When Tarkin visits Lothal, results happen.
What They Say:
Call to Action – As public awareness increases around the rebels activity, they target an important Imperial network.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Star Wars Rebels proved frustrating for me the last time around as it worked with our senator in exile to try and show a different way that the Empire was using people – people that often wanted to be used – in order to root out the rebels wherever they could. It wasn’t bad in a general sense, though they’re still trying to cram things into each episode in awkward ways, but it wasn’t compelling at a time when we really need to start doing more with what it is Kanan and Hera’s crew are actually going to do in this time period. There’s a whole galaxy of stories to be told but we continue to largely hang around Lothal and get involved in mostly meaningless bits in order to introduce the characters to the audience, playing to the usual TV series structure. Which it really doesn’t need to do because what we have here is something that needs to move forward and engaging in a big, bold way. Instead, it’s like we’re stuck on the Tatooine sequence of the original film, which has its neat moments but isn’t the meat of the story.
This episode continues the string of more well known characters coming into play as Grand Moff Tarkin has made his way to Lothal, where his dismissive nature of others comes into full effect while dealing with the minister, who he’s holding responsible for the insurgents that have been causing problems here. Tarkin doesn’t take much from anyone and it’s amusing to see the way he cuts into the minister and Kallus with simple words and an almost calm tone. This plays out while we see the renewed efforts to get Kanan and his group as there’s a decent chase scene underway as the group is trying to shake off the Imperials following them. It’s all standard speeder material with some decent gunplay to it and a couple of amusing moments that remind you that no matter the time, stormtroopers just aren’t smart.
Because of this and what they’ve learned from the former senator, Kanan has come up with a plan that has a bit of guts to it as they intend to break into one of the big communication towers in order to send a message to several systems in the area that will tell the truth about what’s going on in the outer rim worlds and what the Empire is really doing. It’s kept light on the details, but it’s just welcome to see Kanan thinking big and trying to reach out to others. Which, as we see when Tarkin interrogates some of his Imperials, is what Tarkin fears the most as the rebels are just various factions right now and now unified. If they become unified, they truly become a threat. And Tarkin doesn’t tolerate threats, which we know from the film and which we see reinforced here decently enough with how he deals with those that have failed repeatedly at their mission.
The scouting side of the mission works fairly well as it introduces the fun of Imperial Probe Droids to Lothal and as smart as our little rebel group thinks they are, Tarkin manages to get one up on them and sets a trap for them – and a chance for the Inquisitor to redeem himself. The mission itself starts off well enough as we see it get underway, as does the firepower and manpower that Tarkin has held off to the side to catch them by surprise. This makes for a decent fight sequence overall as they manage to get the data spike into play and then focusing on escape. Which has Kanan stepping up to protect them all, which is heavy-handed after his talk about the way you sometimes have to make sacrifices for the bigger picture. Going up against the Inquisitor starts off decently and has some nice moments to it as they get into a lightsaber battle while Hera works to rescue everyone else. It plays to the theme of sacrifice without going to the full commitment to it with his life as Tarkin wants Kanan to find out what he’s really a part of.
In Summary:
Where has this show been? I understand why they took the approach they did in working to introduce the cast and what makes them who they are, but they spent far too much time doing it and not enough time doing this. This is a good episode, one that moves the larger story forward, brings in some interesting characters and potentially gives us one of the early, key moments of the Rebellion with Ezra’s message to the local systems. There’s a good sense of the characters at this point, (yes, because of the time spent on them so far, but the stories really started to bore me so that wasn’t good) and now that the group feels like it’s starting to think bigger and interacting with more elements, it has more hints of what it could be rather than spinning its wheels. The show has a lot to live up to with the last few seasons of Clone Wars and it’s started off weaker than the first season of that series, which is saying a lot. But this gives me some hope for the few remaining episodes of this season.
Grade: B+
