SWNN Review: Star Wars Rebels – Always Two There Are

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The third episode of SW Rebels season 2 continued to play the “set the table” game, introducing us to two brand new villains.  Though we’ve known about the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister for some time, it was nice to finally be officially introduced on-screen.  We don’t learn much about the fresh baddies, yet we definitely are left with the feeling that answers are to come.  Read on for more and as always, beware of SPOILERS 

 

 

Based on some data via the clone commanders’ intel on possible rebel bases, Hera learns of some much needed medical supplies stored on board an old Republic med-station.  She dispatches Zeb, Sabine and Chopper to retrieve the necessary aid.  Ezra also ends up on the mission, albeit not as part of the original plan.  The young street urchin turned Padawan feels caught between a rock and a hard place, as Kanan and Rex argue over the boy’s training priorities. rebelfleet

The primary focus of the episode is the adventure on board the Republic station, with a only a few brief scenes taking place on board the Ghost.  While it wasn’t my favorite episode and did more of setting up future threads than actually moving the story along, it was still a fun SW adventure.

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We meet two new inquisitors.  In addition to seeing them in action, we get our first real look into the background of the group.  Though the given bits are subtle and concise, they do increase the intrigue surrounding these Sith-esque special force assassins.

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After a combination of slapstick kiddie moments and some brief, yet intense action, our heroes just manage to escape the base with the medical supplies.  The rest of the Ghost crew are happy to have the loot, yet the mood quickly shifts to somber as Kanan, Rex and Hera learn of the existence of not one, but at least two more Jedi-hunters.

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There were a few more nice nods to both the PT and OT, showing that this series is an effective bridge between the two trilogies.  Not only do we get more Rex, we also get more a Republic space station and some dejarik action.

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The Light Side 

 

Inquisitorius Emerging from Shadows – Some have correctly commented that part of the reason for creating the Inquisitors was to sell toys, as well as introduce villains that could be formidable, yet defeatable.  This way Vader’s legitimacy as a menacing villain would not be lessened.  Still, from a purely story-telling standpoint, the Inquisitorius certainly provides a nice layer of intrigue to the mythology.  My guess is that they are tied to the “Children of the Force” storyline from TCW.  In fact, we’ve heard those same words uttered by Vader to the Grand Inquisitor at the start of the series. We learn that the now deceased original Inquisitor was the head of the group.  His untimely death has led to a power vacuum and competition among the darkside acolytes.

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Life Beyond Lothal – We continue to get adventures off of the planet that seemed to anchor our crew in place during season one.  This time around, our rebels explore a Republic medical station.  Though it wasn’t an exotic locale, the episode seems to keep with the idea that the crew will be hopping around at the start of the season to different destinations, on the advice of the Clone’s intel disk.

 

 

The Dark Side 

 

More Looney Tune Moments – I’d like to preface this minor gripe by mentioning that I both love the show and understand that it’s a kids’ show.  That being said, this episode seemed just a touch too zany at times.  There was Chopper using magnetism to thwart Ezra’s Force training (which is the one that wasn’t too bad actually), Ezra pulling a prank on Zeb by pushing over a pile of crates onto him, Ezra then hitting his head on a metal bar and Zeb getting stuck in a maintenance duct entrance.  Two me, the kiddie stuff is easier to overlook in smaller doses, this one just went a touch heavy on it.

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Lack of Menace – While it was nice to finally get to see the new Inquisitors and action, as well as a peek into the workings of the group, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down by a lack of impending danger.  When our rebel crew came across the Grand Inquisitor, there always seemed to be a true sense of foreboding, certain danger.  One felt that Kanan and Ezra were really vulnerable during these encounters.  Despite the haunted, abandoned atmosphere on the abandoned station, it was hard to have a feeling of imminent threat when it was surrounded by moments of slapstick comedy.  Certainly, the zany “hit your head” drew one out of any such feeling.  On top of that though, it just didn’t feel like the crew were in true danger at any particular moment.  It’s hard to put my finger on, just a thought.

