Following a lead obtained by Sabine, Ahsoka and Hera head to Morgan Elsbeth's former shipyard on Corellia to investigate.
Tropes:
- Accidental Truth: When Hera confronts Mr. Weaver about using former Imperials to run the shipbreaking yard on Corellia, he assures her that the workers only care about their paychecks, not politics. He's right, but he conveniently forgets to mention that the Imperial Remnant is paying them extra to funnel ship parts and equipment to their secret construction projects, right under the nose of the New Republic.
- Ace Pilot: Hera's not just good in a firefight on the ground; once she's in the air she's untouchable.
- Aerith and Bob: The shipyard owner sports the exotic first name "Myn" followed by the mundane earth surname "Weaver".
- Armor-Piercing Response: As Sabine complains that Ahsoka evidently didn't want her back as an apprentice, Huyang makes the equally accurate reply that Sabine never gave any sign that she wanted to come back, something that Sabine takes to heart. Ahsoka makes a similar comment to Hera later on: it's not that she doesn't think Sabine is ready, it's that Sabine has to know she's ready.
- Assassin Outclassin': One of Shin's HK-87 Assassin Droids tries to get the drop on Ahsoka when she enters the communications tower, but Ahsoka had counted on it being there, given Sabine's account of two droids, and easily slices it apart before it can even make a move.
- As You Know: After Sabine discovers the HK droid was previously on Corellia, Hera blurts out, "The New Republic shipyards?" even though Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang would be well aware of that fact. Somewhat justified, as an Imperial Assassin droid being traced back to New Republic controlled facilities is cause for alarm.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Hera and Ahsoka easily subdue Myn Weaver's shipyard crew in the control room despite being surrounded.
- Badass Normal: Anyone who has watched Rebels already knows this but the episode makes it very clear that Sabine has no Force abilities, despite receiving training from at least two Jedi and even being the formal apprentice to Ahsoka. Huyang bluntly states that of the hundreds of Jedi Padawans he has seen, Sabine is easily the worst when it comes to the Force. That said, both he and Ahsoka don't really see that to be as much of a problem for her becoming a Jedi as her negative attitude.
- Bilingual Dialogue: While English/Binary conversations between humans/humanoids and droids are SOP in Star Wars, Chopper is particularly easy to understand when he argues with Hera during a dogfight. (This was also the case during Rebels.)Chopper: (three beeps that clearly sound like "Shoot it down!")
Hera: I can't just shoot it down. It would crash into the whole city.
Chopper: (three beeps that sound like "Is that bad?")
[...]
Chopper: (six beeps that sound like "Did you go through my stuff?")
Hera: No, I did not go through your stuff!
Chopper: (three beeps that clearly sound like "Yes, you did!") - Black Knight: Marrok's armor is clearly intended to evoke this.
- Blatant Lies:
- Sabine claims she's fine. After having been impaled with a lightsaber and still in bed in a medbay.
- Weaver tries to claim that an incriminating file is "classified"... to one of the New Republic's highest-ranking generals. Hera doesn't even pretend to believe him.
- Brutal Honesty: Huyang admits to Sabine that out of the countless Padawans he's seen over the course of his service to the Jedi Order, her connection to the Force is easily the weakest. It's part of a larger conversation where he tries to convince her to resume her Jedi training, insisting that it's not Ezra's lightsaber, but hers, and that the only time she's wasting is her own in not pursuing the Jedi path.
- The Bus Came Back: Chopper and the Phantom II make their return.
- Call-Back:
- Sabine's haircut scene is reminiscent of Kanan's haircut in "Jedi Night".
- Sabine's final visit to the mural of the Ghost crew is an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the final part of the epilogue of the Rebels series finale.
- Canon Immigrant:
- The Eye of Sion's name is a reference to Darth Sion, bringing him into the current canon.
- The planet the Eye is being built over is in the Denab system, previously part of the Legends continuity (where it was part of the Sluis sector, first mentioned in Heir to the Empire), though the planet itself, Seatos, is new.
- Child of Two Worlds: Born and raised a Mandalorian warrior, Sabine served under Kanan and apprenticed to Ahsoka. At Huyang's urging, she embraces both her traditions, meditating in her armor and returning to the fight.
- The Coats Are Off: Marrok dramatically unclips his cape and lets it fall to the ground before he begins his two-on-one duel with Ahsoka.
