“Tempest Breaker” is the latest addition to the High Republic era of Star Wars and weirdly despite being a full cast audio drama it’s actually a direct continuation of the Marvel High Republic comic series, and I mean direct continuation! After a recap we pick up where the previously released issue ended and we follow the characters from the comics (plus a couple of over-arching High Republic characters) through some pretty important scenes in the overall plot. I mean I loved it, it’s no secret I love sci-fi audio dramas and whoever cast the actors here nailed every single one, but I imagine if you’re not a fan of the genre you might be a little peeved, especially if you’re a big fan of the comics. Anyway, let’s take a look!
The story is framed like Lourna Dee (Jessica Almasy) is being interviewed by High Republic reporter Rhil Dairo (Kristen Sieh), including about half an hour to forty minutes of recapping Lourna Dee’s history and what has happened in the comics recently, but when we get to the new material the sit-down interview parts become much less frequent and we stick in just plain audio drama thankfully, I mean I get it as a framing device but its not my favourite. We soon pick up from the last panel of the comics as Jedis Keeve Trennis (Soneela Nankani), OrbaLin (can’t find who did the voice, but it was on-point for a person essentially made of jelly), Ceret and Terec (Dani Martineck for both, naturally!) along with Lourna Dee, Sskeer (Marc Thompson) a former Jedi who lost his connection to the Force due to a sickness, and long-lived friend of the Jedi Tey Sirrek (Manoel Felciano, whose voice for the character matched the one I’ve always had in my head perfectly, which was quite weird, really) have all successfully captured the Nihil Scientist Baron Boolan (also Marc Thompson) and two of his Nameless creatures, who even though they’re been kept away from the Jedi by Dee and Sskeer they’re still having an effect. As OrbaLin and the twins try to extract Boolan’s research into the Blight that’s still turning worlds to stone a bunch of space pirates arrive led by Lourna Dee’s former subordinate Muglan (January LaVoy) and begin to cause havoc, and while they’re able to extract the data into Tey’s droid Skoot (Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes) and escape Sskeer and Boolan are captured by Muglan and co.
A reminder of the last scene right before this audio drama begins!
While Keeve desperately wants to search for the Master she only just got back she admits the data on the Blight is too important to leave hanging so everyone finally heads back to Coruscant, where Avar Kriss (Saskia Maarleveld) and Elzar Mann (Philip Hernandez) are among the Jedi to welcome them, though Kriss is less than warm with her welcome as not only are they with Lourna Dee but Keeve took a craft capable to crossing the Storm Wall and instead of brining it straight to the rest of the Jedi she used it to run her own errand. Elzar is a little more forgiving and thanks them for the data, as well as agrees to look after the Yacombe child they’ve been leading around for ages (who is “voiced” by Cassandra Morris, not that she has any actual lines…) As this is happening Muglan meets up with her client: Marchion Ro himself! (voiced once again by Marc Thompson. That’s three big key roles but they’re all so different and frankly all so great that I wouldn’t have known it was all the same guy had I not seen the cast list. He’s certainly got range!) The “Eye of the Storm” is happy to have Boolan back and was going to slay Sskeer for the hell of it but the Baron convinces Marchion to spare him as he needs test subjects while in reality the two somewhat bonded during their captivity (at least Boolan began to like Sskeer anyway…) Ro agrees and then sends one of his top commanders to track and shoot down Muglan because… he’s just not a very nice person. He takes Boolan and Sskeer to a planet constantly rocked by storms and basically tells the Baron that if he doesn’t actually find a cure for the Blight and therefore allow him the bragging rights he’s already claimed to the High Republic leaders as well as publicly for that matter, then he’s dead.
After a meeting with Chancellor Lina Soh (Sneha Mathan) and with the knowledge that Boolan’s data is locked with only the Baron able to unlock it Keeve is given the okay to helm a mission to the Occlusion Zone and recapture Baron Boolan, and in order to help them track Muglan she strikes a deal that will allow Lourna Dee to not only accompany her but also get a pardon should she behave herself. Also going along for the ride is Avar Kriss and Tey Sirrek, plus Skoot. Their first port of call is a shady underground fight club that Muglan used to frequent and while all hell breaks loose after the Jedi just couldn’t let a fixed fight go through Lourna manages to not only get the name of the planet Muglan is most likely heading to she also meets and wounds a masked bounty hunter only to find out its her former subordinate and clear love interest Quin (Shannon Tyo). They all make it back to the ship and now Quin is in for the ride, even if she initially is against the idea. As they arrive at the planet in question Muglan’s ship is being shot down by the Nihil and although they manage to chase them off Muglan is found in the wreck near death and takes great pleasure in not telling Lourna anything helpful. Despite her best efforts though the crew find out that a big Nihil shindig is going down and decide to attend the party in order to find out Boolan’s location.
