The Siege of Lothal

[TheSilentWind]

I tried seeing the episode online. It didn't work.

:13:

 

[TwoSidedHeart]

SPOILERS AHEAD



I don't know why, but James Earl Jones saying "The Apprentice Lives" has kinda just legitimized Ahsokas character for me. I mean, I LOVED her already, but that just added something.

Loved the Episode. Vader was a Beast and clearly had no trouble with Kanan and Ezra. The Walker thing was SO COOL. :D And then him just single handedly taking on a few rebel ships with no ****s given. XD Kallus was also badass in this ep, but for some reason I feel like they could be setting him up as the Assaj Ventress of this series. To me, he seems far too likeable for a bad guy and seeing him switch sides would be quite cool down the line.

Also, I LOVE how they had Vader meet with the Emperor and not show his face. I dont know if its because they didn't know how to animate him or what, but I feel like thats a pretty cools decision. Like... we get Vader sure but the Emperor is far beyond the level of threat we're going to get in this show just yet. Sad they couldn't get Ian to come in and do the voice though... he did a freaking angry birds commercial and not this? Still love Sam Witwer, hoping his involvement in this series could mean a return of another of his characters. (The Son Somehow? Maul?)

But yeah, Loved the ep can't wait to get back into it.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I don't know why, but James Earl Jones saying "The Apprentice Lives" has kinda just legitimized Ahsokas character for me. I mean, I LOVED her already, but that just added something.

Yeah. Boli and I were talking about this yesterday and he pointed out an even better line:

"The apprentice of Anakin Skywalker lives."

Very OT. Plus it seals the characterization of Vader as someone who has pushed Anakin Skywalker as far down as he possibly can, to the point where he won't even acknowledge that he was Anakin Skywalker. Which ties into Episode VI when he says that the name Anakin Skywalker no longer has any meaning for him. As Boli pointed out, they could have simply say "my former apprentice" but it wouldn’t have the impact that the actual line did. Then Vader mentions that Ahsoka could lead them to Obi-Wan, suggesting a plot line where we’ll see what Vader thinks of the Jedi and those who used to be close to him. Which can add weight to Episode IV, since we know that his dealings with the rebels do indeed eventually lead him to Obi-Wan.

 

[Noire]

Fairly good episode. I did have a problem with the Rebel Fleet's Commander choosing not to jump to hyperspace when they had the clear opportunity to do so it seemed before Vader even arrived. With their cell/"Fleet" being so small I would have expect them to take less risks unless said risk was absolutely necessary. Deploying the fighter squadron was not necessary. But beyond that I enjoyed it.

 

[Flying Blind]

The scene would probably look funny to others, but I've got a bit of a cell myself, I've got a group of close friends who all came over to watch this episode at my house (TIE Fighters in surround sound are awesome!) Anyways, we were all theorizing and commenting and jumping on the couch in nervous energy throughout the episode. In reference to what Noire said, I pointed out every single fighter in Phoenix Squadron that went out to face Vader in his TIE while saying "you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're definitely gonna die". And I was mostly right, cuz I believe only two fighters managed to escape along with the remaining Rebel fleet.

 

[Khivas]

Well, not gonna lie, the Clone Wars and now Rebels are easily the best things to happen to Star Wars in the past....ten (?) years, barring the possibility og Episode 7 blowing apart our collective minds?

The only thing I dislike about the show is how they represent the lightsabers. They look like they're swinging around giant, glowing, sewing needles lol Other than that the show is so damn good in my eyes that I'm glad I get to be alive with fully functioning cable in this day and age lol

 

[Flying Blind]

I agree with the lightsabers, even though I think they're glowing toothpicks not needles. The other disappointment for me is we've yet to see more of the Wookiees the Rebels saved in Episode 1, I want to revisit that for some reason. I guess I'm a sucker for Wookies, lol

 

[TheSilentWind]

Fairly good episode. I did have a problem with the Rebel Fleet's Commander choosing not to jump to hyperspace when they had the clear opportunity to do so it seemed before Vader even arrived. With their cell/"Fleet" being so small I would have expect them to take less risks unless said risk was absolutely necessary. Deploying the fighter squadron was not necessary. But beyond that I enjoyed it.

