Star Wars: Rebels - Complete Season Three brings the entire series to a new level, while completing some stories that needed completion. It also sets up the next season as a grand finale that has a lot at stake for both good and evil. Hopefully, it all concludes as well as season three was driven. Regardless, definitely pick this one up.
The third season of Disney’s and LucasFilm’s Star Wars: Rebels is a doozy.
Official Synopsis
Having established a secret base on Atollon, the Ghost crew, now led by a more powerful Ezra, strengthens the Rebel fleet by acquiring new resources and recruits eager to stand against the Empire. However, the Imperial efforts to eliminate the Rebellion are now being led by the coldly analytical Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose strategic, tactical and cultural insights make him a threat unlike any they have faced before. Ezra and Sabine must take on new roles and challenges as the Rebels prepare for their biggest mission yet – a direct assault on the Empire.
There’s so much going on and the extension to Ezra’s story, which had him starting out as a young and innocent lad, then shifting in season three to a internally conflicted Jedi is quite the arc for a cartoon to travel upon. What I have particularly enjoyed over the last three seasons of this cartoon, something most cartoons of this type don’t do, is how it maintains a sense of scale (which is huge here) and adds a bit more lore and development to its characters, as well as previously existing Star Wars movie figures. It treats everything in the SW universe with a delicate hand that is respectful to what it’s holding. What this season does with Darth Maul makes me want to see Maul appear in the unofficial Obi-wan Kenobi movie. This series makes him so much more than just a barely existing figurine in the Star Wars universe.
Anyway, let’s talk story.
The season begins with Ezra leading a mission to rescue Hondo Ohnaka. Having succeeded in doing so, and using the Sith Holocron to gain special abilities to compete his mission, he is soon met by his mentor Kanan, who swiftly takes the holocron away from him after sensing some uneasy conflict within the young Jedi. After Kanan acquires the device, he is summoned to meet a giant beast called the Bendu, who sits firmly in the middle between the light and dark side. Bendu’s calling is to help Kanan regain his sight, in a sense, while also helping to figure out what the holocron device’s true nature might be.
Soon after Kanan’s run in with the Bendu, Ezra then finds himself face-to-face with Darth Maul, whom he was betrayed by in season two, and his friends held hostage in exchange for the holocron. Ezra is then asked to bring the holocron back to Darth Maul, who wishes to merge it with the Jedi holocron, and Ezra, to learn secrets and to get questions answered. One question from Ezra is about wiping the Sith out, while Darth Maul wishes to know how to find his old nemesis, Ben Kenobi. At the end of the episode, Ezra doesn’t exactly get to know what he wants, but Maul finds exactly what he needs from it.
The beginning episodes of season three are amazingly done. You get to learn a bit more about Ezra’s dark side, while also bringing in old characters that have unfinished business, as well as unfinished character development from the movie side of things. This is exactly the reason why this show succeeds and why it’s far more than just another cartoon. Now, that isn’t to say that there aren’t some throwaway episodes that don’t mean much to the main plot point. There is an episode where Captain Rex, and crew, are captured by abandoned droids from the Clone War, who wish to simulate a final battle to pull out victory. This episode, while certainly nostalgic in a sense, don’t really add anything to the overall season. You will get a few of those here and there, but not too many.
As the episodes move forward, we actually get to see a bit more history of some famous Star Wars characters. One episode of season three introduces us to Wedge Antilles and Hobbie, two familiar faces from the original trilogy. The episode in question fills in the blanks on where they came from, what they did before joining the rebellion and what brought the to the Rebels. It’s a wonderful bridge and a wonderful way to, again, add more depth to the characters that have been understated in the movie universe.
The season continues to move beyond just concentrating on familiar names, though, as its overarching villain, Thrawn, continues to make trouble for the rebels. From taking over command and hunting down traitors to the empire, developing a new TIE fighter to take down Ezra and crew, taking over one of the main character’s home world, and finally trying to take out everyone by the end of the season, there is enough Thrawn to go around in the entire season. He is a menacing shadow of doubt, deceit and cruelty, and one that isn’t held back by the confines of the Disney logo. You’ll get enough of him through out the entire season to make you happy that there is a villain with some substance attached to him.
As the season starts to hit its stride and extend itself into act three, the season rewards the viewer for staying by filling up and concluding the story of Kenobi and Maul. Darth Maul’s obsession with finding Obi-wan Kenobi comes to crescendo in the episode title Twin Suns. One fateful and final battle, though short and incredibly not as violent as the Maul versus Vader fight in season two, ends in an emotional/bittersweet death. This death also brings out life with the introduction of Luke, though it is very brief.
Twin Suns aside, the rest of season three has little bits and pieces that, when put together properly across all the episodes, form a cohesive, entertaining and somewhat tragic at times storyline that just deepens how incredible this series has been and has developed over the last three seasons. The two part season finale really does cap it all off, though it leaves the door completely wide open for the fourth and I believe final season. We won’t ruin the finale for you.
Anyway, Star Wars: Rebels – Complete Season Three brings the entire series to a new level, while completing some stories that needed completion. It also sets up the next season as a grand finale that has a lot at stake for both good and evil. Hopefully, it all concludes as well as season three was driven. Regardless, definitely pick this one up.
On the special features side of things, here’s what to expect:
· Return To Mandalore
· Thrawn: A Legend Reborn
· Apprentices to Outcasts: Kenobi And Maul
· The Original Rebel: Saw Gerrera Returns – Extended
· Five Audio Commentaries
Featuring Dave Filoni (Executive Producer), Justin Ridge (Supervising Director), Kilian Plunkett (Art Director), Keith Kellogg (Animation Supervisor) and Joel Aron (CG Supervisor: Lighting & FX)
· A Rebel Alliance
· Rebels Recon
For an animated television show this is a lot of features to include. The Thrawn, audio commentaries and the Apprentices to Outcasts special features are the headliners here with Saw Gerrera bringing up the rear (in a good way). The content adds so much to the release that helps bring a bit more value to the extra viewing.
