Full Series Rebels 3.06 - The Last Battle - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I think Rex and the actor that voices him carried the episode well. It was too fast paced as these Rebels episodes are like one shot fire and forget or come back and retrieve the bullet in the wall later on. I thought it was interesting Rex starting to break up at some points and coming to the realization that he's too old, like the droids. So he seems aware he's not gonna last very long cause he wasnt made to, he's product , same with the realization finally it appears that the Empire/Republic was always the true enemy not the Separatists - although throughout the War the Separatists acted as a proxy-stand in for the soon to be Imperialized Republican military. I don't really know why Rex was running into blaster bolts head on, either he was clearly fanatical or suicidal or both whether by desperation or programming or both - but it seemed off like he's suffering from Fives-like mental disorder and his own cells are breaking down. But Rebels often resolves and forgets everything in one episode. For Ezra to" win the clone wars" and be the one to find the "middle ground" it was sweet and all but I don't know, again I think the show is a lil too Ezra he can do anything.

Kalani was a bit too lighthearted. He did not seem the same coldhearted killing machine that served Darth Tyranus - for him to turn good so suddenly(apparently all he needed was his ego to be placated) was in place even before the actual events which made it seemed too obviously artificial there was gonna be an eventual friendship. But I think Kalani knows where Dooku and Grievous stashed hidden reserve forces or factories he may continue the war for the Separatist Alliance cause in some form and am sure he'll be around again soon . So often on these shows though friendships are forged and broken and some reforged even. Was a fun little episode though but really overt cute nods to TCW should've ended by the 2nd reason, we're really far too many years away from that both in fictional time and real.

 

Who is in denial?!

 

Kanan showed that he could get around without his eyes in the first episode, when he followed Bendu's voice into a rock-filled desert infested with giant spiders. He can clearly get around, probably using the Force, but it wasn't always reliable, as in when he couldn't 'see' the spider right in front of him. He admitted it himself that he had been angry and afraid all that time about losing his sight, and if you're not going to go to the Dark Side, you just sit in the dark and stew and wish the light would come back. Once he got over that, he did a lot better.

I'm pleased with how Kanan's blindness has been incorporated. The character moves very differently than in previous seasons. His steps are smaller and more careful; Ezra stopped to watch Kanan walking around, avoiding holes in the crawler cave, in 'Holocrons of Fate'. Kanan has to be using the Force a lot all the time now; I wonder how much better with it he's going to get?

 

I liked the episode, didn't love it. I loved TCW but it's over and done with, the whole "battle recreation" plot felt unnecessary and honestly felt like a waste of a Star Wars Rebels episode.

 

I would honestly be okay with that as the series ending.

 

I suppose this makes sense. The way I imagined "force sight" was that it was something more of a brief trance. Allowing the force to briefly take control of your actions and guide you. Like your five senses are inputs that inform the mind to make a choice but the force is less like a sense and was more like a direct guide making the choice for you. But I guess it makes sense for the force to have sense like qualities as well. I guess Obi Wan said it can control your actions and take your commands. There is a sound justification there that doesn't violate the laws of the Star Wars universe. But as a narrative choice I still feel it slightly cheapens what happened to Kanan. It still makes his blindness mostly aesthetic.

 

The Eleven-Thirty-eight article on this:

http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2016/10/rebels-revisited-the-last-battle-piece/

may be of interest. It articulates many of the same themes.

 

It was a fine episode to my mind. Definitely self contained. I thought it was funny that the odds of the Rebels winnning was 3% or so that is pretty darn good all things considering. I didnt like the "Line about Ezra winning the clone wars" that annoyed me.

 

Very enjoyable episode. One thing I found quite interesting was that when the stormtroopers directly confronted the battle droids and realized that they were old separatists droids their leader's went "yeah, you know the drill" before they blast the droids; it seems like the Imperial troops has shoot on sight orders issued against separatist remnants (which I assume is more or less likely an direct order coming from Palpatine who really wants it all to be swept away, hostile or not).

 

Or maybe these droids are used as training targets like they were for Clones back in TCW.

 

I thought the dialogue in this episode felt stilted and unnatural, and this episode was very kiddy, even for Rebels.

Ezra has never been very bright – it’s one of his traits that makes him endearing - but I felt like he acted even dumber than usual. Seriously, have Kanan and Rex never realized that the Empire was the one who emerged victorious in the Clone Wars? It was kind of important in their lives. They should have both realized that the one who ended up on top after the Clone Wars was the Empire. But no one answers Ezra’s question of who won the war, as if they don’t know the answer. And then Zeb is the one who guesses the answer to Ezra’s question. And then Ezra acts really surprised, like Zeb just discovered a scientific law, when really he discovered something that anyone with an ounce of brainpower could have reasoned their way through.

It kind of made me bristle that Rex was acknowledged as a Clone Wars veteran and Kanan wasn’t. Kanan, after all, did fight in the Clone Wars. Maybe not as much as Rex did, but it still counts. I think this episode was a missed opportunity to touch on what Kanan thinks about the Clone Wars. It was weird how Kanan knew the hand signals. Kanan’s blindness could be an interesting handicap, but I feel like the past two episodes have wasted it, which is kind of disappointing. Also, Kanan’s smile when he hears Hera’s voice at the end of the episode was a nice touch.

The scene with Hera and Sabine stealing fuel and Pryce, Kallus, and Constantine was unnecessary. The episode should have focused mainly on Rex and Kanan. I liked the idea of Rex having to move past the Clone Wars, since in season 2 he did seem eager to relive the era that has been preserved in his mind as “the glory days.” But the character was portrayed poorly. Also, I don’t like Rex not wearing full armor. It seems sloppy and I think Rex would have in drilled into his brain that he couldn’t appear on the battlefield with anything less than full professional armor. And I think Rex should have mistaken Kanan for Anakin instead of Cody; because he sounded more like Anakin to me.

Stating that Ezra “achieved what thousands of senators could not” seems really belittling to the people who fought in the Clone Wars, especially the Jedi and the clones. I don’t believe Rex would ever actually say anything like that to praise Ezra; that seems to be overdoing it. And I’m surprised when Rex tried to emphasize to Ezra how dangerous battle droids are he didn’t mention that they had killed quite a few Jedi, too. I half expected Ezra to collect one of the battle droid’s heads, since he collects Stormtrooper helmets.

The Stormtroopers meeting the battle droids was definitely the best part of the episode. It was funny to have the Empire’s soldiers completely ignore the battle droid’s chatter. I love battle droids, and their humor throughout the episode was great. Watching that one get smashed by the AT-AT was both amusing and awesome.

Kalani’s instant turnaround was kind of hard to buy. I think instead of teaming up with the droid, the Ghost crew should have had to escape while the droids were destroyed by the Empire. Also, I wish his voice would have sounded more like his Clone Wars-ear self. Sounded cooler back then.

Chopper was pretty good in this episode. I liked when he banged the side of the second Phantom to get it started. It seems like a common thing you see in movies and such, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an astromech do it before. Also, seeing Ezra get freaked out by Chopper was funny. Ezra seems almost more flighty since Twilight of the Apprentice, or at least he seems more easily startled and freaked out. I think it’s a nice after-effect of Malacor that I hope we will see throughout the show.



I feel like the rebels are getting very cocky too. It would be nice for them to lose for a change.