Hello, Rebels fans we are back again for another week. Hopefully, yours was more pleasant than mine as I spent mine with a nasty cold, which is now on the mend. Luckily, we had a new episode of Rebels to take the edge off and as I had predicted last week- we are headed somewhere dark.
Recap
Now we are really coming hot and heavy with the Star Wars tie ins as Grand Moff Tarkin, a governor of the outer worlds, comes to meet The Inquisitor and his forces on Lothal to ensure that the rebels do not continue to pose a threat.
Yet, the crew of the Ghost has resumed their general mayhem, this time stealing a crate of supplies and again ditching the pursuing Troopers through and elaborate chase and exit.
Back on the ship, Hera and the crew review a Holonet where Trayvis publically proclaims his loyaly to the Empire and quickly turns it off in repulsion. Yet, the Holonet gives Kanan the idea to begin their own broadcasts like the Bridgers had previously. It is only Ezra has concerns yet he is quickly convinced by Kanan.
Tarkin quickly goes to task interrogating those he believes to have the most intel on the rebels Cumberlayne Aresko and Taskmaster Grant, he is quickly told about the raid from the previous night. This heightens Tarkin’s weariness about the Jedi presence and quietly orders the Inquistor and Kallus to hunt down the rebels and kill them.
Ezra weary about the appearance of Imperial probe droids uses the force to have a loth-cat damage the probe but not before the probe manages, unknown to the crew, to capture a picture of the whole crew.
As the crew attempts to access a broadcast tower Ezra once again revisits his fear of losing the crew like he lost his parents but Kanan once again manages a moving sermon and they move ahead. While attempting to install the spike it becomes apparent the Empire is there and about to move in on them. Ezra is tasked with collecting Zev who is manning an anti-aircraft gun and the crew is forced to flee without Kanan who says he will be “right behind them.” Which is always foreboding.
Kanan once again squares off against The Inquisitor. During the battle the crew take heavy fire and are forced to leave Kanan behind.
Ezra sends out a message of rebellion over the transmitter before the Empire blows it to pieces and Ezra can’t help but wonder if it’s worth it.
My Two Cents
Remember how last week that things were going to get dark? Well, guess what. Stuff got dark and fast. We see our first real deaths- and by that sweet sweet lightsaber I covet so much. Man, Tarkin always seemed like a bit of a putz in the movies to be honest, but then I remember his cold dealing with Alderaan. So making him the bringer of doom and destruction for Rebels makes a lot of sense.
Kanan risking himself for the crew was noble but predictable. They really aren’t going out of their way to throw any curve balls plot wise. Which I suppose is safe given its demographic but a little sad when compared to shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender which always seem to side step the formulaic.
This will surely be a make or break moment for Ezra, as Kanan’s rescue will surely rely on Ezra accepting himself as a Jedi and the crew pulling off some feats of daring. With Tarkin in the mix there is certainly a higher threat of danger and yet the writing being so systematic doesn’t truly instill any real sense of dread or drama. The characters remain a little underwhelming and all intermediate characters in the crew (i.e. not Ezra and Kanan) remain flat and rely on their few lines to push flat comic relief. If the writer’s are serious about amping up the drama then they need to get serious about improving their dialog and characterization. Sure 22 minutes isn’t a lot of time to get large plots across but many show manage to do it successfully without sacrificing sparkling dialog or character development.
I still look forward to seeing this plot play out. It is interesting to watch well-known characters integrate into the Rebels world and this show still has a lot of promise and potential.
