Tahr Whyler's nefarious plans for Axum are revealed; R2-D2 breaks Anakin out of prison; Nerva and Kallak's squad try to figure out a way to reach a Imperial Knight in a clone-occupied vehicle bay while Magos Domina Kallie Delta provides a distraction for Commander Bly. ARC Trooper Sando is introduced as he and the clone commandos under his command encounter a new threat on Axum; Obi-Wan continues to battle Saphran alone. Echo and Ahsoka find out what the Imperials intend to do with Trench's captured Separatist dreadnought and are forced to take drastic measures to survive.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Cliffhanger: Episode 21 ends with two.
- Sando's subplot ends with him and his men getting attacked in a dark hallway by unknown foes.
- Echo's subplot ends with him piloting Trench's flagship into Axum's atmosphere, intending to crash-land the Providence-class dreadnought right on top of the Basilica of Salvation.
- Continuity Nod:
- Sando finds that the war-torn terrain of Azure City surprisingly enough reminds him of the Umbaran Campaign.
- As part of his Badass Boast to Saphran, Obi-Wan mentions having fought "men who were embraced by both foul sorcery and technology to become killers" in the service of the Sith, indirectly referencing Grievous, Maul, and Savage Oppress.
- Fed to the Beast: Tahr feeds Javrick to his daemonhost Jackal after he's finished explaining his whole plan for Axum to him.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs:
- At one point in the episode, the narration describes a Cadian soldier being shot in the head with a blaster bolt and "dropp[ing] like a sack of drowned porgs".
- Nerva's POV narration describes the sight of clone-piloted BARC speeder bikes "fly[ing] through the air like Karkosan Storm Snipes."
- Just Between You and Me: At the start of the episode, Inquisitor Tahr Whyler is explaining his entire Evil Plan for Axum to a random Imperial Guard officer before then feeding said officer to his pet daemonhost.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: During their duel in this episode, Obi-Wan tries to throw a kick into Saphran's face, only for the Librarian to block it with his hand. With the heel of Obi-Wan's foot caught in his palm, Saphran clenches that hand into a fist using his Super-Strength. Obi-Wan narrowly avoids getting his foot crushed by pulling it out of his boot at the last moment, leaving him missing one boot for the remainder of the fight.
- Oh, My Gods!: Kallak groans "Horus' hairy sack" in exasperation when he and Nerva see that Kallie Delta has seemingly been taken prisoner by Bly's clone troopers.
- Pet Gets the Keys: A mechanical variant in Episode 21. Anakin has been Bound and Gagged and is hanging upside down inside an Inquisitorial prison cell aboard the Luminous Reign. He is saved by R2-D2, who finds his cell and uses his skeleton key socket to unlock the door and free Anakin from his restraints.
- The Reveal: The reason Tahr Whyler and his Inquisitorial retinue are on Axum isn't to help the Imperials defeat the Republic's counterattack, it's to ensure that the Republic successfully defeats the Imperials in order to use that bloody defeat to turn all those Imperial casualties into Inspirational Martyrs for the sake of morale and giving the Imperium a cause to rally behind.
- You're Insane!: Said by Imperial Guard officer Javrick to Inquisitor Tahr Whyler near the start of the episode after the latter kills all of Javrick's men, gloats about his Evil Plan to sacrifice all the Imperials on Axum to create a bunch of Inspirational Martyrs, and is about to feed Javrick to a daemonhost.
