Last Monday’s Star Wars Rebels episode aired and left me in shock, confusion, and frustration.  Before I get into this, you might be wondering why this post is late.  I have a good reason; Battlefront II.  The game is amazing, despite all that loot box stuff that everyone’s been complaining about.  I recently started playing the single player campaign and I am not disappointed.  Okay, I’m getting off track here.  Anyway, besides leaving us with the biggest Star Wars cliff hanger since Luke and Rey on Ahch-To in The Force Awakens, this episode answered a big Rogue One question.  Lets get to reviewing!  Major Spoiler Warnings!…

 

The X-Wings Are Here!

As the beginning of this episode shows, the Empire highly values Lothal.  Star Destroyers, Imperial freighters and cruisers, and TIE Fighters are everywhere.  I’ve never seen so many Imperial ships in one place.  On one of the ships, and officer tells the captain that they’re detecting several craft coming out of hyperspace.  As soon as the captain looks out the window, a whole squadron of X-Wings and Y-Wings appear!  Leading the way is General Hera Syndulla!   “Alright, lets make this count,” she says.  “Lothal is depending on us.”  She reminds her team that their primary target is the Imperial fuel depot.   Phoenix 2, better known as Mart Mattin of Iron Squadron, says, “Presuming we get past this blockade.”  Phoenix 4, Cleat, says that the Empire may have numbers but the rebels have skill.  Mart says that that last part doubles for him.  Chopper, from the back of Hera’s X-Wing, beeps that it’s triple for him.  Hera orders her team to lock S-foils into attack position and tells the fighter groups to stay with their wing-men and to punch a whole in the Empire’s defenses.  They have to get the Y-Wings through.  On the Chimaera, Thrawn sees that the rebels have arrived.  Vult Skerris tells Thrawn how many rebel ships are coming.  Thrawn knows exactly what the rebels’ target is and says to alert all commands and to deploy the fleet and launch fighters.  He tells Skerris that the rebels must not reach Lothal’s surface.  Skerris goes to take care of that.  With TIE Fighters coming at them, Hera tells her squadron to attack.  The battle has begun.

 

So Far So Good

On the ground, the Ghost crew along with Ryder and Jai are preparing to take out the Empire’s ground turrets.  Zeb asks if the explosives are strong enough.  “Yeah, they’ll do the trick,” Sabine replies.  “Why?”  Zeb tells her that the gun towers are a lot bigger up close.  Over the comm, Ryder tells Ezra that they’ve set the last charges and their ready to meet at the rendezvous.  Ezra says that they’ve got one more tower to go.  “Hera will be here any minute,” Sabine tells them.  In space, the battle is still going on.  Hera tells her forces what to do and they do it, and it seem like they’re going to make it past the blockade.  But then, Skerris arrives in a TIE Defender.  Cleat tells Phoenix 5, Duke, to watch out for it.  Though, it’s to late.  Skerris shoots Duke down.  Before Cleat can get away, her X-Wing gets damaged.  Her goes to help her out, but before she can get there, Cleat is shot down as well.  Here we realize that Skerris just made an awful mistake; he made Hera mad.  The two TIE Fighters that were accompanying Skerris are both shot down at the simultaneously.  Skerris knows it’s Hera.  Meanwhile,  Ezra and the others finish up planting explosives on the gun towers and get to their speeders.  Ezra tells Zeb to ride in the back of his since there is not enough, but Zeb says that’s not going to happen.  He makes Ezra sit in the back instead.  They all ride away just in time for the explosives to go off, pulverizing the gun towers.  In Lothal’s capital, Governor Pryce informs Thrawn off what happened, but Thrawn already knows.  In fact, he is impressed at the rebels’ coordination.  Pryce says that the factory is now vulnerable.   “On the contrary,” says Thrawn.  “It’s quiet safe. I won’t allow a single rebel ship through my brigade.”  There are some moments in Star Wars Rebels where we see that Hera may very well be the greatest pilot in Star Wars, and this was one of those moments.  The TIE Defender is chasing Hera’s X-Wing trying to take her out.  Hera tries to get away, but Skerris is to fast in the Defender.  She sees the Chimaera and tells Chopper to hold on.  “I’ve got an idea,” she says.  She flies towards the Destryer at full speed, Skerris follows, wondering where she’s going.  Thrawn sees what’s going on and tells Skerris to break off from his pursuit.  But of course, Skerris won’t do it.  “I almost have her,” says Skerris.  “How unfortunate,” says Thrawn.  He order for the Chimaera to fire.  Hera and Skerris both get hit and lose their shields.  Hera tells Chopper to tighten his bolt and they go closer to Thrawn’s ship.  Hera shoots the Chimaera’s scanning array and, with the smoke from the blast to cover her, closes her X-Wings S-foils, (flying backwards, by the way) and shoots down Skerris.  The TIE Defender crashes into an Imperial cruiser, causing serious damage.  Mart sees this and gets excited.  “She got him!’ He shouts.  The cruiser smashes into a Star Destroyer and allows the rebels to get through.

