Star Wars Rebels returned on Saturday, and the hype has been real. After all, they did tease that one of the best parts of the old EU would be part of this season. Though that was somewhat hard to get a read on from this episode.
I guess I’ll start with Thrawn, then. He appears for about three femtoseconds in this episode. He has about five or six lines total. It’s not that big a deal, since there’s plenty of season 3 left for him. Though it does serve as a means of conveying just how canny he is. The few times he pops up, you know he’s working all of the possible angles in his head. I’ll probably leave more about him for a future episode, though it is weird to see a Chiss with irises. There is, however, an obvious animation reason for that.
Things kick off with Ezra, Sabine and Zeb breaking Hondo out of an imperial prison. It gives you a good idea as to how Ezra’s been advancing under the tutelage of the Sith holocron. He’s able to make quick work of hallways of stormtroopers, at the very least. He’s also built a new lightsaber; green, probably in parallel of the obvious. Well, I lied, earlier. The obvious result of his training is when he controls an AT-ST pilot, forcing him to fire on the other stormtroopers and then walk off into the abyss with them. Remember, this is a TV-Y7 show.
They broke Hondo out for some intel he had on some ships the Empire was disassembling. They’re Y-wings, and they’re useful for the rebellion. The little pig guy Hondo was locked up with had told him about it, but sadly ate a blast from the AT-ST during the escape. Ezra’s done well enough on previous missions to earn a promotion, and gets command of the mission to scout the plant out.
Kanan’s been pretty busy being blind and sorry for himself. He’s proud of the progress Ezra’s made, however, and goes to congratulate him after a little nudge from Hera. His congratulations disappear when he nudges the holocron Ezra’s room. The resultant argument is obvious, and Kanan takes the holocron with him as he leaves.
For some reason, Ezra and company drag Hondo along with them. Not like I’m complaining or anything, but when has that ever not blown up in someone’s face? Either way, things immediately begin to go bad because the Mining Guild picks them up. They give us another look at how the holocron has been affecting him: luckily, the team vetoes his decision to wipe out all of the Guild ships.
When they get to the plant, they discover that the Y-wings are just flat out being destroyed. Thrawn had predicted that they were exactly the reason they sprung Hondo in the first place. Ezra calls an audible and completely bucks the chain of command in doing so, ordering Sabine to land on the plant. They’re able to use stealth and, with Hondo’s help, convince the Ugnaught workers to help them steal the remaining fighters. At least, until the control tower notices them.
Ezra goes to deal with the magnetic clamps while the others finish prepping the fighters. Hondo steals an Imperial shuttle with the Ugnaughts almost immediately, leaving the rest of the crew to fend for themselves. When he reaches the tower, Ezra runs into a freshly demoted Titus. Things go about as well for him as they did last time they met. His only saving grace was sabotaging the magnetic locks so that they can’t be shut down without cutting power to the entire station. Ezra, in reply, destroys the power supply with his lightsaber, freeing the Y-wings but sending the station into a slow descent into the storms beneath it.
While all of this was happening, Kanan follows a voice that was calling to him. Using one of the beacons to keep the spiders at bay, he eventually reaches the location of the voice. What he finds is that he was being called by The Bendu. The Bendu helps him get over his fear and anger so that he can sense things with the Force again (he does it by breaking the beacon and forcing Kanan to come to an understanding about the spiders, and himself). He, of course, senses that Ezra is in danger, and leaves the holocron with The Bendu as thanks.
Phoenix Squadron jumps in to rescue everyone, which is good because there’s a Star Destroyer in the way of the Y-wings. They realize Ezra hadn’t made it off the station, and Hera and Kanan head down to save him. To be fair, his plan almost worked; he just didn’t count on the Phantom getting taken out by the crumbling station. Thrawn lets the rebels go; he wants the full rebel fleet in one place before he strikes, and he knows this isn’t their full muster.
Ezra gets his command suspended, since he was a bit too careless overall. Kanan seems to be bringing Ezra back from the brink. And I personally can’t wait for the Maul/Thrawn double team this season of Star Wars Rebels has in store.
Final Thoughts:
– Kallus disapproves of the large numbers of civilian casualties Thrawn’s anti-rebel tactics incur.
– The Bendu was voiced by Tom Baker. Doctor Who is turning into the British version of Star Trek when it comes to its primary actors showing up elsewhere in the same genre.
– I damn near died choking on my laughter when I heard Zeb refer to Ezra’s early-episode performance as “Wizard“. Is… is someone involved with the show reading this, or am I wearing a tinfoil hat?
4/5
‘Great’
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