50 Most Memorable Moments from Star Wars Rebels

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12. Kallus and Zeb stranded on a Geonisian moon

Episode: Season 2 Episode 17: The Honorable Ones

The Moment: Through a series of strange events, the rebel Zeb and the Imperial agent Kallus both crash-land on one of the moons of Geonosis. On this cold and treacherous moon, the two foes must work together in order to survive. The two learn to trust one another and both are rescued by their respective parties. Concluding the episode, Zeb is welcomed back with joy and laughter by his friends, while it’s barely even noticed by the co-workers of Kallus that he was even gone in the first place.

Why It’s Memorable: The moment of Kallus and Zeb being stranded together in an isolated location was a brilliant plot designed by Dave Filoni and his team. You have to understand their history to understand the level and magnitude of this pairing. Agent Kallus was involved in the massacre of Zeb’s people and even killed one of his friends, taking his bo staff. Kallus understands, like Zeb knows from his upbringing, that when a Lasat is defeated in combat, their bo-staff is given, out of respect of being bested, to the better soldier.

In a tear-jerking moment, I’m not afraid to admit that it was me who choked up, Kallus reveals that the friend he killed died with honor. Zeb and Kallus gain a huge amount of respect for one another, maybe even a friendship blossoms at this point. This is definitely the point where the seed is planted in Kallus of defecting from the Empire, which he later ends up doing.

This is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series and I feel it is often overlooked. Rebels once again deliver on character depth and growth, as well as not wasting a single episode. Everything has a purpose and is connected.