Review: Star Wars Rebels “Ghosts of Geonosis”

There was so much going on in tonight’s episode that they broke it into two parts. Thankfully, Disney XD gave us both episodes in one night. “Geonosis” also relates directly to the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in theaters now.

Spoilers Below

The Ghost gang and Rex are being sent to Geonosis to find a Rebel team that was previously sent to the planet but disappeared. That team was sent to find out what the Empire did to the Geonosians. They were also led by Saw Gerrera, who plays a somewhat large role in Rogue One. Unfortunately, there are dust storms on the planet that wreak havok with the Ghost’s sensors. As a result, Hera sends Kanan, Ezra, Rex, and Chopper out to find the missing team.

Outside, the group comes across a deserted temple. As they inspect the temple, Ezra finds a tunnel. Inside the tunnels, they find helmets and blasters but no people. Despite Kanan’s objections, they go deeper into the tunnel, only to be met by battle droids. Oh, and a destroyer droid. It can’t be too easy, right? They are too deep in the tunnels to call Hera so they have to fight the droids. Before the battle begins, Saw blasts the droids from behind. Thinking their mission is complete, the Ghost guys get ready to leave. But Saw refuses to leave. He thinks he has found something important in the tunnels.

Kanan agrees to stay but he has to get a message to Hera about the battle droids. Saw takes them to a shaft that leads back up to the surface, meaning Kanan can finally get a signal to the Ghost.

While all of this is going on inside the planet, Hera sends Zeb and Sabine out to find the power source they picked up earlier. It turns out that there is an operational shield generator humming along, doing its thing. Of course, Hera wants it so Chopper Base can have a shield too. Zeb and Sabine pull out the deflector core as quickly as possible. On their way back to the Ghost, they are attacked by destroyer droids.

Back underground, the group is chasing a Geonosian, that Saw is kinda racistly calling a “bug.” Rex explains that Saw’s sister was killed by Geonosians, not that it makes Saw a better person. The Geonosian, upon seeing them, pushes a button that activates the destroyer droids that are attacking Zeb and Sabine. Luckily, they have a shield generator to help them until Kanan and Ezra can track down the Geonosian and turn off the activator.

In the shaft, the group realizes that they can’t get to the other side because the bridge is destroyed. Kanan Force-throws Ezra across the span and orders Chopper to fly across. Ezra and Chopper take off after the Geonosian as Kanan holds up a bridge with the Force so Rex and Saw can get to the other side. Once everyone is across safely, Kanan Force-jumps over himself.

Eventually, Ezra and Chopper catch up to the Geonosian. The Geonosian drops the activator, which Chopper blasts to bits. Once the activator is destroyed, the droids on the surface shut down, saving Zeb and Sabine.

When the rest of the group catches up, Saw begins interrogating the very scared Geonosian. Kanan convinces Saw to let Ezra try a different tactic. Ezra manages to get the Geonosian’s name but it’s in the alien’s native language so Ezra shortens it to Klik-Klak. Ezra also gets Klik-Klak to draw a picture of what the Empire is working on. But it’s only a smaller circle inside a larger circle. Then Chopper picks up an energy reading farther inside the tunnels.

Topside, Hera detects an incoming Imperial ship. But Kanan is still too deep to receive a signal. So Hera sends Zeb into the temple to transmit a signal deeper into the planet.

The underground crew found Klik-Klak’s home. Saw begins tearing the place apart, swearing that the Geonosian is hiding something. But all Klik-Klak had was a queen egg he wanted to protect. This was probably the last queen of his people. Just then, Hera gets through to Kanan and informs them about the Imperial ship. The group tries to get back to the ship but the only way to make it happen is to have the Ghost descend into the earlier shaft.

Once everyone is back on the Ghost, they start arguing about what to do with Klik-Klak. The Geonosian wants to go further into the planet but Saw wants to take him for questioning. The argument even got to the point where Saw threatened to shoot the queen egg if he didn’t get his way. Before they can reach an agreement, Chopper tells them that the Imperial ship has blocked their way out and Rocket Troopers were flying down to attack them. Kanan, Ezra, Zeb and Saw stand on the top of the Ghost in order to fight the Troopers. Rex takes over the ship’s guns but it was Sabine and her jet pack that really made a difference. She pretty much takes out everyone on her own.

With the Rocket Troopers gone, Hera takes the Ghost farther into the shaft. At the bottom, they find the tanks of poisonous gas the Empire used to wipe out the Geonosians. They load the gas canisters onto the Ghost in order to take them back to Bail Organa to take to the senate as proof of the Empire’s genocide. Seeing what Klik-Klak has experienced, Saw lets him go. The Geonosian escapes into a hidden hole in the ground.

The rest of the group re-boards the Ghost. As they try to escape the shaft, the Imperial ship starts blasting the hole closed. The Rebels use the Ghost’s photon torpedoes to blast through the Imperial ship but lose the gas canisters in the process. Even though they have lost their proof, they still have images that Bail can use against the Empire.

For the first time in a long time, I was absolutely glued to my television during both episodes. From seeing Saw devolve into more of a wild card to seeing Klik-Klak draw a very obvious Death Star on the ground to hoping that the Rebels could help Klik-Klak save his people, there wasn’t a single slow moment in either part. I do wish that we, the audience, could understand Klik-Klak a bit better. There weren’t many moments where Ezra conveyed Klik-Klak’s words to the rest of the group and, as a result, the audience couldn’t really understand what he was talking about. Beyond that, this was an awesome episode that I hope will lead more into the canon of the movie universe.