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00:00 Welcome back to New Rock Stars!
00:01 I'm Eric Voss, and this is a breakdown of Star Wars Rebels Season 3.
00:05 Our breakdowns of Ahsoka Episode 1 and Episode 2 are on the channel now, and we are doing
00:09 this four-part Rebels recap series as a companion series to give you a kind of cheat sheet of
00:15 the Easter eggs, plot points, and tie-ins to the larger Star Wars universe.
00:18 And while Rebels Season 1 and Rebels Season 2 are interesting and worthy of watching all
00:21 of, Season 3 is when we really start cooking with gas, because Thrawn is here.
00:25 Please support our network with one of these Ahsoka-inspired fulcrum shirts at NerdRiot.shop,
00:30 and please subscribe to the Break Group for our Ahsoka After Show Wookiee Leaks.
00:33 And thanks to Rocket Money for sponsoring today's video.
00:36 More about them in a minute.
00:37 Let's get started.
00:38 Episodes 1 and 2 steps into Shadow Parts 1 and 2.
00:40 It's six months after the Season 2 finale, and Ezra has a new haircut, a new green lightsaber,
00:45 and some unnatural abilities, unlocked by the Sith Holocron from Malachor.
00:49 It continues to speak to him through the Presence, that is the spiritual essence of that Sith
00:52 who activated that superweapon on Malachor.
00:54 Ezra shows off that new haircut, but also turns to show a said scar.
00:57 This is his archetypal unhealable wound from that duel with the Great Inquisitor in Season
01:01 1, symbolizing the festering dark side presence in him.
01:03 They rescue Hondo Ohnaka, and Ezra lets his Ugnaught partner die, and then uses the Force
01:07 to walk an Imperial Walker off a ledge?
01:09 Yikes!
01:10 Sabine repainted her armor this season, so that honor pauldron now is Ahsoka's Morai
01:13 bird, because as far as they know, Ahsoka is dead.
01:15 But it's this bird, this episode, that leads Kanan to Bendu.
01:18 Hera has a new Captain Badge, since she's been promoted in the Phoenix Quadrant.
01:21 Ezra speaks to the Holocron, and its red glow is in his eyes, giving us this closeup, matching
01:26 the closeup of Thrawn's red, chis eyes later this episode.
01:29 Kanan confiscates the Holocron, and gets summoned out to the Adalon Winds by Bendu, voiced by
01:33 Tom Baker, who's the fourth Doctor, and Doctor Who David Tennant is now voiced in Hu-Yang
01:37 and Ahsoka.
01:38 Bendu is a Force user, who's neither Jedi nor Sith.
01:41 Actually, the word "Bendu" comes from George Lucas' original treatment for Star Wars.
01:45 When Jedi Knights were going to be called Jedi Bendu.
01:47 Bendu teaches Kanan how to use the Force to see, mostly by seeing past his own fear, so
01:51 that he can walk past these Krykna spiders.
01:53 Kanan leaves the Holocron with Bendu.
01:55 Grand Admiral Thrawn enters the chat, voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, who will also be playing
01:59 Thrawn in live action.
02:00 He is the villain of these final two seasons of Rebels, and of Ahsoka.
02:03 The fact that he shows up here in the premiere of Rebels Season 3 is a very, very big deal,
02:07 because this season was 2016-2017, when everyone was kind of confused what Star Wars Legends
02:11 were versus Star Wars canon, and everyone was really worried when Disney made that recategorization,
02:16 because Thrawn is the coolest character from Star Wars Expanded Universe fiction.
02:19 From Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire novels in 1991, the fact that Dave Filoni put him
02:23 in Rebels here shows us how important those stories are to him, and how we can never forget
02:27 them.
02:28 So Thrawn wisely outsmarts the Rebels plot to steal Y-Wings.
02:30 "I will start my operations here, and pull the Rebels apart piece by piece.
02:36 They'll be the architects of their own destruction."
02:40 And in this transition, we see his red eyes watching over their every move, as he will
02:44 throughout this entire season.
02:46 Thrawn ends up being correct.
02:47 Ezra's dark side influence, bullishness, causes him to gain only a few Y-Wings at the
02:51 cost of their Phantom Shuttle.
02:52 RIP Phantom One.
