Harry Situation Reviews: Star Wars Rebels Season 3
Last year I reviewed the second season of one of my favorite animated shows Star Wars: Rebels, and now I'm back with Season 3. The adventures of the Ghost crew (Kanan, Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper) continues as they aid in the formation of the Rebel Alliance. Their numbers are growing stronger but they continue to risk their lives as the Galactic Empire hunts them down. The Ghost crew take on new roles and challenges as they now face a new calculating adversary, Grand Admiral Thrawn.
So let's talk about the biggest positive of this season and that's the new villain, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Fuck yeah, they did him justice! For those who don't know, Grand Admiral Thrawn is often considered to be one of the greatest villains in the Star Wars Universe. First appearing in a trilogy of novels (Heir to the Empire) written brilliantly by author Timothy Zahn, he's up there with Darth Vader and the Emperor. He's a very smart, very brilliant tactician that held the Empire together after the death of the Emperor in Episode 6, and one of the very few aliens to hold a high ranking officer position in an empire that was generally xenophobic. Unlike most incompetent imperial officers, Thrawn's philosophy was that to defeat an enemy you had to learn everything about them. And another big part of his personality was that he was a major art enthusiast. He loved art. He was just so fucking awesome. Imagine the love child of Sherlock Holmes and Tywin Lannister and you have Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Sadly when Disney bought out Star Wars, and categorized the Canon and Legends universes, Thrawn was thrown into Legends and that pissed a lot of fans off, myself included. Thankful series creator Dave Filoni is a true Star Wars fan and he helped make the beloved character canon, and my god he was done perfectly. That's partly because they had Timothy Zahn himself supervising them on how to get the character right. He was cold, he was intimidating, and he was unbelievable smart. That was Thrawn right off the pages! Fun fact: Thrawn is voiced by Lars Mikkelson, who is the brother of Mads Mikkelson, whom you might recognize as Hannibal Lector or Jyn Erso's father from Star Wars: Rogue One.
So enough about our villain, what about our main heroes. First of all I'm just happy to see that they officially got rid of that stupid lightsaber-blaster hybrid piece of shit that Ezra had for the last two season. So glad Vader chopped that thing the fuck up so now Ezra can have himself a proper lightsaber. It's lean, it's green, and it suits him. Second, all the main characters had major makeovers. Kanan is officially blind after his brief duel with Darth Maul last season and he's sporting a beard. I really like Sabine's new hairstyle and new body armor. Also am I the only one who senses a lesbian vibe from her? No one? Just me? I gotta ask! That would be pretty cool if it were true.
Lots of familiar faces showing up this season. We got Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mon Mothma, Wedge Antilles, Darth Maul back again, Saw Gerrera of Rogue One was in this (with Forrest Whitaker reprising the role), and we even have Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm gonna talk about him a little later in this review because it's worth discussing. And for those wondering what happened to Ahsoka last season, we still don't know. We'll probably won't know until maybe next season, so keep waiting. Plus we are introduced to an interesting new character called the Bendu (voiced by the 4th Doctor himself Tom Baker) who serves as Kanan's force teacher after he became blind. Give him credit, he's got some of the best lines in the whole season, next to Thrawn of course.
Alright now I'm going to dive into spoiler territory because there are a couple episodes I really want to get into at the moment. First two episodes worth discussing is the two-parter "Ghosts of Geonosis" where our heroes meet up with Saw Gerrera. This is worth noting because we learn that the Geonosians were wiped to extinction. Damn! I knew the Empire was brutal but this was overkill. More importantly we learned why they were wiped out. It was hinted in the episode that the Geonosians were used to build the infamous Death Star and so to keep it a secret they committed genocide on the whole Geonosian species. Dark, Disney! I like it!
Next is Sabine's story arc. In the episodes "Trials of the Darksaber" and "Legacy of Mandalore" we really get into depth of Sabine's character. Sabine has possession of the Darksaber and so Kanan tries to teach how to duel with it. You see, according to Mandalorian law of leadership if you have possession of this weapon it shows you're capable of leading the Mandalorians. However, we learn that Sabine does not want to be a leader and here's why. During an intense training session, Sabine reveals, in an emotional breakdown, that she used to make weapons for the Empire, weapons that were used on her own people. And when she stood to defy the Empire, her family did not, and she was cast out. Then later she travels back to Mandalore and confronts her family. I won't discuss what happens there because it's worth watching for yourselves.
Now for the big one! Maul is back this season and he's still hunting down Kenobi for his revenge. Ezra travels to Tatooine because he believes that Obi-Wan is the key to destroying the Sith. Eventually he meets up with him and it's not quite the Obi-Wan we knew from the Prequel Trilogy or The Clone Wars animated series. This is clearly Old Ben Kenobi. He's older, wiser, and much more sage like. This is the same Obi-Wan we first met in A New Hope. Hell, the voice actor even does a damn good impression of Alec Guinness.
Any who, Maul final confronts him and they have a very short lightsaber duel. I mean really short, like three strikes and Maul is dead. I've noticed some folks complaining about this but here's my insight. Like I mentioned before this is a much more wiser Obi-Wan than before. He anticipates that Maul is going to use the same fighting style from their first encounter, and so he counters against Maul with something new and that's how he was able to defeat him for the final time. It was also kinda sad watching Maul die in Old Ben's arms. He's known nothing but hatred and cruelty, and never once had any peace in his life. The only peace he could have was his death. That is some seriously powerful stuff!
In the end, I enjoyed the hell out of this season! I don't have any real gripes about it, other than WHAT HAPPENED TO AHSOKA!?! Sorry, overall this is worth your time!
Light Side: Dark Side:
-New looks -What happened to Ahsoka?
-Great stories
-Great writing
-Thrawn is canon! Yay!
-Emotional depth
Final Grade: A
Have you watch the latest season of Star Wars Rebels? What were your thoughts? What was your favorite episode that season? Are you just as happy to have Grand Admiral Thrawn part of the canon-verse as I am? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check back as we countdown to the 100th review!
Best Quote:
Grand Admiral Thrawn: "To defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art."