{"id":49869,"date":"2016-10-18T13:29:57","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/?p=49869"},"modified":"2016-10-18T13:32:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:32:16","slug":"3-big-questions-from-star-wars-rebels-season-3-episode-5-heras-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/3-big-questions-from-star-wars-rebels-season-3-episode-5-heras-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Big Questions from Star Wars Rebels Season 3, Episode 5 \u201cHera\u2019s Heroes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Star<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This article contains spoilers for Star Wars Rebels Season 3, Episode\u00a05<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s back to Ryloth as the battle against Imperial tyranny rages on!<\/p>\n

Though its title may, for some viewers, evoke a certain 1960s sitcom about hijinks in a POW camp (and catchphrases uttered with outrageous German accents), very little about this half-hour of Rebels<\/em> is lighthearted. I saw Zeb tousling Ezra\u2019s hair at the end, but that\u2019s about it!<\/p>\n

We do hear Hera express warm feelings toward her father as well as her family of choice, the Ghost<\/em> crew. The speeder bike vs. blurrg chase in the first few minutes is exciting. And it was great seeing Gobi and Numa yet again.<\/p>\n

But overall, very little dispels the oppressive shadow of violence and violation hanging over this episode. Hera\u2019s outrage over the Empire\u2019s seizure of her home as Thrawn\u2019s headquarters is palpable, and the few glimpses we get of Cham and his fellow Twi\u2019lek rebels in action reminded me, at least, that more of these freedom fighters are suffering and dying off-screen. Dark times, indeed.<\/p>\n

\"Cham\"

Image: StarWars.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJust a kid\u2019s show,\u201d my eye!<\/p>\n

Inevitably, \u201cHera\u2019s Heroes\u201d left me with some questions (and not just, \u201cWhat in the world will the Ghost<\/em> crew do with two blurrgs and an Imperial biker scout on board?\u201d):<\/p>\n

1) Will we learn more about Chopper\u2019s past?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, Chopper was the last<\/em> character I expected to be haunted by a tragic backstory! Had we heard about the Y-wing crash that brought him into Hera\u2019s possession before? If so, I\u2019d forgotten. I found Chopper\u2019s vigil at the crash site in this episode surprisingly moving, and am left wondering whether his \u201cgrumpiness\u201d and \u201ccrankiness\u201d is how he copes with a droid\u2019s version of post-traumatic stress. Droids in the Star Wars<\/em> universe frequently turn out to have depth of feeling we don\u2019t expect of robots in our own. Will we learn even more about this veteran astromech\u2019s service to the Republic during the Clone Wars?<\/p>\n

\"Chopper's

Image: StarWars.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

2) What is Thrawn\u2019s experiment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I confessed after watching \u201cSteps into Shadow<\/a>,\u201d I\u2019ve not read Timothy Zahn\u2019s Thrawn Trilogy (although it has since then risen near the top of my \u201cto read\u201d stack). So maybe this \u201cmystery\u201d is no mystery at all to you die-hard Legends (Expanded Universe) fans out there. But if the writers wanted to intrigue viewers with Thrawn\u2019s cryptic reference to an \u201cexperiment\u201d requiring his attention, they succeeded with at least this one. As his treatment of the Syndulla family\u2019s Kalikori demonstrates, Thrawn is one cold and calculating villain, who knows just what buttons to push, just what wounds to rub with salt, to get into his enemies\u2019 heads and under their skins. Whenever we learn what his \u201cexperiment\u201d is, I bet you my last Republic credits it\u2019s not gonna be pretty.<\/p>\n