The Republic counterattack is well underway, and the Second Battle of Axum has begun in earnest. As hundreds of thousands of Imperial forces gather and redeploy towards the besieged Basilica of Salvation, the crews of most of the orbiting ships begin a desperate defense of their sacred vessels.
But the Jedi Order now finds itself unleashed, prepared to reap heinous vengeance for the losses suffered thus far, and for the people of Axum, who suffer under the thrall of Imperial occupation. It will take more than las cannons and near-archeotech to stop several thousand Jedi Knights... but as it just so happens, such things may yet be present on Axum — or rather, New Cadia as the Imperials have taken to calling it...
Tropes in this episode include:
- Blasphemous Boast: The Jedi strike teams sent to Axum's surface are preparing to collapse the Sapphire Spires on top of a moving column of Imperial tanks and marching Guardsmen. Quinlan Vos assures Rahm Kota that their plan will work with the latter boasting that "they could march their own damned Emperor down this road and the plan would still work."
- Call-Back: Palpatine says the line "I love democracy" from Attack of the Clones at the end of the episode when Padmé proposes to reinstate the position of Supreme Commander as a solution to the Senate's obstruction of military matters and nominates Anakin for the job.
- Catch and Return: Obi-Wan's subplot in this episode answers the question of what the Jedi would do if shot at with projectiles that can't be deflected with a lightsaber. Some of the naval armsmen defending the Hellsmasher try firing plasma guns at the Jedi. The Jedi use the Force to catch the incoming globs of plasma fired from the guns mid-air, then throw the plasma back in the faces of the armsmen.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Obi-Wan and his Jedi strike force vs. the hundreds of naval armsmen aboard the Hellsmasher. The Jedi easily carve through all the armsmen without losing so much as a single casualty to the point where one Jedi Master wonders if it was overkill to have brought so many Jedi for this operation.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: As the Jedi's counter-invasion of Axum is underway, Rahm Kota broadcasts a message of hope across all channels planetwide, urging the people of Axum to rise up against the Imperial occupiers.
- False Reassurance: Saphran gives one to Obi-Wan's strike force regarding Luminara's safety.Saphran: You need not fear for her safety. She will be screaming still, long after you are all not but corpses. In fact, I swear to you all this, she will not die, not pass into oblivion, until every last Jedi on this ship has prepared the way for her first.
- Internal Reveal: At the end of the episode, the entire Galactic Senate find out about the Imperials' global genocides on Axum when Yoda plays Hondo's footage of an Imperial death camp during a session.
- Oh, Crap!: Obi-Wan's reaction to meeting Saphran and seeing the remains of Luminara's strike team.
- Pistol-Whipping: Commissar Terrandor pistol whips Gaksian when the psyker starts acting up due to sensing danger from an upcoming Jedi ambush.
- Rousing Speech: Jedi Master Rahm Kota delivers one to all of Axum in a planet-wide broadcast sent out by the Jedi shortly after they land ground forces on the planet.Rahm Kota: People of Axum, citizens of the Azure Lineage, defenders of the Sapphire Gate into the Core. We have come. We are here, in all our strength, to free you from these killers, madmen, and tyrants. The Jedi Order has come, as promised, to defend the gate. Even now we fight, we wage liberating war against the enemies of our venerable Republic. Enemies which make the pitiful Confederates seem like mynocks in comparison. We will fight and we will die, but we may not be able to do this alone. [holds up and activates his lightsaber] So I call on you now, honored guardians of the Republic. You whose lineages stretch back to those most ancient of wars, when all that stood between order and chaos was the Sapphire Gate at Axum! You who still honor your histories in shrines within your homes, who care for and look after weapons tens of thousands of years old. Now is the time to use those weapons again, to honor those shrines with service, in place of sentiment. By the end of this day, Axum will be liberated from the Empire. Whether the credit for that liberation goes to the warriors of this worthiest of worlds, is yours to decide. Rise Axum! The Jedi have come, and now, we are waiting.
- Unnecessarily Large Interior: When Anakin, R2-D2, and the Bad Batch infiltrate the Imperial Escort ship Luminous Reign, this is their first time seeing the interior of an Imperial warship, it almost looks like a small city from their perspective with various walkways and crowds of people moving about. Anakin even uses words like "street" and "alley" to describe the ship's hallways because they are just that large. And keep in mind that the ship in question was an Escort, not a capital ship like a Cruiser or Battleship, whose interiors are presumably even larger.
