Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Star Wars Rebels S2E4 Always Two There Are Recap/Review (Spoilers!!): Wait, Buffy is Bad Now??



Should Star Wars Rebels be expanded to an hour long show?  Half the season down from 22 to 12 and let them tell more engrossing stories for an hour. This episode just felt rushed. There seemed to be more story to tell, and not enough time to tell it in. This is still a children’s show, so having it be an hour might make some kids tune out after a period of time. Personally I don’t think this would be the case and it would allow the showrunners to expand each episode. The first two episodes with the clone troopers was truly one episode with two story arcs. The episode tonight was exciting, but it felt shoehorned into a thirty minute time slot.
Sabine, Ezra, and Zeb go on a supply run to an old Republic base to obtain medical supplies. The episode started off very light hearted. There was great banter between Zeb, Ezra, and Chopper the droid.  Here is my big problem with the episode. How did the Inquisitor make it to the base so quickly? There was a probe droid, but was the Seventh Sister already on the base, or get notified and show up? If this was the case why was there a probe droid on the base? If this wasn’t the case, why was the Inquisitor on the base? They didn’t answer either of those questions. We saw the other Inquisitor leave from the Star Destroyer, but nothing from the Seventh Sister voiced by Sarah Michelle Geller. I think with more time to tell the story they could have shown how the Inquisitors knew the Rebels would come to the base, or how they were able to arrive so quickly.  
Even though I took issue with how she got on the base, the Seventh Sister was a fantastic character to introduce in tonight’s episodes. She was menacing with a touch of sweetness. She was polite while torturing Ezra for information. While also enjoying it immensely. I almost wish they would have left her introduction a complete mystery until tonight. It would have been a great reveal for us only to see the Fifth Brother (Pirate Inquisitor) go to the base, and then her jump out and ambush the Rebel crew. The Inquisitor’s relationship seems interesting and very strained. Since they are Sith they want to eliminate one another, but also see the need to corporate grudgingly. It should make for a fascinating dynamic. Another great tidbit of information dropped tonight is the fact the Inquisitors know about Ahsoka. I would assume this means Vader let them know who she is and that they must take her out.
This of course upsets Ezra and Sabine. Ezra had an intriguing episode tonight. He kept his cool in the face of great danger and was willing to sacrifice himself for Sabine. His story arc could go one of two ways: 1. He buckles down and becomes a staunch disciple of the Jedi ways and ends up getting killed this season or next. 2. Sabine gets killed this season which causes Ezra to take a turn for the darkside and he becomes a main antagonist for season 3 or 4. From the way he was able to handle himself tonight it seems like the former, but I could still easily see it being the latter. I’ve enjoyed his character more since the end of last season, but he still seems the weak link.
The escape sequence was well done. I liked how Zeb was able to orchestrate a plan. He doesn’t get much screen time, and it was nice for him to be the hero of the episode. They seem to use him and Chopper as comedic relief most of the time. The usual screw-ups of the team were able to save the day and it made for a nice change of pace. Then the episode took an unexpected dark turn once the team got back to the base. We saw for the first time how worried Kanan truly is about what they are up against. The Emperor’s theme playing to close out the episode was a nice touch to heighten the mood. The show is starting to prepare us for a more menacing tone.  

This was a fun thirty minute episode with major implications. Our merry band of Rebels now know about two new Inquisitors. It would have been nice to see the Inquisitors get a bit more screen time tonight as they tried to get more information out of Sabine and Ezra. It seems they would have liked to give them more time if the episode was a bit longer. This would have been a nice two episode story arc if nothing else. Still an entertaining half-hour of Star Wars television and I am excited to see the Clone Wars favorite Hondo back in action next week. 

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