Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “Warhead.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.
When Zeb Orrelios was introduced in Star Wars Rebels, it was as a Lasat with a particular fondness for bashing stormtrooper helmets with his fists. He was the brute force of the Ghost crew. However, over time, we’ve had the opportunity to get to know him. Not surprisingly, he has more to him than physical strength and enthusiasm for the word karabast. He’s had the spotlight in some of the best episodes of Rebels, and he was the focus once again in “Warhead.”
Zeb has been made Chief of Security at Chopper Base, and I have to say, Captain Orrelios has a nice ring to it. We learned about his fancy schmancy title when Hera and the team left him behind to keep an eye on the base along with Chopper and AP-5. Yes, we finally got more than a passing glimpse or mention of AP-5. I’ve missed the sassy droid; we haven’t seen much of him since his introduction in “The Forgotten Droid.”
But Zeb! What did he do in one of the first tasks we’ve seen him handle as Chief of Security? He found a mysterious droid on the base, their secret base, mind you, and instead of locking it up or otherwise keeping it tucked away, he let it loose to work with AP-5. Sure, the droid looked harmless—the design matches Ralph McQuarrie’s early concept art for C-3PO—but when handling security for a top-secret base, maybe don’t go by looks. Bad Zeb.
He quickly realized his mistake once Kallus, a.k.a. Fulcrum, contacted Chopper Base with a warning about the infiltration droid. Oops. The discovery led to some hilarious back and forth between Zeb and AP-5. The latter made no secret about how unimpressed he was with Zeb’s seeming lack of intellect. I’ve missed AP-5’s straightforward attitude. He was blunt and sassy before K-2SO. I mean, Chopper’s the OG grumpy droid, but AP-5’s a close second.
Once Zeb understood what they were up against, he surprised me yet again. You’d think I’d learn not to underestimate him by now. He came up with a plan to ensure the droid would get back to the Empire and prevent a search party and that the droid would blow up before transmitting information about the location of the base on Atollon. Even AP-5 was impressed with Zeb’s idea—and he’s not an easy droid to impress.
The plan was successful but had the unfortunate side effect of still playing into Thrawn’s hands. One of the Grand Admiral’s strengths is how he comes up with scenarios that win even when they lose. He would excel at Clue. The infiltration droid wasn’t able to divulge the location, but based on the sector where the droid was sent, Thrawn was able to narrow the search for the base down to just 94 planets. The number isn’t so high, especially when you consider the resources the Empire commands. Did you see how pleased Thrawn looked? His creepy smile means bad news for the Rebels.
And hey Kallus: please more be careful, okay?
Were you excited to see the return of AP-5? Tell me your thoughts about “Warhead” in the comments.
Images: Disney XD
