Star Wars Rebels Iron Squadron Television 

Five Thoughts On Star Wars: Rebels‘ “Iron Squadron”

By | November 21st, 2016
Posted in Television | % Comments

We’re back! In what seemed like a move to put Star Wars: Rebels on a biweekly schedule, we’re finally back covering everyone’s favourite group of galactic rebels. This episode sees the Ghost crew come across a crew of rebels that feel a little familiar and the question of how fight oppression is brought up. Timely, huh?

Without further ado, let’s dive into our Five Thoughts on Star Wars: Rebels‘ “Iron Squadron”!

1. Open With A Classic Dogfight

I love it when Rebels strips Star Wars down to its basics. Seriously, this episode doesn’t get anymore complicated than a series of dogfights and right from the opening conflict, I knew I was going to be into this episode. These kinds of smaller episodes, that frame a larger emotional conflict (like that between Mart and everyone else with common sense) with smaller, simpler physical conflicts, are some of my favourite Rebels episodes.

Sure, the dogfights themselves aren’t the fanciest things or the most impressive scenes in the world, but they give the show a platform to explore their characters and the galaxy they live in.

2. Man, These Kids Are Assholes

I know that a large part of this episode is showing these kids as brash and untrained and lashing out against the Empire, especially Mart due to the grief over losing his father, and seeing them encounter the Ghost is the catalyst for their realising that there are smarter ways to fight. Even by the end of the episode, I admit to not quite hating these kids as much as I did when they first showed up.

But, boy, did I hate them when they first showed up.

You have one light freighter with one gun emplacement and a trick to take down ships by throwing storage at them after flying directly through blaster fire from TIEs so that your ship is almost destroyed after every encounter and you have one astromech droid trying to fix the entire ship and you don’t even know what Star Destroyer is and you think you can take down the entire Empire?

I get the whole youthful hotheadedness, but, lord, did I want Hera to just start yelling at them for their shortsightedness.

3. Ezra Finally Gets It, Though

“How we choose to fight is just as important as what we fight for.”

On the other hand, we finally got this moment that’s actually presented with very little fanfare that shows just how far Ezra has come as a character. Remember that little Lothrat who stole the shipment of Imperial weapons from the Ghost crew just because he could? The kid who was lashing out at the Empire because they had taken his parents from him and because he had nothing else to do? Yeah, he annoyed me as much as the Iron Squadron kids did, but to here him actually give a Hera or Kanan-worthy speech about being smart about how you fight the Empire? That’s some character development.

I much prefer this Ezra, the kid who actually knows what he’s doing and is coming into his own as a Rebel fighter, than the arrogant and brash Ezra he was in the first couple episodes of this season. I’m really glad they didn’t drag that out longer than they needed to.

4. The Might Of The Imperial Navy; And The Assistance Of The Alliance

As much as I loved the simple dogfight that opened this episode, having the conflict increase in scale over the course of the episode – from one freighter versus a transport and some TIE fighters to the Iron Squadron and the Ghost facing down a light cruiser and accompaniment all the way up to the last minute rescue from the Alliance navy and the appearance of the Star Destroyer – was a reminder of how impressive the Imperial ships can be.

We’ve seen so many Star Destroyers over the years that their appearances have been somewhat neutered by their ubiquitousness. Having this episode build up the scale of the Star Destroyer only to have the freighters dwarfed as it drops out of hyperspace was a reminder of how intimidating they are in scale. It was a great way of taking something old and making it feel fresh and effective again.

Continued below

5. Giving Commander Sato A Little Character

Commander Sato has been a part of the show for a while now, but I want to say this is the first time we’ve been given some real depth to the character. Mostly, he’s served as the fairly stoic commander who Hera answers to, showing up from time to time to remind us that the Ghost serves the Rebellion on a larger scale than just being one ship.

Giving Sato that connection to Mart, knowing he lost his brother to the Empire and knowing that his nephew is lashing out against the Empire and is likely going to get himself killed, brought a lot to the character in just one episode. These kinds of things reinforce why someone like him would stand against the Empire and why he would lead the charge against tyranny in the galaxy. I really hope, with Iron Squadron seemingly sticking around, that we’ll see more episodes delve into Sato as a character. Especially given his familiarity with Thrawn.


//TAGS | Star Wars: Rebels

Alice W. Castle

Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears her, Alice W. Castle is a trans femme writing about comics. All things considered, it’s going surprisingly well. Ask her about the unproduced Superman films of 1990 - 2006. She can be found on various corners of the internet, but most frequently on Twitter: @alicewcastle

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