Warning: This review contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “Legends of the Lasat.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

The first season of Star Wars Rebels introduced us to the crew of the Ghost, and so far, the second season has put emphasis on getting to know them better. That’s meant learning tidbits about their pasts, and in “Legends of the Lasat,” we found out more about Zeb. He was a captain among his people, a member of the royal guard. He fought until the bitter end when the Empire attacked and was all but dead when Kanan rescued him. Zeb thought he was the last of his kind, but happily, his assumption wasn’t true. He ran into a couple more survivors: Gron and Chava.

They’re brought into the picture by one Hondo Ohnaka. The pirate always makes me smile. He managed to be both loyal and a sellout at the same time, and that, in a nutshell, is the charm of Hondo. I rather respect how he always looks out for financial gains and still tries to remain true to his friends. The latter became hard for him to do when he was captured by Kallus and forced to help the Empire track the Ghost.

Gron and Chava brought a slice of Zeb’s past into focus, but almost immediately you could see Zeb wasn’t super thrilled. I’m sure it was a disconcerting experience. He didn’t think there were any other Lasats in the galaxy, and he encountered two and two who happened to know him. It’s a small world after… you know the rest. Zeb’s reaction was put into context when his survivor’s guilt and sense of failure came up later in the episode. He was almost ashamed.

Zeb also rolled his eyes at Chava’s talk about the Fate of the Three prophecy and finding a new homeworld. It reminded me of when Luke first encountered Yoda on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back. I wanted to grab Zeb by his shoulders and shake him, but Ezra did that for me. His perspective was important to story. Ezra was open-minded towards Chava’s somewhat cryptic musings, and he turned Zeb around. It adds up. Ezra recently lost his family. He has his friends and crew, but he’s likely feeling a little alone so of course he’s eager to help Zeb, probably his best pal on the Ghost, recognize the opportunity in front of him. Well done, Ezra.

Chava mentioned “Ashla,” and it sounds like the Force. The exact workings of what they did and how Zeb’s bo-rifle operated weren’t crystal clear, but they shouldn’t have been. Prophecies are often muddled; the confusing aspects were apparent when Chava was discussing how who was playing the parts of the child, the warrior, and the fool was interchangeable. Things like that aren’t scientific and shouldn’t have black and white answers–especially if the Force is involved. And speaking of, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the crystals we saw were kyber crystals.

Steve Blum had the opportunity to flex his skills in “Legends of the Lasat.” Zeb still wasn’t what I would call verbose, but we saw a larger range of emotion from him. He’s the muscle of the group, so it was nice to see a reminder that he’s much more than the dude who likes to bash stormtrooper helmets. The sense of hope in Zeb’s voice in the last scenes was a new note for the character, and Blum drove it home.

The episode was a bit of a departure from the usual tone for Rebels, especially once we got into the meat of the story, but it worked well. The mystical aspects of the prophecy weren’t unlike a Jedi communing with the Force. However, since it wasn’t exactly like an experience we’ve had in the series before, we got to experience a new style of visuals and music. Between the exploration of the map and the jump through the star cluster, this was easily the most visually stunning episode of Rebels yet. The look combined with music by Kevin Kiner that wasn’t like anything we’ve heard on the series (as far as I can remember) made the story stand out.

Favorite quotes:

• “You prophecy types always pull something like this.” – Zeb
• “I’ve never had a student learn this quickly.” – Hondo Ohnaka

This was a rather different episode for Rebels. What did you think? Were you moved by Zeb’s story? Share your opinions in the comments or come talk with me on Twitter.

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IMAGES: Disney XD