02:53 On Episode 3, the Holocron's defeat.
02:55 Maul captures most of the Rebel crew and demands from Kanan and Ezra both the Sith Holocron
02:59 and Jedi Holocron.
03:00 Maul recognizes Sabine as Mandalorian, and says that he once ruled her people, referring
03:03 to the Season 5 arc in Clone Wars, where Maul took over the Death Watch and the Darksaber
03:07 and took Mandalore.
03:08 Bendu tells Kanan and Ezra that if Jedi and Sith Holocrons are united, it would give the
03:11 wielder too much vision.
03:13 So then Kanan and Ezra learn the value of, by recovering the Sith Holocron from a Kriknik
03:16 cave, resisting their fear, and Bendu warns, "Once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown."
03:24 They return to Maul's asteroid base, which was last seen in the Son of Dathomir comic
03:27 run, and after Maul tries to blow Kanan out of the airlock, he does a forced spacewalk,
03:31 like Leia will do in The Last Jedi.
03:33 This episode released in October 2016, while The Last Jedi was still being shot, because
03:36 Carrie Fisher was still alive at this point.
03:38 Ezra and Maul join the Holocrons, and for a moment, Maul sees his destination.
03:41 "I see him.
03:44 Twin sons."
03:46 This will eventually lead Maul to Tatooine to find, "KANABEE!"
03:49 Alright, episode four, the Antilles extraction.
03:51 After losing a bunch of A-Wings, the Rebels get a transmission from a new mystery Fulcrum
03:55 agent, using Ahsoka's same symbol based on her chakruta head markings.
03:58 Sabine infiltrates an Imperial Academy to recruit Wedge Antilles, voiced by Nathan Kress
04:02 here.
04:03 In their simulation, the TIE fighters explode in a way reminiscent of toys, where the wings
04:06 pop off to simulate battle damage.
04:07 When Sabine, Wedge, and others walk out to the TIEs, they use this catwalk and lower
04:11 into the cockpits, and I love, love, love this distinction that we see throughout Star
04:15 Wars.
04:16 You step up into Rebel ships, you lower down into these bat-like Imperial TIEs.
04:20 We actually saw this in the Eye of Aldani episode of Andor as well.
04:23 I think it looks so cool.
04:24 Kallus actually ends up helping them escape to repay Zeb for that ice cave moment that
04:27 they had.
04:28 Episode five, Hera's heroes.
04:30 So we return to Ryloth, where Hera's father Cham and Numa ride Blurgs.
04:33 These are the same Arvala 7 mounts that Din Djarin rides in The Mandalorian, but they're
04:37 actually first seen in Ewoks, The Battle of Endor.
04:39 Zeb punches a scout trooper to steal his helmet, a helmet that Ezra will continue to use, and
04:42 might show up in the background of Sabine's home in Ahsoka.
04:45 The Sindullas have lost their family, Kalakori.
04:47 It honors all who have come before.
04:49 Each parent adds to the artwork to include themselves in the legacy.
04:55 Family history is living art.
04:56 Ah, so an appreciation of family history through art is a key theme from here forward.
05:00 As Thrawn says this episode, "To defeat an enemy, you must know them.
05:04 Not simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art."
05:11 Sabine Wren is an artist, and that will play a big role in Ahsoka.
05:14 Also Kalakori will show up in Luthen's shop in Andor, and it's just kinda crappy that
05:18 he has one.
05:19 Alright, episode six, The Last Battle.
05:21 Rex takes them to a battlefield from the Clone Wars era.
05:23 They get captured by battle droids still on the Separatist programming, led by General
05:26 Kalani.
05:27 This episode shows how for Clone Wars veterans, the war didn't really end with any true
05:31 resolution, as they were all misled by these false motives and political games.
05:34 And because this is a Clone Wars vibe episode, this episode ends with the Clone Wars animated
05:38 series logo and theme over the credits.
05:41 Alright, episode seven, Imperial Super Commandos.
05:46 Sabine Wren tries to lure Mandalorian Finn Rau and his protectors to the Rebel Cause
05:50 over a game of Cubicod.
05:52 This is from the 2007 novel Legacy of the Four Sacrificed.
05:55 We see the Phantom Two in this episode as a new paint job, thanks Sabine, with a Timidi
05:58 on the side.
