Goodbye, Kanan.
The Ghost crew infiltrates the Imperial headquarters on Lothal to save one of their own.Tropes in this episode include:
- Anyone Can Die: Kanan's death means that it's now open season on anyone who isn't Hera or Chopper (who are confirmed to be in Rogue One).
- A-Team Montage: Team Ezra building the gliders.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Thrawn has figured out from the kalikori that Hera had a younger brother who died when they were both children.
- Batman Gambit: It's hinted that Kanan deliberately chose the fuel depot as the rendezvous point to trick the Empire into blowing it up.
- Big Damn Kiss: Kanan and Hera get a proper one on top of the fuel pod after she declares that she loves him for the first time.
- Big "NO!": Even though all dialogue is muted by tragic music instead, Hera is clearly seen screaming this upon witnessing Kanan's death while also giving a distraught Futile Hand Reach as Ezra holds her back.
- Bittersweet Ending: Heavily, heavily leaning towards the "bitter" side. Pryce foolishly fires on the fuel pods to kill the Spectres, destroying the fuel supply for the sector. Unfortunately, the victory she just handed the Spectres costs them Kanan, who sacrifices himself so Hera, Ezra, and Sabine can escape.
- Brick Joke: Two Stormtroopers comment on the increase of lothbats in Capital City before saying that at least they're not lothcats, implying that they're the same Stormtroopers from "Flight of the Defender".
- The Bus Came Back: Ezra's tower returns after last being seen taken over by Thrawn's forces while apprehending Kallus back in "Zero Hour".
- Butt-Monkey: Both Tarkin and Thrawn agree that Krennic is a wannabe, but the audience already knows that Tarkin sees an opportunity from it.
- Call-Back:
- In the Kanan comic, Caleb cut off his Padawan braid and let his hair grow so that he could become Kanan, the next stage in his life. Now, Kanan cuts away his hair so that he can progress to the next stage of his life, possibly becoming Caleb once again. ... or acknowledging the man who could/should have died back then.
- Kanan meditates near the fields of Lothal like he did in "Kindred", only without Hera at his side this time.
- Kanan tells Ezra to take the lead on rescuing Hera since he might make a mistake due to his feelings for her. In the last episode, Kanan tried to head into Imperial territory alone out of concern for her and had to be stopped by the loth-wolves, so his worries are justified.
- Just as in "Twilight of the Apprentice", a fallen knight performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save their friends, with one of their friends attempting to run to them only to be pushed away so that the knight's sacrifice won't be in vain.
- Call-Forward: Tarkin mentions Krennic's project "Stardust", which was revealed to be the code name for the Death Star in Rogue One.
- Cassandra Truth: In her drug-induced stupor, Hera points out Kanan on the window in Pryce's office. As he's gone by the time she turns, she assumes Hera is delusional and makes nothing of it.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Governor Pryce doesn't even bother asking Hera questions for the first few hours.
- Contain the Kaboom: Kanan's final act is to use the Force to hold back the explosion long enough for the others to escape.
- Continuity Nod: Hera caressing Kanan's face while commenting on her dislike of his new hairdo is reminiscent of Satine doing the same to Obi-Wan in The Clone Wars. Ironically, while Satine had commented that she disliked Obi-Wan's beard (because it hid his face) Hera says that she prefers Kanan's former beard as opposed to his clean cut.
- Contrived Coincidence: Thrawn happens to desperately need to go to Coruscant and plead his case for the TIE Defenders project right before the team begins their mission. Had he been even in the immediate vicinity of the planet, things would likely have gone very differently.
- Creepy Good: The loth-wolf's signature Kubrick Stare gets even more sinister-looking as he watches Kanan from the shadows in the manner of a predator inspecting prey.
- The Day the Music Lied: At the climax of the episode, Hera and Kana share a Big Damn Kiss on top of a large fuel tank. The music swells in typical Rebels fashion as Sabine and Ezra swoop in with their hijacked Imperial transport to pick them up, and it seems like another daring escape for our heroes. But then the music cuts out as a pair of AT-ATs show up.Pryce: Target that fuel pod, now!
- Destination Defenestration: While rescuing Hera from Pryce's office, Kanan Force-throws one of the guards out the window. The other goes through a hole in the floor he cut to get in.
- Deus Exit Machina: Thrawn is called away to plead his case for the TIE Defender program directly to the Emperor, leaving the significantly less competent Pryce running the show.
- Dying as Yourself: As Disney XD titles the scene, Kanan's death scene is titled "The Death of Caleb Dume". His eyes seem to change back for a moment just to underscore this.
- Face Death with Dignity: It's implied that Kanan learned of his impending death from the Loth-Wolf in the previous episode, but that it would lead to saving his family and Lothal. So he's serene and even joyful for the entire episode.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: A lot of it. Kanan's dialogue with Hera, Ezra, and Sabine very much sound like parting words, hinting that he knows he's not coming back. While he duels with Rukh he loses his lightsaber over the building, calling back to "your lightsaber is your life".
- For the Evulz: Pryce is just enjoying too much the fact that she has finally captured Hera, and just tortures her without even asking questions.
- Foreshadowing: Part of Kanan's haircut involves shaving the sides of his head. In Vietnam, US soldiers would often shave themselves down to mohawks when they thought they were being sent on suicide missions.
- Faux Affably Evil: For all his posturing about her being a Worthy Opponent, Thrawn gleefully rubs Hera's tragedies in her face and then mock-apologizes before declaring his intent to keep the kalikori as a personal trophy.
