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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 - Review
3.09 The Wynkahthu Job - Review
3.10 An Inside Man - Review
3.11 Visions and Voices - Review
3.12 Ghosts of Geonosis - Part 1 - Review
3.13 Ghosts of Geonosis - Part 2 - Review
3.14 Warhead - Review
3.15 Trials of the Darksaber - Review
3.16 Legacy of Mandalore - Review
3.17 Through Imperial Eyes - Review
3.18 Secret Cargo - Review
3.19 Double Agent Droid - Review
3.20 Twin Suns - Review
3.21 Zero Hour Part 1 - Review
3.22 Zero Hour Part 2 - Review
Star Wars Rebels 3.21 & 3.22: "Zero Hour Part 1 & Part 2" Review:
Directed by Justin Ridge & Written by Steven Melching (Part 1), Henry Gilroy & Matt Michnovetz (Part 2)
And here we are at the final two episodes of the season, which aired on Saturday and really wrapped up its third outing on a fantastic note. Whilst ultimately the two part Zero Hour couldn't quite live up to the quality of previous season's finale, it was still a very impressive outing that certainly made sure it didn't dissapoint, as Kallus' stint as a spy working within the ranks of the Imperials eventually served to give away the location of the Rebel base on Lothal, giving Thrawn the initiative he needed to attack it in this spectacular hour-long two part episode that really kept me on the edge of my seats. I wasn't sure if Kallus was going to make it out alive, or even characters like Zeb could have been on the line. Ultimately there wasn't as many deaths as I had feared, but even if the Rebels were able to escape from Lothal, it was a pyrrhic victory as they'd lost most of their forces to Thrawn and would have almost been killed for good were it not for the actions of characters like Bandu and Konstatine, with Konstantine inadvertently helping the Rebels by favouring glory over Thrawn's strategy, and although it ultimately cost Sato's life as he sacrificed himself, it allowed Ezra to escape the blockade in search of help.
This episode had everything that a Star Wars fan could have wanted. It's full of great action, great suspense and plenty of tension. The unpredictability of who was going to survive was present throughout this episode and although Kallus did ultimately make a last ditch escape, it was only after it looked like it was almost certain that he was going to die. He was someone who I had predicted wasn't going to make it out of the season finale alive, but I'm really glad that he did because his character has been a really welcome addition to the series so far and his storyline has been particularly great. Hopefully now that he's defected to the Rebels properly it doesn't mean that its the end of his storyline for good, and ideally Season 4 will explore more of his character particularly as he learns to adapt to new experiences presumably at the Rebels' new base.
Seeing Bendu included in this episode was a great decision and his moment where he rescued the Rebels who had been captured by Thrawn after being goaded into helping by Kallus was a great moment indeed. It was also good for the writers to come up with a way to take Bendu out of the game so his lack of appearance in the Original Trilogy felt earned rather than forced, because after all we can't have too many powerful force users like him present. We're still slowly getting closer to the events of the trilogy as well, particularly by the fact that the Rebels crew are heading to their new base in the form of Yavin IV, which is the base in both Rogue One and A New Hope respectively and really makes a great addition to the show. Hopefully we'll see more of that next season too, as well as potentially an appearance by one of Rogue One's best characters, Cassian Andor, who is a Rebel pilot, and the story of how he found K-2SO is just begging for a Rebels prequel episode. Maybe we could even get an appearance by people like Krennic and Galen Erso next season as well, to further tie into Rogue One. There's lots of routes for the fourth season to take and it will be great to see what the show does when it returns later this year.
Sabine's return may have been a bit too soon to create any real impact but the Rebels needed help from somewhere and it was great to have her back in action after a brief stint helping out the Mandalorians. It looks like Season 4 will address the Mandalorian storyline when it returns so presumably we will spent more time with Sabine with the Civil War brewing, but it was good to see Ezra getting help from her and her brother who brought the Mandalorians into the thick of things. Ezra's return and the battle on the outside of the Imperial ship was a very cool moment in the second half-hour, and really paid off. However the episode didn't address what Sabine's fate will be next season, and it remains to be seen whether she'll still be on Mandalore or having returned to the crew of the Ghost. Maybe even the crew of the Ghost could relocate to Mandalore? Regardless the show dealt with all the battle sequences effectively, with some cool moments when the Rebel fleet tried to escape to hyperspace for the first time only to be prevented by the Imperials, and Sato's sacrifice was easily another memorable scene from this finale, with the show handling it incredibly well.
General Dodonna got his first appearance in the series here and it's great to see that the show is bringing in more and more characters from the movies, as we even got to see the personal guard that were assigned to Thrawn were the same type of soldiers that were assigned to Krennic in Rogue One. Dodonna is another Rebel General who was present at the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope so seeing him here was a real highlight and hopefully he'll become more involved in the series going forward especially with the Rebels now presumably based out of Yavin going forward. Just because we may have used Thrawn and Vader already doesn't mean that Rebels isn't going to be short of storylines going forward, and I really can't wait to see whether they bring Thrawn back for Season 4 or feature a new villain.
With everything taken into account these two episodes gave us a great send off for the show's third season which was a lot stronger in its second half than it was its third, boasting some series-best episodes like Trials of the Darksaber as well as giving Maul a fantastic send-off in Twin Suns. With everything taken into account then, What was your favourite episode of the season? Did you enjoy this two part episode? What are your thoughts on the series as a whole? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and remember to join me for more Star Wars Rebels reviews and recaps when the show returns next season.
