Star Wars Rebels returned and, after the return of fan-favorite Ahsoka at the end of season one and Darth Vader in the premiere, it wastes no time bringing back more beloved characters, this time the clones!
Recap
After the destruction of their command ship in the premiere episode, the rebels scramble for ideas on what to do next. They hit on the idea of setting up a base, but they don’t have any idea where to begin. As they all try to come up with something, Ahsoka looks thoughtful and tells the group she might know someone who can help. She once knew a great general, someone she fought alongside years ago. Someone with a vast knowledge of the Outer Rim. However, she lost track of this person years ago and all her transmissions have gone unanswered. Ezra volunteers the Ghost crew to search for this missing general, and Ahsoka agrees; she still has one thing left she hasn’t tried.
As the Ghost crew gets ready to leave, Ahsoka brings them the head of an old tactical droid. She tells them the droids were great at finding people in the old days and they found her and her master more than once when they didn’t want to be found. She tells them her friend was last seen in the Seelos System, so they should start there. Ezra picks up on something and asks if Ahsoka will come with them. Ahsoka replies that she has something else to attend to. She has questions that need answering about the Sith Lord. As she leaves she very pointedly tells Kanan that – if the Ghost crew finds her friend – he MUST trust him.
When the Ghost crew arrives, something goes wrong with the ship and Hera and Chopper stay behind to fix it. Kanan, Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb take the Phantom down to the planet. Once there Sabine fixes the tactical droid’s head, which immediately homes in on something. They follow the coordinates to what looks like an old Republic tank, which is very heavily modified and walks through the dessert. They land the Phantom and approach the tank.
Three old men appear at the top and Kanan quickly realizes they are clones. He draws his lightsaber, as one of the clones freaks out and shoots at them. The leader of the clones stops him and tells him to stand down. These are not the Jedi who betrayed them. He apologizes to the crew and introduces himself as Captain Rex. His companions he introduces as Gregor and Wolffe. Ezra tells them they were sent by Ahsoka Tano, which puts Rex at immediate ease and subsequently causes him to invite them inside.
Kanan, however, is not at ease. Having been a padawan at the time of Order 66, he saw the clones rise up against the Jedi and slaughter everyone, including his master. He has no intention of trusting these clones. Ezra, however, has no qualms about asking them and explains their plight. He tells the clones they need a base and asks for advice on where to build one. Rex and Gregor are on board to help, and Rex tells them he’ll put together a list of possible locations. Wolffe, on the other hand, is not okay with this plan and, as soon as the crew is out of earshot, makes his protests known. He is afraid the Empire will come after them if they find out they helped the Jedi.
Outside, Gregor asks the Ghost crew if they can help him with something. Since the clones will help them find a base location, Gregor wants the Ghost crew to help him hunt a Joopa. Kanan says no right away, but Ezra agrees anyway. Gregor tells them all they need to catch one is Zeb.
Elsewhere, Agent Kallus receives a message, from somewhere in the Seelos System, which tells him a clone unit sent a distress call about a Jedi. While the clone who sent the message is known for delusions, Agent Kallus orders a probe be sent out just in case.
Back on Seelos, Ezra confronts Kanan about his mistrust of the clones. He tells Ezra about the clones’ betrayal, but is interrupted by Rex, who tells him he was not one of the clones who betrayed the Jedi. The clones who did betray the Jedi were controlled by chips in their heads, but Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor all removed theirs before the order was given and did not kill anyone. As Rex and Ezra leave Kanan so he can be alone, off in the distance a probe falls to earth.
Outside, Gregor hooks Zeb up to a leash in front of the tank. Off in the distance the ground starts to move. As the others talk to Gregor, they realize that Zeb isn’t hunting the Joopa; he’s the bait! Just then the ground gives way and a tongue pulls Zeb underground. Gregor is wildly excited, and tells Kanan and Ezra what to do to get the Joopa to the surface so they can get Zeb back. The beast leads them on a wild chase, but eventually they get it to surface. As it thrashes around Rex shoots it, it collapses to the ground, and Zeb crawls from its mouth.