It’s normally rare to actually see High Republic characters, but given the trio here all appear in the comics so often there’s nothing new here!
Everyone attends the ball undercover but they’re shocked that not only is Marchion Ro himself in attendance but so is his Nameless, The Great Leveller. This throws the Jedi off and to make matters worse Ro spots Quin and corners her, leading to Dee forcefully taking Ro to the dance floor and allowing the two to have a fantastic exchange of verbal jabs, Lourna knowing that Ro wouldn’t want to do any killing in front of the people he’s trying to impress. When Tey is caught by the same Nihil pilot who shot Muglan down he leads him to a balcony and there Keeve ends up getting knocked backwards and hitting her head, and the blow combined with the fear induced by the Leveller causes her to fatally wound the guard. The Leveller begins to approach Avar as Dee takes a bite out of Ro’s neck and runs for it, saving Kriss on the way while Marchion orders his men to slaughter everyone in attendance so word of this doesn’t get out to the wider galaxy. Before they escape Avar managed to mind-trick the dying Nihil guard into revealing the planet Boolan and Sskeer are on, so they may have caused the death of many party attendees but they at least achieved their mission!
While all this is going on, Boolan has managed to cure Sskeer of his so-called uncurable sickness, but being reconnected with the Force starts to send him crazy due to the nearby Nameless. A Nihil guard posted near them begins to grow tired of Boolan not working on the Blight cure so uses Boolan’s own control device to send the Nameless after him, but the Baron turns the tables on the soldier and frees Sskeer. A squadron of killer droids are released though and while most of them are distracted by the Nameless one manages to board the same ship they try to escape on, leading to Sskeer seemingly sacrificing himself to take it down while Boolan escapes…
I really can’t praise this six hour epic enough. I get that if you’re not familiar with the comics the appeal might wane, but the performances and script were of such a high quality I’m pretty sure you’ll have a great time regardless.
Overall Thoughts:
Official artwork of the deadly dance scene! Great stuff (in the actual audio and this artwork!)
“Tempest Breakers” was a great time for all six hours, varying up the cast and locations enough that it never felt stretched all while voiced by a frankly fantastic full cast who brought characters I’ve been reading about for years to life. A highlight of not just Phase III but in the High Republic run as a whole.
As Sskeer falls to his apparent death his screams are felt in the Force by Avar and Keeve, leading them to find him wounded but healing due to his Trandoshan body. Finally reunited for good and with her Master a Jedi once more (at least in skill set) they set their sights on Boolan, Sskeer knowing where he’d be heading: Dalna, where his father lived and loved his life as a member of the Path of the Open Hand, and sure enough when they arrive Boolan is found in full Path robes and gets captured without resisting. Dee is reminded of her part in the recent destruction of the planet and begins to show remorse for her time as a Tempest Runner. All seems good as they arrive back on Coruscant with Boolan in tow as he soon unlocks his research and the Coruscant scientists seem convinced its legit, so without much testing they begin to use the treatment. Dee and Quin have a falling out again but as Dee leaves the planet she spots the Gaze Electric in orbit and turns back, arriving on the surface in time to see Marchion Ro himself stab Quin with a poisoned knife. Marchion claims that he’s here for a benevolent reason as Boolan plans to unleash a plague that could well wipe out life in the galaxy but Dee believes he’s just out for revenge after he found Boolan gone, two Nameless dead a Droid battalion destroyed.
The two fight and Lourna manages to trap him under a fallen scaffold but at the last moment decides to believe him, and once Quin is safe with Tey she runs to the hospital only to find out it’s too late. The Blight afflicted patients being treated start to melt away and Boolan reveals he’s finally accomplishing the Path’s goal of killing those who would abuse the Force in unnatural ways but soon it spread to him and he’s told that, as we all know, the Force resides in all living things so all he did was unleash a plague that will kill all living things. Dee arrives and joins Keeve, who is infected, and manages to put them and the patients (plus Boolan) in a stasis field until a cure can be created. We then skip forward a month and the plan worked, Keeve is given command of a large armada of ships, Sskeer is given his lightsabre and welcomed back into the order (and will accompany Keeve in her journey) and Boolan is locked up and has gone insane, just babbling Path of the Open Hand-related nonsense. As for Lourna and Quin? Well, they start up a new group: the Tempest Breakers, dedicated to helping those affected by the Nihil’s actions, starting with donating a large amount of money to the Dalna relief effort…
Hogan Reviews 