Star Wars Rebels 4×07 & 4×08 Reviews: Kindred and Crawler Commanders

Perhaps it was the amount of physical travel that the characters did between “Kindred” and “Crawler Commanders”, but these two episodes felt much more like standalone stories than the previous sets.

Granted, “Crawler Commanders” couldn’t have happened without “Kindred”, but at the end of “Kindred” we did know that Hera had made it away from Lothal and the rest of the group had escaped from Governor Pryce, which made it more of a complete story than the other odd-numbered episodes in Star Wars Rebels season 4. And oh, by the way, it wasn’t just Governor Pryce they escaped from – Rukh finally arrived on scene, as well!

If you didn’t read the old EU (extended universe) novels, Rukh was Thrawn’s personal bodyguard/assassin, and when Dave Filoni announced at Star Wars Celebration Orlando earlier this year that Rukh would appear on Rebels, people were very excited (to say the least). And even though I knew he was going to show up eventually, I was surprised that he showed up and was thrown right into the thick of things. It was definitely one heck of an introduction, though – Rukh hit the ground running, and it seemed like he would have succeeded in his mission to capture Ezra and Jai and retrieve the TIE Defender hyperdrive were it not for him and Pryce butting heads.

Sure, Governor Pryce has messed up before, and she did so again in “Kindred”, and yes, finally seeing Rukh was exciting, but I’ll be honest, I definitely raised my eyebrows a bit at Thrawn’s suddenly angry attitude toward Pryce. Not only was it quite a departure from the way he previously treated her, but considering how many times Ezra and the others have slipped from his grasp, he…kind of doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

And it wasn’t any different this time, either. Hera (with Chopper, on the Ghost) escaped by the skin of her teeth, while Ezra, Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb only got away from Pryce and Rukh with the help of some Loth-Wolves. It was great to have some of that Loth-Wolf mystery solved, too – while we still don’t know the whole story behind what they do and why, at least now we know that that they are basically Force-Wolves (who can apparently travel from one hemisphere of Lothal to the other in very short periods of time). And thanks to the wolves, Ezra now knows that Kanan’s real/original name was Caleb Dume. I really hope this means that Kanan will start revealing more about his past to his friends.

I have to admit, I spend most of “Crawler Commanders” worried about whether Hera and Chopper – the only two who have definite mentions/cameos in Rogue One – making it off Lothal meant that all of the others really are stuck there forever, never to see Hera or Chopper again. And while it being only eight episodes into the final season seemed like it would be a little too soon for a permanent separation, Hera actually kissing Kanan goodbye in “Kindred” didn’t seem to bode well, either. But at least they DID finally kiss! More of that if when they reunite, please!

I say ‘when’ because although she spent all of “Crawler Commanders” trying to convince the leaders of the rebellion to send her back to Lothal to fight, in the end she succeeded because she’s Hera and she’s awesome and she gave an awesome speech. So she’s going back to Lothal and I have to hope that means she’ll be with Kanan again. (Please, Star Wars Rebels, don’t dash my hopes for more Hera/Kanan sweetness…)

Speaking of Lothal, most of the “Crawler Commanders” story line followed Ezra and the others as they essentially orchestrated the heist of an ore crawler that was strip mining in the southern hemisphere. This involved a lot of shenanigans, including them stuffing the ‘lizard’ operator into a closet, Zeb fighting the Trandoshan foreman, tricking some stormtroopers into leaving them with the crawler, and the very much sooner-rather-than-later return of Vizago. At least they did get the ore crawler out of the deal…and some more recruits for the Rebellion, as well (they are good at recruiting all of these slaves they free).

Will Lothal be the setting for the rest of the season? It seems there’s going to be a pretty big battle there (and soon), so I suppose it depends on how long they stretch out that fight…and how many episodes are in season 4. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Author: Tara Lynne

Tara Lynne is an author, fandom and geek culture expert, and public speaker. She founded Ice & Fire Con, the first ever Game of Thrones convention in the US, and now runs its parent company Saga Event Planning.

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