Star Wars Rebels: A Princess on Lothal Recap

Synopsis of 2×10: Princess Leia comes to Lothal to deliver some new ships to the rebels. Of course, nothing is ever that simple.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Picking up almost immediately where the last episode, Legacy, ended, A Princess on Lothal sees our Rebels jumping right back into the action. It’s a rough time for Ezra now that he knows that his parents really are gone and Kanan is glad for a way to distract him. After the fleet’s losses on Garel, they need a bit of back up. Luckily Bail Organa has a bunch of ships to send them from Alderaan.

Organa sends his own daughter, Leia, to deliver the ships to the rebel forces. The plan is simple – they’ll pretend to steal the ships and make off with them. Unfortunately, even the Empire has gotten wise to the fact that a lot of ships from Alderaan have been going missing. Things aren’t going to be that easy.

Kanan and Ezra try to enlist the help of Ryder Azadi but he’s not interested in fighting this war any more or going back to prison.

So they don their usual bucket head disguises and go meet the Princess. When they arrive they find that they can’t get the ships because the Empire has them locked down with gravity locks. They try to go back to Ryder’s hideout to regroup but find him and Chopper both in the custody of the Empire. Luckily Hera shows up to save the day. They rescue everyone – and fake a kidnapping of Leia and Kanan and Ezra in their disguises – and take off. With Ryder’s help they come up with a plan.

In the mean time, Leia talks to Ezra about his parents’ efforts and their inspiration. She tries to help him understand that, while they may be gone, their spirit lives on in everyone who heard their broadcasts and answered the call to action.

Once they got everything together and ready, they set their plan into action. Kanan and Ezra play the part of heroic Imperials who managed to overthrow their captors and rescue the Princess. Meanwhile the others start enacting their plan to free the ships. See, Ryder built the gravity locks while in prison and knows exactly how they work. The plan works for a while but complications always arise. Kanan has to take out a AT-AT walkers and Ryder finds himself playing the hero.

Ultimately, though, they succeed and the rebels free the ships. Leia, though, has to stay behind and maintain her cover as a loyal citizen of the Empire. After a brief goodbye with Ezra, she tells him to ‘make it look good’ and stuns her with the promise that they will see each other again.

Of course, who knows if that will ever happen.

We still haven’t seen Ezra in any media after A New Hope and considering the usual unhappy ending for most Jedi in the Star Wars universe… it doesn’t look good. But hey! We got to see Princess Leia in Star Wars Rebels. I’m a little bit unsure how I feel about that.

We added Darth Vader this season – I probably could have lived without another major Star Wars character. Now, secondary characters? I’m down. After Star Wars: Aftermath I’m just waiting for Wedge Antilles to be introduced via Ahsoka. I will say, though, that it was a decent episode and a decent introduction. It didn’t feel as forced as I was expecting!