[CaptainCrunch]

Season 3 came to an end with a combination of a bang and a whimper. While we did see the demise of two characters in the series, we didn't see the death of a core character even though the show tended to tease us a couple of times.

It seems that Thrawn is as smart as we think he is, he allowed Kallus to sneak off to make a Fulcrum transmission then used that transmission plus the heading of Admiral Sato's fleet to triangulate the Rebel base. At the same time we saw Thrawn beat the holy hell out of Kallus, who's only response was a heroic quip "You talk to much".

The Rebels who were fairly confident in their abilities were preparing to launch an attack on the Tie Fighter factories on Lothal, but quickly found themselves on the defensive as a massive fleet supported by two Inderdictor Cruisers jumped into the system and engaged the now massively outgunned rebel fleet under the commands of Admiral Sato and Admiral Dodonna. At this point the Rebels effectively trapped went their separate ways to get help.

Ezra was told that he needed to get away from the blockade and call for help. Meanwhile Kanan went to the desert to get the help of Bendu a mystical force creature.

This episode could really be split into two episodes (well it was. The space battle and the ground battle) In the space battle it was clear that the Rebels were outgunned by the Imperial Fleet and were promptly trapped and grounded. As a side note, the animation in this battle was incredibly well done and while the battle was chaotic, there was a symmetry to it that was really nice to watch.

In order for Ezra to escape they needed to get rid of one of the Interdictors, and this is where the Empire actually failed Thrawn. You see, Thrawn actually respects the Rebellion and mused that they would try to do something unpredictable. To Combat that he decided to hold the line and count on Imperial training and discipline to carry the day. Unfortunately that hit the skids due to Admiral Konstantine who has been in and out of the show since day one. A career opportunist and a somewhat incompetent leader, he decided that he wanted the glory and moved his Interdictor out of position to attack Admiral Sato's carrier. Sato then sacrificed himself ramming the Cruiser and killing Konstantine and allowing Ezra to escape, while the Rebellion retreated to the planet surface.

Ezra promptly contacted Mon Mothma who told her they couldn't risk the rest of the Rebellion, and maybe they weren't ready to go on the offensive. This reflects the feeling that the Rebel Alliance which was still fragile and in its infancy was too cautious to be an effective Rebellion and weren't truly desperate yet. Ezra then went to Mandalore to beg for help.

Meanwhile Kanan confronted Bendu and asked for help. I think he was surprised, when Bendu angrily mused that he wanted no part of this war, and that he was the rock in the middle of the river and it would be better if the Rebel's basically pissed off and left his planet alone.

Its funny because Star Wars fans have this definite feeling on morality and the force. That the Light will always fight the darkness, however that's not always the way. Just like the Mortis Arc where you had the Father who kept the balance, Bendu seems to be very much a creature of dark and light in balance, and because of that, the fates of mortals and ordinary lives are really of no concern to him and the force at large.

Meanwhile Ezra reached Mandalore and reunited with Sabine who wanted to help but her people were spread thin fighting a civil war against Clan Saxton, however in the end a compromise was reached and Sabine was allowed to take volunteers to help.

This is where the action reverts to a ground battle. At the Rebel base they managed to fire up a generator and after about 40 years of waiting we finally saw what the full firepower of an Imperial Star Destroyer looked like as the Imperial fleet released a awe inspiring barrage against the Rebel base.

Now, this is where there was a neat bit of story telling without dialog as they flipped between Thrawn watching the Bombardment and Hera watching the attack on the shields, and you felt like Thrawn was the unstoppable force and Hera the unmovable object. But we did see Hera flinch while Thrawn stayed resolute, and just as the shields were about to fail, Thrawn called off the attack and sent in his ground forces leaving Governor Pryce to maintain the blockade.

With the Rebel's trapped they decided to defend their base by mining the approach, and at first it was effective until Thrawn played his hand and sent in an actual attack using AT-AT's. At this point the battle seemed hopeless, until Hera heard from Ezra that they were going to attack the last Interdictor, which would allow the Rebels to escape.

