REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "Legacy of Mandalore"
Well, Rebels is back (after another extended hiatus) and is continuing the storyline that was not only started last episode, but also throughout the show as well, Sabine's personal story of Mandalore. How does this Mandalore episode pair in comparison to the others. While not perfect, it is easily the best with actual twists, drama, and things that change the show going forward.
So, Kanan, Sabine, Ezra, and Fen Rau travel to Sabine's home where they are of course shot down. They are then taken by Sabine's brother, Tristan Wren to their mother. I'll admit, I can't remember of the show ever mentioned if Sabine had a brother or not but it was a nice treat to see her family as well as other members of her clan.
Obviously there is still bad blood between Sabine and her family but the episode does make you understand why Sabine's family had to essentially disown and abandon her. After Sabine left, Saxon took Sabine's father as hostage and threatened to kill him and the clan if the rest didn't side with him. In addition, Sabine's actions also caused Clan Wren to be removed politically from Mandalore and lose all of their honor. Therefore, when Sabine argues with her brother, and eventually her mother, after why join the Empire, you can at least understand why they were put in that position.
We are then introduced to Sabine's mother, who is not Bo-Katan, instead her name is Ursa. Again, a big part of the episode is Sabine talking to her family about their history. However, I didn't mind. I liked the talking scenes because of what I said earlier, both sides were put into a no-win situation. Plus, while the episode doesn't have a lot of moments where Ursa and Sabine can be happy with each other, you can feel the bond they still have for each other.
Granted, Ursa later reveals to Saxon that they are there but she wants to make sure that at least her daughter can stay with her.
Now, this is the one part of the episode that didn't make sense to me. Ursa willingly turned the rebels over to Saxon in exchange for Sabine's stay but as soon as he shows up he says that Clan Wren has to be defeated for housing traitors. Um, didn't she just willingly turn them over as soon as they got there? Oh well, cliché evil bad guy has to be cliché.
This naturally causes Tristan, Ursa and the rest of Clan Wren to turn their backs on Saxon and his men in a really cool action sequence. At this point I would like to say that the animation continues to be improving every week because the backgrounds in this episode were beautiful.
This sequence eventually leads into a final climatic duel between Sabine and Saxon. It was a well crafted duel that reminded me a lot of the Maul vs. Pre Vizsla duel from the Clone Wars. Sabine wins again, again, this guy was supposed to be the leader of Mandalore, and decides to spare his life. Saxon attempts to kill her but Ursa steps in and kills him. Yep, Mandalore is going to have another power struggle folks.
As Kanan and Ezra are about to leave, Sabine makes an announcement that honestly I didn't see coming. She decides to stay on Mandalore despite the danger to try and change her people from within and then maybe her people will fight with the Rebellion. I have to admit, it's pretty ballsy for the show to have a main character leave the show, considering that she didn't give the other characters a goodbye. However, I like that they did this. I don't hate Sabine at all but one thing I wanted from this show is to take risks/changes, and that's what they're doing.
Overall, despite some hiccups, this was easily the best Mandalorian-centric episode (I don't count Trials of the Darksaber). It had good drama, good action, and affected the show in an overall big way. I don't think this will be the last we will see of Sabine but her impact on the shown will be missed and we'll see what her Ghost family and the Rebellion do without moving forward.