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Parting Shots 

 

Much like many tv series do to start off a new season, SW Rebels is going for a bit of a slow-burn to start things off.  We’re getting a lot of setup and promise of later payoffs.  We know this year that we’re going to get a lot more character development concerning our rebel cell.  So far, we haven’t gotten much on that front.  The closest thing to it being Kanan’s mistrust of the clones, shining some light on the cowboy Jedi’s mindset post Jedi genocide.

Filoni mentioned on Rebels Recon that we would learn a bit more on the origins of the Inquisitorius as the season goes along.  We certainly got the feel of open competition among the organization.  It seems that not only will we see our heroes do battle with the Inquisitors, there’s a good chance we could see some fighting in house, as they seek to ascend to a potential spot as the Grand Inquisitor.

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The Inquisitors had Ezra in their clutches, however in-fighting and a desire to use him as bait, contributed to the rebels’ escape.  We learned that Vader has apparently passed on the knowledge of Ahsoka’s survival to the Inquisitorius and that her capture seemingly trumps that of even Ezra.  Also, it’s clear that the Inquisitors are taking the steps mandated to them by Vader at the beginning of the series.  Their first priority is to turn Force-sensitives and are only to slay them after failing in this regard.  The Seventh Sister briefly attempted to twist Ezra’s mind before his eventual escape.

 

What did you think?  Has the season started off at a good pace or would you like to see things move a bit faster?  What did you make of the new villains?  Sound off in the comments below or at the Cantina.

 

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15 thoughts on “SWNN Review: Star Wars Rebels – Always Two There Are

  • October 31, 2015 at 10:14 pm
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    The herarchy inside the inquisitors intrigues me. The 5th Brother and the 7th Sister, they are. That probably means there are, at list, 4 more inquisitors. (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th), and most likely about a dozen of them. If the power vacuum has triggered a fight between them, what must they do in order to gain the grand inquisitor position? I think that probably, the different inquisitors who don’t have explicit orders from vader must be going on quests to prove themselves to vader. The 5th Brother is especifically called to arms to assist the general (kallus) with the quest to hunt the rebels down, but the seventh sister I think has gone on a personal quest to prove herself to Vader bye handling him Ashoka. She displays her droids in different points of the galaxy she knows Ashoka could go. (I’m no certain at all but I still think the 7th sister has got a chance at being Barris Offee). I think that other inquisitors might instead try to hunt obi-wan, to prove themselves, maybe yoda or other Jedis who survived order 66. Maybe some of them have teamed up and are planning to betray each other after the job is done etc. There are countless possibilities and I would love to see those quests expanded in future seasons. What do you think?

    • November 1, 2015 at 6:20 am
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      Not sure if they’ll use Offee since that mean they’ll have to track Salenger down again and I’m not sure if she’s willing to do it again. Her voice was pretty distinctive and it would be kind of a cop out if they replace her seeing as how she was already pretty old by the time of the CW.

  • November 1, 2015 at 2:45 am
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    I thought the Zeb scene was hilarious. I was wondering “Where the heck is Zeb?” then to see that he was still stuck, I actually laughed.

  • November 1, 2015 at 2:47 am
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    Can’t wait to see Ashoka using a lightsaber, maybe with Kanan against the inquisitors

  • November 1, 2015 at 5:03 am
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    I was disappointed in how bland the inquisitors were with the exception of the little droids they used. I feel like if Henry Gilroy had written this episode it would have been better. My favorite parts were with Rex so I’m glad he was around and hopefully will be a joIning the ghost crew. I’m much more interested in him than any of the ghost crew. In fact I think kanan should die and Ashoka should take over the training of Ezra. Or Ezra should go dark and Kanam loses him or has to hunt him down. But alas this is a kids show.

  • November 1, 2015 at 6:19 am
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    Hate the Seventh Sister’s headpiece, Way too impractical. We know the Brother’s has use from how Embo used his but hers just looks like it would get in the way when fighting in low spaces.

  • November 1, 2015 at 6:32 am
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    I binge watched all of the episodes, this one included. I’ve had little time this season so I’m glad I got caught up. I have to say, it kind of dilutes the idea of the Sith and the pool of Force-sensitive beings when the Emperor seems to have no shortage of inquisitors. I enjoyed this episode but I’m not at all intrigued by these new inquisitors. I’ll keep an open mind, but I would much rather have seen more conflicts with the empire like the first three episodes. I hope they introduce a Thrawn or Tarkin like character. Someone high up in the Imperial chain of command who is not afraid to get their hands dirty.

