Star Wars Rebels Season 4 episodes 7-9 review - Kindred/Crawler Commanders/Rebel Assault

Kindred

So, Thrawn’s assassin, he exists, I guess

Hallelujah, this episode isn’t entirely dedicated to Ezra and Sabine!

This episode is a good follow-up to the last episode, following up on the vast majority of plot threads from that episode and helping set more ground for what’s coming. The episodes are starting to feel more interconnected at this point, which is good, but unfortunately some of the other problems I’ve seen so far this season are persisting.

So, the Empire knows they’ve stolen the hyper-drive from the TIE Defender and don’t want the group getting away, so Pryce is out on the hunt herself and Thrawn has sent his assassin, Rukh, on the prowl with her. They have a couple of good lines and Rukh is able to track down the location of the rebel camp. Outside of this, there’s little more to say about him, he’s yet another new character in the group, in a series that is short on time.

So, let’s talk about Kanan and Hera, they’ve been a couple pretty much since the beginning and we FINALLY GET SOMETHING devoted to that, unfortunately this episode is so heavy on plot it’s not much, but I feel like I got something out of their relationship. I really want to know more about their history, how they came to meet and form this group but I know it’s unlikely this series will go down this route.

So, Hera manages to fix the ship and get away but the others are trapped on Lothal, with the Empire closing down on them, their only hope is with the Lothwolves. So, let’s talk about the force, Kanan believes more than ever that he’s been drawn to Lothal, that’s where everything started, and it was hinted back in the Siege of Lothal that the Empire had plans for Lothal outside of the imperial factory.

The Lothwolves seem to have a very deep connection with the Force, they known Kanan’s real name, although the way they keep saying Dume, I worry they’re really hinting at the other Doom. Ezra’s connection to the wolves allowed them to escape but the message they had was for Kanan, and now they’re on the other side of the planet, somehow.

The episode has 2 problems, one is the fact it’s throwing a lot at you for one episode, it really needed to slow down a little to demonstrate some of the skills of the Empire and Rukh in particular. The second is the one that’s plagued this season. Rebels has a long list of characters, all of whom have lines in this episode, but do you remember anything Jai Kell did in this episode? I sure as hell don’t.

Rating 7.5/10

Crawler Commanders

Just what a furnace needs, a chomping doorway!

In this episode, the rebels on the ground seek to beam a transmission to Rebel Command to find out what the status is and to do so need to take control of an Ore Crawler, a massive machine designed to extract everything from the planet and burn what’s left, it had been said in the Siege of Lothal that the Empire was bleeding the planet dry to fuel it’s factories.

The machines themselves are operated by the Mining Guild, but have communication with the empire, but it means we don’t see much imperial activity in this episode, which I guess helps since it doesn’t bring the Empire and Rukh down on them just yet.

We get a return (already) from Vizago, who I must apologise is not voiced by Steve Blum, it’s actually Keith Szarabajka, who incidentally played Ronin in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, among a bunch of slaves on the crawler. There are only 2 mining guild officers on board, which seems kinda dumb to me but whatever. The first off is the strong one which serves for a nice fight with Zeb, although Kanan saying Zeb was heavy wants me to do another star wars clip with Yoda saying size and weight don’t matter.

The other pilot is the annoying one, who naturally Ezra gets to fight, but never using the force and being surprisingly calm about how he’s brutally killed in the end… This show has some f*cked up morals is all I’m saying.

There’s not much more I can say against the A-plot, if you’re not a part of the rebels family, you’ve been shafted in this episode.

So, meanwhile Hera arrives at Yavin IV with the data from the TIE Defender elite, if you’re reminded of a scene in Rogue One, you’re not alone. I’d argue Hera is probably better suited to making this speech since she’s spent her life in the rebellion. I will get to Rogue One eventually, suffice it to say, it’s highly flawed.

But unlike in Rogue One, she actually manages to convince people to make an attack on Lothal, and it’s the mid-season finale next week so we’ll see how it goes.

Rating 7/10

Rebel Assault

Who would’ve thought sending 24 fighters against an entire fleet of Star Destroyers could’ve ended any other way?

OK, so in this episode, it’s time for a rebel attack on the imperial factories, an attack that’s doomed to fail because the Rebellion didn’t have the balls to send in any of its larger ships to lay down cover fire. Maybe they knew they needed a strike team rather than a major assault given the size of Thrawn’s fleet but they were easily defeated with, as far as I’ve seen, only 3 survivors out of 24 (which is still miraculous)

OK goody, what rebels season 4 really needs right now, another new character! I don’t care about him so I’m not going to bother explaining what he does in this episode, it really isn’t much anyway. Hera and Chopper demonstrate their comradery and experience.

I really don’t have a lot to say about this episode, it’s interesting that Thrawn was willing to fire on a commander that disobeyed him and I like that he had the situation well in hand, although again, he was only up against 24 fighters (x-wings, y-wings, whatever, they’re no match for Star Destroyers) only got to see 1 TIE Defender, making me wonder what the factory’s actually been up to since the last time we saw it.

Also, more of the Lothwolves, always welcome additions to the episode. They continue to talk to Kanan and really, they just remind you that they exist.

Also, it’s one of the more story heavy mid-season finales, telling me we’re going to be on Lothal for the long haul, probably till season’s end, which means we’re probably not gonna see much of Kallus or Rex now, which is some wasted potential but there are certainly other characters that could use the focus right now.

Whilst a good mid-season finale it doesn’t offer me a lot of substance to analyse, there’s not much in terms of character depth or really a lot of narrative progression. Still, it provided some decent space battles, it’s another decent showing from Thrawn and even Ryuk shines a bit as he fights against Hera.

Rating 7.5/10