The Batch must break out an old enemy for answers.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Emerie tells Omega that, for what it's worth, she's glad she's safe, to which the young clone calmly asks "Am I?" Emerie clearly has no response for that.
- Beard of Sorrow: Prison has not been kind to Rampart, and he's sporting one of these, much like the Clones the Empire were giving the boot to, such as Mayday.
- Breather Episode: Downplayed; while the circumstances are hardly pleasant, this episode has the Batch on a successful prison break adventure after the tense drama and Downer Ending of the previous one.
- The Bus Came Back: Rampart returns since his last appearance in "Truth and Consequences".
- Call-Back: Rampart is once again in a HCVw A9 turbo tank, though as a prisoner this time around.
- Call-Forward:
- Rampart is rescued from a HCVw A9 turbo tank much like Jyn Erso will be years later.
- The Imperial base on Erebus is visually much of the same design and layout of the base that Din Djarin's party invaded on Morak. Much of the episode also revolves around the Batch sneaking into the base to search for a lead on their missing Force-sensitive child, though they're also doing a prisoner extraction.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Crosshair admits to wanting to kill Rampart, but he needs him alive to know where Tantiss is. He can, however, stun the ex-Admiral when Rampart tries to go for a weapon, which Crosshair is more than happy to do.
- Cloning Splits Attributes: In a subtle way. Hemlock notes that attempting to directly clone individuals with high M-counts causes the number to degrade every time. Omega’s DNA is the key to maintaining the M-count levels in the specimens they already have.
- Coming in Hot: To get to the surface of Erebus undetected, Phee cuts her engines on approach and does an unpowered dive towards the surface, then reboots them close to the surface and pulls up just prior to impact.
- Continuity Nod:
- Rampart was arrested during the events of "Truth and Consequences" after Palpatine used him as the scapegoat for the genocide of Kamino, revealed to have been put in a prison camp since.
- Rampart greets Crosshair by addressing him by his CT-number. In Season 2, he went out of his way to refer to to the clones by their CT numbers to taunt and dehumanize them since he was spearheading the directive to replace and discard them.
- Enemy Mine: The Bad Batch are forced to call upon their past nemesis, Admiral Rampart, in order to find Tantiss and rescue Omega. There is predictably very little trust in their interactions, with Rampart smugly extorting the Batch into liberating him and going for a blaster at the first opportunity, but once they're all off Erebus, Rampart admits that he and his rescuers are in the same boat.
- Fate Worse than Death: Admiral Rampart was sentenced to the Erebus mining prison instead of being executed for treason. The hellhole of a prison is enough to make Rampart wish he was dead.
- Godzilla Threshold: Crosshair describes breaking Rampart out of prison as this, since it won't be an easy task and the former Admiral is likely to be less than cooperative, but also acknowledges that while it's a last-resort option, it's also the Batch's only option.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Rampart, an Imperial admiral who was the show's main villain for the first season and the first half of the second season, is little more than just another prisoner toiling away in an Imperial labor camp until the Batch breaks him out.
- I Gave My Word: Once the Bad Batch breaks Rampart out of Erebus, he cooperates as promised, even telling them that while he might know a way around Imperial Protocols concealing the location of Tantiss, it will take a combined effort from all of them to pull it off.
- Internal Reveal: A couple examples.
- Crosshair admits to Hunter and Wrecker that while he doesn't know the precise location of Tantiss, he has known a likely source of that information the entire time: the former Admiral Rampart. He confesses that he never suggested seeking out Rampart at least partly out of fear of returning to Tantiss, but concedes that they have no choice now that Omega has been taken.
- The episode ends with Hemlock fully explaining to Omega why exactly she's so important to the work being done at Tantiss, and he brings her into the Vault where she also learns about the imprisoned children.
- Language Barrier: Rampart complains that he can't understand his Ugnaught coworker's pig-like bleats, as he sits on the pipe and barks incomprehensible instructions at him.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The HCVw A9 turbo tanks used by the prison have side-mounted missile launchers that can fire off a couple dozen missiles at a time. The Batch and their foes put that feature to good use.
- Moving the Goalposts: Rampart makes it clear that he won't give the Bad Batch any information without them getting him off-world, but once they do, he reveals that he doesn't actually know the exact coordinates for Tantiss, as Imperial procedure was designed to keep its location a secret. However, he does know a method of obtaining that information, and they'll have to work together to find it.
- Pet the Dog:
- Hunter and Wrecker, while initially irritated that Crosshair didn't divulge a potential lead on Tantiss, simply let the matter go when Crosshair admits he withheld the information due to lingering trauma from his time on Tantiss.
- Later, Wrecker frees the other Imperial prisoners on the transport, and while the Batch don't give them a ride off-world, they at least are allowed to run off into the surrounding area to try and find their own way to freedom. There's admittedly a practical reasoning for this as well that Wrecker himself brings up - any resources the Empire devotes immediately to recapturing the other prisoners are resources it can't throw at them.
- Pop the Tires: Because the turbo tanks are too heavily armored to damage with a frontal assault, Hunter directs Wrecker to target the front wheels of the opposing tank, causing it to fall to the ground and make a convenient ramp. Later on, the pursuing gunship destroys the rear axle of their tank, causing the steering to lock up as they're heading toward a turn on a cliffside road.
- Ramp-rovisation: After wrecking the enemy HCVw A9 turbo tank by taking out its tires, Hunter drives the Batch's tank up the now conveniently angled wreckage of the tank to let them clear a gate shut by the Imperials.
- Shout-Out: During the escape sequence, one of the TK troopers gets thrown over the side of the turbo tank, but holds on just before the Batch tries to crush him between a cliff wall, similar to the tank sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Unlike Indy however, the trooper isn't so lucky and suffers a brutal death.
- Smug Snake: The moment he realizes that he has some leverage over the Bad Batch, Rampart regains a bit of his old swagger and makes it clear that they'll get nothing out of him without getting him off Erebus first. Crosshair pointedly reminds him that he's in no position to gloat.
- Tempting Fate: Two TK Stormtroopers mention that they've haven't had any action against enemies who threaten the Empire's prosperity lately. Cue Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair stunning them while infiltrating the Imperial labor camp.
- Vehicular Turnabout: The Bad Batch hijacks the HCVw A9 turbo tank Rampart is in, and they use it to fight their way out.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Wrecker briefly chews out Crosshair for letting Omega give herself up to the Empire, though Crosshair defends himself by pointing out that the Imperials would have destroyed the entire town if she hadn't.
- You Are Number 6: As clones are only numbers and thus expendable to Rampart, you’d think they’re forgettable to him. Once he sees Crosshair, Rampart has not forgotten him after so long.
