The Ghost really needs to leave Lothal. Like now. This is getting out of hand. Warning: This review will absolutely contain spoilers.
The episode opens with Ezra continuing his Jedi training but being far more interested in the transmissions by Senator-in-Exile Trayvis than blocking stun bolts. Trayvis has been hacking the HoloNet more regularly and Ezra is impatient to hear the next transmission which of course happens right on cue after he as a vision of the Senator. Trayvis works a time and location into his message and the crew of the Ghost go to meet him on Lothal only to walk right into the Empire’s trap AND discover that the Senator’s been working for the Empire all along. Not a good day.
While Vision of Hope was a good episode over all, it definitely left me thinking. Let’s start with Trayvis. Ever since the Luminara episode, I’ve had a bad feeling about him. It never sat right with me that he was the source for Luminara’s location that turned out to be a trap and I feel a little vindicated that it turns out he’s been working with the Empire all along. That does, however, lead into my quibble with the episode which is that our Rebels just weren’t using their brains. Supposedly, Trayvis’s location clues would only be known to locals and yet the Empire clearly seemed to have figured it out and to top it off, why the heck did he still have a diplomatic shuttle? None of these were giant warning signs? While I respect that Hera and company wanted to believe that there were other rebels out there, too many things just didn’t add up for me to completely buy it.
That said, our Rebels weren’t completely clueless. I did love how Hera figured out that Trayvis was a traitor and subtly forced him to reveal it. The brief cameo from Zare Leonis was a nice touch and showed that he hadn’t been forgotten. I do hope we actually get to see more of him in the future especially after his line about being reassigned. I also loved how yet again we got to see how well Zeb and Sabine work together on missions. I also got a chuckle out of watching everyone shoot at Ezra which probably means I’m a little too similar to Homicidal Droid Chopper for my own good.
Although I overall felt that too many people took idiot pills in the episode, I do think that it had consequences that will pay off really well further down the line. What happens when they eventually encounter into a rebel group led by Bail Organa or Mon Mothma or (dare I say it?) Garm Bel Iblis? I find it unlikely that they’ll easily trust another Imperial Senator. And how will this affect the morale of the group? And will Hera ever tell Ezra what happened to his parents? (Actually, that does raise the question or whether or not she told Kanan and also the question of why must we always cut away every time Kanan and Hera chat?)
Vision of Hope was an episode that wasn’t the strongest we’ve seen from Rebels but it features a few nice character moments and sets up some potential interesting situations down the line. While this was (in my opinion) one of the weaker episodes, the fact that it was still good and enjoyable says a heck of a lot of how Rebels has been as a show. Keep it up, guys.
