Sometimes I just hate it when I’m right! In my recent mega review of the series so far, I predicted that Agent Kallus was now in huge danger, should he ever be discovered as Fulcrum. This latest episode, “Through Imperial Eyes”, showed us just how perilous his position is. And, with the revelation at the end, he is closer than ever to danger, if not death.

The Episode

The episode opens with Ezra purposely allowing himself to be taken captive aboard Agent Kallus’s ship. His mission is to warn Kallus that Thrawn is close to discovering his identity, and to help him escape. Their plans are halted however, when Lieutenant Lyste arrives to tell Kallus that they are being summoned aboard Thrawn’s ship. Thrawn has come with Colonel Wullf Yularen, and they are there to find out the identity of Fulcrum once and for all.

Lyste and Kallus board the ship, along with Ezra, who Lyste insisted on bringing as a way to prove his effectiveness after the debacle with Princess Leia on Lothal. He has not been trusted since that incident and is extremely eager to prove himself. They are accompanied by Chopper and AP-5, who are masquerading as Imperial droids. While Kallus meets with Thrawn, and Ezra plays the part of the prisoner, the droids are in communication with Kanan and Rex, trying to figure out a way to get them in and out.

After leaving the meeting with Thrawn and Yularen, Kallus and Lyste bump into Governor Pryce. As they leave, Kallus tells Lyste to step carefully around Pryce He insinuates that she is the main suspect in the search for Fulcrum, a suggestion that Lyste buys immediately. As he is working out how Pryce could be the spy, Kallus uses his distraction to swap their code cylinders and suggests that he keep an eye on her for Thrawn.

With Lyste is preoccupied with Pryce, Kallus uses his cylinder to free Ezra and tells him that he has discovered that Thrawn is close to discovering the Rebel base on Atollon. Before they leave, they need to erase it from his database. They head for Thrawn’s office, where Chopper finds the code to let Kanan and Rex in, and erase Atollon from his holomap, replacing it with a new planet.

As they get ready to leave, Thrawn arrives at the door, forcing them to hide. Ezra hides behind a piece of Sabine’s art that Thrawn has taken as a trophy, and Kallus hides in Thrawn’s training room, where he reprograms two Assassin droids to attack Thrawn. With Thrawn preoccupied, Ezra and Chopper flee with Kallus, and pick up AP-5 as they make their way to the hanger to meet Kanan and Rex.

Unfortunately Yularen has worked out the plan, and sends Pryce to meet Kanan’s ship. Kanan and Rex emerge disguised as storm troopers, but are stopped by Pryce. Just as it looks like they are caught for good, Pryce is knocked out by Lyste, who had no knowledge of the Rebels and mistook her actions for those of a traitor. As he realizes his mistake, he is knocked out by Kallus, who switches their code cyliders back around and tells Ezra to leave without him. He can do more good here, now that he has captured “Fulcrum.”

After the Rebels have made their escape, and Thrawn has congratulated Kallus on his capture of Lyste, Yularen tells Thrawn privately that he does not think that Lyste is capable of everything done by Fulcrum. Thrawn agrees, just as the belongings of the escaped prisoner are brought to him.

When he sees the artwork on the helmet depicting the face of a Loth-cat, Thrawn recognizes it as the work of Sabine Wren, and deduces that the prisoner had to have been Ezra Bridger. And as Kallus did not alert them to his identity, Kallus has to be the true Fulcrum. However, with Lyste having been captured as the spy already, they decide to let Kallus think he has gone undetected. Thrawn tells Yularen that he believes that “Fulcrum” will be more useful to the Empire than Kallus ever was.

Review

Holy cow. This episode was almost as exciting as the last one! As Kallus is a character that I have been paranoid will be killed off by the end of the series, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, just waiting for them to be caught. I am pretty sure that my heart-rate even went up slightly at a couple points! This episode was so riveting, and so revealing!

With the revelation that Thrawn now knows for certain that Kallus is Fulcrum, it is only a matter of time until his demise. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I don’t expect him to live out the series and I have my doubts that he’ll last the season as well. Kallus is in a very precarious position and he is now under false assurance that he is no longer in danger, when in fact he is in far more danger than he ever has been! Not only that, but the fact that they now see him as more useful than before, tells me that they are going to use him against the Rebels.

I think I’m safe in calling this now, Thrawn’s knowledge of Kallus’s position as a Rebel spy is almost certainly going to be the catalyst that betrays Chopper Base. Kallus may think he has saved the base by erasing Atollon, but I am sure that Thrawn is going to use his newfound knowledge to discover it anyway, if he doesn’t already know where it is. I did not like the way he looked at his holomap toward the end of the episode. Thrawn has proven himself to be scary smart, and if he hasn’t figured it out yet, I know he’s going to find it eventually. The Rebels are already well established at the base on Yavin 4 by the events of Rogue One, so I have a feeling the move is going to happen soon.

And speaking of things I’m now worried about, last week I said that I was worried about the fact that Sabine had left the Rebels. Now, with her artwork playing such a prominent role in this episode, I am not so much worried that she won’t be back, but instead I am worried about how she’ll be back. Thrawn knows exactly who she is and I could definitely see him hunting her down, especially since she is now not moving around the galaxy with the Rebels. Once Thrawn finds out what happened on Krownest, I can definitely see him hunting her down there.

Final Thoughts

This episode was so good, but it has left me all sorts of anxious about the future. Thrawn is a formidable foe, and this episode only served to cement his position as one of the smartest villains that the Rebels have had to face. With only Hera and Chopper so far being confirmed as lasting until the events of Rogue One, I am even more nervous now about the rest of the cast. Rebels may air on a Disney branded channel, but they have not hesitated to kill semi-main characters before. Yes, those characters were villains, but with the direction the show now seems to be headed, I don’t expect they’ll hold back, especially if they didn’t even shy away from blinding Kanan with a lightsaber.

As much as this show has me on the edge of my seat, worried about the future, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love that Star Wars Rebels has managed to get me this invested in its plot. Lately it has almost been at Star Wars: The Clone Wars levels of compelling. The closer we get to danger, the better the show becomes, and I am loving it.

What did you think about this episode? What do you think is going to happen with Kallus and Thrawn?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes