REVIEW: Star Wars Rebels: Season Four
It was a shock when Dave Filoni announced season four would be the last season of Rebels. So, naturally, fans had a lot of expectations going in seeing how this story would play out. Not everything about the season was perfect, but overall, I would say season four was the best season of Rebels as a whole. The stuff that was good, was incredible, while the stuff that was bad, was, not as bad as in past seasons. As in past season reviews, I will first go over what I thought of each episode, then go into what I thought of the storyline, heroes, villains, and overall.
The season started out with the two-part episode, "Heroes of Mandalore." These two episodes were to me, a perfect representation of what I thought of the Mandalore subplot in the show, decent, but could have been much better. Again, I like the Mandalorian lore and culture, and there were great moments throughout. However, I felt there were parts that either felt flat, rushed, or left me wanting more. The ending of the subplot also felt incomplete as we never returned to Mandalore after the episodes, so I take the Empire just left Mandalore then? I also take it that all that journey with Sabine and the darksaber was just used to give leadership to Bo-Katan? In the end, the Mandalore plot on Rebels to me was a mess, which I hope gets expanded upon in future stories.
Next came the two-part episode "In the Name of the Rebellion." The first part I thought was perfect. To me, it showed how complex the Rebellion and the war was on many sides, with no clear right or wrong side. However, part two, while not horrible, felt lazily written at parts and made the morals black and white and not grey.
"The Occupation" brought the Ghost crew back to Lothal, which was a decent episode showing how far the planet has fallen. "Flight of the Defender" was also another good episode as it showed us Thrawn's plan for the Tie Defender, and the first appearance of the Loth-Wolves.
"Kindred" was a good episode for the first appearance of Thrawn's assassin Rukh, and for, of course, KANERA CONFIRMED! Sadly, "Crawler Commandeers" was easily the worst episode of the season with a simple, "fillery" type plot, an annoying villain, and a story that I didn't find that interesting until the very end.
However, the show more than made up for it in the mid-season finale, "Rebel Assault," which I thought was a near-perfect episode. It showed the Rebels lose, it showed how ruthless Thrawn can be, and it showed how vulnerable the main cast can be...which would certainly come into play in the future.
While the first half of season four was overall decent, the back-half was amazing. There was not a dull episode or moment in each episode and you can tell this is where most of the focus was at.
"Jedi Night" is obviously remembered for the emotional, but beautiful moment where Kanan sacrifices himself. Again, as hardcore fans, we knew Kanan wouldn't survive the series, but like I said before, it was how he died and the emotion behind it that made it work. "Dume" was a somber episode, which made sense given what happened prior. I generally liked the episode, though I didn't like how Sabine and Zeb let Rukh live. I thought that was stupid.
"Wolves and a Door," was a great episode that showed the full capabilities in the force the wolves have. Of course, this led to "A World Between Worlds," which is not only one of the best episodes of the series, it completely changes the lore of Star Wars forever. Essentially, this episode created time travel in Star Wars, and of course, confirmed Ahsoka is alive.
Finally, the final three episodes, "A Fool's Hope," "Family Reunion," and "Farewell," were incredible and a great way to end the series. I didn't have any MAJOR complaints, and liked how it wrapped up the story of the crew on Lothal, while also teasing potential stories down the road.
Well, overall, how was the story? I'll give it this, I liked how the storyline was a lot more straight-forward and direct, as the episodes led into one another, unlike past seasons. Plus, the stuff that was good, oh boy, was it good. When the story was good, it was game changing. Seriously, fans are still talking about the possibilities of the World Between Worlds. People, including myself, want more stories with these characters, specifically a story revolving around Sabine and Ahsoka searching for Ezra.
However, while there were no direct "filler" episodes this season, there were times when the story, specifically in the first half, that felt rushed, too silly, or not live up to its potential. Granted, given how the show ended, it might be excused, but then you realize why wasn't the same direct care and attention given to the rest of the season, at least to me.
So, let's talk about the heroes and side characters. I mentioned this in my finale review, but I think I'm finally comfortable at the point where I can say that I like Ezra. I don't love him, there are things I don't like about him. However, his growth this season, especially in the final stretch of episodes, truly showed how much he has grown as a person. While he wasn't in the season much, Kanan made every moment he was in matter. The same thing goes for Hera and Sabine, who showed they are strong characters in their own right, even if the darksaber plot for Sabine didn't go anywhere. Zeb and Chopper had their moments to shine, though, for the former, he really didn't do much this season until the end. Basically, this was Ezra's story, as he is the main character.
This does mean that, sadly, we didn't see much of the side characters this season, mainly Rex and Kallus. I understand why, to focus on the main core, but I would have personally liked to see more of them before the finale.
Now, for the villains. They were great. Thrawn was pretty much the main villain of the show, and his interactions with the cast, specifically Ezra were great. I also liked Rukh as a villain, plus, you have the Senate...I mean Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor again, of course he's going to be awesome. Hell, they even made the Royal Guards intimidating in their one scene, which is more than I can say for the death troopers. Man, they did not handle them well at all.
Overall, I would say Rebels season four was really good. A lot of it was flat out amazing, some of it was good, while some of it was average. One thing I can say though, is that Filoni and his team was able to end the season, and thus the show, and their own terms. They told the complete story that they wanted to tell, while teasing the possibility of more in the future, which I have to respect. This was the best season to me and forever changed the mythos and lore of a galaxy far far away for good.
(Look in the coming weeks for my full review of the whole series)
