Star Wars Rebels season 4 episodes 10-11 review - Jedi Night/DUME

It was inevitable that this was going to happen eventually, and I can’t talk about this episode and especially not the next one without spoiling it, so heads up guys

Jedi Night

So, after 3 and a half seasons of being the leader of the rebels, Kanan Jarrus aka Caleb Dume gives his life in the service of his family. And the episode ends with a white logo and a silent credit sequence in tribute to him.

In a bid to rescue Hera, Kanan, Ezra and Sabine sneak into the Imperial base, but the Rukh on the prowl and governor price determined to break her, will they make it in time? Well, no not entirely as I just mentioned how this all ends

But I do have some things to go over. I like the interrogation scene, I like how Thrawn asked her about the art in a kinda good cop/bad cop routine with Governor Price. I like how she reacted with the drug administered by the probe droid. Her voice actor, Vanessa Marshall was very good here, making Hera sound different yet still like herself.

Rukh is less impressive if I’m honest, he drives Pryce out of her office so Kanan can rescue her and doesn’t really stand against Kanan at all, not that I expected him too but still. I liked the idea of using a low-tech glider to pass through the imperial defences.

I liked how they used Governor Tarkin in this episode and how this brings in the Emperor for the end of the season. I liked that Tarkin said he preferred the Defender project over Stardust which helps elaborate things in Rogue One. I also like that Hera finally says ‘I love you’ to Kanan on screen

But I have a couple of critiques. Kanan gives Ezra charge of the rescue, because he is too distracted by his feelings for her. But why Ezra though? I feel he’s the focus of far too much of the show as it is and honestly Zeb and Sabine or more capable field leaders. 

I guess it was also a little heavy on the foreshadowing. I know a lot of people like it but I think Kanan briefly getting his sight back before his death was a bit much

Star Wars Rebels delivers it’s first major tragedy and he goes out well.

Rating 8/10

DUME

When you think about it, how often has Star Wars in general (maybe in the books) ever properly dealt with grief? It didn’t happen much in the Clone Wars, certainly never happened in the movies, despite plenty of people dying. There’s always something more to get done but here, the rebels actually have some downtime and we can deal with some character stuff

Unfortunately, most of the supporting cast are, once again, relegated to the background as the focus is on 3 different parts of the family. Sabine and Zeb are angry and want to take revenge on the Empire, Ezra is scared as hell and tries to look for answers on his own, Hera is clearly devastated and blames her actions, dragging him into the war, and not telling him she loves her until it was too late.

Governor Pryce tries to cover up the fact that she just ordered the fuel depot blown up by throwing a parade to celebrate the death of Kanan. Unfortunately for her, Grand Admiral Thrawn is not impressed. I think he may have seen Hera as a greater threat as it is, and of course the destruction of the depot is probably the reason the Emperor gives the green-light to project Stardust instead of the TIE defenders. I find it quite amusing her determination to capture or kill the rebels lead to them actually accomplishing what the rebels had set out to do. Governor Pryce certainly doesn’t have the tactical genius that Thrawn does.

Rukh is in this episode and provides the only real action scene in the movie, he goes out showing he’s capable fighter but no match for both Zeb and Sabine combined. I say goes out, he’s still alive but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last we saw of him. Rukh was not impressive pretty much from the start. I get what they were going for but they desperately needed some redshirts he could kill off.

Ezra’s lost arc is the one that helps cement the direction the show’s gonna go in for the next few episodes. I don’t have a lot to say other than the Lothwolves exist, thanks for reminding me, episode! Still, I’m interested to see what going back to the Jedi Temple accomplishes this time, since the jedi temple episodes in previous seasons were pretty good.

Whilst you don’t see a lot of Hera, it’s nice her actually get something that resembles character growth, looking and reflecting on decisions she’d made and questioning whether they were right. Zeb and Sabine’s was the least interesting from a narrative standpoint but provided the episode’s action, and confirmed to the rebels that they hit the fuel depot

This is a largely character-focused episode and it does well for it, I’m looking forward to where it goes next.

Rating 8/10