It is fair to say Star Wars Rebels Executive Producer Dave Filoni, will not let this animated series “go out” the way its companion series Star Wars: Clone Wars did. To be sure, after being caught unawares by sudden decision of Disney to pull the plug on Clone Wars, Filoni made the decision himself to end Rebels after its fourth season. In that way, he can have full control over its ending. Judging from the first two episodes of season four, Filoni and his staff are clearly not going to waste time on the “filler” episodes that were common to Clone Wars and previous seasons on Rebels.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!
This season starts off with a bang. Titled “Heroes of Mandalore," the first two episodes of the season focus on one of interesting plot turns of the last season, namely to decision by the Ghost’s veteran crew member Sabine Wren, to leave the Resistance behind and return to her home-world of Mandalore to help her family deal with the Empire and other warring Mandalorian clans. In the process, she comes into possession of Dark Saber, an ancient Mandalorian black lightsaber that Sabine uses to rally her fellow Mandalorians to fight against the Empire.
In the first episode, we find the putative Mandalorian leader Sabine, about to lead an attack on a remote Imperial outpost. Backed by a group of Mandalorian warriors from her clan, as well as Ezra and Kanan, the goal of the mission to rescue Sabine’s father who was captured by Empire and sentenced to execution as a lesson for all those Mandalorians that continue to resist.
Soon after breaching the prison, the attackers realize the facility is empty but before they can leave, Imperial forces under the command Mandalorian turncoat Lord Saxon counter-attack. Saxon wants to capture Sabine, which we later learn is due to her technical knowledge of a weapon she developed for the Empire while a cadet at the Imperial Academy. Outnumbered and outgunned, Sabine and her team seem headed for a sure defeat. However, just as the Imperial forces are moving in for the kill, former Mandalorian regent Lady Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze arrives and saves the day, at least temporarily.
The battle to free Sabine’s father is basically the focus of the remainder of the episode as well as the main story of the second episode. There are some hints on where the season is headed, but I will leave that up to you to see for yourself.
As has been Filoni’s hallmark, the fighting scenes, on their own, are as good a reason to watch the show as any other reason. However, as I wrote in the preview, it is the stories and character development that really sets Star Wars Rebels apart from other animated series, as well as the other Star Wars movies. There seems to be no change in quality so far this season. That bodes well for the likelihood of a “hold on to the edge of your seat” visual journey to the end.
What did you think of the first two episodes?
Written by lao.san on Oct 19, 2017
i found them absolutely lovely.