SPOILER Rebels Season 3 Ep 20 & 21 "Zero Hour" (Paul's Review)

Hit me, Rebels!

 

Hera has called him 'love' a few times throughout the series' history. They don't drop the hints of their relationship often but they're there.

 

I enjoyed this finale and it's continuing SW themes of compassion and sacrifice/honorable deaths. I'm happy to put down any predictability to marketing toward such a broad, general audience.

I was half expecting TPTB to give a nod to some EU and have Jan captured and end up a POW on the Lusankya before being rescued next season!

I too felt that it was a good opportunity to up the stakes and tragically lose a few more heavily featured characters (I'm not brave enough to choose who though). It was a Thrawn-planned offensive after all and I thought he deserved a few higher ranking casualties despite his arrogance and his subordinate's incompetence.

It may be a little far-fetched but I can't help wondering if The Bendu plays a part in the ST with Kylo Ren being "forged from the Light and the Dark" and theories of Rey and Kylo (light and dark) sharing some Force bond path.

P.S. I'm still waiting for that TIE Defender factory and plans to be destroyed. Maybe next series...

 

Spoiler

This finale was certainly an event of epic proportion. First and foremost it was visually stunning to watch. The space battle was gorgeous and the orbital bombardment of Atollon was terrifyingly beautiful. Bendu's effects were also very nice as well. Rebels has certainly improved tremendously since the first episode of season one.

"Firstly I am very pleased that Thrawn survived. We haven't really seen everything we can with him yet and killing him off would have been a mistake in my opinion. He will definitely he a more active villain next season in my opinion as we spent a long period of time in this season setting him up as a legitimate threat to the Rebels. It was interesting seeing him lead ground forces personally as I don't believe he did in legends. Finally, the fortune that Bendu told him sounds eerie.

Despite being a bit role on the show, Sato's sacrifice was genuinely sad to me. He gave his life willingly for the greater good of the Rebellion and so that his subordinates could have a chance to escape. If only he took Iron Squadron down with him. Ramming into other ships seem to be a bit of a trend in the Rebel Alliance, between the battle of Attolon, the battle of Scarif, and the battle of Endor.

Konstantine's sudden rivalry with Thrawn in this episode was implemented strangely in my opinion as it had no real build up before this episode as far as I remember. Other than that though I think Admiral Konstantine's death is a net positive for the Empire as he was relatively incompetent. His desire for glory seemed reasonable though considering the nature of the Empire.

I will admit that I didn't expect Kallus to live but I'm really glad he survived as his character is incredibly deep and developed. David Oyelowo is also an incredible talent to have on the show as well and he certainly shows it whenever Kallus is on screen. I really look forward to seeing his new role in the Rebellion next season.

The Bendu was interesting this episode. I really like that when he appeared in his storm form he attacked both the Empire and the Rebels. That being said I thought him turning into a literal storm seemed a little overpowered and random but it looked really good.

Seeing the Deathtroopers was nice but they really didn't do much this episode and it makes me wonder why they are suddenly with Thrawn as I believe he has appeared with regular stormtroopers everywhere thus far. The cameo by Tarkin was nice, but I believe he called Thrawn Admiral Thrawn, and Thrawn called him Governor Tarkin. The Yavin shoutout was pretty cool but I thought they would have gone to Dantooine after Attolon not Yavin."

Unfortunately, out of the three season finales this one is probably my least favorite. Now that doesn't mean I didn't like this episode and these episodes will likely rank in my top ten for Rebels so far, but the other two had more of an impact direction of the show and the Star Wars universe. It certainly builds the narrative that the Rebel Alliance is not ready for open warfare with the Empire yet, but it lacked the same weight as the previous season finales and it seemed disjointed at some points. Overall, I really enjoyed this episode and in reality my issues with it are minor critiques. I am sad that this season is over but I look forward to seeing what season four has to offer.

 

I guess not every space battle can be as good as Rogue One's.

Another thing about this episode (and I guess Season 3 in general) was Bendu's voice acting. Tom Baker is just amazing. I'm a fan of his work in Doctor Who. Now we just need someone to make some fan art with Bendu wearing a forty-foot scarf...

 

Spoiler

Great episode! I'm happy with how the events played out. It was fitting that Thrawn's ultimate victory was thwarted by the incompetence of other Imperials as well as the Bendu(who Thrawn had no way of knowing about). Definitely one of the most cinematic episodes of Rebels yet. I'm definitely stoked for next season.

