Chris Cooper reviews the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels…
Star Wars Rebels’ first season finished extremely strongly, as the Lothal rebels took their first steps into a larger world.
This was followed up by The Siege of Lothal, a double length episode/film released in the summer. With the full introduction of a terrifying Darth Vader, things had really ramped up.
So despite being pleased to see the long neck Star Destroyers again (Giraffes I call them) it’s actually slightly disappointing to report that the first proper episode of season 2, The Lost Commanders, only comes together well sporadically.
There is a very odd juxtaposition at play here, the episode bookended by much more meaningful scenes. The middle section seems to be ‘playing to the kids’ with the rebels supporting the capture of a massive beast. I can’t imagine risking the sinking of you cool mobile home is the best way to hunt for food, but who am I to question it? At this point I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that we meet several old Clone Troopers from The Clone Wars (which to my detriment I’ve only seen in small part). They do give some very interesting information, and also lead to the most impactful part of the story.
Kanan quite rightly holds a huge amount of resentment and distrust towards the clones. As he points out to Ezra, he was around on the fateful day that Order 66 was executed. It’s not something that is easily forgotten. Everyone has a choice though, and I’m looking forward to an exciting arc with the Clone’s possible redemption in Kanan’s eyes.
Since I last watched Rebels, I had the pleasure of reading A New Dawn, one of the new wave of Star Wars novels. It focused on the first meeting of Kanan and Hera, giving me a deeper understanding of our bearded Jedi. I do still hope to see more of Hera though; I don’t need to know everything in her case as a bit of mystery seems somehow appropriate.
Going forward it does look like we’ll at least find out more about Sabine (with new hair colour!), from the various trailers that have been released. See it through Disney!
There are some very odd decisions made in not only the structure of the story this week, but also in how the characters react to certain revelations. Episode one of season 2 is uneven but points to much stronger things to come.
Chris Cooper is a Flickering Myth Staff Writer, and owner of the blog Super Duper Stuff. Follow him on Twitter @SDCCooper or visit the blog’s Facebook page.
