Sabine goes on a solo mission to help Imperial cadets join the Rebels – and one of them is an Original Trilogy legend…
The Rebels experience more causalities as the episode opens with Imperial TIE fighters eradicating a Rebel transporter, its fighter escort and all the pilots and personnel aboard those vessels. Needless to say the Rebels need to get more pilots if they are to continue to fight the good fight. As it happens a Fulcrum agent provides intel that there are cadets in elite Imperial flight academy Skystrike that wish to defect from the Empire. Because of her background as an Imperial cadet and being least recognized, Sabine is assigned to the mission to locate the defectors and to extract them from the Imperial academy.
After infiltrating the Academy under an alias, Sabine participates in a training simulation where she paired up with another cadet who we find out is Wedge Antilles. She later discovers that he and two other pilots Hobbie and Rake are the defectors. Sabine reaches out to them and explains she is there to help them escape from Skystrike. Unfortunately, Governor Pryce prepared for such a situation and before Sabine and the defectors could reach the Rebel transport, their TIE fighter’s wings broke apart making them sitting ducks.
Pryce gives the order to destroy the TIE fighter pod that Rake was in, using his death as an example, keeping the rest alive to find out which one was the Rebel agent. At the threat of harming Wedge, Sabine confesses she is the Rebel agent but not without Wedge revealing her real name. After Wedge and Hobbie are taken to a separate cell, Governor Pryce interrogates Sabine where she puts together that she is a Madalorian and a former cadet. However Sabine manages to subdue the guards and dukes it out with Pryce (who has some pretty impressive moves herself) and eventually overpowers her. She then rescues Wedge and Hobbie, and all of them manage to escape a second time with a little help from…Agent Kallus of all people. Despite being chased and their ship taking damage the Rebel transporter shows up again and gets them to the safety of the Rebel base.
A pretty straightforward and entertaining episode, and a good origin story for Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles, who will go on to fight the Empire in the Star Wars Original Trilogy. I like how the Rebel used Sabine’s experience of being a Imperial cadet to their advantage. It is clear she is more skilled than I initially gave her credit for, she’s more than just graffiti artist who dyes her hair. I also like how Sabine was one who rescued Wedge and Hobbie and I am also glad she doesn’t lord it over them. It is not as heavy as the first few episodes have been, but it doesn’t have to be. It is nice to have a breather before more of the heavier stories, which are sure to come later in the season.
Rating:
Fandom Factory 