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Star Wars Rebels Series Finale Recap and Review
Loading...Author’s Note: This post-finale review does contain some heavy spoiler and episode story details for the series finale (final three episodes) of Star Wars Rebels. Please read at your own risk.
The animated series, Star Wars Rebels, reaches its dramatic conclusion with the 90-minute finale airing on March 5 on Disney XD. With Lothal under complete control of the Imperial military, Ezra Bridger and his comrades of the spaceship Ghost rally together in the fight against Governor Price and her Imperial forces.
Star Wars Rebels has been a heck of a ride. Was the show perfect? No. It definitely had its issues at time. Season three overall came off like a lot of table setting, and the finale was more than a little underwhelming. However, creator Dave Filoni appears to have found as good a stopping point as any to conclude the show, and it’s very much a satisfying conclusion.
There will likely be some controversy over some of the ideas introduced late into the fourth season. The time travel issue is one of them. It raises a lot of weird questions and debates that have never really been a part of Star Wars mythos before. The Force Void is really a big can of worms.
The first part of the series finale, “A Fool’s Hope,” is centered around a major gamble by Ezra and the heroes. Hera managed to get off Lothal to reconvene with some of the other Rebel Alliance allies to make a last-ditch effort liberate Lothal from the Empire’s occupation. Ezra finally assumes a strong leadership role after losing Kanan, and the heroes make a last stand against Governor Pryce.
Most the episode was an action-packed and climactic battle. It was a very satisfying battle filled with Jumptroopers making an appearance. However, it also reinforces why it was ridiculous that Sabine and Zeb left Rukh alive in the first place. Letting Rukh live was a dangerous mistake. The reasoning was flimsy at best, especially after they just blew up some troopers. The gamble here was not all that surprising, but it was handled and executed very well as the heroes all coalesce to make their move to free Lothal.
The final episodes (15 and 16) were shown as one, “Family Reunion – and Farewell.” The strategy by the heroes was a good one. They used their hostage, Governor Pryce, as an ace to infiltrate the Empire’s dome in Lothal’s Capital City. Ezra’s plan is to get all the troops into the dome and blow it up. However, Rukh gets free and informs Grand Admiral Thrawn of the plan, and Thrawn is heading back to Lothal with his personal Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, in due haste.
Of course, while the heroes are dealing with the dome and protecting the innocent civilians of Lothal from Thrawn’s attack, Ezra leaves his friends behind in order to offer himself for safety. This is where Ezra Bridger is confronted by a hologram of Emperor Palpatine, in a disguise who tempts Ezra with an emotional and tragic offer. Hearing Ian McDiarmid voice Palpatine again in these last few episodes was definitely great, especially when he got to work with such great dialogue and writing.
The climactic battle scenes for these episodes were all incredibly well done. The finale finally shows the Royal Guards in action, and you finally get to see what force pikes do. So, if you ever wanted to know what happens when Palpatine’s red guards fight, you finally see it in the finale.
The return of the Purrgils as these big deus ex machines is a little problematic. The visuals of the Purrgils in the final battle were definitely nice, but their presence makes things way too easy and simple for the heroes. Not only do the Purrgils destroy the entire Imperial blockade, they destroy Thrawn’s entire fleet! The Purrgils never get a scratch in this giant battle. Fans complain about the eagles in The Lord of the Rings, and this is similar. Arguably, the Purrgils are worse. They are basically like Meteor Shower in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody. The Purrgils will likely inspire similar debates to a certain hyperspace jump scene in The Last Jedi.
Weirdly enough though, despite all the complaints, the series finale for Star Wars Rebels was satisfying. Yeah, there are some problematic elements and plot nitpicks, but the entire show has been building up to this. Dave Filoni and his staff have had several years to let the audience get to know these characters and see them grow. Kallus became one of the show’s chief heroes after starting out as a ruthless Imperial Security Bureau agent.
The show was given a proper conclusion, which was equally satisfying. Almost all the loose ends were tied, save one, and that loose end was likely a setup for a new show. Interestingly enough, both actor Donald Faison and creator Dave Filoni had an amusing exchange at the Q&A session for the finale world premiere. The exchange seemed to strongly hint at a new series featuring Sabine and Ahsoka Tano searching for Ezra Bridger.
Ezra’s fate creates feelings of ambivalence. Ezra isn’t dead. He’s still alive, but he’s gone. It seems contrived that Ezra would’ve survived the final battle and an unprotected jump through hyperspace. But this is Star Wars. Time travel now exists in Star Wars, so there really aren’t any “rules” anymore.
The best part about the epilogue though, with all the heroes taking a victory lap, is that it finally confirms the nature of Hera and Kanan’s relationship. Those two were definitely doing a lot more than kissing when they were offscreen. Ever since the first episode, Hera and Kanan clearly had a close and intimate relationship. It was clear that they were romantic, and they consummated that romance at some point before they even shared a kiss on screen. Case in point, Hera had Kanan’s baby. It’s not a baby that was conceived of the Force either or by midichlorians. It’s a bit of a cliche resolution for her and Kanan’s relationship. Kanan dies, but she has his baby. However, it was a sweet resolution nonetheless.
And thus ends Star Wars Rebels. This was not a show about a war in the stars. Ultimately, Star Wars Rebels was a show about a family, and it was a greatly moving one at that.
