Today we continue our rewatch of Star Wars Rebels with episodes 51 through 55 of the popular Lucasfilm animated series.
Star Wars Rebels stars the vocal talents of Taylor Gray as Ezra Bridger, Vanessa Marshall as Hera Syndulla, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus, Steven Blum as Zeb Orrelios, Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren, and series co-creator Dave Filoni as Chopper.
Episode 51: “Warhead” – Left behind on on Atollon while the rest of the Ghost crew takes part in a training exercise, Zeb must work together with Chopper and the persnickety protocol droid AP-5 (Stephen Stanton) to deal with a new type of probe droid they’ve discovered crashed on the planet. Little do they know that it belongs to the Empire, and that it’ll transform into a killing machine once it reclaims its damaged memories. Thankfully Zeb receives a message from Fulcrum / Agent Kallus (David Oyelowo) warning him about the droid’s capabilities, and the droids assist the Lasat in using the infiltrator probe to sabotage and destroy an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Episode 52: “Trials of the Darksaber” – Fenn Rau (Kevin McKidd) visits the Ghost, and Kanan tells the Mandalorian warrior about Sabine having found the Darksaber in Maul’s hideout on Dathomir. Together they decide that Sabine should wield the weapon in an effort to unite her clan in the battle against the Empire, but she is hesitant to accept that responsibility. But Sabine reluctantly agrees to be trained by Kanan in saber fighting, though he will only allow her to use wooden training sabers at first. When the training hits a frustrating impasse, Hera convinces Kanan to let Sabine learn how to use the Darksaber on her own terms.
Episode 53: “Legacy of Mandalore” – Sabine and her friends visit her estranged Mandalorian family, but her mother Ursa (Sharmila Devar) is distrustful of the Jedi and the Rebellion. She turns them over to the Mandalorian Imperial Viceroy Gar Saxon (Ray Stevenson) in exchange for Sabine’s life, but when he betrays the Wrens, Sabine must duel him using Ezra’s green-bladed lightsaber against the Darksaber. Eventually Ursa kills Saxon to save her daughter and the family reunites on better terms. At this point Sabine decides to stay in the Mandalore sector to assist in her people’s struggle against the Empire.
Episode 54: “Through Imperial Eyes” – In a Kallus-focused episode, Ezra and the droids deliberately get themselves captured by the Empire to help free their inside man, because they believe his superiors intercepted his previous Fulcrum broadcast. But the arrival of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) complicates things, with he and Colonel Yularen (Tom Kane) determined to discover the identity of the rebel spy within the Empire. Kallus comes up with a plan to frame a subordinate as the spy, and decides to stay behind because he thinks this will give him an advantage, but Thrawn is too smart and knows Kallus is the one who has betrayed the Emperor, though he is keeping that information between Yularen and himself for now.
Episode 55: “Secret Cargo” – The Ghost is assigned to refuel a rebel ship carrying the titular secret cargo, which turns out to be Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) from Chandrila. Mothma has just fled Coruscant after calling out Emperor Palpatine and his devious tactics used in the infamous Ghorman massacre. When the Empire shows up to intercept the two ships, Mon Mothma must trust in the crew of the Ghost to get her to safety. Ezra briefly joins Gold Squadron, piloting a Y-wing starfighter in a battle against Imperial ships, including the prototype TIE Defender. From the rebel base on Dantooine, Mothma broadcasts a message to the Holonet tendering her resignation from the Imperial Senate and calling for the growth of the still-fledgling Rebel Alliance.
Star Wars Rebels is available to stream in its entirety on Disney+.