REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "Zero Hour"
With all the buildup to Thrawn's big attack on the Rebellion, which apparently became the Rebel Alliance after Mon Mothma's speech, was the end result worth the wait? That depends on who you are asking. Some of the early reviews and responses have been positive though some feel that the finale didn't have as big of a impact or effect as they would have liked. While, yes, I admit there could have been more, I think for what was shown and done, it was handled well.
The episode starts with Thrawn ready to launch his attack on Chopper base and finally catches Kallus as Fulcrum and deduces where the base is at...and then proceeds to beat the crap out of him. Yeah, let me get this out of the way first, Thrawn was fantastic in this episode. To me, this felt like the rebels were truly in danger for the first time ever. Never before, even with the Inquisitors, did I wonder how the rebels would get out of it. Basically, Thrawn's entire plan was practically full-proof and the only luck or successes the rebels had were from things that were out of his control that not even he could have predicted (I'll get to those moments later).
Bottom line, up until the very end of the episode, Thrawn was in control. Thrawn knew the rebels' every move in advance after studying them all season and planned his battle strategy to a tee. It was awesome to see him take full military control (with some death troopers from Rogue One!) and it was satisfying to truly see the rebels outmatched, both physically and mentally, albeit, if it didn't last forever.
As I mentioned, a space battle engages between the Empire and a combined effort of Phoenix Squadron and General Dodanna's unit. However, despite their best efforts to escape and hold their ground, the rebel fleet at this point in time is simple too small and outmatched to combat the Imperial fleet. It also doesn't help that Thrawn uses two Interdictor ships (the anti-gravity ones from season 2) to pull any ships from hyperspace. Let me say this too, for the most part, the action in this episode was really well-done. This is truly the first large-scale battle that we've seen from the show, and I think the space battle in particular was handled well. While not obviously at the scale and quality of the Rogue One space battle, I still felt it was pulse-pounding enough to be entertaining and make me wonder what was going to happen next.
This leads to the first moment that Thrawn couldn't have predicted. After losing many ships and transports, the rebels try to send Ezra into hyperspace to send a distress signal. Thrawn knows this tactic as he has all his destroyers block any escape. However, Admiral Konstantine, after being tired of being up-staged by Thrawn, breaks orders and formation to try and get the glory. This leads Jun Sato to heroically sacrifice himself and crash his command ship into one of the Interdictors, killing both himself and Konstantine. This distraction gives Ezra enough time to slip into hyperspace.
I'll say this, while I wasn't truly upset at Sato's passing, considering he really didn't have much character development, I thought his sacrifice was handled well and really effective. As for Konstantine, well, he went out with a bang................
Anyway, despite the brief success, the remaining rebel ships are forced to go back to Chopper base under the protection of a giant shield. Thrawn then commands the ground assault where the rebellion are even more outmatched then in the air, despite the best efforts of Zeb, Rex, and Kanan. I'll admit, while I was nervous for what was going to happen to the rebels, the ground fighting wasn't nearly as greatly choreographed as the space battle. Thrawn eventually disables the shield and the rebels completely captured. He won, he has them at his mercy. His strategy worked as plan. The only thing that lets the rebels escape are two other moments he couldn't predict.
The first is Ezra's reinforcements. Mon Mothma is unable to send any Alliance aide so he decides to enlist the help of Clan Wren and Sabine. After some pressure, they agree to help which leads to them disabling and destroying the Interdictor, giving the rebels an opportunity to escape into hyperspace. Granted, Thrawn, did expect some reinforcements and put Pryce in charge of the fleet so I guess that was his mistake. Pryce is no Thrawn when it comes to military leading. Still, it was a cool sequence nonetheless.
However, the rebels are still trapped by Thrawn, how are they going to escape? Well, the answer is the Bendu. Earlier in the episode, Kanan tries to get the Bendu to help them. However, he wants no part in the war and wants nothing to do with any conflict saying he is the one in the middle. Kanan then pisses him off by calling him a coward and well, all hell basically breaks loose. The Bendu literally turns into a storm cloud and attacks both sides with lightning. This gives the remaining rebels a chance to meet up and eventually escape with Ezra and Clan Wren.
Thrawn defeats the Bendu however before trying the kill him the Bendu tells Thrawn that his fate is going to be sealed and disappears like Obi-Wan does in A New Hope. Will this be the last we see of the Bendu?
In the end, Kallus manages to escape and formally joins the rebellion, which is awesome because it makes sense and is justifying for what they have been doing with his character for the past season. Sabine decides to go back with Clan Wren to help them fight in the Mandalorian Civil War. Finally, the remaining rebel forces decide to regroup then go to Yavin 4 baby! Yes, we will see it a lot in season 4, confirmed.
So, overall, I really enjoyed this finale. While yes, I can see why some fans would be disappointed as Thrawn didn't kill any named characters other than Sato, which he really didn't, you have to look at the big picture. Thrawn had them. Thrawn's plan worked flawlessly. He had the rebel command at his mercy and the fleet in shatters. The only things that stopped the complete and other destruction of the Phoenix squadron was things that he couldn't have predicted, the Bendu and Konstantine. Despite this, let's look at what he accomplished. He destroyed Chopper base, destroyed most of the squad's fleet and the remaining members left with their tails between their legs. However, for the rebellion and the Ghost crew, this battle was pretty much like the Battle of Hoth. They fought bravely but were just too small and outmatched. However, like Hoth, many leaders survived and moved on to have hope in the future going with the bigger force. That's basically what this finale was like. Thrawn's true power and threat was unleashed, he won the battle, but the Rebel Alliance will eventually win the war.
P.S. Hera totally calls Kanan "my love" in the episode. This basically confirms that they are either in a relationship or had a "physical connection" at one point.
So that's it, season 3 is at an end. It's hard to imagine. However, this isn't nearly the end for me writing Star Wars articles. In the coming weeks, I will write an overall review of season 3, both the GOOD and the BAD. I'll also write an article on what I want and expect for season 4 and how the show can continue to make improvements. Obviously, when season 4 and the Last Jedi come out later this year, I'll write reviews for them and Star Wars Celebration is two weeks away, so I'll write reviews for the trailers that are shown there.
