Ezra Bridger: You don't deserve to have this art or Lothal.
Thrawn: Who deserves what is irrelevant. What matters is who has power.
Thrawn: Who deserves what is irrelevant. What matters is who has power.
Ezra and his rebels manage to gain access to the Imperial headquarters. However, Thrawn stops them. Ezra is forced to surrender and face an even greater evil.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Air Vent Escape: Ezra lampshades this as he goes for one last vent trip to surrender himself to Thrawn over Hera's objections, with Sabine providing a distraction so she doesn't notice him slip away.
- Badass Boast: Thrawn shuts Ezra down hard when the latter tries to brag that he has Thrawn's army hostage. Thrawn's reply is that Ezra merely moved his army to a safe location so that Thrawn need not fear his orbital bombardment will hurt his troops.Thrawn: The only terms I will accept are your immediate surrender.
- Call-Back: Palpatine is portrayed as someone from whom Ezra could learn something the Jedi couldn't teach him.
- Call-Forward: The music played while Ezra reacts in horror while Thrawn lays waste to Lothal City from orbit is the same piece playing while Darth Vader watches the Emperor torturing Luke. In both cases, the piece ends as both characters choose to do what they perceive is the right thing (Ezra agrees to surrender, Vader attacks the Emperor to save Luke).
- Continuity Nod: Pryce asking Kallus how could he betray the Empire when he had everything is almost the exact same thing Kallus asked his former student, Swain, in the magazine comics.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Discussed by Rex.Rex: In my experience, when it comes to Jedi, the worse the plan, the better the results.
- Disappointed in You: In Pryce's conversation to Kallus, she had high hopes for him up until he betrayed the Empire, and is especially disappointed that Kallus would throw away his entire career just like that.Kallus: The day I betrayed the Empire was the day I stopped betraying myself.
- Dressing as the Enemy: The rebels disguise themselves as Imperials one last time, with Kallus donning an Imperial officer's uniform this time in the name of the Rebellion, Rex in Stormtrooper armor, and Ezra and Sabine in Scout Trooper armor.
- The Easy Way or the Hard Way: At first, Ezra appeals to whatever residual loyalty Pryce might have for Lothal, telling her to do the right thing for once. When that doesn't work, he threatens to feed her to the vengeful loth-wolves, which does.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Pryce is still in such disbelief that Kallus, who had so much promise and prestige, would throw away those opportunities by turning against the Empire.
- Facial Dialogue: Sabine and Ezra's last conversation, where she lets him go and he apologizes for it and thanks her, occurs completely without words.
- Fatal Family Photo: Ezra looks at the holo of him with his parents for one last time, thanking his mother and father for starting it all.
- Foreshadowing:
- At the beginning of the episode, Hera places her hand upon her abdomen while also listening intensely to Ezra musing about the subject of his family.
- Mart mentions that Ezra gave him a "secret mission".
- Glass Smack and Slide: Needing a distraction to get into the control room, Zeb pitches Melch up to it from the outside, causing him to land on the glass with a smack. After the Imperials fire upon him fruitlessly (the glass is mercifully blasterproof), the Rebels breach from the main entrance and catch them off-guard. Then Melch does the obligatory slide.
- Grand Finale: The first half of one for Star Wars Rebels.
- Implied Death Threat: When Pryce refuses to cooperate at first, Ezra whistles for the loth-wolf which knocks her down and starts snarling in her face. She changes her mind.
- Insistent Terminology: Hondo is quite adamant, he is not a smuggler, he is a space pirate.
- Light Is Not Good: Palpatine, using a hologram to appear his unscarred youthful self, is dressed all in white and gold as he attempts to tempt Ezra to the Dark Side.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The rebels' reaction to Thrawn's Star Destroyer appearing above. They also have this, mixed with horror as they watch the Chimaera lay waste to Lothal, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
- Metaphorically True: Palpatine, Manipulative Bastard that he is, twists everything he says to Ezra. He's at his evillest best, here.
- Might Makes Right: Thrawn clearly believes this, saying the only thing that matters is not who deserves what, but who has the power to take it.
