#rebels recap

Rebels: Season One Review

Rebels Season One Spoilers Ahead!!! Now that Season 2 of The Mandalorian is over, I decided to rewatch Rebels. I’ve just finished Season 1, and thought I’d just do a basic recap rather than an episode-by-episode review (there are 15 episodes in the season). Rebels takes place in the few years leading up to A New Hope, when the Empire is in full control but some pockets of rebellion have flared…

You Can Never Go Home Again

Lothal went from pleasantly bucolic to polluted, dystopian nightmare in a real hurry. The Empire is more interested in short-term gain than long term sustainability. See also the farming moon fro the Ahsoka novel and Gorse for details.

Poor naive Ezra thinking Old Jho would be safe from the Empire because he was a staple of the community. People are willing to put up with quite a lot under totalitarian regimes just to make sure it’s not them. Poor Old Jho.

Ugh, I can’t believe they gave Jho’s bar to Baron D-bag.

Speaking of him, these two episodes were chock-filled with call-backs and familiar faces. “Flight of the Defender” was basically a whole plot reference to season one’s “Fighter Flight.” Visago, Jai, Baron D-bag, Evil Flight Instructor, puffer pigs, and the white Loth-cat all put in an appearance, possibly to highlight just how much things had changed.

The Lothal Ezra grew up in is gone. No wonder he has a moment of utter despair in the sewers. Jho is dead, the environment is shit, and freedom is a distant dream. Yet there is hope. Old friends like Jai, Ryder, and Mrs. Sumar remain and the Loth-wolves are coming back.

Ezra Bridger, Nature God?

Ezra went from the kid who couldn’t connect with one Loth-cat on his 15th birthday to the guy they stalk and do favors for.

Seriously, those cats legit understood his needs and created that sweet diversion.

Those cats were deeply cute. I’d say I want one, but I already have two of the real kind.

Ezra’s the first person in over 100 years to see a Loth-wolf. And it talked to him.

Was it saying ‘doom’ as in portents of, or ‘Dume’ as in Caleb?

If it’s the later, does that mean Kanan is the nature god? The Bendu on Attalon was able to commune with the animals (like Ezra) and control the weather. Will an Ezra-Kanan combo help to heal the planet?

“Loth-cat, Loth-rat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done.” “All paths are coming together now.” “What does that mean?” “I don’t know. We’ll have to find out when we get there.”

The Family Ghost

Hera and Kanan have their little moment in the alley during which we find out that a) they haven’t had alone time for awhile and b) it’s almost always during high-stress moments on missions. When was the last time they kissed? Will they ever do it on screen?

Ezra and Sabine team up again. This is the second time in a row this season. What’s the significance of that.

Out of all of them, Sabine and Ezra had the best undercover outfits. Ezra’s was basically the same thing Ryder wears. Must be a traditional peasant look. Sabine’s dark hair with purple tips looked cool.

Hey, remember when Zeb had plot lines and stuff to do? Yeah, good times.

Kallus thinks he should be in charge because he was an Imperial officer. Rex reminds him that’s why no one likes/trusts him. Oh, snap. The old guy had a couple of good zingers despite being in the episode for all of five minutes.

Finally back together again, the Team is sent to tap into an Imperial relay station. Things quickly go sideways and the kids join forces with Saw Gerrera on a wacky adventure.

What Matters is How We Fight

This episode picks up on last week’s theme and runs with it by presenting two (technically three) competing ideas about how the Rebellion aught to be run and forcing Ezra to choose.

Saw Gerrera is fighting to hurt the Empire and to win by any means. His tactics are emotionally satisfying in the short-term, but alienate natural allies in the long term. He has a more clear vision of the war as it stands, but has no plan for the future.

Mon Mothma is playing the long, political game to restore herself and the Republic to power. She’s so focused on the big picture that she refuses to act to solve immediate problems. Her understanding of her struggle is fundamentally flawed because doesn’t understand that dictatorships don’t negotiate. Historically speaking, non-violent resistance only works when there is either a third party applying outside pressure or democratic leaders answerable to a populace which can be moved to empathy or shame. The Empire has neither.

Ezra is just wants to alleviate suffering and help those he can. He’s the kid tossing stranded starfish back into the ocean because, even if it’s not a viable long-term solution, it matters to the individuals he saves. By the end of the episode, he realizes that neither of the two main factions are interested in doing this. Odds are good he’s going to end up leaving the Rebellion to be a self-directed vigilante, possibly with Kanan along for the ride.

