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Showing posts from February, 2016

Star Wars Rebels review: "The Honorable Ones"

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Lucasfilm "The Honorable Ones" will be remembered as one of Star Wars Rebels 's greatest achievements of character development. It took an underexplored but fascinating relationship between two mortal enemies and transformed them, both in each other's eyes and in the viewers', by forcing them to work together. Freezing temperatures, a serious injury, and a pair of hungry, sharp-toothed creatures tested their temporary bond, and both emerged with feelings that would have been unimaginable just a day earlier. Most importantly, Agent Kallus came out of the whole ordeal with what appeared to be a fresh perspective on his place in the Empire, which means there's no telling where his character will go next.

Star Wars Rebels review: "Homecoming"

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Lucasfilm "Homecoming" pulled off an incredible feat in the way it introduced Hera's father, the fanatical Twi'lek freedom fighter Cham Syndulla. On the one hand, Cham threw Hera off-balance and showed us a new side of the Ghost's confident captain, deepening our understanding of who she was before she was "Captain Syndulla." On the other hand, his approach to fighting Empire prompted the Hera we all know to assert herself in a way that reinforced her reputation as a natural leader. Cham's arrival exposed a new aspect of Hera's past and forced her to grapple with it, but with brilliant execution, "Homecoming" showed her emerging from the other side of that crisis stronger than before.

Star Wars Rebels review: "The Call"

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Lucasfilm Right off the bat, I will admit that I am a sucker for space whales. The Voyage Home is my favorite Star Trek movie. But a cool-looking interstellar cetacean is nothing without a well-developed story surrounding it, and "The Call" ably met that challenge as well. The clash between Hera's pragmatic priorities and Ezra's more sensitive instincts, plus the purrgil's own role in resolving the final conflict, reflected some of the Star Wars saga's most enduring lessons. Character development, high-level takeaways, witty banter, and an acknowledgement of an underexplored meta-level reality for the rebels—this episode had it all.

Star Wars Rebels review: "Legends of the Lasat"

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Lucasfilm I have never found Zeb, the loyal muscle on Star Wars Rebels , to be particularly interesting, so I never expected "Legends of the Lasat" to be one of the best episodes to date. But here we are. This episode didn't just advance Zeb's story by providing closure for his biggest regret; it also connected the resolution of this guilt to the most sweeping Star Wars story of all: the essential nature of the Force and the way it shapes the future of the galaxy. I have never been so impressed by the portrayal of the Force in an episode of Rebels . Simply put, it has never been so profoundly important to a story, nor has it manifested itself so directly and visibly in the events of the narrative. It is a testament to the talent of the Rebels crew that, from music to dialog to plot to animation, they wedged this sweeping exploration of the Force into a story about a former honor guardsman coming to terms with his past failure and future potential.