Bo-Katan and the Mandalorian travel to the planet Plazir-15 to recruit the Mandalorians stationed there. However, they're tasked to investigate a series of mysterious droid malfunctions upon arrival.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion:
- Alice Allusion: A gaudy queen plays a variant of croquet using giant pillbugs as living balls. Fortunately, she's a lot nicer than the Queen of Hearts.
- Anti-Gravity Clothing: When introduced, the Duchess is seen with a large holographic train hovering behind her, the centerpiece shaped like a flower and reminiscent of a carnival feather backpack.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Bo-Katan and Axe Woves engage in their duel using live weapons with no concern for the fact that there are spectators that can and do get caught in the crossfire (granted, they're all wearing armor, but most aren't wearing helmets). At one point, a group of Woves's crew is sent scattering to dodge a stray rocket launched in their direction. Given that everyone is Mandalorians, no-one bats an eye at this.
- "Awkward Silence" Entrance: When Din and Bo-Katan enter the Resistor, the music abruptly stops, all chatter ceases and every head in the room immediately swivels toward the new arrivals. After all, it's a droid bar, which doesn't cater to organics (they can't even drink the fluids they serve), so everyone's understandably surprised to see a pair of humans enter.
- Bar Full of Aliens: A droid bar. It is noted that it isn't the only one on the planet, and unlike bars for organics, there is only one "drink," called nepenthé. It is a form of internal lubricant bath that also carries nanotech programming particles that update droid instructions, and it isn't drunk so much as it is pumped into access ports.
- Big Fun: The Duchess and Captain Bombardier come across as this: jovial, welcoming, flamboyant, and hedonistic. Despite this, they are still attentive to the issues of their domain; specifically, the seemingly-random berserk labor droid problem.
- Big Red Button: Commissioner Helgait has just such a button that would supposedly shut down all droids, but Plazir-15 has grown so accustomed to them doing everything, he's loathe to use it for the chaos it would cause. At the end, he reveals it would actually convert all the battle droids back into attack mode.
- Breather Episode: Coming off the heels of a brutal pirate attack last time, this episode is rather lighthearted and humorous.
- Bullying a Dragon: Din, who knows very well what B2 Super Battle Droids are capable of, decides to test which of them is malfunctioning by kicking them in the hopes of provoking one to violence. When he finally gets to the hostile one, it promptly smacks him flat on his back.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Axe Woves and Koska Reeves show up for the first time this season, having last appeared in "Chapter 11" and "Chapter 16" respectively.
- B-1 Battle Droids and the Super Battle Droids come back after getting decommissioned on Corellia, and escaping the Empire.
- Call-Back:
- Din makes use of his experience working with Kuiil to get the Ugnaughts' attention and ultimately their assistance in dealing with the droid problem.
- Din recounts getting captured on Mandalore and being rescued by Bo-Katan as cause to return the Darksaber to her.
- Caught Monologuing: After Din calls Commissioner Helgait a Separatist, he launches into a rant calling it a "pejorative term" and praising Count Dooku as a "visionary", all while his hand hovers over the Big Red Button that would revert the labor droids back to Killer Robot mode. Bo-Katan seizes a split-second moment of inattention towards her specifically while he rants to let fly a taser dart from her Mando gauntlet, sending Helgait stiff-bodied to the floor.
- Challenging the Chief: With Axe Woves now the leader of the Mandalorians once under her command, Bo-Katan challenges Woves to single combat to regain her fleet and followers. She manages to win the fight, but only forces Woves to yield, rather than killing him.
- Continuity Nod:
- Boba Fett previously encountered a kitchen droid in Jabba's kitchen who threatened to attack him with his array of knives, General Grievous-style. Judging by the audio on the recording of another droid who does the same, this droid got to make good on its intentions.
- The medical droid is a repurposed Imperial IT-O interrogation droid, similar to the one that tortured Princess Leia on the Death Star, albeit repainted white.
- "If it isn't the qacta calling the stipling slimy" returns, after previously being used by Boba Fett and Cad Bane.
- Bo-Katan declares "I challenge you, one warrior to another." when issuing her challenge to Woves, echoing what Maul said to Pre Vizsla upon challenging him for Mandalore's throne.
