Lando: You know, you remind me of a droid I once knew…
Due to Zeb getting in over his head during a sabacc game, the Ghost crew is forced into working for their new acquaintance, Lando Calrissian. Mainly, Lando intends to begin a mining operation on Lothal and is using the crew to help get it started. However, a complication arises in the form of a crime lord called Azmorigan.Tropes in this episode:
- Aside Comment: Lando's last line to establish that the crew didn't really get one over on him; Chopper stealing the fuel is the real reason he didn't pay them. It's presented as him talking to the pig to keep the fourth wall intact.
- Big "WHAT?!": Kanan's reaction to learning Lando's plan involves selling Hera to Azmorigan as a slave-girl. He doesn't want to leave her there and is clearly angry, but Hera gives him a "cool it" look and makes it clear she can handle herself.
- Breather Episode: This episode is definitely more light-hearted and funny compared to the three ("Empire Day", "Gathering Forces" and "Path of the Jedi") that came before it and the four ("Vision of Hope", "Call to Action", "Rebel Resolve" and "Fire Across the Galaxy") that comes after it.
- Bullet Dancing: Once our heroes gain the upper hand in the shootout at Lando's wildcat mine site, Sabine shoos some of Azmorigan's mooks away by doing this.
- Call-Forward:
- This will not be the last time Lando apparently sells out the heroes to the bad guys but helps them out in the end.
- Zeb saying Lando must have cheated sounds like him being a sore loser, but as we see in Solo Lando is not above cheating at cards.
- The Charmer: Lando's attempts to flirt with Hera fall flat as she simply ignores him. But, his repeated tries put Kanan in a bad mood and tossing the guy a Death Glare for most of the episode. His attempts to flirt with Sabine don't prove fruitful either (although she's still generally nice to him), but annoy Ezra as well.
- Chekhov's Skill: Zeb's ability to frighten the puffer pig is used during the firefight to make it expand and take out two of the guards. Sabine then uses it as a step to hop on a nearby roof and flank the remaining guards.
- Condescending Compassion: Lando tells Sabine not to be so hard on Ezra for not knowing more about galactic art, as he's just a child. Ezra keeps quiet, but he takes this as an insult.
- Continuity Nod:
- The music from when Han, Leia, Chewie and C-3PO meet Lando at Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back plays when Kanan introduces Lando to Hera, Sabine and Ezra on the Ghost. (It is, after all, Lando's leitmotif.)
- Kanan once again sees a lightsaber doing something that his can't.
- Cover-Blowing Superpower: When Ezra pulls out his lightsaber during the firefight, Kanan stops him and says they never reveal their Jedi identity unless necessary. Ezra then reveals he crafted his lightsaber to double as a stun blaster. Turns into a funny moment when Kanan simply says while sulking, "Mine doesn't do that..."
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Lando’s flirting with Hera and Sabine turns Kanan and Ezra into a comic version of this for the duration of the episode. When Azmorigan demands they let him kill Lando, Ezra and Kanan are (in comedic fashion) all for it.
- Damsel out of Distress: Invoked by Lando, who's perfectly confident in Hera's ability to make an escape on her own. He's right, as it takes her only a short while to get away from her captors and into an escape pod. She's no less annoyed for the blindside, though, and rewards him accordingly for selling her.
- Death Glare: Kanan, after Lando makes one too many blasé remarks about Hera gives him this along with a clenched-teeth reaction that makes it clear Lando needs to leave now. Sabine quickly suggests that Lando goes to the airlock, and Lando agrees and quickly leaves the room.
- Divide and Conquer: Hera calls Lando out for this near the end, making it clear that he's not going to get what he wants unless the team is working as a unit.
- Exact Words: Lando claims the crate contains sophisticated mining equipment, implying that it's machinery. Ezra then lampshades that said equipment is snoring. Lando later explains that the puffer pig can sniff out minerals more efficiently than a dozen mining scanners.
- Expy: As a rotund crime-lord with a thing for pleasuring himself with slave-girls, Azmorigan is an intentionally obvious one to Jabba.
- Fat Bastard: Azmorigan is this in spades.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Hera is very angry at Zeb for losing Chopper to Lando in a bet.
- Funny Background Event: When Hera calls out Lando near the end, Kanan's grinning in the background.
- Greenskinned Space Babe: Twi'leks are considered in-universe to be highly desirable and the women are often sold as slaves or used as dancers for entertainment. Azmorigan certainly thinks Hera is attractive despite her pilot's outfit (which, admittedly, goes beyond modest to rather unflattering), along with Lando as well.
- Groin Attack: Not made explicit, but Lando's Instant Soprano following Hera's punch suggests it wasn't his stomach she aimed for.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Lando gets to roll with the Ghost crew this episode.
- Honey Trap: Hera baits Azmorigan into dismissing his guards by coyly suggesting they spend some time alone, which gets him excited. The second they're alone, she knocks him out with a serving tray.