05:59 They get captured by a group of Imperial Mandalorians led by Gar Saxon, voiced by Ray Stevenson,
06:04 the late actor playing Balan Skull in Ahsoka.
06:06 Then we learn that some Mandalorians just support the Empire, and it kinda sucks.
06:09 Sabine and Finn escape, but Sabine defeats Gar in a hand-to-hand combat, and Finn joins
06:13 the Rebels, a key partner from here forward.
06:15 Episode eight, Iron Squadron.
06:17 The Spectres meet the Iron Squadron, led by Commander Sato's nephew Mart, voiced by
06:21 Zachary Gordon.
06:22 It's kind of a parallel team to the Ghosts, just younger and dumber, but both teams have
06:25 crabby astromechs and love space waffles.
06:28 Guti Teres is named after Rebels retcon host Andy Gutierrez, and the Rebels recon staff
06:32 get shouted out through the names throughout this episode.
06:34 Okay, episode nine, the Winkatou job.
06:35 Hondo Onaka is back, wearing a stupid pirate hat, with an even stupider Azmoragan hanging
06:40 out with him, returning from the premiere with that stolen Imperial lanticraft.
06:43 They all head to the planet Winkatou, hoping to get some proton bombs, but Imperial DT
06:47 Sentry Droids attack.
06:48 These are inspired by the Dark Troopers in the Dark Horses game, which would also go
06:51 on to inspire the Phase 3 Dark Troopers in The Mandalorian season two.
06:54 Just everyone be careful with these Hondo episodes, because it'll make you really hate
06:57 that load-in area of her smuggler's run.
06:58 I'm sorry, I'm just not a huge fan of Hondo Onaka.
07:00 He's kind of f*cking annoying.
07:01 Alright, episode ten, an inside man.
07:03 So back on Lothal, Ezra and Kanan rejoin Ryder Azadi, Clancy Brown's escaped prisoner, who
07:07 knew Ezra's parents when they were in prison together.
07:09 We saw him in season two, and Azadi serves as the governor of Lothal and Ahsoka.
07:13 Family friend Sumar returns from episode four of season one, but he dies when Thrawn makes
07:18 him test a faulty speeder bike.
07:19 The workers wear outfits that kind of look like color-swapped Narkina 5 prisoner outfits
07:22 from Andor.
07:23 Thrawn does a whole deep dive on all the imagery and art that he can find in relation to the
07:26 ghost's crew, including depictions of Loth-wolves, as well as murals from Mandalore depicting
07:30 an ancient battle with a Jedi.
07:32 We actually saw these in Clone Wars, and this one with the woman crying is clearly based
07:35 on Pablo Picasso's Guernica.
07:37 Also, Thrawn has a Jedi Temple Guard mask on his desk, like the one the Grand Inquisitor
07:41 wore.
07:42 Calus reveals himself as Fulcrum, and the Rebels learn of Thrawn's plans to build the
07:45 new TIE Fighter, the TIE Defender, which comes with shields.
07:49 It's designed based on the 1994 TIE Fighter video game.
07:52 Episode eleven, Visions and Voices.
07:53 This is a very important episode to watch.
07:55 This was the mid-season finale, the last episode to come out before Rogue One released in December
07:58 2016.
07:59 Thrawn appears to Ezra in creepy background apparitions, just in these flashes of lightning,
08:03 but there is no lightning storm going on, this is all just in Ezra's mind.
08:06 He's freaking out!
08:07 So they go to Bendu, where they find the real Maul, who takes Ezra to Dathomir, and Kanan
08:11 Sabine follow closely.
08:12 As they walk into Dathomir, Maul explains.
08:14 My family, the Night Sisters, were killed.
08:18 Masterful witches they were.
08:20 We actually saw this in Clone Wars, a four-part arc starting with the season four episode
08:24 nineteen episode Massacre.
08:25 The Night Sisters was a force-wielding cult, including Maul's mother Talzin, who used
08:29 sorcery to re-grant Maul the ability to walk.
08:31 General Grievous killed many of them off, but we know of one survivor, Merrin, in Jedi
08:35 Fallen Order, and now on Ahsoka, Thrawn acolyte Morgan Elspeth was revealed to be a Night
08:39 Sister.
