Just now, T70 Driver said:

Couple of nods to the EU in this episode. The code word that Thrawn used to deactivate his Assassin Droids, Rukh, is the name of his bodyguard from the books. Rukh was also the one who killed Thrawn, much like the Droids tried to do after the code word was deactivated.

that's awesome!

30 minutes ago, T70 Driver said:

Couple of nods to the EU in this episode. The code word that Thrawn used to deactivate his Assassin Droids, Rukh, is the name of his Noghri bodyguard from the books. Rukh was also the one who killed Thrawn, much like the Droids tried to do after the code word was deactivated.

Had no idea, that really is delightful.

https://i.imgflip.com/995w3.jpg

Great episode.

This episode was a cavalcade of named Imperial Officers. It was awesome seeing so many NOT faceless Imperials together.

And the Governor's "Shoot him!" was just the best.

8 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

Couple of nods to the EU in this episode. The code word that Thrawn used to deactivate his Assassin Droids, Rukh, is the name of his Noghri bodyguard from the books. Rukh was also the one who killed Thrawn, much like the Droids tried to do after the code word was deactivated.

Also pretty sure those assassin droids took inspiration from the Dark Trooper armor from Dark Forces.

And I like to think that was Teras Kasi Thrawn was practicing...

45 minutes ago, DailyRich said:

Also pretty sure those assassin droids took inspiration from the Dark Trooper armor from Dark Forces.

Yes, they certainly look like (Phase III) Dark Troopers.

21 hours ago, Major Tom said:

Very true.

Also, is anyone in any doubt that Thrawn is now perfectly aware of the location of the hidden Rebel base?

Yeah, that was a HUGE flaw with the plan. "Let's remove that planet from the database!"
"But uhm. Won't... Won't that tell him EXACTLY which one it was..?"
"PFFTTSSSSSHHHHHHHHNNOOOOO OF COURSE NOT HAHA SWAG" -Ezra

46 minutes ago, Odanan said:

Yes, they certainly look like (Phase III) Dark Troopers.

Nah, nah. They're an amalgamation of Phase I and II. Phase I was skeletal while II had a more full body-armor type of thing going on, but was ultimately still just a droid.

Here, we have a semi-skeletal/semi-armored appearance that isn't flying around with jetpacks, but is certainly as durable and efficient as a Phase I.

1 hour ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Yeah, that was a HUGE flaw with the plan. "Let's remove that planet from the database!"
"But uhm. Won't... Won't that tell him EXACTLY which one it was..?"
"PFFTTSSSSSHHHHHHHHNNOOOOO OF COURSE NOT HAHA SWAG" -Ezra

At least they were smart enough to replace it with another random planet so the count would remain the same.

But yeah, wouldn't put it past Thrawn to have memorized the list and notice that one has changed.

I mean, the more likely answer would be that there was more than one copy of the list, but that's too mundane and thus, probably not what the writers will go with.

1 hour ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Nah, nah. They're an amalgamation of Phase I and II. Phase I was skeletal while II had a more full body-armor type of thing going on, but was ultimately still just a droid.

Here, we have a semi-skeletal/semi-armored appearance that isn't flying around with jetpacks, but is certainly as durable and efficient as a Phase I.

I'm not going to lie, I don't care how out of character it is, if we got Thrawn wearing Phase III, I would not complain.

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

At least they were smart enough to replace it with another random planet so the count would remain the same.

But yeah, wouldn't put it past Thrawn to have memorized the list and notice that one has changed.

I mean, the more likely answer would be that there was more than one copy of the list, but that's too mundane and thus, probably not what the writers will go with.

This is Thrawn. I would not put it past him to have a different version of the map for each group of officers he briefed and have all the differences memorised. He certainly had a good long look at it after it had been changed, and given the attention to detail we've seen from him only a moment of plot induced stupidity could possibly account for him not noticing.

And they have just shown that Thrawn is immune to plot induced stupidity.

My money is on Thrawn manipulating events (through Fulcrum and other avenues) to induce the largest possible number of Rebel cells (Saw, Dodona and Sabine's Mandos at a minimum) to gather at Chopper base. He will then unleash his forces in an attempt to land a killing blow on the narcient Rebellion. Those forces will, of course, include fully functional TIE/d squadrons. If we are really lucky Maarek Stele gets some screen time as one of the squadron leaders, but that may be a fan service too far.

I still think he intends to lure the Rebels to attack the TIE/D factory on Lothal.

Even though that, means he wouldn't need to know the location of the Rebel base. I think the entire search is just a pretense.

45 minutes ago, Major Tom said:

If we are really lucky Maarek Stele gets some screen time as one of the squadron leaders

18 hours ago, Major Tom said:

I understand that point of view, but do you not think that if Thrawn hadn't figured it out it would have traduced him as an adversary? Characters we (well, many of the people reading I suspect) care about are now in real peril. For me that makes it more exciting. Having Thrawn be good enough to see through the deception also means that when the Ghost crew does truly get the better of Thrawn it means more as he has been shown to be smart and competent rather than just being another super-mook like the Grand Inquisitor. Just like Vader last season his presence and eventual exit have weight and meaning.

I'm really wanting this season to be an imperial victory. Thrawn moves on to new things as his job is done, the rebels, while destroying the factory, suffer massive casualties like never before.

Rogue One was the first major victory, this means the raid can't be considered a major victory. Eliminating the top of the line new fighters almost completely while suffering no significant damage would be just that.

