Chris Cooper reviews the fifth episode of Star Wars Rebels, ‘Out of Darkness’…
Throughout my reviews for Rebels I’ve been saying how I’d like to see more of Hera and Sabine….and here we are!
Getting off to a great start with plenty of TIE Fighter and Phantom action some great camera angles are used to make a relatively simple dogfight very exciting. It’s always interesting to me to see things from an Imperial point of view, so to see the inside of a TIE and how it’s flown was a nice touch.
During this fight the main crux of the story is set up, with Sabine questioning the decisions made by Kanan and Hera. They find her lack of faith disturbing, and in retaliation she goes as far as to compare their lack of transparency to the situation she found herself in in the Imperial academy.
Soon though Hera and Sabine are forced to work together when they find themselves in their own version of Pitch Black (a decent sci-fi film if you haven’t seen it). Mix in a Star Wars version of playing Gears of War’s ‘Horde’ mode and you’ve got yourself an entertaining episode.
It’s great to see the female characters get a chance to shine, and both prove themselves more than capable, but this episode isn’t perfect. Some of the dialogue is pretty clunky, being very on the nose. Due to the 20 minute run time there isn’t really enough time to build the threat. It works, but the tension could have been built up a lot and the relationship given more time to strengthen if they had been through more. It was handled well in the time available but it left me wanting.
With a bit of back story, some sharpshooting and some colourful explosions, ‘Out of Darkness’ shines a light on the female crew of the Ghost and further hints at bigger things to come. It aims high with some clear inspirations but doesn’t quite get there. It does well for 20 minutes though.
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 November 15, 2014. Updated November 7, 2019.
