Star Wars Rebels had it’s season finale, and the HSQ was raised. Also a few weird things to go with it. But mostly everything the season had been building to came to pass.
Ahsoka starts off talking with Rex over a communicator. He insists that he could be there with her as soon as possible if she wanted him there, but she tells him to stay. She’s not alone, after all; Kanan and Ezra are with her.
I suppose I’ll take this opportunity to say that Kanan has clearly done the best he can with Ezra. Not like that’s the best possible. But considering the circumstances they’ve had to deal with, he taught him well.
I say this because, immediately after they leave the Phantom, they come across an obelisk which Ahsoka tries to translate out of an ancient script. Ezra stupidly touches it, because Kanan apparently couldn’t fit “don’t touch shit you know nothing about” in between saber forms and force push lessons. They immediately plummet through a hole, landing walking distance from a huge Sith temple. With no other options, they start walking towards it.
This new inquisitor appears and attacks them. We find out why he’s actually here soon enough. We don’t really find out much else about him, though. Their brief fight causes another hole which dumps Ezra on a lower level. And that’s when he meets Darth Maul “The Old Masta”. Ezra, of course, introduces himself as Jabba.
At no point does Maul stop trying to work Ezra over to the Dark Side. It doesn’t help that to reach the surface, they ~have~ to go through the Sith Temple. The entire place runs on the Rule of Two as well, so the entire section of the episode they’re together reads like a manual on how to Sith. “Good intentions pave the road to Hell” didn’t get fit in between basic Jedi philosophy and meditation, so Maul is able to manipulate Ezra through almost the entire episode by appealing to his need for knowledge, and Maul’s willingness to share it.
Ahsoka and Kana chase the inquisitor all the way back to his ship. Chopper got called in to take it over so that he couldn’t get away, and they catch the guy. He did call in reinforcements, however, and the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister then show up, free the new guy, and start fighting Ahsoka and Kanan on the front steps of the temple.
Ezra and Maul make their way through the temple. In a final test like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, Ezra has Maul fling him over to a platform with the Sith holocron they’ve been after. After Ezra just barely manages to get back over (yes, there is question that Maul will screw him over), Maul tells Ezra that Sith holocrons aren’t just repositories for knowledge, but also keys, and they’ll need to get this one to the top of the temple to unlock it. To demonstrate, he opens the temple door, leading right to the fight that’s been going on.
The rest of the episode becomes high stakes action. Ahsoka and Kanan wind up making an uneasy alliance with Maul, even though they’re aware of his history. Maul is definitely a match for the inquisitors, driving them off almost by himself. Their ascent of the temple has to be done in twos, so Kanan manages to jame in one more small lesson with Erza, which gets interrupted by an inquisitor.
Ahsoka and Maul drive him off once they get to the same level. This time, Maul takes Ezra, and works on him more on the way up. The Seventh Sister ambushes them, and Maul gets a force choke in on her mid fight. He orders Ezra to strike her down, but he’s unwilling. Maul gets fed up and does it for him, admonishing that the next time Ezra freezes like that, it could cost him his life.
Maul sends Ezra ahead, and goes to help Ahsoka and Kanan with the Fifth Brother and the new guy (Eighth Brother, according to the credits). Maul flat out kills Fifth Brother, and the Eighth Brother tries to make an escape with a broken lightsaber, which causes him to plummet to his (presumed) death when it breaks. Maul reveals the truth when asked about Ezra; he sent Ezra to put the holocron atop the temple to activate a weapon that will strike down his enemies, and that Ezra will be his apprentice from now on.
He blinds Kanan with a sucker strike, and begins fighting Ahsoka while Kanan writhes on the ground, eventually finding a long discarded Jedi Temple Guard mask to hide what is no doubt a wound too grisly for TV-Y7. Kanan gets to his feet and sends Ahsoka after Ezra, assuring her that he can handle Maul. He takes a pose that has to be a Zatoichi reference, blocks Maul’s strike, and chucks him off the temple.
Ezra doesn’t realize he’s been duped until long after he’s placed the holocron. Things like Sith Temples aren’t to be trifled with, and Ezra can’t remove it alone (Rule of Two, remember?). His best efforts only send him flying back, but then…
Yeah, Ezra is no match for Darth Vader. At all. Turns out that the inquisitors let him know what was going on. Darth is a master of evil, and he’s also really good with a lightsaber. Ezra’s gets broken pretty quickly, but Ahsoka shows up for the save. Ahsoka says that she once thought he was her old master, but Vader ends that doubt. He tells her the truth, from a certain point of view, that he killed Anikin, and she would soon follow her master.
I really need to make mention of their fight, because it truly is spectacular. They clearly spent most of the budget on making this episode look good. Their fight, in particular, works as a visual metaphor for the change between the prequels and the original trilogy. Ahsoka uses the acrobatic style typical of the prequels, while Vader uses very strong, powerful strikes in the European style as he does in Episodes IV-VI. Make no mistake; they’ve been building to this crazy space samurai fight all season in little ways.
Kanan makes it to the top, and helps Ezra remove the Holocron. Chopper pulls the Phantom alongside the temple for their evac. Ahsoka strikes Vader’s mask, distracting him long enough for them to make a run for it. But as she turns to leave he says her name. It’s important to note that they’ve used James Earl Jones as Vader, as you’d expect. But when he says her name, they blend Matt Lanter’s Anikin with the processing used on James Earl Jones’s performance. This causes her to stay as the temple shuts down and falls apart to finish things. Ezra is devestated, but that’s the way she wanted it to be. If you though Ezra was the (only) titular apprentice, you were (mostly) wrong.
The episode ends with and impressive montage of all the remaining characters. Hera and Rex are devastated by the loss. Maul escapes, having had his pick of TIE’s thanks to the inquisitors. Vader clearly survives, but Ahsoka is left in the air. The symbolism in the shot, however, seems to point to her being dead. And Ezra continues to fiddle around with the Sith holocron.
Star Wars Rebels has repeatedly set a good precedent of having a very impactful season finale. If the opening to season 3 is anything like season 2’s, it will be better. The Clone Wars was much the same, so it’s no surprise.
Final Thoughts:
- Someone was going to lose something eventually. Technically, the loss of Kanan’s eyes parallels the scars Ezra got fighting the Grand Inquisitor in season 1.
- Maul wasn’t killed even when he was cut in half and thrown down a bottomless pit. Way to half ass it, Kanan.
- Shit, they’re running out of expendable inquisitors.
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