Thrawn is a HUGE fan favorite, losing him this quickly, or him failing would be costly in the long run. The Empire of the Hand, a xenos friendly empire, opens so many options down the line, right up to TFA timeline.

As long as the core group (the original Ghost crew and Rex) escape I'm good with Sato and everyone we've met this season getting toasted by Thrawn. That's probably just an appropriate level of losses going up against him. Granted, we know that Saw won't be among the dead, but it'd be cool if the events of the finale were what lead to him becoming too extreme for Alliance high command to work with.

4 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Yeah, that was a HUGE flaw with the plan. "Let's remove that planet from the database!"
"But uhm. Won't... Won't that tell him EXACTLY which one it was..?"
"PFFTTSSSSSHHHHHHHHNNOOOOO OF COURSE NOT HAHA SWAG" -Ezra

I disagree. I think Thrawn missed the change. The tone of his voice when he answered the Stormtrooper's question sounded a bit surprised, expecting a change to his map but not finding one.

Something else I noticed is this was the first time we've seen a unit patch on screen with the Imperials. All of the Stormtroopers had the Chimera emblem on their shoulder guard. I'm not sure if regular crew had the same emblem though.

Loved the episode. Finally they turned Thrawn from ... let's say unimpactful ... to the villain mastermind that we love.

3 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

I disagree. I think Thrawn missed the change. The tone of his voice when he answered the Stormtrooper's question sounded a bit surprised, expecting a change to his map but not finding one.

Something else I noticed is this was the first time we've seen a unit patch on screen with the Imperials. All of the Stormtroopers had the Chimera emblem on their shoulder guard. I'm not sure if regular crew had the same emblem though.

They did, even Ezra's borrowed uniform had this patch.

I can't really add anything that nobody else said.
I think the characters were flawless, by that I mean none of them were stupid or did make nonsensical decisions.

I also love how consistent this Episode was, with that many reappearing characters and nods/easter eggs.
The holy grail easter egg actually cracked me up, as Rebels Recon mentioned it

17 minutes ago, Ghost XV15 said:

I can't really add anything that nobody else said.
I think the characters were flawless, by that I mean none of them were stupid or did make nonsensical decisions.

I also love how consistent this Episode was, with that many reappearing characters and nods/easter eggs.
The holy grail easter egg actually cracked me up, as Rebels Recon mentioned it

You also have to like the sneak peek.

The Empire isn't just making prototypes and forgetting about them! That droid worked and they're using more!

An imperial victory will be a given i think. however i think that thrawn won't hit Phoenix cell right away. remember when most of Phoenix cell arrived to rescue the Y-wings Thrawn let them go saying "that wasn't the rebel fleet". it is clear that Thrawn is aiming for something much bigger than just wiping out the Phoenix Cell. and in the trailer we are shown that we are going to see a big gathering of the wider rebellion. my guess is that Thrawn, having now figured out which world Chopper base and Phoenix Squadron is thanks to the map tampering, will not move in to destroy it, but rather will be observing it to try and get an idea of its connections to the larger rebellion. culminating in the big gathering Mon Mothma arranges (that we got teased in the trailer)

and then, once the rebellion has gathered most of its combat power into one place (including Mon Cal warships, Nebulon-B's, etc) only then will Thrawn strike.. with his entire fleet of Star Destroyers to wipe out the larger Rebel fleet that has just gathered. bringing down not only most of Phoenix Cell but the bulk of the Rebellion's combat arm.

and that will be the season finale.

One of the best episodes of the season so far. I thought it was solid throughout with competent Imperials.. the Governors "shoot him" followed up by the Stormtrooper actually responding too fast to be avoided was great. Ok plot armour makes it a stun shot but wanting to capture and interogate makes that plausible.

Thrawn knowing exactly what's going on was what really made it. I predict Kallus will be used to crush a large force of Rebels but be fast and resourceful enough to get away. He'll have nowhere to turn though as the Ghost crew and surviving Rebels won't trust him one bit after what they will see is a massive betrayal. Ezra already has suspicions about Kallus playing a long game. Thrawn will make that look true.

Season finale could achieve so much.. Xwings against Defenders. Wedge and Hobbies going from average Joe's to Aces. A major defeat and loss of manpower and materials would also tie in well to the Rebel Alliance reluctance to commit to Scariff later too.

Fun episode. Sad that Kallus thought he got away with it. The Price gambit bought him enough time to get to the ship. He should have stayed committed from there.

And the commercial break showing upcoming clips was exciting too (defender flying in space, Obi Wan vs Maul at the campfire).

Anyone else think that Kanan calling Rex " Gramps " might be more than just a friendly insult? IIRC Filoni has mentioned something about being OK with Rex being retconned into the RotJ commando force.

4 minutes ago, gamblertuba said:

Anyone else think that Kanan calling Rex " Gramps " might be more than just a friendly insult? IIRC Filoni has mentioned something about being OK with Rex being retconned into the RotJ commando force.

Funny, I didn't catch that the first time around but noticed that last night and came here to post the exact same thing. I truly hope that they are retconning Rex.

If the rebels team is smart this season will culminate in an Imperial victory and Thrawn surviving leaving the rebels scattered. It would be lot more interesting seeing the Rebels attempt to rebuild and gear up for Rogue One.

In the Thrawn Trilogy, Thrawn didnt always achieve his objectives but was shown constantly winning in another unintended way. Spoilers if you havent read those books (you really should. Timothy Zahn isnt neccesarily an innovator with the English language but his story and characters and worldbuilding are fantastic.)