Saturday, November 19, 2016

Star Wars Rebels S3E7 Iron Squadron Recap/Review (Spoilers): Where Are We Going?


Fun and enjoyable, but what’s the main story?

The seventh episode for season three of Star Wars Rebels, Iron Squadron, is another fun solid episode, but again didn’t seem to add much to an overall season story narrative. There isn’t much wrong with the episode and it was enjoyable to watch, but there isn’t any actual impact on the Rebels overall. The possibility for an overall effect on the season is if Thrawn is using each of these engagements to lay an elaborate trap for the crew of the ghost. This could be the case with the number of encounters Thrawn has observed and the data he has accumulated. The only issue with this is how slowly the narrative is taking to develop, and the small amount Thrawn has been shown in the season.

With each week I keep expecting the for the main narrative for the season to kick in, and each week the show doesn’t deliver. I enjoy watching every week, and this week was not an exception. The adventure with the Iron Squadron was fun. The action was well done and it was interesting to see another group of kids standing up to the Empire. The running joke about the Star Destroyer was also well done and got me to chuckle. These fun side missions still leave me wanting something more from the show. There should be an overall narrative and arc for the season, and for the past four or five episodes the show does not seem to be going anywhere.

I believe in Dave Filoni and he knows what he is doing, but I’m not sure why all of these episodes are placed together. Last season had an issue with momentum and with episode placements to keep the tension and story moving along. Clone Wars was at its best when it had three or four episodes packed together to tell one cohesive story. Maybe the entire season will do this, and once the big picture is revealed these episodes will make sense with how they were placed within the season.  As of now it seems the show has no overall direction on where it is going.

The show has not shown since the first week Ezra and Kanan training with the force. Ezra had been delving into the dark side for months, but one mission and conversation with Kanan and he is back to being normal? There should be more development with this, and I’m sure there will, but where is it? This story aspect should be peppered in throughout some of these side mission episodes. We should still see Ezra struggling, unless he isn’t going to actually succumb to temptation.

What is going on with the overall Rebellion? We see aspects in these side missions of fighting, but not the overall picture. There needs to be a through line for what the group is doing instead of just randomly fighting the Empire. I had thought it was going to be investigating what happened at Geonosis, and the crew finding more information about the Death Star. There is an episode coming up where the description hints it could be about this, but the it shouldn’t be a one off episode. The first half of the season should have built to them finding out about the super weapon.

Star Wars Rebels is still entertaining. I enjoy waking up on Saturdays making breakfast and watching it on my computer with my twelve-year-old son. He is even becoming frustrated with the show. After today’s episode he said, another episode that didn’t go anywhere. If the target demographic for the show is starting to get bored it’s a bad sign. Granted he may not be an accurate representation of his demographic, but it still is a little troubling. Hopefully the next few episodes start to build towards a good mid-season finale, but the next two descriptions look like side missions. The last two episodes before the break deal with Maul and Ezra which will be great, but again the show should have built to these episodes, instead of sticking them before the mid-season finale.


What do you think of Iron Squadron? Did you like it or do you think it should have utilized to a season story arc along? Comment and let me know. Like, share, subscribe, and all that fun stuff. 

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