Review of Star Wars: Rebels

'Clone Wars', the predecessor to 'Rebels', had its drawbacks and not too few flaws. But it was watchable for an adult, or at least middle- to late-teen, Star Wars fan nonetheless. And it encompassed a large enough swath of the Star Wars universe to sometimes even be politically interesting - concerning this fictional universe's politics and history, mind you. 'Rebels' however falls short on all of these advantageous features. Other reviewers have rightly pointed out the meager quality of its animation. That doesn't bother me so much. Others bemoan that Ahsoka and Rex don't get enough story time allotted to them. Yes, true, but actually they should give Ahsoka her own spin-off because 'Rebels', at least how it was set up for this series, just isn't about her as a central character however much we like seeing her back in action. No, the single biggest permanently annoying flaw of 'Rebels' is its protagonist, young Ezra Bridger the terrible. While watching the show, by now being in the middle of season 3, I catch myself fairly enjoying all scenes he's not in. But since Ezra is the main character of the show, these better parts are spread out rather thinly. So, slowly but surely a certain aggression starts to build up towards this pesky figure. And the fun you're having watching a Star Wars series is severely diminished when you're hoping - more and more strongly - for the main protagonist to be killed off soon (or locked away in some remote boarding school, to keep this review civil). How come? It's easy to decipher how Ezra is designed as a character. Troubled conflicted teenager, reckless young male with a lot to learn but, of course, also with much potential, albeit driven by his inexperienced impulses, haunted by a difficult past, and so on etc. pp. All this done well wouldn't necessarily have predestined him to be such a glaring failure as a show's anchor. So, in my opinion, it is not his "design parameters" per se that pose the problem, but their execution. Ezra, as a person, is being served to us comprised from the same assortment of shallow clichés as nearly all the other characters in this show. But they don't have to carry more than half of 'Rebels'' screen time, and aren't as central to the unfolding story. And: they are not as stupid as Ezra is, or as annoyingly irresponsible in a very stereotypical, and foreseeable, way. I mean, most of the time the flaws of the main character of 'Rebels' serve as the episodes' main story driver. That soon proves to become a huge burden to the development, or evolution, of this series, also its likability. And speaking of which, 'Rebels' really doesn't succeed in endearing Ezra to me (us?) despite, or actually because of, his catastrophe prone behavior as in other shows employing the same plot device. No, Ezra endangering everyone around him for no good reason just proves himself to be a clichéd fool. Well then, how to rate a show where the main protagonist continues to be a bothersome jerk? I've decided to not overlook this big flaw in favor of the many smaller characters and other elements I do enjoy in 'Rebels'. And since I have also begun trying to be stricter in my ratings, even downgrading some older ones, so they may become more meaningful again, I settled, with a heavy heart concerning a Star Wars show, for a 5/10.