LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures ‘Return to the Wheel’ review

The Freemakers make their way back home to their old salvage and repair shop in today’s episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures

Title: Return to the Wheel  Season: 2  Episode: 6  Original air date: August 3, 2017

In ‘Return to the Wheel,’ the construction of the Arrowhead is going well, but one of the last parts they need is an energy matrix activator. Unfortunately for them, the piece is rarer than a hairless wampa. Zander, however, knows where to find one, but it’s located in the last place they should go, especially since they are now enemies of the Empire. With no other options in sight, they head back home to the Wheel, where they have a spare energy matrix activator. But as with every plan they set out to do, and poorly clicked together LEGO build, things start to fall apart very quickly.

Minor spoilers may follow, so please watch the episode before reading the review if you are spoiler sensitive.

The Freemaker Salvage and Repair shop is what the siblings used to call home in the first season, and for their safety, they had to leave it behind. It was so great to see them travel back to where things started, but of course they weren’t going to find everything the way they had left it. That’s where the sentimental feelings stopped and where the comedy took over. Not only was the place they called home transformed into a social space, but the part they are looking for was transformed into a caf machine by the moneybags thorn in their side, Wic Cooper.

At the same time this is all happening, Graballa is working for Darth Vader. Instead of working on his dreams of establishing a beach-side resort and buffet, he’s looking for the Kyber crystals Vader desperately needs for the second Death Star.

What’s really fascinating about this second storyline is that it’s feeding into the general story and adding more details. Up until this time, the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion has been in the background, but it’s slowly coming to the fore as the Freemakers and characters like Graballa get more involved. Fans are quick to say that the show is not canon, but it’s playing with established events and giving us ideas of what Vader could be doing at this point in the timeline.

It was also great to see Rowan expanding his skill set. We know he’s good with a lightsaber and coming up with quick solutions, but now, he’s tapped into a fan favourite ability – the Jedi mind trick. He tried it the first time, but he failed. For his second attempt, he tried it on a Stormtrooper, so he and his siblings could disguise themselves in trooper armor. He said the words out loud and did the classic hand movement, but again, it didn’t work. Finally, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before it cut to the next scene with them successfully changing into trooper gear. It was done in a brilliant and refreshing way, and to top it off, it felt like a believable character moment.

The chase through the Wheel was also a lot of fun, especially since the bounty hunters that made an appearance in this episode each had a personality or trait that added the right amount of humor to the sequence. What really brought in the laughs this episode, though, was Zander’s unwavering crush on Becky Smoochenbacher from the upper ring. She was briefly mentioned in the first season when Zander was about to be interrogated by Darth Vader, so it was a real treat to have her name pop up again.

The episode ended with what has to be one of the most amazing lines ever delivered, ‘Summon the Bothans.’ It also ended on a more serious tone, since the Rebels now suspect that the Empire is building a second Death Star. Things are definitely picking up for the Rebellion, so it’ll be interesting to see if Rowan and the others can complete the Arrowhead in time and see how the ship will be able to contribute to the war effort.

Read more LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – Season Two reviews:

A New Home

Trouble on Tibalt

The Tower of Alistan Nor

The Embersteel Blade

The Storms of Taul