Star Wars Rebels season three has come to an end with the episode Zero Hour.
Grand Admiral Thrawn launches his attack on the Attolon base, and as Kanan puts it, he’s
“actually trying to kill them this time!”
We open on Lothal, where Thrawn goes through this whole charade of secrecy to entice Kallus
into listening in and contacting the Rebels.
Kallus is using a mouse bot to spy, which is something Threepio did in the Poe Dameron
comic.
Poe points out that those things are everywhere, and no one would look twice at it, so good
job Kallus, but you’re still playing into Thrawn’s plan.
He’s been using Ezra’s old home to transmit as Fulcrum, and Thrawn follows him there once
a message has been sent.
He captures Kallus and cross references the signal with the trajectory of a known Rebel
fleet to pinpoint Atollon’s location, but nothing is there, because it was removed from
his list in Through Imperial Eyes.
He then brings up art from the area depicting the planet, and knows he has the right place.
I’ve gotta say that all seemed really watered down for Thrawn.
In his books his deductions are way more impressive.
I just finished rereading Outbound Flight yesterday and the way he makes plans or uncovers
information is brilliantly written.
He uses information that is right out in the open, but just sees what others don’t.
Making two lines intersect and then throwing in an art reference just seemed to simple.
Like anyone could have done that.
His deductions in Through Imperial Eyes were much better.
But on the bright side, I think overall this episode Thrawn was used very effectively.
He had a well-coordinated attack, and he did some major damage to the Rebel fleet.
A ton of ships were lost in the battle, and I would definitely count the Battle of Atollon
as a victory for the Empire.
It would have been an even more decisive victory if it hadn’t been for Konstantine and the
completely unforseen existence of the Bendu.
I’ll come back to the Bendu later, but I find myself really annoyed with Konstantine.
Not that what he did was out of character, he’s always been a bit of an idiot, but
it seems like the only reason he broke formation was because the story needed it.
I think they could have shown him be a little more insolent towards Thrawn throughout the
season, or maybe make him jealous of Thrawn getting all the glory.
Instead he just says he’s tired of Thrawn’s games, which, sure he was toying with them
at the start of the season, but now?
No.
You’re in an interdictor cruiser and your job is to keep them there, not to attack.
That said, Sato’s sacrifice was cool.
I wouldn’t say it’s surprising, because he was nowhere to be seen in Rogue One, we’ve
never heard him mentioned elsewhere, so he was likely to die at some point.
I was actually more surprised that they lost the carrier, but again, it wasn’t seen as
part of the fleet in Rogue One, so it makes sense.
And the crash was very reminiscent of the two star destroyers in the Battle of Scarif.
Sato’s death will also open up a promotion for Hera, who showed great leadership skills
this episode.
And by the way, it’s rare, but it’s always nice to see her and Kanan show some affection
for each other.
With the blockade set up and the fleet stuck back on Atollon’s surface, we move onto
the ground assault.
It was really cool seeing a shield in use, and seeing an orbital bombardment from the
ground.
It shows us exactly why the Empire couldn’t just blast Echo Base on Hoth from orbit.
Meanwhile, Kanan runs off to seek help from the Bendu, who is just angry that his peaceful
planet is being disturbed.
And then he goes all Galadriel when Kanan calls him a coward.
At first I was afraid he was going to come around and just save the day by attacking
the Imperials.
But the fact that he attacked everyone was great.
He just wants everyone to take their rowdy fight elsewhere, and even goes so far as to
say maybe it’s a good thing the Jedi were wiped out, which I’m going to take as more
potential foreshadowing that Luke and Rey might headed in a new, more gray direction
with the Force.
Bendu’s storm attack is what really foils Thrawn’s plans, and allows our heroes to
get away.
This is acceptable to me, because how on earth could Thrawn have guessed some immensely powerful
Force being would live there?
In Legends, Thrawn is pretty unfamiliar with the Force.
To reference Outbound Flight again, that story tells us of the first time he ever learns
about or encounters a Jedi, an experience he is fully unprepared for, and probably wouldn’t
have survived without some help.
We’ll have to see what the new Thrawn book teaches us in a couple weeks, but it’s entirely
possible the canon Thrawn has even less experience now.
Even still, he is able to take the Bendu down.
I was shocked that worked.
Their face-to-face conversation was pretty cool, and opened up a lot of questions.
First, what happened to the Bendu?
Did he die and become one with the Force?
Was he ever alive?
Or is he truly unseen and unknowable as he claims?
