My three gripes with Star Wars Rebels
I used to really like Rebels but I feel like it's gotten slightly worse over time. The three biggest problems I have with it now are these, starting from smallest to biggest:
1. It makes the Empire feel small
Rebels does a really good job making the Ghost crew feel like the underdogs. This was done on purpose. In fact, they do this almost too well.
They make the Ghost crew feel so small and powerless that it actually feels weird that Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader are taking time out of their schedules to deal with them.
Palpatine: "The death of Kanan Jarus has altered the fate of Lothal"
Why tf does Palpatine know Kanan Jarrus's name? Palpatine should have better things to do than worry about this tiny group of rebels in an obscure planet like Lothal. He's the emperor, he wouldn't bother remembering the name of some failed Jedi padawan.
They did a bit of work explaining why Lothal is important to the empire but I'm still not convinced. Why are Tarkin and Vader bothering to fight these guys? It just makes it feel like the Empire is small since these important people haven't anything better to be doing.
Thrawn getting involved actually makes a bit more sense, since the Rebellion has grown by that point in the story, so it feels a bit more natural that someone that high up would get involved. Likewise, Palpatine getting involved near the end works too, because by that stage Ezra has gotten mixed up in something much bigger.
2. The Darksaber
I don't like that it gives the Darksaber a backstory. I preferred it when the Darksaber was just this weird unknown weapon that the Mandalorians stole from the Jedi Temple. That's all we knew about it in the Clone Wars.
The Darksaber later became really important in The Mandalorian, but I feel like this could still have worked in that series without the Tar Vizla backstory.
Just let the Darksaber remain unexplained. It's just this mysterious weird lightsaber that the Mandalorians stole from the Jedi and then appropriated to their culture and later used as a symbol of leadership. It didn't have to be created by a Mandalorian Jedi for all of this to still work with Mandalore's lore.
3. Thrawn
He's not that smart. He's definitely the most intelligent imperial that we meet in the show but that's not saying much.
The only intelligent thing he really does is figure out the identity of Ezra Bridger from the helmet, and then uses that to deduce that Callus is the rebel spy. That all works.
What doesn't work is the scene where Thrawn figures out that there's a rebel spy in the first place. I don't remember this episode exactly but I remember that he comes out with this line:
Thawn: "More likely they found an unexpected ally"
HOW? You literally have no reason to think that. The writers just make you guess that when you logically would have no reason to suspect this at this moment. If anyone who remembers this scene a bit better than me can chime in then please do.
I'm being very harsh but these are just my opinions. They're not enough to ruin the show as such, but I think later shows have portrayed this era of Star Wars much better. I feel like Rebels doesn't need to be getting referenced THIS much in other media. Seriously, look at any modern Dave Filoni show, there WILL be a Rebels cameo in there somewhere. Rebels gets more references than Clone Wars to be sure.