After a hiatus and an episode filled to the brim with Jedi action (Episode 8, “Path of the Jedi”), Star Wars Rebels returns with a bouncy episode featuring a very familiar charming smuggler at the center of the action. That’s right, boys and girls, Lando Calrissian—voiced by none other than Billy Dee Williams—makes another mark on the Star Wars canon in “Idiot’s Array.”
What better way to reintroduce us to the smuggler’s smuggler himself than with a game of cards in a seedy bar? Turns out, there is none. As ever, Dave Filoni and the keen writers and story directors of Star Wars Rebels demonstrate their preternatural understanding and unparalleled appreciation of the show’s characters, old and new alike in this fun, if light on plot, episode. Even the show’s score echoes the fun and vitality of the original trilogy, carefully balancing the comic and that sweet sweet melodrama Star Wars fans expect to see in their space operas.
“It’s not my fault! Also, something vaguely sexual.”
Glowing review of the overarching story aside, this episode doesn’t move the plot along very far at all and does nothing to clarify where this arc is actually headed. Who exactly are these Rebels working for? Where is the rebel infrastructure in not on Lothal? Dantooine? It does, however, provide even more evidence of Hera’s and Sabine’s badassery (as if we needed more!) as Hera matches wits with smoothest old smoothy this side of Kessel, and Sabine leaps around the battlefield dispatching baddies left and right like a space-age Spidey.
We’re also treated to an explanation for the wacky shape of Ezra’s lightsaber, which I’m still not a fan of. And (SPOILER) it does nothing to sway me towards Ezra that his lightsaber doubles as a stun gun. Sure, it seems like something I might’ve made up in my backyard when I was Ezra’s age, which is kind of cool, but the effort to differentiate Ezra from Luke merely by lightsaber feels forced (ignore the pun if possible). That said, I have faith that this team of creatives will flesh out their little choices a bit more in upcoming episodes.
The episode ends with the suggestion that Lando will see the Ghost and its crew again, and I can only hope so! Just, next time, let’s avoid the lame punched-in-the-balls-high-pitched-voice gag on the cutting room floor, shall we?
Check out the latest Rebels Recon to get an inside look at the episode :
7/10 PoG’s