Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode Guide:
3.01 Steps Into Shadow Part 1 - Review
3.02 Steps Into Shadow Part 2 - Review
3.03 The Holocrons of Fate - Review
3.04 The Antilles Extraction - Review
3.05 Hera's Heroes - Review
3.06 The Last Battle - Review
3.07 Imperial Supercommandos - Review
3.08 Iron Squadron - Airs November 19
3.09 The Wynkahthu Job - Airs November 26
3.10 An Inside Man - Airdate TBC
3.11 Visions and Voices - Airdate TBC
Star Wars Rebels 3.07 "Imperial Supercommandos" Review:
Directed by Stewart Lee & Written by Christopher Yost
Imperial Supercommandos was a fun episode of Star Wars Rebels written by Christopher Yost who will be a familiar name to Marvel Comics fans for his work as one of the screenwriters of Thor: Ragnarok and the upcoming Thor: The Dark World, as well as from a run on Wolverine and the X-Men comics series with his regular team of Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle. Seeing Yost write Rebels then was naturally pretty awesome, and it was interesting to see what direction he and director Stewart Lee took the show this week with the second Sabine-centric episode of the season, as she tried to convince Fenn Rau and his Protectors to join the Rebellion in a mission that was easier said than done, with the Rebellion at this point pretty much needing any support that it can get.
Fenn himself is reluctant to abandon Mandalore, a planet known for its significantly skilled warrior class. The Mandalorians would often become Bounty Hunters across the galaxy and mercenaries, although some would retain their strong sense of honour and loyalty. However a problem is created for Fenn when contact is lost with his Protectors, and Sabine, Ezra and Chopper are sent to investigate. However, it's not good news, The Protectors Base has been completely destroyed, and it doesn't take a leap especially when a probe droid is in the area that the Imperials are responsible. After the team dispatch the Probe Droid they run into a squad of Mandalorians working for the Imperials with Gar Saxon at their head. Sabine and Fenn manage to escape but it's not good news for Ezra and Chopper, who are captured.
Sabine naturally wants to go back and rescue the two and during a recon mission Fenn ends up realizing that the Empire have been wanting to destroy him all along. This is enough motivation for Fenn to join forces with Sabine. However Fenn's alliance is only temporary because after Ezra and Chopper are rescued he seemingly abandons them. Gar himself then labels Sabine as a disgrace to her family who have now converted to the Empire. This doesn't stop them from escaping however and they are able to flee, with Fenn appearing at the last minute to aid in their escape from Gar and the Imperials. Sabine does get to fight Gar in single combat and emerge victorious, and it turns out that this is enough for Fenn to be impressed by Sabine's loyalty to her friends, deciding that this is what he needs to join up with the Rebellion at last.
This may have been another standalone episode but the show is always going to have a few of these and for a season as long as this it's understandable that not every episode has to be serialized. It's great to see that the show is continuing to flesh out Sabine's character especially as previously she has been one of the weakest ones in the series. Like the Battle Droids before him in The Last Battle it is unclear whether Fenn will become a regular recurring member of the show's main cast of characters going forward but fr now, Imperial Supercommandos provided an effective return for the character who we first met in Season 2 in the thirteenth episode, The Protector of Concord Dawn. Although Fenn may have never joined The Rebellion officially then he was able to allow them safe passage through Concord Dawn, and it's interesting to see his return here. Hopefully we won't have to wait another season to see more of him.
There's enough mystery here about Sabine's character as well to still have a good further couple of episodes explored this season. We don't know about her parents yet and as Star Wars Rebels has already focused on both Ezra and Hera's family in the past it wouldn't be surprising to deal with Sabine's at one point. There's interesting speculation about Sabine's parents being somebody already familiar to us as well, for example, a few people have mentioned that it could be Bo-Katan, a member of the Mandalorian Death Watch in The Clone Wars. It'll be interesting to see if we do explore more of Sabine's heritage, but for now, it looks like as the teasers suggests, Iron Squadron Thrawn is being brought back into play after an episode or two on the sidelines.
Imperial Commandos benefited from plenty of awesome moments and although it may not have been a groundbreaking episode of Star Wars Rebels it acted as another way to improve Sabine's character and continue the trend of this season which has bring the past back into play, with Fenn making a welcome return to the series. Let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments below.
Overall Episode Verdict: B+
Positives:
+Imperial Supercommandos.
+Fenn Rau's return.
