BEWARE SPOILERS: Just like with the previous Disney Plus series, we at Fantha Tracks will be offering our own episode guide for your entertainment! Here we will post every reference, Easter egg, everything named and unnamed per episode and some fun trivia in-between that we have spotted.
Chapter9 – Strange Allies
Official summary: Trust is tested as newly forged allies navigate the only way out.
Trivia
And as expected, Dryden Vos appears. However he is not voiced by Paul Bettany, who played the character in Solo, but is voiced instead by Scott Whyte for this and the next episode.
Another sign that this is taking place before Solo is that Dryden mentions that he has a superior named Rintero, which he wants to take the leadership role from. Dryden does seem to be on his ship from that movie, the First Light, however when he and Maul have their conversation.
This, and the next, episode also shows a bit more of the history of Janix with the Armistice Fountain, the underground tunnels and the old temple complex.
Planning the route to take with a hologram display is reminiscent of how in The Phantom Menace Padmé and the others planned a way into Theed to take back the palace.
The Aurebesh in Spybot’s point of view as he jams the comms reads: “Signal jammed”.
Throughout the series we have seen many elements of horror stories acting as the inspiration for scenes with the Inquisitors. The Eleventh Brother staying silent was one of them, but he finally speaks in this episode with one line.
The skiff is new, but looks to be inspired by the platforms found on Mustafar in Revenge Of The Sith.
To continue the saga’s links to mythology: this toxic sludge represents the river Styx. with Spybot acting as Charon the ferryman, from Greek mythology.
During the fight there, Rylee is the only one who stuns their enemies. In fact, in a rare form of brutal deaths, Vario shoots one TK trooper in the face with the blast mark clearly visible.
Again a cue of Battle of the Heroes is heard. This time when Devon makes the jump, runs over the ceiling to the skiff, and lands on the other side.
Another classic element of horror stories is with Rook Kast’s death, who is dragged by an unseen foe towards a certain doom. The classic throat crush sound effect from the Original Trilogy can be heard.
And the arrival of Darth Vader out of the fog is another horror element, inspired by Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th and Michael Myers in Halloween.
However there is a second reference in those shots of Darth Vader appearing. It was also meant to be reminiscent of the Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye novel cover, which was drawn by Ralph McQuarrie.
Talking about that novel, while the whole underworld/River Styx analogy is true, in Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye we also had an underground cave with a lake that had to be crossed by the heroes. The only danger here was Leia’s inability to swim.
And we would also like to point out that the Kom’rk-class Fighter that we have seen Maul use in the previous episodes has received a name: Hex, as revealed by its toy in the Micro Galaxy Squadron line.
Join us soon for the episode guide of Chapter 10, the season finale.