Full Series Grade the Episode 2.03: "The Lost Commanders" (Spoilers Allowed)

Siege of Lothal counts as two separate episodes I believe. Much like how Spark of the Rebellion was two.

 

So is this official are second arc in rebels?

 

7/10, nice episode.

+ All Kanan moments were really good. I love the voice acting when he was talking about Order 66 to Ezra.
+ Hera and Zeb were pretty good too.
+ Ezra didn't annoy me.
+ Gregor being a crazy, borderline psycho. I hope he never gets fixed.
+ “This is for you General” “Don’t call me that, I was never a General!” “Sorry, Commander” “No! Argh!”
+ Wolfe calling the Empire, and not giving a rats ass about their new visitors. He only wants to protect his brothers <3
+ Clones being so callous about the Zeb's life.
+ Rex quoting Anakin to Ezra unknowing that Vader had tried to decapitate the kid not that long ago. Oh dramatic irony in Star Wars, I love it.

- That way the droid head that found the clones. I didn’t understand how it was tracking Rex.
- Was Kallus promoted out of Lothal or something? I don’t mind seeing his sexy back, but why was his fleet receiving transmissions from other systems?
- Wolfe’s character development happened all in 5 seconds. Talk about rushed.
- Sabine still feels like a gimmicky sidekick with no substance.

And about the complaint that everyone was so quick to forgive Wolfe… uh, when did that happen? Go watch that episode again. They left their feelings on Wolfe’s actions unaddressed, and I wonder if this is something that will come up in the next episode.

 

Kallus is ISB, meaning his primary job to hunt down rebels. AND he's had dealing with the Lothal rebels specifically. So of course he's the one looking for them, it makes sense. Maybe Vader is still running things back on Lothal for now?

 

I thought they were a bit too ready to forgive

Spoiler

Wolffe after he sold them out to the Empire. A simple "I'm sorry" and that was that, like it had never happened. Most hardened men of war would just summarily kill such a person, on discovery of such treachery.

 

I've heard that discussion picks up again in the next episode, it's just in this episode the probe interrupted the argument.

 

I am still shocked that it was

Spoiler

Wolffe instead of Gregor.

 

Spoiler

I don't know, Wolffe always seemed pretty loyal to the Republic in TCW to me.

So him wanting to call the Empire seems reasonable coming from him.

He did shoot Ahsoka without hesitating back in To Catch a Jedi.

 

Wolffe did always seem to be a clone who would have followed order 66 anyway.

 

I made that assumption myself too. I just watched it and

Spoiler

yes, Wolffe said "I'm sorry," but nobody actually said they forgave him. He apologized, Kanan glared at him, and then the probe droid showed up. I'm expecting that discussion of Wolffe's actions to happen next week.

 

Spoiler

Wolffe apparently feels he's doing his duty and protecting his brothers. Rex and Gregor may easily sympathize and be more forgiving. Wolffe seems to be clearly fearing for his life and lives of his brothers and fearing Jedi appraisal and revenge, and if he believed the Jedi betrayed them(they seem to think they are the Republic in physical form) first and its unclear what Gregor thinks but he seemed more on Rex's side with helping the Jedi while Wolffe was not. I mean to someone like Kanan , Wolffe's calling the cops basically would reinforce his prior bias and suspicions against the Clones and to Ezra , Sabine and Zeb who have no prior animosity towards the clones who they may think were just looking out for themselves as talking to them could get them killed, so whatever lets just book. I think if they left things on a sour note Ezra, Sabine, Hera and Zeb would all feel like Kanan and probably be pissed at Tano for putting them in that position and maybe make things fall apart relationship wise which in Kanan's case he seems sorta already bent on not taking orders and being a part of a larger force.

 

Repurposed from the "Episode 2.03" topic:

If I were scoring on a strictly emotional level? The episode would receive a 10/10 just for the reunion with Rex, alone.

But a little more objectively speaking? I'd subtract a few points for the overdrawn, rather run-of-the-mill action sequence and the plot contrivances with the Ghost's hyperdrive malfunction & the damage to the Phantom, but then add a point or so purely on the basis of Rex's reflections on the war. I'd give it a 7.5 (rounded up to 8/10).

All in all? A fine way of welcoming a beloved character back into the fold and kicking-off the second season of Rebels. Now on to next week, when the rip-roaring action can take over and give us all something to really thrill to!

 

Yeah, I scored this episode more moderately even though Rex is back! Mainly because next episode supposedly has

Spoiler

A Rexsoka hug!!!

That I will be flailing in fangirl glee and probably score it like 100000000/10. It will be good I will be at work all afternoon and evening next week, or I would pop from anticipation.

 

I jumped into Rebels just for this episode, based on the fact that Rex has returned.
I wasn't impressed. Makes me miss TCW because the clones felt so different.. Rex was probably the closest to "in character". Still perplexed that Gregor is alive, and.. Wolfe? I- I guess he wouldn't have followed 66..?
Not going to really be too critical since I don't watch Rebels, just giving my opinion on the odd selection of clones that returned.
(One could wish for Kix.. )

 

5/10

Good but boring IMO.

 

7/10

Still trying to work out the whole point of the fishing scene, but there was enough material and backstory teases in the rest of the episode to make it generally enjoyable. It just didn't leave me pumped up for the next episode the way "Empire Day" did.

 

5/10

After the fast pace of the season opener this just felt like it dragged. I mean I knew a slow down was inevitable, but holy hell that fishing scene was overplayed to an unforgivable degree. What a way to come back to a show after a few months, right?