08:40 So everything we can find on the Night Sisters, we need to pay attention to.
08:43 Maul places his hand on this leg of a statue, and we see the other statues bisected at the
08:47 waist, the same kind of injury that Maul suffered from Kenobi!
08:51 Actually inside Maul's home, in the Mandoa language, he wrote Kenobi on the wall!
08:55 He's got all kinds of interesting odds and ends.
08:57 Some spears, like the one used by his brother Savage Opress, and a battle droid head.
09:01 He also has a painting of Duchess Satine Kryze, sister to Bo-Katan, and Obi-Wan's former
09:05 lover in Clone Wars, whom Maul executed with the Darksaber.
09:09 We also hear a piano version of Satine's theme as Ezra looks up at it.
09:16 And it kind of looks like Maul has defaced this portrait just out of hatred of Kenobi.
09:20 But the most important object here is the Darksaber!
09:23 Maul previously wielded it in season five of Clone Wars, and here on Rebels it re-enters
09:26 the Star Wars timeline.
09:27 Yes, I've talked about the Darksaber a lot in all my breakdowns of The Mandalorian and
09:30 the Book of Boba Fett, but this is where it re-enters the chat.
09:33 Maul and Ezra drink a Nightsister potion to merge their minds to gain the knowledge that
09:36 the other has from their Sith-Jedi-Holocron crossover moment, and Maul realizes that Kenobi
09:40 is on Tatooine.
09:41 But they awaken the spirits of the Nightsisters!
09:50 Sabine and Kanan get possessed by these spirits, they're trapped in the temple, and Maul
09:53 leaves, but possessed Sabine has picked up the Darksaber.
09:56 And to me, that is a critical moment, because I believe the Darksaber is cursed.
10:01 It should have stayed in here.
10:02 Sabine only picked it up because evil Nightsister sorcery compelled her to do so.
10:06 The Nightsisters are behind a lot of this stuff.
10:09 Ezra uses his green lightsaber and the Darksaber to destroy the altar, banishing the Nightsister
10:13 ghosts, but in characters like Morgan Elspeth, the Nightsister legacy lives on.
10:17 Episodes 12 and 13, The Ghost of Geonosis Part 1 and 2, Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera
10:21 returns, now voiced by Forrest Whitaker, who had just had a big moment as Saw Gerrera in
10:25 Rogue One.
10:26 In the early era of Saw that we actually saw in the flashback of Rogue One when he rescued
10:29 Jyn Erso when he was still bald, Saw has gone missing on the planet of Geonosis, that you
10:32 remember from Attack of the Clones.
10:33 And remember, the Geonosians had been mostly eradicated by the Empire to keep secret the
10:37 Death Star construction.
10:38 So Saw interrogates a surviving Geonosian named Click Clack, who draws two circles in
10:42 the dirt, indicating the Death Star, but everyone else is like, "Ah, what's that?"
10:46 Rex explains that Saw's sister, Steela Gerrera, died from a Geonosian-built gunship, and we
10:50 saw Steela in Clone Wars, and her death would be a rallying cry for the Onderonians.
10:54 Click Clack's hideout also has a Queen Egg that WOULD give the Geonosians a chance to
10:58 repopulate.
10:59 He also has a Clojure helmet, the arm and head of a battle droid, and part of a destroyer
11:02 droid.
11:03 The Rebels try to retrieve gas canisters to prove the Empire's war crimes, but they end
11:06 up losing them in their escape, and Bail Organa says the Senate can't really do anything
11:09 about it.
11:10 Ah, poor Geonosians.
11:11 Alright, Episode 14, Warhead.
11:12 It's a Zeb episode.
11:13 Thrawn unleashes Imperial Infiltrator droids across the galaxy, and one lands at Chopper
11:17 Base on Adalon, cannibalizing other droids to repair itself and preparing to transmit
11:21 info back to the Empire, hitting a self-destruct protocol, but they let it transmit, and then
11:25 delay the explosion for when it gets back to its base ship.
11:27 Yet Thrawn, from this, is able to use this to narrow down his search.
11:31 Episode by episode, he's getting closer and closer to finding out where the Rebels are.
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12:36 Alright, episode 15, Trials of the Darksaber.
