Reeling from a devastating loss, the Ghost crew rallies together to find a new purpose and resolve.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Accidental Truth:
- Imperial Propaganda does have a tendency to stretch the truth, but for once, nothing more could accurately describe the current situation regarding the heroes: the rebels ARE crushed by Kanan's death and their leadership has been defeated not just from the death of Kanan, but Hera feels so demoralized as a leader.
- In his wolf dream, Ezra accidentally speaks to his current state of grief without realizing it.Ezra: I've lived on this planet my whole life! How can I still get lost? I have no idea which way to go...
- Alien Sky: When Ezra meets Dume in the otherworld, the sky is filled with purple swirls of unusual design and brightness.
- Ambiguous Situation: The giant wolf identifies himself as "Dume", Kanan's real last name, has Kanan's pauldron symbol on his forehead, and shows up right after Kanan dies to take care of Ezra. It's clear he has some connection to Kanan, but whether he actually is Kanan in another form, or something else, is unclear.
- And This Is for...: Zeb beats up Rukh while he's down to avenge Kanan. Sabine talks Zeb out of killing him.
- Battle Trophy: Pryce retrieved Kanan's lightsaber and decides to keep it as a trophy of his death.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Zeb might be a bit gruff, but it's still a bit disconcerting to see him outright try to beat Rukh to death just to inflict Revenge by Proxy on the Empire. Sabine talks Zeb down into merely making an example of Rukh.
- Bread and Circuses: To avoid admitting to the severe damage she caused to the TIE Defender program, Pryce holds a parade to celebrate the defeat of the Rebels, but the citizens don't have a choice.
- Breather Episode: The episode more or less gives everyone (including the audience) the opportunity to adjust to the fact that Kanan is dead.
- Call-Back: The episode starts with Hera looking out forlornly at the sunrise, just like Kanan in the previous episode.
- Combat Pragmatist: On both sides. Sabine and Zeb double-team Rukh, who responds by going invisible and attacking under cloak.Sabine: We're not in the mood for a fair fight today.
Rukh: Neither am I. - Deadly Euphemism: When discussing what to do about Rukh, Zeb suggests "They took one of ours. We take one of theirs." Sabine agrees, but the fact that she later has to stop Zeb from beating Rukh to death (and, just before that, tags him with a non-lethal paint bomb) suggests she didn't quite realise what she was agreeing to.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: Thrawn asks Pryce if she seriously believed that he wouldn't see through the Bread and Circuses scheme she's trying to pull off in an attempt to cover for her mistake in basically ruining his TIE Defender program.Thrawn: Did you really believe that holding a parade would hide the fact that you destroyed our entire fuel supply?!
- Five Stages of Grief: Each character represents one. Ezra is Denial, being unwilling to address his own feelings about Kanan's death until the wolves push him into it, Zeb is Anger, focused on revenge against the Empire, Sabine is Bargaining, trying to make Kanan's death worth something, Hera is Depression, sinking deeply into despair and being unable to move forward, and Chopper is Acceptance, having accepted Kanan's death and focusing on memorializing Kanan and taking care of the others.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Subverted. Pryce asks this of her lieutenant, who replies that while they're the only people who currently know that the TIE Defender factory is inoperable, the Empire is going to figure it out sooner or later. Pryce tries to cover it up regardless by holding a parade, but this only succeeds in making Thrawn more pissed once he figures out what's going on.
- He's Back!: At the end of the episode, after going on individual journeys to come to terms with Kanan's death, and learning that Kanan's sacrifice has crippled the Tie Defender project, the Ghost crew finds the resolve to keep fighting, with their next mission being to save the Jedi temple.
- He Didn't Make It: Zeb wonders where Kanan is and all Ezra can bear to say is that he's "gone", even when Zeb asks for clarification.Zeb: What do you mean "gone"? Like, captured?
Ezra: No! He's gone. - Heroic BSoD: All of the Ghost crew get hit with this. But Hera gets hit so hard that she almost believes they should have never started the rebellion if it meant losing Kanan and spends most of the episode in a grief-stricken and broken state. By the end, she finally collects herself and regains the will to continue the rebellion in honor of Kanan's memory. Ensuring his sacrifice won't be in vain.
- Hero Killer: Pryce's actions of the previous episode get deconstructed when Thrawn points out to Pryce how much she has screwed over the Empire in the long term as collateral damage of killing just one member of the Rebellion (and the fact that he was a Jedi makes no damn difference to Thrawn) and labels it an act of colossal incompetence (not helped with the waste she's doing with the celebration) before telling Pryce that he's coming over to punish her. Pryce's appearance in this episode ends with her full of dread.
- Hypocrite: Sabine has no qualms about rigging a speeder to explode, killing two Stormtroopers, but objects to Zeb trying to kill Rukh.
- Hypocritical Humor: Zeb calls Rukh creepy, even though he and Rukh have quite similar faces.
- Interface Spoiler: Dume's voice actor is credited as "the Force" to presumably to avoid them. Then again, it's a familiar voice if you pay attention.
