This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
'Homecoming' is the episode that finally goes into the back story of the Ghost's captain, Hera, and gives us some great character moments and fun action sequences.
With Phoenix Squadron suffering more losses Hera and Sato believe that a larger ship is needed in order to provide protection for their fighters. Knowing that the Empire has a large carrier ship in orbit above Hera's home world of Ryloth the Ghost sets out to capture the ship, with the help of some local resistance fighters.
These fighters will all be recognisable to fans of the Clone Wars, as their leader is none other than Hera's father Cham Syndulla, accompanied by Gobi and a now grown up Numa, all of whom featured in the Clone Wars story 'Innocents of Ryloth'. If you're unsure of who Numa is, she was the tiny Twi'lek girl that Waxer and Boil took care of through the war zone, in one of the more heartwarming stories of the series.
With most of the Ghost crew more than happy to have the assistance of a legendary freedom fighter like Cham, with Kanan practically hero worshiping him, it's a different story for Hera as we learn not all is well between father and daughter.
The two of them are at odds, Cham can only focus on Ryloth and the Twi'lek people, where Hera sees the larger fight against the Empire and how Ryloth is only a small part of that. Through their arguments we get to see more of Hera's past than we have before, and the motivations that drive her. We even learn that Hera found Chopper as a child during the Clone Wars and rebuilt the damaged droid herself, showing us a stronger connection between Hera and Chopper than we were aware of before.
Hera falling into her natural French-influenced Twi'lek accent when arguing with Cham (the first time we've heard her talk like this) is a great touch, and feels very realistic. Vanessa Marshall definitely gave her best performance in the show to date.
Whilst the Rebels want to capture the Imperial ship whole Cham and his team want to destroy it as sign of defiance against the Empire in an attempt to rally support on Ryloth. The two teams go up against each other but Hera eventually convinces her fellow Twi'leks around to her way of thinking and they manage to capture the carrier, destroying another Imperial ship in the process, which gives Cham the action against the Empire that he was wanting too.
Whilst the quick change of heart from Cham and his team felt a little easy it made for a better resolution than having them against the rebels, it gives some kind of resolution for Hera and her father, as well as leaving the door open for their return later on in the show.
As a side note, the episode also gave us some excellent Jedi action as Kanan and Ezra used the Force to throw each other down a hallway through rapidly closing doors in a tactic that's not only inspired but looks very cool on screen too. More of these two working together like that in the future please Dave Filoni.
xx
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