Star Wars Rebels Recap: “An Inside Man”

When they infiltrate an Imperial factory on Lothal, Kanan and Ezra are blindsided by Grand Admiral Thrawn and must accept help from an inside man. Read out Star Wars Rebels recap to learn more.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one step closer to taking down the rebels after last night’s episode of Star Wars Rebels.

In Star Wars Rebels season 3, episode 9, “An Inside Man,” Kanan and Ezra infiltrate an Imperial weapons factory on Lothal. When Grand Admiral Thrawn shows up to investigate a sabotage plot, the rebels must accept help from the elusive Fulcrum to escape.

The episode opens on Lothal, where Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper await the leader of the small insurgency there. While they wait, Kanan and Ezra gaze upon Lothal’s vast Imperial installation and wonder what the Empire is up to.

Soon, however, Lothal’s rebel leader, Ryder Azadi, appears. His landspeeder is being pursued by Imperial forces.  Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper jump onto his speeder and the Jedi use their lightsabers to carve out an escape route. Azadi pilots them onto the highway; two Imperial scout bikes still ride his tail. Azadi tells Kanan and Ezra that they just have to reach a certain high speed and everything will be fine.

The landspeeder and the scout bikes pursuing it reach maximum speed. Suddenly the scout bikes overheat. One of them explodes, killing its scout trooper in the conflagration. The other scout trooper is so startled he loses control of his own bike and falls behind the rebels.

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Azadi tells Kanan and Ezra he has an inside man in the Imperial weapons factory on Lothal. This man sabotages the speeder bikes to explode when they reach a certain speed. Azadi takes the Ghost rebels to his camp, and Ezra discovers the inside man is an old friend. Morad Sumar, a farmer who Ezra and Zeb once rescued from Imperial arrest, was press-ganged into working at the factory.

Kanan and Ezra tell Azadi and Sumar that Phoenix Squadron wants to attack the weapons factory. The problem is, they have to convince other rebel cells to help them. The rebels’ contact, Fulcrum, says the Empire is building a new weapon in the factory. Kanan thinks if they knew what it was, the other cells might agree to attack “sooner than later.” Sumar agrees to smuggle Kanan and Ezra into the factory as workers so they can find out what the weapon is.

Inside the factory, Kanan, Ezra, and Sumar line up with the rest of the factory workers for an inspection. Governor Pryce and Agent Kallus are there, along with a special guest: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is not there to check on Pryce’s progress, however. He is conducting an investigation into the sabotaged speeder bikes. He found out that Sumar was the last worker to inspect a speeder bike which is now equipped with testing apparatus. Thrawn orders Sumar to demonstrate how the bike works at full speed. Sumar reluctantly obliges.

As soon as the speeder bike starts to heat up, he calls out that something is wrong and that he has to shut it down. But Thrawn, who can control the bike’s speed from his datapad, sends the bike back up to full speed with Sumar still on it. As Ezra watches in horror, the bike explodes. Sumar’s helmet, charred and mangled, clatters to the floor.

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Thrawn orders that no one leave or enter the factory. All the conscripted workers are to be checked for identity verification. Furthermore, anyone who tries to enter section A2 is to be shot on sight.

Kanan and Ezra line up to have their identifications checked. They don’t have any, however, so Ezra tells Chopper to make a distraction so he and Kanan can escape the line. Chopper activates another sabotaged speeder bike nearby to reach maximum speed and it explodes. The rebels flee the area. They decide to go to section A2, which they assume houses the new weapon. Along the way, they knock out two stormtroopers and change disguises.

Kanan and Ezra reach section A2 to find it guarded by stormtroopers. As they watch, an Imperial astromech droid gains passage into the section through an access card. Kanan commandeers an access card from a passing astromech and gives it to Chopper. Chopper, whose body is painted black and red to blend into the Imperial color scheme, uses the card to enter section A2. There, he plugs into a data port and starts downloading information about the Empire’s new weapon.

In a room set up to act as Thrawn’s office, Agent Kallus and a lieutenant report two workers missing from the assembly to the grand admiral. Thrawn suspects they are full-fledged rebels and that they wish to infiltrate section A2. He orders the area be stocked with reinforcements.

Back in section A2, Chopper finally emerges from the restricted area. By that time, however, the reinforcements Thrawn sent have arrived. Kanan and Ezra try to pass themselves off as troopers who have been guarding the wrong section by accident. But the stormtroopers, for once, aren’t fooled. Kanan and Ezra flee. As they run past a turbolift Agent Kallus calls them from inside. He orders the still-disguised rebels to join him in the lift for an assignment. As Kanan and Ezra’s pursuers round the corner, the lift door closes, sealing them inside with Agent Kallus.

After a few seconds pass, Kallus calls Kanan and Ezra out as rebels. The two Jedi start to attack him, but Kallus tells them he is Fulcrum. They don’t believe him until he speaks Fulcrum’s passcode. Kanan and Ezra are flabbergasted, but they have no choice at this point but to trust Kallus.

Kallus takes Kanan and Ezra to a room where they can contact Azadi for backup. Azadi tells Kanan help is already on the way; he and his rebels are about to attack the east gate, and that’s where the Jedi will make their escape. Kallus suggests Kanan and Ezra take an AT-PT to the gate so they will (hopefully) blend in with the Imperial forces defending against Azadi. Before they leave, Ezra Force pushes Kallus against the wall to make it look like he was an innocent victim.

Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper pile into an AT-PT and head for the east gate. Outside, they find two Imperial walkers forming the defense. They are questioned by one of the walker pilots, as they are not supposed to be there. Then Thrawn contacts the walker pilots, tells them the AT-PT is under the control of rebels and orders them to destroy it.

“Your strategy is without flaw, Grand Admiral. As always.” – Agent Kallus

In response to their orders, the walker pilots turn their vehicles’ noses toward the AT-PT. Ezra pilots the AT-PT behind one of the walkers, hoping to use the latter as a shield. His plan backfires, however, when the pilots in the walker in front of him decide to lower their walker to crush the AT-PT beneath its hulking body. Kanan and Ezra cut holes in the ceiling of the AT-PT and climb up into the walker just before the AT-PT is completely obliterated.

Azadi, looking on from a distance, thinks Kanan and Ezra were killed in the AT-PT’s destruction. Proceeding with the attack, one of his rebels fires a rocket at the leg of the walker which Kanan and Ezra are now in, disabling it. Still, the Ghost rebels manage to fire at the other walker and disable it, as well, before their own walker falls. They climb out and Azadi delights in seeing them alive. All the rebels escape, the plans for the Empire’s new weapon stashed safely in Chopper’s databank.

Back on Adalon, where Phoenix Squadron’s base is located, the rebels inspect the information Chopper pulled from section A2. They find out the Empire created plans for a new TIE fighter called a Defender. Unlike previous TIE fighter models, this one is equipped with shields. The rebels realize their own fighters don’t have the technology or firepower to engage with the Defender. It is now more crucial than ever that they destroy the factory on Lothal before the Empire can manufacture a whole fleet of Defenders and annihilate the rebels’ fighters.

Meanwhile, back on Lothal, Agent Kallus and Governor Pryce meet with Thrawn in his office. Thrawn analyzes the rebels’ activities and escape from the factory and realizes there is a traitor within the Imperial ranks. He does not implicate Agent Kallus directly. However, he says that once they find the traitor, they will turn him from an obstacle into an asset. Kallus’s only reply is, “Your strategy is without flaw, Grand Admiral. As always.”

What did you think of “An Inside Man?” Tell us in the comments below, and keep checking Dork Side for more Star Wars Rebels clips and recaps.