- Never My Fault: Palpatine, via hologram, is 856% Smug Snake trying to tempt Ezra to the Dark Side and refusing to admit any responsibility for his atrocities.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Rebels trick the Imperials into retreating to the command center under the guise of a Base Delta Zero drill, planning to launch the entire thing and then blow it up, taking the entire Imperial ground force with it. When Thrawn arrives, he anticipates this strategy and has Rukh disable the shield generator while positioning his Star Destroyer directly over the command center. Now all the Imperials are safe in one structure that has no escape path, and he can actually Base Delta Zero the capital surrounding it without fear of hitting his own troops. Ezra has to surrender himself to stop the devastation.Ezra: Governor Pryce is our prisoner and we have complete control of the Imperial Dome, with every trooper, pilot and officer trapped inside. You've failed, Thrawn. Leave Lothal and we might let your troops out before we blow the dome to pieces.Thrawn: (unimpressed) Are you quite finished? (Ezra's composure falters) If you truly wish to save Lothal, Commander Bridger, the only term I'll accept is your immediate and unconditional surrender.Ezra: Why would I surrender when I hold your entire army prisoner?Thrawn: No. You've simply moved my assets to a safe position, so I can bombard the civilians of your home without incurring Imperial casualties.
- No Endor Holocaust: The reason they call off the plan when Thrawn parks his Star Destroyer above the dome. If they launched the dome it would crash into Thrawn's ship and the debris would destroy the city.
- Not Hyperbole: Thrawn invokes this to Ezra after having Rukh shut down the city's shield generators to prove he's not bluffing about his intentions to blast the city from orbit.Thrawn: Your shield generators are under my control. Just so that you understand that my intentions are genuine, I shall demonstrate my power. [to Imperial gunnery officer] Open fire!
- Orbital Bombardment: Thrawn orders bombardment of Capital City, counting on the fact that innocent civilians will be caught in the crossfire to force Ezra to surrender himself.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Thrawn makes one towards the Jedi, saying they were foolish and lacked vision and all that's left is frightened stragglers and untrained children. Ezra gives one in return, telling him he didn't make or earn his beloved art, and he's simply a thief who takes things he doesn't understand.
- Shadow of Impending Doom: All is seemingly going well for the rebels with their plan to entrap the Imperials within the dome, and then the shadow of the Chimaera overheard darkens the command centre...
- Strong and Skilled: How strong is Zeb? He can stop the Empire's doors from closing. The Mandalorian confirms they're powerful enough to cut someone in half.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Thrawn has clearly given up on his colleagues being at all competent.Thrawn: I expected Governor Pryce to fail, but not so completely.
- Take a Third Option: Subverted. Hera refuses to agree to Ezra surrendering himself and insists there's always another way. Ezra plays along while Chopper discreetly opens an air vent for him to sneak away through. Sabine then provides cover by directing everyone's attention to the large schematic on the other side of the room.
- Talking to the Dead: The episode starts with Ezra talking to his picture of his parents.Ezra: Mom, Dad, I know what I have to do now, but I'm afraid. Not for me, but for my friends. They've fought so hard, given so much, and helped me to understand why you stood up to the Empire and made the sacrifices you did. I wish you could meet them — my new family. I guess, in some way, you will be with us today, when we finish what you started. I want you to know everything I've done and will do began with you.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Zahn's original portrayal, Thrawn is part of the Empire, but he's almost entirely devoted to art. Here, we see that Thrawn is devoted to the fascism of the Empire, valuing power for its own sake.
- Tragic Keepsake: Ezra still has the holo of his parents holding him as a child.
- Trojan Prisoner: After capturing Pryce, the Rebels force them to send a victory signal so they can fly to the command center without being shot down, then pretend to be prisoners so Zeb can get through the blast doors and allow them to get a foothold.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Thrawn always knew the Jedi were so powerful, but concludes that them being righteous fools was their own downfall, a sentiment echoed by the Grand Inquisitor a short while earlier in Obi-Wan.
- Wham Shot: Ezra being introduced to Palpatine... a whiteclad, grandfatherly, unscarred Palpatine, like the one we saw during the Clone Wars Era. Ezra does NOT buy this.
- You Are Too Late: Pryce says this word for word as she's the first to notice the Chimeara positioning itself to block the rebels' plan.