- Crapsaccharine World: Plazir-15 looks like it's being set up for this when the port automatically seizes control of Bo-Katan's ship to direct it to a landing platform, there are Imperial droids waiting for them, and they're forced to take a shuttle to meet with certain people rather than where they want to go. Turns out, it actually is a pretty nice place to live, thanks to having far, far more droids than would be common for a population their size.
- Democracy Is Flawed: Plazir-15 is a direct democracy. When droids started going berserk, the citizens voted against using a failsafe that would shut them all down. The people are so overly reliant on droids for all tasks that they're willing to tolerate a few incidents. Subverted when the remaining droids are so grateful, they aspire to work better.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Din's method for testing which Super Battle Droid is malfunctioning is to kick them and see which one reacts violently. One finally does react violently by backhanding Din, knocking him on his back, and launching off on a destructive chase through the city. Still, he defensively states that his process worked when Bo-Katan criticizes his approach.
- A medical droid is used to extract the tainted nepenthé from the Super Battle Droid. Bo-Katan questions if the sub-particles within could still be active. Cue the droid's optical sensor turning red after getting infected and going berserk.
- Disappointed in You: The Duchess says this of Commissioner Helgait after his treachery is revealed, and it actually seems to get to him, as he goes from unrepentant to remorseful almost instantly.
- Domed Hometown: The capital city of Plazir-15 is covered by a dome, whose purpose is not readily apparent, since the atmosphere on the planet is breathable and the weather is actually quite nice.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Offended at being identified as a "Separatist", Commissioner Helgait replies that he fought for democracy. Any viewers of The Clone Wars are perfectly aware that the Separatist state only played at democracy, with Count Dooku (who was in league with the leader of the very "corrupt Republic" Helgait rails against) taking steps to surreptitiously undermine any decisions the Separatist senate voted for that didn't suit his and his master's plans and murdering senators who could cause problems for him.
- Helgait considers "Separatist" a pejorative term; during the Clone Wars, multiple Separatist officers and officials, as well as Count Dooku himself, freely used the term to describe themselves. note
- Drowning My Sorrows: "Nepenthé" comes from Ancient Greek, and means, roughly, "forgetting one's sorrows". Helen (of Troy fame) served it during dinner when Menelaus was regaling Telemachus with stories of his father Odysseus's cleverness during the war, causing them both grief over his absence. And that's what they serve at the droid bar, albeit as a lubricant.
- The Exile: Helgait is exiled to a nearby moon for his crimes.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Although his old prejudices against droids were eased considerably by his positive experiences with IG-11, Pelli's pit droids, and R5, Din still isn't well-disposed towards them, acting with hostility toward the droids he and Bo-Katan interrogate, because they're the same models that traumatized him as a child. His bad mood towards droids persists when they pay a visit to the droid bar and he gets a little too bad cop in grilling the droid bartender.
- Axe Woves is dismissive towards Din's Mandalorian status, both due to his membership in the Children of the Watch, and the fact that he was adopted, rather than born into the Mandalorian culture.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Duchess mentions early on that her family's rule on Plazir-15 goes back to the Separatists. This, and the presence of old B1 and B2 style battle droids, hints at the Villain of the Week's ties to the long-dead Separatist movement.
- When the Ugnaughts are questioned about the droids, they are adamant that the droids did not malfunction, and correctly predict where the next "malfunction" will happen. This is the first hint that the problem is due to deliberate sabotage.
- The two Official Couples this episode foreshadow Din and Bo-Katan in the next two episodes, and perhaps beyond:
- The Duchess and Captain Bombardier are a little bit of an Unequal Pairing. She's a member of independent Plazir-15's royalty who has been elected leader now, whereas her husband is a member of the former Empire's military. Likewise, Bo-Katan is a princess from a noble Great House who soon becomes Mand'alore thanks to some Loophole Abuse in the rules around Darksaber ownership, then is followed for her honor and sense of duty rather than any inherited title. Din has worked with Imperial remnants despite many Mandalorians hating them for the Purge, and is a member of the Children of the Watch, both of which make him disliked by many outside his immediate tribe. By marrying a former Imperial and showing how happy and prosperous they are together, the Duchess has helped her people integrate with former members of the Empire far better than the New Republic's "amnesty program," much like how her friendly relationship with Din has helped Bo-Katan unite the different factions of Mandalorians and a Political Marriage might just be a very expedient way to resolve lingering tensions between them.
