The hyperdrive was on full-blast this episode as malevolent Imperial forces go head to head with our rag-tag band of Rebels in ‘Empire Day.’

In this apparent two-parter, we get a peek into Ezra’s distressing past as the Empire tears through Lothal in search of a Rodian, whom Ezra knows, named Seebo. All of the Imperial threats our Rebels have faced so far make appearances this episode, including the always fearsome Inquisitor. Doing my best to avoid spoilers, the episode ends on a cliffhanger as the Rebels escape the frustratingly capable grasp of Agent Kallus and as Seebo reveals a dose of intrigue about “what happened” to Ezra’s parents.

I love how this show treats its lightsabers. Where ‘The Clone Wars’ was almost entirely about smashing as many lightsabers and Force abilities on screen as modern technology would allow, ‘Rebels’ views the lightsaber as an almost mythic item whose appearance is rare, dramatic, and super exciting. Every time Kanan draws his lightsaber, there’s a tight shot of him putting the Jedi tool together and a certain musical beat that makes me hold my breath. It’s really a thing of beauty to be in absolute awe of the lightsaber again. I can’t express it firmly enough how much fun it is.

Ezra’s backstory though? Meh. Granted we aren’t given a lot of (or any) detail about what happened to them yet, but I’m not a fan of what we’ve heard so far. MINOR SPOILER: It turns out Ezra’s parents were rebels before rebels were capital-R Rebels, and they were apparently the coolest parents in the universe. This bores me. I find the whole orphan-actually-had-very-cool-parents plot line to be cliché and uninteresting, especially when compared, almost explicitly, with a far more interesting and far more famous orphan whose parents were pretty messed up: Luke Skywalker. I have my fingers crossed though that Ezra will learn some upsetting facts about his parents in the next episode.

It’s not that I WANT Ezra’s parents to be jerks, I just want them to have more depth than they seem to have now. A character who’s good all the time, who makes all the right decisions at every turn, is kinda uninteresting. Granted ‘Star Wars’ has always been kind of corn ball, and that’s at least a third of the fun, but you can be a little corny and still have every character in the story feel real.

Overall, this episode was very plot-heavy, action-packed, and all-around awesome. Seriously, if you like ‘Star Wars’ and you haven’t seen ‘Rebels’, you owe it to yourself to take some time out of your day and to feel Star Wars Joy (yes, that’s a thing) for 22 minutes.

Oh, and here’s more behind the scenes goodness:

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