- Get a Room!: In response to Kanan and Hera's Big Damn Kiss on top of the fuel pod, Ezra flies in and yells at them "Hey! Enough of that!"
- Giant Flyer: Loth-bats. Ezra exploits this by designing the gliders to look like them, so stormtroopers looking up don't see anything amiss.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Kanan stays on the exploding fuel pod so he can halt the explosion long enough to throw the others to safety before being consumed by the explosion.
- Hope Spot: Just before the ending; Kanan and Hera have reached the top of the fuel tank. Hera finally professes her feelings for him, and they share a Big Damn Kiss. Sabine and Ezra show up in their captured gunship, and it seems like our heroes have pulled off another successful rescue mission, right? But then Pryce shows up in an AT-AT.Pryce: Target that fuel pod. Now!
- Impairment Shot: Hera's view of Pryce is very blurry after she's been drugged.
- Important Haircut: Kanan cuts his hair short and shaves his beard. Hera lampshades that she doesn't like the new change of style.
- Insistent Terminology: After their glider crashes at the fuel depot, Hera insists to Kanan that she never crashes. She has "very exciting landings".
- Jurisdiction Friction: Between Krennic and Thrawn. Thrawn's arguing for the pragmatism of the Defenders while Krennic wants to scrap the project and devote all resources to the "Stardust" project. Tarkin isn't impressed by Krennic's project, either, as it's costly and thus far shows no results. Shows how little he thought of it at first since "Stardust" was the codename for the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, AKA the DEATH STAR.
- Kick the Dog: Pryce tortures Hera just for the sake of torturing her and is in full twisted glee over her pain, not even bothering to ask questions before Thrawn has had a chance to speak to her. Becomes quite hard to watch when it's revealed Hera is pregnant during her torture.
- The Load: Hera briefly becomes this due to being in a near-sedated state thanks to the Imperial Mind Probe. She recovers quickly enough to take down a Stormtrooper with a blaster and pilot the glider to the fuel depot, though even then she is a little loopy.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Defied. Kanan is worried that he won't be able to think clearly due to his personal feelings for Hera, so he preempts the problem by putting Ezra in charge.
- Mood Whiplash: Hera spends much of the episode drugged out and saying hilariously nonsensical things, but it gets dark all of a sudden when Kanan prepares to sacrifice himself.
- Mundane Solution: The Empire has a lot of highly-sophisticated sensors for counteracting ships, intruders, and other attacks on the center. A simple glider with no moving parts or electricity is completely undetectable.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Pryce continues the Imperial tradition of getting way too close to the heroes, grabbing Hera's face and leaning in while she's torturing her.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kanan is much more swift and brutal than normal while rescuing Hera.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: During Kanan's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Pun-Based Title: "Jedi Night", Jedi Knight...
- The Rival: We learn that Orson Krennic and Project Stardust (AKA the Death Star) are competing with Thrawn and his TIE Defender project for continued funding from the Empire.
- Rock Beats Laser: Ezra and Sabine's plan is to fly into Capital City using simple gliders, painted to look like loth bats. As they are small and have no power signature, the Imperial scanners don't pick them up at all.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- In addition to the haircut, Kanan leaves his mask behind.
- The moment before he dies, Kanan's eyes clear. The creators confirmed that no, this was not his disability magically curing itself, but visual shorthand for being so close to the Force and Hera that physical sight didn't matter.
- Scenery Porn: The shot of Zeb and Chopper sitting in the foreground as the gliders carrying Ezra, Kanan, and Sabine fly into the sunset.
- Sensor Character: Ezra can pick out the exact room Hera's being held at from all the way out to the tower. Likewise, Kanan can sense Hera's location the instant they land on the dome.
- Shown Their Work: The Empire's truth serum works much in the way it works in real life....that is to say, not at all. Hera has loosened inhibitions and becomes more chatty but this doesn't make her compliant or incapable of lying. Pryce wonders if she's having hallucinations, which is another common side effect. And the typical "love interest confesses under truth serum" trope is actually inverted as Hera confesses her love to Kanan but he thinks she's just babbling from the serum until she shows she's sober.
- Silence Is Golden: The sound of the explosion and fire are the only things heard as Kanan dies.
- Silent Credits: For the first time in the series, there's no music playing during the credits.
- Smash to Black: Inverted. For the first time in the series, the ending title fades to white.
- Spoiler Title: Not the worst but "night" is a rather common synonym for death. True to form, night comes for a Jedi. In other words, "Good night, Jedi Knight".
- Take a Moment to Catch Your Death: Had Kanan and Hera boarded the shuttle immediately, he wouldn't have died.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Pryce orders the fuel depot Kanan was standing on to be fired at when it would've been easier to hit him directly without compromising the TIE production. Well, that would've worked...if Kanan weren't a Jedi.
- Torture First, Ask Questions Later: When Thrawn walks in on Pryce zapping Hera and asks if Hera's given up any information yet, Pryce casually comments that she hasn't gotten around to asking any questions while continuing to zap Hera.
- Truth Serums: Imperial probes are this and Hera gets a full dose. In a surprisingly realistic turn, it does absolutely nothing to make her talk, just making her chatty and loopy. You'd have to wonder why the Empire even uses probe droids at all if their effectiveness leaves something to be desired.
- Wham Episode: Kanan dies so that Hera and the others can escape. The fuel depot's destruction ruins the Empire's plans to mass-produce TIE defenders. We also learn a key part of Hera's past: namely, that she had a brother who died when he was very young.
- You Are in Command Now: Kanan asks Ezra to come up with the rescue plan, since he can't do it himself without his personal feelings for Hera clouding his judgment.