 

Everything Goes Downhill

Commander Woldar informs Thrawn that the rebels had broken through their perimeter.  Thrawn says that it is regrettable, but a testament to Hera’s skills as a pilot.  He tell Woldar to contact the second wave and order them to intercept.  In Lothal’s atmosphere, it looks as though Hera and her squadron is going to make it to the factory.  But do you think Thrawn’s going to let that happen?  Mart tells Hera that he’s picking up enemy fighters.  They look through the clouds, and an entire squadron of TIE Fighters come at them, firing away.  On the ground, the rebels are eagerly awaiting Phoenix Squadron.  The Ghost crew meets up with Ryder and Jai at the rendezvous point to wait. Sabine sees the X-Wings coming in and pints them out.  But something isn’t right.  Ezra looks through electrobinoculars to see what’s going on.  He sees that the X-Wings and Y-Wings are heavily damaged and crashing down to Lothal’s surface.  Some ships don’t even make it down.  The rebels are devastated.  Sabine confirms that it’s the entire attack force.  In Thrawn’s office, Commander Woldar tells Thrawn that the entire rebel strike force was destroyed but a few ships managed to crash land in the city, including Hera.  Thrawn asks about the factory and learns that it is undamaged.  He calls up his assassin, Rukh, and tells him to go out and find any surviving rebel pilots and, if possible, to capture them alive.  He says that he wants particularly wants Hera.  Rukh says that it will be done.  Meanwhile, Kanan panics and tries to get hold of Hera.  Sabine sees two Imperial gunships heading their way.   Ryder says that they have to go before they are spotted.  They all turn to leave, but Kanan is in no hurry.  He’s obviously worried sick about Hera.  “We will find her, Kanan,” says Ezra.  And he speaks the words that should probably never be spoken in Star Wars.  “I promise,” he says.  Reluctantly, Kanan leaves with the rest of the rebels.

 

Kanan Goes Back

In the city, we see Hera’s X-Wing had crashed between to buildings.  Chopper checks to see if Hera is okay.  Hera awakes and sees what has happened.  She climbs out of the X-Wing that is never going to fly again as Lothal citizens approach her.  One of them tells Hera that the Empire is coming and she had better go.  She suggests that Hera cuts through the market and head towards the east gate.  Hera thanks the citizens and is about to limp off when an Imperial gunship flies by.  They all take cover.  Kanan tells Chopper to contact Kanan and Ezra, but his transmitter was damaged in the crash.  Hera tells him they will fix it as soon as they get out of there.  They hurry to find a way out.  On one of Lothal’s highways, the rebels are driving away from the city an their speeders.  Kanan stops and looks back at the city.  The others stop as well.  “I’m going back,” Kanan tells them.  “I have to do this.”  Ezra says that he understands.  “We’ll see you back at base.”  With that, Kanan heads back to the city to find Hera and the rest of them head to their base.  At the Imperial station, Rukh brings back a rebel pilot he had caught.  Pryce has some Stormtroopers take him away for interrogation.  Another Stormtrooper tells Pryce that they found the flight leader’s ship, but there was no sign of the pilot or astromech.  Pryce knows that the flight leader was Hera and orders the trooper to lock-down the entire district and to tear it apart until they find her.

