helping himself to one of its hands to cover up his interface tool, Echo quips "thanks for the hand".
- Save the Villain: Despite the group's hatred for Rampart and having little practical use for him at this point, Hunter still goes to the trouble of making sure the ex-Admiral doesn't fall to his death as the Rho-class transport shuttle crash lands.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Rampart lets out a couple of high pitched screams while fleeing the crashing Rho-class transport shuttle and later running around the woods.
- Shoot the Rope: Subverted. When Rampart's cable jams, Hunter pulls out his blaster, but his target is the winch mechanism, not the cable. This releases the cable and sends Rampart plummeting, but Hunter grabs him before he falls to his death.
- Smug Snake: Scalder is immediately haughty when Karr asks her to watch the children, scoffing that there’s no risk of them escaping. Omega quickly proves her wrong by slipping away to explore the base.
- Spotting the Thread: Karr witnesses Echo putting his false hand on just in time and is able to identify him on the spot based on Omega's stories about the Bad Batch.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite appearances to the contrary, the Batch and Rampart's infiltration in the previous episode did not go unnoticed; their unusual appearance would have prompted some investigation, especially with the heightened security surrounding Mount Tantiss, and they were quickly identified, with word of their actions reaching Hemlock before the science vessel even reaches Weyland.
- Trauma Button: Being in proximity of Tantiss again leaves Crosshair visibly on edge and causes his shaking hand to start acting up as he admits that he'd rather not be anywhere near the facility. He braves through the stress, however, determined to repay Omega for not abandoning him during her own escape.
- That's No Moon: While trudging through the jungle on Weyland, Rampart decides to take a break by leaning against what he thinks is a rock, only for it to start moving, revealing itself to be a giant dylax beast.
- You Do Not Want To Know: When Wrecker is ordered to ready the rappelling cables, Rampart, who's not privy to the conversation, asks what the plan is. Wrecker responds that he doesn't want to know.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Rampart's reaction, almost verbatim, when he actually finds out what the plan is: rappelling straight into dense jungle, from the Rho-class transport shuttle, at high speed.
