History Recap / StarWarsRebelsS3E04TheLastBattle

* BerserkButton: Rex gets agitated by Ezra's reckless demeanor regarding the droids, as he lost many comrades to them.

* PutOnABus: After evading the Empire, General Kalani and the few droids that went with him go off to parts unknown, having no interest in further aiding the Rebellion.

* ShellShockedVeteran: We get to see this side of Rex, from him awakening to being held captive by battle droids surrounding him and believing in a brief daze that he's gone back to the days of the Clone Wars and [[FreudianSlip calling out for]] [[PlatonicLifePartners Cody]] when he hears Kanan's voice, to snapping at Ezra for treating the ordeal like a game instead of life and death (which arguably, the rebels treat their situations as a balance between).
** Rex also slips up and calls Kanan "General". Jedi Knights served as generals in the GAR during the Clone Wars.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: As Ezra points out, even though they're enemies, Rex and Kalani are both still trying to fight a war neither side won.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Despite successfully fighting their way to Kalani's command centre, Ezra cuts Rex's gloating short by pointing out that the droids were so old and poorly maintained they malfunctioned. This was demonstrated earlier when a couple of droidekas' shields overheated to the point Rex was able to stun one simply by throwing his helmet at it through its shield.

* NotSoDifferent:
** As Ezra points out, even though they're enemies, Rex and Kalani are both still trying to fight a war neither side won. This also applies to the result of the war: neither side was ''meant'' to win, so why were they fighting?
** The subtext for their ''real'' motivations is the same for both of them: in a way, Rex would rather die fighting the war he was literally born to fight rather than slowly get too old to be useful to anyone and then die in obscurity. If you pay attention, Kalani seems to ''realize'' that his aging and poorly maintained battle droids are also too old to put up much of a fight anymore, and would welcome death at the hand of a Clone Trooper: he's spent nearly two decades facing the serious possibility that he and his droids would rust to pieces forgotten on an abandoned world, and suddenly he has one last chance to at least die fulfilling his programming. Both of them would rather die as the men/droids they were instead of just falling apart over time as useless junk.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Kanan notes that they're in the "usual mess" when they've been captured by Kalani, lampshading that it's the fourth episode in a row where at least one member of the ''Ghost'' crew has been held hostage. Carrying over from ''TCW'', Kalani also notes how common the "[[BigDamnHeroes Jedi Rescue]]" scenario is and that Jedi tend to split up.

* WhatTheHellHero: Rex snaps at Ezra for treating the scenario like a game when Zeb's life is on the line. Ezra later calls out Kalani and Rex for trying to continue the Clone Wars when it's clear that both sides were being played by the greater threat, the Empire.

-->'''Ezra:''' That's right, Zeb. How did you know?\\

* BadassInDistress: Rex, Kanan, Ezra and Zeb are captured by Kalani. Once Kalani lays out his plan to "win" the Clone Wars, Zeb is kept as a hostage for the others to rescue.

** Prequel Trilogy[=/=]Clone Wars-era battle droids against Original Trilogy Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. Unfortunately the droids have seen far better days and are severely lacking in equipment, having only a handful of droidekas as their heavy support with no tanks or artillery. They also lack their characteristic numbers this time around.

** The ''Phantom'' was destroyed in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsStepsIntoShadow "Steps Into Shadow"]]. A Separatist ''Sheathipede''-class transport shuttle is used to replace it, which is christened the ''Phantom II'' in its honour.

** [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars As we]] [[Film/AttackOfTheClones all]] [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith know]], the Clone Army fought against battle droids during the Clone Wars.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Of all the Separatist characters, ''nobody'' expected General Kalani to return, especially because it was believed that his last known appearance was in "The Big Bang" from ''The Clone Wars'', when the ship he was on blew up while Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Grievous fled, despite the super tactical droid in the Crystal Crisis arc only been named as Kalani in the credits. A Tweet by Hidalgo confirmed that this was a crediting error.

* EndingTheme: The credits instead play ''The Clone Wars'' theme rather than the ''Rebels'' theme.

** Prequel Trilogy / Clone Wars-era battle droids against Original Trilogy Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. Unfortunately the droids have seen far better days and are severely lacking in equipment, having only a handful of droidekas as their heavy support with no tanks or artillery. They also lack their characteristic numbers this time around.

* DeathSeeker: Easy to miss, but Kalani has accepted the possibility of defeat and acknowledges his meager, short-circuiting army, and doesn't even flinch much when Rex fires his blaster, thus implying he was only stretching out a war game just to live out his programming on his own terms - he'd truly rather die fighting a Clone Trooper than rust away forgotten on an abandoned planet.

* DramaticIrony: Ezra poses the ArmorPiercingQuestion about why the Clone Wars ended and who won, Zeb replies that the Empire won. That's only half the story, and the audience knows that the whole thing was a grander design by the Sith.

* ForcedPrizeFight: Kalani takes the Rebels hostage then demands they play out one of his tactical scenarios so he can win the Clone Wars. Zeb is kept as a hostage since his species didn't participate.

* ProperlyParanoid: Kalani accurately surmised that the shut-down order sent from Mustafar at the end of the Clone Wars was a Republic trick, so he ignored it and didn't relay it to the rest of his droid garrison (see "Gone Horribly Right").

** In the ''Rebels Recon'' featurette, Gilroy says that he ''strongly'' thinks that Kalani will later join the Rebel Alliance after the destruction of the first Death Star - like many people across the galaxy, this first great victory by the rebels will convince him that they stand a plausible chance of winning.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Justified. After nearly 20 years of disrepair, the droids' targeting systems are degraded. Kalani admits this and instead has Kanan and Ezra [[AttackReflector deflect their shots]] into the proton bombs.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Kalani states the Rebels have a less than 1% chance of overthrowing the Empire. This is the first indication that the Rebels' upcoming assault on the Empire is going to fail terribly.