One of the most intriguing bits of the episode was the Bendu's final comments to Thrawn. I have no doubt that Thrawn's final downfall will involve the Force in some respect. After all, even a masterful tactician like Thrawn can't properly quantify all of the variables that the Force brings to the table.

 

The finale wasn't what I hoped for. We all knew that they were gonna lose the base(they had to since Yavin IV is the main base). I did have the feeling of "uncertain" cause the first part was more of "finding hope" rather than "epic lost". when i was thinking when they said before that the Rebels would take a major lost, I didnt think it would be just losing the base. I thought someone from the crew would be affected in the lost. I understand it from the whole strategic point of view, its was Thrawn vs. Hera. I like Commander Sato's sacrifice to help out the crew. Bendu part was alil off but understood. But to me it was quick to the point. They didnt lose any major thing so with just from the rebels POV they lost their base.

There was a couple things I did like though. I like the Kallus/Thrawn fight. Good to see that finally take place with Kallus escaping and the Rebels getting him. I did like the Initial space fight and having the rebels stuck on the base was the stronghold. Commander Sato sacrifice. I thought this might be where we will get the "general Syndulla" even though the lost the base and all Hera made the move to get out without further damage and not surrendering themselves and giving any other details of other rebels cells/base. I would like to see that in the next season where the first episode will be a thrilling victory for Hera and she makes General.

 

I guess they didn't want to use it since they already did something similar in another episode but I thought the Spiders on the planet was a natural defense system against invaders. They really didn't show up much in this episode

 

I like this episode. I didn't dislike much, but I found myself wanting more.

I felt like the Bendu was a weird and wasted character. We never really got to know much about him or had any interesting interactions with him.

I liked the twist that he didn't conjure the storm, but was rather flying around in its epicenter. I wish we didn't get that last clip with his "prophecy" to Thrawn. Having Bendu go out as a falling star corpse was a neat visual.

I liked the space battle, but wish it had a larger scope. Capital ships were super easy to destroy. There was a point when Thrawn says "scramble the fighters" and 4 TIEs come out.

Thrawn didn't seem as brilliant as he should've been. I was hoping he would've figured out Atallon because Kallus deleted it. He shouldn't have needed local art to know a planet was there. It isn't like Kallus deleted it from Imperial archives, just from the Chimera console.

Also, what was his plan for Kallus? Just hope he sends a transmission at a time when there is recent rebel jump data to cross reference it with?

Similarly, I figured that the Mandos would come to help out, but I wanted a large fleet, not just Sabine and a few others.

I loved Hera in season 1, and liked her affection towards Kanan in this episode, but she did one thing that really bugged me.

When mama Sabine says something like "We helped you out at a time when we really didn't have forced to spare. You should return the favor" and Hera replies "Nope sorry, gotta look after my own."

What the hell, Hera.

 

Hera calling Kanan ''love''..................... classic.

 

I thought that Hera indicated that she wanted to repay the debt but that she first had to bring the wounded rebels back to Rebel Command. She did not seem to reject the request from Ursa Wren (Sabine's mother).

 

Yes! I spotted that too. Is it a foretelling of Ezra's fall?

 

So we know what the sign for a star wars beat down is.

 

While I don't think this season hit the highs of S2 (Future of the Force, Twilight of the Apprentice) , overall it was a much better season with fewer filler episodes, better animation and consistently better storytelling and I think this episode epitomized all that. As has been mentioned before, the space battles have been pure class, and the breathtaking cinematic quality of Twin Suns showed once again that Dave Filoni should get a pop at directing a live action movie. Maybe Obi Wan.

The only fault I find with this episode is as someone stated before

Spoiler

The manner of the 'defeat' of the Bendu by Thrawn, but hey Thrawn needed a win. I would have liked to have seen one of the main characters being captured to leave things on a bit of a cliffhanger, and set up a rescue mission for season 4, but hey, there's plenty of resolution to look forward to as is.

 

Excuse my awful ignorance as I've forgotten the exact line, but didn't Kanan mention to Ezra he knew of a place where they could disappear?

I assumed he didn't mean Yavin....

Is this a foreshadowing for their future?

If I've misunderstood this, I allow Bendu to force storm me

 

I kinda agree. The problem is, it is hard to give everyone something to do in 20 mins. We need to split them up or else we'd never have any time on anyone.

When someone did a character screen time analysis on the first avengers, each superhero only had 8-12 mins of screen time.

 

Kallus is a tough guy, he can't take it.