Star Wars Rebels Season Two (spoilers)

[B.J.]

Finally got to see "Stealth Strike" last night. One interesting tidbit nobody has mentioned yet was the fact that Ezra made a point *not* to kill the Stormtroopers, but that small gesture was for naught when Chopper's sabotage of the ship resulted in its destruction. Their "good gestures" seem inconsistent at best. Even within the same episode, Ezra was cutting through many more Stormtroopers, and he didn't seem to be holding back.

Of course, Luke blew up an entire battlestation full of Stormtroopers.

 

[Christopher]

Of course, Luke blew up an entire battlestation full of Stormtroopers.

Not to mention all the hapless engineers and technicians and maintenance workers and plumbers and janitors (okay, they probably had droids for the more menial tasks). Not to mention the prisoners that must have existed in the detention level. Think about it: Luke and Han tried to pass Chewbacca off as a prisoner being transferred from "Block 1138," and the guard's only reaction was "I wasn't notified." If Leia had been the only prisoner, the ruse wouldn't have worked for a second. Implicitly, the detention levels were so full of prisoners that a guard could plausibly be unsurprised that a Wookiee was imprisoned there without his prior knowledge. Also, the guard did not react to a block number in the thousands as anomalous. And that's not just a thousand-plus cells, it's a thousand-plus cell blocks, each one of which might have dozens of cells. Which means that Luke didn't just kill a bunch of Imperial officers and Stormtroopers and servants of the evil empire -- he killed possibly thousands of prisoners of the evil empire, presumably including other rebels and sympathizers. Oh, what a heroic happy ending! Let's give him a medal!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Of course, Luke blew up an entire battlestation full of Stormtroopers.

Not to mention all the hapless engineers and technicians and maintenance workers and plumbers and janitors (okay, they probably had droids for the more menial tasks). Not to mention the prisoners that must have existed in the detention level. Think about it: Luke and Han tried to pass Chewbacca off as a prisoner being transferred from "Block 1138," and the guard's only reaction was "I wasn't notified." If Leia had been the only prisoner, the ruse wouldn't have worked for a second. Implicitly, the detention levels were so full of prisoners that a guard could plausibly be unsurprised that a Wookiee was imprisoned there without his prior knowledge. Also, the guard did not react to a block number in the thousands as anomalous. And that's not just a thousand-plus cells, it's a thousand-plus cell blocks, each one of which might have dozens of cells. Which means that Luke didn't just kill a bunch of Imperial officers and Stormtroopers and servants of the evil empire -- he killed possibly thousands of prisoners of the evil empire, presumably including other rebels and sympathizers. Oh, what a heroic happy ending! Let's give him a medal!

Yeah, they should have just let the Death Star keep blowing up planets.

No, perhaps they should have appealed to the Empire's sense of fair play. "Yo, Empire: Offload all the prisoners and non-combatants, will ya? We'd like to blow up your planet-killer. If you'll agree to just hold your fire on our secret base, we'll wait for ya to do that before launching our attack!"

 

[Mr Light]

"The Future of the Force" was another solid episode. I was really cheering when Ahsoka beat the crap out of the two Inquisitors

There were a few moments that rang really false, though. Kanan and Ezra don't know how to hide themselves in the Force, so how the hell were they able to slip right by the Inquisitors without them sensing them?

What exactly is Zeb's or Kanan's motivation for NOT cutting down one of the Inquisitors when Ahsoka knocked them down to the ground right next to them? Ahsoka was being double teamed. And why didn't Ahsoka kill them when she had the chance, in the heat of battle? They're Sith lackeys.

And how stupid is Ezra to blab away THE REBELS' SECRET BASE when he KNOWS there are Sith probe droids floating around?!

 

[ALF]

True, another awesome episode but still a bunch of silly plot holes. Didn't stop me from cheering when Ahsoka was kicking ass.

The location, Takobo City, finally seemed exotic enough to be worthy of Star Wars. Lothal and Garel are highly featureless planets - hell, Garel only appears to be a series of interconnected docking bays. Takobo City had some almost Persian or European looking architecture with some South East Asian type signage. The scenery was nicely detailed and the colors really popped under the eerie snowfall. Anyway it was nice to see a locale beyond docking bays and shipping ports. These guys have gotta get set up on Dantooine at the end of season 2.

 

[Christopher]

I recall some people speculating about whether this show would set up The Force Awakens in any way. And now we get an episode about babies who could grow up to be Jedi decades in the future. Hmm...

