Chris Cooper reviews the third episode of Star Wars Rebels season 3…
Is there anything more Star Wars than an establishing shot of a location with several TIEs zooming across the screen? I’m not sure there is. Well if you like you’re keen on a bit of pew pew action, the third episode of Rebels season three will be partly pleasing at least.
Unfortunately despite an opening that is as cold as ice and very cool, this episode completely falls down in an area it had an abundance of last week… character.
That Wedge Antilles is in this episode shouldn’t be a surprise considering the title. He’s a classic OT character and someone who I was excited to see. But the guy I see here doesn’t feel like someone who will grow into Dennis Lawson. He just seems like ‘random defecting Imperial #3’. Granted Wedge is barely in the films so there isn’t much to go on but Rebels hasn’t struggled with well-known characters before. Disappointing.
As you might expect from an episode featuring a future Rebel hotshot, The Antilles Extraction features a lot of fighter action. That’s cool right?! Well perhaps it would be if what was going on made sense half the time. How can a TIE Bomber take more direct hits than a transport or Corvette? Some consistency would be much better than having a Corvette suffer from plot contrivances and run away from a few fighters.
On a more positive note I quite liked Sabine in this episode, despite her being seemingly capable of anything. An attractive, independent young woman who is also a Mandalorian and a former TIE academy pilot. She’s been busy! It’s good to see her get more time onscreen doing more than making quips at Ezra’s expense.
Hm, I sound pretty negative this week. I guess I cursed us by saying how there hadn’t been any filler yet. ‘Extraction’ may contain great aspects on the surface but ultimately it is filler. Will what occurs here go on to have more importance than just setting up a character we won’t see until A New Hope? Maybe, maybe not. But taken on it’s own merits…this is filler.
Chris Cooper
Originally published October 16, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