- The couple at the start are a Maligned Mixed Marriage torn apart by Mandalorian mercenaries who are just doing their job and have nothing against them personally, even implying they can simply run away together again, or even pay them to reunite them again as soon as he's home. Likewise, while Din makes a promise to Bo-Katan to follow her faithfully "until her song is written"note in a touching speech that's framed as a Love Confession without using the word, they are separated by duty at the end of the season: she must remain on Mandalore to oversee the resettlement of the planet, while Mandalorian apprentices must be educated off-world and so the Dins leave without so much as a goodbye, implying that they will likely be dropping in on each other with at least some regularity in the coming season.
- Freudian Excuse: Possibly. As pointed out by Bo-Katan, Din kicking the B2 Super Battle Droids to see which one will violently react wasn't exactly brilliant, and was probably motivated by Fantastic Racism. However, when you remember that, according to Season 1, his village and probably his biological family were slaughtered by B2s, and the most terrifying childhood memory of the whole ordeal was staring down the barrel of a B2's arm cannon as it prepared to execute him, it's understandable that Din chose violence against them. Character Development can only take you so far so fast.
- Going by the Matchbook: A sci-fi version where the Super Battle Droid is carrying a spark pad for a droid bar called "The Resistor". It's unclear what the spark pad is for.
- The Good Kingdom: Eh, sorta. The Duchess and her husband come across as good-hearted rulers who want what's best for their people, but their society's heavy reliance on droid labor makes it come across as a potential Crapsaccharine World.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Done against Bo-Katan's wishes to the bartender at The Resistor. When Bo-Katan's "good cop" questioning gets nowhere, Din decides to play bad cop, pulling out a taser and threatening to rip out the bartender's memory circuit. Bo-Katan is horrified, but this does force the bartender to clarify that it also wants the malfunctions to be stopped, for fear of what would happen if they don't, which in turns pacifies Din.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The recording of when the kitchen droid with multiple knives going haywire cuts away just as the audio implies it got pretty messy.
- Happiness in Slavery: The droids of Plazir-15 are content with being a de facto underclass of manual laborers, in part because they consider themselves indebted to organic life for creating them, and in part because they live under threat of being scrapped en masse if they cause any problems, even when those problems occur against their own will.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Bo-Katan goes without her helmet for the entire episode, and neither she nor Axe Woves wear helmets during their duel.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:
- When first introduced, Bombardier says he would like to address "the Bantha in the room."
- After Bombardier calls Helgait despicable, Helgait replies, "If that isn't the Quacta calling the Stifling slimy."note
- Honor Before Reason:
- The rulers of Plazir-15 refuse to make an exception to their laws forbidding their mercenaries from entering the city or to the ones forbidding their law enforcement from carrying anything other than batons, which means they don't have any means of dealing with the potentially deadly malfunctioning battle droids. The thought of requesting an exception from the New Republic apparently doesn't cross their minds either.
- Downplayed with the Ugnaughts. They want to help the Mandalorians with their investigation, but Bo-Katan's question implied that they were negligent and/or incompetent in their work and Ugnaught honor will not allow them to answer her. Fortunately, Din understands the cultural nuances and rephrases the question to something that is not insulting. They still aren't as forthcoming as they could be, but they at least give them a decent lead.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Like Mina Bonteri and Tawni Ames before him, Helgait considers the late Count Dooku to have been a heroic visionary, unaware that the man was a merciless Sith Lord just as corrupt as the Republic he claimed to oppose, and who only ever considered the Separatist movement a means to an end.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: We get a bit of insight into how droids see organics; in general, they feel obligated to help because organic life is so short and "it's the least we can do" for organics having created them.
- Humble Hero: Having never desired to keep the Darksaber or rule Mandalore, Din never even considers trying to challenge for leadership of Woves' mercenaries, instead exploiting his own prior capture on Mandalore as a good excuse to hand the Darksaber over to Bo-Katan without needing to fight his friend.
