Chris Cooper reviews the fifth episode of Star Wars Rebels season 4…
I thought we’d been through all this. We’d come to an understanding! But no, here we are again.
I thought Star Wars Rebels and I had moved past the term ‘filler’.
But just having seen ‘The Occupation’, that’s really all I can think of. Getting two episodes a week is fantastic, but if you’re going to spread a story over two episodes make it worthwhile! There is some good stuff in this story, but it could have been done in half the time and moved on.
Seeing more of Ezra and how he deals with Lothal’s occupation is massively important to him and the show. There are some strong scenes depicting how much things have changed, and seeing Ezra deal with his emotions proves how far he’s come. It’s clearly all leading to something, but we didn’t need a whole episode for it. Perhaps it’s better the more you can remember callbacks to previous stories. I know that they’re mentioning things from season 1, and I appreciate that, but I can’t bring them to mind enough for it all to hit home enough.
If it sounds like I’m having a whinge, I am! I expected more. Sure it’s cool to see lightsabers and speeders and Stormtroopers being made to look like mugs again. But there is very little real peril, and it feels like treading water for episode 6. Hopefully that has enough to make this worth it! From the preview I’ve seen it might have something very close to my heart so fingers crossed.
Chris Cooper