- Continuity Nod:
- The star map's projection of the "Pathway to Peridea" is surrounded by purrgil in the style of Lothal cave-paintings, first introduced in the final season of Star Wars Rebels.
- The employment of ex-Imperials within the New Republic, and the problems this caused, was previously established in the third season of The Mandalorian.
- Crapsaccharine World: Corellia looks a lot less grimy and sludgy than it did in Solo, but corruption and double-dealing is still just as rife.
- Death Glare: Myn Weaver's claims no-one in the shipyards is concerned about politics sounds just a little hollow when every worker seems to stop what they're doing to stare at Hera and Ahsoka as they pass by.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Much like the situation in Russia and the former Soviet Republics in the 1990s, the collapse of the Galactic Empire and the decommissioning of its massive military has created opportunities for graft and corruption to flourish on planets like Corellia, where the owners and workers of the shipbreaking yard Hera and Ahsoka visit are covertly stealing hyperdrives and other parts from old Imperial warships and selling them to the Imperial Remnant for profit. And while there are a few true Imperial loyalists running the operation, most of the grifters are simply interested in making a quick buck at the new government's expense, not caring where the stolen military hardware goes or what it's used for.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Baylan is helping Morgan Elsbeth find Thrawn, but for his own purposes; when Shin asks what they stand to gain from Thrawn's return, her master cryptically replies "power, such as you've never dreamed of".
- Enemy Rising Behind: As Ahsoka is inspecting Sabine's room, the supposedly dead HK-87 unfolds from the ceiling in preparation to attack her, only to get its head sliced off before it can do anything.
- Foreshadowing:
- The supervisor on Corellia, Myn Weaver, mentions that various people who were former Imperials retain their jobs at the shipyard and simply care little for politics. It turns out that he and his staff are still loyal to the Empire even after its fall.
- During their tour of the facility, a number of workers give Hera and Ahsoka pointed glares, hinting that the New Republic loyalists aren't exactly welcome there.
- Four-Star Badass: Hera's still got it. When the Imperial sympathizers start firing, she joins the fight without hesitation, taking several down alongside Ahsoka.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: At the end of the episode, Hera is dumbfounded that anyone could be so heartlessly greedy as to sell out the newly freed galaxy to the remnants of the Empire for a quick buck.
- Greed: When Hera cannot comprehend why so many people in the galaxy are still loyal to the fallen Empire, Ahsoka retorts that it's not loyalty that drives them. As Weaver mentioned earlier, it's because they're Only in It for the Money, freedom and peace be damned.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Marrok, like many Inquisitors, wears a face-concealing helmet. Averted with Sabine, who reconnects to both her warrior past and her Jedi training by pulling out and donning her armor and meditating in front of her helmet.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Chopper suggests shooting down the fleeing cargo ship, only for Hera to note it would go on a collision course with the wider city. Based on the tone of his response to this and her reaction, it's suggested Chopper isn't concerned about the potential innocent casualties and admitted as such to Hera.
- He's Back!: Sabine donning her armor and cutting her hair to its iconic short length once more is a clear sign that the art-loving Mandalorian is ready to properly return to the action.
- Human Shield: A variant. Ahsoka impales Marrok's partner HK-87 Assassin Droid and holds it between them so he'll have to cut through it to get to her.
- Important Haircut: Sabine chops her hair to boyishly-short length shortly before departing with Ahsoka.
- Insistent Terminology: When Huyang makes a comment on Sabine's lightsaber, she corrects him and says it's Ezra's lightsaber. While he concedes that Ezra was the one who crafted it, Ezra left it to her, and she has since modified it, which makes it her lightsaber.
- My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: Myn Weaver tries blocking Hera out, but it doesn't work, since as a war hero and active general in the New Republic fleet, Hera has clearance for everything.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling:
- While examining the star map on Seatos, Elsbeth claims that she can sense Thrawn calling to her; whether Thrawn is actually doing something to call for deliverance or if Elsbeth is just being poetic isn't clear.
- At the end of the episode, despite Shin's belief that she evaded her pursuit, Baylan can sense Ahsoka's determination to pursue them, confidently saying that she's on her way.
