MTFBWY #12: Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Review (No Spoilers)

So, did anything happen in the Star Wars universe this past week?

Heh. The better question is: did anything not happen in the Star Wars universe this past week? At Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, we got new trailers for The Force Awakens, Rebels Season 2, Battlefront, and Rogue One. We even heard news on new Marvel Comics, new books from Del Rey and DK Publishing (the new encyclopedia, Ultimate Star Wars, is incredible, by the way, and 100% within the new canon). There are new toys and collectibles, new costumes, new props, and of course that loveable new droid. Oh, and REX IS BACK!

It was an amazing week for Star Wars fans, and being in the thick of it was the best way to experience it. You can check out my “final” (as in: I will be talking about this  until the next Celebration) analysis of the show here.

Today, though, I want to talk to you about how I spent my Saturday night: watching the Season 2 premiere of Star Wars Rebels. It’s a two-part story that Disney XD will present like a movie over the summer, ahead of the full season’s fall debut. So why does it stand alone as its own mini-feature? Because there was too much awesomeness to contain, and it just needed to be released as soon as possible.

I’m going to try very hard to avoid spoilers here. I’ll focus more about the tone, some general things to look out for, and the reasons you should be very excited. First, you should know, a lot of the moments from the trailer are in the season premiere “movie,” but not all. You will see both Vader and Ahsoka, along with several new characters.

But Oh boy will you see Darth Vader. The character, a frightening and imposing villain, is experiencing a renaissance. With a comic book where he’s slaughtering entire villages, an upcoming novel where he single-handedly takes on entire squadrons, and now this season premiere, Darth Vader is scary again. When the Inquisitor was about to fall to his death in the Season 1 finale, he warned Kanan that he was bringing something new upon himself, and that there were things “far more frightening than death.” It’s clear he was speaking of Darth Vader, and that presence is felt every single time he’s on screen. You see in the trailer the way he manhandles Kanan and Ezra; he’s simply on a different level than they, or the Inquisitors, are. It’s interesting; it actually makes you appreciate Luke’s ability against Vader more, because Kanan and Ezra just look silly. There are three particular moments in this episode where Darth Vader can and will leave you shocked, excited, and terrified. I can’t wait to see it again.

Ahsoka’s presence, meanwhile, makes everything feel a little more urgent. The Clone Wars veteran knows more about the Empire and life under its rule, or at least seems to, than any of the other Rebels. Luckily, though, she’s used relatively scarcely, and doesn’t overpower the importance of the team established in season one. It’s an impressive balance, and one that could have easily fallen over either side of the fence. She does have her important moments in the premiere, though, and it’s clear she’s there for reasons deeper than Clone Wars nostalgia. Her biggest moments come at the hands of the animators, and even voice actress Ashley Eckstein didn’t know about them until viewing the episode for the first time at the premiere.

The actors and entire creative team bring their A game to the start of season two. Rebels has an excitement and urgency to it that wasn’t present throughout much of season one. Kanan directly addresses this, and points out that he just wanted to do small acts of kindness, not fight a war alongside soldiers. But the mission has expanded, the mission as changed, and it’s not something everyone is really prepared to face. Ezra and Sabine, the youngest members of the crew, are more malleable and seem to step up into their new roles almost immediately. Ezra, especially, slides into the role of a leader. If Kanan is the reluctant Jedi, Ezra is the opposite; he sees his ability as a calling, and almost falls into the Clone Wars era-Jedi of the past. It’s interesting seeing the way he steps into this role, emulating Hera more than Kanan in that regard.

With tons of action, some great humor, phenomenal additions to the cast, a closer look at the burgeoning rebel alliance, and Vader, Vader, Vader, Star Wars Rebels season 2 is off to a most impressive start.