After a seven-month hiatus, Star Wars Rebels is back for its fourth and final season today, starting with the two-part episode “Heroes of Mandalore,” which sees Sabine Wren lead a small force of Mandalorians to rescue her father and reclaim Mandalore from Imperial control. Back during Season Three, I commented on how my biggest issue with Star Wars Rebels was the lengths of the story arcs, with everything being tied up in a neat little bow by an episode’s end. While this was only the season premiere, the structure of these first two episodes are promising for the rest of the show’s run. As I will be discussing plot points of this season premiere, a spoiler alert is now in effect. Read on at your own risk.
The first part of this two-part episode takes place mainly on the wastelands of Sabine’s homeworld, Mandalore, which were devastated after centuries of war between the various Mandalorian clans. While looking for her father, Alrich Wren, Sabine meets Bo-Katan Kryze, a Mandalorian who fans previously saw in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Sabine believes Bo-Katan could be the warrior to lead their people in her place, even offering her the Darksaber, the veteran of the Clone Wars wants nothing to do with leading Mandalore. She believes she botched her chance to rule after being made regent of the planet shortly after the formation of the Empire; when she didn’t fall in line, the Emperor had her replaced with members of another Mandalorian clan.
With Sabine and her allies causing issues for the current governor of Mandalore, Tiber Saxon, he decides to move Sabine’s father to the capital and have him executed. What follows is an entertaining battle with speeder bikes, transports, Mandalorians, and two Jedi thrown in for good measure. One thing that may get on some viewers’ nerves this premiere is Ezra Bridger constantly having trouble flying with a jetpack; it’s kind of funny, but I can see how it can get old after awhile.
After rescuing her father, Sabine and the rest of her group discover that the Imperial forces have unleashed a weapon called The Duchess, which superheats Mandalorian armor, killing whoever is inside it. The worst part about this weapon is its creator: Sabine Wren herself. We now know one of the reasons why Sabine defected from the Empire: because the Empire had her build a weapon to target the armor that lies at the heart of Mandalorian culture. The only thing that would have made this weapon more devastating would have been if Sabine’s mother and brother, Ursa and Tristan, had been killed in the attack as well. They weren’t, so it wasn’t quite as devastating as it could have been.
The second part of the episode deals with Sabine leading the Mandalorian Resistance to Tiber Saxon’s personal Star Destroyer, where The Duchess is being kept. Sabine and Bo-Katan go to disable the weapon’s power core, while Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper go to erase every file the Empire has on the weapon’s design. Unbeknownst to the team, however, Tiber Saxon has been tasked by Grand Admiral Thrawn to capture Sabine and force her to complete work on The Duchess. He succeeds only partially, because Sabine uses the opportunity to modify the weapon’s power core; instead of targeting the unique elements found in Mandalorian armor, The Duchess now superheats the elements found in Imperial Stormtrooper armor. This incapacitates Tiber Saxon and his forces, while giving Sabine the chance to redeem herself in the eyes of her people. It also leads to a funny moment where Ezra, wearing a Scout Trooper helmet, nearly gets fried before throwing his helmet off. The episode ends with Sabine again offering the legendary Darksaber to Bo-Katan, and this time, the Clone Wars veteran accepts her role as the leader of the Mandalorians.
I enjoyed this two-part episode, but there were a few issues that I had that I feel are worth mentioning. First, the fact that Sabine’s mother and brother survived the Empire’s use of The Duchess weapon was a bit too convenient for my tastes. Yes, they got Sabine’s warning, but how far could they have gotten before the weapon fried them? Second, while seeing Bo-Katan in action again was a treat for a fan of The Clone Wars, I’m a bit concerned that she didn’t do enough this episode to earn the right to wield the Darksaber. It’s true that Bo-Katan is probably more fit to lead the Mandalorians than Sabine, given her experience, but it seemed like too quick of a passing of the torch (or saber in this case). Finally, Tiber Saxon was a throwaway villain, plain and simple; he didn’t even survive the episode. This is a character who could have been more compelling, seeing as his brother, Gar Saxon, met his end at the hands of Sabine’s mother last season. Instead, he was a simple Imperial lapdog who showed no hesitation even when developing a weapon that could easily be turned against his own home planet.
While I had a couple of issues with parts of this premiere, there were far more positives than negatives. The battles were all top-notch; there’s something special about throwing jetpacks into Star Wars battles. It’s not something that we see in the movies, and we only see a handful of times in The Clone Wars, but when you do see them in action, it’s special. Ezra’s aforementioned struggle with using a jetpack, while it could get old for some, made for a few genuine chuckles. I also liked Sabine’s interactions with her father, Alrich, as he is the least combative member of Clan Wren I’ve yet seen. He was soft-spoken and more interested in the artistry of Sabine’s rescue of him than the tactics that went into it. It makes sense why he was kept hostage by the Empire; he had fewer skills as a fighter, but more useful skills as an orator and artist. The anger that some Mandalorians feel towards Sabine after they discover her part in the creation of The Duchess was well done, and it made sense that they would put that anger aside for the sake of freeing Mandalore from Imperial rule.
Props have to be given once again to Sabine’s voice actor, Tiya Sircar, who had some pretty emotional scenes in this episode. She was great in last season’s “Trials of the Darksaber,” and she’s just a good here. I’d argue that while Ezra could be considered the “main character” of Star Wars Rebels, Sabine was truly the main character of “The Heroes of Mandalore;” so much of the episode rested on her shoulders, from her skills as a leader, to her expertise as a soldier and a fighter, to her grief and regret regarding her creation of The Duchess. I also enjoyed her brief consideration of using her weapon to aid the rebellion, as a weapon that could target an enemy army’s armor could have devastating effects. The fact that she chose instead to destroy it, rather than have the technology fall into the wrong hands, is indicative of her character’s growth and maturity over the years. But we still see flickers of impulsiveness and emotional vulnerability come through in this episode, particularly when the Empire first uses her weapon; even though her family survived, she is horrified that she could have been the indirect cause of her mother and brother’s deaths. Perhaps that’s another reason why she chose to destroy The Duchess; not only is it a devastating weapon, not only is it dangerous to any army that wears armor, but it also nearly killed half her family and goes against everything Mandalorian culture stands for. They even say in the episode that they can’t just stop wearing their iconic armor because it’s a part of who they are; and just as their armor marks them as Mandalorians, so does their warrior spirit.
“Heroes of Mandalore” is a promising start to the fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels. It had enjoyable action, emotional moments, great character interactions, and helped to further flesh out the character of Sabine Wren. If the rest of Star Wars Rebels Season Four can keep this episode in mind as a standard to meet, we’re in for one fantastic concluding chapter.
Star Wars Rebels airs Mondays on DisneyXD. Be sure to check back in October 23rd for my review of next week’s two-part episode, “In the Name of the Rebellion.” May the Force Be With You. Always.
The Sack Score: 8.5/10