- Hypocritical Humor: Bo-Katan disdainfully quips "Politics..." with a shrug after tasing Helgait in mid-monologue. That's a bit rich coming from a member of the royal family of Mandalore, who has for a long time aspired to rule their planet. Politics is, in many ways, all she has ever done.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: B2 Super Battle Droids are shown to be capable of feats of strength, speed, and agility that, as Shock Troopers, they were never used for in the Clone Wars. This one doesn't have the benefit of arm-mounted heavy blasters, so it has to improvise.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Averted, as this is one of the few episodes that doesn't have "The" in the title.
- Insistent Terminology: Helgait considers "Separatist" a pejorative term.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Din informs the Duchess, who is cooing over Grogu, that the child doesn't take well to strangers. The Duchess then offers Grogu some food and he immediately and joyfully leaps into her arms, much to Din's annoyance.
- Interspecies Romance: The opening scene features a Quarren and a Mon Calamari in love.
- Job-Stealing Robot: Inverted. The droids are worried that the recent string of droid malfunctions will get them replaced by human labor, which will be a one-way ticket to the scrapyard for a lot of them. As such, they're happy to cooperate with Din and Bo-Katan.
- Knighting: After spending some time enjoying Grogu's company, before he leaves, the Duchess anoints him as a knight of the Ancient Order of Independent Regencies. Notably, she uses an actual metal longsword to do the classic touch over the shoulders, showing both the gesture and weapon exist in Star Wars. (Thankfully, she's careful around Grogu's ears.)
- Loophole Abuse:
- Plazir-15's charter, imposed due to Captain Bombardier's Imperial past, leaves it practically defenceless against the malfunctioning droids: they're not allowed an army or an armed police force, nor are other armed forces (like Axe Woves' mercenaries) permitted to set foot in the capital. However, as civilians for whom "weapons are part of their religion", Din and Bo-Katan are allowed to carry weapons inside the capital, and are therefore tasked with investigating the droid malfunctions.
- As it's obvious that neither of them wish to fight each other, Din uses the fact that the cyborg creature on Mandalore captured him and relieved him of the Darksaber, and then Bo-Katan killed the creature with the Darksaber and so rescued Din, as sufficient cause to surrender the Darksaber to her without a fight. All of Axe's Mandalorian comrades look confused, trying to rationalize how Din could be wrong, while also wrestling with the cognitive dissonance of a supposed "misguided zealot" getting creative with interpreting the Darksaber's rules of ownership. In the end, even Axe acknowledges Din's roundabout reasoning for Bo-Katan's right to the Darksaber.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: The Mandalorian mercenaries who stop the Quarren ship in the opening have been hired to bring back a Mon Calamari male onboard, whose mother views him as having been kidnapped by their leader, a female Quarren. It turns out they're a couple though, which his mother is opposed to (the Quarren and Mon Calamari have had a long conflict which only just ended, as the Quarren mentions). The Mandalorian leader Axe Woves sympathizes, however he's set on taking him back (though noting he'd be free to run off with her once again after that).
- Meaningful Name: "Plazir" is pronounced like the French word "plaisir", for "pleasure". Which makes sense given the lifestyle of the citizens and the ruling class.
- Mundane Utility: Grogu uses the Force to help the queen win at croquet.
- Mythology Gag: Among the droids at the bar are the RX-series pilots from Star Tours.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's obfuscated because we don't learn his name until The Reveal, but Helgait — Hell Gate.
- Nanomachines: The droids are being driven berserk by Techno-Union nano-droids.
- No True Scotsman: Woves doesn't consider Din a true Mandalorian for being a "misled zealot" (a Child of the Watch) and for having been a foundling instead of a born Mandalorian. Bo-Katan is having none of it and announces to everyone present that Din is as much a Mandalorian as any of them.
- Odd Name Out: The first episode of the season to not follow the "The [Blank]" title formula, and the second of the series to have a title of more than two words (after "The Mines of Mandalore").
- Planet of Hats: Din appeals to the Ugnaught reputation as hard workers and their legendary status as droid-smiths to demonstrate that he respects them and appeal to them for help in solving the "malfunction" problem.
