This week’s episode of Rebels probably gives us my favorite representation of Grand Admiral
Thrawn so far in the series.
Believing Kallus’s secret identity as Fulcrum is in danger of being discovered, Ezra, Chopper
and AP-5 attempt to rescue him.
The episode was a thrilling game of cat and mouse between Thrawn and Kallus that I think
will have major implications in the remaining episodes this season.
I am really into Kallus as a character right now.
I’ve said before I’m a sucker for characters that switch sides.
Good guys going bad or bad guys going good, I always think interesting stories come out
of that conflict.
And Kallus’s early scene with Ezra shows how stressed out the guy is.
But this entire episode he holds it together, and he makes some very smooth and smart choices.
He’s summoned to Grand Admiral Thrawn’s ship, which is called by name, the Chimaera.
They’ve already confirmed that outside of the show, I think, but it’s nice to actually
hear the Legends reference out loud.
Thrawn has brought in Wullf Yularen to help discover the identity of the Rebel spy, and
it’s great to have him back.
In their search for the spy, it seems they are interviewing just about everyone that
has ever had contact with the Ghost crew, like Captain Brunson from the episode Ghosts
of Geonosis, or Brom Titus who was most recently in Steps into Shadow.
Kallus acts quickly and begins framing Lieutenant Lyste, who previously appeared in the season
two episode A Princess on Lothal.
I think these characters popping up are meant to show us something very specific.
The three officers we see in the hallway and Lyste have all been beaten by the crew of
the Ghost in the past.
I think we’re meant to read between the lines and see that Thrawn is really studying
his enemy.
I don’t think all of these people are under suspicion of being Fulcrum, instead I think
Thrawn is studying the tactics used by the Rebels so he can destroy them.
Lieutenant Lyst is stationed on Lothal, which makes him the perfect target for Kallus to
frame, which he does by using their code cylinders!
I get asked about those all the time, and I even talked about them yesterday in my Q&A.
It would appear I was wrong in how they actually function, because we’ve never seen it before,
but I thought they just acted as like wireless scanners.
Maybe they still do, but in this episode we actually see them plugged into terminals.
Kallus very effectively, although somewhat obviously sets Lyste up as the traitor.
Feeling confident he decides not to escape with Ezra and the others, claiming he can
do more good here.
Which is exactly what Sabine said last episode.
Although I’m afraid this decision is going to have some dire consequences this time.
Wullf Yularen notes to Thrawn how quickly and conveniently everything came together,
and it’s in this scene that I realized Yularen looks like, at least in this episode, he’s
meant to fill the role of Captain Pellaeon from Legends.
Pellaeon was the Dr. Watson the Thrawn’s Sherlock Holmes.
An intelligent and noble career military man who is there to listen to Thrawn be a genius.
And that’s exactly what happens here.
It’s classic Legends Thrawn.
He finds a thread and pulls on it until he learns something greater.
In this case, it’s the artwork on Ezra’s helmet, that he recognizes as Sabine’s,
which makes it logical that Kallus should have recognized Ezra and that he kept that
information to himself, outing him as the spy.
Deductions from artwork.
I loved it, and I wish we got more of this from Thrawn throughout the entire season.
In fact there were some other great Legends connections to the Legends version of Thrawn
that I geeked out over.
The override code Thrawn gives for his security droids is Rukh, which is the name of his Noghri
bodyguard in the original Thrawn Trilogy.
The lizard-like artwork on his wall was meant to represent the ysalamiri, a creature important
part of his plot in the books.
Also his droids and stormtroopers also bear a specific symbol.
I’m wondering if it’s Chiss in origin, maybe even part of the Chiss Ascendancy, which
I think might be brought back into the canon in his book this April.
There are other easter eggs in his office too, like what could be Gree’s clone trooper
helmet, and this statue of an Abednedo, a species introduced in The Force Awakens.
All of these Legends connections are awesome, but they also have me a little worried for
the future.
I think Thrawn’s attack on Atollon is going to play out very similarly to his Legends
attacks on Coruscant and Bilbringi.
In the Battle of Bilbringi, Thrawn is assassinated by Rukh, the bodyguard I mentioned before.
Kallus could be in a position to fill in for Rukh now, but if Thrawn allows that to happen,
knowing that Kallus is Fulcrum, I will be very disappointed.
I’m also just not ready for Thrawn to die.
Despite how great he was in this episode, I just don’t feel like he’s done enough
to live up to his Legends counterpart.
I think it’s possible that my opinion could change between now and the finale, if he continues
to act exactly like he did in this episode for the rest of the season, but it’s gonna
be close.
But if we’re just talking about this episode by itself, I thought it was fantastic.
My heart was pounding for Kallus.
I don’t feel like anyone made any blatantly stupid decisions.
Kallus did the best he could given the circumstances, and the Rebels basically forced him to act
quickly, and he was found out because of evidence left by Ezra and not anything he did.
I’m very satisfied with how this all played out.
Before wrapping up, I have a couple stray observations.
Ezra tries to take back Hera’s kalikori, which is a very nice moment of continuity
and a show of loyalty by Ezra.
Kallus and Ezra remove Atollon from Thrawn’s list of possible Rebel planets, which could
be the very thing that gives Atollon away.
And finally, the episode starts with something incredibly rare in the Star Wars universe.
Plumbing.
Seriously, how many times can you remember seeing a faucet or a toilet in all of Star
Wars?
There’s a deleted scene from Attack of the Clones, and a bathroom in Dark Forces, but
all in all it’s a very rare sight!
What did you guys think of Through Imperial Eyes?
Did you like the episode as much as I did?
What do you think will happen to Kallus in the future?
Let me know in the comments.
If you want to see the rest of my Rebels reviews, you can see them in this playlist here.
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!