Rebels Rewind: "Fighter Flight"

Ezra and Zeb spend quality time together stealing a TIE Fighter...

“I couldn’t have wished for a better family. I can’t wait to come home.”—Ezra Bridger

It’s no secret that one of the central themes of Star Wars Rebels is family, as Ezra’s finale monologue exemplifies. This applies to biological families, yes. Throughout the series, we see Hera and Sabine’s alienation from their families motivate their actions, and Ezra's loss of his parents drives his story. Understanding where these characters come from is essential to understanding their journeys.

But, perhaps more than biological relations, Rebels focuses on the role and power that found families can play in a person’s life.

From the beginning, the Ghost crew was positioned as a makeshift family unit. None of them are related, but audiences understood their family dynamic from the first time they saw them interact on screen. Hera and Kanan are the parents, Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb are the kids, and Chopper is the weird uncle whose hobbies include murder.

Their dynamics are as central to the story of Rebels as the fight against the Empire, if not more so.

“Fighter Flight” is the first time we take a breath and examine the change in dynamics that come from adding a new member, Ezra. While Ezra proved his dedication to his new friends in the first two episodes, that doesn’t mean he can just slide into life aboard the Ghost without issues.

Zeb’s patience for Ezra has always been thin. We came to understand why in the previous episode, but the tension between the two remains high. Zeb is asked to make the most immediate sacrifice of the crew to make space for their new crew member: he has to share his room. While this may seem like a small issue in the grand scheme of a Rebellion, countless sitcom episodes with this very premise remind us that it can be a big ask of someone to share their space.

By pairing them up for a week, Rebels wraps up one of the subplots that has lingered through the first three episodes. Everyone aboard the Ghost, save maybe Hera, finds Ezra annoying at points through the first couple of episodes (a sentiment that never really goes away until the final season). But with Zeb, that annoyance walks the line of genuine dislike.

This was complicated, of course, by the ending of “Droids In Distress,” when Ezra uses the Force to save Zeb from Kallus. This act, while selfless in the moment, becomes something Ezra loves to hold over Zeb’s head. He brings it up at every opportunity he can in “Fighter Flight,” ensuring that the Lasat has no choice but to put up and agree with him.

While this dynamic couldn’t last, it was a lot of fun in this episode. Physically, Ezra and Zeb couldn’t be more different, and Zeb frequently tries to use his size advantage to intimidate Ezra. But Ezra always has the fact that he saved Zeb’s life in his back pocket. To the point where Zeb even yells at him, “Stop saying you saved my life!”

Hera, of course, understands that this cannot be the status quo for her crew. So she concocts a scheme to force the two to spend some time together. It works better than expected because, of course, Zeb and Ezra couldn’t just go on a normal supply run. The two love sticking it to the Empire too much and will take any chance they get to do so—even if all they’re looking for is one piece of fruit.

Through their misadventure to steal a meiloorun from the Empire, Zeb and Ezra not only gain a grudging respect for each other, but they also learn that they can have fun together. They may still find each other frustrating and annoying at times, but they also see the other as a potential partner in crime. It’s the foundation upon which their brotherly love for each other will be built.

When the chips are down in the later seasons, Ezra and Zeb have each other’s backs. They are willing to do and sacrifice anything for the other.

It’s amazing what a piece of fruit can accomplish!

Season One, Episode Four, “Fighter Flight”

Written by: Kevin Hopp

Directed by: Steven G. Lee

Air Date: October 13th, 2014 (on demand), October 20th, 2014 (DisneyXD),

Original US Viewership: 0.58 million

When Zeb and Ezra’s bickering becomes too much, Hera sends them on a shopping trip with specific directions not to return without a meiloorun. When they realize the Empire has bought all the meilooruns, Zeb and Ezra decide to steal one. Things get out of hand fast, and soon the two rebels find themselves in possession of an Imperial TIE Fighter. They use the TIE to steal a meiloorun and free an old friend from Ezra’s past in the process. They return to the Ghost fruit in hand and tell Hera and Kanan they destroyed the TIE…

The Tragedy of Mr. Sumar

One of the great successes of Star Wars Rebels is how it personalized the fight against the Empire.

In the films, battles are fought over grand ideas like restoring freedom to the galaxy. This is an important notion, no doubt, but little time is spent on what it actually means for the people of the galaxy. We see the celebrations at the end of Return of the Jedi, so clearly the people felt oppressed, but we know little about what that oppression looked like beyond the obvious (such as a planet-destroying superweapon). 

But if you are not in the direct aim of the Death Star, what is it you really have to fear from Palpatine’s regime?

In “Spark of Rebellion,” we visited Tarkintown, the encampment on Lothal where the farmers whose homes had been taken by the Empire now live. These former landowners are now impoverished, living in squalour, and reliant on the help of good samaritans like the crew of the Ghost. It hammers home the cost of life under Imperial rule.

“Fighter Flight” takes this a step further, highlighting the cost of even the smallest acts of defiance. We are introduced to Morad Sumar, an old family friend of the Bridgers, and see what happens when he stands up to the Empire.