Week 7: Season 2, Episodes 5-8

Oh it’s a rough one.... bad week here boys.

There’s a week in season 3 that will be worse, but not much to see in this batch

Bruh it get worse many times after this lol

Wings of the Master

Another episode without Ahsoka, Wolffe, and Gregor. Where are these guys was it that hard to just stick them in the background or have one small scene that could write them out of the show? Well regardless of that I liked this one. Not all that much to say. It was pretty cool showing the origin of the B-Wing. What little we saw of Shantipole makes it seem like a cool planet. I do think the B-Wing's laser was kind of OP though... One starfighter able to take out a heavy cruiser in one shot is a bit unrealistic. Maybe it doesn't make it into the final design though. Just one minor thing about this episode however. So those Corellian freighters they have. Aren't they called blockade runners.... Lmao


Blood Sisters

Bad episode. Back to cringey annoying characters.

Definitely not looking forward to this...

Brothers of the Broken Horn is better than I remembered. While Hondos appearance is kind of atrocious he still has the same attitude/ personality and it’s not unbelievable he no longer has a crew/ following given most of his exploits in TCW were incredibly high risk, reckless, and honestly didn’t pay off too much. Hondo definitely seems in his element here as a solo practitioner and it’s probably what he was doing before he had a crew anyways.

The Ezra and Hondo dynamic seems pretty cool, honestly it’s better than Ezra and some of the ghost crew. I also agree with Ezras end line that he likely would have fit in with Hondo given he’s kind of a drifter. I also liked Hondos mentions of his past experiences with Jedi and how he alluded to his relationship with Kenobi. Oh and I like the continuation from the previous episode where Ezra was better learning to levitate objects and we see that on display here. Always some great subtle nods in this show in regards to Ezras progress.

The plot it’s kind of decent, but Chopper just acts totally overkill in this episode and while I don’t mind the concept of him shooting blasters... his hands or whatever weren’t even on the trigger lol. Also there was a semi decent variety of locations in this episode.

I’ll say 7/10, not great but nothing I totally dislike either other than Hondos appearance but I can’t rail on that too much, different animation and all and it’s not like Hondo is a character you probably feel obligated to perfect unlike Vader or Maul.

Blood Sisters is boring, perhaps it’s not terrible but it just doesn’t interest me. I think Ketsu is just an unneeded character and we are gonna barely see her again after this. I’m not sure if she’s Lux Bontari bad but she reminds me of him, a character that makes little appearances and is overall kind of annoying. Yeah we already know Sabine was at the imperial academy, we probably could have guessed she was a bounty hunter for awhile as well.

I’m glad Sabine’s season 3 and 4 arc is way better than this. In season 3 and 4 her and Ezra almost become co-protagonists at times although I still feel Ezras story carries more weight probably cause it’s connected to Kanan heavily.

The R2 cameo is cool, the planet at the end visually actually looks pretty awesome. Has a nice charm to it even for Rebels animation and we only get to see it for 30 seconds... anyways I’m going to say 3/10 I think this was my least favorite episode to date. I preferred fighter flight because it had some continuation of Ezras abilities.

But sadly this is not the worst episode in the show...

Maybe like I just wish Rex were in a different place emotionally. He's been through a lot of shit and maybe it would have been cool to see him kinda having lost his way and them needing to bring him back. Like maybe he had become a mercenary or something and was disillusioned with the idea of fighting for a cause.

It feels like they could have done more with him.

Always Two There Are was actually pretty good. Definitely better than I was expecting, even if the title kinda means the opposite of what happens in the episode. (Rule of two my ass)

But the two new inquisitors definitely weren't as cringe as I expected, though the orc looking one clearly isn't brightest bulb. The setting was pretty good, and the dialogue was surprisingly good considering all four of these characters annoyed the fuck out of me last season. Nothing amazing but a solid introduction to the Season 2 baddies. And glad they're not overusing Vader.

7/10.

God Hondo looks weird as fuck

Ok yeah Brothers of the Broken Horn was alright too. But somehow felt really basic and all over the place at the same time. Just like a lot of stuff we saw in Season 1, it just wasn't structured that well. Things just kinda happened.

I agree that Hondo was a bit too nice here. As jarring as it was to have Hondo switch back and forth between roles in Season 5, the writers seem to forget that he was the villain in 5 of his 9 TCW appearances. He should have a bit of an edge to him and not just be this uber-positive guy. I do like Ezra getting a bit more mature. At the beginning of the episode he was a bit whiny but he moved past that pretty quick and was alright for the rest of it.