  • November 1, 2015 at 8:18 am
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    I think three things let me down about this episode. *spoilers* First, the male inquisitor seemed to be too much like a dumb muscle guy. I wish he showed alittle more cunning than his simple “me kill Jedi” act.
    Two, on a similar note, I thought Zeb’s escape was alittle too “Dr. Evil-ish” where the male inquisitor just orders his droids to finish off Zeb but the Inquisitor doesn’t stick around to see it happen. Instead, he just assumes his droids were successful. What could go wrong with that brilliant plan? Oh yeah, Zeb escapes to spoil the inquisitors’ plans later on.
    Three, it’s hard to believe there is a greater threat to the Ghost crew with two inquisitors after them instead of one. Ezra, the mere padawan, is the only force sensitive to face them, yet, everyone successfully escapes their clutches unhurt (and with supplies). And the way they escaped doesn’t speak well for the Inquisitors’ abilities since neither inquisitor (whether using their eyes or the force) detected a ship right above them. Instead, they just walk right into that trap. The opposite happened in season one. Kanan and Ezra face the Inquisitor, and they quickly realize they are overmatched and run for their lives. They only escape with the help of the entire Ghost Crew. That made me sit up and take notice that the Grand Inquisitor was an awesome threat. But in this latest episode, I didn’t get that same vibe.

  • November 1, 2015 at 10:11 am
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    Those inquisitor designs are awful to me. They look like a space clowns, not at all indimidating, I don’t know what they were thinking. That aside, the episode was kinda ok and the female inquisitor has little depth to her which is nice, since the male one has nothing.

  • November 1, 2015 at 10:28 am
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    I wish Ezra didn’t treat the inquisitors like a joke.

  • November 1, 2015 at 5:16 pm
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    I wonder why they don’t just go to Coruscant, kill the Emperor and take over? It isn’t like any of them ever get hurt or killed, not even the minor Rebel characters. One wonders how the Empire survives from this show, all the civilians hate it and the Imperials are even less threatening than in the movies. I wish they’d show some support for the Empire from the population and some minor background rebels paying the price for fighting.

    • November 2, 2015 at 3:21 am
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      Emperor Palpatine would kill them all without even batting an eye. And that’s assuming they get to him at all.

  • November 1, 2015 at 9:01 pm
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    I agree with most of this article. The only thing I disagree with darth Zloi is the lack of impending doom felt in the episode. Yea it wasn’t felt at first cause of the slapstick nature, and the fact they got away.

    However when they got back to the ghost and it was revealed that the inquisitors and even worse Vader, knew of ahsoka still being alive AND being part of the rebels; the Dred hit hard. I almost felt you could see absolute terror in Kanan’s face as well as Rex and Hera. That was when it hit home and harshly. You almost got the sense they felt their fight was gonna be hopeless. Which in fact it could be. At least for those characters but obviously not for the rebellion as a whole.

    That was the first time in the entire series so far, you got the feeling the characters know they might end up dead.

  • November 1, 2015 at 11:52 pm
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    I really liked the Grand Inquisitor, I thought he was awesome from the beginning.
    To be honest, I think these two are rather lackluster compared to him. Nowhere as cool or as intimidating, if anything, which is quite a shame. Kinda makes me wish they had kept the Grand Inquisitor alive here, but we’ll see how things will turn out to be.

    Also, Filoni said the Grand Inquisitor had already been in The Clone Wars before:
    I think this might be him…

  • November 2, 2015 at 12:51 am
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    I really liked the Grand Inquisitor, I thought he was awesome from the beginning.
    To be honest, I think these two are rather lackluster compared to him. So far, at least. Nowhere as cool or as intimidating, if anything, which is quite a shame. Kinda makes me wish they had kept the Grand Inquisitor alive here, but we’ll see how things will turn out to be. They might turn out to be a great duo,
    and at least the Seventh Sister seems to have a little bit of depth to her.

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