Our Fearless Leaders

The show does a better job telling us how ruthless Saw is than showing us, but it’s still pretty clear that he’s obsessed and doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as the Empire does too. Was anyone surprised when he betrayed the kids? Aside from them, I mean?

Mon Mothma is so affronted when Saw points out that she too is a criminal. She genuinely doesn’t see herself that way. She doesn’t even see herself as a rebel. She’s the rightful ruler fighting to reinstate her rightful government. In her eyes, Saw is a criminal because he breaks her laws, not the Empire’s.

Hera is a repress-it-all sort of leader. She’s super chill when they’re coming in hot and able to keep it together to get all her people back safely to the ground. She’s angry and upset, but she puts on a brave face for the Team and urges them to follow orders that even she disagrees with. Not sure that’s necessarily the right way attitude to take, but Hera has always been about pushing the personal aside in favor of the big picture.

Kanan, by contrast, is the one urging everyone to really think about how they feel about what they’re doing and way. He gives both Ezra and Hera the space to think and emote. Again, totally in character, especially lately.

The Family Ghost

Hey, the gangs all here. We even got a whole thirty seconds with Zeb. It’s always nice when the writers remember he exists.

The look on Hera’s face when she sees Kanan. That is all.

The blind leading the fog blinded and their little exchange. “Boy, I must really trust you.” “I know you do.”

God, they are so adorable together.

Speaking of adorable, Ezra had some charmingly adorkable moments like when they waved at the Empire or when he accidentally blew their cover by claiming to be the guy they were talking to. It’s a small galaxy after all, but you think there’d run into different officers on occasion. Too bad they killed the only female stormtrooper they’d ever run into.

Are they setting up Ezra and Sabine to be a thing? They’re really pairing them off a lot lately, plus there was that bit of awkward dialog in last episode.

Kindred - The Empire sends a creepy-ass assassin after the Team to keep them from getting away with the flight data recorder, but they weren’t counting on magic Force wolves or Hera being just that awesome.

Crawler Commanders - The Team hijacks a ore crawler while Hera talks Rebel Command into okaying the mission to Lothal.

Hera & Kanan Sitting in a Tree

As Hera gets ready to deliver the data recorder to the Rebellion, Kanan tries to have a frank discussion about the future of their relationship after the war. Hera says she really hasn’t thought about it and it’s the most in-character thing she’s ever said.

Hera loves Kanan, there is no doubt of that. There is also no doubt they’ve been space!married for years. The issue is that Hera does not know how to function as a person without The Cause. She can imagine a galaxy without the Empire, but not her place in it.

Despite growing up in a militarized cult, Kanan is the half of the pair who knows how to be a person apart from a cause. He’s basically Hera’s manic pixie dream boy there to help her not be so uptight all the time.

THE KISS! Pretty sure she slipped him some tongue.

Please, Dave, don’t let that be a final kiss goodbye. We know that Scarif was the Rebellion’s first real victory. Does that mean the upcoming attack failed? We also know that the TIE Defenders never showed up in the OT. Does that mean it succeeded?  It wasn’t their last kiss. It wasn’t.

It All Comes Back to Lothal

Kanan and Hera discuss how weird it is that they’ve been consistently drawn to Lothal, or, rather, KANAN has been consistently drawn to Lothal. To meet Ezra? To do something bigger?

Loth-wolves are Force sensitive teleporters. How awesome is that?

Hera escapes orbit by hyperspacing through a construction globe-thing just as the rest of the Team hyperspaces through Lothal holding on to a wolf’s tail.

So, according to the pictograms people have been traveling between the hemispheres via magic wolf caves for a while. Also, Jedi came from the sky and hung out with them at some point.

The Empire is basically strip-mining the planet using slave labor to build TIE Defenders using forced labor, yet Kanan suspects there’s something even more sinister going on. There are kyber crystals on Lothal. Is the sinister thing related to the Death Star?

Lothal and the Loth-wolves knows Kanan’s original name. Ezra’s reaction to that was surprisingly understated. Okay, you’ve lied to me about your name for years, but no problem. How do the wolves know about it?

Rebel Alliance Does Stuff For a Change

Hera delivers the flight data recorder and high command dithers because of course they do.

