Star Wars Rebels - Warhead - Review: "Infiltration"

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Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode Guide:
3.01 Steps Into Shadow Part 1 - Review
3.02 Steps Into Shadow Part 2 - Review
3.03 The Holocrons of Fate - Review
3.04 The Antilles Extraction - Review
3.05 Hera's Heroes - Review
3.06 The Last Battle - Review
3.07 Imperial Supercommandos - Review
3.08 Iron Squadron - Review
3.09 The Wynkahthu Job - Review
3.10 An Inside Man - Review
3.11 Visions and Voices - Review
3.12 Ghosts of Geonosis - Part 1 - Review
3.13 Ghosts of Geonosis - Part 2 - Review
3.14 Warhead - Review
3.15 Trials of the Darksaber - Airs January 21
3.16 Legacy of Mandalore - Airs February 18
3.17 Through Imperial Eyes - Airs February 25

Star Wars Rebels 3.14 "Warhead" - Review:
Directed by Bosco Ng & Written by Gary Whitta

Zeb has been a character who hasn't really had much attention given to him this season, at least not on the scale as say the other members of The Ghost crew have, so it was good to see him get some screentime here in an episode that played out pretty well even if it ultimately won't be remembered as one of Star Wars Rebels' best. This episode explored Zeb's role on the team, and it's interesting to flesh out the character a bit more. I've mentioned before on twitter that Star Wars Rebels reminded me a lot of Firefly if it was set in the Star Wars Universe, a group of mismatched characters on board a ship doing various jobs and missions whilst a greater evil lurks in the background. Sticking with the Firefly comparisons then Zeb is essentially Jayne Cobb, and this was his moment to shine in an episode written by Gary Whitta, who worked on the script for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and directed by regular Rebels director Bosco Ng.

The episode unfortunately reverts Zeb back to his early Season 1 days where he finds himself as a Chief of Security on Chopper Base and is bored because nothing is happening. We also get a Wedge cameo here as well, as Hera orders him to work. Zeb himself ends up finding an Imperial recon droid in the form of EXD-9. It was cool to see Rebels pay homage to the early designs of Ralph McQuarrie for C3P0 here with the EXD-9 character, and a reminder that had things turned out differently, EXD-9 could have been looking like what C3P0 looks like now as opposed to the other way around. EXD-9 however is quickly revealed to be an antagonist and this naturally sparks chaos throughout Chopper base with Zeb, Chopper himself and AP-5. Zeb's plan to grab the droid is a simple one that pays off, however that leads to a new problem for the crew, because like all captured Imperial droids, EXD-9 is revealed to have a Proton warhead inside him that is set to activate. Thankfully there's a fail safe, which Zeb is able to activate.

And then there's a new idea that Zeb comes up with. Because the Imperials will no doubt come looking for the droid if they simply store it in a safe place, he decides to get AP-5 to reconfigure the failsafe on EXD-9 and turn it into a ticking time bomb. When it reports itself back to the Imperials it will self-destruct, taking care of two problems at once. Zeb himself is no slouch when it comes to tactics, and although this episode is largely low-stakes (because they were always going to stop the droid's failsafe), it's a fairly effective and simple standalone episode that sets out what it intends to do in proving that Zeb can still contribute on his own and fleshing out the character a bit more.

The episode also featured a brief appearance by both Kallus and Thrawn himself. Thrawn is clearly set up to be one of the major villains towards the end of the series so don't expect him to do much before the end, although maybe he may have a significant appearance in "Through Imperial Eyes" if the title is anything to go by as that suggests a significant portion of the episode will be spent in Imperial territory. Maybe a full-Imperial Point of View episode from Kallus' perspective maybe? That would be cool, especially after Claudia Gray's fantastic Lost Stars proved there's plenty of potential to explore with that approach. Kallus himself is treading on thin ice though now, and so are the Rebels themselves, because although the Infiltrator may not quite worked out as intended for the Empire, Thrawn has discovered a narrow window where the Rebels' base is likely to be, so it's only a matter of time before Chopper base is found.

It seems almost inevitable at this point that we're headed towards a finale where Chopper base is exposed, and the Rebels will be forced to flee. Maybe they'll establish a base on Yavin 4 next season? It certainly looks as we're not far away from that point, especially as there's only so many main villains you can go through once you've already used Tarkin, Thrawn and Vader. There isn't much else in the Imperial ranks short of bringing in someone from the no-longer canon Expanded Universe like Mara Jade (however unlikely this is), re-using the villains or resorting to the Emperor himself which is unlikely. But at least we've still got a Obi-Wan Kenobi appearance to look forward to this season, and Mon Mothma as well as potentially more Saw Gerrera.

Warhead then may not have been a particularly outstanding episode of Rebels as it saw no significant plot advancement but it was still a solid one and mostly effective. Some fans may take issue with the inclusion of new technology like the Infiltrator Droid as it wasn't shown in the Original series as it's a new technology not featured in the original series, but it didn't particularly bother me and I'm open to seeing more new technology introduced as long as it's not too often. After all, the prequels trilogy featured plenty of technology that we never saw in the original movies. Regardless of this though, Warhead was essentially a victory for Thrawn in the long game, and had enough entertainment to keep the audience hooked over the course of its runtime, and I was never left feeling bored.

What did you think of Warhead? Let me know in the comments section below.

Overall Episode Verdict: C+
Positives:
+Zeb-centric episode.
+Clever way to capture/use EXD-9.
+EXD-9's homage to the original C3P0 designs.
+Long game plan for Thrawn.
Negatives:
-Largely filler.

About the Author - Milo MJ

Milo is an Arsenal FC supporter and loves TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Justified, The 100, The Americans and Person of Interest. He reviews Black Sails, The Magicians, Narcos, Preacher, Star Trek Discovery, Star Wars Rebels, The Shannara Chronicles, Silicon Valley and Veep for Spoiler TV. He also occasionaly writes book reviews at his own site, The Fictional Hangout and ontributes to comic reviews on a weekly basis for All-Comic. He also regularly watches and reviews films on Letterboxd, and you can find his ever-changing list of 250 favourite movies here.

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