SPOILER Twilight of the Apprentice

One more question : Why did Yoda sent them there ?

Kanaan lost sight, Ahsoka is gone and Ezra was close to fall to the dark side ?

That was a ********** trap !

 

For sure man, if there was one thing I could change in the prequal movies, it would be that Darth Maul was in all three of them. I too hope that he is used in alot in season 3, more so than Ashoka in season 2. Id love to see a scene, possibly in the first episode where darth maul would communicate with Ezra through the force.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 31, 2016, Original Post Date: Mar 31, 2016 ---

I believe he sent them there becuase of what Ezra told Yoda in "Shourd of Darkness". He was determined. He wanted to fight, and destroy the inquisitor, which happened. You have to remember that force visions are never 100% accurate and can always become clouded. So Yoda may have not known what was going to happen to everyone. He just knew what "things" they could potentially do there.

 

Okay, first off, I admit I haven't read the whole thread. Hope you guys won't mind if I repeat some ideas already mentioned, but anyway, my highlights.

• Ahsoka and Rex, at the beginning. TCW movie, anyone? The way Rex's face just changes as he realizes Ahsoka is not just that Snips kid he met teasing his Jedi General... And also not the ferocious little commander with which he fought the whole war.
• Ezra's quarrel with Chopper after they've fallen into the temple, something like "Oh now you're telling me we might fall?"
• Maul in general, but especially when he and Ezra are opening those doors, with "There are always two, no more, no less." As he calls himself an old master shortly before that, no doubt who the apprentice is... I'm quite sure that's what the Twilight in the title refers to.
• Maul's treachery and how he attacks Kanan. After all, treachery is the way of the Sith.

I like how he's so restless and never seems to lose the will to change the way things are... But seems to get more skilled every time. First, an apprentice to Palpy, then what he tried with Savage in TCW, and now this with Ezra... He's a lot different than what we saw in TPM. I would say he's learned a bit about emotional manipulation, and seems as if from Palpy, but the timeline doesn't quite fit. I wonder if there's gonna be any parallels between Ezra and Anakin. Kanan's blindness could be a trigger to Ezra, albeit milder than Shmi's death was to Anakin. If he hadn't done what Maul said, he could've stayed with Kanan and Ahsoka and helped them.

• KANAN. I felt like crying, but this shows just how strong he is and how much he's grown since we met him in Rebels. The moment in which he crouched with his hand over his eyes, in the same pose as those figures/statues/(corpses?), but still moving and looking for a solution. And then how he puts his probably last strength to deal with the holocron, obviously trusting Ezra with his life in the process. How he brushes off all of Ezra's concerns, focuses to the task at hand and gives in to his emotions only when they're safe at the Phantom. That hug while they're holding the holocron they paid for so dearly... Ezra wasn't the only one crying in that scene. Oh, and on the same note, Hera's reaction and their hug. Mirrors the one from before they separated.
• AHSOKA: Little Snips has grown, and we see just how much. She reminds me a lot of Obi-Wan from RotS here. She claims she isn't a Jedi, but do the titles really matter? She knows the Jedi way, but in her heart, not just as an arbitrary set of rules. She simply lives by it. I don't know the exact conversation by heart, but the moment before their fight had me thinking "If you're not with me, then you're against me" and "Then I shall do what I must." I found it incredibly powerful how we see and hear Anakin for a moment, behind that mask or what's left of it. I don't think he was faking it, but more that it gives weight to Padme's claim how there is still good in him. Perhaps Snips just wasn't strong enough, close to him enough, or he hasn't still had enough time to ponder and meditate at what's he done. If this happened years later, I believe Ahsoka could have turned him, like Luke did.
• And also, she lives. I'm not accepting her death offscreen, while some random Inquisitors get to die on it. Plus, we see her at the end, in the temple ruins.
• Edited to add: Rex's expression when he realizes Ahsoka's not back with Kanan and Ezra. Tears. Again.

I'm still conflicted about Ezra going dark. He might be able to fight it and stay light, but only if he gets proper guidance. With Ahsoka currently out of the game, the burden falls on Kanan, but he has a lot to deal with on his own. With Ezra it's really binary now, could go either way. He's intrigued and tempted, and I'm afraid still a bit too young and naive to use the dark side as e.g. Mace Windu did with Vaapad - to channel his inner darkness, but still stay bound to the principles of light.

As for the rest... I think Hera and Sabine are gonna be the biggest support to Kanan, especially Hera. She might also be the first to notice any potential changes in Ezra, given that Kanan is a bit preoccupied. The only thing I'm rooting for is that he grows stronger and not cave in. I know Ezra's the main character and all that, but...

 

But who was that new Inquisitor? There were many plot holes.

 

What an episode. And what massive implications for the future of this show.

Kanan's journey - in my opinion - continues to be the most well detailed character arc the show has managed to date. He has grown immensely since we first met him in Spark of Rebellion, and he has had perhaps more triumphs, pitfalls, successes and challenges than anyone else on the show. And now he faces his greatest test yet, having been turned into this show's rendition of Matt Murdock by the man known as Maul. Kanan certainly acquitted himself admirably in the heat of the moment, using his senses to best the former Sith, but in the long run it's going to pose a massive challenge for the newly christened Jedi Knight.

