SWR: Droids In Distress Review

Hey everyone. I apologise for the wait but as some of you may know I was quite sick over the weekend and then work slowed down my process of writing these bloody things. I’m here now though, ready to tackle the newest episode of Star Wars Rebels. Let’s begin!

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Jobs For Cash

People have already started comparing this series to the widely beloved Firefly, and it’s not unwarranted. It has that same dirty, grimy style to its spaceships like Firefly did and the crew of the Ghost do share a lot of similarities with the Firefly crew.

One similarity I really liked though? They need to do some dangerous jobs...just to put food on the table.

It may seem like that’s just here to get the story rolling, but it implies much. It shows just how difficult it is to be a Rebel group and how the mere ability to fund itself is a daunting task. Good stuff.

The Ghost Crews Interactions

I was a bit worried that with Ezra we’d get the typical ‘kid needs to prove himself’ with the rest of the crew and that he’d struggle to fit in, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case. Everyone largely gets along with Ezra and with each other, and I do like this because it does help the series sense of fun.

It is much more aligned with the tone of the original trilogy. There’s no unneeded tension between them so far, they come off as friends and bounce off each other really well. It adds to the fun and adventurous tone the series has had so far, and I do hope they keep it up. Granted they will likely create issues later on, and Zeb is hardly the nicest guy (so you can just accept that this is normal for him) but so far I’m enjoying the shows tone and interactions.

Hera

I was only quite brief in my feelings towards Hera last week because she didn’t leave a massive impression. She worked perfectly fine as the crews mother figure but felt she’d be more interesting later on.

This episode though has altered my slight indifference, and made me appreciate her character more. She’s more than a mother figure, she comes off as being the glue that keeps everyone together. Without her the crews rather...unique personalities wouldn’t last five minutes in each other presence, and like I said last time all this seems to come from personal hardships, so I’m quite excited to learn more about her.

And yea as some of you mentioned, it is call to see a Twi’lek that isn’t just Alien fanservice. In fact I think I read somewhere that the creators wanted to avoid that from happening, and so far they’re succeeding.

Chopper

Okay, I am really starting to love Chopper now.


Give this droid his own spin-off show!

R2-D2 And C-3PO

So...R2-D2 and C-3PO have made their inevitable guest appearance...in the first half hour episode.

......Bit early, don’t you think?

I mean like everyone I knew they’d eventually show up – along with Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Luke at other points – but I didn’t expect it to happen in the first episode. It’s something of a mixed blessing; it’s naturally great to see these characters again and they’re portrayed 100% accurately, but them appearing so early does make the feel come off as nervous, like we needed some familiar faces so soon into the series just to keep us interested in it.

To add insult the injury, I think this episode could’ve worked without them.

Granted, it does give us an interesting ending with them and Senator Bail Organa that hints that the crew of the Ghost are on his radar and implies the beginnings of the Rebel alliance, but again this strikes me as something that should’ve been held off for just a few more episodes. All in all none it’s bad, just rather misplaced.

Though there was one bad point, and that was C-3PO ratting out the crew to the Empire. Yea I know he wasn’t aware of their intentions, but it still made everyone’s favourite cowardly robot less sympathetic.

Zeb’s Plight

R2-D2 and 3-CPO showing up wasn’t the only thing showing up early. This was the episode where we got the tragic backstory of the crews gruff soldier Zeb, and I’m mixed about this too.

While what we learnt wasn’t nothing shockingly radical for his kind of character, it does work and add to the tragedy of the situation. It’s cool to see how the weapons affected his interactions with the crew and the pain in his eyes tells a tale of what he and his people went through during the end of the Clone Wars.

What I take issue with however is the way the reveal regarding Agent Kallus was played out. We learn this episode that Agent Kallus was the one who personally ordered the genocide of Zeb’s species. It should’ve been a shocking, tone changing moment for the series, but it’s frankly revealed and reacted to so quickly it completely wastes any emotional potential said reveal could’ve created.

Once again it just feels like something that should’ve been revealed several episodes later on during the series, not one of the very first episodes.


“Oh yea just thought I’d mention that I totally killed your whole race”

Overall

Overall I did enjoy the episode...but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about some things. While the episode was incredibly fun and adventurous, pretty much this entire story felt like it should’ve been placed during the middle of the season, so it is incredibly questionable that the show is making these kinds of reveals and choices so soon. My hope is that they’ve simply got so much else they want to show us that they felt they had to cram these in so soon.

Regardless I can’t deny that there was some significant world building in this episode and I am still very intrigued with the series plan. Let’s just hope future episodes aren’t so iffy.