Star Wars Rebels - 'Iron Squadron' and 'The Wynkathu Job'

The sharp edge of the Rebellion.

As we count down to the December release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(1), let's get in on the early days of the Rebellion with a little more Star Wars: Rebels.

While helping rebel sympathisers evacuate from Commander Sato's home planet, the crew of the Ghost run into the Iron Squadron; three punks and an astromech in a beat-up old YT stock freighter who take on the Empire by dropping exploding cargo pods on them. They're bold, cocky and reckless, and determined never to run. Of course, they also think that an Imperial transport ship is a Star Destroyer. It's up to Ezra, Sabine and Chopper to persuade them that discretion can be the better part of valour; before they get killed trying to take on something they can't handle.

"What do I pay you for, Admiral Constantine?"

Learning of these events, Grand Admiral Thrawn dispatches his bumbling underling Admiral Constantine with a light cruiser and his own inadequacies to deal with the threat; or possibly to have a heartwarming adventure and learn a valuable lesson about underestimating your rebel opponents (or the number three.) Naturally, Constantine screws up, and Thrawn pops up in time to see the Rebels bug out, although the really important thing here is that the show manages, after forty years, to make Star Destroyers feel fucking massive again. They do this by looking through the eyes of Iron Squadron, who think they're taking on Star Destroyers when they're actually only facing freighters, then get an eyeful first of a cruiser and then of the Chimaera in all its glory. It's actually pretty awesome.

Glowy thing!

By comparison, 'The Wynkathu Job' is more of a busywork episode, with the gang joining sleazy comic demi-antagonists Hondo and Azmorigan on a treasure hunt to score some ordnance for the Rebellion. It's a chance for Zeb to stretch his command skills and Ezra to learn that funny pirates are not necessarily good or reliable allies. It's fine as far as it goes, but it's basically marking time between much better episodes; episodes like 'Iron Squadron' or 'Hera's Heroes'. On the other hand, I guess it shows that the series is maturing if it can have those slightly slack episodes and that's okay, because the overall quality is so high.

(1) And as people are already beginning to slam the movie for the plot decisions they are sure that it is going to make and HOW DARE IT!