SWR: Rebel Resolve Review

Hey everyone. Here’s the review of the latest Star Wars Rebels episode. As you can tell I released this episode in line with the TV showing, not the online showing. This was more because I was busy lately but I may stick to this in the future. Seems fairer since some prefer to wait till its own TV. Regardless, enjoy!

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Hijacking The Walker

The episode started with our crew hijacking a Walker in plain sight in the hope of accessing its data and finding out where Kanan may have been sent. It’s rare to see the show delve into the action so quickly and honestly it came off as one of the most dangerous and reckless missions they’ve ever attempted. In fact I would even describe it as desperate.

Maybe I’m reading too much into the scene, but didn’t their hijack attempt of the Walker come off as a rather desperate and more reckless move than usual for the Ghost crew? Looking back the Ghost crew tend to work either at night or in the shadows (unless it can’t be helped) and they ended in fire fights because something didn’t go to plan. Here though they attack a Walker in daylight in the open right in front of several soldiers and close enough for other Walkers to intercept them.

To me this is a subtle way of showing just how desperate the crew are to get Kanan back. They take more risk than usual for a plan which seems to have had limited chance of success, considering it ended up failing. I definitely like this; I like that Kanan’s imprisonment is having such an adverse effect on the crew, as we see here and we see throughout the episode.



Hera

Each of the characters had their way of handling the loss of Kanan, but none was quite as complex as Hera’s. With her conversation with Fulcrum and later conversation with Ezra, Hera knows better than anyone on the crew how necessary it is that no one else get captured and how important it is for them to stay hidden, especially after the message Ezra sent through the comms  tower. Now the galaxy and the Empire has taken more notice of the group; they’re no longer a small group of rebels causing minor issues, but symbols of rebellion and potentially the start of a full scale resistance army. Hera knows this and knows how important it is that the crew stay hidden for now and do nothing.

......Even though she clearly wants to go save Kanan, possibly more than anyone else.

She’s known him the longest and through several scenes is clearly torn up by his capture. It’s just such great characterisation; she’s the most grown up member and smartest member of the group so she knows how important her role is in the rebellion, but it’s clearly killing her on the inside to do nothing. Hera is a constantly great character; possibly my favourite of the entire show so far.

Chopper

I say possibly, because it’s either Hera or Chopper.

Good god, this was one great Chopper episode. I’m always pleasantly surprised by much personality they get out of Chopper, and never has it been as good as it was here. For starters Chopper was the last person to leave the Walker, valiantly continuing to download data from the Walker in the hope of find Kanan, even though he’s close to being destroyed. He then later sneaks onto a communication ship to find information on Kanan’s whereabouts and nearly getting caught in the process. To top it all off he shoots himself into the big vacuum of space in the hope that the crew would rescue, and he did all of this for Kanan.

It’s a side of Chopper that I loved to see. He’s had a lot of personality so far but this was the first episode where his dedication to the crewmembers really shined in how he’d willingly put himself in danger several times just to save them. Perhaps its further testament to the show ramping up the stakes in that the joke character is taking things seriously now, but it was just incredibly endearing to see how much he genuinely cares about his crewmates.

......Oh yea, and he also knocked that droid off the ship. That was hilarious.



Ezra

Of course the crewmember most vocal about saving Kanan was obviously Ezra, and...it does really show how much he’s changed since the shows beginning.

His determination to save his master may seem clichéd to some, but let’s not forget what Ezra was like at the start of the show. He intentionally distanced himself from others so that he wouldn’t lose anyone else important to him, and yet seeing him as upset as he was in this episode reinforces just how much he’s grown and changed over the season and how much the Ghost crew mean to him. It exemplifies that Ezra really is more than just another generic teen hero. He’s so far had a very solid character arc and so far I’ve been very impressed with his character.

Vizago

With everyone except Hera siding with him, Ezra locates the smuggler Vizago and asks him for information on where Kanan may be locked up. After revealing that he and Kanan are Jedi Vizago offers the information in return for a favour that Vizago will inevitably cash in at some point in the future. With this future plot point set in stone it does somewhat reinforce my...scepticism about Vizago being the go to guy for information. Frankly asking him seemed like a slight stretch to me and I think this scenario was created solely for a future episode where he cashes in the favour.

I don’t mind though because it could lead to a damn interesting episode, especially since Ezra agreed to whatever Vizago asks of him. It could lead to an interesting dilemma for Ezra where he must either do something horrible or go back on him promise. If nothing else it’ll be interesting to see how Kanan will react to this. My current guess is that he’ll be furious at Ezra.



Hera’s Anger

Back to Hera, can anyone fault her for being furious at her crew? They disobeyed her direct order and in some respect disrespected her wishes. Most importantly however they’ve put themselves in further risk and in the case of Ezra have put themselves in a complicated situation with Vizago. You can understand why she’s angry.

Still, she gets on board with the idea when she sees that they now have a chance to help Kanan, so it’s great to see her once again be so understanding and fair about it. Again, just a really great character.

Kanan’s Imprisonment

So naturally we saw Kanan imprisoned and tortured by the Inqusitor and a IT-O Interrogator Droid (which was used on Princess Leia in A New Hope as well). It’s not graphic which is to expected and gets everything it needs to across; the torture is horrible but Kanan won’t break. It was if nothing else to see the Inquisitor be more proactive again while Tarkin took a little bit more of a backseat.

Of course Kallus was just...there. Part of me just accepts now that the creators aren’t sure what to do with the guy.



The Mustafar System

The Mustafar System didn’t mean anything to me until out of curiosity I looked into it and...oh.

For those of you who don’t know, Mustafar is the planet that Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobe duelled in Revenge of the Sith......and where the resulting injuries sustained by Anakin would later have him become Darth Vader.

...So yea, quite ominous, and it’s certainly cool to see them travel to an important place in Star Wars history. It’s also cool to see the crew go to a new area in general. In retrospect the locations the episodes have been in have been somewhat limited so far.

Bigger Stakes

Perhaps more than any of other episode in the series did the stakes feel raised here. As mentioned by Fulcrum the highest forces in the Empire heard their signal and have taken notice. Now we’re seeing more patrols on the streets, more tension in general and without Kanan a more vulnerable Ghost team. It’s great seeing the team now having to face such higher odds and seeing them obviously struggle, which is fitting considering that they are taking on the entire Empire.

It naturally makes me excited for the next episodes. I highly doubt Vader or the Emperor will appear this season, but you know someday we’ll see them, and they’re gonna be massive ‘oh shit’ moments.

Overall

Overall, loved this episode. This was a darker, more tense and sadder episode than usual but not without glimmers of hope. This is the most excited I’ve been for the next Rebels episode and I eagerly await the next one! Till then!