Review: Star Wars Rebels – “Twilight of the Apprentice”

Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka arrive at Malachor. As they are landing, another ship speeds past. The three Jedi find a pillar with an ancient language inscribed on it. Ahsoka tries to translate it but Ezra touches the pillar, making the ground collapse beneath them. This is where they find the Sith Temple. (Fortunately, Chopper is left behind in the Phantom, giving them an escape route.)

On the way to the Temple, they find an ancient battleground littered with old lightsabers. Suddenly, they are attacked by an Inquisitor, the Eighth Brother. During their battle, the Inquisitor throws explosives at the Rebels. Once again, the ground collapses but only Ezra falls this time. Ezra tells the other two that he is fine and they rush off to finish their fight.

As Ezra tries to figure out how to get out of the hole, he finds that he is not alone. There is a hooded figure with him. The two have a conversation about the knowledge they both seek at the Temple. Old Master, the name the stranger gives Ezra, says the Inquisitor is looking for him. Interested, Ezra (going by the name Jabba) asks if the Old Master is a Jedi. The old man only claims that he is a Force user. When Ezra accuses him of being a Sith, Old Master tells him that the Empire took everything from him and tossed him aside. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now that the two have a kinship with their hatred of the Empire, Old Master gets Ezra to help him enter the Sith Temple to get the knowledge they need to defeat their enemy. The two of them make their way through a number of obstacles to obtain a holocron that, supposedly, is the key. They each confess their true names. Old Master is Darth Maul.

Meanwhile, Chopper helped Kanan and Ahsoka capture the Inquisitor. They ask him about his target, since he did not know they were there. All he will say is that he is after a shadow. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the Eighth Brother hit a button on his cuff, alerting the other Inquisitors to his position. When Kanan and Ahsoka, along with their prisoner, arrive at the Temple door, they are ambushed by the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister. Shortly after this new battle begins, the Temple door slides open to reveal Ezra and Maul. Ezra leaps into battle, eager to introduce his friends to their new ally but Kanan and Ahsoka aren’t as quick to trust Maul. To prove that he was no longer with the Empire, Maul attacks the three Inquisitors by himself. When they aren’t able to easily defeat him, the three Inquisitors retreat, leaving Maul with the Rebels.

Maul tells them that, in order the gain the knowledge they want, they need to put the holocron inside an obelisk at the top of the Temple. There are sliding elevator-type things on the side of the Temple. At first, Maul tries to go up the elevator with Ezra but Kanan stops him and insists on riding with his Padawan. On the way up, they have a conversation about who to trust. Ezra points out that, once again, Kanan doesn’t trust his intuition.

At the top of the Temple, they are, once again, attacked by the Eighth Brother. This time, he manages to knock out Kanan and push Ezra off the platform. As Ezra hung from the edge of the platform, the Eighth Brother tried to get him to give up the holocron. Before anything could happen, Maul chases off the Inquisitor and saves the teen. This time the group will split up for the next elevator ride. Maul and Ezra will take one while Ahsoka and Kanan take another on the other side of the platform.

During this ride, Maul talks to Ezra about the Dark Side. Before the conversation can get too dark, they are attacked by the Seventh Sister and her droids. Maul ends this fight by holding the Inquisitor with the Force and shouting at Ezra to kill her. Ezra refuses and Maul kills her himself. The former Sith points out that Ezra’s weakness will kill him or his friends.

The Brothers have also been busy. They are attacking Ezra and Kanan on the other side of the platform. Maul sends Ezra to the top of the Temple to install the holocron while he helps end the battle with the Inquisitors. The Fifth Brother is killed by Maul but the Eighth Brother may or may not be dead. Kanan destroyed his lightsaber, making the Inquisitor fall to his apparent death when he tries to run away.

Now that the fight is over, Kanan asks about Ezra. Maul. showing his true evil side, calls Ezra his apprentice and attacks Kanan, blinding the Jedi. Ahsoka stops the former Sith from doing any more damage. However, Maul tells them that Ezra is about to activate a battle station with the holocron.

Ezra installs the holocron, of course. But when the Temple speaks to him, he realizes that he isn’t about to get the knowledge he was looking for.

Maul and Ahsoka fight. Kanan, slapping on one of the cool Jedi Guard masks, sends Ahsoka to help Ezra while he fights Maul himself. Their fight is rather short-lived. Kanan uses his Force senses to quickly knock Maul off the platform. Once again, we aren’t sure if the enemy is actually dead.

At the top of the Temple, Darth Vader arrives on the top of TIE fighter. He begins to fight with Ezra but Ahsoka interrupts them. She takes over the battle with Vader while Ezra tries to remove the holocron from the obelisk. Kanan arrives to tell Ezra that it takes a master and an apprentice to remove it. Together, they manage to remove the holocron and shut down the battle station. The Temple begins to crumble but Chopper is there with a ride to safety. Before they can get on the ship, Vader pulls at the holocron with the Force. Ahsoka attacks him, making him release his grip on the artifact. Ezra calls out to her to join them but she Force pushes him away. The Temple collapses around her and Vader, leaving Ezra and Kanan to fly off in the Phantom.

Maul flies off in a TIE fighter. Vader walks out of the Temple. Ahsoka appears to move back into the shadows. Kanan and Ezra return to the Rebel base. On the Ghost, Ezra opens the holocron with a Sith-glint in his eye.

This was an awesome episode. My main problem was the Inquisitors. They seemed to spend too much time retreating then attacking again. It would have made sense if the battle was longer but it’s not like the Jedi would have let their guard down enough to be defeated. I did like how Maul was handled though. Throughout the entire episode, I couldn’t decide if he had really changed his ways or if he was only trying to get Ezra to trust him. It will be interesting to see how season 3 goes. Will we see Ahsoka again? Will the Eighth Brother come back? If not, will there be new Inquisitors? So many questions! Is season 3 here yet?