History Recap / StarWarsRebelsS4E04FlightOfTheDefender

* GutturalGrowler: Loth-wolves in the most literal sense. They can speak only a single word at a time in Basic and it takes effort, presumably because their vocal cords are so different, so they communicate primarily through growls, the loth-cat, body language, and through telepathy via The Force with others so attuned.

* VillainRespect: Thrawn says that Hera isn't the pilot of the Elite TIE Defender because she'd have shot down the TIE Interceptors much faster than Ezra does.

* CallForward:
** While Ezra and Sabine argue as to how to distract the stormtroopers guarding the TIE Defender, the loth-cats head out on their own and provide such a distraction; much like how in Film/ReturnOfTheJedi an Ewok draws away most of the guards while Leia and Han argue how to take them out.

* NervesOfSteel: When Sabine uses the Elite TIE Defender to trash Thrawn's shuttle, Thrawn calmly stands in the line of fire, taking potshots with his blaster, while Pryce and Skerris dive for cover. Surprisingly, [[RealityIsUnrealistic this actually happened]] to the American general George Patton and he did exactly the same thing.

** As the stolen Elite TIE Defender is running amok on the outpost, ''Thrawn stands defiantly shooting it with his service blaster'' like a [[Film/{{Patton}} certain American general]].

* NervesOfSteel: When Sabine uses the Elite TIE Defender to trash Thrawn's shuttle, Thrawn calmly stands in the line of fire, taking potshots with his blaster, while Pryce and Skerris dive for cover.

* SherlockScan: After the Elite TIE Defender is stolen, Thrawn observes as it dogfights the TIE Interceptors. He knows Ezra is aboard with someone else, and deduces it's not Hera since she'd have shot down the Interceptors much faster. When the tracking beacon is quickly disabled, he realizes that Sabine must be the other occupant, making Ezra the pilot since she would be otherwise occupied.

* GutturalGrowler: Loth-wolves in the most literal sense. They can speak only a single word at a time in Basic and it takes effort, presumably because their vocal cords are so different, so they communicate primarily through growls, the loth-cat, and body language.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Hera mentions a new refueling depot and improved anti-aircraft guns in the capital city during their recon mission. Both will play a role in the episodes [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E07RebelAssault Rebel Assault]] and [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E08JediNight Jedi Night]] later in the season.

* GrandTheftPrototype: Sabine inflitrates the Elite TIE Defender to steal its flight data recorder, but when she notices it has a navi-computer and thus a hyperdrive, she jacks the whole thing as an escape vehicle. It doesn't quite pan out since the Defender has a kill-switch, but they're able to salvage the hyperdrive for Ryder's U-Wing.

* CasualDangerDialog: As Ezra is dodging fire from the Stormtroopers, he ends up landing right in front of Thrawn, Pryce, and Skerris. Ezra jokingly waves hello to them, which earns him a confused look from Skerris, an accusatory glare from Pryce, and FantasticallyIndifferent reaction from Thrawn.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: The Stormtroopers guarding the Elite [=TIE=] Defender are a special breed of stupid, even among Stormtroopers. Getting distracted to chase loth-cats is one thing, but a later shot shows they chased them ''all the way off the base and into the hills''.

* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: When Ezra and Sabine steal the TIE Defender Elite, Thrawn decides to send a flight of Interceptors after it instead of activating it's kill switch remotely, treating it as an impromptu live-fire exercise.

* Foreshadowing: Hera mentions a new refueling depot and improved anti-aircraft guns in the capital city during their recon mission. Both will play a role in the episodes [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E07RebelAssault Rebel Assault]] and [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E08JediNight Jedi Night]] later in the season.

* KickTheDog: One of the Stormtroopers shoots a lothcat out of pure pettiness even though the said lothcat was friendly toward him.

!!Tropes in this episode include:

* WhamLine: When Ezra asks the loth-wolf why he's helping them, the loth-wolf growls out a single word:
--> '''Loth-wolf''': [[IKnowYourTrueName Dume.]]
* WhamShot: The camera panning up to the white loth-wolf's head... and [[TheBusCameBack the mysterious white loth-cat]] makes itself known.

* NervesOfSteel: When Sabine uses the Elite TIE Defender to trash Thrawn's shuttle, Thrawn calmly stands in the line of fore, taking potshots with his blaster, while Pryce and Skerris dive for cover.

* SkewedPriorities: Ezra is so in awe of the lothwolf that he forgets where he is, resulting in him being discovered.

* WhamLine:
** When Ezra asks the loth-wolf why he's helping them, the loth-wolf growls out a single word:

** [[AmbiguousSyntax Alternately, that line could be interpreted as "Doom."]] [[YourDaysAreNumbered Which would present a different kind of shocking line altogether.]]

** The Defender is shot down by the interceptor pilots. In this case, Thrawn acquires combat data and eliminates the rebels.
** The Defender destroys or evades its pursuers. In either case, the killswitch is activated, crashing the prototype. Thrawn learns the identity of the second occupant in the former case, and judges the Defender's capabilities against those of the TIE Interceptor.