Warning: This article contains spoilers
So Star Wars Rebels has come to and end. After four seasons the tale of the crew of ‘The Ghost’ and their allies has seen its resolution, and it was a spectacular one at that.
Going in to the final season, which we all knew would be the final season (and given that Rebels takes place slightly before the events of Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy), fans wondered how the various plots would be resolved and explain where the characters were during the events of those films; although we already knew that Hera Syndulla and Chopper were around during Rogue One and Captain Rex fought at Endor.
But what of the rest? Especially the two Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger?
Well, in the run up to the finale, in the episode ‘Jedi Knight’ Kanan Jarrus suffered a heroic demise, saving his friends from certain death during the destruction of a military factory on Bridger’s home planet of Lothal, the setting for many an episode during the four season run. Despite a bit of time travel and the return of Asohka Tano – Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan who was thought dead at the end of season two, Kanan could not be saved.
Lothal could though, and we entered the final three episodes ‘A Fools Hope’, ‘Family Reunion’ and ‘Farewell’ with a plot to rid Lothal of the Empire and Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Thrawn (no, I’m not sorry) in the Rebels side since Season Three. The triple bill of episodes starts with Hera recruiting Hondo, the bounty hunter/smuggler/pirate and a few others to aid Ezra’s plan, which they all do out of respect for the young Jedi.
Ezra has devised a plan that involves some double crossing and some clever trickery, and he even lures Thrawn in to his trap, despite the Emperor himself trying to remove the young Jedi from the equation, defeating the Chiss military maestro. Ezra had called in the Purgills, a kind of space whale, who pulled Thrawn, his ship, and Ezra in to hyperspace, perhaps to death, but certainly away from Lothal.
The action is fast paced and, with it being the finale, you’re never quite sure who is going to survive. Quite frankly I’m surprised so many did, with only one supporting character biting the bullet (or laser) and a couple of ambiguous endings.
It is revealed in the epilogue that Hera, Chopper and Rex all continued their fight against the Empire, and Hera even had a son with the late Kanan, named Jacen (a nod to Jacen Solo from the old Expanded Universe) – a possible force sensitive. Kallus had perhaps the most satisfying conclusion. The ‘big bad’ of the first two seasons, and the man who believed he had wiped out Zeb’s Lasat species, turned rebel spy then rebel soldier after being stranded with Zeb on a desolate planet and essentially saw the error of his ways.
After the events of the rebellion, Zeb took Kallus to his species’ new home planet to show him they had not been wiped out and were starting to thrive.
Sabine stayed on Lothal in case the Empire returned, which they never did. With Ezra’s fate ambiguous, Asokha Tano returns to take Sabine on a new adventure to find their missing friend.
With Rian Johnson being given a trilogy and John Favreau working on a TV show, it is a shame that the series creator, Dave Filoni, has yet to be given another project as he has absolutely nailed the tone of Star Wars with Rebels and I would be far more inclined to watch more of his work in this universe than that of many others.
Overall Rebels was an excellent series that really felt like Star Wars, it just had that kind of magic about it. Despite being a children’s show it dealt with at times some adult themes but was, most importantly, fun, adventurous and had characters you ultimately cared about, along with some dangerous and intimidating villains, after all, if you’re working for Darth Vader you must have a bit about you.
The finale was no different and when the end credits rolled I was left feeling satisfied with how the series concluded, disappointed that it had come to an end and excited and intrigued to see what might be done these characters as there is a lot of scope to use them again.
I sincerely rate both the finale and the show as a whole the maximum five stars we can give here at Set the Tape; for both its genre and for the type of show it is.
