STAR WARS REBELS "FAMILY REUNION AND FAREWELL" REVIEW

Season 4 Episode 14 & 15:

Hey everyone, I know I have not done a Star Wars Rebels review in a while, none of season four actually, however, the series finale of Star Wars Rebels is out, and there was a lot that went done in terms of the characters, them in the original trilogy, and we see an epilogue for the crew of ghost. But this episode of Rebels was directed by Dave Filoni, Bosco Ng, and Sergio Paez. So spoilers ahead for this last episode of Rebels.

The episode centers around Hera, Kallus, Rex, Gergor, Wolfee, Ketsu, and Hondo coming to Lothal to meet with Ezra and the others to liberate Lothal from the Empire. On the ground, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and Ryder lure governor Pryce to their location, where they embark on a fight with the Empire with Rukh joining in. Ezra awakens the wolves who attack the Empire. Capturing Pryce, the Rebels have just begun their liberation of Lothal.

Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, Kallus, Hondo, Melch, Jai, Rex, Gergor, Ketsu, and Chopper take a hostage price to the Imperial station on Lothal. Meanwhile, Mart, Cikatro, and Wolffe are packing up resources on the Ghost, however, are attacked by Rukh. In the station, the team launches a protocol which has all Imperial troopers and officers come to the station for a lockdown. The Rebels plan to blow the station, however, a Star Destroyer comes above with Thrawn in it. He asks for Ezra, however, is refused. Thrawn fires down on the city, and the shields are down. The Rebels think of a new plan to get the shields online while doing that Ezra gives Chopper his lightsaber, looks at Sabine and quietly escapes. Everyone sees Ezra leave, and decides to act by going to activate the shields. On the Star Destroyer, Ezra is captured by Thrawn where the two have a talk. Ezra is taken to a secret room where he is greeted by the Senate himself, Palpatine, in a hologram. Palpatine shows Ezra the force temple he took from Lothal. Ezra walks through the temple and sees a golden door where he sees his mother and father. Palpatine tells Ezra to go through; knowing that he has made a new family, Ezra says no, and force crushes the temple.  The hologram of Palpatine switches between being the Senate and looking like himself as the Emporer. Ezra fights some Royal guards and then some storm troopers.

On the station, Zeb, Hondo, Kallus, Melch, Rex, Ketsu, Ryder, and Gregor fight stormtroopers and Rukh to open the shields up. Melch gets shot but then survives, however, Gregor gets injured. Rex holds his brother in his arms as he passes away. The shields get powered on and Rukh gets fried. Waking up, Mart, Wolffe, and Cikarto get in the ghost, saying goodbye to the ghost, as they fly the Ghost to their secret mission from Ezra. On the Star Destroyer, Ezra confronts Thrawn. The Ghost comes in with a fleet of Purgill who star attacking the fleet of Star Destroyers. A Purgill breaks into the main Star Destroyer and takes a hold of Thrawn, strangling him. Sabine tells Ezra to leave, but he tells her that he has to see this through. The Purgill take the Star Destroyers and fly into hyperspace, along with Thrawn and Ezra.

On the station, the Rebels see Ezra leave. The Ghostship comes down as everyone gets on board the Ghost. The thrusters on the imperial station is activated as it starts floating above Lothal. The Station then blows up above Lothal, liberating the home of Ezra. The epilogue shows Sabine living on a modern Lothal where she has short hair.  We see Kallus and Zeb spending time together on Zeb's home planet. We learn that Hera fought in the battle of Endor, and she has a kid, with Kanan being the father. We also learn that Rex is a part of the Rebellion. The series ends Sabine putting on her helmet as she goes with Ahsoka to search for Ezra. We then cut away to Sabine's painting of the ghost crew.

Overall, this finale was absolutely awesome. The episode showed us a battle that was worth all the lead up we have seen from the past four years. There was a lot of great scenes in the episode. The main plot of the episode which was liberating Lothal was great. We saw the ways that the Empire was taken down, and it did not feel forced. The battle of Lothal was very interesting. There were fatalities on both sides which made this fight feel more intense and the stakes were in the episode. We saw the death of Gregor which was sad, especially if you are a fan of the Clone Wars animated series like me. The episode had the Senate himself, Palpatine in the episode. We saw him in his regular form a few episodes ago, but now we saw him looking like he was in the prequels. The way he interacted with Ezra was awesome. I do like how Palpatine tried to get rid of Ezra by tempting him with a different life. Palpatine wanted to get rid of Ezra for multiple reasons, for one, get rid of any other Jedi, and if Ezra lived, he could have been one to train Luke when Obi-Wan died. But that scene was awesome, and something that deserved to be in the last episode.

The epilogue of the episode was awesome. The Zeb and Kallus epilogue was okay, it was a nice tie around to the begging of the series, with Kallus and Zab's relationship. The Hera epilogue was interesting. I am curious as to how Hera got pregnant, did Kana and Hera get it on before he died, I guess that was the only option. The big ending though was that of Sabine. I personally do not like the short haircut on Sabine, it really does not suit her. But the way that her story ended was great, and Ahsoka appearing at the end there to go with Sabine to search for Ezra was an amazing way to end the stories of the characters. I do wish that before we saw more of a sentimental moment between Sabine and Ezra. But the music, of that scene, was still impactful along with the visuals.

The voice cast of the episode was talented as always. Everyone brought so much expression and life to the characters they were portraying, in the episode we had, Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios), David Oyelowo (Kallus), Dee Bradley Baker (Rex/ Wolfee/ Gregor/ Melch/ Ephraim Bridger), Ketsy Okyo (Gina Torres), Zachary Gordon (Mart Mattin), Keith Szarabajka (Cikatro Vizago), Kath Soucie (Mira Birdge), Jim Cummings (Hondo Ohnaka), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Governor Pryce), Warwick Davis (Rukh), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), and the Senate himself, Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine).

In conclusion, this episode of Star Wars Rebels was an awesome ending to the series. The animation of this episode looked amazing, it was great to see the characters complete their story arc's and there was an awesome epilogue. The episode did conclude the story of Ezra and Thrawn in a way which explained why they were not in the original trilogy, in a way which was not forced. Dave Filoni did confirm that Ezra and Thrawn are both alive, so in a book, comic, or other show we could see their saga continue. Anyway, the Rebels series finale was great, and a neat way to end the show, which is why I will give this episode a 9.5 out of 10. I would like to hear your thoughts on the episode, and what was your favorite scene. You can click on the left for more Star Wars, click on the right for more Infinity War, and if you haven't, subscribe. As always thanks for reading, take care.