'Star Wars Rebels' Review/Recap: "Out of Darkness"

P.T. Philben ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

This weeks episode of Star Wars Rebels, “Out of Darkness,” begins with a brief spaceship chase in which the three of Ghost crew are on the run from a small group of TIE fighters in the Phantom. Ezra (Taylor Gray) is urging pilot Hera (Vanessa Marshall) to fly in a way that will not get them killed while the group warrior Sabine (Tiya Sircar) questions Hera on why this mission was so important, and what the goal even was in the first place. Hera refuses to answer. The intense chase goes on for a few minutes and it quickly becomes clear that this episode will likely focus on the fact that Sabine feels that the group leaders Hera and Kannan (Freddie Prinze Jr.) do not trust her with the vital information. However, the episode’s focus is on Sabine and Hera’s relationship.
Sabine demands to join Hera on a mission to meet with a secret contact and pick up a few small crates. The contents of the crates also seem to be secret. Before they go they made the foolish decision to ask Ezra, Zeb (Steven Blum) and the pod droid Chopper to check the ship Phantom (which detaches from the Ghost) over for possible damages. They fix a dysfunction with the steering but the three get into a brotherly altercation and forget to perform a last scan of the ship. This leads to them completely miss that the chase earlier had left the fuel hull damaged and leaking.

So Sabine and Hera leave for an abandoned military base that was once operated by the Old Republic (and apparently made an appearance in The Clone Wars) to meet the mysterious contact who does not show but the crate was at the location as promised. Sabine presses Hera to give her more of this “need to know basis” information and discloses (to the audience) that the reason she feels so strongly about this is because she used to be a cadet for the Empire. She was told to stand in line and not to ask questions, something that is far too similar to what is happening now for comfort.
Hera insists that Sabine has to have faith in the good work their doing and realize that if she knows anything she needs to and is not disclosing it, it could put her in unnecessary danger. They both make good cases for their side of the argument but before this can come to any conclusion, or worse, get boring; quadruped cave dwellers attack them. Hera quickly realizes that the creatures are hurt by sunlight and cannot emerge from the cave when the sun is out. This gives them a limited time, but even worse they realize that the ship is emptied of fuel and they need to wait for rescue.

From there, the episode is pretty much what fans would expect. A 300 style last stand except with two strong women and a happy ending. The action of the episode, like all of the episodes is worth watching on its own for its raw entertainment value. The cinematography of this episode is perfectly done. The shots on the abandon base worked extremely well in establishing the mood of the battle to come, with the battle itself being equally unique and powerful in the way it appears to be shot. Cinematography is something that usually isn’t worth pointing out in this show (or animated shows in general most of the time since they can literally do anything). However, this episode went the extra mile in being selective with the shots, and it’s worth giving some praise to for its good work.
As for character development this episode is solid, even if not profound. The audience explores Sabine’s backstory while seeing some insight and development into the relationship between the crews two female characters. Star Wars has become more diverse in its characters, and these two ladies are a welcome addition to the cannon. Its good to explore their dynamic, and it’s interesting as well. The show’s writers are keeping it steady right now, which is fine. Hopefully more risks will be taken in the future. Still, it’s hard to complain in this solid episode.
Overall Episode Rating: B