12:38 This is an episode I brought up back in my Mandalorian breakdowns, and it's super important
12:42 to understand the Mandalorian themes.
12:43 Fen'Rau gives us the history of the Darksaber.
12:45 Legend tells that it was created over a thousand years ago by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian
12:50 ever inducted into the Jedi Order.
12:53 After his passing, the Jedi kept the saber in their temple.
12:56 That was until members of House Vizsla snuck in and liberated.
12:59 Ah, so we get this ancient history of the Mandalorians and Jedi at war with each other.
13:03 In Sabine's bunk, we see a rough draft of the mural that she'll later paint on Lothal.
13:06 Chopper, we find out, is, uh, got the hots for her.
13:11 Kanan and Ezra take Sabine out on a sword-dueling session.
13:14 Ezra first shows her ready position, which Sabine demonstrates while fighting Chin'Hati
13:18 in Ahsoka episode 1.
13:19 Kanan sheds some light on Sabine's struggles with the Force.
13:22 The Force resides in all living things, but you have to be open to it.
13:26 Sabine is blocked.
13:27 Her mind is conflicted.
13:29 Yes, Hu Yang in Ahsoka similarly dismisses Sabine's Force abilities.
13:33 But during this training, Morai Bird still flapped down to watch.
13:36 Fen'Rau gives Sabine Mandalorian Vambraces that she will continue to wear in Ahsoka.
13:40 She uses these to get the upper hand, but Kanan shuts her down for cheating, saying
13:43 the Jedi won the war with the Mandalorians, and it wasn't through shortcuts, it was
13:46 through discipline.
13:47 Now, while Dave Filoni was crafting the Kanan Jarrus character, it was really important
13:50 to him to craft him as an incomplete mentor in the style of Gandalf in The Lord of the
13:54 Rings, and he's just too far beyond his ability to communicate his wisdom to the younger
13:58 Padawans.
13:59 So he's not a perfect teacher, and he often makes mistakes and learns lessons himself
14:01 a little too late.
14:02 So eventually, Kanan finally comes around and just lets Sabine train with the actual
14:05 Darksaber.
14:06 It's heavier than I thought.
14:08 Energy constantly flows through the crystal.
14:10 You're not fighting with a simple blade as much as you are directing a current of
14:13 power.
14:14 Your thoughts, your actions, they become energy.
14:17 And as Sabine duels, that blade gets lighter and lighter for her, a contrast to Din Djarin,
14:22 the Mandalorian who always struggles to lift that Darksaber.
14:24 And we get this amazing emotional moment from Sabine as she duels Kanan.
14:28 Everything I did was for family!
14:30 For Mandalore!
14:31 I built weapons, terrible weapons!
14:34 But the Empire used them on Mandalore!
14:37 On friends!
14:38 On family!
14:39 I helped enslave my people!
14:40 Please, please, please keep all of this in mind as you watch Sabine and Ahsoka, because
14:45 this is where she is coming from.
14:47 And this moment always just wrecks me.
14:49 The Empire wanted to destroy worlds, and they did.
14:53 They destroyed mine.
14:57 So with Sabine and Ahsoka in the Ahsoka series, it's not a master-apprentice relationship.
15:01 Sabine just wants a sister.
15:03 And we see how messed up Sabine's family is in Episode 16, Legacy of Mandalore.
15:07 They head to Kronist, a snowy mountain setting that I think is the prettiest location in
15:11 Star Wars.
15:12 They're attacked by super commandos, led by Sabine's brother Tristan.
15:15 They meet her mother, Countess Ursa, who also appears in the final season of Clone Wars,
15:18 by the way.
15:19 And we learn that House Wren is loyal to the Empire, with Gar Saxon considered the Emperor's
15:23 hand.
15:24 Ursa gives Saxon the Darksaber in a trade for her daughter, but Saxon doesn't hold
15:26 up his end of the bargain.
15:27 And we end up in this incredible duel between Saxon with the Darksaber and Sabine with Ezra's
15:32 lightsaber, setting up Sabine to later use this green blade throughout Ahsoka.
15:36 He disarms Saxon of the Darksaber, but Saxon didn't technically win it in combat.
15:40 So the curse of none of these Mandalorians earning the Darksaber lives on.
15:43 Sabine for now decides to stay behind on Kronist.
