Star Wars Rebels Season 2 (2015) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing fine for a Monday. Today I'm here to review season 2 of Star Wars Rebels. I finished the season last night before bed and I'm super excited to talk about it. There might be spoilers for the season, so if you haven't watched it, please do so. Let's get into it.

Season 2 of Rebels really kicks things up a notch from season 1. While season 1 was a smaller story, season 2 launches us into the larger Star Wars universe and introduces us to the larger Rebel Alliance and its conflict with the Galactic Empire. It also reintroduces us to old friends, Ahsoka Tano and Rex from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014). Of course our intrepid crew from season 1 returns as well. 

With the larger episode count for this season, I was afraid that we'd get alot of filler episodes since this aired on traditional network television. But even the smaller one off episodes served the larger story. Which is really refreshing for a show that aired on network television in the mid to late 2010s. Each character got a chance to be the focus of an episode, which I also really appreciated. 

While Hera and Sabine are still my favourite characters I really fell in love with Chopper this season. As other people have said online, Chopper is my little psychotic murderer Droid. Unlike most Droids, Chopper isn't afraid to hurt or kill beings if they get in the way of him completing his objectives. Not to mention his personality is like R2-D2's, but dialed up to a thousand times sassier than R2's. I love it.

Speaking of love, Kanan and Hera's relationship intensifies this season. Especially in the two part season finale where Ezra, Ahsoka, and Kanan go up against the Inquisitors, Maul, and Darth Vader at a Sith Temple on Malachor. Which was pretty intense with multiple lightsaber duels going on practically at the same time. Which was insane to watch.

The show also dealt with lingering plotlines from season 1, like the fate of Ezra's parents, and the fate of Lothal. We also finally see Zeb's history with the Imperial Security Bureau's Agent Kallus, which was fascinating. 

I was afraid that with Rex and Ahsoka appearing this season that I would be confused and feel like I was missing something since I haven't watched The Clone Wars since the middle of season 2, when the show was originally airing. But this show did a good job of showing us who these two characters are with minimal baggage from the previous. In fact, alot of what they hint at wasn't even touched upon until season 1 of Tales of the Jedi from last year, as well season 7 of The Clone Wars, which came out in 2020. Which was pretty cool. 

My favourite episode this season is episode 19, "The Forgotten Droid", where Chopper is accidently left behind on a planet, stows away on an Imperial freighter, and with the help of a protocol droid on the ship, AP-5, takes control of the ship, turning it over to the Rebels. The dynamic between Chopper and AP-5 is even better than R2 and 3PO's in the shows and movies. In fact they remind me of R2 and 3PO in the post-Return of the Jedi Legends novels. 

The animation got even better this season. In fact for the vast majority of the season I kept forgetting that I was watching an animated series. That's how much it looks like it's live action. I love animation, but for Star Wars, animation had previously looked too cartoony and often didn't feel Star Wars. But the animation here feels right, like it's Star Wars and it's great.

I could go on and on about this season because it was so good. But I think I'll save that for my full series review once I've finished season 4 in a couple of weeks. Season 3 is also 22 episodes, like season 2, but it didn't take me long to finish season 2, so I should be finished season 3 by the end of this week. Overall I loved season 2 and I can't wait for season 3. I definitely recommend watching Rebels. It's amazing.

That's going to be it for me for today. But I will back soon for a comic book review as well as my season 3 review. So until then have an awesome day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.