Star Wars Rebels Recap: “Imperial Supercommandos”

In last night’s episode of Star Wars Rebels season 3, Sabine Wren had a little family reunion that left her with new enemies and a new friend. Read about it in our Star Wars Rebels recap below.

Sabine Wren has another run-in with her relatives, the Mandalorians, in Star Wars Rebels, season 3: “Imperial Supercommandos.” She ends the day with a new enemy, and a new friend for the Rebellion. Read our recap below.

The episode opens with Sabine in Fenn Rau’s prison cell. Fenn Rau is the leader of the Protectorate, Mandalorians loyal to their native world. In exchange for his survival, Rau promised the Rebellion safe passage through the Protectorate’s territory, Concord Dawn. The Rebellion decided to let the men and women in the Protectorate fulfill Rau’s end of the bargain while keeping their onboard the Phoenix Squadron command ship.

Inside Rau’s cell, he and Sabine play a strategy game. Sabine tries to convince Rau to join the Rebellion officially, but he insists his loyalty lies with Mandalore. He only made deals with the Empire and then with the Rebellion to survive. He doesn’t think Sabine is a true Mandalorian, that she has rejected her family’s traditions. But Sabine is adamant that she made the right decision by leaving the Imperial Academy and joining a greater cause.

The Mandalorians are about to start another round of their game when Zeb appears and summons them to the command center. When they arrive, Hera informs them that contact with the Protectorate has been lost. She and Commander Jun Sato believe the Mandalorians may be setting up a trap for any rebels coming through their system. Rau denies it, saying that if contact was lost it must be a problem on the rebels’ end.

To find out what is going on at Concord Dawn, Hera orders Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper to travel there on a reconnaissance mission. Fenn Rau is also allowed to go; he believes, should something be wrong, he will be able to talk to the people under his command. But Rau must be fitted with binders to keep him in check.

The recon team takes the newly acquired Phantom 2 to Concord Dawn. Ezra sits across from Fenn Rau while Sabine pilots. The Jedi Padawan feels awkward under Rau’s intense gaze, so he gets up when they reach Concord Dawn. The planet is partly missing, blown apart by the ravages of endless warring between the Mandalorian clans. He is about to ask Sabine about the Mandalorians and why they fight so much, but in doing so he makes the mistake of turning his back on Rau. Rau sneaks up behind him and Sabine, knocks Ezra out and stuns Sabine with one of her own blasters.

When Sabine and Ezra are rudely awakened by Chopper sometime later, they find themselves bound together by the binders which Rau wore earlier. They also discover their ship has landed. Chopper frees them, and the three rebels leave The Phantom 2 to find Rau.

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They discover Rau on top of a hill looking down at something on the other side. They approach carefully, and Ezra uses the Force to relieve Rau of his weapon, but the Mandalorian does not react. Sabine and Ezra finally ascend the hill beside him, and then they see it, too: Rau’s Protectorate headquarters, and all the Mandalorians within it, has been reduced to ashes. Rau is devastated. Sabine thinks the Empire must be responsible, but the other Mando tells her it was other Mandalorians.

The group descends to inspect the destruction. As they are doing so, Chopper detects a signal. Suddenly, an Imperial probe droid appears. The rebels work quickly to destroy it before it can send out a call for reinforcements. They succeed in killing the probe droid, but they don’t know if it had time to signal its friends or not. Chopper heads back to The Phantom 2 to prep the ship for takeoff. It is then he discovers more enemies have indeed arrived. Sabine, Ezra, and Rau see a phalanx of armored troopers on jetpacks flying toward the Protectorate compound. They are, as Rau suspected, other Mandalorians.

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With The Phantom 2 too far away to run to for cover, the trio split up. Sabine and Rau run one way while Ezra runs another. The jetpack Mandalorians land; most of them wear plain white and gray armor, but one stands out as the leader because of the red paint on his armor. He and his men spread out to look for the rebels.

Ezra sacrifices himself to give Sabine and Rau a chance to regroup and find a way out of this mess. He allows himself to be captured by the Mandalorians, the leader of who he discovers is a man named Gar Saxon, the Imperial Viceroy of Mandalore.

Sabine wants to go back and rescue him, but Rau knows they need to use this opportunity to form a plan. He then leads her to a lookout point where they will be able to watch their enemies.

Back in the Protectorate compound, Ezra is trying to pass himself off as a smuggler while being held at gunpoint. Gar Saxon wants to know who Ezra really is and who is on Concord Dawn with him. Chopper is brought in, having been discovered on The Phantom 2. Saxon knows Ezra is lying, and he threatens to shoot Chopper if Ezra does not tell the truth. The Padawan tries a number of different stories, but Saxon is not fooled. He says that within every lie Ezra tells, there is a grain of truth. Saxon is confident he will learn what he wants to learn eventually.

