After last weeks amazing premiere on Mandalore, the next arc brought us to a familiar place in Star Wars lore…the main rebel base on Yavin 4. In this episode, we’ve begun to see the dots slowly connecting towards Rogue One and, eventually, A New Hope. The Rebels, led by Hera, were just defeated and those that survived barely made it back. They had good intel for their mission, but the Empire was one step ahead of them. Still assessing the damage, they get a hologram visit from none other than Saw Guerrera who takes some shots at Senator Mon Mothma and her approach to the rebellion (which has quickly become a war even if she won’t admit it).
“I will do whatever it costs to become the victor” -Saw Guerrera
Afterwards, Hera and her crew of the Ghost are tasked to covertly hack a communications tower in order to try to change the tides and they themselves be on the wrong end of things. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and Ezra, Chopper, and Sabine are rescued by Saw Guerrera himself, who ends up blowing up the tower. They agree to go on a mission with him to find out why the empire is using a civilian shipping barge. What they discover further connects the dots that lead to Rogue One and we see the strings of reality get closer and closer to that time period.
“If we degrade ourselves to the empires level, what would we become” -Mon Mothma
As a two part episode, I will say the first one was more generic and just mediocre, but it’s part two that really stands out. We know that Saw Guerrera is extreme in his ways, and here we have two young heroes still finding their way in this war becoming little swayed to his methods. On one end, what the rebels have done really hasn’t accomplished much while Saw has been a bigger burden and trouble to Empire. However, as Kanaan has told Ezra several times, “it’s not whether or not we fight, it’s how we choose to fight” and now Ezra is second guessing whether their way works. Maybe they should be extreme but then what? It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves. Dr. King said it best, we can not drive out hate with more hate. We have to be better. Ezra and Sabine saw the logic and being more aggressive, but Saw was willing to let civilians die to achieve his goal. In that sense, though his cause is to achieve the same outcome–an end to the Empire–the road he has chosen is one that looks no different than what he fights himself. We see it in today’s social and political climate. Those seeking tolerance are often the most intolerant. Those turning a blind eye are just as guilty as those causing the harm. Some take sides just because it’s “their” side, even if those that are the face of it don’t carry the moral values that they do. It is easier to deflect, ignore, or justify injustice and evil than it is to stand your ground and put the people, all people, first. If the shortcut to winning is giving up all that is good, then lets take the long way. In the end, helping the innocent is more valuable than anything else.
