Star Wars Rebels - 'The Siege of Lothal'

"We are so boned."

Now part of a collective of rebels, acting in alliance with one another, the crew of the Ghost return to their former base of operations on Lothal to rescue a defecting Imperial politico, only for the defector to be assassinated and the killing pinned on the rebels. As a result, they lose a fair whack of their respect on the old homeworld, and lose a shot at finding out what the Empire really wants with a backwater like Lothal anyway.

Of course, narratively speaking this is really just part of a process for moving the crew definitively out into the wider rebellion, working with former Jedi Asoka Tano and Phoenix Squadron, but the two-part episode which bridges Season 1 and Season 2 also provides an opportunity for our heroes to get their collective arses roundly handed to them by the big man in black.

"Is this your show? I don't care! I'm Darth fucking Vader!"

Following the death of the Grand Inquisitor, Lord Vader is taking a personal interest in the rebel crew. After a few appearances in part 1, largely to establish his presence, he begins episode 2 by trashing Kanan and Ezra in lightsabre combat and then shrugs off getting a scout walker dropped on his head. The crew of the Ghost flee, and Vader follows them, rounding off his day by taking out half of Phoenix squadron's A-wings and their command ship in his TIE Fighter.

He also burns down a refugee camp, just to really get at them. Threat established. Puppies kicked. Darth Vader is not a man you want to have on your case, and Rebels takes some clear pleasure in being allowed to bring that fact to the screen for the first time. Sure, Anakin was a serious proposition in The Clone Wars, but we've never got to see the modern standards of screen combat applied to him as Vader before now.

"Don't throw those bloody mid-weight armoured assault vehicles at me."

Seriously; the still on the left may look like Vader's giving a rock concert, but the moment where he just Force lifts a walker off his own head like it ain't no kind of thing is hella badass. He may not manage to kill any of our protagonists, but he hurts them bad.

Season 2 of the previously so-so Rebels begins in style.