- Invisibility Cloak: Rukh's armor has active camouflage, which he uses to get the upper hand after Zeb and Sabine tag team him. Sabine tries to see through it using thermal imaging on her helmet, but he knocks the helmet off to stop her. She then tricks him into getting close and slaps a paint bomb on him, allowing Zeb to tackle him and beat him unconscious.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Zeb is initially shocked and confused by everyone's grief after the apparent success of the rescue mission. Then Ezra informs him Kanan died during the mission...
- Losing the Team Spirit: This episode deals with the aftermath of the loss of Team Dad Kanan, which has left the whole team reeling. Even Ryder and the Lothal rebels are left hopeless and directionless.
- Mind Screw: It's shown as nighttime when Ezra's lost on the plains even though it's the evening where Sabine, Zeb, and Hera are. Then he wakes up in an odd version of Lothal with a giant, mysterious wolf and a strange sky, where the wolves give him a tablet. Then he wakes up, again, and it's actually nighttime, but the tablet's still at his feet. It was likely the loth-wolves' doing.
- Never Say "Die": "Kanan's gone!"
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Thrawn chews Pryce out for blowing up the Empire's fuel supply on Lothal, declaring she essentially did the rebellion's mission for them by crippling the TIE Defender production and jeopardizing his entire plan; all in exchange for one dead Jedi.Thrawn: In defeating Kanan Jarus, you have accomplished what the Rebels failed to, by giving them a victory. The operation on Lothal, my TIE defender project, has been compromised.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Pryce is clearly terrified when Thrawn makes it clear that he will punish her for screwing up his TIE Defender project.
Thrawn: I will deal with you when I return, governor.- While spying on Rukh through his binocs, Zeb momentarily freaks out when Rukh looks directly at him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: All over the place.
- Hera spends most of the episode so depressed over Kanan's death that she even openly regrets starting the Rebellion in the first place. It takes half the episode for Chopper to snap her out of it.
- On that note, Chopper. Recognising how serious the situation is, he quietly and sincerely spends the entire episode consoling Hera and helping her come to terms with Kanan's death, without any of his usual quips or antics.
- Zeb is so furious over Kanan's death that he plans to carry out Revenge by Proxy - namely, by beating Rukh to death with his bare hands.
- Thrawn is genuinely furious for perhaps the first time in the whole series as he chews out Governor Pryce for the manner of her "victory" and assures that there will be consequences.
- Parting-Words Regret: Hera deeply regrets not telling Kanan that she loved him sooner and for foolishly assuming that she "had more time".
- Pass the Popcorn: As Thrawn is ripping Pryce a new one for her incompetence, Rukh can be seen smirking, clearly enjoying it.
- Punctuated Pounding: Zeb gives one to Rukh (overlapping with And This Is for...) that he fully intends to be fatal until Sabine stops him.Zeb: THIS! IS! FOR! KANAN!
- Real After All: When Ezra wakes up, it seems at first that he dreamt the visit with the giant loth-wolf, before he sees the stone they gave him at his feet.
- Revenge: Sabine and Zeb decide to go get back at the Empire. Zeb wants to outright kill Rukh, but Sabine talks him into just sending a message by painting him up in rebel colors and sending him back.
- Savage Wolves: The loth-wolves play this role towards Ezra, hunting and beating him for "running", and nearly devouring him at one point. It's a case of Cruel to Be Kind though, as they're trying to help him come to terms with Kanan's death and move on to the next goal.
- Shout-Out:
- The biggest lothwolf being the leader of the other lothwolves is once again another reference to Princess Mononoke, where the giant wolves were led by the larger Moro, a wolf goddess intent on preserving the natural environment.
- Rukh looking back at Zeb through the binoculars is one to Rear Window.
- Early drafts of the script had Zeb shouting "I! HAVE HAD! ENOUGH OF YOU!" as he punched Rukh half to death in their fight.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Kanan's rock altar with his knife, mask and ponytail ends up becoming one for him. Hera later adds her Kalikori to the collection.
- Talking to the Dead:Ezra: You didn't prepare me for this, Kanan. What do I do now?
- To Absent Friends: Both Hera and Ezra talk about why Kanan is so important to them, and all the good he has done for them.
- Tragic Keepsake: Hera adds a piece of Kanan's broken Jedi Holocron to her family kalikori to memorialize him as an official part of her family. She also adds her kalikori to his shrine to put further emphasis on them always being family.
- Tranquil Fury: He never raises his voice, but Thrawn is clearly pissed that Pryce has derailed his TIE Defender project. Pryce actually looks terrified.Thrawn: I...will deal with you...when I return...Governor.
- Vagueness Is Coming: The giant wolf is a bit more articulate than the others but it still struggles to speak, only conveying that there is knowledge in the temple and that Ezra must keep the Empire from gaining it.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Rukh smirks while Thrawn chews Pryce out.
- Wham Line: "I...am... Dume." Accompanied by a Wham Shot of a very important detail hidden by the trailers...Kanan's symbol on the giant wolf's forehead.
- You Are Not Alone: As scary and callous as the "Dume" wolf came across as, he did assure Ezra of this after listening to him lash out as a result of Kanan's death.Dume: Fight.Ezra: How?Dume: Together.
- You Have Failed Me: Thrawn implies that Pryce may suffer this fate when he returns. Of course, judging by Thrawn's own demeanor, it's implied he fears what Tarkin will do to him if he finds out about this and is proven right.
