Saturday, January 21, 2017

Rebels Recap: Star Wars Rebels “Visions and Voices & Ghosts of Geonosis Part 1&2”


Welcome back rebel fans to another recap focusing on the series mid-season finale and mid-season premiere. Both episodes filled with exciting action, humor, and character reveal and development. With a crossover that was intriguing, Easter eggs, and callbacks to the prequels these episodes have become my favorite this season. The finale deals with the aftermath of combining the Sith and Jedi Holocron and the premiere takes us back to Geonosis where the Empire has hidden some dark secrets.  So, from this moment on SPOILER ALERT is in effect, do not read ahead if you have yet to watch these episodes.




The mid-season finale starts on Chopper base with the rebels discussing another mission.  But Ezra can’t seem to shake the feeling or seeing for that matter Darth Maul presence on chopper base.  Becoming so paranoid Ezra almost kills a fellow rebel pilot confusing him for Maul. Kanan then decides to take Ezra to see the Bendu for wisdom for dealing with the visions of Maul. Ezra starts off saying he doesn’t want to see Maul anymore and the Bendu answers then don’t turn around.  Once they combined the holocrons, they were also combined with each other and allowed Maul to find chopper base.  He threatens to reveal the base to the Empire if Ezra does not join him and completing what they started with the holocrons.
 





To protect his friends and gain answers about defeating the Sith he decides to go with Maul. Knowing how Maul operates Kanan takes Sabine, and they follow Maul to his destination. That destination being Dathomir Maul’s home planet. For those of you who watched the Clone Wars series this planet should be very familiar along with the planets mystic and dark past.  So, Maul and Ezra arrive and reach a cave which is clearly where he has been hiding out for a time.






There are shrines and collections of items he has taken throughout his victories and conquest.  This is where the Easter eggs appear for this episode.  There is a cubist painting of Duchess Satine, who is one of Maul victims, and past love interest of Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.  There is also ancient Sith writing on the wall that reads KENOBI.  I guess it’s safe to say Maul still holds a grudge for the guy who made him half the man he is today, pun intended.







The plan for getting the information requires a ritual where they both must drink a potion created by Maul but based on magic from the Nightsisters.  That right there should tell that's a bad idea anything dealing with them should already be presumed a trap because all magic comes at a price.  They both drink the potion, and their questions are answered with finding one man but for different reasons.  Master Obi-Wan lives, and both now know where to find him, Maul probably wants to kill him and Ezra wanting help to defeat the Sith.  This character reveals promises to be a real treat for fans in later episodes and maybe a showdown between Maul and Kenobi.




The information has been given and now it time to pay up with their souls. Of course, this is when Kanan and Sabine walk in and are possessed by the Nightsisters. Maul and Ezra running from his comrades leave the cave, and they do not follow. Maul ask Ezra to come with him, and of course, he refuses, and Maul escapes again.  Leaving Ezra to save his friends on his own. He starts with Sabine and force pushes her out of the cave which causes the Nightsisters to leave her body. When it comes to Kanan that took a little more effort by destroying the altar with his lightsaber and the dark saber, which frees Kanan.  The episode ends with Sabine finding the dark saber and taking it as her own and will be explored more in other episodes. Her destiny is coming to fruition, and we can’t see it unfold in later episodes.
 



This next part of the recap will focus on the mid-season premiere which held an epic crossover. Saw Gerrera first appeared in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and then crossed into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and now he appears as a younger version of the film appearance in Star Wars Rebels.  This character did not disappoint in this two-part episode but touched on some underlying issues of right and wrong in war. 

 

The episode starts with the ghost crew including Captain Rex receiving a new mission to find rebels who were sent before them and gained intel on Geonosis. The planet that birthed the clone wars, the planet that constructed plans for the death star, and where Mace Windu decapitated Jango Fett on accident. So, this world holds some history for the Star Wars universe and still has more to offer abundantly in this episode.




The ghost lands on the planet while it has a sand storm and they are reading two signals one being Saw Gerrera’s team and the other an energy signal is a mystery seeing as the planet should be deserted. Kanan, Ezra, Chopper, and Rex go after the signal coming from a cave and Sabine and Zeb head in the opposite direction. Once they reach the cave, they realize the signal is coming from underground in the catacombs. Sabine and Zeb find a shield generator and start on extracting it for chopper base.




The other team runs into some droid and droideka in the catacombs after following pieces of rebel equipment further into the catacombs.  They defeat them with some assistance from Saw Gerrera who is the last survivor from his team.  They learn that the droids are being controlled by a geonosian who is the last of his kind. They need to find him and destroy his remote-control droids with haste because up above Sabine and Zeb are surrounded by droideka.

 

 
 
Ezra is the one to find the geonosian and destroy the remote control which saves Sabine and Zeb and the carry the shield genitor to the ghost. With all that noise, down there thy are bound to attract some attention. The Empire realizes the ghost crew is on the planet send fighters down to pursue them. Hera and Sabine and Zeb hold them at bay and Sabine utters my favorite lines of the episode. These lines are a throwback to the prequels that people love to hate, but I love every bit of them. Sabine makes a comment about hating sand because it gets everywhere which is said by Anakin in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

 
 

Down below, Saw Gerrera wants answers about what’s been happening on the planet and uses lots of force to get them.  Ezra does not feel this is the right way to get answers and has becomes attach to the geonosian. He named the geonosian klik-klak and tried another approach by just talking to him about what’s going on and what happened to his planet. He draws a circle on the ground in regards to what the empire was doing here, and he also shows them a geonosian queen egg which would help restore his race of people.

 

 

Saw Gerrera threatens the egg for answers and revenge for his team that was killed and with some stern and wise words from the ghost crew he softens gives klik-klak back the egg. The ghost travels down into the catacombs deeper and finds poison gas canisters are how the empire committed genocide on the geonosian people. The ghost crew takes pictures of the canister and connects it to ship as evidence against the empire. 
 
 
 
 As they try to escape the Empire covers the exit and sends down rocket troopers, the crew starts to fight back, and then Sabine comes out in her jet pack and decimates the troopers all on her own. The rest of the crew watches in amazement.  She is starting to come into her abilities and is becoming stronger and so is Ezra, they both have grown a lot from the beginning of the series.
 




 
The ghost crew escapes and loses the canisters, but they still have the pictures which will help bring more to their cause. All in all, another successful mission and for Saw Gerrera the rebels helped him in not letting their war consume him and not becoming as cruel as the empire for now. Star Wars Rebels continues to amaze and thrill and so will the rest of the season. So, enjoy this video showing what’s to come in the remainder of the season.

 
 
 
Photo Credit: Star Wars.com, Disney, Lucasfilm
Created by: Jasmine Yard
 

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