Idiot's Array (episode)

"...you're quite the smooth-talking smuggler." "Smuggler? Such a small word. I'm more of a...galactic entrepreneur."

- Hera Syndulla and Lando Calrissian

"Idiot's Array" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. It is the eleventh episode of the series overall.

The episode, which features Billy Dee Williams reprising his original trilogy role of Lando Calrissian, was released on WatchDisneyXD.com and the WatchDisneyXD app on January 12, 2015, and premiered on Disney XD on January 19.

The episode centers around the crew of the Ghost working for Lando Calrissian, after Garazeb Orrelios loses a sabacc bet to the smuggler and gambler. Calrissian uses the crew to his own ends in order to begin a mining operation on Lothal, while at the same time evading a crime lord called Azmorigan.

Official description
After Zeb bets -- and loses -- Chopper in a game of sabacc, the Ghost crew find themselves caught in the middle of a smooth-talking smuggler's scheme.

Working for Calrissian
With the crew of the Ghost short on cash, Garazeb Orrelios participated in a Sabacc card game at Old Jho's Pit Stop, playing against the Rodian Tsoklo and a "galactic entrepreneur" named Lando Calrissian. Believing that he had a winning hand, Zeb decided to bet on the ship's astromech droid Chopper despite some misgivings from Kanan Jarrus. Calrissian, however, presented an Idiot's Array hand, and won the pot. When Zeb returned to the Ghost without Chopper, Sabine Wren, who was repairing a speeder bike, was quick to question the droid's whereabouts, only to see Chopper and Calrissian enter the ship behind the Lasat.

As it turned out, Calrissian had a job for the crew of the Ghost, and agreed to pay them and return Chopper if they agreed to work for him. Although Syndulla was furious over the arrangement, she nonetheless agreed to the offer. Their job was to smuggle cargo past the Imperial blockade and then rendezvous with the crime lord Azmorigan in order to conduct a trade for mining equipment. On the way to Azmorigan's ship, Calrissian acquainted himself with the crew including his "newly-acquired" droid Chopper. Due to his new ownership, Chopper refused Kanan's orders to fix the Ghost signature modulator; something which Hera backed the droid up on. Pretending to ingratiate himself with Calrissian, Chopper took Calrissian on a tour of the ship and even served his new master a hot drink.

Watching Calrissian's apparently cozy relationship with Chopper, Ezra Bridger joked about Zeb betting on him. Zeb then warned Ezra that he did not trust the "smooth-talking galactic entrepreneur." While aboard the Ghost, Calrissian also took the opportunity to flirt with Wren. Upon spotting some of Wren's art painted inside the ship, Calrissian briefly discussed it with Wren, and mentioned his familiarity with the artist Janyor of Bith, who happened to be one of Wren's favorite artists. Wren, happy that her art was both appreciated and understood for a change&mdash;as Bridger had claimed that while he appreciated her art, he didn't understand it&mdash;offered to show Calrissian more of her art.

Swindling Azmorigan
Shortly later, the Ghost arrived at Azmorigan's freighter, Merchant One. Calrissian, Syndulla, and Jarrus went aboard, while the remainder of the crew stayed on the Ghost. As they entered Merchant One, Calrissian subtly warned Hera to play along with his plan and told her that Azmorigan's ship had several escape pods. Upon reaching Azmorigan's reception room, Azmorigan handed Calrissian his equipment, but demanded to know what the smuggler had to trade. Calrissian then offered Syndulla as a slave while quietly inferring that the act was part of a plan to swindle Azmorigan. After some consideration, Azmorigan reluctantly accepted the offer and allowed Calrissian and Kanan to depart with a crate.

Returning to the Ghost, both Sabine and Kanan questioned the whereabouts of Hera. Calrissian assured the Lothal rebels that Syndulla was following a plan and that she would return shortly. Once the Ghost had undocked from Merchant One, Calrissian carried the crate to the Ghost cargo hold and gave Ezra and Kanan explicit instructions not to open it.

Meanwhile, back on Azmorigan's freighter, Hera knocked out Azmorigan and one of his men with a tray. She then escaped Merchant One via an escape pod and returned to the Ghost. The Ghost managed to elude Merchant One by fleeing into hyperspace. Upon arriving back on the Ghost, Hera kneed Calrissian in the groin for "selling" her to Azmorigan. Calrissian responded by admitting that he "deserved" it due to his dubious treatment of Hera. When Hera asked him what was inside the crate, Calrissian offered to show them and led the way to the cargo hold.

The puffer pig and Imperial entanglements
In the Ghost cargo hold, Ezra and Zeb were curious about Calrissian's "mining equipment" and decided to inspect the crate. Against Calrissian's instructions, the two opened the hatch only to find a living puffer pig, a creature that could sniff out various kinds of minerals. Startled, the puffer pig ran out of the container and ran throughout the Ghost narrow passageways. After some trouble, the rebels and Calrissian managed to corner the creature in the narrow corridor leading to the ship's cockpit. During the pursuit, Zeb frightened the puffer pig; causing the creature to inflate. As a result, Hera was unable to get access to the cockpit while Kanan, Zeb, and Bridger were trapped on the cockpit side.

