Eric Geller's Blog

Lucasfilm Every season finale is supposed to be epic. This is a given in serialized television. But "Twilight of the Apprentice" redefined epic in the context of Star Wars . The Rebels season 2 finale brought back and dramatically enhanced the stature of a villain once discarded as a broken tool; delivered on the promise and angst of a long-awaited fight while opening a new door for one of the combatants; and placed a promising but troubled young man in spiritual and philosophical peril, possibly setting the stage for him to clash with his master in the style of the finale's other main event.

Lucasfilm Given what we know is coming in the highly anticipated finale of Star Wars Rebels Season Two, the penultimate episode of the season was refreshingly unique. Our rebels simply had to deal with a spider infestation at their secret base, and despite Zeb's amusing jitters, this proved to be a relatively straightforward task. The real story in "The Mystery of Chopper Base" wasn't the action on the surface, as the rebels dealt with these creatures; it was the tension beneath the surface, as they dealt with each other and confronted the possibility of everything changing. "The Mystery of Chopper Base" dealt with this tension beautifully, saying so much in so few words.

Lucasfilm If C1-10P is the cat to R2-D2's dog, then "The Forgotten Droid" was about that cat meeting a stray and guiding it home. But what happens when the cat remembers that it's a loner for a reason? That's the question I was left with at the end of this episode. Yes, Chopper made a friend. But nothing that happened in "The Forgotten Droid" changed his essential nature: grumpy, selfish, and lazy. His encounter with AP-5 offered a few laughs and a study in contrasts, but it didn't produce any character growth—because, for reasons of series structure, Chopper must remain trapped in his stereotypically cantankerous role.

Lucasfilm Two of my favorite things about Star Wars are the political conflict and the spiritual conflict. The political conflict was Zeb and Agent Kallus sparring over competing ideologies, with one perhaps convincing the other to reconsider his allegiance. But the deeper conflict, the spiritual one, is a war for the "soul" of the Force itself. The spirit of the galaxy has always been contested between the forces of darkness and light. In "Shroud of Darkness," viewers and characters alike received another masterfully choreographed warning about the outcome of the latest phase of this spiritual war.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lucasfilm In an unusual twist, neither Hera's wise leadership nor Kanan's faith in the Jedi philosophy carried the rebels to victory in "The Protector of Concord Dawn." Instead, the continued safe movement of Commander Sato's rebel fleet depended on Sabine ignoring her doubters and fighting an enemy she knew all too well—an enemy was as much a part of her past as her rebel family was a part of her present. It's been a while since Sabine has carried an episode, but "The Protector of Concord Dawn" reminded us that, when the chips are down, Star Wars Rebels can always count on her for an explosive resolution.

Lucasfilm It's never easy to bring a famous face into a TV show about less famous faces, especially while that show is still finding its footing. Star Wars Rebels avoided showing Yoda on screen in his debut episode, it gave Obi-Wan Kenobi only a brief holographic role, and it has largely kept Darth Vader in the shadows. But at the beginning of the second half of season 2, Rebels is ready to start introducing bigger players in more commanding roles, even if it's only for a single episode. That's what happened with Princess Leia Organa in "A Princess on Lothal." Yes, she stole the show, but she charitably lent some of the show back to its main characters—especially the presently troubled Ezra, on whom she seemed to have a profound, and welcome, impact.

Lucasfilm "Legacy" stands out as one of Star Wars Rebels ' best episodes yet. Not only did it answer one of the show's first questions in a compelling way, testing Ezra Bridger's maturity, but it also raised bigger questions about the nature and will of the Force. On a practical level, I enjoyed watching Ezra's journey through confusion, frustration, optimism, sorrow, and hope. On a metaphysical level, I was thrilled to get to grapple once more with the idea of the Force as a living entity, a character in a story. As fun as it is to watch space battles and cantina shootouts, it's equally fun to wrestle with how our favorite characters are connected to that all-encompassing energy field.

