REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels Season 3
So, it's time. It's time to give my full review of Rebels' third season. In many ways, the third season was the show's best season with great action, drama, and character development. However, in many other ways, the season had a lot of problems that have continued to plague the show for a long time. In general, the season is much like the show itself, generally good with its high points soaring and its low points holding the show back.
First, I'm going to give a quick recap of what I thought of each episode. "Steps Into Shadow" was a really well-done season premiere. The unofficial Maul trilogy of episodes, "The Holocrons of Fate," "Visions and Voices," and "Twin Suns" were easily some of the best episodes of the season, even if the resolution of the Obi-Wan vs Maul fight polarized the fanbase. "The Antilles Extraction" was decent, while "Hera's Heroes" was average minus the fantastic performance of Thrawn. While "The Last Battle" was a filler episode, it was such a love letter to fans of the Clone Wars that I didn't care.
"Imperial Super Commandos" was good, but could have been great. "Iron Squadron," the more I thought it, was an entirely pointless, forgettable, and annoying episode. Not only was "The Wynkathu Job" in my opinion the worst episode of the show, it was one of the worst episodes of a Star Wars TV show that I've ever seen. In contrast, both "An Inside Man" and "Through Imperial Eyes" were some of the better episodes of the season. "Ghosts of Geonosis" I thought was ok, but really didn't need to be an hour-long episode.
"Warhead" was a pointless, although I admit, entertaining episode. "Trials of the Darksaber" was one of the best told stories in the show while "Legacy of Mandalore" was the first great episode involving Mandalorians. "Secret Cargo" was a great episode that left me wanting more, "Double Agent Droid" was stupid, and the finale "Zero Hour" was handled very well, at least to me.
First, let's talk about the good of this season, which I think outweighs the bad. I'll say this, whenever this season hit it's mark, it really hit its mark. Whenever the season focused on either telling its main storylines or giving actual proper emotion and characterization, it really delivered. Many people consider "Trials of the Darksaber" to be one of the best episodes of the show because of its focus and attention to Sabine's character development. "Through Imperial Eyes" was one of my favorite episodes of the season because of its focus and master precision in tense action and planning. Whenever each of the main cast got attention, it mostly worked. Hell, even some of the side characters got a lot of good development. Kallus went from being a stereotypical villain that hardly any fan liked to being a complex, well'defined character that has become a fan favorite.
The storylines involving the Jedi and the force were also handled well, and yes, while not everyone was happy with how the final duel turned out, the emotion of Maul and Obi-Wan's fight was certainly felt. The show also had some really good action scenes with a lot of improved animation and character models. Finally, the show, and this season, is making so many great connections to Rogue One and the original trilogy that it makes me excited to see how everything is going to end and fully connect to one another.
Overall, what I'm trying to say is that when the show truly focused on either telling its overarching story or fleshing out its characters, it worked, it least to me.
Of course, I had to dedicate an entire section to the season's main villain, Thrawn. As someone, (sadly) who never grew up reading the character with the old Zahn books, let me just say that I thought he was, overall, a really great villain. In fact, I'd say he was the best villain that the show has had so far (not counting legacy villains like Vader and Maul). He was cold, calculating, and you can tell he was always one step ahead of everyone, even members of the Empire. It also should be mentioned that Lars Mikkelsen did a fantastic job voicing the character.
Yes, I'll admit, it was frustrating at times to watch Thrawn let the rebels win or get away even though it does make sense for his character. However, when Thrawn wasn't playing around, such as in "Through Imperial Eyes" and "Zero Hour", he was very threatening and handled well. I can't wait to see what the show has in store for him in the final season, though I suggest to not wait half the season next time for him to do something interesting.
Oh boy, now it's time for the bad. While the season overall did a good job of pushing forward the main story, it still had plenty of episodes that were pointless, or as they are commonly known as "filler." Look, filler is not a new concept. There is filler for pretty much every show. Filler isn't a bad thing in theory. Sometimes a break for an episode or two is needed to give the audience a break or expand on some character development. However, to me, filler is only good in small doses. If you have too much of it, than it can start to pose a problem. Every season of Rebels has had filler, but this season's filler really stood out. The three worst episodes of the season, "Iron Squadron," "The Wynkathu Job" and "Double Agent Droid" were all examples of filler done badly. They were all filled with characters or situations that were annoying as shit, had no connection or consequence to the main story at all, meaning the episodes can be skipped, and made you realize that the development and budget should have went towards making more important and consequential episodes.
In addition, there were episodes that weren't filler, such as "Hera's Heroes" and "Imperial Super Commandos" that, while not horrible episodes at all, did not meet their full potential, at least to me. Other complaints I may have had where personal nitpicks to me, such as the occasional juvenile humor, Ezra being an asshole most of the season, and Kanan not as having as much screentime as he should have.
So, overall, how was the season, both as a whole and compared to the other seasons? As a whole, while it was certainly inconsistent and had some major flaws, I thought overall it was a good season with those flaws holding it back from being great, because the stuff that was really good, was really good, and deserves to be singled out and praised. I would say that this season was better than season 1 and about on par to me with season 2, I'm not sure which one I like more yet.
However, I will say this, I have certainly grown attached to these characters and all the storylines that have been presented. I can't wait to see what Dave Filoni and the rest of his team has in store for the final season and wrapping up all these characters' journeys. I heard rumors that the season will be shorter, (15 episodes compared to the last two seasons' 20) but hopefully that will mean that each episode will be handled with care and attention with no fluff and filler, and to make sure that the series goes out on a high note like it deserves to.