Agreed.

Anyway I watched the first episode and it was pretty good. I liked every part of it.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

It was a Stars Wars for sure.

Not a great episode, but I enjoyed it. As said before by Prospero it doesn't do anything to dissuade or address some of the huge problems I have with the show. I could tell Phoenix Squadron was going to die ("GOOD THING PHOENIX SQUAD ARE HERE!" "AREN'T PHOENIX SQUAD AMAZING?" "IT'D BE A SHAME IF PHOENIX SQUAD DIED!") so their faceless death really doesn't help me feel like main Rebel characters are almost completely invincible. Hell, even their leaving of Lothal was their choice instead of having their hand overly forced by the Empire's actions.

While I thought Vader was handled well in terms of what he could do (though I thought the fighting was sloppy) the ending of the episode seemed to suggest he's not going to be featured in the season too heavily in favor of the two Inquisitors shown in the trailers. So, to me, if that is true they've kind of shot their Vader wad.

As for the things I did like, the whole Kanan being opposed to militarization was a little neat given he lived through the Clone Wars. Though it is extremely short sighted and his original plan of stealing from the Empire and giving to other people really didn't solve any problems. Sabine is consistently awesome again too and kicks ass.

I do hope this season is better than the last, which overall I did enjoy but as stated above I just have a few glaring issues that I think stop this show from being much better. The Siege of Lothal, while enjoyable, doesn't seem to set that precedent though.

 

[Necris]

My only complaint is Laing was the fact that the rest of the crew were overlooked during the episodes this was very much a Kanan and Ezra episode the others who were so well established in season one could have stayed at home

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Sabine had great moments of ingenuity (taking out the walkers, using the transponder decoys) and Hera had good moments as a voice for why they need to fight for the Rebels. Zeb has never been a strong character other than being the muscle warrior race guy which he covered about the same capacity here. Chopper is Chopper.

Only thing I thought were lacking character wise were the relatively new Ahsoka (Rebels wise) and Sato.

 

[Flying Blind]

Okay gotta admit, at first I didn't like Kallus and honestly thought he'd die in season one. Obviously not the case, and was it just me or did he seem like a better character when paired with Vader than he was with the Inquisitor? Maybe Vader does that. But yea, I like Kallus now, hope to see more from him, maybe even some backstory :)

 

[Brandon Rhea]

The only thing I dislike about the show is how they represent the lightsabers. They look like they're swinging around giant, glowing, sewing needles lol Other than that the show is so damn good in my eyes that I'm glad I get to be alive with fully functioning cable in this day and age lol

They've moved away from the prequel style of lightsaber and decided to depict them more along the lines of Episode IV and Episode V. If you go back and watch those two films, the lightsabers are pretty much the same as in the show. Episode VI is when they started to get thicker.

Okay gotta admit, at first I didn't like Kallus and honestly thought he'd die in season one. Obviously not the case, and was it just me or did he seem like a better character when paired with Vader than he was with the Inquisitor? Maybe Vader does that. But yea, I like Kallus now, hope to see more from him, maybe even some backstory :)

Yeah, he's more competent. He has to be by virtue of Vader being around, because Vader is going to be written as competent in order to protect the integrity of the character.

He also seemed to enjoy his job in this episode.

 

[Kiro]

Yeah, Kallus seemed like a superior character this season. More competent, more suave Imperial evil, than in the previous season. Not that I disliked Season 1 Kallus, but he seemed slightly bumbling. I still wish they'd made him Chiss though.

 

[Dawyn]

I was very happy with this episode, and the end of Season 1 that I just caught up on. Definitely shows that Rebels can live up to Clone Wars's legacy. Some minor things about the whole fleet engagement irked me, but overall, I feel that S2 is off to a good start.