Lucasfilm Even the commanding presence of Ahsoka Tano couldn't save "Future of the Force" from being a generally lackluster Star Wars Rebels episode. The story was thin, the characters received scant development, and one plot point in particular defied all logic and proper characterization. It felt like most of the characters spent most of the time running, and as a result, the episode never had the chance to settle down and take on any coherent form. There might have been a way to rework the baby-snatching plot, which first appeared in The Clone Wars, to fit in the Rebels context. But this episode's story was so thin and empty that it's a wonder it took 22 minutes to tell.

Lucasfilm "Stealth Strike" might be as close to a perfect episode of Star Wars Rebels as we've seen in a long time. It ties with "Wings of the Master" as the best of season 2. Not only did it blend moments of humor with moments of gravity (pun intended), but it resolved some tension between two main characters, taught another character an important lesson about the past, and put a formerly background character in a central role in a way that hinted at the struggles of the growing Rebellion. "Stealth Strike" balanced a story full of homages with a raft of meaningful dialog and still managed to tell a fascinating story that equally leveraged the strengths and weaknesses of several fan-favorite characters.

Lucasfilm "Blood Sisters" was another uneven Star Wars Rebels episode. Chopper positively shined, Sabine's past started to come into the light, Ezra offered some welcome comic relief, and the walking, clanking, gonking MacGuffin brought some quintessentially Star Wars humor to the story. In short, most of the characters were great. But "Blood Sisters" turned on the involvement of a new character, brought in to highlight an unknown side of Sabine, and that newcomer was poorly written to the point of logical incoherence, casting a pall over the rest of the episode.

Lucasfilm In many ways, "Wings of the Master" mirrored the experimental blade-wing at the center of its story. It was the product of many moving pieces—writing, voice acting, animation, and music—and to really deliver on its promise, all of those pieces had to fit together perfectly. Thankfully, like the blade-wing itself, this episode came out firing on all cylinders. Everything just worked. We learned a little bit more about Hera's backstory, we met a new ally of the Rebellion (and his whiz-bang prototype ship), and we were treated to one of the most breathtaking sequences of animation and music that Star Wars Rebels has ever given us.

Lucasfilm Every television show has its hits and its misses. "Brothers of the Broken Horn" was unquestionably a miss. It was fantastic to see Hondo Ohnaka again, but he was the only good thing about this episode. It began with a farfetched premise and continued in a manner that was alternately boring and unbelievable. As a huge fan of Star Wars Rebels , "Brothers of the Broken Horn" was more than disappointing—it was unsettling. The crew of this show is so good that it was almost inconceivable that they could stumble this much. Since October 2014, they've been developing Ezra Bridger in a fascinating, nuanced, and realistic way. With this episode, they seemed to forget what they were doing with him.

Lucasfilm Every group of heroes needs a group of villains to keep them on their toes. The relatively simple first season of Star Wars Rebels pitted the Ghost crew against one Grand Inquisitor, but with their allies multiplying in Season Two, the rebels needed more enemies, too—and in "Always Two There Are," we met two of those enemies. There wasn't much to this episode; it was neither complex in theme nor grand in scope. But its central conflict—the clash of personalities between a young, unrefined Jedi and a young, sadistic Jedi-hunter—was entertaining enough to carry the story.

Lucasfilm "Relics of the Old Republic" was everything I could have wanted from an episode of its name. It advanced the story of Kanan's tense relationship with the clones, as well as Ezra's more easygoing friendship with them. It brought back memories of The Clone Wars animated series by giving Rex a few bouts of nostalgia. And it did something that no canon Star Wars story has done before: It showed us clones reacting to the new and darker regime that grew out of their own war, offering a contrast between the competent and loyal "relics" of the Republic and the shiny but heartless war machine of the New Order.

Lucasfilm Star Wars Rebels returned to television with an episode that felt almost as plodding as an AT-TE on a big-game hunt. If the relationships that developed on that aging walker had involved anyone other than fan-favorite clone troopers, I probably would have been sorely disappointed by "The Lost Commanders." As it was, I enjoyed the fact that meeting the clones brought out important qualities in Ezra and Kanan. Despite lacking anything truly exciting, "The Lost Commanders" played a valuable role by reintroducing Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor, whose very existence challenged Kanan to move on from the past — or risk being bogged down by the pain of distant conflicts.