Chris Cooper reviews the tenth episode of Star Wars Rebels season 2…
Rebels is back! Not only that, but it brings with one of the biggest characters from the Original Trilogy.
Princess Leia!
There’s a tricky balance here. One one hand its great to have such an important character involved in the Rebels story, further cementing not only it’s place in Star Wars canon but also how big a deal Phoenix Squad are as a Rebel cell. But, everyone has an expectation of how she will be based on her long history.
Phew. Not only is the Princess used well in the episode but her characterisation makes sense. It’s easily forgotten how young she is at this point; she was born as the Empire was forged in the same way Ezra was. Her life has been very different, but they both share an extremely strong will and need to help others. They share several moments that show both the pain Ezra is suffering since he discovered the fate of this parents, and their understanding of what needs to be done sometimes.
At one point in this episode, the Imperials almost seems competent! I know I know, crazy. But the rebels have clearly gone up in the Empire’s estimation, so the response to their threat has increased considerably. This leads to a great battle, with several visuals that are very striking indeed. I’d love to go into detail with you about them and get excited; bloody spoilers.
If you’ve seen the trailer for the second half of season two, you’ll know that it looks ridiculously awesome. This first episode back doesn’t dive into the serious stuff yet; instead it gets us back into the swing of thing. This is the best place to use someone like Leia as far as I can see. She makes a splash and is good advertising, but doesn’t get sucked into the main story where things could get awfully complicated. She isn’t a Skywalker yet, and we’ve already got her Dad involved.
There isn’t a lot to see from the larger Ghost crew, as this is mainly about Ezra, Leia and Kanan. But this is a fun episode that smoothly moves us on from the tragedy Ezra suffered before Christmas. Welcome back Rebels.
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.
Originally published January 29, 2016. Updated November 7, 2019.