15:45 Alright, Episode 17, Through Imperial Eyes, which is how this episode opens, through the
15:49 eyes of our secret Fulcrum spy, Kallus.
15:52 Ezra tries to get him to defect, and Thrawn arrives on his Star Destroyer, the Chimera.
15:56 That was the name of his ship from his original novels.
15:58 He trains in a sexy, sexy vest against a DT Sentry Droid, and his shutdown word is "Rukh,"
16:04 which is the name of a male Noghri warrior who first protected, then assassinated Thrawn
16:08 in those books.
16:09 This is such a great Thrawn episode, and I highly recommend it.
16:12 Thrawn's hallway is actually filled with Easter eggs.
16:14 We see the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
16:17 Lucasfilm loves to do this.
16:18 Just see Andor, it's kind of weird.
16:19 We see Clone Commander Gree's helmet from Revenge of the Sith.
16:22 This is one of the guys Yoda beheaded on Kashyyyk during Order 66.
16:25 We see a bust of an Abednedo, that's Elo-Asti's species, created for the Force Awakens film.
16:30 And then a digital version of Ralph McQuarrie's concept art that Rebels used as a painting
16:34 of Lothal.
16:35 And then on the back wall, Isalamiri!
16:37 These are the lizard-like creatures from Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire novels, which were
16:40 immune to the Force.
16:41 They emitted these anti-Force bubbles.
16:43 And of course, we see that Thrawn kept the Kalakori that he stole from the Syndulla family,
16:46 because for Thrawn, it is all about the art.
16:48 Wolf-U-Lauren from the ISB appears.
16:50 You remember him?
16:51 He was the white uniformed officer in Tarkin's meeting room on the Death Star in A New Hope.
16:56 We end this episode with Thrawn knowing that Kalos is a traitor, but he lets it slide for
17:00 now.
17:01 Another important thing about Thrawn, our man is patient.
17:02 Alright, episode 18, Secret Cargo.
17:05 Secret Cargo revealed to be Senator Mon Mothma, another figure who returns in Ahsoka during
17:08 the New Republic era, but this episode is important for her Andorra period.
17:12 And here she speaks out against the Emperor for the Gormon Massacre.
17:15 She's voiced by Genevieve O'Reilly.
17:16 I named the Emperor himself for ordering the brutal attacks on the people of Gormon.
17:21 Our self-appointed Emperor is little more than a lying executioner.
17:26 Mothma is now out of the Senate, on the run, and they have to fight off Thrawn's TIE
17:29 defenders in the Archeon Nebula, which reminds me of Furiosa losing to Morton Joseman during
17:34 the sandstorm in Fury Road.
17:35 It looks really cool.
17:36 Mothma escapes to Dantooine, where she sends out a message to inspire the rebel cause.
17:40 For too long, I've watched the heavy hand of the Empire strangle our liberties.
17:46 Despite Imperial threats, despite the Emperor himself, I have no fear as I take new action.
17:54 We see Bail Organa and General Jendodana, and we also see the Lothal Bar from season
17:58 1's Empire Day.
17:59 So paired with Ezra's big broadcast in season 1, this is the next important mass media call
18:03 to action for the Rebel Alliance.
18:05 Alright, episode 19, Double Agent Droid.
18:07 It's a Chopper episode.
18:08 Chopper gets hijacked by an Imperial agent, the Controller.
18:11 There is a fun moment in this episode where the spy ship Control Room is inspired by George
18:14 Lucas' first feature, THX 1138, a movie that gets referenced all the time, but you know
18:17 what?
18:18 Watch it.
18:19 It's groundbreaking, but also not that good.
18:20 Alright, episode 20, Twin Suns.
18:22 Definitely one to watch.
18:23 This episode opens with the Twin Suns of Tatooine and Maul returning here after first seeing
18:27 Kenobi in Phantom Menace, wanders the desert delirious.
18:31 See him in my mind's eye.
18:35 Kenobi.
18:36 Kenobi!
18:37 And you just gotta see the behind the scenes footage of Sam Witwer recording this in the
18:44 ADR booth.
18:45 In my mind's eye.
18:46 Kenobi.
18:47 Kenobi!
18:48 Ezra and Chopper sneak off to Tatooine to save Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Ezra sees how coarse
18:59 and rough and irritating the sand is.