From their vantage point outside the compound, Sabine and Rau argue over what to next. Rau doesn’t want to rescue Ezra and he also doesn’t trust Sabine or her loyalty to Mandalore. He tells Sabine that the Supercommandos’ leader, Gar Saxon, is a member of Clan Viszla like she is. Rau says Saxon tried to rule Mandalore, but that he had no honor. He doesn’t think Sabine and the Rebellion are any better, however. He blames them for what happened to his Protectorate. But Sabine points out they have no choice but to work together if they want to survive this day. She makes a deal with him: they will rescue Ezra and The Phantom 2, and in return Rau gets a ride off Concord Dawn. Rau reluctantly agrees.

The two Mandalorians approach the compound. Rau uses a derelict helmet from the compound ruins to tune into the Imperial Mandalorians’ comm frequency. By this time, Ezra has told Saxon he was sent to Concord Dawn by Fenn Rau. Saxon is immediately interested. He had waited a long time for an opportunity to take out the Protectorate compound, and he was disappointed when Rau was not there to be killed when the day finally came. Having listened to this conversation, Rau realizes the Empire had been planning on destroying him and his people for a long time. If he had not been taken prisoner by the Rebellion, he would have been executed, too. He then decides working with Sabine is not such a bad thing.

First things first: Sabine and Rau take out a patrolling Mandalorian. Rau gets his gun and Sabine pilfers his jetpack. Then they head for the compound. Inside, Saxon wants Ezra to tell him where Rau is. Ezra insists he doesn’t know, so Saxon tries to shoot Chopper again. Ezra uses the Force to misdirect Saxon’s shots, but the Mandalorian quickly catches on to what he is doing. He realizes Ezra is a more valuable prisoner than he first thought.

Before Saxon can do anything else, Sabine chucks some of her smoke grenades into the compound. Saxon is helmetless and therefore cannot see, so Sabine is able to drag Ezra to safety. Rau has gone to prepare The Phantom 2 for takeoff. As Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper head for the ship, however, Rau takes off into the air. He shows no signs of coming back; he has left them at the mercy of the Imperial Supercommandos.

Cornered, the rebels draw their weapons in a showdown against Saxon and his men. Saxon begins to banter with Sabine. He tells her that her mother has been looking for her and that she serves under him in the Empire. Sabine guesses he didn’t give her much of a choice in the matter. Saxon, like Rau, doesn’t think Sabine is a true Mandalorian. He does, however, offer her a deal: if she surrenders and swears fealty to him and the Empire, she and her friends will go free.

Sabine plays it cool. She takes off her helmet and hands it to Chopper, whispering to him to send a signal on the Mandalorians’ comm frequency on her mark. She then turns around and kneels before Saxon. He tells her to swear loyalty to him. She says, “I swear… that you’re a fool!” She tells Chopper to activate the signal. The astromech sends a high-pitched signal through the Mandalorians’ helmets and the Mandalorians clutch their heads in agony. Sabine then grabs Ezra and activates her newly acquired jetpack. They take off into the sky, and Chopper follows using his own jets.

“You have not forgotten our ways. That has earned my respect” – Fenn Rau

They are not out of trouble yet, though. The Mandalorians soon regroup and chase them using their own jetpacks. Sabine is looking for the Mandos’ ship since Fenn Rau deprived them of The Phantom 2. With Ezra dangling beneath her, the two are able to fend off their pursuers with some fancy flying and lightsaber swishing. They even manage to dispatch a few of the Supercommandos along the way. However, as they approach the Mandalorians’ ship, they find themselves cut off by  a Supercommando who split off from the pack. Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper lose their equilibrium and go crashing into the ground.

Once again, Saxon and his remaining Supercommando have the rebels cornered. But help comes unexpectedly. Fenn Rau has returned in The Phantom 2. He tells Saxon that Sabine and Ezra are under his protection. With Rau’s help, the rebels are able to get past the Supercommandos and head for The Phantom 2. Ezra and Chopper get aboard, but Saxon grabs Sabine before she can ascend the ramp.

The two begin to fight. Sabine remembers enough of the Mandalorian fighting style to prove more than a match for Saxon. She manages to get away and use her jetpack to fly up to The Phantom 2. Just as she reaches the ramp, Saxon shoots her jetpack. Ezra grabs Sabine’s hand only just in time and pulls her to safety. Defeated,  Saxon watches from the ground as Rau and the rebels escape into space.

On board The Phantom 2, Rau confesses that he thought about leaving Sabine and Ezra behind. But he is impressed by Sabine’s Mandalorian values of loyalty and devotion. He realizes she has simply found a new people: the Rebellion. He wants to become a part of this new family, too. Sabine and Ezra happily welcome him to the cause. The three of them and Chopper leave Concord Dawn as friends.

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What did you think of “Imperial Supercommandos?” Was it exciting to see Mandalorians on Star Wars Rebels again? Honestly, I can’t get enough of them! Hopefully, we will see more of Sabine and Fenn Rau when Star Wars Rebels season 3 returns on November 19th with “Iron Squadron.”