Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode 14
What exactly is Zeb’s role on Rebels? “We’ve never really figured that out,” Chopper deadpans (through a translator) in “Warhead,” and it’s funny because it’s true. Tasked this week with actually doing the security job he was assigned, Zeb confronts a new kind of Imperial recon droid in an episode that doesn’t quite answer the question. That sets up his confrontation with EXD-9, an Imperial recon droid. We know from the first scene that the droid is from the Empire, which means this could go one of two ways: it could be a story about the Rebels defeating an enemy from within, or one about them allying with a new friend who was programmed to be bad, but doesn’t really want to work for the Empire at all. Either way, I tend to find droid episodes devoid of character, used either for kid-oriented humor or to get away from the main plot for a while. This one ended up to be the “defeating an enemy from within” story. Throughout, I was not so much examining whether I personally enjoyed it as how much I was willing to forgive it. Just like in last week’s episodes,, what could have been a frightening sequence was was broken up by dull exposition. Is this just par for the course for Rebels now? Was there any point in questioning how much sentience the Imperial droid has when it clearly doesn’t have any agency? Even AP-5, who made his own choice to leave the Empire, had no problem forcibly reprogramming the recon droid. Were the good parts of the action sequence good enough to make up for the repetitive parts? For a split second the show casts EXD-9 as a sort of droid vampire, then abandons the idea. Although the droid was scariest when it was mysterious, the reveal of its secret battle form was pretty cool. I’d buy an action figure that transformed from mild-mannered inventory droid to a spindly killer with way too many eyes. The fights didn’t have a lot of weight, though, with Zeb and the droid throwing one another around but never straining or struggling. The set-up for the horror is good, but the final sequence manages to both be too repetitive and move too fast, including an incredibly short “the bomb is counting down and we have to do something” sequence. EXD-9 might be more memorable as an action figure than as a character. In fact, the most frightening part of the episode for me was the last minute or so, when we get a bit more about Agent Kallus in his precarious role as the new Fulcrum. His scenes felt much more personal, and much more threatening, than the droid itself. I don’t inherently mind that the show has elements that might work for children better than adults. It is, essentially, made for children, who might have no trouble identifying with Zeb’s wanderlust and boredom or might find EXD-9 frightening. However, season three’s attempt to deepen the characters seems plagued with inconsistency. Ezra is sort of a loose cannon who might be going to the dark side, until he isn’t any more. Zeb is sort of learning a lesson about how to do his job as a security officer, but not really. Hera is perhaps the most consistent character lately even though she has so few lines, because each of those lines shows her becoming more adept at commanding her growing group of Rebel troops and pilots. I enjoy Rebels a lot. The voice actors do well with what they’re given, and the show always feels like Star Wars. However, the third season has made me hesitant to recommend it to people who don’t have an existing attachment to the characters. Season two dragged, and season three has improved on that with more threatening villains and more connective tissue. The things “Warhead” did well – introducing a cool new Imperial droid – couldn’t make up for Zeb’s regressive conversation or the episode’s lack of depth.