They have nothing that can go up against the TIE Defender. If the Empire had put all it’s money into that instead of repeatedly wasting it on giant flashy Death Stars, they probably would have still lost, but it would have taken a lot longer and involved a lot fewer space battles and a lot more Saw-style terrorism. I think folks like Mon and Bail probably would have given up.

Protocol 13 for the immediate evacuation of Imperial personnel from an occupied planet. Clearly created in preparation for the Death Star. They used it on Jedha, but not on Scarif. Presumably they did on Alderaan since Tarkin was clearly going to fire no matter what Leia said.

Hera sure knows how to give a rousing speech. Loved Chopper cussing out command.

The Rebel Alliance finally puts on it’s big kid pants and agrees to blow up the factory. It’s a solid plan, but the Empire can still build them elsewhere. The better plan would be to blow up the factory and find a way to discredit the program.

Random Stuff

“When it gets strange like this, it’s a good thing.” “How have you people stayed alive this long?”

Ezra’s voice acting is hilarious.

Visago thinking they were there to rescue him was precious. He looked so crushed when he realized they weren’t. Yet he never sold them out.

Yes, Ezra used to be the ventilation shaft guy back when he was short and skinny. He’s getting a little big for it now.

WTF was Ezra’s little Bond one liner after the captain fell into the furnace?

Sabine, Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper head to Mandalore to rescue Sabine’s dad.

No One Pays Attention to Droids

AP-5 and Chopper’s relationship here feels very much like C-3P0 and R2D2, only, like, 10 times more dickish. Remember when they were friends? Or at least not constantly at each other’s throats?

They actually sing “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better.” Considering they’re still going after the commercial break, when the trip to the base is implied to take over an hour, is it any surprise Wedge is 100% done with their bullshit?

A female-coded droid who isn’t a waitress or a sex worker! Will wonders never cease?

AP-5 comments that the Empire doesn’t take droids seriously and he kind of has a point. How many times has Chopper snuck into Imperial bases despite being outdated and/or badly painted? He actually sets off an alarm this time when they go through the security checkpoint and the stormtroopers on sight don’t even seem to notice. 

At the same time, the Rebellion is just as guilty. In just this episode, they ignore AP-5′s valid concerns, ignore Chopper’s strangely compliant behavior, and forget they left AP-5 floating in space. Then there was the time they gambled away Chopper and brought what turned out to be an assassin droid back to the base. 

Everyone ignores AP-5′s concerns until Hera, a fellow organic, repeats them. As a woman who has experienced the same thing talking to groups of men, I feel you, buddy. 

I wonder how personality works with droids. Are they programed that way from the start, or do they accumulate personality along the way like people do? I have trouble believing anyone would deliberately program a droid to be as obnoxious as either AP-5 or Chopper.  How do memory wipes effect personality? C3P0 got wiped, but still acts the same. Chopper apparently has his files wiped before each mission, but never seems any different and generally seems to remember everything. How does it work?

AP-5 is both a complete asshole and a riot. He joined the Rebellion of his own accord, but he misses the blank sameness. He wants respect, but seems to like being along. Him singing while tripping balls was hilarious. 

More Machine Than Man

The Imperial technicians have those same data interfaces that Tseebo had back in season 1 (and Lobot in ESB). They’re all portrayed as being rather robotic from their tendency to calculate the odds to their flat affect and monotone voices.

Like AP-5, the Controller is a massive control freak and know-it-all. Like Chopper, he wants to get the data himself despite being advised against it.

If the Controller had notified the ISB like he was supposed to, they might have actually managed to get the data instead of getting themselves killed.

The Organics

Wedge is the first person in Star Wars we’ve seen actually use a fresher...or at least try to.

Sabine’s off playing happy families, or at least happy incipient civil war, but where’s Kanan? That supply run is taking forever.

Lost in the Desert

While wandering aimlessly in the desert, Maul gets the brilliant idea to use the holocron fragments to lure Ezra to Tatooine to act as Kenobi bait. And of course Ezra falls for it because Ezra is a FUCKING IDIOT.

Seriously. Even after Kanan explicitly tells him that it’s a trap, it takes Ezra flying into a secluded canyon in the middle of nowhere and being ambushed by Sand People before Ezra catches on.

Chopper smuggles himself onto Ezra’s ship and follows him into the open desert despite knowing it’s a terrible idea because he’s just that loyal. 

