SPOILER Twilight of the Apprentice

This was a great episode:

-Maul was great.
-Vader is his usually awesome self.
-Kanan going all General Kota on us.
-The Vader vs. Ahsoka duel lived up to the hype.
-More teases of Ezra going dark.
-Ahsoka's ambiguous fate (personally, I doubt that she's actually dead).
-Etc.

Also seeing Vader with his mask damaged, and mixing Matt Lanter and JEJ's voices together, was a nice touch. I liked how, when Ahsoka says that she won't leave, there's a hesitation on his part. And there's, confliction, in his eyes for a few moments. But ultimately, the "Vader side" of him won out in the end.

 

Agree with @remiel6 Tarkin said that when Vader told him that his formed Jedi master was in the Death Star. Tarkin might have assumed any Jedi/Sith/Force-users dead by that time. So if Filoni is taking this into account, it might mean that, at least from the Empire side, there are no more Inquisitors and maybe Maul has been killed by then by Vader. Tarkin might not know about Ahsoka but my guess is that if she's still alive - my wishful thinking is going rogue here, because in my headcanon it would be such a poignant moment if she finds out Skyguy had offspring and gets to meet them! - it was because the Temple exploded and Vader assumed her dead.

Tarkin might also presume Kanan and Ezra dead too by then. And presuming them dead is not the same as them being actually dead.

Good point.

Poor Ezra. I am really looking forward to see Season 3.

In my opinion, they have made a wonderful job with this series, since they are characters that were not part of the OT but now we are fond of them similarly to the ones in the OT. It is sort of bittersweet, since we like these characters but we mostly suspect they are gone by the time the OT happened.

 

Did anyone else got massive chills when Ezra opened the holocron ?

 

Oh yes. That was amazing. I was kinda hoping she'd manage to get to him, although I knew it wasn't possible. Then I got my hopes crushed in one sentence of his.

Yes. I went all NSFW-language version of Karabast. What was he thinking, doing that without Kanan, ugh.

 

Yoda was wrong. It didn't forever dominate Luke's destiny.



*********************************************************************************

I hope they explain sith eyes at some point. Why didn't Dooku get them? Did Ezra get them just from opening a holocron?

 

The same reason as why Palpatine didn't have them? I think I read something about the Sith being able to use the dark side to change their appearance. Ezra got them because he isn't able to control his darkness, or do anything with it really.

 

Palpy had them in ROTJ and the prequels. I'm pretty sure Sith eyes started with Palpy and George decided to give them to Maul when doing EP 1.


https://www.google.com/search?q=sid...biw=1280&bih=743#tbm=isch&q=sidious+sith+eyes

 

As Sidious, sure, but not as Palpy. Only when he reveals himself to the Jedi, to be a Sith lord, does his appearance change. If I recall correctly, it was while he dueled with Windu, as it was too difficult to do both things at once - keep himself looking as before and, well, staying alive.

https://www.google.at/search?q=sidi...GxsQHzqYrYAw#tbm=isch&q=palpatine++chancellor

Edit after @Chewy posted: By "Palpy" I meant the PT, Chancellor-stage.

 

Sith eyes are very symbolic in my opinion. Only when you embrace the full power of the darkside, your eyes become that yellow colour. For example, when Anakin attacks the Jedi temple, his eyes were normal. Plapatine told him after the attack on the temple, he would be strong enough to feel the full power of the dark side, and hence sith eyes appear on Anikan shortly after he kills the sepratist leaders becuase he is fueled with anger. His eyes are normal during the duration of the fight between himself and obi-wan until the final scene when Anikan screams "I hate you". They are yellow once again in the battle vs Ashoka in Rebels. His eyes return to normal in "Return of the Jedi" when Luke takes his mask off becuase he did infact return to the light side of the force. As for Emporer palpetine, his eyes are yellow in the entire original trilogy. We all now how deceptive and sneaky he is, which is why his eyes were normal during the prequals as Chancellor. Count Dooku on the other hand was different, sure he was an evil sith, but his character was different, he was less brutal and less animalistic than others, at least in the movies, it has been forever since I've watched the clone wars.

 

I do remember. That's why it would be funny, because Maul has met Hondo as well. Maul threatens to kill them for their insolence. Hondo comes back with the great line. "Insolence? We're pirates, we don't even know what that means."

 

Yeah, that would have been funnier than Jabba... or, "My name's Jabba. Jabba Ohnaka."
If only because Maul has tangled with both of them.

 

This is definitely the best episode of the season. Malachor was such a cool planet and it gave off a Pompeii vibe which gave it a very eerie vibe. The fights with the Inquisitors were fine and the helicopter lightsabers actually didn't bother me, although I didn't care for them either. Maul was arguably the best part of the episode though. He was calculating, he was crazy, he was intimidating, and he killed those Inquisitors with no hesitation or mercy at all. He also played Ezra like a fiddle, pulling at his emotions and his desires, but his interactions with him seemed genuine surprisingly. While I would say him turning on Kanan and Ahsoka was pretty easy to predict, I didn't expect him to blind Kanan in the process. The fight between Vader and Ahsoka was amazing. I am little disappointed we didn't get to see more of it but I completely understand why they panned away from them at the end. Also Vader still has eyebrows?!? Overall, it was one of the best episodes of Rebels yet and it will have ramifications for future episodes. I am very excited for season 3 in the fall as this one has left us with a lot of questions for the future.

 

I think that line is misunderstood. I don't think it means you can't leave the dark side just that the damage caused my never be fixed and there is always a higher chance of falling back to the dark side. Like an alcoholic or drug addict.

 

I completely agree! He racked up major legitimacy points the second he put that helmet on. I had no idea his only character flaw was his eyesight.

On Anakin and Ahsoka, for the story's sake, I vote she's dead. I know we see her at the end moving into the temple, and it may have just become my biggest complaint of the episode, because it seems like it was put there just to throw/confuse people. There isn't really any scenario in which I feel good about them parting ways alive. Even if he couldn't bring himself to kill her, she wasn't about to leave his side (she literally said as much - it's called an intervention). If their parting was caused by the explosion, and Vader decided to take the moral cop-out road and bail, why is Ahsoka walking (I think she clearly takes a step or two, and upon a few more looks I don't even see a limp, just maybe a step down) into the temple? Again, as long as she can move there's no way she's letting him go back to doing his thing with the Empire, so unless you want to argue that she's going in there to look for him, it just doesn't fit. I think she has to be a Force manifestation (one of the best arguments for this may be that lack of a limp I mentioned before). Maybe it still seems weird that she'd be going into the temple, but I think that was really just to symbolize that that's where she will forever remain.

And I'm not sure why so many seem to think an offscreen death wouldn't do her justice - that offscreen death, in particular. She's so well loved by so many, how else would you do it? This way, you don't get the angry backlash from a 100% definitive onscreen death, and you're not stuck trying to meet the impossible expectations that would accompany it. Instead we see her finally come to terms with the now undeniable fact of what Anakin has become, resolve to either help him or die trying to (major chills when she Forced Ezra back as the Temple came down around them), and then watch Vader emerge triumphant (yes, I know he was limping, but the score here was absolutely glorious). Maybe I'm alone, but I think a major part of what's been so compelling about their story in Rebels is the tragedy of it. It's only fitting that it would meet a tragic end, and I don't think it disrespects her character. If anything does, it's leaving it so ambiguous.

On a lighter note, the saber-copters didn't bother me...that is until the 8th brother was offed when his malfunctioned! Come on, now.

 

Oh I remember that to as well.

 

Just saw it last night and what happened to the inquisitors was a shame .

 

I was actually I felt they had outlived their usefulness I will miss 7th sister Sarah Michelle Gellar played her very well, Maul completely outclassed them, don't worry there is plenty to come in Season 3.

 

After seeing the Filoni interview on the panel, I think Ahsoka won this fight. Filoni compared it to the moment Luke confronted Vader and refused to kill him. (I also saw someone make note Ahsoka did not have her lightsabers going into the temple. This is my guess of what happened (if they ever show it)....I think Ahsoka wins the fight. (How did Vader take her? He was having trouble breathing, limping on one leg, and looked barely mobile coming out of the temple)....I think Ahsoka had him beat, but could not kill him. She was having conflicting emotions (Filoni also mentions this), and I think she may have had him down, threw her lighsabers away (like Luke did when he had Vader down), and walked away. She probably made up her mind she could not kill him (because she still saw a bit of Anakin in him when his mask was partially torn) and could not join him either - so instead, she preferred to go into solitude, and spend time healing, grieving, and meditating on what part she would have in the future of this war - if any at all.

Hey, if Ashley Eckstein believes Ahsoka lives, so do I!

 

The only annoying thing is we never got a resolution on why they went to the temple in the first place. The goals shifted but It started out being about how the Inquisitors were tracking Kanan and Ezra. Which is weird because Ashoka didn't seem to have that problem.

 

How can ahsoka become a force ghost when she didn't have the training?