Nice to see Ahsoka again. They gave her a really great entrance in the climax, and a really great fight scene. I was grinning hugely, and I usually don't do that when watching this.

There were a few moments that rang really false, though. Kanan and Ezra don't know how to hide themselves in the Force, so how the hell were they able to slip right by the Inquisitors without them sensing them?

I thought the Inquisitors were pretty much on their tails throughout the episode. Ezra only slipped away because they were busy chasing Kanan in the speeder.

What exactly is Zeb's or Kanan's motivation for NOT cutting down one of the Inquisitors when Ahsoka knocked them down to the ground right next to them? Ahsoka was being double teamed.

Because their priority was to get away with the baby.

And why didn't Ahsoka kill them when she had the chance, in the heat of battle? They're Sith lackeys.

I don't think she had an opening to deliver a killing blow until she had the Seventh Sister on the ground at her mercy. And killing a defenseless opponent is a quick path to the Dark Side, as well as being unethical and possibly a war crime.

And how stupid is Ezra to blab away THE REBELS' SECRET BASE when he KNOWS there are Sith probe droids floating around?!

He is just a kid. Naturally he doesn't have the best judgment.

But the Seventh Sister let something slip in exchange, when she mentioned Lord Vader by name in Ahsoka's hearing. Now Ahsoka knows the name of the Sith Lord she's hunting.

 

[CorporalClegg]

While wholly unlikely, I half expect it to turn out Ezra knew the probe droid was there all along. He's certainly proven to be extremely cunning in the past.

 

[Mr Light]

Speaking of the movie, I was surprised to learn that babies are continuing to be born with Force potential. I was assuming in the movie there hadn't been a new Jedi in all that time, and "the Force awakens" only at the time of the movie. Guess I was wrong.

 

[Christopher]

Speaking of the movie, I was surprised to learn that babies are continuing to be born with Force potential. I was assuming in the movie there hadn't been a new Jedi in all that time, and "the Force awakens" only at the time of the movie. Guess I was wrong.

I don't see any reason why people would stop being born with Force sensitivity just because the Jedi Order was destroyed. If you wiped out the NBA, it wouldn't stop the birth of people predisposed to become tall and athletic. Force sensitivity is an innate potential; Jedi knighthood is a learned discipline that harnesses that potential. The reason there were no Jedi isn't because nobody was Force-sensitive, but because there was nobody to train them to develop and use that potential.

 

[Saga]

"The Future of the Force" was another solid episode. I was really cheering when Ahsoka beat the crap out of the two Inquisitors

There were a few moments that rang really false, though. Kanan and Ezra don't know how to hide themselves in the Force, so how the hell were they able to slip right by the Inquisitors without them sensing them?

What exactly is Zeb's or Kanan's motivation for NOT cutting down one of the Inquisitors when Ahsoka knocked them down to the ground right next to them? Ahsoka was being double teamed. And why didn't Ahsoka kill them when she had the chance, in the heat of battle? They're Sith lackeys.

And how stupid is Ezra to blab away THE REBELS' SECRET BASE when he KNOWS there are Sith probe droids floating around?!

i liked the episode but i had some of the same problems with its logic. when Zeb sees the droid that had the basket get destroyed he just stands there and waits for the Inquisitors to come to him. instead of, you know, running away.

and Ezra was pretty dumb talking about the secret Rebel base in public like that.

 

[Reverend]

Am I imagining things, or is the overstated crazily bouncy character animation back? So it seems is the noisy sound-mix and strangely rushed pacing.

Strange how most of that vanishes the second Ahsoka shows up at the end. Either it's a different person key-framing that scene, or the only reason they let them do the episode is because they're really good with the lightsaber fights and not so much the emoting. Or I'm just being overly critical. That's always a strong possibility.

I did like how Ahsoka takes those two apart without much trouble, only prolonging the fight enough to try and get Seventh Sister to let something slip mid-banter. She barely even bothers with Fifth Brother, just brushes him off with a shove. I don't think he even managed to corss blades with her once the entire fight.

Ahsoka was never in any real jeopardy and could probably have cut both of them down if she wanted to. Pretty effective way to demonstrate the gap of experience between Ahsoka and Kanan as he couldn't deal with both of them at the same time even with Ezra & Zeb as back-up. Really, she should be training them both.

Small aside: does that "you qualify more than I do" line indicate she still no longer considers herself a Jedi? I mean basically, she's a Ronin, right? Is there a word for the Jedi equivalent of a Ronin? I vaguely recall a term from the early ANH drafts (Jed'aii Bendu IIRC?) that they could probably appropriate if need be.

