Empire Day (episode)

"Empire Day" is the eighth episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. It is the eighth episode of the series overall.

The episode was written by Henry Gilroy and directed by Steven G. Lee. The episode was released on demand on WatchDisneyXD.com on November 10, 2014 and premiered on Disney XD on November 17.

In the episode, the Galactic Empire celebrates Empire Day for the fifteenth anniversary of the Emperor's rise to power. The rebels take advantage of this day and destroy an experimental new TIE fighter, leading the Imperials to hunt for them once again. While on the run, they discover a Rodian technician named Tseebo who knows vital information about the Empire&mdash;and the fate of Ezra Bridger's parents.

Official description
Ezra struggles with unanswered questions from the past on Empire Day -- his birthday -- while the Ghost crew uncovers key Imperial intel.

Plot summary
On Empire Day, the anniversary of the rise of the Galactic Empire, the crew of the Ghost plots an attack against the festivities. During a parade honoring the Empire on Lothal, the Empire unveils an experimental new TIE fighter, which the rebels destroy. This leads Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau, as well as the Jedi hunter known as the Grand Inquisitor, on a chase throughout the city to find the rebels.

The rebels hide out in what was once Ezra Bridger's childhood home. Once there, they find a Rodian named Tseebo, an old friend of the Bridgers who the Empire has been searching Lothal for, and learn that the head implant he received from the Empire has downloaded vital Imperial secrets. Knowing that the information in his head could help destroy the Empire, the rebels flee with Tseebo and are pursued by the Inquisitor, who leads a squadron of TIE fighters against the Ghost. Aboard the ghost, Tseebo tells Bridger that he knows what happened to the boy's parents.