OK if you told me that I was going to care about an Imperial officer when I started watching Rebels, I would have told you you were crazy. With the obvious exception of Darth Vader, I have never EVER in my life taken an interest in Empire stuff. Like, there’s nothing going on there for me. Tarkin? Hux? Boring as shit. Even local art connoisseur Thrawn has me rolling my eyes.
AND YET, here I am now anxiously fretting over the well-being of my guy, Agent I-don’t-have-a-first-name Kallus.
After Through Imperial Eyes, all signs point to him getting killed. But….. whywhywhhhhHHhhYYYYyyyy go through all this trouble to develop a character just to kill him off?? What a colossal waste that would be! To think back to where we started out with this loser and how The Honorable Ones changed everything. That episode came out of nowhere, and within 22 minutes it had us suddenly caring about Kallus and his unexpected bond with Zeb. And speaking of which, what about ZEB! Are you seriously telling me that we’re never going to see them work together again on-screen?? I say, no sir! NO SIR. To have Sabine leave the Ghost Team and not have Kallus fill that spot? I mean, come on.
I’m just… I’m so exhausted from writers’ poor choices and getting invested in characters, only to have them thrown away. I’m worried Dave Filoni and company are going to make Rebels more gritty and depressing in the wake of the success of Rogue One. Like, we get it. Everyone dies. But… this is still a Disney cartoon?? And even if that wasn’t the case, killing characters for shock value is hmmmm what’s the word? Oh right! STUPID.
Look, I’ve grown to really enjoy watching Rebels. Not nearly as much as Clone Wars, but I do like it a lot. It’s stepped up its game. One of the things it lacks, though, is consistent character driven episodes and good ol’ development, in general. I feel like Kallus as a whole is on a totally different level than almost all the other characters (which tbh may be why he’s my favorite; I’m a sucker for thoughtfully developed characters). I mean, even Ezra - the main character! The writers dropped his whole flirtation with the Dark Side of the Force after a couple episodes. Like… what?? Everyone’s stories seem so disjointed and fleeting that it makes it hard for me (and maybe other viewers too idk) to really get invested in who they’re becoming. Kallus has a very clear, albeit pleasantly unexpected, arc. To not have that on the show anymore would seriously suck.
Kallus is a character with much more story to tell, and it’s going to be so disappointing not to get it. There are just so many different paths for his character to go down that would have a far more lasting impact on the Rebels than simply killing him. Not to mention how insanely awesome it is to have David Oyelowo as his voice actor! And while I don’t want to be in denial about this, a part of me actual does think that having Kallus sacrifice himself for the Rebels in any capacity- whether it’s for the cause or under more intimate circumstances, like saving Zeb - is just too dang obvious. I can’t get a good enough read on Filoni’s vision for this show to be able to predict what he’s going to do. But I do think (if you couldn’t tell by now) that the story and the character deserve better.
Again, I cannot believe I actually have so many feelings on this matter, but fuck it. That’s where we are.
romaincrisis
snowghoul
2087
