Rebels: "Zero Hour: Part Two" (Ep. 3.22)

-- "There's a future for us, one where we're all free, but it's up to us to make it happen."

Spoiler alert: Kallus didn't die. I'm a bit surprised. Not that the way he didn't die wasn't cool, but I really expected that he would be one of the characters that they ended. Yes, that means some characters got ended in this season finale.

Sabine returned, so that was cool. Not that I think she'll be staying around, but involving the Mandalorians is always interesting.

And I suppose that's really all I have to say about this. These two episodes are mostly combat and anything else I could say would be spoilery.

They do leave me ready to get into season four, though, so that's where I'm heading.

"This way!

The other way! The other way!"

"This is your friend?"
"I might have made him angry."

Rebels: "Zero Hour: Part One" (Ep. 3.21)

-- "You talk too much."

As revealed in a previous episode, Thrawn discovered the identity of Fulcrum. He's able to use that knowledge in this episode to entrap our group of rebels and their fleet at Chopper Base, or whatever it's being called at this point. It's too bad; I had actually grown to like Agent Kallus. Not that we know his fate, yet, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a good one.

As a season finale, this is a good beginning. Great big space battle. The Bendu makes an appearance. Probably his last. Or, at least, I imagine we won't see it again after part two of this, if he's even in part two.

That's about all I have to say. 

Space battle.

And some deaths.

"May the Force be with me."

Rebels: "The Holocrons of Fate" (Ep. 3.03)

-- "Once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown."

Tom Baker is back! And so is Darth Maul!

And... Caleb gets spaced. Caleb, you ask. Well, it appears that Kanan has been keeping a secret and that it's that Kanan is an assumed name.

Actually, this episode is all about secrets, secrets of the holocrons and the secrets they hold.

And, man, things keep getting interestinger and interestinger. We get a reference to "twin suns" and Maul muttering, "He's still alive," and, and, and... all sorts of things.

I don't know at what point Lucasfilm or Disney or whomever decided to start really connecting the animated series... What's the plural of series? I mean, I know it's both the singular and plural, but it seems inadequate here. There are multiple animated series being referred to! Anyway, I don't know at what point they made that decision, but you can really see that process beginning to happen at this point in Rebels. Not to mention the overlap of Rebels with Rogue One. And the return of Maul in Solo. Not that I think that will result in a satisfying conclusion considering the clusterfuck Disney is having with that.

Actually, Disney is just having a big clusterfuck with the whole Star Wars franchise, right now, and they don't necessarily look to be pulling themselves out of it. The animated series seem to be the only thing they have a grip on (maybe), and I think that's because they didn't really take them seriously and left them in the hands of the team that had originally been working on them. We'll see how that goes as they transition back to Clone Wars now that Rebels has ended.

But I digress...

At any rate, this seems to be a significant episode. Maybe. It does, at least, lay some clues for things to come. Maybe. It's intriguing, to say the least. I think it's safe to say at this point that if you really want to know what's going on in the Star Wars universe, you need to be watching the animated shows. The movies are... well, they are clearly lacking the kind of scope they need to have.

"I thought you said it was safe."

"It is safe; that may be the problem."

"The airlock is down there if you want to show yourself out."

"A dull and dour chamber. This is the chamber of a Jedi."

"We asked for a chance to defeat the Sith, and we failed."

Rebels: "Steps Into Shadow -- Part One" (Ep. 3.01)

-- "You wouldn't believe the secrets he knows."

Pre-viewing comment:

I did, of course, know that Thrawn was going to appear in season three, but I didn't know he starts off the season! I'm very excited that Thrawn is now, finally, a canon character. He's an excellent villain. At least, he was in the Zahn novels. I'm hoping they do him justice here.

This episode does not disappoint! Not only do we get the introduction of Grand Admiral Thrawn, but we have Hondo as well! You know it's going to be good when Hondo is around. And, hey, Dr. Who makes a voice appearance! THE Doctor, Tom Baker. How awesome is that? It's very awesome!

Tom Baker is the voice of The Bendu: I'm not sure if that's a race or a name. He's a Force wielder, but he uses some neutral aspect of the Force, something between the Dark and the Light. Baker's listed in five episodes, so I'm sure we'll find out more about what all of this means as he teaches Kanan how to see without his eyes.

So, yeah, Kanan is blind. That happened at the end of season two, so it's only a spoiler if you're not watching. I'm not apologizing.

Also, Ezra has learned to use the Sith holocron he got at the end of season two. He's learning to use his anger to give him power.

And we've jumped ahead enough that Ezra is visibly older. I'm guessing two years, but I don't really know.

It's a good episode; now, leave me alone so I can go watch part two...

"Acting out of anger offers quick results, but it's a trap."