STAR WARS REBELS
“Secret Cargo”
By Jason Gibner
Way back when Star Wars Rebels was first announced in May 2013, it came with the lofty promise that it would present the roots of the Rebel Alliance and the birth of the Galactic Civil War. That was enough to make fans like me stare at themselves in a mirror for a few hours wondering how we be able to handle that level of outrageousness. That also led some to believe that the first episode of Rebels should feature Wedge Antilles and a squadron of X-Wings shooting proton torpedoes at The Emperor as he woke up from his afternoon nap. As fantastic as that way of thinking may have have been at the time, it wasn’t quite what Dave Filoni and his talented team had in mind. The series has been a slow build that has had its own distinct voice while it wrapped up threads from Clone Wars and brought us closer to the period in Star Wars history we saw in Rogue One and A New Hope. The line to that momentous era got a little straighter with Secret Cargo as Rebels soared like a U-Wing over Scarif with yet another standout episode.
Maintaining that tricky balance between storytelling and fan service has sometimes been tricky for Star Wars and has caused a few Rebels episodes to be stopped right in their tracks. Secret Cargo walks that tightrope with it’s eyes closed and with a freaking hula hoop around it’s waist. Rattling off all the awesomeness in this episode is enough to make a Star Wars fan’s nose bleed and pass out. There’s Y-Wings bombing stuff, the wonderful Genevieve O’Reilly back as the voice of Mon (Hey Mon!) Mothma, Jon “Gold Leader” Vandor, Rebel Pilots in the classic orange jumpsuits! Seriously. Just even typing that makes me sweat.
Even with all that Old Country Buffet style embarrassment of Star Wars riches, the real highlight comes at the episode’s end as Mothma tells Palpatine where to stick it with a defiant speech that cements the formation of an alliance to bring that old Sith Lord down. As Mothma delivers her speech, we see all the different sects of the still mostly unformed Alliance watch and get inspired to take that next step. Good thing they didn’t show Raddus and Ackbar watching her on Mon Cal as I now would be writing this review from heaven.
Though I loved this episode almost as much as pumpkin pie, the fact that Ezra was able to just jump into a Y-Wing, fly it like a champion and start bossing everyone around kind of bugged me. I like ya, Ezra but you’re no Luke Skywalker. I get in the end the show is for kids but why does Ezra always have to be the one who does EVERYTHING in every episode? We have GOLD FRIGGIN LEADER here! Let that guy who is a legit living legend, get busy on those TIEs.
As we come into the home stretch here with season three of Rebels we are getting to that era of a base of Dantooine and the Mon Cals joining the fight. With a first look at Rebels season four and beyond at Star Wars Celebration in a matter of weeks, the future looks brighter than a pair of twin suns for the show and the Ghost Crew.
FINAL GRADE : A-