Review: Star Wars Rebels – “The Future of the Force”

Spoilers Below

An old woman carrying a baby walks the halls of a passenger ship. Suddenly, the ship is boarded by The Fifth Brother and The Seventh Sister. The two Inquisitors kill almost everyone on board and kidnap the baby.

On Garel, Ahsoka appears to talk to Kanan. She hasn’t been able to find any information about the Sith Lord but she has heard about two separate incidents that they need to look into. The Inquisitors have been sent on a retrieval mission. She instructs Kanan to take Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper to one location while she goes to the other.

The crew of the Phantom arrive on the planet and quickly decide to split up. Zeb and Chopper head to one of the hangars to find the Inquisitors’ ship while Kanan and Ezra head to the location Ahsoka gave them.

In the hangar, Zeb and Chopper find the ship but, before they can blow it up, they hear a baby inside. Despite Chopper’s protests, Zeb insists that they save the baby first.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka has gone to the previously attacked passenger ship. On board, she finds the wounded old woman. She begs Ahsoka to save her grandchild because the baby “has it.” Though she never says what “it” is.

Back on Ithor, Kanan and Ezra go to a housing complex. Inside, they find an injured Ithorian mother worried about her baby. Thankfully, she was able to send the baby away with a droid before the Inquistors found them. Kanan calls Zeb and tells him to track down the other child. Zeb leaves Chopper in the Phantom with the first baby and heads out on his new mission.

Zeb manages to find the Ithorian baby extremely quickly. He sends the droid in another direction as a decoy but it is fruitless since the Inquisitors are right around the corner. The Imperial agents blow up the droid and begin chasing Zeb. The Rebel calls Kanan on his comm to tell him about this new situation before hiding in a nearby building. Sensing the baby with the Force, the Inquisitors follow Zeb into the building. But first, The Seventh Sister sends a small probe droid to keep an eye on the outside of the building.

As Kanan and Ezra rush to help Zeb, Ezra notices the probe droid. They avoid getting caught by the droid before heading inside. Kanan and Ezra find Zeb hiding in a room. However, once Ezra comes near, the baby starts to cry. This alerts the Inquisitors to their location and the chase is on. The Rebels manage to trick the Inquistors a few times but, in the end, they are cornered at the hangar containing the Phantom. Kanan, Zeb, and Ezra all try to fight the Inquisitors…unsuccessfully.

Suddenly, the hangar door opens, revealing Ahsoka. She instructs Ezra to get the child to the ship before she opens her dual lightsabers and leaps into battle. Kanan is hesitant about leaving Ahsoka behind. Ezra points out that, if they can get the ship into the air, the Jedi will join them.

Of course, Ahsoka easily defeats the Inquisitors. Before she can truly claim victory, a troop of Stormtroopers heads their way. Ahsoka sees the Phantom above her and, as predicted, she Force Jumps a few times, swinging herself into the ship. Inside the ship, we see the Ithorian mother reunited with her baby while Chopper holds the other. Ahsoka and Kanan talk about how the Jedi used to protect the Force-sensitive children but now they are gone. It will be up to them to protect the little ones from now on.

While most of this episode was decent, the best part was the fight between Ahsoka and the Inquisitors. There were a few times that I actually thought she would die, just like Obi-Wan. I am so very glad that she did not. This was a great way to bring the Inquisitors back into the story and show that they aren’t as all-powerful as we thought they were. Perhaps Ahsoka will train Kanan and Ezra in ways to defeat the Inquisitors. It’s obvious they need to work on their fighting skills. But now that they have seen how strong Ahsoka is, where will the Empire go from here? Will we actually see her face off with Darth Vader? I guess we’ll have to wait to see.