Ezra made an intriguing connection while the crew of the Ghost tested their limits in Star Wars Rebels 2×15.
There’s no two ways about it: “The Call” is definitely one those episodes that kids these days call “filler.” The Ghost‘s desperate gas-less flight and the encounter with the purrgil are deeply episodic. The stakes are momentarily significant but entirely contained, and no great emotional strides are made either.
That said, Star Wars Rebels 2×15 does a respectable job of keeping this particular filler episode light on its feet. The episode has a sense of playing out in real time, without diverting cuts or side-stories. “The Call” also keeps the crew of the Ghost together for the bulk of the episode, allowing the team to play off each other in stressful situations. The characters’ humor and strength has always shone in these scenarios, and this episode is no exception.
But perhaps the element most in the rebels’ favor is that their predicament is a practical one. The Ghost runs on fuel; the Ghost is almost out of fuel. It’s simple (and a nice reminder of the Firefly episode “Out of Gas”) but completely uncontrived, and therefore neatly effective.
The hard facts of the Ghost’s need for power contrasts well with sweet — but undeniably eerie — purrgill. Hera, ever the engine of practicality, views the creatures as a nuisance. Ezra sees them as mysterious and connects with them spiritually, to an almost bizarre degree. It’s a strong contrast, and one that mostly avoids turning Hera into a villain, even though the error of her opinion is never in doubt.
In focusing on Ezra’s spiritual connection, Star Wars Rebels 2×15 also sidesteps the trope of “Machines: Bad, Nature: Good” that is so often tread in stories. The purrgill need gas just as the Ghost does, and the creatures are not wholesome saviors of a mechanical Galaxy; it’s much too complicated for that. Their power, like Ezra’s connection to the Force, coexists with machinery and the species who use it. Their relationship is not inherently one of conflict, but the temporary result of desperation and misunderstandings.
And like so many misunderstandings, “The Call” demonstrates that all we really need are a few moments of insight to come back to harmony.