Well, that was a doozy! Star Wars: Rebels continues by shifting its focus from the past with the clones to the future by introducing two new Inquisitors that will serve as the show’s primary antagonists for the time being and, boy, did they introduce them well.
Head on down below for my five thoughts on last night’s episode of Star Wars: Rebels, but be mindful as there will be spoilers.
1. Hey, Has Anyone Seen Event Horizon?
One of the things I really enjoyed about this episode was its strong horror movie vibe throughout the whole episode. Having to go to an abandoned space station that’s without power and being stalked by unseen enemies is a really great set-up to what turned out to be just as great an episode. The EU was always in the unique place to set Star Wars stories against the backdrop of new and different genres from the films and this episode continues that tradition.
It allows for the formula of Star Wars to be shaken up and, in this episode at least, allows Rebels to introduce new antagonists as very credible threats, but we’ll get into them more in a second.
2. Let The B-Team Shine
Another thing I liked about this episode, especially coming off of the very Kanan-focused two-parter we just saw, was that it gave the focus to Ezra, Sabine and Zeb. This was good because I was getting worried that now that the show was exploring Kanan’s past more and more and how that links to his current fight with the Empire that characters like Sabine and Zeb would be pushed to sidelines. Here, they’re still playing second fiddle to Ezra for most of the episode, but they do get some great moments in like Sabine trying to hold off two Inquisitors at once in order to save Ezra and the big finale of Zeb and Chopper saving Ezra and Sabine.
If we can get more episodes like this that uses the pretence of going on missions for the Alliance to change up the team dynamics – and maybe get Hera in on the action for once? – then I think this season will have much more longevity and will continue to feel fresh even as the season goes on.
3. How To Solve A Problem Like Ezra Bridger
Okay, this is a weird one, but bear with me. So Ezra’s our main character, right? He’s the kid who’s been plucked from a dustbowl back-water planet and thrust into a destiny of becoming a Jedi without feeling like he’s really ready for it. He’s Luke. He’s Anakin. He’s our protagonist.
So why do I want to punch him most of the time?
For some reason, Ezra only really feels like a character I want to like during those few moments where he emulates Kanan and goes all nobel and self-sacrificial to save his friends. When he really embodies trying to be a Jedi, I actually connect with the kid. However, most of his banter with Zeb in this episode made him come off as a cocky brat and it was a really weird dissonance for me. It was like if Luke turned off his lightsabre and started making fun of Han Solo. The weird shift in personality just doesn’t fit.
Hopefully this is something that will smooth out over time as the Inquisitors will mean that Ezra has to mature over this season as Luke did in Empire because I really can’t stand Ezra half of the time.
4. Upping The Inquisitor Game
Last season, one of the things that always bugged me was that the Grand Inquisitor wasn’t actually all that threatening. He was a great villain in theory, being a pseudo-Sith Lord and allowing Kanan and Ezra to get into lightsabre battles without having to bring in Darth Vader as a recurring villain, but I feel like there was some potential being lost because he never felt as intimidating as the show was making him out to be.
Well, it looks like they’ve fixed that problem because even after just one episode, the two new Inquisitors are way more threatening than the Grand Inquisitor ever was. I think a lot of it comes down to the design of the new Inquisitors – who are sleek and angular in their silhouettes and have very inhuman characteristics with the male’s grey skin and the female’s face-covering mask – and the voice acting, which is superb on all counts. A special shoutout needs to go to the voice acting for the female Inquisitor who has this subtle voice modulation when her mask is on which, combined with the faceless visage of the mask, makes for a terrifying villain.
Continued below5. “We Really Have No Idea What We’re Up Against.”
Oh, god, that last shot. That last shot, though. That really sums up the tone this series is going for. Dave Filoni’s said before that if Season One was A New Hope then Season Two is The Empire Strikes Back and he wasn’t kidding. Seeing Kanan, Hera and Rex who are supposed to be the mature and responsible members of the Ghost crew looking so helpless was an amazingly effective final shot and makes me both excited and trepidatious about seeing the rest of the season because it looks like it’s going to be a rough ride for the Rebels.
Still, this episode was really great both as a stand-alone episode and as an introduction to the new Inquisitors and how they’ll antagonise the Rebels for the rest of the season. Really well done.