Besides that (and I don't think I'm alone here), the appeal of the middle-aged clones is completely lost on me. Watching mall santas in armor doesn't really rank as quality content, though maybe the next episode will bring me around on this point.

On the plus side, the Kanan/Hera interaction was a welcome cutaway. Sure it was awkwardly shoved-in, but hey, added character depth is always worth more than bizarrely executed fan service.

Sidenote: I know it's completely pointless to even bring up, but I still REALLY miss Temuera Morrison as the voice of the clones, and hearing DBB in that role after so long brought that feeling back to the surface. Battlefront II's 501st journal ruined me that way.

 

7/10

Solid.
+Ahsoka
+Miyazaki meets the AT-AT
+Christophsis and Mandalore mentions
+Kanan's angst
+The scene between Hera and Kanan
+The probe droid homages
+"All leads must be pursued." Empire efficiency. Yes.

-The entire bait sequence is by far one of the dumbest things this show has ever done. What an absolute waste of time and resources.
-So, Wolffe is sorry and that's it. Great.
-"To be continued?" Unnecessary.

 

8/10

The show keeps on getting better, just like TCW.

 

I don't think it's the most amazing Star Wars thing ever, but I'm surprised about the amount of complaints about the Joopa scene. It's a fun scene, it features an awesome kaiju, and we know the creators are into Japanese monsters. Zillo beast was cool, so is the Big Bongo Joopa. I don't see it as a waste of time or resources to do something visually creative and fun. I feel like some of the sequences that some refer to as "well-written" are also boring, whereas this was just fun. Obviously the high stakes are in the next episode and that will be satisfying, but i'm glad they took their time and did something fun in this one.

Anyhow since this is the Grade the episode thread, i give this an 8.5, i loved the characterization of Rex and how he interacted with Kanan and Ezra. I also thought it was interesting in the differences between Wolffe and Rex because we did see those differences in TCW series, but now they're amplified in older age. I think fallout for Wolffe's betrayal will be coming in the next episode, so there is more to come on that plot point.

EDIT: Forgot to mention also, the lived-in AT-TE was a delight to see, both visually in how it's adorned and how it moves around, but also what it says about the characters. I feel like they are able to give more characterization and personality now to these Clones since they've been taken out of the context of TCW and they have expanded into this new era.

 

Chopper must of been drunk on motor oil at the controls, as he never detected the probe droid before it landed on the planet.

 

This episode was much better than the weak sauce that was "Siege of Lothal" with the appearance of that weakling Vader.

9/10

First, the positives. THAT TACTICAL DROID HEAD! The whole part of the episode from the introduction to the severed head of this droid to the moment we meet the clones - that was so amazing. The way Ahsoka talks about these droid made me really happy. In the "The Clone Wars", nobody ever showed any respect to the Tacticals for one reason or another, but I guess they have earned themselves a good reputation. The droid translated very nicely to the new show with the head looking more like what inspired the original design.
I loved seeing the CIS logo in the new show. Gave me chills of nostalgia of what was not that long ago for me as a viewer. Separatists forever!
The moment when Rex talked about "the Battle of Christophsis to the Siege of Mandalore" did the same for me - nostalgia for "The Clone Wars". Now, I do not care if Vader or the wasted Inquisitors show up... Oh, I just want to see the story about the Siege of Mandalore that was hinted a while back by Filoni himself with that concept art of Bo-Katan and Ahsoka.
Seeing Wolffe, Rex and Gregor was so awesome. That goes double for Gregor since Filoni did mention in the past that Gregor gave a promise and I guess he kept it.
The whole "Jaws" theme of the episode was nice! Good call to have an homage to such a great blockbuster. The joopa had a very interesting design and was very nicely animated.
More CIS material for CIS fanboy such as myself came in the form of the electrostaffs and these things once again prove how effective they are against almost anything alive or mechanical.
As other mentioned, there was that Ryloth arc music cue used in this episode during the talk between Hera and Kanan. It is nice to think that when we all watched Wat Tambor rule Ryloth, there was a small Hera somewhere among all the chaos. Really, really sweet moment. Sure made me go watch "Innocents of Ryloth" again.


The negatives are little to none.

Sato is an idiot! Kill him already...
The whole "Wolffe told the Empire" part was stupid for one reason. He told the Empire and just left that tablet-looking thing in the open. I mean Rex was just there and Sabine went in the same place. Kinda careless of Wolffe. Makes it hard to believe that Rex never noticed for 15 years.
The biggest minus of this episode is how out of nowhere Ahsoka suggested Rex and she even knew the system where he was last seen. Was it so hard for her to go and find him before this and just send messages. Knowing how nosy Ahsoka has always been, it goes against her character in a way.
The other problem is that like with previous "reveals" on this show, this episode did showcase Rex rather quickly. It was almost in the start of the episode. There was not buildup for his return to the small screen. It is a flaw the show has had since the start when we had Kanan reveal himself as a Jedi. Once when "The Clone Wars" was in full force and we were introduced to characters like Chewbacca or Tarkin, it took half an episode or an entire episode before get our promised guest appearance or reveal. Same happened with the appearances by characters like Maul, Darth Bane and so on.

I liked the episode and can not wait for what is coming next. This episode can not stand on its for now. It needs the next episode for it feel complete.

But can not wait... SEPARATIST INSTALLATIONS!!!

 

Pretty good episode