8.7/10. Best of the show so far. Again, the themes and conflicts aren't especially deep, and at times, remind me of Full House grafted onto a galaxy far far away. But the other side of the coin is that Kanan's insecurity about whether he can be a good teacher coupled with Ezra's insecurity about whether he can be a good student, and throwing in a job and a confrontation with the season's big bad makes for a good episode in a season that feel more and more like Buffy Season 1 to me, for good and for ill.
The lure of Master Luminara, and the reveal that the Inquisitor has her bones which he uses to lure in wayward Jedi works well as a plot engine and a twist to introduce the villain. The Inquisitor is a pretty generic sith--pale skin, red eyes, etc. (he reminds me of "The Brother" from the Mortis arc on *Clone Wars)--but Jason Isaacs gives him a presence, and his steadiness in the fight, the way he's clearly not worried about going against these two untrained force-wielders, makes him intimidating. On top of that, his ability to pick apart Kanan's style and question his tutelage of Ezra fits into the themes of the episode nicely.
There's other fun bits at the margins. Hera realizing that their jamming signal in a mating call to the manta-bats flying around, and then using that to save the day was entertaining. The climax involving Kanan getting Ezra to concentrate and succeed at lifting the door with a nice resolution to their earlier efforts. And there was a lot of quoting of the original trilogy here from "it's a trap" to "this plan is getting worse all the time" to "do or do not, there is no try." The last quote is the heart of the episode, and in Buffy-esque fashion, the episode deconstructs it, with Kanan noting that he was never really sure what it meant, and then rebuilds it at the end, with Kanan gaining new understanding of it and imparting it to Ezra, as standing for the idea that he won't waver or lack confidence; he will train his ward.
It's not especially complex or anything, but it works, and it's as exciting and meaningful and creative of an episode as we've had from Rebels so far.
I really like the "do or do not, there is no try" take in this episode.
It seemed like such a casual sentence when Yoda said it to Luke so long ago (or will say it to him depending on how you look at it). It's a bit of a theme that the Master doesn't want to train the apprentice (Yoda with Luke, Kenobi with Anakin and now Kanan with Ezra). But in the end Kanan understood what it means to not just try, but do.
I really wish it was a bit less "childish" but I should probably stop complaining... :)
It's just annoying that it has quite some potential but a low level. It's fine that it targets a younger audience than Clone Wars but I do wonder if it couldn't also achieve that goal while being less ridiculous. I can still watch it while being in my mid 20s though so I guess it isn't too bad... I'm only watching it because of the new live action TV show "Ahsoka" though :)
Would've been nice to have Luminara Unduli back though. I hope we'll see some familiar faces soon :) Kanan is kinda strange... But I'm glad that Ezra has a master now.
Shout by mookieBlockedParent2018-08-03T04:06:38Z
“Does yours do that?” Ezra/Zeb