19:01 He doesn't really need to be in this episode.
19:02 He does get saved once by Maul and again by Kenobi, and Kenobi tells Ezra that Obi-Wan
19:06 Kenobi isn't the answer to defeating the Sith as far as he knows.
19:08 This is just a manipulation by Maul.
19:10 Kenobi at first has no intention of fighting Maul until Maul forces his hand.
19:14 You have a purpose here.
19:16 Perhaps you are protecting something?
19:20 No.
19:22 Protecting someone.
19:26 And this leads to one of the shortest but best duels in all of Star Wars, and it's
19:30 all in the build up.
19:42 Now Sam Witwer loves to break this down in interviews, but basically Kenobi starts in
19:46 the Clone Wars era Ewan McGregor pose with the two fingers, and then he realizes, no,
19:50 mistakes were made during that era.
19:51 So then he shifts to the two-handed Alec Guinness ready position from A New Hope, but then seeing
19:56 the confidence in Maul's eyes, he decides to take another breath and he shifts to the
19:59 Qui-Gon Jinn pose.
20:01 Batter up.
20:02 Trying to bait Maul into trying the same move that he used on Qui-Gon.
20:05 Maul takes his bait.
20:06 He tries to do the same kind of flourishing stab, but Kenobi is ready for him, and recognizing
20:11 that he has freed his old foe from this vengeance, he cradles him.
20:15 Tell me, is it the chosen one?
20:19 He is.
20:21 He will avenge us.
20:26 Chills!
20:28 Maul and Obi-Wan are finally united in their sense of betrayal from what the Emperor did
20:33 to them.
20:34 And Maul dies with confidence that there exists somewhere a child who will restore balance
20:38 to the force.
20:39 This episode ends with Obi-Wan looking out over the large homestead as Aunt Beru calls.
20:43 Now, this would be a few years after Obi-Wan Kenobi's interactions with Owen and Beru
20:46 in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus.
20:49 And Luke, I think, would actually be around Ezra's age here.
20:51 They actually used one of Ezra's character models for the animation of Luke running.
20:54 Okay, onto the two-part finale.
20:57 Episodes 21 and 22, Zero Hour, parts one and two.
20:59 The Rebels plan their attack on the Imperial factory on Lothal, but Thrawn catches Kallus
21:04 giving a fulcrum message, and Thrawn triangulates the vectors of this message to find the planet.
21:09 Such as a system which does not appear on Imperial charts, but is represented in the
21:15 art of the ancient people of this sector.
21:18 I believe they call this Atala.
21:22 The ancient people of this sector.
21:24 This could connect with the ancient star map that Morgan Elspeth is using on Ahsoka to
21:28 find her way to Thrawn, which I have theorized could be based on the ancient Rakatan Empire
21:32 seen in the Knights of the Old Republic games.
21:34 This could explain why the home of Bendu is a place older than what is known to the Jedi
21:38 or the Sith.
21:39 I just love that all season long we have had this arc for Thrawn to study each puzzle piece
21:44 of art and history, and finally, by patiently allowing Kallus to do his thing, he got the
21:48 answer he needed.
21:50 This is the clever villainy Star Wars needs more of, and it's the reason we're so excited
21:53 to see Thrawn in live action.
21:55 Please don't mess this up, Ahsoka.
21:56 In this episode, there is an incredible space battle.
21:59 The Imperial Interdictor comes back, pulling out any escaping ships back out of hyperspace,
22:03 but Commander Sato sacrifices himself.
22:05 Thrawn only loses his position this episode because Constantine defies his orders so he
22:09 can get glory.
22:10 Really, Thrawn doesn't make any mistakes this episode.
22:12 That's what makes him so scary.
22:14 Kanan rallies Bendu to join the fight, calling him a coward.
22:17 "Perhaps it is the will of the Force that the Jedi and all your kind perish.
22:23 And I serve the will of the Force!"
22:29 You know what?
22:30 He ain't wrong.
22:31 Thrawn bombards the chopper base, protected by Rex and Zeb's shield at first, but Thrawn
22:35 ceases fire.
22:36 Meanwhile, Hera calls Kanan.
22:38 "Now please, come home, love."
