Star Wars Rebels Recap: The Mystery Of Chopper Base

One week away from the season finale of Star Wars Rebels season two, the Ghost crew explores the new base that Chopper and AP-5 found for the rebel fleet… and meets the natives who live there.

The rebel fleet have made a base on the planet Attolon, located in a system discovered by AP-5 and Chopper in last week’s episode, “The Forgotten Droid.” There is no Imperial presence there, and so far the rebels haven’t found any dangers native to the planet. Just in case, they’ve set up sensors all around the base to detect any foes, Imperial or otherwise. But while a Phoenix pilot, Lieutenant Dicer, is out setting up sensors on the outskirts of the encampment, she finds out there are creatures on the Attolon; and while some of them are small and skittish snail-like animals called drakma, some of them are bigger and hungry for human flesh.

On their last drop off run to the base before taking a break, Hera and Sabine watch Ezra and Kanan practice their lightsaber fighting. Ezra is faltering, and Kanan instructs him to keep his lightsaber up, saying, “It’s easier to drop it than it is to raise it.” Ezra finally thinks he has the upper hand, but then he realizes he and Kanan have “killed” each other at the same time. He says they’ve come to a tie, again, but Kanan says there is no such thing as a tie. When you lose, you die. Ezra throws a short-tempered quip at Sabine before he’s forced to defend himself from Kanan’s surprise attack. Kanan tells him to never turn his back on an enemy. Up above, Sabine notices Hera’s sad expression.

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Back on the planet’s surface, Phoenix fighter pilots are setting out sensors around the outskirts of the rebel base. We see Lieutenant Dicer have her frightening confrontation with a krykna spider, a six-legged creature with a bulbous head colored the same as Attolon’s desert surface. The tiny drakma, snail-like creatures, quiver in fear as they watch her demise.

At the base, The Ghost has landed. While the shipment it carried is being unloaded, Kanan and Hera talk about how, while Kanan now fully supports everything Hera has been doing for the past several months with the rebel fleet, and he’s happy that they’re part of a bigger cause, it’s time for him and Ezra to take out the Inquisitors. They can’t put it off any longer. They’ll wait for Ahsoka to arrive, and then make the journey to Malachor as Master Yoda instructed Ezra to do.

Meanwhile, Ezra is looking for Zeb. He finds the Lasat lounging and watching the sun set, a rock tune playing from a stereo and a drink by his side. Ezra sits on a crate nearby and says that he and Kanan will be leaving soon. He’s not sure when, or if they’ll come back. Zeb tells him it’s bad luck to talk like that, and that probably by the time the Jedi get back the rebel fleet will have toppled the Empire. They can exchange war stories, he says. Ezra tells him it’s a deal. Zeb turns the music up, and together they take in the vista before them. Overhead, two birds fly through the sky.

At the main base, Sabine and Captain Rex notice that Lieutenant Dicer has not checked in. They head out in The Phantom to investigate. They arrive at the spot where Dicer’s fighter is still landed, but the only other trace they find of her is her empty helmet and the sensor. Suddenly, a krykna, whose head they mistook for a rock, rises out of the ground. Sabine and Captain Rex are quickly surrounded by the spider-like monsters. Captain Rex is able to kill one by shooting one of its three eyes, but then he is grabbed by a krykna and taken to their lair below ground. Sabine can’t make her way past the other krykna to save him, and she’s quickly being backed up to the edge of a cliff.

Fortunately, The Ghost, ramp down and her companions ready to open fire, soars up behind her and helps her dispatch the krykna. Hera lands The Ghost on the cliff and instructs Chopper to keep watch while the rest of the crew, Zeb, Ezra, Kanan, Hera, and Sabine, descend into the holes in the earth to find their friend.

The rebels pick their way down into the krykna’s tunnel system, the Jedi using their lightsabers to illuminate their surroundings in a soft blue glow. When they come to a fork in the road, Kanan says they should split up. At first, he tells Ezra to go in the group separate from him, but Hera adamantly tells him that he and Ezra will go one way and she, Sabine, and Zeb the other. Kanan nods in grim agreement. When Zeb asks if they shouldn’t have a Jedi on each team, Hera says they’ve got to get used to not having Kanan and Ezra around.

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In their tunnel, Kanan and Ezra come upon a krykna. Kanan thinks they should attack it, but Ezra wants to try to connect to it through the Force. He holds out his hand and closes his eyes in concentration. The krykna, however, either doesn’t feel the love or doesn’t care. It screeches at Ezra, and Kanan quickly steps in to put an end to the krykna and save his padawan. He and Ezra have a terse argument about common sense before running for safety from more krykna.

