REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "A Princess on Lothal"
Well after a month-long hiatus, Star Wars Rebels is back with a pretty good midseason premiere. It has some flaws, but it also surprised me in some areas as well.
The episode starts out with Hera informing Kanan that Bail Organa is dropping up relief ships to Lothal for them. Who is giving these ships to the Rebels? Why, it's none other than Princess Leia Organa herself. Yes, she was the main spotlight of the episode, but how was she overall? Honestly, she ended up being better than I expected. This Leia is young, around Ezra's age of 15, as she is still learning how to become an effective leader.
What I also liked, and what I think was the best aspect of this episode, was how excellent she was as portraying a double agent. She is still techincally a princess and a member of the Imperial Senate so she still has to keep that persona in check. I thought the show did an excellent job of showing Leia play the Empire into thinking she is a helpless princess, while also working to help the Rebels steal her relief ships from Lothal. It didn't feel forced and the actress who played Leia (Julie Dolan) did a good job portraying the character.
Leia's plan all along was to land the ships as a relief mission for the people of Lothal (which still happens). However, her ultimate goal was to have the Ghost crew "steal" the ships from under her nose to make her and Alderaan seem like innocent victims. The plan goes well until the Imperial officer on the planet locks the ships down with gravity locks and has the area guarded by two AT-ATS. Kanan and Ezra take the princess with them and rescue the former governor of Lothal with help from Hera and the Ghost.
Ok, I have said nothing but praise so far, I have to complain about something. Fine, you got me, the voice acting for the stormtroopers. I've had this opinion for awhile but now this episode has finally made me say it, for the most part, the voice acting for the stormtroopers sucks. The ones voiced by Steve Blum are ok, but the rest are just bad in my opinion. They sound really below par considering that the voice acting for the rest of the characters are really good. Seriously, this episode in particular really highlight how bad the troopers' acting can be.
Ezra is still taking in the effect of his parents' deaths, rightfully so. Leia and him have a real heart felt conversation that was acted greatly from both sides. What wasn't great was how everyone was willing to give up but as soon as Leia says a few words everyone comes up with a plan. That I thought was really rushed.
From there, the climax of the episode involves all the rebels plus the governor and Leia working together to steal the ships. Like before, Leia's actions are handled well as she plays the Empire like a fiddle under their nose. The actual action scene is well-done too with the highlight being when Kanan charged at an AT-AT with a lightsaber and took it down. In the end, the rebels and the governor escape and Leia is still seen as an innocent Imperial senator.
In the end, the governor decides to go back to Lothal to finish what the rebels started and lead a rebellion against the Empire. Question then, what was the point of leaving if you were going to come back anyway? It seemed like a waste to build him up to escape only for him to just, go, you know what, I'm going back, hope I didn't cause too much trouble? I guess he did help the Rebels steal Leia's ships though, so there's that.
Overall, this was a solid episode. The action was good and everything dealing with Leia was fantastic. My only real complaints were really nitpicks and an issue that I have had for awhile. Still, it's still a solid start for hopefully a great second half.
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