Even smaller aside: if we're lucky, that last line about "I guess that task falls to us now" may account for where Ahsoka, Kanan & Ezra were during in OT: in hiding, running a daycare centre/orphanage for force sensitive children. A pipe dream I know, since the odds of at least one or two of them biting it by the end of the show is extremely high.

 

[Mr Light]

My old theory on the movie, based solely on released trailers and ads, is that nobody new got Force powers between Empire Day and the new movie. Only Snoke and Luke (and Leia?) had powers that whole time and the Knights of Ren were this lame cult of wanna-bes. Then something happens at the start of the movie and suddenly the new characters get powers, which explains why they'll be all so terrible at it in this movie. In the very first teaser, Snoke says "There has been an awakening, have you felt it? The dark side, and the light." Or maybe this no Force thing started when Vader and the Emperor died.

-----------

We could call her a "Grey Jedi":

<<The term Gray Jedi, or Gray, had two meanings. First, it was used by Jedi and Sith to describe Force-users who walked the line between the light and dark sides of the Force without surrendering to the dark side, and second, it described Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and operated outside the strictures of the Jedi Code. However, those who were considered to be true Gray Jedi met both qualifications and did not belong to any particular Force tradition. >>

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gray_Jedi

 

[Reverend]

^I don't think that label applies. Ahsoka's issue with the Order seems to have been with how far it had strayed. In that sense, they were the Greys, while she appears to have sought out a way back to the true path of the light side. In a sense, she's an orthodox Jedi, hence my thinking the 'Bendu' appellation might suit.

 

[Stephen!]

Preview for "Legacy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkrXicqjrUI

 

[Mr Light]

"Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and operated outside the strictures of the Jedi Code." sounds like Aksoka to me.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Ahsoka was never a Jedi, persay. She was a washed out padawan. Not her fault, but true. This also explained why Anakin was so angry at the council for not making him a master. He trained a padawan, and they made her quit.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Ahsoka was never a Jedi, persay. She was a washed out padawan. Not her fault, but true. This also explained why Anakin was so angry at the council for not making him a master. He trained a padawan, and they made her quit.

No. That's not true, on at least two accounts.

First of all, the Jedi Council didn't make Ahsoka quit. On the contrary, they asked her to remain a Jedi. Ahsoka elected to quit, because she believed that the Jedi had lost faith in her and only belatedly regained it.

Secondly, she didn't wash out. Again, she had been asked by the leadership to remain. To be washed out means to be dismissed for failing to measure up to the expected standards. That does not describe Ahsoka's condition.

 

[Reverend]

^IIRC the implication is that they were about to make her a full Knight when she told them to shove it. I don't think it's was terribly explicit, but I think Windu's line was something like "this was your greatest trial". "Trail" talk with Jedi usually refers to Knighthood and if she's already done her "greatest one"...

Of course, she did turn them down, so she never became a Jedi Knight, but that was due to her *choice* not her inability.

"Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and operated outside the strictures of the Jedi Code." sounds like Aksoka to me.

Sure, but the whole point of the "grey" label it seems is to take a more balanced approach to the Light and Dark sides of the force. That's clearly not Ahsoka.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm watching the episode again and here's another dumb bit. Zeb has the baby quiet. Ezra walks in the room and Zeb says don't go near the baby he'll start crying. So what does he do? He walks right over to the baby and gets in his face and he starts crying. Between that and giving away the Rebels' secret base, I'm starting to think that Ezra is secretly working for the Empire...

And why in the world does Seventh Sister wear a face mask most of the time? To save on animation?

 

[ALF]

Ahsoka was never a Jedi, persay. She was a washed out padawan. Not her fault, but true. This also explained why Anakin was so angry at the council for not making him a master. He trained a padawan, and they made her quit.

Sure, in title only. She's still obviously got her Jedi skills and a very strong and capable combatant. That's why she does say to Kanan that he's more qualified than she is to have a "Jedi Business" conversation.

Future of the Force establishes that she can best both Inquisitors at once - while Kanan and Ezra aren't able to make a dent in them. Ahsoka should really be spending some time training both of them, IMO.

Does anyone regard Ahsoka as the POV character for The Clone Wars? Was that what she was originally meant to be, the character we would identify with as she gets trained by Anakin? If that is so, and as much as Dave F has suggested otherwise - Ahsoka can never be killed off. No Disney exec would pull the plug on that character.

I'm calling it now - Ahsoka survives Rebels with an [in-universe] implied death. Or... I don't know. She comes back as a robotic spider, held together by witchcraft?