Was that his pride speaking, or has he always been a spirit?
I don’t know that we’ll see more of the Bendu in Rebels, but I really hope we learn
more about him in other content.
The Bendu says he sees Thrawn’s future: Many arms surrounding him in a cold embrace.
Assuming this prophecy comes true, it’s sounding very different from Thrawn’s Legends
fate, and I’m happy about that.
I want to be surprised when it comes.
And this seems like a good time to say I’m so glad I was wrong about Thrawn dying.
My wife, Mollie, says his survival should have been obvious, because his book is weeks
from release, and if he died, that might hurt book sales.
Which is actually an excellent point.
Before season three started, I guessed he would be a one-season villain that would hit
the Rebels hard throughout the year, who would then be betrayed in the season finale during
what would be his final attack.
But then he spent most of the year letting them all get away, and he just didn’t do
enough.
He only really started to feel like Thrawn to me in Through Imperial Eyes.
So I’m expecting big things in season four.
If he can keep up his advantage and continue having victories like he did in this episode
for another year, then I will be satisfied.
I still want him to not be defeated by the Rebels.
He needs to be beaten by circumstances he couldn’t have possibly guessed, like today’s
Force storm, or the betrayal of a trusted ally.
And again, that should only happen after he keeps hitting the Rebels hard.
So how did our main heroes fare in all this?
Again, the Rebellion itself took a beating.
But from the audience’s perspective, no one important was really lost except Sato.
And Kallus was able to escape and join them, if we’re only looking at our main cast,
they kind of came out pretty much okay.
I’m a big fan of Kallus directly joining the Rebellion, and I hope he keeps his new
sexy Rebel hair.
It will be interesting to see how his look changes next season.
The Rebels say they are headed to Yavin, which surprised me.
I was expecting a stop at Dantooine, but they’re going straight to Yavin.
The gap between Rebels and Rogue One is getting smaller very quickly.
All in all, this was a satisfying finale.
I think I felt a little bit underwhelmed, but only because I’m comparing it to Twilight
of the Apprentice.
But it’s pretty hard to top the meeting between Vader and Ahsoka, and that ending
montage.
On the other hand, a lot of the things teased by that finale didn’t really matter when
it came to season three.
Ezra’s flirtation with the dark side and the consequences of Kanan’s blindness lasted
about one episode.
Ahsoka’s possible survival hasn’t resurfaced.
So in the long run, maybe a finale like this is better.
It was still very eventful, and it teased enough for the stories to come.
Like the Mandalorian civil war between the Wrens and the Saxons.
The rebellion continuing to grow and settle in on Yavin 4.
Kallus’s role in the Alliance.
The Bendu’s prophecy.
And the TIE Defender factory is still up and running.
There is plenty to be excited and intrigued about, and fortunately we’re going to get
news on that at Celebration in just a few weeks.
But I’ll probably do a prediction video tomorrow on where I think all this is headed.
Now that season three is over, I’m very happy with it.
There were a couple missteps, like Iron Squadron and the Wynkahthu Job, but for the most part
every other episode was enjoyable to me.
Before I wrap up I want to run through some random observations.
The music in this episode seemed a little closer to the music used in Rogue One, or
at times it straight up used themes from the original trilogy.
I think that’s meant to help show how close in the timeline we’re getting to those films.
It’s good to see Ezra finally acting more mature.
He takes orders well this episode, and when he’s forced to improvise and go to Sabine
for help, it feels like a smart choice, well thought out decision.
I’m also glad to see they kept Maul’s ship.
He’s gone but not forgotten.
The Death Troopers were kind of pointless in this episode.
They were really only there so we could go “Oh look!
Death Troopers!”
I guess it can show how seriously the Empire was taking this attack, but they were pretty
inconsequential.
Tarkin’s order to take prisoners could have also contributed to the Ghost Crew’s escape.
It’s pretty clear Thrawn could have wiped them all out from orbit if he weren’t held
back.
I really liked seeing Zeb and Rex working together, and I wish we got more of it.
I’d love to see them paired off and bantering more in the future.
There has been a new addition to Mustache Squadron.
Join your brothers in glory, guy who I think was Green Leader.
I’m partially joking here, but it is nice to see the animation get more budget.
Every rebel pilot used to look identical, but we’re getting unique faces for a lot
of them now.
What did you guys think of the episode and the season as a whole?
Do you have any questions or predictions for season four?
Let me know in the comments!
If you want to see all my other Rebels season three coverage, you can watch this playlist
here.
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!