Week 8: Season 2, Episodes 9-11

These are actually pretty good episodes, Stealth Strike is probably in my top 10 best from memory.

Legacy

Oh yeah I forgot about the thing with Ezra's parents. And it felt like the writers did too lol. It was like they originally had other plans but decided against expanding on them and just wanted to wrap up the arc as quickly as possible. Ezra is so fucking annoying here which makes this a terrible episode. Like just shut up spaz... Also Wolffe and Gregor where? I also wouldn't have minded a little explanation of where Ahsoka fucks off to every time. Yet Rex always makes it into at least one scene...

I got episode 4 Kenobi vibes when Ezra was sneaking around, and Malevolence vibes when the ship was destroyed.

Chopper was overly silly in stealth strike, he could have killed Ezra

The Future of the Force might be top 3 for season 2. The force/ Jedi plots are always the best in the show (Path of the Jedi in season 1) at least until Thrawn shows up, he has some good imperial plots as well. I like how this episode gave us a good mix of perspective, not always focusing on the good guys but we get to see quite a few scenes focused on Inquisitors as well, a trend that continues into season 3 giving us more perspectives on the imperials.

The planet in this episode was a nice setting and a pretty cool change of pace from the settings we normally see. It’s also nice that it’s a one off location that I’m pretty sure we don’t see again, Rebels often reuses locations a lot. The plot is similar to Children of the Force and I actually really like that aspect, it makes it seem like Sidious actions during TCW actually had more purpose and it’s cool that it kind of reinforces the idea that Sidious wanted inquisitors even before the Jedi were dead.

The fight at the end with Ahsoka was definitely the best part, although she should have been trying to kill the inquisitors, idk she makes a lot of comments in Rebels about “I’m no longer a Jedi” but doesn’t always act like that, maybe she just takes a moral high ground still.

Anyways I’ll say 9/10, nothing really wrong here imo and it advances the main plot of season 2 which for the most part is pretty Jedi vs Sith related.

Legacy is decent but The Future of the Force would have been a better mid season finale. I can see why they choose Legacy though, I almost feel like it marks the turning point from the more childish season 1 to a somewhat more mature season 2.5, 3 and 4. Now that Ezra has put his parents behind him it also puts his past behind him I guess.

I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot to say, I guess it was necessary to wrap up Ezras parents plot line but at the same time it’s not all that interesting, there is some decent character development for Ezra and Kanan in this episode though. And at this point until the end of the show appearances on Lothal can be few and far in between so it no longer becomes annoying to see it imo.

Anyways I’ll say 7/10, nothing terrible but nothing amazing either.

Began Stealth Strike. Pretty solid so far. Thought it was cool that they mentioned Cody. It would be awesome if he were an admiral or something now and met Rex later on. Not sure the Empire would allow that though.

I really don't like the whole hat-covered officers that all have the same face. It feels really lazy and cartoony. I guess TCW had the advantage here because everyone could look the same and it wasn't out of place.

Yeah that was a pretty good episode. Don't want to go over the top and call it amazing, just because after one that just pissed me off. But definitely a step in the right direction. I like that they actually continued a conflict from a previous episode. That was good and proper use of long form storytelling.

The beginnings of the episodes are always a little wonky, aren't they? I guess it's because this show uses the pre-title scene. Not bad, but the lead-ins are sometimes a little rushed. It's kind of like if in "The Ciadel" we got a 90-second sequence of Even Piell's ship under attack, him and Tarkin agreeing to memorize the info, and then being captured. An odd case where I'd rather just hear what the conflict is rather than see it play out on fast forward.

Moving along, I thought this episode finally did Rex justice. I liked the callbacks and thought his convo with the Admiral was pretty good(no idea how that man survived at the end). I'll say though that the episode was pretty devoid of tension. I like that Ezra is slowly becoming more confident but that brings more forced stormtrooper incompetence.

Spark of Rebellion, Part 1 actually did a really good job with ramping up the the tension and making the Empire seem frightening. I kinda hoped we would see that carried through Season 2 but it disappeared pretty quickly.

The final scene anyway was really cool. Animated very well and a cool way for them to escape. This was a good episode. 7/10.

Liking Episode 10 so far. Has a good vibe to it.

I hope Ahsoka will feature more in the rest of the season (I know she disappears at the end) because her relationship with everyone feels really underdeveloped.

Oh come on

Hmm? I’m pretty sure the new season is based more on the Rebels design tbh

Stealth Strike is a really fun episode. The intro feels pretty intense and sets up a nice story. Kanan and Rex are what make this episode for me. If this had just been a rescue mission by the Ghost crew, it would've been fine, but pretty average. Instead, we get to see Kanan and Rex really develop their relationship, and I think it works well.

The setting of the Star Destroyer adds to the entertainment, and I appreciate that we're introduced to another admiral via Brom Titus. Something about his voice sounds funny to me, but I like the character overall.

This stands out as one of the stronger episodes to date. 8/10.

Legacy kind of feels like two episodes merged into one. The first half deals with the aftermath of the Inquisitors learning of the rebels hiding out on Garel. I appreciate this having immediate consequences versus not having any impact until several episodes later. Yet although the Empire drove away the rebels, it didn't feel quite as dire as I think it should have.

Seeing Ezra go through more personal revelations in the second half is nice, even though I don't care a whole bunch about this stuff. It more or less feels like the writers are going through the motions to develop Ezra, but not in the most interesting manner. However, Ryder Azadi is a cool character to introduce that provides some fresh air to the main ensemble.

It's a pretty average episode overall and like Newan said, the show begins to mature more from this point. 7/10.