- Poor Communication Kills: The Ugnaughts have at least some understanding that the droids are being deliberately sabotaged, enough so that they can accurately predict where the next incident will occur. However, their cultural norms and isolation keep them from communicating this to the leadership of the planet. When Bo-Katan asks about the "malfunctions", it carries the accusatory implication of poor workmanship on the part of Ugnaught droid-smiths in the context of their culture, so they immediately clam up. It's only because Din understands their way of thinking that he and Bo-Katan are able to make some headway, and even then the Ugnaughts still refuse to simply explain what they know.
- Present Absence: Grogu accompanies Din and Bo-Katan to Plazir-15, but spends the majority of the episode hanging out with the Duchess, leaving the Mandalorians to conduct their investigation.
- Rank Up:
- Played for laughs, but Grogu is knighted by the Duchess, seemingly just for being cute.
- Bo-Katan reclaims the Darksaber, after Din recounts the events of "The Mines of Mandalore" as cause to surrender it to her without a fight.
- Recycled In Space: When investigating the "malfunctioning" B2 they took down, Bo-Katan finds a "sparkpad". Finding a matchbook from a bar or nightclub is one of the staples in Film Noir and Detective Drama.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Helgait describes the Republic as corrupt and Count Dooku as a visionary who was "cut down in his prime" by a "Jedi enforcer". For the most part, this is true, but, like everyone else who served under the Separatist banner, he's unaware that Dooku was complicit in the Republic's corruption, his "vision" was that of his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, and said Jedi killed Dooku on the orders of the very same Sith Lord.
- Scream Discretion Shot: Implied in a scene where Helgait is showing footage of a knife-wielding cook droid going berserk in front of several customers. It shows the droid start to malfunction, but cuts away just as the screaming starts.
- Self-Serving Memory: Unless he was referring to his status and influence, Helgait describes Count Dooku as having been cut down "in his prime"; Dooku was well into his eighties at the time of his death, though Jedi do live a fair bit longer than human standard.
- Servant Race: The droids on Plazir-15 do all manual labor jobs and allow the various alien species to live lives focused on the arts and politics. Notably, they prefer this situation, as the majority of the droids date from the Clone Wars and the alternative to working is being replaced and scrapped.
- Share Phrase: It turns out Kuiil's "I have spoken" wasn't unique to him, but a part of general Ugnaught vocal protocol.
- Shout-Out:
- Din kicking the cargo-lifting droids to see if they react is reminiscent of the demonstration promos of Boston Dynamics.
- The Commissioner is sent to a moon called Paraquat, which is what the Dude uses as an insult at one point in The Big Lebowski.
- The Quarren half of the Interspecies Romance couple in the Cold Open is named "Captain Shuggoth".
- Space Elves: The droids on Plazir seem to have this view of themselves, though without any arrogance or disdain. They're happy to help organics out of gratitude for having created them, and say that "their lives are so short, it's the least we can do."
- Special Guest:
- Jack Black plays as Captain Bombardier.
- Lizzo plays the Duchess.
- Christopher Lloyd plays Commissioner Helgait as the episode's Villain of the Week.
- Does the Mon Calamari prince in the opening sound familiar? He's voiced by Harry Holland, Tom Holland's younger brother.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: In the cold open, a Quarren captain and a Mon Calamari prince have eloped, two species whose relationship can be described at best as "strained".
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Helgait contaminated a batch of nepenthé to create the appearance of random droid malfunctions.
- Terminally Dependent Society: Plazir-15 could shut off all droids with the push of a button (or so they think), but the citizens voted against it because they're dependent on them for pretty much everything.
- Undying Loyalty: Helgait remains loyal to the Separatist movement (not that he likes hearing it called that) over three decades after the Confederacy of Independent Systems has ceased to exist.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The episode is mostly done as a crime drama in the vein of shows like Murder, She Wrote, CSI, and Law & Order, complete with forensic investigations (yes, they even have an Enhance Button) and special guest stars, one of whom is the guilty party.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Bo-Katan uses her jetpack to land a high-speed dropkick on Woves at the beginning of their duel.
