Agent Kallus, the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) Agent who has become the latest incarnation of the rebel informant known as Fulcrum, might be in a bit of trouble after this week’s episode of Star Wars Rebels, “Through Imperial Eyes.” Why? Because Grand Admiral Thrawn finally deduced Fulcrum’s true identity, though only he and Star Wars: The Clone Wars veteran Wullf Yularen are aware of this discovery. Thrawn’s ability to recognize Kallus’s attempts to throw suspicion off of himself demonstrates how formidable an opponent Thrawn is from an intellectual standpoint, but we also get a few moments of Thrawn fighting in this episode, showing that Thrawn’s brain is matched only by his brawn (Did I mean for that to rhyme? No, but I’m glad it did …). Of course, the episode leading up to this revelation is a rather enjoyable one, particularly since it involved a lot of sneaking around and near-misses that kept me wondering what was going to happen next.
Ezra Bridger lets Imperial forces capture him in order to warn Kallus that his last transmission as Fulcrum may have been intercepted, and that the Phoenix rebel cell has sent Bridger as part of a team to rescue Kallus and bring him to the rebellion before he is caught. At the exact same time, Grand Admiral Thrawn summons Kallus and several other high-ranking Imperial officers to inform them of his search for Fulcrum. From that moment onward, Kallus starts working to implicate another officer, Lieutenant Lyste, as the true Rebel spy. All the while, Kallus, Ezra, and the droids AP-5 and Chopper must work to avoid Thrawn and ensure that Kanan and Rex will have the proper clearance to land a stolen Imperial shuttle to extract the team. And with *all of this* going on, Thrawn still seems to be one step ahead of the rebels, as he comes ever closer to his goal of destroying this rebel cell once and for all.
As I said before, the main draw of this episode is the stealth that the rebels’ mission requires and how they carry out their plan to escape, throw suspicion off of Kallus, throw Thrawn of the scent of the rebels’ hidden base, all while making sure they’re all set to leave when the cavalry arrives. More than that, seeing some of the day-to-day activities of the agents of the Empire, spending the entire episode aboard Imperial ships, and watching as different Imperial officers show off their skills, shows viewers the well-oiled machine that the Empire really is.
I also appreciated the fact that while this episode seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Kallus’s ultimate defection from the Empire to the rebellion, it ended with him being able to keep his secret *seemingly* safe and continuing to serve the rebellion behind the scenes. As much as some fans may want to see Kallus break from the Empire altogether and join the rebellion, episodes like this make that possibility less and less likely; if Thrawn knows Kallus’s secret and intends to use Fulcrum against the rebels, one can only imagine how much longer Kallus can survive as a double agent, or just survive at all.
“Through Imperial Eyes” was an excellent look into the behind-the-scenes workings of the Empire, and really starts to spell out what role Agent Kallus will play in the series movie forward, whether that role will be played as an ISB agent, as the rebel informant “Fulcrum,” or as something else entirely. We also get to see Thrawn once again show his intellectual threat as well as his physical prowess against opponents. Thrawn is drawing ever closer to Fulcrum and the rebel cell Fulcrum supports, and, to me, it’s no longer a question of “if” Thrawn will find the rebel’s base; it’s “when,” and that has me excited to keep watching Star Wars Rebels.
The Sack Score: 8/10