Rebels Recap: Star Wars Rebels “The Antilles Extraction” & “Hera’s Heroes”

Welcome back to the world of Star Wars Rebels, the world that is continuing to change with each coming episode. When it came to these two particular episodes, something became incredibly apparent. The ghost crew and the rebels as a whole have been able to dupe and trick the Empire thus far because numbers and resources are not on their side. How do you fight an enemy that is stronger than you are, you become smarter than that enemy.  Both of these episodes are showing that the empire is no longer easily tricked and that they are fighting back not just with force but with intelligence and strategy. In this recap, we will discuss, “The Antilles Extraction” and “Hera’s Heroes” in that order. So be warned SPOILERS are ahead.

 

The episode, “The Antilles Extraction” revealed three important details. One of them is that rebels need more recruits and that they are losing them faster than they can replace them. We also get to see that finding people is not easy due to fear of retaliation from the Empire. So that leaves us with people who want to help, but they struggle with whether the risk which could be death is worth the benefit of helping save lives from the Empire.

 

 

Another detail is that we learn that fulcrum who was Ahsoka in the previous seasons is a codename for rebel informants. So we got excited for second thinking it may be Ahsoka, but the new possible identities for fulcrum is also exciting. Could the new fulcrum be Obi-wan Kenobi? Could it be someone working with the Empire like Agent Kallus? He did help Sabine escape in this episode, but for now, the fulcrum’s identity is unknown.

 

 

The last detail also ties into the next episode, and it is about these undercover missions. These missions where rebels are going undercover in enemy territory looking pretty much the same, and at first the Empire doesn’t notice but with new characters on the board who are real adversaries the missions almost fail.

 

The first episode had Sabine go undercover, and she changes her clothes and hair color, and the Empire doesn’t recognize a rebel they have been hunting, but when Arihnda Pryce comes on screen things change. She sets a trap that would and does have Sabine out herself as the rebel.  The ingenious plan leaves one of the new recruits dead and the other two including Sabine captured by the Empire.  Leading to a mini showdown between Sabine and Pryce where Sabine not easily but does take out Pryce and escapes.

The episode “Hera’s Heroes” was also an undercover mission but a more personal one for Hera. This episode occurred at her home planet Ryloth in her actual home. Hera’s home was overrun by the Empire and her father said it best, “I underestimated the commander” which is what the rebels continue to do in this episode especially.

 

 

Hera wants to retrieve the Kali Kori a family heirloom that has been passed down through her family for generations. So her plan is to distract the Empire from the outside and then enter with Ezra who dressed as a very short stormtrooper. 

 

 

 

The thing that was mind blowing for me is that Hera came into her home with no disguise other than bowing her head and acting as a servant or slave. She is even wearing her rebel’s uniform and faces the man who has been battling her father for quite a while, and he doesn’t recognize her at all.  How can stopping the rebel threat be accomplished when you face to face with them, and you don’t remember them? But just like the previous episode a new character fixes that error by recognizing the enemy and knowing the enemy. Grand Admiral Thrawn knew exactly who Hera was and knew exactly what she was after, so he took the Kali Kori for his personal collection.  He even said in this episode “to defeat an enemy you must know them,” how can you defeat someone or something, and you know nothing about them. Thrawn also showed some emotion in this episode when Slavin threatened to destroy the Kali Kori; you get to see that art and culture are important to him and he does not believe in killing it.

 

Hera does manage to escape by destroying her home but realizes she has a new home and family in the ghost crew.  Both of these episodes dealt with undercover missions that both almost blew up in our rebels faces because they underestimated the Empire. These rebels are adaptable which is why they have survived against the Empire. I do believe things will get worse before they get better this season, but keep watching to found out.

Photo Credit: Star Wars.com, Disney, Lucasfilm