REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "Secret Cargo"
In many ways, this week's Rebels episode was very simple and straightforward. In other ways, this episode not only marked a huge turning point for the show but also to connect to the main Star Wars canon. Regardless, this episode was still pretty entertaining regardless.
The episode starts out with Zeb, Ezra, and Hera waiting and killing an Imperial probe droid before hearing a transmission of Mon Mothma formally speaking out against the Empire and the Emperor. It was a nice scene to see. However, I doubt this is going to happen at this point in the season, but I kind of want to have a moment where the Ghost crew reflect on losing Sabine. It doesn't have to be long, but just to show the emotional family connection that the crew had together.
Anyway, the Ghost rescues "cargo" from a transport ship and agree to take it to Dantoonie. What is this cargo? Why, it's Mon Mothma herself.
Yes, Mothma is a supporting character this episode and it was nice to see. She is voiced by the same person who portrayed her in Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, Genevieve O'Reilly, and she does a good job in the role. It was nice to see her have a bigger role in the episode because in Rogue One and Return of the Jedi, she is portrayed as the leader of the Alliance and is one of its founding members and yet we've barely seen her on screen. Therefore, to see her help out the Ghost crew, have talks to Hera about the Rebellion, and reveal her plans of speaking to all the Rebel cells on Dantooine, was a nice treat.
What was also nice to see was Gold Leader from Rogue One and A New Hope be a supporting character in the episode as well. He and Ezra help escort the Ghost carrying Mothma to Dantooine. Speaking of Ezra, he really showed up his skills with strategy and piloting in the episode, which was nice. At this point, I'm convinced Ezra is only a prick when it comes to either his force powers or leading a mission.
To help try and avoid Imperial detection, the Rebels try to go through a nebula. However, Thrawn catches wind of this and sends in one of his prototype Tie Defender fighters to hunt them down. It proves very effective as it is equipped with advanced blasters, a hyperdrive and shields and makes quick work of all of the Y-wings in Gold Squadron except for Gold Leader and Ezra. My question is, why didn't Thrawn send more? Seriously, he only had one available? Wouldn't you think he would have more available to use by this point because if he even had just sent one more, the Rebels would have been done.
Regardless, the sequence of the fighters engaging in the nebula was really well done with Ezra taking charge and finding a way to disable the fighter. However, moving forward, the Tie Defender will prove tough for the Rebels to handle...hint hint for the season finale.
Another thing I can say about this episode is that the animation has really improved. Especially with the designs of the Star Destroyers. I mean, if you compare the animation of this episode to the very first episode of the series, it's night and day. Anyway, the Ghost gets caught in a tractor beam by Governor Pryce coming out of the nebula and I'll give the episode this, it was kind of nice to see Hera in a vulnerable state admitting defeat. Of course, Ezra and Gold Leader come in and save the day in the end, but still, it was a nice touch.
Now comes the moment that I teased at the beginning of the review. Mothma delivers her speech over Dantooine (which, by the way, was a huge missed opportunity to see what Dantooine is like in the new canon). Anyway, Mothma makes her speech formally resigning from the Imperial Senate and asking the other Rebel cells to come together in unity against the Empire. During this sequence, we see glimpses of some of the Rebel cells, including a cell led by General Dodonna from Rogue One and a A New Hope. It was a very well made sequence and the final shot of seeing ships from all the Rebel cells coming together over Dantooine was really satisfying.
However, that is sadly where the episode ends. This episode definitely needed to be a two-parter. I'm sure we'll see all the cells uniting and interacting in the newly announced season 4, but I would have liked to see them interact here. I'm sure myself and the rest of the fans would be been happy just seeing all the cell leaders just talking about the strategy moving forward for half and hour.
Overall, despite some missed opportunities, this episode proved to be pretty entertaining and does set the stage forward for the official formation of the Rebel Alliance. I just wished we could gotten to see more here.
