When a crime lord takes over Cid's business, the Bad Batch has to help her get rid of him.
Tropes:
- All-Loving Hero: Despite having only just met him, and him being an unrepentant gangster, Omega still tries to stop the Pykes from killing Roland.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Roland and his gang take over Cid's bar.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Irlings are described as insects, but are the size of small dogs.
- Breather Episode: Compared to the heavier and more plot-centric Ryloth two-parter, this one is more episodic adventure fare before the season moves into its final arc.
- Call-Back:
- Roland was the buyer for Ruby, the animal the Batch stole in "Battle Scars".
- Echo once again bemoans that Cid forgot to mention key details during their latest job, this one being Gundarks.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The three Pyke representatives inflict one to Roland's entire gang off-screen. By the time Cid and the Batch return from their mission, the entire bar is littered with the bodies of Roland's men, with Roland himself in cuffs.
- Delicious Distraction: Ketch drops a trail of Mantell Mix to lure Ruby into a cage.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode's title "Infested" can either refer to Roland's criminal gang infesting in Cid's place or a hive of Irlings that infested the secret route to Cid's headquarters.
- The Dreaded: The Pykes are a galactic crime syndicate whose scope and influence far outweighs Roland and his gang, and neither he or Cid are willing to risk their wrath.
- Enemy Civil War: Cid's plan is to steal a shipment of spice from Roland so he won't be able to pay the Pykes, thereby pushing both parties into conflict while Cid takes her business back. It almost works, but since they're caught stealing the spice, Roland sells Cid out to the Pykes and the Batch are forced to retrieve the shipment to placate them.
- Eviler than Thou: Being a galaxy-spanning criminal empire, the Pykes are a far greater threat than Roland and his small gang, which comes back to bite Cid and the Batch when they learn of their theft of the spice shipment Roland promised them.
- Filler: This is a more self-contained episode that doesn't advance the plot in any tangible way as the conflict presented is resolved by its end and everything is returned to normal. Though as a fringe benefit, Cid likely earned some respect from the Batch by directly working alongside them and risking her own life to get Omega out of trouble.
- Hypocritical Humor: Tech mentions it's not the first time Cid has left out key information on the mission when he himself had left out key details on certain stuff, like Omega and the inhibitor chips.
- I Gave My Word: When Cid and the Batch return the spice shipment they stole, the Pykes let Omega go without incident. Roland, however...
- Late to the Tragedy: The Bad Batch return from a job to find Cid has been thrown out of her own bar by rival gangsters.
- Licked by the Dog: Ruby only seems to like Roland and Omega, and Omega uses this reason as her explanation for why she stuck up for Roland. If Ruby likes him, he can't be all bad.
- Pet the Dog: In turn, Roland's redeeming trait is his fondness for Ruby, to the point where he immediately sends his guards to look for her when she goes missing. He also seems to have a deep respect for his mother.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The Pykes are inclined to kill Roland for his incompetence, but Cid successfully argues that his death would be more trouble than it's worth given who his mother is, so they elect to sever one of his horns instead as a warning.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Wrecker screams several pitches higher than normal when the Irling swarm wakes up the second time.
- So Much for Stealth: The plan is to steal the shipment without being noticed, but the distraction fails to work as long as intended and Roland knows something is up when the door to the office is sealed.
- Sore Loser: The Pyke refused to accept the loss, so they cut off one of Roland’s horns just to inflict pain on him.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Roland being a Grey-Green skinned Devaronian working for a Criminal Syndicate that winds up with a horn chopped off; one could have easily mistaken him to be a younger Cikatro Vizago.
- Take a Third Option: At the end of the episode, the Pykes consider the matter between them and the Batch resolved since they returned the shipment they stole. However, that still leaves Roland's punishment for failing to pay off his debt. They'd rather not risk war with his family should they kill him, but letting him off the hook would reflect poorly on them, so they decide to let him off with a severed horn and a stern warning to never cross their path again.
- Understatement: Cid tells the Batch that the caverns have a "slight infestation problem". The infestation turns out to be a ravenous swarm of Irlings.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The Bad Batch, sans Omega, are perfectly fine flying away from Ord Mantell and leaving Cid homeless after Roland and his thugs take over her bar. Omega reminds them that Cid has given them plenty of help and intel since they left the Clone army, and they owe her. Cid also anticipates their reaction and is waiting in their ship to convince them why helping her is in their interest.
- Weakened by the Light: The Irlings flee from light sources.
- We Need a Distraction: Cid has Bolo and Ketch lure Ruby away from the bar and then trap her so Roland will send his men to find her. Meanwhile, Cid and the Batch can steal the spice shipment with Roland being none-the-wiser as to where it might have gone. This plan fails to work as intended because they didn't bring enough Mantell Mix to keep her calm, so she gets agitated, they drop the cage, and Roland gets back to the bar before the job is finished.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Pykes take Omega hostage to ensure the Bad Batch retrieve their spice.
- You Have Failed Me: The Pykes don't take kindly to Roland losing the shipment, as its theft reflects equally as poorly on him as simply not having it would have. Since his mother is an infamous crime lord and any conflict would be undesirable at the moment, they settle for cutting off one of his horns as a warning.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Though it goes unsaid, the Pykes are so confident of the threat they represent that they know they're untouchable. All they have to do is stare Roland down and he lowers his gun without a fight.
- Yubitsume: A unique cultural variant where the Pykes chop off a part of Rolands' horn as a sign that he had failed them.
