Aren’t you really short for a Stormtrooper?
By Eric Goldman
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
I’m already late on this review and need to keep it short due to a very busy day, so let’s get right to it, with…
Princess Leia! We’d had the droids, Lando and even Darth Vader on Star Wars Rebels, but this was the first time we met one of the actual core trio of heroes from the original trilogy, and it was very cool to see. And Leia makes the most sense by far to bring into the story – Luke would be nearly impossible, without a pretty big stretch, and Han is problematic, because if he sees any of Kanan or Ezra’s Force skills, it undermines his behavior in A New Hope. But Leia? She’s a Rebel in Episode IV, and so seeing the background of that and her making allies within the growing Rebel Alliance (while already secretly helping them) works perfectly.
Hearing Julie Dolan as Leia took some getting used to. We know Leia’s voice so well and Dolan, while doing a fine performance, sounds pretty noticeably different from the young, teenage Princess we met in Episode IV – even as you can argue, well, hey, this is an even younger teenage Princess, so let’s just say her voice sounded different (and she took on more of a senatorial affectation) as she got older.
The first footage of Leia focused on her more earnest side and a heart-to-heart she had with Ezra, but thankfully she also had plenty of the brash, sarcastic nature that made audiences love her – and Ezra was amusingly taken aback by her giving orders so quickly. [Also very funny was Zeb so happily hitting both Kanan and Ezra to keep up the ruse that they were enemies]
The final battle against the Walkers looked spectacular, set in a moody, low-light setting – and there was something especially cool about Kanan, in full Stormtrooper armor, helmet included, going full Jedi, slashing his lightsaber through those Walker legs.
A very commendable thing about “A Princess on Lothal” was the strong continuity it had with the episode that came before. This wasn’t a “Part 2” by any means, but still picked up right later (A big “Aww!” to Chopper standing close to the grieving Ezra), and made sure to still deal with the emotional fallout for Ezra, which contributed more notable serialization to the series. Plus, it turned Ryder Azadi had a larger role to play, as he was motivated to once again fight the Empire, adding yet another key player to the Rebel Alliance.
Along with that Princess, who somehow seems like she could be of importance later…
