I’m sure most of you who follow my Star Wars Rebels recaps will have noticed my absence for the last few months. I am currently in the middle of my last semester of college, so I haven’t had time to do much writing recently, and my recaps have fallen by the wayside. I haven’t even had time to watch the episodes! I’m hoping to change that right now, with another recap roundup of the last few months’ worth of episodes. I’ll be watching them and writing my thoughts as I go, and I’m hoping to catch up in time for the show’s return on the 18th.

Okay, now that we have the tedious explanations out of the way, let’s get on to the recaps! We have had an amazing season so far! So many great episodes! I’ve already reviewed the first three, so let’s jump right in with episode four!

“Hera’s Heroes”

I know I’m far from the only one, but the Twi’leks are one of my absolute favorite Star Wars races, so I was psyched that we got another episode focused on Hera’s family. It’s always nice to learn more about the different planets and cultures, so I was really pleased that we got another episode set on Ryloth and, even better, focused on Hera, who is one of my personal favorite characters.

In addition to learning more about Hera and her family, we also get to know more about Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is shaping up to be a formidable foe. Thrawn is quiet and calculating, and he is not fooled for a moment by Hera’s story and Ezra’s costume. I don’t generally feel apprehension while watching most other military leaders in the Empire, but there is something about Thrawn that just gives me a general feeling of unease.

“The Last Battle”

I’ll admit it, I may have geeked out a tiny bit when I heard the distant “Rodger, Rodger,” at the beginning of the episode. I know a lot of people find them annoying, but I’ll always have a soft spot for those skinny, useless, and inept battle droids. I love that we got to see them again, as they all but disappeared after the Clone Wars. I was really pleased with this episode and how they dealt with the past, bringing in the old and mixing it with the new. It was a lot of fun to see the battle droids and destroyers again, and I loved that in the end they all teamed up to take on the Empire. This episode didn’t do much to further the ongoing plot of the season, but it was a fun call-back to the Clone Wars series.

“Imperial Super Commandos”

This episode, like its spiritual predecessor, “The Protector of Concord Dawn”, was a mostly standard episode, with a few memorable moments thrown in. So far I have not really had my imagination captured by the culture of the Mandalorians like so many other Star Wars fans have. Sabine is the only one I really care about, so the episodes that focus on them, for me at least, are a bit forgettable. I had to use Wookieepedia to remind me who Fenn Rau was, and I had to go back to my previous reviews to make sure I’d seen the episode he was featured in. I had, I’d just forgotten it.

That being said, this was not a bad episode. I liked Rau’s slow transition from enemy to ally, and I loved the areal jetpack/dogfight sequence. There was a lot of great small moments in this one, but I have a feeling that it’s not going to be one of the most memorable overall for me.

“Iron Squadron”

I hate to sound negative, but this episode really felt like filler to me. I think I’ve said it before, but I’m not usually a fan of “kid” characters. They always seem like a cheap device to appeal to child-aged viewers. It took Ezra almost two full seasons to grown on me, so it might be awhile before I become a fan of any new ones. It is possible that these new characters, Commander Sato’s nephew, Mart, and his crew, Gootie, Jonner, and R3-A3, will be used as part of the greater plot later on, but so far I guess I haven’t gotten to know about them enough to actually care about them. I did like Gootie, but I have a feeling that was only because I really like her design. I don’t think I would like her as much if she was just a human. All in all, this was not a bad episode, but it wasn’t one of Rebel’s best. I will say, though, that I am quite intrigued by the implied connection between Sato and Thrawn. They seem to have a history and I will be interested to find out more about it.

“The Wynkahthu Job”

Okay, I knew I would like this one before I’d even watched it. Hondo is one of my favorite recurring characters, and any episode he is in is bound to be hilarious. He’s kind of an awful person, but just so funny that I can’t help but like him. The fact that he partnered with Azmorigan only made the dynamic of the episode that much more entertaining, and Azmorigan’s act of “heroism” was pretty hilarious. This episode was one of my favorite of the last few, with the funny dialogue, the tense moments, and great action. Everything worked together to create a really solid episode.

Now, in honor of Hondo’s return, I’m going to do something I haven’t done in one of my reviews in a long time. A favorite quotes section. And you may have guessed this, but they are all Hondo quotes.

“We have something in our favor, that the Empire does not! For we are desperate!”

“Some of the truth is better than none of the truth, which is what you used to get, so don’t try and tell me that I have not grown!”

“Oh no! He must have fallen to his doom. Well, I shall spend his share wisely. In his honor. Let’s go!”

“An Inside Man”

I knew it! As soon as I saw the title, I knew that we’d finally find out who was behind Fulcrum 2.0, and I was not disappointed! I had been holding on to a tiny sliver of hope that Ahsoka was back, but I knew that was a long shot and the second option was almost as good!

