Well… that was certainly something, wasn’t it? After last week’s pretty damn excellent episode, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this one, especially with the tease that the Inquisitors know where the Rebels are. While this episode certainly took a different approach than I was expected, it was one that made it a very emotional and engaging episode and I appreciate that.
But let’s stop rambling and just dive into our Five Thoughts on the episode, right? As always, there’s gonna be spoilers below. Be warned!
1. Follow The White Loth-cat
This is probably the most obvious Alice In Wonderland reference I’ve seen in something since the tattoo gag in The Matrix, but it’s certainly one that worked here as the trail which finally lead Ezra to the truth about his parents and, I must say, I’m surprised. I was definitely expecting the revelation about his parents to be drawn out until at least the end of this season and I was pretty sure they were going to be alive and be the catalyst where Ezra has to choose allegiances between his new family in the Ghost crew and the old family he hasn’t seen in years.
Turns out neither of those things are true and also that Dave Filoni is an evil as, after all that searching, Ezra’s parents were dead the whole time, but just to twist the knife it’s revealed that they heard his broadcast to Lothal from the penultimate episode of last season. It’s a very somber emotional note to end the episode on and one I’m surprised the show was brave enough to do, but I think it’s going to change Ezra’s story in a big way going forward.
2.A Trio Of Villains
After last week, I really expected the fact that Inquisitors know about the Rebels being on Garel would lead to another big confrontation and, I have to admit, I’m a little saddened by the fact that it was ruined by the fact that the Empire rocked up to the planet with a really conspicuous fleet of Star Destroyers, but given that they’re going to make the same mistake on Hoth I shouldn’t be that surprised.
What I do find really cool, though, is the fact that the Inquisitors are now working with Agent Kallus in order to hunt down the Rebels. Kallus has been an antagonist who’s been playing second fiddle since Season One and I really hope we get to see him take charge against the Rebels moving forward and use the Inquisitors as his weapons. Mostly because if you’re going to have David Oyelowo voice a character, you might want to give him something to do.
3. The Ghost Versus A Star Destroyer
This was the big action beat for the episode and it was amazing. The Ghost going one on one against a freaking Star Destroyer in order to save the fleet’s command ship while the Phantom is trying to dodge TIE Fighters in order to escape? This is just further proof that this show’s really stepped up its game in terms of dogfight action. For what is, essentially, a kid’s show, it has some of the most engaging action I’ve seen since… oh, The Clone Wars.
That’s where it gets it from.
4. Ezra Is Kanan’s Robin
This was a small moment that only happened couple times in the episode, but it’s made clear here that one of the reasons Kanan is so protective of Ezra and wants to give him proper training and wants him to have a family is because he wants to save Ezra from having to grow up like he did. It’s pretty much the same justification that’s been given for Bruce Wayne adopting Dick Grayson after seeing his parents die as he’s able to see this kid about to go down the same path he did and he wants to save him from it. Kanan is able to see the Caleb Dune he was never able to be in Ezra and I think that’s really sweet.
That being said…
5. Ezra’s Turning Dark Side, Isn’t He?
… Yeah.
You know the Jedi used be like “Hey, don’t have attachments because it’s inevitable that we’ll all lose something important to us and it’s hard to control you emotions when that happens?” Ezra apparently didn’t get that lesson from Kanan yet because most of this episode showed him as impulsive, rash, quick to anger and honestly? He was getting scarily close to some Anakin Skywalker shit in this episode because of how much he hated anything standing in the way of him finding his parents.
I think this combined with the confirmation of his parents’ death is what’s really going to set him down the path to the Dark Side. Whether he’s able to redeem himself or whether he ends up facing Kanan in battle remains to be seen, but I’m pretty confident that Ezra’s emotions are going to get the better of him before long.