Shortly later, the Ghost exited hyperspace above Lothal. The planet was orbited by several Imperial Star Destroyers including Admiral Kassius Konstantine's ship Relentless. When Hera questioned Calrissian why the Imperials were interested in their cargo, the entrepreneur explained that he had tried to smuggle some illegal mining equipment to Lothal earlier. Calrissian then reiterated that he had picked the Ghost because the ship had a signature modulator. As Chopper's new owner, Calrissian then encouraged the droid to fix the modulator and be a "hero."

As the Ghost passed the Relentless, an Imperial scanning technician recognized the Corellian freighter as the wanted rebel ship Ghost. However, at that moment, Chopper activated the modulator; causing Admiral Konstantine to mistake the ship for the Tontine; a legitimate vessel authorized to travel between Boz Pity and Lothal. As the Ghost approached Lothal, Calrissian began to flirt with Wren again by offering to purchase her hear, which irritated Ezra. In attempt to deliver a piece of his mind to the smuggler, Bridger tried to climb over the pig, which irked the animal and caused it to swell further. This sudden expansion caught Orrelios off balance and sent him crashing into the control panel, disabling the ship's modulator.

With their cover blown, Konstantine recognized the rebel ship as the Ghost and dispatched four TIE fighters after them. Piloting the Ghost, Kanan and Zeb flew the Ghost towards Lothal. When Zeb remarked that Hera usually fired back, Kanan replied that he was not Hera and that he already had enough trouble keeping ahead of the TIEs. Meanwhile, Sabine used one of the Ghost rear cannons to fire back at the pursuing TIEs. Descending into Lothal's atmosphere, Kanan and Zeb managed to lose most of the TIEs in the planet's thick clouds. They also used the ship's frontal cannons to destroy one of the TIEs.

Trouble with Azmorigan
After escaping the Imperials, Kanan then flew towards Calrissian's farm on Lothal. He then told Hera that he now understood how hard her job as a pilot sometimes was. As the Ghost approached Calrissian's farm, Hera took the opportunity to reassert her authority. She chastised Calrissian for trying to "divide and conquer" her crew. She also reiterated that what he wanted depended on her crew working together in sync. Upon landing at Calrissian's farm, Lando told Hera that he had bought the puffer pig because it could do the job of a hundred scanners. Hera then concluded that the Empire did not want any private miners on Lothal like Calrissian.

As they approached Calrissian's hut, they were greeted by Azmorigan and his henchmen, whom had figured out that Calrissian would head off to the land that the Devaronian crime lord Cikatro Vizago had originally sold to the smuggler. Azmorigan stressed that he was the one who had introduced Calrissian to Vizago. When Calrissian poked fun at Azmorigan's lifestyle and weight, the crime lord responded that he was willing to go through anything to reclaim his property. Hera then asked the crime lord to state his terms. Azmorigan then demanded the return of his puffer pig and Syndulla, the Ghost and her crew as compensation for his "sore feet", and the death of Calrissian.

When Hera asked him to reconsider, Azmorigan lost his patience and ordered his men to open fire on the rebels. During the ensuing gun battle, Wren shot one of the henchmen. Under Hera's orders, Zeb scared the puffer pig again; causing it to inflate and to bounce into two of Azmorigan's men. Another henchman was shot by Calrissian. Amidst the gun battle, Chopper took the opportunity to steal several of Calrissian's fuel canisters. Kanan and Ezra also joined the gun battle but took care to hide their Jedi identities. During the fighting, Ezra used his lightsaber-blaster to shoot one of Azmorigan's henchmen. Within minutes, Sabine ascended to the roof of the compound's house and held the two remaining henchmen at gunpoint.

However the rebels' gains were offset when Azmorigan snuck up behind Orrelios and took the Lasat hostage. Azmorigan threatened to kill Orrelios if they did not surrender Calrissian to him. Although Kanan and Ezra&mdash;who disliked Calrissian due to his constant flirting with Syndulla and Wren&mdash;agreed, Syndulla stepped in and denied Azmorigan anything. Chopper, who had gotten aboard the Ghost, then fired the ship's gun turrets at Azmorigan's feet; throwing both the crime boss and Orrelios to the ground. With Azmorigan now at the mercy of the rebels, Zeb then rubbed his temple and smiled at Chopper to signal his appreciation towards the astromech droid, whom he usually did not get on well with. In exchange for sparing their lives, Syndulla ordered Azmorigan and his two remaining men to leave Calrissian's compound. Azmorigan quickly agreed to the offer and left, while Wren fired at the henchmen's feet to get them moving.

Resolution
After Azmorigan had fled, Lando remarked that letting the crime lord live would creates serious trouble for him in the future. Hera then retorted that Lando was already in trouble because he never had the credits to pay them for their services. When Calrissian offered to return Chopper and to share the profits from his mining operation with them, Hera accepted the first offer. While Kanan was critical of this deal, Hera told him to trust her. Before leaving, Chopper kicked Calrissian's foot to express his annoyance at the smuggler.

As the crew prepared to leave, Bridger confronted Sabine and affirmed that he had always appreciated her art. Once they got back on the Ghost, the crew noticed that Chopper had stolen several fuel canisters from Calrissian. Wren congratulated Chopper on playing Calrissian for a fool, and they left Calrissian's land. The smuggler waved them off, telling his puffer pig that he actually knew that Chopper had taken the fuel, and considered it to be his payment to the rebels.