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This episode was great! I wish it was longer though, it felt so short compared to the previous episodes.

I loved the animation, the scenery on Erebus was gorgeous, I swear TBB has to be one of the most beautifully animated shows I’ve seen.

I’m also so glad that the theory that Rampart would tell TBB how to get to Mount Tantiss came true, I remember after last week’s episode there were people theorizing Omega would use the Force to get in touch with Ventress who will get in touch with TBB, or that Emerie would betray Hemlock and send a message to TBB with Tantiss’ location, and tbh I hated both of those theories because the former was cheesy and the latter seemed way too predictable and would make Emerie’s character arc feel rushed- but bringing Rampart back as a plot device was a genius move on the writers’ part, it ties up loose ends about what happened to him after season 2 and it makes perfect sense that he would know about Tantiss- or that he doesn’t know the coordinates but would know another way to get there. I wonder if his last line about “we’re all on the same side” indicates that he hates the Empire now for putting him in that labor camp, which could be interesting. I guess he was fine with oppressing others but turns vengeful when he’s the one who gets oppressed.

I don’t know if it’s just me but for a moment there when Wrecker was going to make the jump onto the ship even though it was too far away I thought he was going to die, idk this whole episode just kind of reminded me of The Summit/Plan 99 with TBB stuck in a vehicle at high altitudes while surrounded by Imperials who were shooting at them because they were trying to find the coordinates for Tantiss to rescue someone there. The “If we go in, we won’t all come out” line in the recent trailer also prepared me for some character deaths.

While I liked Omega’s portion of the episode, I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of Emerie’s redemption arc. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been well-written just like all the other redemption arcs of the show, but that’s just it- it feels like too many people are getting redeemed in this show, and I kind of wish someone would stay evil/loyal to the Empire for once. I know that a main theme of TBB is redemption, but at this point it feels a tiny bit predictable and repetitive- just a tiny bit. Crosshair, Howzer, Cody, Wolffe etc all got a redemption in some way or other, and now Emerie is gonna get redeemed too. Hell, even Rampart is kind of getting redeemed as well since he implied he and TBB are on the same side now (even if his motives for switching sides may be less than selfless). At this point it seems like any character with even a slightly sympathetic trait has a 99% chance of receiving a redemption arc. And I think a common problem in media in general is the idea that a bad guy has to be completely cold-blooded, evil and unsympathetic to the audience in order to stay bad, and that a sympathetic villain who shows even a scrap of empathy to the protagonists can’t stay a villain for long because then it wouldn’t make sense to write them with a single compassionate bone in their body- but imo it’s not so black-and-white, a person can work for the wrong side for their whole life yet still have some humanity in them- just not enough to make them completely switch sides- or maybe they know what they’re doing is wrong but think they’re choosing the lesser of two evils, or their loyalty to the cause they’ve known their whole life is worth more to them than any potential moments of hesitation or moral complications. Of course, Emerie hasn’t been completely redeemed yet so I could be putting the cart in front of the horse, but I think most people watching this show can see that it’s heading in that direction, especially with how hesitant and conflicted she seemed in today’s episode.