3x09 An Inside Man

6.5/10. I know I was just complimenting Thrawn a few episode ago for how he was far more competent than the average bumbling henchman or sub-boss on the show, but making him preternaturally able to predict what the Rebels are doing swings the pendulum too far in the other direction. While I like the idea that he's inspecting an Empire factory for correctly suspecting that the workers are intentionally sabotaging Empire weapons and vehicles, and the idea of him making the workers test them, his whole ability to just deduct whatever Kanan and Ezra are doing feels like too much.

I do like the reveal that Kallus is the new fulcrum. His escapade with Zeb was a highlight of last season, and I like that it's resulted in a slow but meaningful change of heart. That, plus Ezra and Kanan's mistrust and jocular attitude about it led to some fun and cool moments among the three of them.

Otherwise, this felt like a pretty generic Rebels episode. Going back to Lothal had some juice, including the way the familiar faces from the planet were used and the look at its budding resistance, but there was a lot of static action that we've seen plenty of times before, without ever truly feeling like there was much of threat, despite Thrawn's seemingly psychic ability to know what's happening. If anything, the episode seems better as a setup for more interesting things down the road: a new Empire ship, another Rebel cell, and tension between Thrawn and Kallus. But as an episode all by itself, it's an underwhelming entry.