Review: Star Wars Rebels – The Siege of Lothal

Spoilers Below

Star Wars Rebels, along with all the other Star Wars media we’ve seen since Disney wrapped its tentacles around the franchise, have occupied a very interesting narrative space: at any moment it feels like A New Hope is about to begin. With this comes some excitement, because soon, soon, young padawans, we’ll be seeing what the heck’s been going on since Endor (actual comics taking place after VI notwithstanding). But, and here’s the rub, all of the characters we’ve come to know and love and don’t appear in the original trilogy are now in their most precarious spots. Some simply can’t be around, for episode IV. This is the final countdown, and unlike Clone Wars, there is no longer a gap of unwritten story for anyone to hide in. Even Vader himself is a slave to destiny now. At first glance, this is writing poison. But Star Wars has been told anachronistically since A New Hope, and as it turns out, knowing how things end doesn’t tell us anything about the story at hand. That has been Rebels greatest strength so far, and the season two premiere, The Siege of Lothal, tosses us right into it.

To begin season two of Star Wars Rebels, I have a trivia question for you:

Which beloved Star Wars character dies in the two-part premiere of Star Wars Rebels?

Trick question, Minister Maketh Tua was never a beloved character!

We open, in a scene so much like the opening of Empire Strikes Back that I wondered when the Wampa would appear. Kanan doesn’t care for being tied down with Phoenix Squad, even after Hera reminds him that they saved his life last season. He’d rather they go back on their own, but like it or not, we’re in the rebellion now. The Siege of Lothal seems to strike a lot of Empire’s opening beats.

And, that’s where Siege starts. Lord Vader is on Lothal, and he’s not pleased with the Minister’s failure with the rebels or the suppression of Lothal. Tua, at her wit’s end, doesn’t know how to please Lord Vader. Lucky for her, our resident Sith Lord knows what to do, and Kallus, ever the gentlemen, assists Lord Vader in arranging Tua’s assassination. Tua naturally calls in the crew of the Ghost for help.

Understandably, the Ghost and Phoenix Squadron want nothing to do with her. But Ezra convinces them, and we’re off to Lothal.

This is where that final countdown begins.

Kallus and Vader kill Tua and frame the crew for it, trapping them behind enemy lines with only an unarmed shuttle and a flimsy deal with Lando to get off world. Here is where I was afraid we were going full Empire. By the end, Tarkintown is gone, Ezra’s hideout is gone, and there’s no chance of going back to the way things were season one. Worse, our three sorta-Jedi have gotten themselves the wrong sort of attention: a very real, and very dangerous Darth Vader.

Vader is a monster here. Vader is effectively the most powerful character in the story, and it shows. I forgot we were supposed to see him as anything other than the pathetic remains of Anakin Skywalker. Instead, Vader shows how he got where he was in life, and almost kills Kanan and Ezra, ignores having a walker force-crush him, chases them down and wrecks Phoenix Squadron himself, and who knows what he’ll do now that he and Ahsoka knows each other are still alive. Ahsoka, for what little screen time she gets this episode, seems aware of her approaching doom. My opening line was almost, “this season, the role of Obi-Wan will be played by Ahsoka Tano.” And, if the odds weren’t completely against them, Palpatine comes in at the last minute with, “Jedi, huh? Better send another inquisitor.”

The Siege of Lothal has the perfect blend of Clone Wars and both trilogies. Vader looks like Vader, talks like Vader, but is as dangerous as Anakin ever was to his enemies. Characters who go on to appear in A New Hope act and move more like their film counterparts than their Clone Wars or prequel trilogy versions, as if to build the last bridge connecting the entire saga, and if you begin looking now, someone-somewhere in this, is probably going to be important in The Force Awakens. If you saw the trailer for Rebels season two, but haven’t seen the Siege of Lothal yet, you’ll be happy to know almost all the footage in the trailer was used in these two episodes.

For a season opening trying to tell a story many of us will write off as already written, The Siege of Lothal is a good sign that Disney is going to pull no punches in the Galaxy, and that there are still questions to be answered.