- Nerves of Steel: While everyone else start to worry that the HK head is going to blow, Sabine calmly works out the location of where it came from, only flinching away from sparks.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: One of the HK assassin droids remains at the Lothal comms tower to ambush either Sabine or Ahsoka. Not only does it fail (Ahsoka easily slices it into pieces), but Sabine is able to get inside its memory and trace it back to Corellia, allowing Ahsoka and Hera to find out about the stolen hyperdrive core and track it back to Morgan Elsbeth.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Marrok throws his spinning lightsaber at Ahsoka to buy himself time to escape onto Shin's ship, and when he recalls it from behind her she simply leans and lets it pass by her dangerously close, never breaking eye contact with the two Dark Siders.
- Not Quite Dead: The HK Droid from the previous episode that Sabine was ambushed by seemed to be deactivated from being shot. However, it is conspicuously absent from the balcony of the comms tower and attempts to ambush Ahsoka, just as Ahsoka expected it would.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Myn Weaver tries to play the role of one as Hera and Ahsoka continue digging into Corellia's operations, even at one point saying the information on what ship the huge hyper-drive is for is classified, but it doesn't work very well as Hera is one of the highest ranked military commanders in the New Republic and as such there is nothing that is classified for her.
- Obviously Evil: Myn Weaver, the shipyard supervisor on Corellia is jittery the second Ahsoka and Hera arrive, and gets even more nervous when they start asking questions about his operation. Unsurprisingly, he and his workers all turn out to be Imperial sympathizers and try to kill Ahsoka and Hera the first chance they get.
- Oh, Crap!: The Imperial sympathizers on Corellia are having a really bad day. It starts when Ahsoka and Hera show up out of nowhere looking for information, then start digging for more information about things they spot while in the shipyard, and then a C1 droid innocently reveals the presence of HK droids...
- Precursors: Morgan reveals the star map is from an ancient unknown race, capable of travelling between galaxies.
- Properly Paranoid: While Shin believes they made a clean escape from Corellia and Ahsoka couldn't have tracked them, Baylan and Morgan know better, and Baylan can feel that Ahsoka is on her way to them.
- Real After All: Baylan had heard of the path to another galaxy, knowing it as the "Pathway to Peridea", but only as a fairy tale told to children at the Jedi Temple; he's awed to learn that it actually exists.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Ahsoka kills the assassin droid helping him fight her, Marrok peaces out, notably aided by Shin's timely arrival with Baylan's Eta-class shuttle.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode title, "Toil and Trouble", references the famous Eye of Newt song performed by the witches of Macbeth. Fitting considering this episode marks the onscreen debut of live action Nightsister witchcraft.
- One of the factory workers' battle cry of "For the Empire!" is similar to a disguised Yiga Footsoldier's "For Master Kohga!" in the Breath of the Wild games. For bonus points, both are avenging a fallen villain/villainous organization they worshipped, though it doesn't do them any good against an already experienced enemy.
- Silent Antagonist: Marrok doesn't utter a word while fighting Ahsoka, a major contrast to most past Inquisitors, who regularly taunted their opponents.
- Small Universe After All: Thrawn is revealed to have been banished to a distant galaxy, the first real mention of intergalactic travel in canon.
- Spanner in the Works: C1-D1, Myn Weaver's protocol droid at the shipyards, manages to inadvertently reveal her employer's duplicity by noting she saw a HK droid working on the shipyard when it wasn't supposed to, and couldn't report it because someone gave the droid supervisor clearance, causing Weaver's tissue of lies to fall apart.
- Spotting the Thread: Hera's suspicions are aroused when she spots a Super Star Destroyer's hyperdrive being refurbished in the shipyard, despite the fact that no ship in the New Republic fleet needs a hyperdrive that large. When she attempts to look up which ship it's destined for, the shipyard crew reveal their true loyalties. As it turns out, the hyperdrive was the final piece needed to complete The Eye of Sion, a massive ring-shaped ship designed to travel between galaxies and rescue Thrawn from exile.
- Super Window Jump: Rather than try to head back down the stairs, Ahsoka just jumps out the window to go after the shuttle with the HK droid on it.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Played with. To escape their duel, Marrok tosses his lightsaber at Ahsoka to distract her, not expecting it to actually hit her but simply to buy enough enough time to get to Shin's ship before Ahsoka can catch him.
- Tracking Device: Chopper manages to plant one on the escaping transport just before it jumps to hyperspace.
