Rebels: "Legacy of Mandalore" (Ep. 3.16)

-- "Maybe things have changed. They might be happy to see you."

You know, crash landings in spaceships in the Star Wars universe is way safer than crashing a car here in ours. I mean, no one ever dies. Or is even hurt. Sometimes, the spaceships aren't even hurt that bad. I suppose 40 years of precedence is hard to overcome. No, I don't know why I've never realized this before, but this episode gets us going with a crash landing, and the realization sort of just hit me like a spaceship to the skull. Not only is everyone fine, but the spaceship doesn't need any repairs.

Anyway...

Mandalore has gone over to the Empire, something I'm not sure I've mentioned in any of my earlier reviews, and their armor looks pretty cool in white. Sabine has gone home with the darksaber to try to rally support to the Rebellion. Hi-jinks ensue.

By hi-jinks I mean betrayal and family conflict.

This episode marks a turning point in the series. I'm not sure what kind of turning point, but I will say that Ezra and Kanan leave Mandalore with only Chopper, leaving two of their companions behind.

Yeah, read between the lines; I'm not spelling it all out for you.

Or go watch the episode.

"Didn't you tell them who you were?"
"That's probably why they're shooting at us."

"That went better than expected."

"That was better?"

Rebels: "Blood Sisters" (Ep. 2.08)

"It was mostly just an accident."

I've mentioned before the lack of attention given to the female characters and who they are and where they came from. We got origin-type material for Ezra and Kanan and, even, Zeb fairly early on, but, until now, there's been very little background provided about Sabine or Hera. Not that there's a lot in this episode, but it's something.

So what do we know now?

Sabine used to be a bounty hunter.

I don't know; she seems a little young to have used to have been a bounty hunter, but I suppose that explains the Mandalorian armor.

She used to have a partner. And they... split up, not on the best of terms.

Which, of course, makes their reunion less than pleasant.

I wish I could say that there was some kind of moral dilemma in all of this -- I'm going to be spoilery here -- some kind of dealing with past emotional trauma or... something..., but there's not. The Empire conveniently shows up and puts the two "friends" back together again. In some ways, it's a "Han Solo scenario," but it doesn't quite go that far.

Anyway...

It's a fine episode. Lots of action. But it's another reminder that Rebels fails to tackle the difficult questions.