That night Kanan calls Hera to tell her the developments. She reminds him that at one time the Jedi fought alongside the clones and saved millions of lives, including her own. Kanan reluctantly agrees with her. When they hang up he leaves the Phantom, but – behind him – the probe droid silently enters the ship and starts working on the computer.
Outside Rex tells them he compiled a bunch of files that will be useful for the Rebels. While Sabine goes to get them, Ezra tries to get the clones to come with them despite the fact that Kanan seems like he’ll never trust them. As Rex explains why his days in battle are finished, Sabine comes back out in a panic. She found the messages to the Empire and warns the others they were given up.
The messages were hidden along with the messages Ahsoka sent that were never answered. Rex is shocked. He says he never received any messages from Ahsoka and grabs the evidence from Sabine. As he looks through the files Wolffe looks away uncomfortably. Everyone looks at him and demands to know what he did. He tells them he was just trying to protect them. If the Empire knew they helped the Jedi, they would have killed them all for sure. Rex grabs him and tells him the war is over. They can’t live in fear for the rest of their lives. Wolffe is visibly upset and tells them he’s sorry.
Meanwhile, Sabine calls Hera to warn her and tell her to start to scan for incoming ships; but, when she gets to the Phantom, she finds the probe droid sabotaging the ship. As it flies at her, firing its blaster, she dives out of the way and calls for Kanan. He follows the probe droid, but It is too fast and gets too far away for him to damage it. Ezra tells Rex he needs to make things right and tosses him a blaster, which he uses to destroy the probe with one shot. As the crew investigates the droid’s ruins, Sabine reports that the Phantom is damaged beyond repair. They are stranded and the Empire is on its way.
Review
This was a pretty solid episode, if not a tiny step down from the premiere. The premiere had the return of Darth Vader, alongside Ahsoka as a main character, so it’s not surprising this episode wasn’t as much an event as the last one. Not every episode can be a premiere.
That being said, this was a very good episode and fans of the clones will be thrilled to see the return of Captain Rex (alongside two other clones who have been a bit affected by their time in the war). Gregor is pretty much cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs at this point and Wolffe is a mistrustful, angry old man. Actually they are all old men, but – with the clones’ rapid aging – this is not surprising.
I was probably not quite as excited for this episode as other fans, because I’ve never been all that invested in the clones’ stories. There were very few clone focused stories during The Clone Wars series that really sucked me in. I was far more invested in Ahsoka’s or Asajj Ventress’s stories. The clone episodes, to me, were only filler episodes, but apparently I am rather alone in this opinion. Unbeknownst to me, the clones have a huge fan base (Captain Rex in particular) and fans were clambering to see them again.
Aside from my general indifference to the clones as a whole, it was good to see them again. It was especially nice to see Rex, who is really the only clone I remembered by name.
The other two I looked up to see if they were returning characters or if they were made up for this series. It turns out they were definitely characters from The Clone Wars too, it’s just been so long since I watched the show that I forgot about them. Once I looked them up I definitely remembered them. Gregor was the clone who was found with amnesia during a season five arc starring Colonel Meebur Gascon.
Wolffe appeared in so many episodes throughout the series that I really should have remembered him before I looked him up. In my defense, he looks quite a bit different. They all do, really.
Now that I have them as a point of reference, whenever I get back to revisiting The Clone Wars, maybe I will be a little more invested in these clones’ episodes.
Not counting the general lack of Ahsoka and Hera, my one complaint about this episode was how quickly the issue of Wolffe’s betrayal was swept under the rug. He apologized like thirty seconds after his betrayal was made known and everyone seemed to get over it just like that. It was like it didn’t even happen. I feel like Kanan should have had a much bigger problem with it than he did. I suppose there’s still a chance it’ll be addressed in the next episode. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
All in all this was a very good episode. There were some things that could have been improved on, but they weren’t too major. The story on the whole was really good and the ending definitely left me wanting more. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
What did you think of the Star Wars Rebels premiere? Were you excited to see the clones return?
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes