Right with the opening shot, the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels does a wonderful job pulling us back into the Star Wars universe. Taking place between episodes 3 and 4 gives this show such a pleasant sense of familiarity. This series may focus on a new cast, but the tone and audio -- along with some of the locations and vehicles -- delivers such a happy dose of nostalgia. Star Wars is back on TV and it's clearly in good hands.
In this chapter, Ezra Bridger continues to slowly discover his abilities. They're not throwing him immediately into traditional training or filling his experiences with exposition. They're just letting him learn these things on the fly and showing how he responds before swiftly moving on. It's just enough to keep him front and center and have him still developing as someone else gets a bit of the spotlight as well. I can't say I'm that emotionally invested in the character, but they continue to keep my interest with his developments and it has me pretty anxious to see how his relationship with Kanan will grow as we move forward. In this episode, it's Garazeb Orrelios who receives a little more focus and shares the spotlight with Ezra. It's revealed what happened to his species and, while they don't give you much time to let the emotional punch really sink in, it still adds a nice balance to the tone. On paper, it's an incredibly dark and tragic event, yet the handling of it never allows this darkness to flood in and overwhelm the atmosphere. You can feel the rage and tragedy dwelling within the character and he's given two moments to let that all come out. Again, it didn't get that strong of a hook on my feelings, but it's just enough to add another layer to the Lasat. As of right now, he's easily the most interesting character in the show.
There's a fair amount of cute humor in this one, but the action is what really makes "Droids in Distress" leave an impression. If you questioned Garazeb Orrelios' toughness before, this episode is sure to make you think he's a seriously formidable character. There's a thrilling scene as he obliterates several Stormtroopers and he has an intense bo-rifle battle with Agent Kallus. The directing of both scenes grabs you and then tosses you right into the thrilling action. The attacks are fast, the blasts are powerful, and the punches are fierce. The scenes are just loaded with energy; it's surprisingly frenetic and totally exciting. Even something as simple as Ezra putting his agility to the test is a blast to observe because of how it's directed (love the extended shot).
The inclusion of C-3PO and R2-D2 offers a nice bit of fan service in the end and there's more than a few nods with the dialogue (not to mention R2's interactions with Chopper are adorable), but when a show is this young and has so many new characters to establish, I'd much rather see the time being used to flesh out these new individuals. I understand a show can only do so much with the characters in each story, but aside from Ezra and Zeb, it kind of felt like the others were cast aside in this one. Despite having some static shots and exposition heavy scenes, it feels like a really fast-paced episode, so the emotional beats don't have the opportunity to hit quite as hard as they could have. Also, it's just a wee bit of a bummer that we don't get to see the Inquisitor at all, but at least they're continuing to make Agent Kallus a huge scumbag.
"Droids in Distress" is an entertaining adventure with some pleasing nods to the franchise's history. It manages to give Zeb just a little more depth and hits us with some gripping and truly memorable action sequences. Overall, it mostly feels like an enjoyable side mission. It's not quite as great as "Spark of Rebellion" but it's still a whole lot of fun and the series continues to show a ton of promise. The animation may fool you into thinking this is only geared towards a younger audience, but this show is most definitely something that fans of any age can appreciate.
Log in to comment