Ever since last season’s “The Honorable Ones”, I have been hoping for redemption for Agent Kallus. That episode showed us that he wasn’t completely terrible and there was still a chance for him. With the revelation that he is Fulcrum my hopes were vindicated, but now I have someone new to worry about! Back when I started hoping for his redemption, he was practically the big man in charge and there wasn’t much danger for him. If he had defected back then, then he’d probably have been fine. At this point he’s in huge danger, since he now not only answers to Governor Pryce, but to Thrawn himself! Kallus is in it deep now and, if he’s exposed, there is little hope of him making it out of this alive. In fact, I am willing to bet that he will not make it. I have a feeling that he’ll be dead before the series is over, if not the season. I hope not, but I really don’t see this ending well for him.

“Visions and Voices”

Holy cow, was this a good episode. The episodes featuring the Nightsisters of Dathomir were some of my favorite episodes of Clone Wars, so it was so great to have them back, even if it was just in ghost form. I really hate that they all had to be wiped out, and I am still hoping that some of them may have escaped somewhere. They were just too good a species to have them just go basically extinct.

It was also great to see Bendu and Maul again, but their lack of interaction makes me wonder about Bendu. Is he real? Maul did not seem to be able to see him, and he disappeared soon after Maul showed up, so does that mean that only Kanan and Ezra can see him? Is he a physical creature, or a manifestation of the force? I always assumed he was a giant creature, but that scene made me wonder. Bendu is still such an enigma, we literally know next to nothing about him.

“Ghosts of Geonosis”

Ever since I heard that the Geonosians had been wiped out, I hoped that they had somehow survived. Yeah, they were kind of terrible, the species as a whole was one of the main antagonists of Episode II, not to mention the fact that they were one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Death Star, but like I said in my review of the previous episode about the Nightsisters, they were just too good a species to just have them go extinct. However, as it turns out, they’re not completely extinct, and they may not even be all bad after all!

I really liked the character of Klik-Klak and, unlike most every other character in the show, I was actually fearful for his life. I am basically assured that all the main characters are going to make it, at least until a season or series finale, but with Klik-Klak, I truly thought that Saw Gerrera was going to kill him or destroy his egg. I was so happy that he at least had a (hopefully) happy ending.

Which brings us to Saw. I didn’t care much for Saw Gerrera in Rogue One, and it has been years since I saw him in Clone Wars, so I can’t say how I felt about him back then, but this episode did little to make me like the guy. He was one of the most unlikable characters there has been in awhile, which I suppose is a good thing because many of the other antagonists in Rebels, save for big bads like Darth Vader or Thrawn, do little to bring out any actual emotions in me. Saw brought forth genuine dislike from me and made me fear for poor little Klik-Klak, so I have to say good job to the writers for writing such a nuanced, realistic character. I don’t like him, but he is a great character.

“Warhead”

Well this was certainly a surprising episode for me. If I were to rank all the Rebels characters from favorite to least favorite, Chopper and Zeb would probably be at the bottom. I don’t dislike them, but if they are featured too much, I tend to get a bit bored. There are exceptions however, and this episode is one of them!

When I first realized that Zeb and Chopper, along with AP-5, were going to be pretty much the only characters in the episode, I was a bit disappointed. I like them well enough, but I knew I was going to miss the rest of the team. I ended up really liking it, though, and the dynamic between these three characters is actually really good! I was quite entertained by all their bickering, and I kind of love the anti-R2-D2/C3-PO vibe that Chopper and AP-5 have.

The episode itself was exciting and tense, and felt at times to almost be a horror movie, replacing a murderer and their victims with droids, especially when they kept finding the desiccated droids with oil leaking out. I thought it was kind of genius.

“Trials of the Darksaber”

This was such a great episode. Sabine was already a great character, but they are just bringing so much more to her! I loved every moment in this episode, from the backstory of the Darksaber to the great training sequences. I said before in my review of “Imperial Super Commandos”, that I just haven’t really been drawn in by the Mandalorian storylines thus far, but this episode totally changed that for me! I am now all in! I loved the backstory of the Madalorian Jedi, and how his unique lightsaber became a sacred artifact. And now with Sabine’s destiny tied in so deeply with the Mandalorians, I am eager to see where this goes.

Also, on an almost completely unrelated note, I am now even more intrigued by Bendu than before! I kept thinking I was seeing him in the backdrops of the episode, but then when he turned around completely unnoticed by Sabine? I just want to know more! I still want to know if anyone else can see him, and I want to know if he has an ultimate purpose in the story. So far he has been a great plot device and a great character, but will there be more to him later? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Final Thoughts

Well I made it! Barely! It took me over a week, but I have caught myself up and I am ready for new episodes, starting tonight! From here on out, I am going to try to make time to get my reviews done in a timelier manner. School will have to be my priority of course, so I might have to double up once in a while, but I am going to do my best to be more consistent. I hate being behind, especially when the story is getting this good!

This season has been amazing so far, and I am so excited for what’s next! I can’t wait to see how Sabine’s training turns out, as well as the continuing saga of Maul’s quest for revenge. I am really hoping for an epic rematch between him and Obi-Wan Kenobi and, as much as I have been enjoying his character, I kind of hope that Obi-Wan finishes him off for good. Either way, I’m sure that whatever happens is going to be epic.

What has been your favorite episode of Star Wars Rebels so far? What do you hope to see in the rest of the season?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes