Week 10: Season 2, Episodes 16-19

Homecoming is pretty enjoyable, I think Hera has a pretty intriguing backstory and I kind of want to read New Dawn at some point that takes place before Rebels. Cham has a decent model and he’s fits well into the show given Hera’s identity. I’m not too surprised to see Goebie but I was surprised on my first watch that they used Numa, kind of a cool connection there with The Clone Wars. I like that Hera used her real accent in the chat with her father, a nice touch sounded a bit like Aayla.


I honestly really wished they went more aggressive with the whole Kanan and Hera relationship before season 4, I found the whole Kanan trying to look good for girlfriends father trope to be a little amusing but it reminded me that they should have pushed their relationship more.

So many episodes starting with a space battle is getting a little annoying but tbh most Star Wars media starts in space so it’s not that odd I guess, just makes the empire look bad here.

Anyways this episode sets up a decent starting point for the other Ryloth stuff we get later on and it gave us some good insight into Hera, I’ll say 7/10. The plot with the carrier was lacking a bit here.

The Honorable Ones is surprisingly really good imo... I’ve always liked this episode. Kallus just seems like a standup bad guy before this point and Zeb in season 1 seemed like a standard tough muscle guy but here it really opens up the characters. This episode is also pretty damn unique in that you have a member of both sides coming together. It’s honestly something we didn’t get in TCW unless you want to count Padme and Mina Bontari but those were politicians and these are soldiers.

I’ll admit the first 5 minutes are not amazing, some standard generic action but the dialogue was however intriguing we learn a bit in Rebels how the Empire was using Geonosis for The Death Star and then killed the population to keep it secret. Mind you this is also still before Rogue One at this point in the timeline so the only stuff about The Death Star in the new canon would have come from the Tarkin novel which I do believe mentions the Geonosians being wiped out. The season 3 mid season premiere where we visit Geonosis again is right after the Rogue One theatrical release for reference.


Anyways like I was getting it all the Dialogue with Kallus and Zeb was great and within 15 minutes they do a good job developing that relationship and giving us insight on their back stories. Honestly I think I’m just gonna give this episode a 9/10.... it might be more like an 8 but I feel like this one is better than other episodes I’ve given an 8. Good character development here by Rebels standards.

Think this is my 4th 9 I’ve given (Path of the Jedi, Fire Across the Galaxy, Future of the Force).

Ok Shroud of Darkness is near flawless... like I said I love that there’s no filler here and it gets right into the action that sets up the plot of the episode. Ahsoka being a focus is a positive and honestly I kind of like that we get to see the Lothal temple again.

I’ll get it right out of the way... Yes Yoda’s model isn’t great but it’s not as odd as Hondos imo. Also I actually like that Yoda is projecting himself on a Dagobah log it seems. Rebels has odd animation, I kind of just noticed at the end there that those dust particles and what not when the temple is coming down are actually pretty good, I don’t even remember seeing stuff like that in the earlier seasons of TCW yet Rebels has some awkward models. Idk maybe the models aren’t even *that* bad and are more just stylistic choices for the animation.


Now onto everything else, I’m pretty sure the prevalent theory (perhaps even confirmed at some point?) is that every vision is orchestrated by Yoda. So Yoda is the one making Kanan a Jedi Knight and Yoda is the one showing Ahsoka the truth. I’m still curious even after the season is over why exactly Yoda directs Ezra to Malachor, I’m assuming it was to find Maul? But I have no idea why he would do that, I’m gonna have to wait for Twilight of the Apprentice next week and revisit this question but I can’t remember at the moment.

Anakin cameo is cool, his clothing is kind of weird and we never saw Anakin training people much but it was still pretty nice to hear his voice and it wasn’t misplaced. Oh and I didn’t mind the break from the rest of the Ghost crew. The little touch with Ahsoka seeing Yoda at the end was nice as well.


Honestly I knew this was a potential candidate for this... but I’m going to give my first 10/10. I really like this episode, there’s almost nothing here that goes to waste and looking back at some of the episodes I gave a 10 to in TCW I think it’s justified for this one. Like I was thinking there’s probably only like 1-3 episodes that we’re gonna get a 10 from me in Rebels, one of them is later on but it’s almost certain it will, the other maybe but not sure. This one along with a couple others I was thinking were candidates.

The Forgotten Droid is a step down from the previous two episodes. It introduces AP5 who will be around for the rest of the show and he’s honestly kind of amusing and a welcome addition to the crew every now and then. His dynamic with Chopper this episode was kind of fun, I prefer droids like AP5 over something like WAC at least. Essentially they wanted to give Chopper is own 3PO I guess.

The base for Season 3 finally gets established this episode which I guess is the biggest outcome, but overall I didn’t really need a character development episode for Chopper I don’t think. Just like I didn’t need most of the droid episodes in TCW.

Hmm I think I’m gonna give this one a 4/10, I’m pretty sure I rated Mercy Mission lower than that but this episode here actually gives us a new kind of cool character and finally gets a base. So it’s more relevant than Mercy Mission.

Shroud of Darkness

Pretty cool. I haven't seen TROS yet but the beginning planet kinda looked like Exegol from how it did in the trailers. The Anakin hologram was cool but why did he look so bad lol. Was it that hard to just give him his regular look? They did for Obi-Wan. Yoda also looked (and sounded sorry Frank Oz) pretty terrible... It was interesting seeing the Grand inquisitor. But him foreshadowing Ezra turning to the dark side was pretty random... Nothing so far has indicated a growing darkness in Ezra. Also is this the first time we hear them call Vader by his name? How do they know his name would've been a lot more interesting to see them learn it. Ahsoka was great here she feels severely underutilized in the show. What is the point of her being here she has done absolutely nothing. I'd rather watch her trying to find out what happened to Anakin than see these fools dick around. Additionally I find it hard to believe the two inquisitors are able to find the Jedi so quickly wherever they go. No need to explain that though.....


Forgotten Droid

You know I was just getting sick of those half way decent episodes and really felt like we needed a shitty one to remind us that we're truly watching Star Wars: Rebels. Fuck you for making this Dave instead of having Ahsoka do something useful or explaining where the FUCK Wolffe and Gregor are........ Chopper is the absolute worst fucking droid in all of Star Wars. I hate him. I think I hate him more than I hate Ezra cringelord Bridger. Why do you even want that leg Chopper you are an ugly droid anyway. That is like buying new shoes because you think it will make you attractive or something. Seriously though why the hell is chopper so weird... Why is he half the size of a regular astromech we've never seen any other astromech like that. Idk I don't care. Fuck Chopper

Based off memory alone, Shroud of Darkness was probably one of the top 5 episodes of Rebels for me. Hopefully I'll still feel that way when I get around to watching it again.

I really enjoy The Honorable Ones. It's definitely a standout among S2, and the concept sticks out among even the stronger installments. The intro throws us into a more interesting entanglement with the Rebels and Empire, and about a third of the way into the episode, we get to focus on Zeb and Kallus. When first watching this years ago, I didn't expect to enjoy their chemistry, but something about it works very well. I think part of it is how they have an indirectly connected history due to Kallus and his dealings with other Lasat.

The ice moon cave presents a nice setting for these two to cooperate for survival. The scenes don't drag, and they aren't rushed either. The development we get for two-thirds of an episode is actually quite impressive. Some parts are a little cliche, but it's all very enjoyable nonetheless.

I also like the hints of what has happened on Geonosis, something we explore further next season. Good continuity in that regard.

This is a solid 8/10 for me.

There's honestly no need to have an episode like The Forgotten Droid. The previous two episodes were very good, and it felt like the season was really on an upward swing. But then this episode takes away all that momentum and gives us development for Chopper and AP-5. In some moments, AP-5 is actually fine, but that doesn't mean I want an entire episode centered around him.

I know the purpose of this episode is to establish where the new base will be, but I'm not really sure that warrants an episode, regardless of the droid focus. It's obvious filler until we reach the finale. 4/10.

Homecoming was pretty good, certainly by Rebels standards. It was cool to get Cham even if his design took some getting used to. It’s a little bit annoying with each episode starting the same way, in the middle of a repetitive, tensionless skirmish with the Empire, ending in about thirty seconds, and then unnatural exposition about the actual plot of the episode. Like I’m starting to see why TCW used an opening narration instead.

Anyway this felt like a sequel to Liberty on Ryloth which is a good. This episode did an admirable job of giving Hera more depth. In that aspect it feels like a much improved version of Blood Sisters.

The plot was a little all over the place though and the poignancy of Hera and Cham was lost somewhere in there. Like it did say something but that got lost in the chaos.

I’d say 6.5/10.

The Honorable Ones is a pretty good episode. It’s pretty clear early on where the episode is gonna go but it does a solid job in getting there. The convos between Zeb and Kallus were well done.

And liked how they hinted at additional conflict instead of just resolving it all at once.

7.5/10

Every episode feels like I’m starting it halfway through. The beginning of this episode feels like an ending.

Like imagine if a TCW episode started with Obi-Wan casually fighting Darth Maul, getting away, and then starting another plot. Really would make fighting Darth Maul feel a lot less powerful.

And Yoda looks creepier than Gollum.