In the other tunnel, Hera, Sabine, and Zeb have discovered a pile of empty drakma shells; apparently the krykna eat the poor little things. Even Zeb, who has expressed distaste for the drakma before, says he wouldn’t have wished them such an awful fate. Then they hear Rex call out for help. They find him trapped in the legs of a krykna suspended from the ceiling, and quickly pry him out. Sabine comms Kanan and Ezra and tells them they’ve found the clone captain. They get him free, only to find themselves facing an army of krykna. They have a hard time fending them off with just their blasters (seriously, though, how hard is it to hit one of the krykna’s eyes? Karabast!); but after Kanan and Ezra drop out of the ceiling to give them a hand, the crew is able to make a path back to the surface.

They manage to make it to The Ghost, with the krykna in hot pursuit. By this time it is full night. Hera drops in the pilot seat and tries to take off, but the ship won’t budge. Something is keeping them tethered to the surface. It turns out that the krykna have spun webs all around The Ghost and attached them to the ground. Everyone begins to wonder why the krykna hadn’t attacked the base yet. Sabine realizes it’s because they don’t like the sensors; when she was backed up against the one Dicer set earlier in the day, the krykna attacking her wouldn’t come any closer.

Now, though, the krykna are now crawling all over The Ghost, and one of them makes it through a back door. Rex goes to fend them off. Meanwhile, Ezra has formed a plan. He, Kanan, and Zeb run outside to fight off the krykna. He instructs Sabine to stay on the ramp, because he and Kanan are going to Force-throw her over the krykna amassing in front of them over to the sensor. They can then use the sensor to keep the nearby krykna at bay long enough for the Jedi to cut the webs from The Ghost.

The Jedi cast Sabine over the heads of the krykna. They overthrow her, but the Mandalorian manages to get a handhold on the cliff edge and pull herself up, right out of the reaching legs of one of the spidery creatures’ legs. She grabs the sensor and makes her way through the crowd of krykna. Then, she leads Kanan and Ezra around the ship, using the sensor to keep the krykna away while the Jedi get to work with their lightsabers.

With The Ghost cut free, Hera can finally take off. At the back of the ship, Rex has managed to fight off the krykna that was furiously trying to make its way aboard. With the monsters behind them, Rex wonders if they should reconsider having made Attalon their base. But Hera’s not ready to give up, and neither is Kanan. He says, “The Rebellion needs this base, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep it.” Hera replies, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it,” and then leaves the bridge. Once again, Sabine notices the sad tone in her voice and expression.

With The Ghost in safety at the base once more, the sun is rising on another day on Adalon. Sabine tells Kanan he should go talk to Hera. He asks if there’s something wrong, and Sabine facepalms. She says that although Hera says she supports Kanan in his decision to leave, when all is said and done it’s still like he’s walking out on her. Kanan heeds her advice, and anxiously confronts Hera. He tries to tell her he and Ezra will be okay, but she knows when he’s lying. Then she says, “Whatever you’re facing, I wanted us to face it together.” Kanan promises her than they’ll see each other again. They then share a tight embrace, as if it’s the last they’ll ever have.

Later, Ezra is resting near the edge of the tight sensor array surrounding the base, when he sees a krykna scuttle by. Once again, he reaches out to the Force to connect to the creature; and once again, the krykna does nothing but screech and lunge at the Padawan. It won’t pass between the sensors, however, so Ezra is safe. But he’s also frustrated. He lays back down on the ground and tries to brush it off. Overhead, a single bird circles in the sky where a day ago, when Zeb and Ezra were watching the sunset, there were two. The Imperial March plays softly, ominously in the background.

Suddenly, Ahsoka’s head appears in his vision. She has finally arrived to accompany Kanan and Ezra to Malachor. Ezra is glad to see her, but then he asks her about the krykna and why he can’t connect with them. Ahsoka looks a bit troubled, then says, “My experience, just when you think you understand the Force, you find out how little you actually know.”

She and Ezra start to head back towards the base. Ezra turns one last time and frowns at the krykna. He’s still not satisfied with this failed test of his power. He finally moves to follow Ahsoka, and the camera pans up above to where the single bird has landed on a branch. Once again, the Imperial March is heard, softly foretelling doom for one or maybe all of the Jedi.

Next: Darth Maul Looms In The Teaser For The Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Finale

Next week, in the season two finale of Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka and Darth Vader will finally have their confrontation, Ezra will be tested by the dark side, and another Sith lord will resurface from the past. Plus, get out your handkerchief, because one of our rebel heroes may not make it out of Malachor alive. Check Dork Side next week for our recap of “Twilight of the Apprentice.”

h/t: The Mystery of Chopper Base Episode Guide

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