Hu, it’s almost like ignoring the advice of your friends and running off by yourself can get you into trouble. Wait, wasn’t that the lesson Ezra was supposed to have learned in ‘Steps into Shadow’? Who needs consistent character development, I guess?

Ezra came to Tatooine looking for someone to help them win the war and bring peace to his empire. I’m not sure Maul knew what he was looking for. Hope? Vengeance? Closure? Death? All of the above maybe.

And Found 

The voice actor for the Ben Kenobi makes a real effort to sound more like Alec Guinness and less like Ewan McGregor. 

When Kenobi lectures Ezra about how his desire to good and tendency to only listen to the advice he wanted to hear led him to being used by a creepy older man, he’s talking to Ezra but he’s also talking to Anakin.

When Kenobi lectures Maul about how the power to dominate and destroy is ultimately hollow, he’s taking to Maul but he’s also talking to Anakin...again.

Kenobi says he doesn’t want to fight, but he lights up and gives his patented pre-battle smirk the second Maul suspects he’s guarding someone.

Well, I guess Maul’s (finally) dead. So long space cockroach! The spoilers warned me to bring tissues, but I guess I’d have to be invested in his character for that. Here’s hoping Kenobi burns his dead ass or at least dismembers him and scatters his parts to ensure he won't come back this time.

Maul died in Obi-Wan’s arms taking about the Chosen One. Just like Qui-Gon. At least he didn’t stroke his face. Still, talk about closure and coming full circle. 

I don’t think Obi-Wan was happy or angry about it or anything. Just really tired and kind of sad.

Of course he goes to check up on Luke. The sound cue of Beru calling Luke in is straight from the film.

Ezra returns to base like Dorthy from Oz. He learned from the Wizard Obi-Wan that he already had what he needed and that there’s no place like home.

Miscellaneous Observations

How come Ezra has pajamas but Zeb sleeps in his street clothes?

Kanan wasn't sleeping in his bedroom. I wonder where he could be? 

They’ve dropped hints that they’ve got something planned on Lothal, but this was explicit confirmation that they’re planning to attack. 

Bail Organa straight up lied to them about Obi-Wan still being alive. Ezra never mentions him upon his return. I wonder if he ever cleared that up?

“If Master Kenobi were alive, he’d be with the Rebellion, not hiding out on some backwater planet.” Oh, snap! At least Obi-Wan was guarding Luke, what’s your excuse, Yoda?

Boy, This Is Some Rescue

The Rebels suspect Fulcrums cover has been blown, so Ezra gets himself arrested along with Chopper and AP-5 to get him out. There were so many ways this could have gone wrong, even before Thrawn showed up. 

Kallus ends up saving everyone and staying behind. So I guess this whole operation really could have gone better.

“Hey, gramps, you want to fill me in?” Dude, you guys are the same age. You might even be a little older, Kanan.

Once again Kanan and Rex go under cover as troopers. He may have lost weight, but Rex still can’t fit into his armor.

Kanan gets shot mid mind trick, but Rex’s fight with Price was still pretty cool right up until she shot him. Why did he say he didn’t want to hurt her?

The Frame Job

Thrawn is closing in on the spy and the Rebel base.  Uh oh.

Hey, look, it’s Colonel Yularen of the ISB. Remember when he was an admiral and also a good guy. He certainly still thinks he’s a good guy. He’s probably one of those officers who feels the Empire is the natural successor to the Republic and the Rebels are the same Separatist scum he’s spent the last 20 years playing wack-a-mole with.

Poor Lt. List keeps getting duped by Rebel agents. Kallus plays him like a fiddle, convincing him to go after Price. He’s so over eager to redeem his failure with Leia, the poor schmuck practically frames himself.

There was a surprising amount of world building detail that went into Kallus’s frame job. I finally learned what those dumb pen things everyone has are for one thing. And the fact that the different data ports provide different levels of access in different locations for another.

Man, Ezra’s impersonation of List was terrible.  Good thing he’s got the Force.

Thrawn For A Loop

Hey, remember when I was so unimpressed by the blue wonder I thought all he was good for was spinning mission failures into Xanatos Gambits? Well, I take it all back.

Dude’s pattern recognition skills are off the charts, creating the map of potential bases like that. When you think about it, having Chopper only change one planet on it was kind of short sighted. What if he has it memorized and noticed the difference?

Neither Thrawn or Yularen actually bought Kallus’s attempted frame up. Poor Yularen is so disappointed in his former star pupil.