Okay, so typically when one is trying to ride the wave of excitement on a particular brand or a brand of movies, the effort given is usually not that much. LEGO movies, games and shows (very transmedia) are popular enough to carry their own weight of success, so there is little effort needed to sell it. Except, typically the brand goes all out on all forms of media. The Freemaker Adventures is no different in effort, as it does an exceptional job of not only telling the story of Rowan and his growth as a builder and Jedi, but also does a great job in selling the brand (LEGO Star Wars) at its highest level.
You have to respect all of that quite a bit.
Anyway, the second season of the LEGO Star Wars Freemaker Adventures arrived this past Tuesday on DVD and I have to tell you, folks, they didn’t dial the show in at all in terms of quality. The animation is spectacular, the humor is spot on and the story actually is very well built. This is a kids’ show, if you didn’t know that, so, again, give them quite a bit of credit for the effort. They could have dialed in everything for the young viewers out there and probably ended up at the same place. They didn’t and it ends up being a fun experience from episode one to the season finale.
This season highlights the continued training of Rowan Freemaker and his quest to become a Jedi and a beautiful shipbuilder. Rowan strives to keep a good attitude and build himself up through visions he has of building and making better things, like a spectacular ship. Anyway, along the way, he runs into resistance from the Empire, mainly Palpatine and Darth Vader, and also runs into a new and jarringly scary threat in a relentless robotic bounty hunter-esque individual named M-OC, who has been hired by Palpatine to bring Rowan in.
Now, M-OC is an intelligent being that is given every chance in capturing and bringing in Rowan to the Emperor, who hopes to turn him to the dark side. M-OC is very much a General Grievous type character, even wielding multiple lightsabers during one episode, where his mere presence and presentation make for an uneasy scary character. M-OC does add a level of seriousness to the overall season, and even the show, as he creates a pesky sense of urgency for Rowan and his peeps.
Getting back to the show, one of the main plot points of the season is the need for Vader to find Kyber Crystals to complete the second Death Star (the one that ends up in Return of the Jedi, briefly). In one episode, midway through the season, Rowan visits a planet that is full of Kyber Crystals, which means the Empire is also in this episode. There are quite a few episodes where the Empire does its best to disrupt the happy-go-lucky Freemakers, even going as far as to hire the Hutts to bring in bounty hunters to track them down. The struggle between the Empire’s need to bring in Rowan is the sticking point for the entire season and also the thing that builds the intensity that leads up to the final episode.
One of the better parts of the entire season, and you could say even the series, are the fighting sequences. They are comparable to the actual Star Wars films. They are put together with intensity and just a hint of drama. That is scattered throughout the season, including driving several episodes, and they are possibly more entertaining than some of the fight sequences in some of the SW movies. That’s not saying much when you look at the prequels or look at The Last Jedi, but it’s true.
Anyhoo, as the season wraps up, we find a final showdown between Rowan and M-OC and the show does its best to give fans a good second season conclusion. It does succeed in doing so.
Overall, the second season of The Freemaker Adventures has everything you would want as a LEGO Star Wars fan. It has drama, humor, intense moments with compelling characters and an ever-growing arc for Rowan’s progression. In short, it’s well done and proudly belongs in the ranks of Star Wars shows. Maybe not quite the level of Rebels, but nonetheless darn good.
In addition to an entertaining show, you get five additional shows with the package, which are solid.
