Season One (2014) There's a familial heart to this first season which makes it immediately appealing, centering on building a strong foundation in the relationships of our main cast and giving us an idea how tightly knit they would become over the series. The first season flounders a little when it comes to properly conveying the threat of the Empire, a flaw which is rectified very efficiently by the arrival of Grand Moff Tarkin; and it builds to a bold and satisfying resolution that lets the audience know that, like Clone Wars before it, Rebels is not afraid to push boundaries and embrace the Darker Side of Star Wars stories.
Season Two (2015) Where the first season placed a lot of focus on Kanan and Ezra, the second expands that focus to envelop the entire crew, taking their small weekly victories and allowing the events of the series to greater influence those on a galactic scale. It builds on the familiar and begins to dabble in new and darker ideas, opening the story up to unimaginable levels of potential; and the raw emotion at the heart of the season's climactic finale, an epic confrontation years in the making, gives fans the duel they never knew they wanted and makes them pay for it tenfold in heart-wrenching tension.
Season Three (2016) By far the most stylistic and best looking the series has ever been, the third season deals heavily with the consequences of the previous two, moving the story forward and making our heroes pay for every small victory they have achieved. Though a thorough and calculated slow burn to the finale, we are rewarded with some of the most visually stunning sequences in Star Wars animation; building toward a conclusion so rife in tension and nail-biting action as to be worthy of Grand Admiral Thrawn's inclusion to the series.
Season Four (2017) The fourth and final season is by far the strongest and most coherent of the series, blending the classically episodic nature of previous seasons into one long continuous story that grows and evolves week on week. But even through a season of some of the best action and most revolutionary additions to the mythology, the heart of the show is still its family of central characters and their powerful bond; forcing them to choose between their allegiances to the Rebellion and their relationships with each other as they face their hardest challenges and most tragic losses ever.
