The Bad Batch take on mercenary work to gain information on the bounty hunter chasing them.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Evil: The information broker Cid, despite having been a valued asset to the Jedi during the Clone Wars, precisely thrives on the underground (and is even shown to be in direct business with Jabba the Hutt's operations). The offers she gives to the Bad Batch (first, information on Fennec, and then offering them employment-on-retainer) is pretty generous. At the same time, she also seems to be pretty vested in finding out what makes the Bad Batch valuable enough to be bounty targets.
- Bait-and-Switch: Cid tasks the Bad Batch with rescuing a child named Muchi. They assume Muchi is the Falleen girl as she was the only child captive, but she and her father point at the rampaging adolescent rancor instead.
- Badass in Distress: The Bad Batch are captured by the Zygerrian slavers, but Omega manages to rescue them by freeing Muchi, distracting the slavers enough for Wrecker to break everyone's restraints.
- The Big Guy: Wrecker goes toe to toe with a Rancor. A juvenile Rancor, but still.
- Canon Character All Along: Possibly. It's heavily implied that Muchi is actually the same rancor that Luke would kill in Return of the Jedi, thanks to Bib Fortuna showing up to get her. However, the canon novel Aftermath: Life Debt established that Jabba's rancor was a male named Pateesa.
- Combat Breakdown: Wrecker engages Muchi in battle in order to establish dominance over it and tire it out. By the time Echo and Omega arrive at the scene, both combatants can barely stand, with an exhausted Wrecker swinging at thin air at least once.
- Continuity Nod:
- After suffering a blow to the head in "Replacements", Wrecker complained of a headache. Here, he complains of another, possibly the result of taking another blow to the head in the previous episode.
- The Zygerrians mention the Kadavo facility, saying that with the Republic gone, they can restart its slaving operations.
- Cid mentions she has contacts in the Guild, the same organization that the titular lead of The Mandalorian works for.
- Determinator: Through sheer force of will, Hunter powers his way through the pain of a Zygerian slaver's electric whip and knocks the man out.
- Dramatic Irony: Likely due to being raised by them and fed propaganda, Omega is actually surprised at the idea that people can be sold, not realizing that's essentially what the Kaminoans did with her and her brothers.
- Exact Words:
- The Bad Batch are told they're being sent to rescue a child named Muchi. They assume it's the little Falleen girl, the only child present. What they fail to realize is that there is another being there who is technically a child, that being the adolescent rancor.
- Echo points out to the Zygerrians that the Republic outlawed slavery. Like with Tarkin, the Zygerrians are quick to point out that the Republic that outlawed their actions is no longer in existence.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: After Omega frees the imprisoned rancor, Tech notes that it's an adolescent, setting up the reveal seconds later that it's actually Muchi, the child they were sent to rescue.
- Foreshadowing: During the mission, Bib Fortuna calls in to ask about Muchi. It seems odd that Jabba's majordomo would be personally involved in the rescue of a child, suggesting Muchi is something of much greater importance than Cid let on.
- Funny Background Event: When Cid snarks that Omega seems to be "the brains of the operation", Wrecker turns to her and gives her a congratulatory high five.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Zygerrian slave empire has fallen on hard times since the Jedi brought them down. Where they once lived in the lap of luxury, they're now forced to kidnap random civilians and high-value bounties in order to scrape by, and are hiding out in ruins on the other side of backwater worlds.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Echo reveals that he never actually met Cid before, Tech points out that information would have been helpful to know beforehand. Echo just rolls his eyes, seeing as Tech did that thrice in a row in the first three episodes.
- Internal Reveal: The Bad Batch learn Fennec Shand's name, and that she's working on direct commission for an unknown employer.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Zygerrian slavers when Omega reveals she unlocked the rancor's cage.
- Samus Is a Girl: None of the Bad Batch know anything about Cid and assume she's a man, with only Omega spotting that the owner of the bar the messages came from is herself Cid.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Wrecker isn't used to fighting stronger foes, especially baby rancors. He actually ends up on barely equal footing with Muchi, and only wins when he wears her down, becoming heavily exhausted himself.
- Victory by Endurance: Wrecker manages to tame Muchi the rancor by trading blows with the beast for a while, both eventually so tired that Muchi collapses and Wrecker can barely stand.
- Wham Shot: Cid is seen talking to a mysterious figure on the holocomms, who's hired her to get back Muchi. When he shows up, he reveals himself as none other than Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt's majordomo, heavily implying that the rancor he seeks happens to be the same one from Return of the Jedi.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Zygerrians, naturally.
