'Star Wars Rebels' Season Premiere Review - 'The Siege of Lothal'

SPOILERS AHEAD because I can't help myself.

After last season's mind-blowing finale, which included the return of fan-favourite Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars, not to mention introducing Darth Vader himself to the series, to say my anticipation for the second season premiere of Rebels was high is putting it mildly. Thankfully (miraculously even!), it didn't disappoint, even surpassing my admittedly lofty expectations.

Building on the momentum of the first season, the new run kicks of with the gang continuing to fight the good fight, now fully inducted into the Rebel Alliance. No longer going it alone is definitely proving useful, as evidenced by the team's successful heist of some fuel cells from an Imperial cargo ship, but not everyone is happy about it as Kanan struggles with all the rules and regulations that come with being part of the Alliance proper. This rings true for the character and I'm glad they didn't waste any time in having him voice this opinion. Having been on the run for all of his adult life, and much of his childhood, Kanan functions better running free and doing things his own way. It'll be interesting to see how he handles this new status quo going forward.

Kanan doesn't take orders well...

In regards to the aforementioned opening mission, it was a heap of fun to watch the team working together to pull off the heist. They seemed to really gel together and function as a cohesive unit, with everyone playing a valuable role. This is something which I felt was missing a little, at least in the first half of season one, with everyone seeming somewhat disconnected. This doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, and the show is all the better for it.

The characters just seem more fully-rounded in general, less two-dimensional than before. Now that we've had a whole season to get to know them and to lay the groundwork of their backstories and personalities, they all come across as real characters rather than the archetypes they were before. It was particularly pleasing to see Kanan and Ezra's relationship having matured even further than that shown in last season's finale. As Ezra comes to grips with his Jedi abilities, Kanan seems more willing to let him grow and discover things for himself, which really allows Ezra to become a more self-motivated character and less of the burden that he often seemed in the first season. Even the other members of the gang, none of whom really had any heavy character stuff as such in this episode, seemed like essential parts of the ensemble, whereas before they seemed only there to set up jokes and fill the space until an episode revolving around their character came around.

I'll admit that coming into the new season, my excitement was focussed mainly on the prospect of Vader/Anakin and Ahsoka appearing in the same show again. I was (and still am) a huge Clone Wars fan and the idea of continuing the threads from that show within Rebels was a dream come true. Whilst the two characters definitely get their moments however, they are relegated to the sidelines for now (Ahsoka more-so than Vader), and whilst at first I just wanted to see Ahsoka (still voiced, of course, by the goddess that is Ashley Eckstein) on my screen for every minute of the episode, in hindsight it was definitely a wise choice to keep her presence in the periphery for now, something which I believe is to continue, with the character only recurring and not appearing in every episode. This is clearly the right thing to do. This is still a new show after all, still building up its roster, and whilst the main team have definitely come leaps and bounds since last season, they still deserve the spotlight to grow further and establish themselves as the anchors of the show. Keeping Ahsoka's appearances sporadic, will also mean that she'll maintain that aura of sacredness, with each of her episodes holding significance.

The same is definitely true of Vader (voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones). Although his presence was heavily felt in this episode, I'm glad to hear that he will also be appearing on a recurring basis, as when he does appear it will no doubt feel as epic as this premiere episode did. Vader left a huge impact on our band of rebels, proving once again that he is still quite the imposing figure even in animated form. The visual of Vader emerging from the mist as the gang flee from the Imperial dock was pretty damn chilling.

*breathe...breathe...breathe...*

This of course led to an epic lightsaber duel between the Sith Lord and Kanan and Ezra. Not so much epic in the content of the duel, but more in the sense that these three characters were interacting on-screen. There was a real sense of tension during the battle, and I found myself remembering that anything can actually happen to these characters. Their fates are unwritten. Sure, it's unlikely that any of them will be killed off (at least not anytime soon), but it's still an outside possibility and that is so damn exciting. It's been a while since we've had a set of characters in the mainline Star Wars universe whose story we didn't know the ending to (Ahsoka aside).

They don't stand a chance.

Now I need to talk about the final moments, with Ahsoka and Vader sensing each other's presence during that dogfight above Lothal. Now that we have them appearing on the same show, it seems like an inevitability that we'll see them finally confront one another, something which many fans (myself included) have been wanting to see for a long time. During The Clone Wars' run, it was always this hypothetical question regarding whether or not Ahsoka knew about Vader's true identity and how she would react if faced with him. Now on Rebels it appears we may actually get to see that play out. Vader's exclamation that 'The apprentice lives!' is the first step towards this, and his insistence later that she is 'Anakin Skywalker's apprentice' gives us some insight into just how much he has distanced himself from his past life, and by extension Ahsoka. It was an immensely tense sequence, fantastically edited as we built up to the realisation by both parties, and Ahsoka's reaction speaks volumes:

 

This is going to be one emotional reunion when it comes.

A quick mention needs to go to Star Wars regular Sam Witwer's great work as Emperor Palpatine in this episode, taking over the character from Tim Curry who voiced him in the final two seasons of The Clone Wars. Witwer slipped into the role flawlessly evoking the familiar creepy cadence we've come to associate with the character, and you really felt Palpatine's presence despite him not appearing on-screen.

Overall 'The Siege of Lothal' was a fantastic season-opener and the whole show just felt a lock slicker and cohesive. Things really started to gel properly in the back half of season one, but season two looks to be firing on all cylinders from the get go and I can't wait to see where the season takes us. Like TCW before it, Rebels took a little time to find its footing, but now that it has it appears we're in for one helluva ride.

Rebels is back and everything is right with the world!