Held captive on Mount Tantiss, Omega adjusts to her new life.
Tropes:
- Bad Boss: After a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle, Shuttle 135, crashes in the wilds around Mount Tantiss and radios for help, Hemlock gives its crew up for dead almost immediately when he hears the sounds of battle and screaming, even cutting off their distress signal. Although, unlike most uses of this trope, Hemlock was correct in that a rescue team would be extremely unlikely to save anyone and was likely to result in even more casualties.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The treatment of the lurca hounds used to guard the facility against wildlife is little better than how the Empire treats sapient servants; the hounds are subjected to electric shocks if they get unruly, and Batcher, a hound Omega became attached to, is slated for termination after being injured, and despite her treating the injury, is set to be killed anyway because she became domesticated by Omega's kind treatment.
- Blatant Lies:
- Emerie denies that Omega is a prisoner... in a facility that she can't leave, and where Hemlock threatens both her and her friends if she steps out of line. Emerie's tone and her attitude towards Hemlock imply that there may be some cognitive dissonance involved, rather than a serious attempt at lying to Omega.
- Crosshair claims that if he had a chance to escape, he wouldn't think twice about abandoning Omega to do it. She writes this off as a lie, and the audience is aware that Crosshair had previously sacrificed a shot at escaping in order to send a message to the Batch to try and ensure Omega's safety.
- Call-Forward: When Nala Se protests that she's not delaying her work, Hemlock alludes to the opening of Return of the Jedi by stating that they're going to see if Palpatine is as understanding as he claims to be about her lack of progress.
- Cryptic Background Reference: Emerie mentions being "elsewhere" while the other Clones were being raised on Kamino, and that at some point, she fell in with Hemlock, who saw "potential" in her, but where she was, why she was sent there, and how she and Hemlock started working together, goes unmentioned.
- Defiant Captive:
- Downplayed with Nala Se; she's working on the Emperor's mysterious project, but she refuses to let any of Omega's blood samples be used, destroying them immediately. Hemlock seems to suspect that she's also deliberately keeping progress as slow as she can, which Nala Se denies, but whether she's lying or if the project truly is as difficult as it seems is unconfirmed.
- Omega mostly stays out of trouble at Mount Tantiss, though she makes secret visits to Crosshair, dotes on a lurca hound named Batcher, and keeps quiet when Nala Se destroys her blood samples. She shows more open defiance when Batcher is set to be terminated, disabling K-9X1 and freeing the hound, as well as making it clear to Hemlock that she knows perfectly well why he brought her to the facility.
- Everyone Has Standards: Emerie, despite her loyalty to Hemlock, is visibly unnerved by his cruelty towards Omega, and even tries to end the conversation before he can move on to more specific threats. After all is said and done, she returns Omega's doll to her as a show of kindness to her sister.
- Foreshadowing: Nala Se lets the blood samples from the clones kept here as prisoners go through, yet she destroys Omega's blood samples, hinting that her former assistant is of even greater value than the Imperial Advanced Science Division had hoped.
- Heroic BSoD: Crosshair has fallen into a deep depression since his last appearance; he's completely given up hope of escape, tries to convince Omega to give up on him as well, and spends most of the episode walking near-lifelessly through the facility's corridors. He's just about hoping they can kill him soon.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: A rare example of a chain of punishment. When Hemlock warns Omega to accept that "emotion and sentiment" have no place in the facility and that she'd "do well to remember that", she catches on to the menace in his voice and defiantly makes it clear that she's caught on to why Hemlock brought her there, knowing he won't risk losing Nala Se's cooperation by hurting her. Hemlock shuts her down by making it clear that while he won't hurt her, Crosshair isn't quite as valuable to him.
- Individuality Is Illegal: Omega's makeshift doll is confiscated on the grounds that "personal items are forbidden"; whether this is true for Imperials in general or just for clones isn't mentioned, but the policy has shades of the Empire's previous treatment of Clone Troopers. Despite this, Emerie later returns the doll, showing concern for her sister despite otherwise being loyal to Hemlock.
- Kick the Dog: Hemlock mocks Omega for domesticating and freeing Batcher, and when she shows further defiance, he threatens Crosshair to keep her in line.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Emerie claims that Dr. Hemlock saw "potential" in her, just as Nala Se did with Omega.
- Oh, Crap!: Nala Se's understandable, if understated, response to Hemlock saying that the Emperor will soon be coming to Mount Tantiss to check on their progress.
- Out of Focus: Aside from Omega and Crosshair, the other surviving members of Clone Force 99 don't appear in this episode.
- Pet the Dog: Emerie doesn't dispose of Omega's hodgepodge doll after saying she would and returns it to her at the end of the episode.
- Thicker Than Water: Omega believes that, due to all of them being Clones, Emerie can be convinced to help her and Crosshair escape from Mount Tantiss, though Crosshair is far more cynical.
- Time-Passage Beard: Or hair rather. During her stay at the Mount Tantiss facility, Omega's hair grows longer and is styled in a ponytail. Yet Crosshair still maintains his shaved head and face.
- Time Skip: Two judging from the tally marks in Omega's cell, when the episode starts it's been around a month since Hemlock captured her. About halfway through the episode there is another timeskip, that the marks indicate it's been a little over six months. Omega's hair has grown longer and styled in a ponytail.
- Villain Has a Point: Hemlock cruelly, but not inaccurately, informs Omega that a domesticated animal doesn't have great odds of surviving in the wild, especially when a more savage creature of the same breed can barely handle it. While the episode ends on a hopeful note, with Batcher running free, it's left unclear if she can survive long-term, as Omega hopes.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Crosshair criticizes Omega for trusting too easily when she suggests getting Emerie's help for the two of them to escape. Omega counters that maybe Crosshair trusts too little. Whether Omega's optimism about Emerie is justified (she's certainly shown kindness to both Omega and Crosshair, but is also otherwise following Hemlock's orders) isn't firmly established as yet.
