REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "Imperial Super Commandos"
Every time a new Sabine-Mandalore episode is shown, I get intrigued and fascinated by the history and the culture. I like the idea of rival tribes at war with each other due to different ideologies and who they support. I get fascinated by the backstories that are told by the characters about what happened years ago and it honestly makes me wish that I was watching that instead. While I'm not saying that these "Sabine-Mandalore" episodes are horrible, I feel that they are pretty tame and generic with the backstory and culture of the warriors holding the episodes up.
Sabine has been trying to convince Fenn Rau, who if you don't remember, is the leader of the Protectors, a group of Mandalorians who work for the Empire but don't directly serve them. He was been a prisoner of the Rebellion and is offering the group free passage through Protector territory. Sabine, most likely trying to reconnect with a part of her past, tries to convince Rau to have his full support to the Rebellion. However, Rau wants no part in her Rebellion, or the Empire, only to survive. He also says that she is a traitor to her people and the Mandalore way of life while she thinks its the reverse.
Okay, this is a setup I think could have worked out really well. You have two people with, in a way, the same mindset, to preserve true Mandalore culture, just with different ways of showing it. I liked how they had different ways of thinking and how wanted different things out of life. However, I am sure that you expected this to happen, but by the end, Rau officially joins the Rebellion. The reasoning why, makes sense, which I'll get into later. However, because it is 22 minute episode show, and most of the runtime is setup, I felt that his change of heart felt rushed. Like, I almost felt that this episode should have been longer. It didn't need to be a full hour-long episode, but I felt that if it had more time to delve into Rau's character more and explore his inner turmoil, it would have more his conversion more convincing, or at least, less cliché.
Ezra, Sabine, Rau, and Chopper are sent back to Concord Dawn, the Protectors' planet because they lost contact with them. It turns out that Mandalorians who serve the Empire, called Imperial Super Commandos, destroyed the base and killed all the members for revenge for giving support to the Rebellion. Naturally, Rau is furious and wants nothing to do with the Rebellion. It is at this point that Ezra and Chopper are captured by the leader of the commandos and the Imperial puppet viceroy of Mandalore, Gar Saxon.
If that name isn't familiar to you, let me add more context. He was one of Darth Maul's captains when Maul ruled over Mandalore and the Death Watch. After Maul fell and the Empire took over, Saxon stepped in to serve the Empire as its figurehead. Did I mention that the episode barely mentions this. I take back what I said before, this episode should have been an hour-long. Half of the episode I think should have taken place in flashback to show the political turmoil of Mandalore as the Clone Wars ended, how the Empire stepped in and took control, and why certain Mandalorians, particularly Sabine, decided to rebel. It would have added more context, it would have added more drama and a bigger dynamic to the episode, and it wouldn't have made Saxon a typical villain like he is portrayed in the show. I feel think the show will eventually go into that type of detail in the future but for me personally, I am starting to get sick of the constant teasing and brief snippets of information. If you are going to show Mandalore, go all out, make it a 2-4 episode arc like the Clone Wars would do in its stories. Don't just spread the story to 1-2 episodes a season and making us wait and guess all the time.
Eventually, Sabine rescues the two but Rau betrays them and leaves them behind. Don't worry, he'll have a quick change of heart and come back in less than five minutes. However, this does lead to an awesome jetpack chase through a canyon. I have no problem with this scene. It is fun, exhilarating, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It's easily the highlight of the episode. However, despite their best efforts, the trio are outsmarted and crash land and it appears that their end is near.
However, who shows up--Rau, of course. He helps Ezra and Chopper escape while Sabine fights and defeat Saxon. Yeah, I know Sabine is well-trained and all, but this is the guy who leads Mandalore and once personally served under Maul. I don't think she would have won against him. I guess plot armor is the greatest strength of them all.
In the end, Rau does join the Rebellion. Again, it makes sense why he would join, I just felt it wasn't handled properly. That is how I thought this episode was overall. No, I didn't HATE the episode. Believe me, it takes a lot for me to flat out hat an episode. However, this episode could have been so much more. The foundation is there, the backstory and lore are in place, take full advantage of it. You might say that is doesn't add much to the grand story of the show but I honestly think that if you are going to keep referencing the past of these characters all the time, not just Sabine, you might as well show it at some point or another as it feels distracting the way you're doing it now. Unless of course the show will show all of these characters' backstories in future episodes are in another medium like with Kanan and his comic series. Either way, the episode wasn't bad, but could have been so much more.
