Axum slowly burns, but even as all eyes turn to face it, wheels continue to turn beyond the confines of that perilous combat sphere. From Tatooine, to Raxus Secundus, and farther still...let us take a moment, and go Beyond Axum.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Appeal to Force: When the Imperials that were left behind on Tatooine by Orion's fleet choose to negotiate with Jabba the Hutt for his aid in settling the desert planet, their idea of being diplomatic is to send in a squad of Salamander Space Marines to storm Jabba's palace, kill anyone that gets in their way, and force Jabba to comply with their demands at gunpoint. Considering that Jabba in canon is so used to ruling through fear that he refuses to bargain with anyone as an equal, this was actually the right call.
- Bad Boss:
- Dooku shows just how little he actually cares about the Confederates he rallied to his cause when he leaves the Separatist Council to die on Raxus Secundus simply for not agreeing with him about the truce with the Republic.
- Boba also implies that Jabba kills any musicians who stop playing their instruments without his permission.
- Ballroom Blitz: Boba Fett is quietly attending a party being thrown by Jabba at his palace on Tatooine which gets interrupted by the sound of fighting outside, followed by a Space Marine fireteam from the Salamanders Chapter breaking through the door guns blazing.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Orion Phatris returns in this episode after his last appearance in Episode 10.
- Rollah Sendurran also returns after she was last seen in the Season 1 finale.
- Dr. Shina and Bucket make their reappearance here after their long absence from the story.
- Brother Araknus reappears (for the last time) during the Crimson Razors' ground assault on Raxus Secundus.
- Call-Back: When Boba Fett is introduced in this episode, it's mentioned that he and his crew have been taking a small vacation from bounty hunting due to the huge amounts of credits they were paid for helping an old acquaintance rescue a Jedi, referencing how Ventress hired them to save Quinlan from Dooku in the canon EU novel Dark Disciple.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Padme's water breaking.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Salamanders easily slaughter all of Jabba's guards and thugs that try to impede them from entering his palace.
- Deflector Shields: It's revealed that when the Razors initially began their orbital bombardment of Raxus Secundus, they were stopped by the planet's overlapping shield generators, requiring Astartes strike teams to be sent down to the planet's surface to take out each shield generator.
- Internal Reveal: Padmé learns from Shina that Palpatine was responsible for causing the incident that led to war between the Republic and the Imperium, while Shina learns from Padmé that Anakin has been appointed the Supreme Commander of the Republic military and that Anakin is the father of Padme's child.
- Know When to Fold 'Em:
- Boba and most of the other bounty hunters at Jabba's party wisely put their guns down and surrender once it becomes clear just how badly outmatched they are by the Salamanders.
- Dooku, despite managing to kill a squad of Astartes who were trying to destroy one of Raxus Secundus's shield generators, quickly accepts that the system is going to burn to the Imperium and decides to flee the planet while also abandoning the Separatist Council who he decides have ceased being useful.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The episode takes a break from the Axum arc in order to follow up on other storylines that otherwise get little focus in Season 2.
- Orbital Bombardment: The episode ends with the Crimson Razors finally unleashing their destructive orbital bombardment upon Raxus Secundus after the planet's shield generators are taken down.
- Put on a Bus: When Boba Fett is introduced sitting by himself at Jabba's party, it's explained that the rest of Boba's crew, including Dengar and Bossk, took a break from bounty hunting to go on private vacations using the credits that Ventress paid them for helping her save Quinlan from Dooku.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Dooku delivers one to Araknus as he finishes the defeated Space Marine off by stabbing his lightsaber through his heart.Dooku: You lost the war before you started, fool.
- Reality Has No Subtitles: The entire conversation between Jabba the Hutt and Ciaphas Cain when they first meet is spoken in untranslated Huttese. Even the episode subtitles provided for that scene are in Huttese with no English translation from the author.
- Sequel Episode: A two-fold example. This episode serves as a continuation of the short special "Red Eyes, Revelations, and Bucket" and the "Davik Thune and the Droids" mini episode as two of the subplots pick up where those two special episodes left off.
- So Last Season: Araknus learns the hard way that regular Space Marines are no longer the Outside-Context Problem they were in Season 1. In the first season, Space Marines were treated as nearly unstoppable as they seemingly plowed through everything the Star Wars galaxy threw at them including the Jedi. A single Battle-Brother posed a significant challenge for Anakin to defeat even when the latter had Rex and the Bad Batch backing him up. When faced with an entire Space Marine fireteam, Anakin was left with no choice but to Run or Die. Here, however, Brother Araknus and his veteran Astartes squad are up against Count Dooku, a Sith Lord who is far deadlier than any Jedi and has already been tipped off by Palpatine on the Astartes' combat capabilities. Dooku winds up easily dispatching Araknus's entire squad without him even noticing, then makes short work of Araknus himself in a 1v1 duel.
