This episode sadly returns to what has become the Rebels formula, that goes like this: our heroes meet a new character or group of characters, there’s initial mistrust if not open conflict, and eventually they all end up forgetting their differences and joining up against the Empire, with the new guys joining the Rebellion. We saw this with Rex, with Ketsu Onyo, with AP-5, with Cham Syndulla, with Fenn Rau, with Kalani. While seeing new people join the Rebellion is always nice and makes us excited because we see the future Alliance take shape, the excitement gets diminished when we realize we’ve seen this exact plot before.

Perhaps if the new recruits hung around—if we saw Ketsu sparring with Fenn at Atollon Station, or Chopper and AP-5 working on a communication console, or Wedge passing by our heroes and saluting, we wouldn’t feel like we are seeing the same sequence over and over like some maddening time loop. We’d feel like the Rebellion is growing, and like our heroes’ extended family is becoming larger and their universe more complex. As it is, it inevitably feels a bit stale. A pity, because the recruitment of three new characters of Ezra’s age and all the interesting interactions that could have brought to the mix deserved more than this.