REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels "Rebel Assault"
O.K. I'm already going to tell I'm in the minority with this episode. Most people and critics thinks this episode, the mid-season finale, was good to average. I thought this episode was incredible. This episode was tense and does things I've wanted to see from Rebels for a long time, most of it dark in nature.
So the attack on Lothal literally begins as soon as the episode begins. We finally see the X-Wings for the first time in the show. It's always nice to X-Wings in action, though, and many have pointed this out, it would have been nice to see their origins, as we saw the origins the Y-Wings and B-Wings. Still, the battle is still impressive as the battle shows just how great of a pilot Hera is, as well as how ruthless and calculating Thrawn is. At first, I questioned why Thrawn seemed to be holding back in his attack, considering he had his entire fleet at his disposal. He even sacrificed the life of his starfighter commander just to lower Hera's ship's shields. However, the real battle for Thrawn began once the Rebel craft broke through the blockade.
Once the remaining Rebel ships think they're in the clear, an entire second wave of Tie fighters approaches and completely destroys the ships. Out of the 24 pilots that participated in the battle, only three are confirmed to survive. One is obviously Hera, another is Mart Mattin, the young jackass from Iron Squadron, and an unnamed pilot who is soon taken prisoner by Rukh. Now, this is what I'm talking about. Seeing the Rebellion suffer real lost and the Empire shown as a credible threat. Thrawn's brutality and tactics are shown in full display here and we actually see Rebel pilots die, quite brutality...at least as much as Disney XD is willing to show.
I had a feeling this battle would not be a victory, but I didn't expect to see the Alliance lose this badly. What, a few fighters, men, even a Star Destroyer, that's meaningless to Thrawn. Losing basically the entire strike force, that's a huge morally devastating loss for the Alliance. Plus, the shot of Ghost crew seeing Hera's fleet crash into the capitol was moving. Seriously, it was a short space battle, but it was easily my favorite space battle of the series so far.
Other than Hera, Chopper, and the unnamed prisoner, the only other survivor is Mart, who, I'll be honest, completely forgot he existed since Iron Squadron hasn't been seen or mentioned since their terrible episode. However, surprisingly, Mart isn't an annoying character this episode. In fact, it seems his time in the Rebellion has made him a more mature character and a capable survivor. I do like how the series is bringing in more continuity with its characters, and he and Hera play off each other well.
From there, Kanan decides to go off on his own to rescue Hera, while Hera, Chopper, and Mart try to survive the pursuit of the Empire and Rukh. I'll admit, my only real complaint from this episode is that I thought it was out of character for Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb to not go after Hera. They instead retreat back to camp, which tactically makes sense, but most of the time, the Ghost crew goes out of their way to save one of their own.
Still, the rest of the episode is a tense sequence of cat and mouse, the hunt and the hunted, and again, I loved it. The Empire is threatening, the Rebellion is on the run, all hope seems to be lost, is this the same show? Seriously, Hera manages to escape Rukh the first time he catches her, but in the end, Hera is captured. She sacrifices herself to let Mart and Chopper escape, which again, we haven't stakes like this involving a main character since Kanan was captured in season 1, or in Twilight of the Apprentice, and I love it. This is the darkness and risk I'm wanted from this show for a long time and it makes for an effective cliffhanger. Granted, we know Hera will survive thanks to her easter egg in Rouge One and her appearance in Forces of Destiny, but how she escapes is still up in the air, as well as what will happen when she meets with Thrawn again.
Meanwhile, Kanan has another encounter with the wolves again, this time actually saying "doom," to him instead of his name Dume. (Foreshadowing to his death much?) Kanan, from just this word knows apparently what he has to do and says the same thing to Mart when he rescues him. Again, I'm really intrigued by what these wolves represent.
So yeah, this, to me, was a hell of way to end the halfway point of the season. This episode pretty much represented everything I've wanted to see from this show for awhile. I guess better late than never. Overall, while the season so far has ranged from average to great, I feel the slower pace of some episodes is leading to something big in the second half, especially based on this episode. I'm excited as hell for what will come next, and I hope the rest of the season is just as good as this episode.
