The latest episode of Star Wars Rebels, Imperial Supercommandos, serves as a follow up to season
two’s The Protector of Concord Dawn.
It gives us new information on what happened to Mandalore after the Clone Wars, specifically
Death Watch, and hints at Sabine’s family and past.
In The Protector of Concord Dawn, the Rebels captured the leader of the Protectors, Fenn
Rau, who had a history with Kanan in the Clone Wars.
He is pragmatic and honorable when it suits him.
He’s not a bad guy, just a little cranky as Kanan puts it.
His capture secured supply lines for the Rebellion through Concord Dawn.
Well at the start of this episode, communication with the Protectors is lost so Sabine, Ezra,
and Rau are sent to investigate.
They arrive to see that the Protectors have all been killed by another Mandalorian clan.
Sabine mentions how Mandalorians just can’t seem to stop fighting each other, which is
true in both canon and Legends.
Death Watch always seems to be involved in the fighting.
In Legends they sparked the Mandalorian Civil War against Jaster Mereel’s True Mandalorians.
In Canon they worked against Duchess Satine and her pacifist regime.
And it’s revealed that after the Clone Wars, the survivors of Death Watch and Clan Wren
joined the Empire as Imperial Supercommandos.
They are led by Gar Saxon, who like Fenn Rau, made his first appearance in the comics.
Well, technically he probably appeared in the Clone Wars as one of Maul’s followers,
but he was first named in the Son of Dathomir comic.
He now holds the title of Imperial Viceroy of Mandalore.
The whole conflict between this Death Watch turned Imperial group and the Protectors is
very similar to the Mandalorian Civil War in many respects, just the timeline has been
moved to after the Clone Wars rather than before.
But we’ve got Gar Saxon who is taking the place of Tor Vizsla, and all he wants is more
power for himself and his clan.
Fenn Rau can be seen as the Jaster Mereel of this storyline.
Mereel wanted the Mandalorians to serve as honorable mercenaries.
Fierce but respected fighters.
Rau wants something similar.
His whole arc this episode is coming to terms with the Rebellion but moreso Sabine, who
if I want to keep comparing this to the Legends Mandalorian Civil War, could be taking Jango
Fett’s place as Mereel’s protege.
But Rau makes a big deal about how both Sabine and Saxon have forgotten Mandalore’s ways
and history.
He sees the Rebellion and the Empire as different sides of the same coin, and his only concern
is preserving Mandalore.
Eventually he comes to see that Sabine is someone worthy of his respect.
She is a cunning and talented warrior with a code of honor, and he learns that there
is a bigger purpose to serve in the galaxy.
After they escape the Supercommandos, he finally joins the Rebellion.
Although it would have been nicer if he made that decision a while back so there was a
whole group of Mandalorian Protectors, but better late than never I guess.
Also, and this might be reaching, but I find it interesting that Rau wore the bloodstained
helmet of one of his fallen brethren.
And then he winds up working for the good guys.
Reminds me of someone else we know...
Sabine was, of course, the focus of this episode.
Let’s talk about her mother a bit, who was mentioned by Saxon.
He claims that she stands with him, which makes sense if you look back at one of the
other prominent members of Death Watch under Maul’s control.
One of them was named Rook Kast.
She actually shares some physical resemblance to Sabine, and of the theories on her mother
right now, I think Kast is the most likely.
Especially if we’re sticking with this convention of using Mandalorian characters that were
introduced in the comics and bringing them to the forefront.
Another possibility is Bo-Katan, but Sabine claims to be from House Vizsla, which Bo-Katan
is not.
She is Duchess Satine Kryze’s sister who defected and joined Death Watch.
But we do know she will be making a return this season, and I am guessing she will offer
some aid to Sabine.
It was really cool to see Sabine finally get a jetpack this episode.
That should be like a rite of passage.
She even makes a joke about wanting one for a while.
The chase through the canyon was very well done, seeing Ezra run on walls, jumping onto
the commandos, just seeing he and Sabine work very well together in general.
Unfortunately her jetpack is lost at the last second, probably because she would be too
overpowered with it.
But maybe it will be fixed up at some point.
I have to imagine we’ll run into the Supercommandos again at some point because Saxon is voiced
by Ray Stevenson.
He seems too big a name to book for just one episode.
We know we’ll be dealing with more Mandalorian plots this season, and I like him as an ongoing
antagonist for Sabine and Rau.
If you haven’t seen Dash Star’s interview with Freddie Prinz Jr, I’ve linked to a
particular time in the description where he discusses the future of Sabine.
He doesn’t come right out and say it, but it sounds like Sabine is building towards
becoming Mandalore.
We know she will wield the darksaber.
We don’t know how she will wind up with it, but it would be interesting if Saxon currently
has it.
His former leader, Maul had it at one point.
So maybe it passed to Saxon somehow and Sabine will take it after defeating him in single
combat.
Beating the Imperial Viceroy sounds like a big deal, and maybe the title of Viceroy is
an attempt at the Empire to undermine Mandalorian culture and replace the title of Mandalore.
Obviously Sabine wouldn’t take up that title, so her people could instead look to her as
Mandalore.
An argument against the whole Sabine as Mandalore theory is that I would think that’s a full
time job.
It would be strange to see her be declared as Mandalore only to have her peace out and
continue fighting with the Ghost crew.
I think the rest of Mandalore would feel a little bummed about that, unless they all
came along with her.
But then a group of Mandalorians fighting with the Rebels seems like more power than
they should have before the Battle of Yavin.
But I’m just speculating wildly right now at possibilities, so I’ll move onto some
of my stray observations.
I like how tough the Supercommandos were.
Their armor protects against blaster bolts, which is consistent with Sabine in season
two when she was hit with a deflected shot.
But they were actually hard to take down in general unlike stormtroopers.
This shot of Rau was in the trailers and had everyone wondering if it was Boba Fett.
Well we can put that to rest at least for now.
I liked when Ezra fell onto Chopper and Chopper took the time to let him know that was an
accident.
Like he would have been just as fine to let him fall.
Never change, Chop.
I’m glad Ezra outing himself as a Jedi was handled as a big deal.
He isn’t running around with his lightsaber willy nilly because these guys are a threat,
and once they know he’s a Force user they see him as a highly valuable prize.
Now I want to know what you guys thought of the episode!
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!