[Rewatch] The whole setup of this episode feels like something you should roll your eyes at - a good guy and a bad guy trapped together and needing to join forces to overcome a life threatening situation - but it works really well. It reveals a surprising amount of depth in the storytelling and will actually affect both characters going forward.
The fact that it was Zeb who was stuck instead of Kanan or Ezra made it all the more interesting.
I wonder if this episode will lead to Agent Kallus eventually switching to the rebels side?
The idea of enemies getting into a deadly situation and having to work together to survive is hardly new and can become dull if not done right. But this is written well and I had to thought (again) about Star Trek.
You see that it is often a matter of perspective when you look at things. What one see as a killer is a hero for the others. One side sees a massacre, the other a great victory. In the end it is not about right or wrong just the fact that you need to see throught the eyes of your enemy. They might never become friends or allies but they have more respect for each other when the part. And who knows, maybe Kallus will see that his side isn't what he thought it to be.
Yeah Two Seconds Too Long
I like how the point of view was made in here, showing how lonely and cold the empire is. If you expand this view, you could place it together with Finn's motivations to leave his due. Good episode!
That was actually a very interesting episode - I really like it!
It was so nice to see Zeb and Kallus "forced" to work together.
Kallus really seems to have noticed some differences between the Rebels and the Empire (then again the Rebel pilots seem to be as "disposable" as he is to the Empire). I really wonder now if he might eventually join them? He's been a prominent character so far and maybe the writers keep him around for such a plan.
Anyway, it'd be nice if something comes out of this.
PS: Why would one immediately leave the rescue pod?!? It was required for the story here but IRL that'd be stupid - inside one is much better protected, it is way easier to heat, and it should even have enough oxygen for a while (that moon, that they crashed/landed on, probably wouldn't even have enough gravity to hold an atmosphere).
So far the best episode it really fleshed out both characters.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-11-19T21:21:26Z
9.6/10. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for stories where the hero and the villain get trapped together and have to work with one another in order to escape their predicament. The Clone Wars pulled a similar trick with Anakin, Obi Wan, and Count Dooku and it paid dividends. But "The Honorable Ones," which functions as something of a bottle episode, is far more intimate, far more small, and fall more personal.
I wrote a couple of episodes ago about the Lasat massacre and how it resonates for a Jewish viewer like myself, and I think that just makes me appreciate all the more Zeb finding common ground with Agent Kallus. Kallus's "just following orders" line was the excuse of hundreds if not thousands of Nazi soldiers, and it's still sort of chilling to hear. But at the same time, this episode goes a long way toward humanizing Kallus and elevating from being just a generic baddie going after our heroes.
It's interesting hearing his remorse for what happened on Lasan. There's subtext that things got out of hand and that he regrets it, even if he boasted about it before (a nice retcon), with the added bit that he carries the Lasat weapon around not as a trophy, but as a sign of respect for the honorable warrior who gifted it to him in defeat per Lasat tradition. There's also the interesting reciprocal story (which name drops Saw Gerrera on Ondoran, Clone Wars fans) about a Lasat warrior taking out his entire unit on the field of battle. There's a real All Quiet on the Western Front vibe here, a sense that even though these two guys have tried to kill each other any number of times, they have a certain respect for one another, they've each been through similar trials at the hands of the other's people, and that they're not so far removed.
It's a great dynamic. The way that Zeb and Kallus vacillate between disdain and appreciation for one another is well done, and Steven Blum and the should-have-been-Oscar-nominated actor David Oyelowo both do a great job at selling the layers of their characters interactions. Each has an opportunity to nigh-literally throw the other to the wolves in the attempt to get out of the ice pit and signal a rescue, but both show their respect in actions and not just words by cooperating, even when they could get away with looking out for themselves. It's all nicely done (along with the attack and escape in the opening act, which is a very confident action sequence) and tells a great character story for the two of them.
But the kicker is the contrast between the two of them, and the restraint the episode shows. When Zeb is reunited with his crew, he's embraced as family and warmly welcomed. When Kallus is rescued, he gets a curt recognition from the Admiral but then returns to his lonely cabin, still hanging onto the meteorite that Zeb offered him for warmth, and seemingly contemplates which side he should be on. The show never comes right out and says this, but the way it juxtaposes the two scenes and uses Kallus's body language communicates that idea beautifully.
Overall, "The Honorable One" is an episode that manages to find plenty of time for the traditional Star Wars action between daring escapes and fights with ice monsters, but the real fireworks are the ones that happen between Zeb and Kallus, which give depth to both characters and humanize one of faces of The Empire in a way that shows complexity and shades of gray that have made Star Wars great in the past.