 

Hera Meets Rukh

Hera finds that her way out is being blocked by an Imperial barricade.  She tells Chopper that if they move fast they can get through before reinforcements arrive.  She is about to attack the Stormtrooper guards, but hears a nearby distress call.  She goes to check it out.  She finds another wrecked X-Wing and sees R3-A3 trying to protect an injured Mart from Stormtroopers.  The troopers shoot R3, making Mart very upset.  Hera has Chopper stay behind while she rescues Mart.  She sneaks aboard an Imperial transport and knocks out the driver.  The Stormtroopers get distracted by the transport, giving Mart a chance to attack.  Mart, being the skilled fighter he is, takes out two of the troopers and is about to shoot the third before Hera runs him over.  Hera asks Mart if he’s okay, which he replies that he think so.  One of the knocked out Stormtroopers get up tries to shoot, but Chopper appears and takes care of him.  Hera apologizes to Mart about what happened to R3 and says their going to get through this they need the droids transmitter.  Mart says that R3 would want to help them and allows Hera to remove the transmitter.  Nearby, Rukh is on his way.  Just as they get R3’s transmitter installed on Chopper and they find that the Empire is jamming all frequencies, Rukh find them.  Hera tells Mart and Chopper to get away and she opens fire on their attacker.  They run away, but Rukh is fast.  Hera tells Chopper to scan for the nearest sewer hatch.  When Chopper has found one, they head that way, but Rukh stops them.  He quickly knocks Mart out.  If you’ve ever wanted to know if Hera’s fighting skills are as good as her piloting skills, here it is.  I would really love to find out where she learned to fight like she did!  She may have been a good fighter, but Rukh is better.  Mart wakes up to see Rukh about to stab Hera with an electrostaff.  Chopper saves her by electrocuting Rukh.  Not wanting to be shot, Rukh flees, but he’ll be back.  The three of them continue on their way.

 

Thing Are About To Get Even More Confusing

Meanwhile, Kanan is still driving full speed ahead towards the city.  He’s just driving along, minding his own business, when all of a sudden, the white Loth-wolf appears in the middle of the road.  Kanan senses this and tries to stop.  Interestingly, the wolf seems to disappear, and Kanan is thrown off of his speeder.  The street lights go out, and Kanan calls, “Where are you?”  He gets up off of the floor and return to his speeder, yelling that he doesn’t have time for that.  “If you wanna help, fine!” he shouts. “Otherwise, stay out of my way!”  He turns, and comes face to face with the white wolf.  He asks it what it wants.  Now, I am about to go crazy with these wolves.  They are so…I don’t even know a word to describe what they are.  I just know that they’re mysterious.  The wolf again says “Dume.”  But guess what?  Closed Captioning have revealed that the wolf did not say “Dume” as in Kanan’s original last name.  This time, he really said “Doom.”  Two other wolves come up behind Kanan.  The Jedi removes his mask and says, “I understand. What must I do?”  The scene changes back to Hera, Mart and Chopper before we can see what the wolf wants Kanan to do.  The three continue to run down streets.  Hera takes note of a landspeeder in on of the alleyways before they see that the sewer hatch they were going for is being guarded by a couple Stormtroopers and a AT-DP Walker.  Mart asks if they have any better options, but Hera says there’s no time.  She looks back at the landspeeder.  “Your good with distractions,” says Hera.  “I am?”  Mart replies.  Hera tells him that he is now.  Mart walks up to the troopers and says that he heard they were looking for rebel pilots.  “Looks like you found one,” he says.  He shoots one of the troopers before running away from the other’s fire.  The trooper alerts others of what is going on.  The trooper and the AT-DP go after Mart and Hera tells Chopper to get the hatch open.  She gets into the landspeeder.  Mart hides from the Imperials until the trooper gets to close.  Disturbingly, we witness Mart choke this trooper to death before he tries to shoot at the walker.  Luckily for him, Hera purposely crashes the speeder into the walker, causing it to fall down.  She jumps up on the fallen walker and tells Mart to go and she’ll catch up.  She stuns the walker’s driver before following Mart.  Mart is about to go into the sewer hatch when he notices that Rukh is chasing Hera.  “Hera, behind you!” He warns.  Rukh and Hera fight again.  Mart is about to help her, but two Imperial tanks roll in.

