Star Wars Rebels – Season 2 Episode 7
“Blood Sisters”
Star Wars Rebels gives one of the more underdeveloped characters some much needed screen time when Sabine gets an episode focused entirely on her.
I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews that Sabine is vastly underdeveloped in ways that hurt the show. She is an interesting character with a heavily implied backstory that is never explored. Some attempt is made to explore her history in this episode but it’s not nearly as extensive as it could have been.
Her past comes back to haunt her when her old partner Ketsu Onyo (Gina Torres) takes an interest in a job she is assigned to and their reunion is relatively violent. It is established that Sabine and Ketsu used to be mercenaries together until they had something of a falling out and parted ways. Sabine found the Ghost and Ketsu found success as a mercenary as part of the Black Sun group.
Nothing about Sabine’s past interested me or impressed me in any way. I like the idea that Sabine might have done some things that she isn’t proud of but none of this is alluded to throughout this episode. I also didn’t really get the feeling that the falling out between these two characters was significant.
This is made even worse by their reconciliation feeling completely unearned. I get that they might have to team up to take on a mutual threat when the Empire show up but I would have liked the tension between them to have remained as they were working together. It would have been better if they had parted as enemies who gave each other a free pass just this once. It might seem a little typical but it would have been actual drama rather than what happened here.
Ketsu was alright as a character but a pretty underwhelming presence. Her fight with a group of Stormtroopers was really well put together and showed some real skill from her as a combatant. I just wish her character traits had matched up with her skills as a combatant. Based on her skills it feels that she was thwarted a little too quickly and by Chopper no less. Chopper is good but shouldn’t really be a match for a seasoned Bounty Hunter.
It was refreshing to have Sabine shoulder much of the episode by herself but I have to wonder why Ezra came on the mission at all. He doesn’t really do much and disappears pretty quickly. Seeing them stand around yelling the code phrase is an incredibly risky and suspicious thing to be doing. I feel that they should know better.
There is a clunky piece of dialogue where he asks Sabine why she spends so much time alone in her room. It’s a lazy attempt for the show to inject some characterisation for Sabine that just hasn’t been there this season.
It’s a shame that we’re quite far into season 2 and Star Wars Rebels is making far too many missteps when it comes to character and plot progression. Season 1 moved things along a lot more organically without feeling like it’s rushing or dragging its feet but season 2 definitely needs to up the pace and develop the main plot of the season soon.
Overall
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4/10
Summary
A missed opportunity to give Sabine some meaningful development with a largely superficial interaction with her former partner.
It is established that Ketsu and Sabine used to be mercenaries together but had a difference of opinion and parted ways to find homes elsewhere.
Nothing about Sabine’s interested me or impressed me in any way. I like the idea that Sabine has done things that she isn’t proud of in her past but none of that is really alluded to here. I also don’t feel that her falling out with Ketsu was all that significant.
Sabine’s reconciliation with Ketsu was unearned despite it making sense that they might put their differences aside to deal with a mutual threat but the tension between them should have remained and it would have been more powerful had they parted as enemies.
Ketsu was a bit bland but her battle with the group of Stormtroopers was nicely put together. It feels as if she was too easily thwarted by Chopper when he sabotaged her ship.
I’m not sure why Ezra was even on the mission as he disappears really quickly. Him and Sabine standing around yelling the code phrase is an incredibly stupid and risky thing to do as well.
There’s a clunky piece of dialogue around Sabine spending a lot of time alone in her room that attempts to inject some characterisation that simply doesn’t exist. It’s completely obvious and lazy.
Star Wars Rebels really needs to progress the main plot and the characters in some meaningful way soon as the whole season has been really underwhelming on the whole so far.