Just watched Antilles Extraction on youtube, had to cut cable, and this may be one of my favorite episodes. First off Tie Interceptors are amazing, what a way to introduce them to the show! That Ace is a badass! He took on a Corellian Corvette, a ship that is typically good at shooting down fighters, by HIMSELF!

This season so far is proof of how much better the show's dynamic is when the Empire is winning and the Rebels are in constant panic, scrounging mode. That doesn't mean the Rebels shouldn't win or have hero moments but to make those moments really satisfying, in my mind, you have to show or talk about them losing.

Every gain the rebels make should have a price. The Original Trilogy, especially ANH and ESB does this. To destroy the Death Star the Rebels lost countless soldiers and pilots, yes it was a victory but look at the cost. Same thing with the Second Death Star.

This episode however does bring up another problem with Ezra, and I promise I will try to stop harping on this . At the beginning Hera says Ezra is too well known amongst the imperials to infiltrate the academy. At this point the Emperor must be aware of him if even petty officers are and if that's the case it can't mean anything good for the kid especially being a prospective Jedi.

To the people critequing the Interceptors taking out the Transport and almost the CR90. The Transport had no weapons, and It didn't seem like the Corvette was using the ones it had. maybe because it did not have a big enough crew?

Kallus is definitely the new Fulcrum.

And is the Fulcrum that recruited Wedge into the Rebellion as stated in Aftermath.

I don't think so. His "Tell Garazeb Orrelios we're even" doesn't strike me as an indication he's actively helping the Rebels now. Just a stirring of conscience that he explains away as simply returning Zeb's favor. Not that I don't expect a total face turn from him, but I don't think he's turned enough to be a double-agent already.

Yes, but now we see he respects Zeb (and maybe the rebels). Definitely different than the ruthless, cruel stereotype personality we see a lot of within the Imperial's ranks.

He's not going to say "shh, I'm fulcrum". They haven't escaped yet and if they do get captured, they could give him up if they know about him. He gave just enough excuse for them to trust his advice.

Intelligence shows up knowing that there are defectors, he's the one that runs the investigation and comes back empty handed after a few hours, buying them time to organize. He knew exactly where on the ship they were to be able to meet with them in that corridor and where to send them to keep them safe. It wasn't a chance encounter.

To the people critequing the Interceptors taking out the Transport and almost the CR90. The Transport had no weapons, and It didn't seem like the Corvette was using the ones it had. maybe because it did not have a big enough crew?

a single TIE can totally take our a corvette.

If it was modified to fit concussion missiles, and swapped them out for heavy rockets, and flies exactly right behind the vette...

Well, technical I think I have taken down CR90s in in TIE-Fighter with a TIE-Fighter. But it surely did not look THAT easy. ^-^

And more importantly in that same game you could take down an ISD with an X-Wing too ^-^

Hopefully Wedge and Hobbie will be regulars on the show. Also hopefully we'll see Wes, Tycho, and Fel at some point.

This episode was good fun. As soon as I heard 3 names (1 I hadn't heard) I knew who was gunna get shot. Hobbie was a nice addition to this episode, the flying on show wasn't great though

If we could canonise Corran, Farlander and Tycho next it would be much appreciated.

Hobbie was already canon though, he's in Episode 5.

Hopefully Wedge and Hobbie will be regulars on the show. Also hopefully we'll see Wes, Tycho, and Fel at some point.

Have been hoping we'd get Soontir Fel since Wedge was revealed.

Hobbie was already canon though, he's in Episode 5.

I know but its a recanon. They've changed the back story a little. The defected imperial back story is a cool one but I'm not sure it fits what Wedge was. Not too fussed though

To the people critequing the Interceptors taking out the Transport and almost the CR90. The Transport had no weapons, and It didn't seem like the Corvette was using the ones it had. maybe because it did not have a big enough crew?

That's the read I have of it. I mean, the entire command crew seems to be Ezra and two flight officers. 'Undercrewed', after all, being basically the entire theme of the episode.

Dunno if any all of y'all have tried Epic-scale games, but a CR90 that isn't taking any actions is kinda easy pickings for a trio of TIE Interceptors. Even if it was firing weapons (and, as noted, this one wasn't) - it's not hard for an Interceptor to get into a CR90's blind spots and just pound it to pieces. At least...presuming it isn't taking any actions - it's only via the Recover and Reinforce actions that Epic-scale ships become any kind of challenge to kill.

To the people critequing the Interceptors taking out the Transport and almost the CR90. The Transport had no weapons, and It didn't seem like the Corvette was using the ones it had. maybe because it did not have a big enough crew?

That's the read I have of it. I mean, the entire command crew seems to be Ezra and two flight officers. 'Undercrewed', after all, being basically the entire theme of the episode.

Dunno if any all of y'all have tried Epic-scale games, but a CR90 that isn't taking any actions is kinda easy pickings for a trio of TIE Interceptors. Even if it was firing weapons (and, as noted, this one wasn't) - it's not hard for an Interceptor to get into a CR90's blind spots and just pound it to pieces. At least...presuming it isn't taking any actions - it's only via the Recover and Reinforce actions that Epic-scale ships become any kind of challenge to kill.

Apparently the ship was severely understaffed - we didn't see anyone else on board during the shots of the bridge, so maybe they commandeered it?

Even in Legends, the TIE/IN was developed 1 year before Yavin, after a disastrous rout of TIE/LNs by Rebel X-Wings. I would think the reason that they wouldn't be on the Death Star is because they'd be deployed where the greatest need for high-quality fighters would be, not on what amounts to garrison duty.

The killer line of the episode was Sabine's, "That's cute." It's like, I want to decry her for being a Mary Sue sometimes, because she doesn't seem to find anything challenging (competing at a top-flight academy? Painting murals? Somersaulting around and firing blasters while planting explosives?) but then I remember that she's Mandalorian . It's nice to have the supposedly most badass humans actually BE badass, not stand around and then fly into a worm-pit mouth right away.

So by my count, they've now stolen a TIE Fighter, TIE Advanced Prototype and TIE Bomber.

I want to see Sabine's collection.

I do think it's weird they decided to steal a Bomber when they could have taken Interceptors. They had 3 pilots, they should have stolen all 3 of the Interceptors.

I'm glad the Interceptors had the 4 guns of the EU and not the 2 guns of the movies.

People think Sabine is a Mary Sue huh? I think she just has a super badass upbringing, which the writers are hinting at.

People think Sabine is a Mary Sue huh? I think she just has a super badass upbringing, which the writers are hinting at.

****heads think any competent female character is a Mary Sue.

People think Sabine is a Mary Sue huh? I think she just has a super badass upbringing, which the writers are hinting at.

****heads think any competent female character is a Mary Sue.

There is a difference between competent and Sabine.

@remote controled CR-90

At least the dorsal quadruple turbolaser turret was manned, it fired few inaccurate shots the second time CR-90 appeared and then went silent, it was also silent the first time around, despite having a clear field of view.

So by my count, they've now stolen a TIE Fighter, TIE Advanced Prototype and TIE Bomber.

I want to see Sabine's collection.

I do think it's weird they decided to steal a Bomber when they could have taken Interceptors. They had 3 pilots, they should have stolen all 3 of the Interceptors.

I'm glad the Interceptors had the 4 guns of the EU and not the 2 guns of the movies.

Also more EU changes as previously it was the a-wing that was developed to counter the interceptor, and now it seems to be the other way around as the awings were super outmatched.

You can probably chalk that up to difference in pilot skill. Skerris and the other Interceptor pilots are probably aces. And we all know that Phoenix Squadron is terrible.

If my memory and perception skills do not fail me then only one of the interceptors had earned it's bloodstripes. The other two pilots being elite ones for sure as well. So only one is an ace with more than 10 kills, while the other might be aces with something between 5 to 10 confirmed victories, they are not the kind of main character awesome.

There is a difference between competent and Sabine.

@remote controled CR-90

At least the dorsal quadruple turbolaser turret was manned, it fired few inaccurate shots the second time CR-90 appeared and then went silent, it was also silent the first time around, despite having a clear field of view.

Its possible that they are so new that yhe ecm hardware on the interceptors was to much for the targeting computers and ECCM the cap ship had.

They didn't even try to shoot at the Interceptors the first time around. Surely if you had a rapid firing quad turbolaser you would at least try tospray and pray if you had enemies flying straight at you and you couldn't possibly get a lock because your corvette's FCS can be jammed by a tiny TIE.

This episode was good fun. As soon as I heard 3 names (1 I hadn't heard) I knew who was gunna get shot. Hobbie was a nice addition to this episode, the flying on show wasn't great though

If we could canonise Corran, Farlander and Tycho next it would be much appreciated.

Soontir Fel and Maarek Stele for me.

ETA: 666th post.

I was sure the Ace was Soontir Fel until the end when they called him by name and it's an entirely new character. Weird they didnt just make him an EU character.

Governor Pryce was outmatched. Even if she had martial arts training of any kind i'm sure she's been in command so long they are barely a match for Sabine, a younger Mandolorian warrior who also probably knows Imperial hand to hand combat. No Governor Pryce isnt the get down and dirty type, even if the character seems that way. She's brains.

There's still plenty of opportunity for Soontir to make an appearance this season, if Thrawn's use of the apparent 181st comes to be. It don't think a training facility would be the best place to introduce that imperial ace, anyway.

There's still plenty of opportunity for Soontir to make an appearance this season, if Thrawn's use of the apparent 181st comes to be. It don't think a training facility would be the best place to introduce that imperial ace, anyway.

Really why the hell wasn't that Fel? I recon it had to have been written as him and changed last moment.

Well they also really wanted to include Biggs instead of Hobby but changed that. Mabye they didnt want to introduce a character they didnt know how or want to expand on right now.

It's sort've annoying like how Rogue Squadron never really became a thing in the new canon books or EU yet but we're still in early days. I'm sure we'll have many more stories to come both in Rebels and beyond.