Definitely not a great episode. About on the same level of Idiot's Array, so it gets a 6/10.

It's a little all over the place, but Brothers of the Broken Horn doesn't fall flat for me. Hondo's design is definitely awful, but at least his dialogue remained as good as it was in TCW. As for his personality and current disposition in the galaxy... I'm kind of torn. I don't hate that he's now a loner and nicer to people, but I'm not a huge supporter of that change in direction either.

Even though this episode doesn't make me like Azmorigan any more than before, at least he doesn't feel out of place with this story. Too much was probably packed into these 22 mins, but it still executes the ideas well enough.

I'm tempted to rate it lower, but I'll go ahead with 7/10.

Got to watch Wings of the Master on the plane and yeah, one of the most basic and predictable episodes of the show, which saying a lot. I'm not a fan of the cold opens on this show. I guess they're supposed to me hyped and shit but they do the opposite usually.

Best part of the episode was Hera reflecting on Ryloth. Really like that. But aside that, not too much. There's no tension in the story and we know exactly what will happen. and honestly the B-wing is really OP.

One piece of dialogue that cracked me up was Kallus saying "their weakness is that they want to help people in need." Like come on, who talks like that? Does he seriously just hate people? Idk.

Pretty lame and tame. 4.5/10.

"You'd be better ooff dead than working for this band of Rebels"

I mean, true.

Perhaps this is a case of low expectations but I didn't find it all that bad. Was it good? No. But it wasn't unwatchable. Not the worst thing I've seen from this show, or even from this batch of episodes.

That being said, I do have some big problems with it. Sabine and Onyo sounds like it should be interesting. It's a fine idea on paper: Sabine having an old friend who betrayed her. But unfortunately, they really do nothing with it, which is a shame. This could have been a Gamora/Nebula type deal that could last the whole show, but they wrap it all up here in a lame and unconvincing way. If they teamed up purely for necessity and then went their separate ways, it would have been fine. But no, by the end of the episode they're bffs and it's all good. Like why? Getting rid of potential future conflict is just lame for long-form storytelling. And here it is really unearned. They just neuter what could have been a really cool rivalry, solely for a weak message about always "trusting your sister."

Rebels revels in killing plotlines that could be interesting. It just feels like a cowardly show that doesn't have much trust in its audience. You can leave somethings morally ambiguous. Not everyone needs to end the episode as a clear good person or bad person. Save it for later. This is a major problem I have with the show. They take characters that sound interesting on paper and make them not that way. Rex, a soldier who found out his entire existence was built on an evil plot, would be warranted in questioning who he is and wanting to leave his soldier life behind. But no, he's exactly the same and is eager to be a good guy. This show could do so much more with its character if it just had some balls.

Personally, I would have used Onyo to being out a new side of Sabine. Make her angry, hurt, furious at the sight of the person who left her for dead. Make her refuse to forgive this person who did so much to her. And maybe eave it ambiguous what exactly happened, so much that she refuses to talk about it. And don't resolve it in this one. Yes, that would make Sabine less than virtuous, but it would also make her 10x more interesting and relatable. But I guess they might not sell as many toys if she has some hidden darkness to her.

Wow I didn't mean to hate on this one as much as I did but this show can really frustrate me. Like come on, writers. You're playing in the Star Wars galaxy. You could do anything, something new, something unique. But instead you just turn in this lame old shit that no one will remember.

Ok moving on. Ezra felt pretty wasted in this one. I'm not really sure what happened to him after Sabine left but whatever. It's strange how unimportant Rex and Ahsoka feel. Along with Vader, they were the season's selling points. As it is, this season hasn't been the improvement I hoped for when we got off Lothal. Every episode opens like a video game mission and then is just as well plotted. I feel like we still don't know much about the dynamic of the Rebel Alliance and that's kind of odd. The characters were struggling at the beginning of the season at the idea of becoming soldiers. But so far it doesn't feel like they are. Yeah, they are doing stuff for the Rebellion, but the stuff they're doing isn't much more interesting than what they did last season. They still just feel like "The Ghost Crew" which I admit I don't love.

I'm not gonna bomb this episode's score. 4/10. It was fine, watchable, which is pretty much all Rebels seems to aspire to be. And that's a damn shame. It's hard to believe Filoni is behind this, because it lacks the passion of TCW. I guess that was something he really wanted to do and this is just something he was assigned to do.

This show could be so much more. But just like seemingly all of Disney Star Wars, it settles for "fine"