Ezra's journey is a close second. The constant flirtation between light and dark for him has been building, and certainly appears that it will be a major theme going forward. I'm not as worried about him going "full dark" as some seem to be, as he pulled himself back from moments that would have been back breakers. Namely having the opportunity to kill the Seventh Sister, and from using the Sith Temple as the weapon it was intended as. His restraint in both instances was indicative of his true nature, but his opening of the Sith Holocron at the end of the episode is both nebulous and intriguing. Maul's assertion that "only a Sith, or someone who thinks like one, could open this" . So while I think Ezra's true nature is good, he is able to skirt the line of darkness enough that he can still touch that area of the force. Interesting. But I could be completely wrong.

The whole episode had a curious theme of fortellings of the future. Yoda sent the Jedi to Malachor, and the Emperor clearly dispatched Vader. Vader's objective was much more clearly laid out, in that it was known Ahsoka would be there, and they wanted to divine the locations of other Jedi from her. But Yoda's motivations in sending the Jedi there were unclear. Was this an effort by Yoda to take Vader and his Inquisitors off the table, leaving him and the Emperor to settle the fate of the galaxy, with Luke and Leia waiting in the wings to begin the New Jedi Order? Again...curious.

The Inquisitors were finally dispatched in this episode, and not a moment too soon, methinks. The Grand Inquisitor was a suitable foe in Season 1 - he was menacing, calculating, and seemed like a genuine threat to our heroes. These two (three, in the finale) Inquisitors felt like extremely disposable villains that posed more of an annoyance than a threat. Maul arriving when he did to take them all out was extremely convenient for the plot.

And Maul...THAT was fun. Watching him play himself off as something of a doddering old fool was a treat, but that veneer quickly fell away once he was confronted with Kanan and Ahsoka. This also provided the revelation that he and Ahsoka had crossed paths! Very cool. I also found it to be a unique twist that Maul seemed to genuinely crave a relationship with Ezra. My thought was that he was simply using him to get the Sith Holocron, but I was surprised when Maul revealed that he wanted to take Ezra on as his apprentice, and he worked hard to make it happen. That will certainly give any future run-ins our heroes may have with them an interesting dynamic.

But getting to the real meat of the episode...Ahsoka vs. Vader. It was always going to come down to this. And what a treat it was. Really, from the moment Vader arrived and onward, this was Rebels at its absolute best. Prior to this, I would have ranked my top three favorite episodes as 1) Siege of Lothal, 2) Fire Across the Galaxy, and 3) Spark of Rebellion. I have a new No. 1 in the form of Twilight of the Apprentice, which was already good before Vader arrived on scene, but jumped into "amazing" status at that point.

Their dialogue to start was so on point. "Anakin Skywalker was weak...so I DESTROYED him..." "...then I will avenge his death." That exchange was a heck of a way to kick off the fight, which was just beautifully animated. In my opinion, Vader may well have never looked better than he did in this fight. He moved with demonic, robotic precision, pressing the attack against Ahsoka with every move. The fight was elegantly done in that Ahsoka was clearly overmatched against her former master, and it took him being singularly focussed on something else (the holocron) for her to sneak in a strike.

And it was that moment that truly gave me chills. Vader's mask slashed open. His voice cracking, bleeding between the dark tones of Darth Vader, and the lighter ones of Anakin Skywalker, as he repeated Ahsoka's name. The look on Ahsoka's face when she heard his voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and then a moment later, we looked into the eye of Anakin Skywalker. An absolutely incredible moment, a moment that had me maybe wondering if Anakin was making a brief appearance from underneath the boot of Darth Vader...but no, we knew it wasn't possible. Vader asserted himself, promising her she would die, and pressed his attack once more.

Kevin Kiner's score to close out the episode was absolutely amazing. If John Williams ever finds himself unable to continue scoring the movies, I would wholeheartedly endorse Kiner to continue writing the score. That closing, sweeping score has been echoing in my head all day. So on point.

What this means for season 3, I have no idea. I've read the interviews with Filoni, and it does sound like he is done with the stories of Ahsoka and Vader - and how they may intertwine - for now. It gives the impression that this may well be the last we see of either of them on Rebels, which makes me sad. I would have liked more time with Ahsoka to see her absorbing the revelation that Anakin in fact is Darth Vader - watch her discuss that sad fact with others who knew him, such as Rex and Bail Organa. I think there was some rich drama here to mine, some great conversation, regret, heartache to express...and I think it was a missed opportunity, one that could have made this climactic episode carry even larger weight than it already did.

I am extremely pleased to hear that Ahsoka has her own novel coming out in October (two days before my birthday - present!). I hope to see plenty more stories about her in the future. I understand Rebels is the story of Kanan and Ezra, but I think she could have a place on it at some point. There's always hope.

And on the topic of hope...I firmly believe she walked away from that fight at the end, which also had a suitable excuse for her to live. With the temple exploding around them, it's entirely possible Vader escaped and presumed her dead. After all...it's what Obi-Wan did to him.

Where she goes next, whether she leaves the planet or not, I'm not sure. But I hope to someday find out what comes next for her.

Spectacular episode. It's going to be a long wait for Season 3.

 

Thanks!
Now I see it can refer to Ahsoka and Anakin: once they were fighting in pair and now she realizes that she cannot do anything to save him, so she leaves, alone.
Like Kenobi she was a close friend of him, she lost him, she lost also the person she loved, but she never felt to the dark force. The toll to pay is to be alone.

 

I do think Ahsoka was portrayed here much like Obi-Wan in ROTS. Well, he was her master in a way, no wonder. ^^

 

I'm pretty certain Anakin killed Ashoka, but it would have been too traumatic of scene to show on a kid/young adult show. There's a shot of her in the doorway of the temple. I've watched it a few times, and I'm pretty sure she's not walking in the temple, she's falling to her knees. My take was that the small bird creature flying off into the dark was her spirit leaving.

 

I just think she deserves an on-screen death. Heck, we saw Maul killing the Inquisitor when Ezra couldn't, we saw the other two Inquisitors falling, we saw Maul hitting directly on Kanan's eyes. It's not fair to everyone who loved Ahsoka and stuck with her since TCW until this. I still think Snips lives, she might find something in the temple and use it to her advantage. She is probably wounded physically, emotionally for sure, and is now quite fragile. But she's a reckless little one.

What would be interesting though, is to see whether she'd be tempted by the dark side, as she's inside the temple... I don't think it's probable, but the bird you mentioned could stand for that.

 

It's weird to hear people complaining about helicopter light sabers being unrealistic in a sci-fi cartoon.

Suspend belief for a little bit. "Just let it in."

 

Eh it's not that they're unrealistic, it's just... I don't know, somehow doesn't make any sense, and why do they all have the same lightsaber? Aren't they supposed to be unique for the Sith as well as for the Jedi? I mean, I know the Inquisitors aren't Sith per se, but they're still fairly powerful Force wielders, right?

 

It's just they could of used jetpacks. Heck, one of the inquizitors used rockets in this episode, so whats wrong with them using jetpacks? the helicopter lightsabers took me out of the episode for a second and made me laugh, it was just kind of......out of place.

 

Why was Vader limping ? He has bionic legs ...

 

My guess would be Ahsoka could've gotten to him in all the rush and damaged them? The fight was quite intense.

 

I watched it a few times myself. I think she is walking down a set of steps (showing her collapse - to me - would be horrifying for the kids, no matter if it were from a distance and shadowed). There seems to be hints to support both theories of whether she is alive or not. The Ezra/Rex gaze at the end reminded me of the Leia/Rey gaze at the end of Force Awakens - and we know the reason behind that gaze.

But reading the Folini interview - I really believe there is no answer to whether she lives or not. They seemed to leave it open so if they decide not to do anything with the character, they can say her story is concluded....And if they decide to have her in a future episode or even in her own show, they can say she survived. I don't believe they know what is in store for her in the future -- at this time --- and therefore, left it ambiguous to give themselves the option to bring her back or not.

For me - She lives. If they wanted to kill her definitively, I don't think they would have showed her at all at the end. Seeing Vader emerge alone from the temple would have convinced me otherwise, but because they showed her makes me believe her story will continue in another format (other than rebels). I hate to think our last image of Ahsoka is of her collapsing inside some dark passage..

 

That last paragraph could also fit perfectly to Luke after the Jedi Academy massacre.

 

It's a detail. At best.

 

How can two spinning lightsaber blades generate enough lift to raise their body-masses into the air? The only thing I've got for that is the force.... but that just doesn't feel right. Hopefully, that trick died with all of them and each of the new Inquisitors prefer to fight with single blades, twin sabers, or maybe even Tonfa's like Maris Brood.(since they seem to like TFU so much)

They are not bound by the rule of two, the Inquisitors are dogs who serve those who adhere to it. Based upon their numerical designations, I'd venture to guess that there are close to two dozen of them, 12 females and 12 males.

That is one of the questions that I have as well... surely he was aware of the legends surrounding that place. If Tano knows that Jedi cannot open Sith holocrons, Yoda does. Why wasn't Malachor scouted by the Jedi before now? What good did the green one think would come out of sending them to such a place? If the weapon misfired the first time it was used and killed everyone on site, how did the holocron get placed back in the center spire? If Sidious took Darth Maul there as a child and they failed to open the Temple, why didn't they go back when he was older? Or with Dooku, Vader or, an Inquisitor, even. Ultimately, these things cannot measurably detract from the badassery of this episode, but still... I'd like to know.

But mostly, I want to know about Vader's perfect eyebrow.
"How is that possible?"

 

Robotics and artificial limbs can be damaged aswell. Since bionic legs serve the same purpose as regular legs, if one of them was damaged, let's just say you would not be walking that well.

 

Wow, this episode managed to surpass my very high expectations. It was just amazing from beggining to the end. Seeing Anakin's face inside Vader's helmet and hearing his real voice was really impactful because it shows us that Anakin truly is Darth Vader, one being rather than two characters in the same body.

Btw I was bored so I made a short tribute to the Inquisitors.

Spoiler: video