22:39 Yeah, as the series goes on, we do start to get more and more affectionate moments between
22:42 these two.
22:43 Ezra heads to Cronus to recruit Sabine, and we see Tristan in this moment has an orange
22:47 marking on his shoulder pauldron, so Sabine has clearly started decorating her brother's
22:50 armor.
22:51 She's kind of like Harold with a purple crayon.
22:52 She's great.
22:53 So Thrawn leads with a ground invasion now, wearing his goofy ground invasion hat, and
22:56 he lands with some Imperial death troopers.
22:58 We actually saw these troopers with Krennic in Rogue One.
23:00 So Thrawn surrounds them, but Bendu mufasas in the sky with a lightning storm.
23:05 And if you look closely, as they all escape, he takes out some AT-ATs, AT-ATs, walkers,
23:09 whatever you want to call them, but also takes out some Y-Wings.
23:12 So Bendu was not kidding about not picking a side here, and he really just wants these
23:15 warring kids off his damn lawn.
23:17 Ezra and Sabine's group disables the Interdictor, and Calus gets away in an escape pod.
23:21 The rebels escape right past Governor Price.
23:23 Not a good look for her.
23:24 They all regroup on Yavin 4.
23:26 This is the final episode to take place in the year 2BBY, meaning with Season 4, we will
23:29 be entering the final year before the Battle of Yavin.
23:32 But I will leave you here, this is perhaps the most cryptic moment of the season, and
23:35 a super important moment between Bendu and Thrawn.
23:37 You cannot see, but I can.
23:42 What?
23:43 What do you see?
23:46 I see your defeat, like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace.
23:52 Woohoohoohoo!
23:53 Now we could read this as what happens in the Season 4 finale.
23:56 Thrawn is caught in the cold embrace of the many arms of the Purrgle, zipping them off
23:59 into hyperspace, but was that truly his defeat?
24:02 Because Thrawn is still alive in Ahsoka.
24:04 But it's important to note that Bendu does not say death here, he says defeat.
24:07 Still, Thrawn's death, whenever it comes, hopefully sometime beyond Ahsoka, because
24:10 I don't want him to die in this series, his death, his inevitable death, may circle
24:14 back to this premonition to show Thrawn dying surrounded by some different arms.
24:19 Maybe his acolytes all dogpiling on him and strangling him.
24:22 Thrawn's survival from the Purrgle may give him a false confidence that he thinks he already
24:26 cheated death, according to what Bendu predicted, making the guy think he's immortal.
24:29 But you know what?
24:30 Pride goeth before the fall.
24:32 Okay, here it is, our Rebel Season 3 cheat sheet.
24:35 Starting with our must-watch episodes, all of them!
24:37 I know, I know, you're not gonna watch all of them.
24:39 But the premiere and the finale are fun and important, but I would say, really, just for
24:42 the other Star Wars titles, watch Episode 11, Visions and Voices, Episode 14, Trials
24:47 of the Darksaber, and Episode 17, Through Imperial Eyes, because it's just a great
24:50 Thrawn episode, and of course, Episode 20, Twin Suns.
24:53 Next, Thrawn is the smartest villain in the Star Wars lore.
24:56 He's got appreciation of art history, he knows ancient star maps, and he's got patience.
24:59 That just makes him such a formidable foe.
25:01 Three, Mandalorians hate each other, and the Darksaber has divided them more than it has
25:05 united them.
25:06 Four, Nightsister magic is real, and it is a different kind of sorcery than what the
25:10 Jedi or the Sith use, and it, I believe, is what cursed us with the Darksaber.
25:15 And finally, Bendu is a mysterious force-wielder who also surpasses the Jedi or the Sith duality.
25:21 In a world without Jedi or Sith, Bendu and Nightsisters are far more interesting.
25:25 So please do us a favor and recommend these Rebels recap videos to everyone you know who's
25:29 watching Ahsoka and wants to know what happened to Rebels, but just doesn't have the time
25:32 or doesn't feel like watching all the Rebels episodes.
25:34 Huge thanks to Noah Chen and Jordan Morris for their help writing this breakdown.
25:37 Subscribe to all three channels in the New Rockstars Network.
25:39 Follow me at EAVOS.
25:40 Thanks for watching.
25:41 Bye.
25:41 [Music]