Luke continues to train Grogu, and the Pykes grow more aggressive on Tatooine.
Tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: Cobb Vanth has acquired a deputy with the much more grounded name of Scott.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Cobb thinks they're even after their last adventure and doesn't see why he should help Din, whereupon Din says it's never easy asking someone for a favor.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ahsoka asks Din if seeing Grogu is for Grogu's sake or his own. Din's hesitation to reply is rather telling.
- Call-Back:
- Din recalls Ahsoka's previous refusal to train Grogu and asks why she's okay with Luke doing so. She points out she can't control other people's choices and if training Grogu is what Luke wants to do, she respects that.
- A few of Luke's training methods, such as the training remote, are things he picked up from Obi-Wan and Yoda. The latter gets name-dropped on a couple of occasions, on account of Grogu being the same species. He also quotes Yoda to Grogu: "Size matters not."
- Cad Bane notes that Boba Fett once worked with the Empire to try dissuading Cobb Vanth and the people of Freetown from working for him.
- Ahsoka says she's "an old friend of the family", smiling fondly at R2. She was very close friends with Luke's parents as well.
- When the two Pykes enter Sanctuary, the hostesses offer to clean their helmets — similar to how they did the same for Boba and Fennec in order to fill the helmets with the expected "tribute". They're puzzled when they refuse and walk out shortly afterwards... leaving a bomb behind.
- Call-Forward:
- The structure the Ant Droids are building when Din Djarin arrives on the planet bears a haunting resemblance to the temple that Luke saw burning during his flashbacks in The Last Jedi. In addition, you can briefly see his early collection of some of the Jedi texts in the background, inside the temple.
- Luke has Yoda's lightsaber and gives Grogu the option of picking it up if he continues to walk the path of the Jedi. Much like how, in The Rise of Skywalker, he was shown to have had Leia's lightsaber and entrusted it to Rey.
- The Cameo: R2-D2 brings Din to the site of Luke's Jedi school to meet Ahsoka, who delivers Grogu's gift to Luke, setting up Grogu's dilemma at the end of the episode.
- Cliffhanger:
- Cobb Vanth is shot by Cad Bane, his fate uncertain.
- Grogu is given the choice to either be trained by Luke to be a Jedi or return to Din Djarin, but his decision is yet to be revealed.
- The Pykes make their move against Boba by bombing Sanctuary, killing an unknown number of people.
- Continuity Nod:
- The course Luke runs with Grogu on his back is visually very evocative of the one he ran on Dagobah during his own training with Yoda.
- At one point, he tells Grogu, "Don't try, do", paraphrasing advice from both Qui-Gon ("Feel, don't think.") and Yoda ("Do or do not. There is no 'try'.") all in one go.
- As Din is flying to Freetown he passes a Jawa Sandcrawler that has the skull of the Krayt Dragon that Din killed in "The Marshall" mounted on its roof. The ribs of the skeleton are shown to be decorating the cantina in Freetown.
- The Jawa's cheer on seeing the N-1 starfighter fly past, no doubt recognising it as the one they supplied parts for in the previous episode.
- The treaty with the Tuskens is apparently holding, as Cobb says his people would be reluctant to fight given that things have been peaceful for a while.
- In "The Box", Count Dooku said Cad Bane needs no introduction. Once again Cad Bane gives himself no introduction.
- Cad Bane's Establishing Character Moment involves him arriving seemingly from nowhere to tell a character to stay away from something his employers want, and after being rebuffed, getting into a Quick Draw duel which he wins in short order. This is exactly how he also was (re)-introduced in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
- While Yoda's lightsaber was shown being destroyed in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, days after the events of Revenge of the Sith, a one-shot comic, along with a sourcebook, confirmed that Yoda rebuilt it and kept it hidden on Dagobah. Luke found the rebuilt version offscreen and now has it in his possession.
- Culture Clash: As alluded to in the previous episode, Din Djarin's Mandalorian beliefs are nigh-incompatible with Jedi ideology, although all parties remain polite about it. Din's attachment to Grogu and desire to see him again runs counter to Luke's attempts to make Grogu let go of his attachments in order to advance his Jedi training. By the end of the episode, Grogu is presented with a choice between living a Mandalorian lifestyle with Din, or continuing to train as a Jedi with Luke.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Luke helps Grogu remember his home. Recall that he's already established as 50 years old before being surprised that he was present at the execution of Order 66.
- Dark Is Not Evil: While training Grogu, Luke wears a black robe.
- Disapproving Look: Luke gives a subtle one to Grogu while he's about to eat a frog in the middle of a meditation session, making the little glutton stop.
- Double Tap: In Grogu's flashback, the Clone Troopers gun down his Jedi teachers, and continue to shoot their corpses just to make sure they're dead.
- The Dreaded: Bane's fearsome reputation is still intact thirty years after the Clone Wars when he was the undisputed top dog of the bounty hunter underworld if Cobb Vanth's subtle Oh, Crap! and dropping the pleasantries (and instructing the entire townspeople to lock themselves indoors) is any indication.
- Ennio Morricone Pastiche: Cad Bane's presence in Freetown is accompanied by some guitar riffs straight out of a Spaghetti Western.
- Establishing Character Moment: Cad Bane's first live-action appearance has him waltz into town menacingly like the villain in a Spaghetti Western (practically channelling Lee Van Cleef's character Sentenza from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), confidently talk down to Cobb Vanth, and ruthlessly gun down both Cobb (himself enough of a Quick Draw to gun down three Pykes before they knew what hit them) and his deputy without a second thought.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Bane assumes that Marshal Cobb is in the pay of Boba Fett, rather than he just wants to keep the spice trade away from Freetown.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: "Wait, you forgot your camtono."
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Luke, seeing that Grogu's attachment to Din Djarin is affecting his training, gives him a choice: he can either give up his Jedi training and return to Din, or he can continue his training with the knowledge that he'll likely never see him again. He's also reminded of the fact that, given his much greater lifespan, any time with Din will be brief compared to Din's shorter human life. The episode ends before Grogu makes his choice.
- Gun Twirling: After shooting down three Pykes and letting the fourth one go, Cobb Vanth twirls his blaster before holstering it.
- Hand Wave: At some point, Din learned what Luke Skywalker's name is, even though Luke never told him his name when they first met.
- Honor Before Reason: When catching Pykes running spice through the Mos Pelgo territories, Cobb Vanth gives them one chance to leave with their chest unopened; when they instead try to kill him, he kills three and orders the last one to leave the spice as payment for his life. The lone Pyke reluctantly complies, noting that the small box of spice is worth more than Cobb's entire town. He snarks he might sell it and retire then. However, when left alone with the spice, he kicks the box over and lets the spice fly off into the wind.Vanth: Do you know where you are, gentlemen? Think it through. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt being you're not from around here and say you figured you're in the middle of nowhere. But everything out there to everything out there is the Mos Pelgo territories, and these stripes indicate I'm the marshal of said territories. Now, I don't know what arrangements you have with the authorities in Mos Espa, and let's be honest, in Mos Eisley, anything goes, but out here I'm the one tells folks what to do. I didn't see what's in that chest, and consequently no laws have been broken far as I'm concerned. If you gentlemen load up your wares and head back to where you came, we can chalk this one up to you guys reading the map wrong.
[gunfire; three Pykes fall dead]
Vanth: [to the surviving Pyke] Think it through. I can see you're the smart one. I got a proposition for your bosses. Tell 'em I've heard of the Syndicate. Take their credits back with you. And I say this with respect, anyone gets lost running spice through Mos Pelgo again will be lost forever. Now, load that chest and go. Consider it a fine for trespassing.
Pyke:: It's worth more than your town.
Vanth: Well, then, maybe I'll retire. - Is That a Threat?: When Bane tells Cobb to be careful where he sticks his nose, Cobb replies, "Is that friendly advice or a threat?"
- Knight of Cerebus: It's not like the series was light and fun before this, but Cad Bane showing up changes things. He delivers threats and then murders Cobb and his deputy.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Upon waking up to Ahsoka standing near him, Din states, "I didn't expect to see you here."
- Leitmotif:
- Luke and Grogu have leitmotifs based on the music from the scenes in The Mandalorian where Luke fights the Dark Troopers and Grogu leaves with him.
- Yoda's theme plays when Luke tells Grogu about him, and then when Luke offers Yoda's lightsaber to Grogu.
- Like Father, Like Son: Ahsoka compares Luke to Anakin while discussing Luke training Grogu, clearly recalling her own training under Anakin.
- Make an Example of Them:
- The Pykes set a bomb in the Sanctuary to send a message to all parties on Tatooine: Neutrality is not an option in this war.
- Bane shoots Vanth and then repeatedly blasts his deputy before announcing to the town that the Pykes now own Tatooine.
- Marquee Alter Ego: Among all of Boba's appearances in this show, this marks the only one in which he never wears his helmet.
- Meaningful Rename: The residents of Mos Pelgo decided to change the name to Freetown. On learning this, Din doesn't hesitate, and calls it Freetown from then on.
- Mexican Standoff: At the climax of the episode, Cad Bane gets into a Showdown at High Noon with Cobb Vanth and his deputy. Cad Bane wins.
- Mythology Gag: When Din dismounts from his N-1 Starfighter, the camera rotates in a way that momentarily puts R2-D2 in line with the dome over the former Astromech socket, just like when he rode with Anakin in The Phantom Menace.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As Cad Bane points out, Din making Cobb give up his armor doesn't help his chances of survival.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When the droid announces that the Pykes left their camtono behind, there's a brief shot of Garsa's face falling in horror as she realizes what it is just before the container explodes.
- Cobb has a series of these of increasing severity, starting when he notices an ominous figure slowly approaching on the horizon, when he recognizes Bane once Bane raises his gaze at him, when he realizes Bane is about to get violent, and then realizing his inexperienced deputy is very clearly about to draw and get himself killed.
- Ominous Walk: Where the episode gets its title from; Cad Bane appearing out of the Tatooine desert.
- Out of Focus: Unlike the previous episode, Boba makes an appearance in this episode, albeit in one scene with no dialogue.
- Overzealous Underling: Cobb's new deputy immediately starts an unnecessary confrontation with Din over his ship landing close to town before Cobb tells him that he's a friend. He later refuses Cobb's order to stay inside when Cad Bane shows up, failing to recognize the situation is above his experience, and gets killed for his recklessness.
- Please Select New City Name: Mos Pelgo has been renamed Freetown, though the surrounding area is still the Mos Pelgo Territories.
- Properly Paranoid: When Cobb sees a figure walking slowly out of the desert toward Freetown, he asks one of the townfolk to get everyone inside. Good thing, too, because it's Cad Bane.
- Quick Draw:
- Cobb Vanth draws on a quartet of Pykes doing a deal in his territory. Three are dead before any of them can draw, and the fourth wisely surrenders.
- Cad Bane gets the better of Vanth when they get into a showdown, nailing him in the shoulder, then mercilessly guns down the deputy (likely due to him being the one to have drawn first).
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Cad Bane's eyes look incredibly menacing compared to his appearance in Clone Wars. He waits for the right time to dramatically reveal them as well, by keeping his wide-brimmed hat down until it's time to give Cobb a Death Glare.
- Reflective Eyes: During Grogu's flashback, the lightsabers of his Jedi teachers and the blaster bolts of the clone troopers reflect in his big black eyes. Later, Luke giving him a lightsaber demonstration also reflects in his eyes.
- Refusal of the Call: Din tries to recruit the people of Freetown as foot soldiers for the upcoming war. However they are understandably reluctant as things have been peaceful for a while, and what's a gangland war in the city to them? As a favor, Cobb agrees to call an assembly to try and persuade them, only for Bane to walk into town and shoot him.
- The Reveal: The gift that the Armorer forged for Grogu is a chainmail shirt made of beskar.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Cobb Vanth's deputy is shown to be a wet-behind-the-ears stickler, who is first introduced getting into an argument over Din Djarin leaving his starfighter too close to Freetown. His fate is also rather less ambiguous than Vanth's, with Cad Bane mercilessly blasting him multiple times in the chest until he stops moving.
- Series Continuity Error: Luke Skywalker offers Yoda's lightsaber to Grogu. Just one problem: Star Wars: Darth Vader showed Mas Amedda publicly destroying it in a blast furnace, along with a pile of other lightsabers captured during Order 66. This was eventually addressed in Star Wars: Crimson Reign, which revisits that scene and reveals that Yoda had more than one lightsaber.
- Shadow Archetype: Cad Bane is a cold-blooded killer who works for the Pykes. And he remarks to Vanth that Boba was a cold-blooded killer who worked for the Empire, establishing Cad Bane as everything that Boba is trying to leave behind in the past.
- Shout-Out:
- The beskar chainmail meant for Grogu bears no small resemblance to Frodo's mithril shirt from The Lord of the Rings.
- Grogu is presented with a similar "Choose the ball and you will join your mother in heaven. Choose the sword and you will join me on the road to hell" choice from Lone Wolf and Cub. Alternatively, it could also invoke the Pill Scene from The Matrix.
- The bombing of Sanctuary is framed the same way as the opening to The Untouchables.
- Cad Bane's line "as long as the spice keeps running" is very reminiscent of "The Spice must flow".
- Cobb's stand-offs are strongly reminiscent of classic westerns, if not Spaghetti Westerns.
- The shot of a chest of spice blowing away in the wind is reminiscent of the ending of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (where it was a bag of gold dust lost in a sandstorm).
- Space Western: Star Wars has never come this close to a western of old (or a Spaghetti Western for that matter) than in this episode when Cad Bane walks into Freetown like an angel of death and quickly guns down Cobb and his associate in a Showdown at High Noon out of a criminal territory feud, with some Ennio Morricone Pastiche guitar riffs as icing on the cake.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: While waiting for Luke and Grogu, Din suddenly jerks up and draws his blaster, to see Ahsoka leaning against a nearby tree like she'd been there for several minutes.
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: Luke reminisces with Grogu about Yoda's speech patterns, and gently tries to figure out if this is how his people speak, or if Yoda was a unique case.
- Sudden Downer Ending: After the Action Prologue with Cobb Vanth, the episode is fairly relaxed... until Vanth sees a mysterious stranger striding into Freetown, at which point everything goes downhill. Everything listed under Wham Episode below happens in the last five minutes.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Cad Bane shoots the hapless Freetown deputy half a dozen times with his blaster for no apparent reason, in contrast to only shooting Vanth once.
- There Is No Try: Luke teaches Grogu how to use the Force to make himself jump higher, and Grogu's initial efforts are less than promising.Luke: You're trying too hard. Don't try; do.
- This Means War!: If the barkeep's reaction is anything to go by, the people of Freetown now have every reason to get involved in the conflict between Boba and the Pykes.
- Training Montage: Much of the first half of the episode has Luke teaching Grogu how to use the Force to jump higher and maintain his balance.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Grogu is revealed to be suffering from this. Luke unlocks his memories and is greeted with a vision of Order 66.
- Uncertain Doom: The episode ends before we get a concrete answer as to Cobb Vanth's fate. At the very least he is shown to get medical attention within seconds of being shot.
- Underestimating Badassery: While Cobb knows who Cad Bane is from the start and is trying to appear unbothered by his arrival, his deputy Scott doesn't seem to recognize Bane and interjects, "hey, the marshal ain't for sale!"; after Cobb shoots him a look that's practically screaming at him not to get involved, Scott shrugs dismissively and seems confident that the stranger isn't so tough. That bravado disappears the second Bane lifts his head to glare at the two of them. Even the attempt to outdraw him, while an act of desperation, is a foolhardy mistake.
- The Un-Reveal: The audience is shown some of what Grogu witnessed during Order 66, but how he escaped the carnage is left unknown.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The deputy's presence during the standoff, though well-meaning, inadvertently distracts Cobb at a critical moment, which is all Cad Bane needs to outdraw them both.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Fennec reveals that the Mayor has left Tatooine to get out of the crossfire of the Mob War.
- Wake Up Fighting: After dozing off on the bench prepared by the ant droids, Din immediately draws a blaster upon waking up and feeling a presence.
- Walk and Talk: Luke goes on a walk with Grogu through a bamboo forest while telling him about Yoda. As Luke is a lot taller than Grogu, they accomplish this by having Luke walk with a normal stride and use the Force to lift and boost Grogu along every time he falls behind.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Cobb has acquired a new deputy marshal who's mercilessly gunned down by Cad Bane before we can really get to know him.
- Wham Episode:
- It's confirmed that Ahsoka and Luke have personally met by this point.
- Cad Bane is revealed to be alive even after the events of the Original Trilogy and fall of the Empire, working for the Pykes now, and guns down Cobb Vanth and his deputy.
- The Pykes blow up the Sanctuary and assassinate Garsa Fwip to send a message to Boba Fett.
- Grogu is forced to choose between his Jedi training and his attachment to Din Djarin.
- Wham Shot: Vanth sees a shadowy figure walking towards the town and demands that everybody get inside right away. As the figure approaches, we see a wide-brimmed hat, Badass Longcoat, and facial tubes that should be intensely familiar to any fan of The Clone Wars. And then the blue face... and then the red eyes...
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Max Rebo, who has been playing his organ for several episodes prior, is conspicuously absent in the Sancturary when the place went up in smoke. One can hope that he cheated death once again just like he did in Return of the Jedi.
- The Worf Effect: The episode opens with Cobb Vanth easily outdrawing three Pyke Syndicate goons and killing them in a blink of an eye. Near the end of the episode, Cad Bane outdraws Cobb and his deputy.
- Worf Had the Flu: Cobb's focus wavers when he sees his deputy about to draw on his behalf, and thus is a hair slow to react properly.
- Younger Mentor, Older Disciple: Luke, who is 30 at the most, is training Grogu, who is over 50 and still an infant by his species' standards.