- I Let You Win: During the firefight with Azmorigan's goons, Chopper makes off with one of Lando's fuel canisters. After the crew has taken off, Lando reveals that he knew they stole it, which is why he claimed he couldn't pay them.
- Improvised Weapon: Hera knocks out Azmorigan and a guard with a serving tray.Hera: That was a really useful tray.
- Indy Ploy: Unless Lando scoped out the crew in advance, he does a remarkable job of rolling with the punches.
- Instant Soprano: Lando gets a moment of this when Hera punches him.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Ezra tells Lando he knows what impressionist art is after Lando calls himself an "impressionistic connoisseur", then asks Zeb what that means once Sabine and Lando have left the room.
- Jabba Table Manners: Azmorigan. Fitting for a guy based on Jabba's original designs.
- Lost Him in a Card Game: And Chopper is none-too-thrilled about it either if the repeated banging his head on the side of the game table is any indication.
- Lovable Traitor: Lando is being very Lando this episode. At least pre-Character Development.
- The Magic Poker Equation: The sabacc game where Chopper is bet has both players hold very good hands; Zeb has a sabacc and Lando has an Idiot's Array. Justified, since Zeb needed a good hand to feel confident enough betting Chopper (and for Kanan to support such a move) and Lando needed a very good hand to win, or else there'd be no plot. Although given how blatantly they were discussing it right in front of him, Lando would have had to be an idiot to go along with it with anything but an unbeatable hand.
- Magnet Hands: The puffer pig impressively manages to scale a ladder by running straight up it.
- Manipulative Bastard: No one is able to pull a fast one on Lando this episode and he easily gets what he wants.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Lando shows off his art knowledge to Sabine, which infuriates Ezra.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The puffer pig is a combination of a pig and pufferfish with the ability to sniff out minerals similar to real pigs sniffing out truffles.
- The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Lando introduces himself this way.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Ezra and Zeb release the puffer pig, which ends up lodging itself between the cockpit and the rest of the ship, stranding Hera on the wrong side and leaving Kanan as the pilot. Ezra's later attempt to climb over it when he gets annoyed by Lando flirting with Sabine causes it to expand further, knocking Zeb into the scrambler console and taking it offline, alerting the Imperials.
- In an unwitting example, Chopper's theft of a fuel canister during the gunfight gives Lando an excuse not to pay the crew under the assumption, as stated by Hera, that he doesn't have the money to pay them. It's a fairly mild instance, though.
- The Nose Knows: Lando calls the puffer pig "mining equipment" because it can smell minerals deep underground.
- Opinion Flip Flop: Ezra says he likes Lando . . . until Lando starts flirting with Sabine. By the episode's end, he's thrilled to see him leave.
- Prospector: Lando's trying his hand at some wildcat mining on Lothal.
- Public Secret Message: Lando subtly instructs Hera to take an escape pod once they leave, which she quickly figures out.
- Really Gets Around: Lando of course hits on Hera, a Green-Skinned Space Babe, and Sabine, who is 17 while Lando is canonically 39 at this timenote . He's mostly doing it to keep the Ghost's crew off-balance so he can maintain the upper hand in his dealings. Then again, he even sounds a little flirty when talking to Chopper. For maximum irony, this was pretty long before Solo came out and Donald Glover took up Lando's role, stating that Calrissian was pansexual.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The adorable puffer pig.
- Schmuck Bait: Lando should have known better than to leave Zeb and Ezra guarding a crate after telling them not to open it.
- Stuck in the Doorway: The puffer pig, when it gets scared and inflates in the wrong place.
- Sword and Gun: Ezra demonstrates that his new lightsaber is literally this.
- Tempting Fate:
- Zeb bets Chopper in a game of sabacc against Lando, after showing Kanan his hand and saying "We can't lose." Three guesses as to what happens next.
- While flying the Ghost past the Imperial blockade, Kanan says "We're gonna make it!" Moments later, Ezra makes the puffer pig expand even further while trying to climb over it, knocking Zeb into the cockpit controls, causing the signature modulator to turn off, leading the Imperials to launch fighters and attack the ship.
- Title Drop: The episode's title, "Idiot's Array", refers to a winning hand in sabacc
. In Legends, Lando had some history with this. Lando does it again (though possibly by cheating) to win against Zeb for possession of Chopper in the teaser. - Tranquil Fury: Hera when she's suddenly forced to act the part of a slave. Sure, she goes along with it when forced into it. But, the moment she gets back with Lando on the Ghost, she makes it very clear how she felt about it.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Lando assures Kanan that Hera is just following the plan after he's sold her to Azmorigan. Kanan isn't particularly convinced, since Lando never told either of them what the plan was.
- Villain of the Week: Azmorigan provides the threat of the episode, giving the Inquisitor a well-earned week off.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Hera chews out Kanan and Zeb for betting Chopper in a game of sabacc, especially given how she's made it clear Chopper isn't "just a droid" but a solid member of the crew.
- Wild Card: Lando does his usual flip-flopping between Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and Jerk with a Heart of Gold this episode.