 

“But There Is Something I Can Do.”

Hera orders Mart and Chopper to get out of there.  Mart goes, but Chopper doesn’t want to leave Hera.  Hera shouts for him to leave before shooting the sewer hatch’s control panel.  Chopper is forced to go inside the hatch before the door seals.  Rukh overpowers Hera and forces her on her knees.  A gunship lands and Governor Pryce steps out.  “Governor Pryce, I’ve so wanted to meet you,” says Hera, standing to her feet.   “Such a small victory,” Pryce says before stunning Hera.  In the sewer, Mart and Chopper follow the Starbird symbols to an exit.  The hatch opens to reveal Kanan.  “Come on,” he says.  “Lets get you out of here.”  Chopper tells Kanan what happened, but he already knows.  Mart apologizes for what happened.  “It’s alright, Mart,” Kanan replies.  “There’s nothing you could have done. But there is something I can do.”  The three of them pile on Kanan’s speeder and drive back to the rebel base.  The white Loth-wolf watches them leave from afar.

 

Conclusion

What a cliff hanger!  Those beautiful Loth-wolves are killing me, though!  I want them to be explained so badly.  What does the wolf want Kanan to do?  There are so many questions.  But, I have no doubt now; Kanan is going to die.  The question is, when and how?  I really don’t know how well that will sit with me because I have always loved Kanan.  I mean, If I was upset when he got blinded, what’s it going to be like when he dies?  Now, if Kanan were to survive Rebels, I will be very surprised.  Happy, but surprised.  Because, you know, there is no major Jedi by the time of A New Hope.  Putting that aside, lets talk about Hera for awhile.  You know that feeling when you love the rebels but then characters like Thrawn and Rukh are with the Empire?  It’s like, I want the rebel to win, of course, but how could I cheer for them when my favorite Star Wars character of all times is Grand Admiral Thrawn?  That’s the way I felt for this whole episode.  I adore Hera.  She is my favorite Ghost crew member.  I want her to win.  But I don’t want to see Thrawn lose.  Seeing the Empire finally capture Hera, it made me both happy and a little worried.  But hey, I know Hera lives all the way past Return of the Jedi, so what’s there to worry about with her?  But back to Kanan, I really think he will sacrifice himself to save Hera.  You know, cuz’ he loves her and everything.  What do you think the wolf told Kanan to do?  Let me know in the comments!

Stray Thoughts

– So about that big Rogue One question I was talking about earlier.  The part in Rogue One when Jyn was trying to convince the Rebel Alliance to attack Scarif made us wonder why the rebels were so afraid to let her go.  The beginning of this episode was why.  You see, Hera begged Mon Mothma to let her lead an attack on Lothal saying it would be worth it.  They lost everything in this battle and didn’t even accomplish the mission.  Jyn begged the rebels to let her go to Scarif to get plans the rebel didn’t even believe existed.  It makes since that the alliance would say no.

– This episode marks the return of Mart Mattin of Iron Squadron and the death of R3-A3.  Poor R3, I liked him.  I never really liked Mart until I watched “Iron Squadron” for the second time.  In this episode, it appears that he has matured a lot and is very skilled.  Though, it was disturbing to see him choke that Stormtrooper to death.

Star Wars Rebels season 4 will return with it’s last six episodes in 2018.

 

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