REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "The Honorable Ones"
Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about this. About the episode, no, the episode was good. No, I feel like after tonight people are going to ship Kallus and Zeb together. Yes, this episode pitted two brutal enemies together to survive a dangerous place. While it comes together as you would have expected, the implementation and where they are going with Kallus's character going forward in the future is the real intriguing thought.
The episode starts out with the crew, with Captain Rex, investigating the remants of a Geonosian construction site in space. Yes, although ot stated in the episode directly, anybody could figure out it was the Death Star. Anyway, it turns when the crew go in the station, it turns out, big shock, it's a trap set by Kallus.
While the rest of the crew dal with the troopers, Zeb fights Kallus one-on-one. Through a cool action sequence, Zeb and Kallus fight in an escape pod and their fight causes the pod to crash land on one the planet's moons. Now, will the two be able to work together to survive? Will the Empire or the Rebels find them first? Well, take a wild guess in the dark.
However, while I admit that the plot is formulatic, it doesn't bother me as much as it did last week. Why you may ask. Well, last week, they started something interesting then fell into the familiar territory. This week, the main plot is simple, but they do unqiue or cool ideas throughout that flesh out the characters more that make it interesting.
For example, we get to learn more about Kallus's backstory.We learn that he hates Lasats because one years ago annihilated a group of soliders he met years ago. We also learned that, while he led the attack on Lasan and ordered the disrupters used, we found out that he intially didn't want it to go that far and was forced to follow orders. That actually speaks a lot of volumes to his character. He is not simply a one-dimensional villain anymore. He is just somebody who believes he is serving a good cause and following a good force.
Zeb, meanwhile, learns to grudingly work with Kallus to find warmth and get out of a cave, which is filled with giant monsters. What is weird is that throughout the episode, both of them had the chance to either kill, hurt, or abandon the other. There was even one point where Zeb was hanging from a cliff and Kallus had a chance to just flat out kill Zeb. However, instead, he saves Zeb from the monsters.
So, yeah, basically, what this episode boils down to is that it is really a Kallus episode. You know what, I'm ok with it. Kallus, while I never flat-out hated them, was begining to be hated by a lot of Rebels fans who said that he has out-lived his purpose. However, after this episode, I believe that notion will change with fans.
The two, after escaping the cave, go and find shelter until Zeb is eventually rescued by the Ghost. Zeb offers to take Kallus with them, saying the Rebellion will treat him fairly, but he refuses. In the end, Kallus is rescued by the Empire, but is essentially ignored, making him to begin his loyalty and question who he is really fighting for.
Yes, it's fair to guess when will he betray and leave the Empire. To me, it could go either way. Many will also question is this switch in character felt rushed. However, to me, it wasn't for a couple reasons. One, the episode took its time and explained Kallus's backstory and reasons and you, in a way, feel for him...somewhat. Also, unless you are really high in the Imperial military, a mindless solider, or a Sith Lord, it doesn't take much to realize, hey, the Empire is kind of shitty and does bad things.
Overall, while the plot of the episode was predictable, the end result was still a solid episode. It set up good moments of bonding between the two and more importantly, it gave new insight, motivation, and intrigue to a character many started to not care about anymore, so that is a major win for this episode in that regard.
Also, for Kallus and Zeb shippers, I'll give you a ship name...KALLEB!
