Chris Cooper reviews the eighth episode of Star Wars Rebels season 2…
Cute alien babies! Lightsabers and badass Jedi! Zeb being useful! It’s all going on in this week’s episode of Rebels – The Future of The Force. For those who want to be completely spoiler free be careful up ahead. There’s nothing truly surprising but best to give a heads up I think.
When our heroes follow up reports of children being stolen away by the ‘red blades’, they jump to it, sending Ezra, Kanan and Zeb out to investigate whilst Ashoka (good to see her) follows another lead.
The mix of humour, action, and way the story slightly moves things on is really well balanced. Ezra doesn’t get to be the badass he was in last week’s episode, but Ashoka more than makes up for that. To see a fully trained Jedi in action against Inquisitors is quite something. This is how a lightsaber fight should be. Acrobatic yes, but not overly fancy. These strikes are meant to kill or defend. There’s no mucking about and I appreciate it.
It’s good to see Zeb getting in on things and being useful. Also, who would think to rush a lightsaber wielding enemy head on? He’s brave or stupid. Maybe both! There were a few times in this episodes where someone could have easily been killed, but we wouldn’t have much of a story if those moments were always taken full advantage of.
Snippets of detail give us an idea about what Ashoka is up to, and it will be thrilling to see what happens when she does find out the truth. Once again I’m left to wonder though; what’s going to happen to this group of Rebels before A New Hope comes along? Could they just be somewhere else or is what I fear could happen going to be their ultimate end? They can’t all make it surely?
Maybe it’s best not to think about that now. The Future of The Force is another strong episode, covering from more adult content in a way that won’t completely terrify the children, but giving us big kids enough to get our teeth into. Disney do seem to have their heads screwed on regarding their approach to this universe. I hope it carries over to the films.
To wrap up, here’s some news for you. Rebels has been renewed for Season 3! Woop! At least we can expect plenty more adventures yet, and you’ll subjected to plenty more of these reviews. Good times all round.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=0_9dLZCKOvQ
Originally published December 4, 2015. Updated November 7, 2019.
