Star Wars Rebels S03E14 "Warhead"

Synopsys

Zen & Chopper discover a discarded robot outside of Chopper base, which they don't realise was sent by the Empire across the galaxy to track down the Rebel's base of operations.

What I thought

After last week’s double header of nostalgic tie-in to Rogue One and the mystery of Geonosis, we’re back into pure Rebels storytelling, as the majority of the gang go off on a mission and leave Zeb, AP-5 and Chopper to look after the Rebel Base. It seems to be completely forgotten that there are other rebels about the base. Most of the time it looks abandoned, but during scenes in the control room there are a few personnel about. This makes me totally unsure on numbers in the base. Surely it’s not just the gang and a few others here? I’m left wondering if it’s down to budgetary requirements that we hardly see anyone else, although generic rebels tend to all look the same anyway. They may as well all wear Star Trek red shirts for all the likelihood they have of saying little and getting shot.

Anyhow, Zeb and Chopper discover a robot (one of many sent by an Imperial cruiser to many star systems) that’s been deactivated after being attacked by those pesky spider-like creatures outside the base. Defying logic, Zeb treats the robot like it’s a piece of litter they’ve found or a misaddressed parcel, because he seems to think nothing much about random discarded robots and takes it back to base. Chopper voiced his disapproval; a fact he gets to remind Zeb of later. At the base, AP-5 is boring everyone regarding his need to inventory everything, but helps restore power to the discovered droid. Less than a minute later and the imperial droid works out he’s at a Rebel Base and starts going ape like after whispering his secret word like SuperTed does, and becoming ultra-big and strong. As AP-5 points out later, it’s amazing that none of the blasting that Zeb or the droid does doesn’t blow up the whole place. They eventually do restrain the robot, reprogram it somewhat, and help it head back to the Empire, where it spectacularly detonates, blowing up one of their cruisers. Very impressive!

There’s a whole head of award-winning sarcasm from AP-5 this episode, largely directed at Zeb. It’s absolutely LOL a minute at times, especially the occasion when AP-5 pauses for a second and then explains he was too startled by Zeb having a good plan to say anything. LOL. As much as I love Chopper’s humour, he’s merely a sidekick when AP-5 is about. Sure, it’s a little ridiculous how people can be so amusing in a tense situation but this is a cartoon, and its Star Wars, so this is the kind of stuff we know and love. It’s great also to see Fulcrum/Kallus again, as he risks detection twice to warn the Rebels and then follows up with a “Glad you’re ok” message, which seems totally unnecessary when the robot didn’t get to report anything. Thrawn though is very happy (in his straight faced happy way) as he knows he’s now narrowed down the search for the Rebel Base.

Overall, a very entertaining episode that isn’t pure filler as it fits into Thrawn’s great plan and helps build towards what we expect to be a massive battle at Chopper Base in the Finale.

What I liked

Zeb, Chopper and AP-5 played off each other perfectly and were thoroughly entertaining. AP-5 was at his most sarcastic and pun laden best. We got to see Kallus/Fulcrum and more calculating tactics by Thrawn. That massive explosion on the Imperial Cruiser was spectacular.

What I didn’t like

Who finds a robot in the middle of nowhere and thinks little of taking it back to base? Zeb should never be left in charge again. As entertaining as it was, perhaps the seriousness of the situation was a little too washed away at times because of the puns. Lastly, how many people are there at the rebel base as I couldn’t tell if Zeb was left there to look after inanimate objects or not.

Rating 7/10 Very Good