Never forget your Padawan.
Update (8/30/16): With Star Wars Rebels: Season 2 out on Blu-ray and DVD today, we're re-featuring our review of the show's second season.
Special features on the DVD and Blu-ray include the "Connecting the Galaxy: Rebels Season 2" featurette, looking at the references and connections to the larger Star Wars universe through the season, and the "Rebels Recon" webisodes that were made for Season 2. There's also a really interesting special feature only available on the Blu-ray, "From Apprentice to Adversary: Vader vs. Ahsoka," in which Dave Filoni discusses the long-awaited battle that closed out Season 2.
Warning: Full spoilers for Star Wars Rebels: Season 2 below.
Star Wars Rebels showed a lot of evolution in Season 2, taking our core heroes -- the crew of the Ghost -- off of Lothal almost entirely, adding several supporting characters and upping the threat level in a big way.
Considering it was part of something as epic as Star Wars, Rebels felt relatively small scale a lot of times in Season 1 and it was great to see that change fairly quickly in the show’s run here. While the Ghost crew weren’t always seen alongside the larger, burgeoning Rebel Alliance, the fact that they sometimes were and that the Ghost could both lend and ask for support – while traveling to many new worlds – really helped illustrate how this plucky group had now become part of something larger.
The early episodes of Season 2 were a bit top heavy with two things – the introduction of The Clone Wars characters into the series (including Ahsoka, following her brief appearance at the end of Season 1, Rex and Hondo) and a lot of focus on Kanan and Ezra. Not to say these episodes were bad, since many of them were quite strong, but as with Season 1, it sometimes felt like the show was a bit overly focused on the Jedi-related characters, rather than the entire cast.
Thankfully, that began to change as the season progressed and while the balance was never quite there, everyone at least got one great episode of their own. Zeb was notable for going from the least fleshed-out character to getting two standout episodes, very close to one another – one that filled in his backstory and another that showed his fascinating dynamic in an excellent Enemy Mine type situation with Agent Kallus. We met Sabine’s old bounty hunter buddy (and learned she was Death Watch!), saw Hera have an uncomfortable reunion with her father and even Chopper was the star of a very clever and surprisingly poignant episode.
When it came to those Clone Wars characters, while their intros could have been spread out a bit more, they were all welcome returns, while also, thankfully, remaining supporting characters rather than taking over the series. The depiction of an older, more fatherly Rex was touching and Hondo was as amusingly self-motivated as ever.
As for Ahsoka, while she would weave in and out of the season, her appearances were always meaningful and impactful – from the gasp-worthy moment where she and Darth Vader sensed each other’s presence, to her reunion with Rex to her teaching a couple of tough, newly-introduced Inquisitors not to mess with her. And speaking of Vader, he too was wisely only used sparingly, but when he did appear -- most notably in the premiere and the finale -- it was appropriately weighty, with the Dark Lord of the Sith at his most fearsome and intimidating.
In the midst of this, the visuals on the show were increasingly impressive, with some really cool action scenes throughout, incorporating clever new ways to make use of the Force and lightsabers in battle, along with terrific-looking space battles and two different, dynamic, fights involving Imperial Walkers.
Not every story was as strong as others – The episode "The Call", AKA “the one with the Space Whales,” was a misfire, while Princess Leia’s appearance was good, but felt like it could have been even better. But more often than not, Rebels delivered in Season 2.
It all led up to a captivating, thrilling and emotional season finale – which, yes, was amplified much more if you were closely connected and familiar with the Clone Wars, as Vader and Ahsoka came face to face at last. In the meantime, the oft-mentioned idea of Ezra possibly falling to the Dark Side was never forgotten, ending the season on an ominous note, while Darth Maul’s return (which clearly is just beginning) proved to be one that would have permanent, disfiguring effects on Kanan – underlining that there are certainly consequences on this show.
The Verdict
Rebels still needs to find a better balance between the Kanan and Ezra-centric stories and the larger cast, but as Season 2 progressed, it began to show signs that perhaps the future will be a bit better divided between the characters. In the meantime, we got plenty of fun and thrilling adventures, along with some notably intense and important moments that resonated throughout Star Wars as a whole.
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