At this point with nothing left the Rebels decide to toss the coin of fate and evacuate, but Thrawn showing his excellent feel for the Rebels headed them off at the Ghost and demanded their surrender or their deaths. At this point two things happened.

First of all, we saw Bendu who manifested himself as a massive storm, and it was clear that he wasn't picking sides as he attacked rebels and Imperials alike, it was interesting because Bendu stated that he wasn't the Dark and he wasn't the light and that he bought death. Why was this interesting? Because for those of you that played SWTOR when the Sith Emperor was resurrected on Yavin 4 (The future base of the rebels) he said something similar after watching the Rebels and Sith fight a bloody war that fed him, his last line upon his resurrection was the same "I bring Death". It might mean nothing but it was interesting.

Again this sequence shows the difference between the Rebels and the Imperials and the Rebels fled in their ships and took a chance in the storm while Thrawn attacked the Storm and actually beat it. However there was a minor but important moment when a Rebel transport loaded with supplies was destroyed pushing the concept that the Rebels were about to lose everything.

Meanwhile in Space the Mandolorians joined the battle and space walked onto the Interdictor and destroyed the Gravity Well Generator and destroyed the ship and we saw Governor Price watching helplessly as the Rebels escaped, once again Imperial Incompetence thwarted Thrawns plans. Meanwhile tired of hearing Kallus's jibs she orders him thrown out of the Airlock, which was the break that Fulcrum needed and he overpowered his guards and escaped on an escape pods.

Realistically the Imperials won the day, but the overall crushing victory that Thrawn wanted but make no mistake Ezra was right when he said that the Rebels had lost everything. They looked like a demoralized and crushed bunch who had also lost one of their better Admirals, and they were headed for a new base on Yavin 4. Meanwhile Thrawn encountered Bendu who before doing the Ben Kenobi thing, told Thrawn that he could see his demise.

I thought this was a good episode to end the season, because frankly it really echo'd Empire strikes back in that the Rebellion had taken a major step back and are in no shape to be a military force. I thought that the writing was solid and it almost felt like Kanan was going to be the sacrificial lamb in this episode when he told Ezra that he really had nothing more to teach him. Meanwhile we finally saw Thrawn in action, only to be outdone by circumstance. First of all with the incompetence of Pryce and Konstantine, and of force of nature in Bendu.

Some stray observations

They've done a nice job of making Kallus a sympathetic heroic person. He went from a bully and possible war criminal to a truly heroic character who risked his life and as Kanan said everything to help the Rebels. Now if they could shave those sideburns in the off season that would be nice.

I honestly thought that Kanan was going to die after his talk with Ezra, and they really teased it when he was blown off of his speeder by Bendu who actually seemed determined to kill Kanan. Its clear that Bendu was no light side of the force creature, he represents the balance of darkness and light.

I'm sad to see Sato go, he wasn't a major character but he had some nice moments throughout the series, but this clears the deck to add some of the Rebel leaders from Rogue one next year.

I want to restate that I just loved that Bombardment scene with the camera going between Thrawn and Hera. I thought that was the best pure character scene in the series so far and it was such a small thing.

I was cursing under my breath that Mon Mothma was willing to sacrifice two rebel cells and somehow thought she could negotiate for fair treatment of the prisoners. At that point I heard Peter Griffin's voice in my head muttering "Um can we maybe get a man in charge here".

The animation overall was gorgeous, when the first Nebulon B was destroyed it was stunning.

I loved the quip by Zeb about designing a shield that you can't walk through. But in every Sci Fi book or movie that I've seen the science seems to be the same. They can stop fast moving projectiles and energy weapons, but not slow moving objects.

By moving to Yavin 4 I think that we've established that we are a short time away from the Death Star, and my feeling is that our Rebels are going to go back to their attempts to find out what the Empire is up to.

Thrawn will surely be back next year, he was effective as a battle field commander and this was a smashing victor for him, but he was undermined badly and Pryce is probably going to have an uncomfortable meeting with Tarkin. Pryce not only lost the blockade through indecision and watched the Rebels escape without firing a shot, but she also basically allowed a valuable source of intelligence in Kallus make his escape.

Now we wait for next year.