--> '''Rex:''' Generation 1 armour always holds up.

--> '''Ezra:''' I never really thought about it, I never really asked. I know the Jedi were wiped out, the clones were decommissioned, and the droid army was just shut down. The Clone War ended, but ''why''? If none of ''you'' won, who did?\\

** Kallus once again complements his superior, Pryce, and is also shut down, like with Vader back in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsTheSiegeOfLothal "The Siege of Lothal"]].

* CreativeClosingCredits: The ending shows the ''Star Wars Rebels'' logo in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' style and blends the themes.

* FullyAbsorbedFinale: To ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. Rex even lampshades this by declaring Ezra the man who ended the Clone Wars for good.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Super tactical droids were designed to be highly logical and competent tacticians, able to predict enemy actions and plan accordingly. When the shutdown command was triggered, Kalani assumed it to be a Republic trick and disregarded it, as that was the most logical explanation for why someone would trigger it at that point in the war - and he was dead right.
* {{Homage}}: The entire episode is a love letter to ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', symbolically allowing the two armies to end the war the right way by finding the middle ground and recognizing the common threat, and ending with a TCW style logo and theme.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Justified. After nearly 20 years of disrepair the droids' targeting systems are degraded. Kalani admits this and instead has Kanan and Ezra [[AttackReflector deflect their shots]] into the proton bombs.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Kanan notes that they're in the "usual mess" when they've been captured by Kalani, lampshading that it's the fourth episode in a row where at least one member of the ''Ghost'' crew has been held hostage. Carrying over from TCW, Kalani also notes how common the "[[BigDamnHeroes Jedi Rescue]]" scenario is and that Jedi tend to split up.

--> '''Ezra:''' I make a pretty good soldier, huh?\\

* WhosOnFirst: Ezra mishears the B1 battle droid catchphrase "Roger Roger" as them reporting to someone named Roger (as in "Roger, Roger.")

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Prequel Trilogy / Clone Wars-era battle droids against Original Trilogy Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. Unfortunately the droids have seen far better days and are severely lacking in equipment, having only a handful of droidekas as their heavy support with no tanks or artillery. They also lack their characteristic numbers this time around.
** The main cast of the Rebels even got a souvenir in the form of an old Separatist shuttle to replace the shuttle they lost. Ensuring that this trope comes into effect in every episode they use it in.

* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: Zeb finishes off Ezra's ArmourPiercingQuestion by saying "the Empire," not because he was answering it, but because they're currently landing on the planet.

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted. Even after 17+ years of decay, droids are still more accurate shots than Stormtroopers and Rex takes a few shots that are absorbed by his armor.
--> '''Rex''': Generation 1 armor always holds up.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: As the only one not around to experience the Clone Wars first-hand Ezra is the one who spots the major elephant in the room:

* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: Zeb finishes off Ezra's ArmorPiercingQuestion by saying "the Empire," not because he was answering it, but because they're currently landing on the planet.

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Prequel Trilogy / Clone Wars era Battle Droids against Original Trilogy Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. Unfortunately the Droids have seen far better days and are severely lacking in equipment, having only a handful of Droidekas as their heavy support with no tanks or artillery. They also lack their characteristic numbers this time around.

** The ''Phantom'' was destroyed in "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsStepsIntoShadow Steps Into Shadow]]". A Separatist ''Sheathipede''-class transport shuttle is used to replace it, which is christened the ''Phantom'' in its honor.

** Rex mentions there were a few "exceptions" of clones that manage to live outside of the structure and occupation of their programming as soldiers. He's possibly referring to Cut Lawquane in "The Deserter."

** The squad that fires at Kanan and Ezra so that they can reflect it at the proton bombs is called D-Squad, the same name of Colonel Gascon's squad of astromechs in one of the arcs of ''The Clone Wars''.
** Kallus once again complements his superior, Pryce, and is also shut down, like with Vader back in "The Siege of Lothal".

* DentedIron: In a literal sense with the droids, who are suffering from more than a decade of neglect. Rex acknowledges that he's not doing much better in his old age.

* FailsafeFailure: A command designed to shutdown droids fails because the droids can evidently choose to ignore it. Either that or high enough ranking droids can choose whether or not to implement it on their troops, and Kalani was the only one who suspected anything was wrong.

--> '''Kalani''': I would never have tried such a desperate strategy.\\
'''Rex''': That's why ''we'' always won.\\
'''[[TheComicallySerious Kalani]]''': ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint Not]]'' [[StrawVulcan always]].

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Justified. After nearly 20 years of disrepair the droids' targeting systems are degraded. Kalani admits this and instead Kanan and Ezra [[AttackReflector deflect their shots]] into the proton bombs.
* {{Irony}}: The B1-battledroids make their first appearance in this episode capturing and incapacitating the group of rebels, despite their ButtMonkey status during the Clone Wars and being age-worn. Lampshaded by the droids themselves.
--> Battledroid 1: We haven't captured anyone in years!
--> Battledroid 2: We haven't captured anyone ever.

** As Ezra points out, even though they're enemies, Rex and Kalani are both still trying to fight a war neither side won. This also applies to the result of the war: neither side were ''meant'' to win, so why were they fighting?

* WhamLine: In the middle of the Final Battle scenario, Ezra tries to joke to defuse the tension and Rex snaps at him, showing that while his [[ManchurianAgent chip]] is gone his [[{{Tykebomb}} programming]] is getting the better of him.
--> '''Ezra''': I make a pretty good soldier, huh?\\
'''Rex''': No. [[TriggerPhrase A good soldier follows]] ''[[TriggerPhrase orders]]''!