Star Wars Rebels S2 Finale

Tonight I watched the season finale of Star Wars Rebels, S2 Eps 21 & 22 "Twilight of the Apprentice" Ahsoka, Ezra, Kanan and Chopper arrive on Malachor – a Sith world long forbidden to the Jedi – in search of knowledge, discovering a cavern containing a Sith Temple amid the site of an ancient battlefield between Sith and Jedi who used cross guard lightsabers. They soon are attacked by a new Inquisitor, the Eighth Brother, who is hunting a mysterious hermit calling himself "Old Master." When Ezra encounters the hermit, he reveals himself to be Darth Maul and offers to help Ezra get into the Temple, aiding him in recovering a Sith holocron. When the other Inquisitors arrive and alert Darth Vader of their presence, Ezra convinces the group to work together in spite of Kanan's fears that Maul is corrupting his student, allowing them to finally kill the three Inquisitors.

However, Maul soon betrays the group and blinds Kanan with his lightsaber, revealing his true intentions of making Ezra his apprentice. Although sightless, Kanan dons the helmet of a fallen Jedi Temple Guard and manages to throw Maul from the top of the temple. Ahsoka finally faces Darth Vader - who has cornered Ezra and destroyed his lightsaber - and comes to terms with his identity as Anakin Skywalker as she engages him in a duel, while Kanan and Ezra remove the Sith Holocron. Unable to abandon her old Master, Ahsoka stays within the crumbling temple and stalls Vader while Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper flee the planet and reunite with the Ghost crew. Maul escapes Malachor in one of the Inquisitor's TIE fighters while Vader, who survived the destruction of the temple, walks away as a convor watches from above. Ahsoka appears briefly post-battle entering a temple doorway, but her ultimate fate is left unknown. As the Ghost crew tries to cope with their losses, Ezra continues to meditate on the Sith Holocron and finally succeeds in opening it, potentially beginning his fall to the Dark Side.

So everyone was waiting for this battle.. the battle between master and apprentice. But before I talk about that I'd like to talk about a few other things. First up the reintroduction of "old Master" aka Darth Maul. It was great seeing him again. I loved when he was brought back from the dead on The Clone Wars and they left his story open so I knew there was a possibility of him showing up on this show. They make you believe his good "A enemy of my enemy is my friend" but then you're not sure and then you think maybe he is but ultimately he's a bad guy and trying to turn Ezra to the dark side.  These last few episodes are Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka centric and we see very little of the rest of the Ghost crew.

We get a new inquisitor but that's short lived as Maul kills all three of them. I think the bulk of the episode happens as the end with Maul tricking Ezra to activate the Sith Temple. I wonder if Kanan will be blind from here on out. And of course we have the very end when Ezra opens a Sith Holocron and we are told that only a sith can open it.. does this mean he's sith or has he tapped far enough into his dark side. Lot's of questions for season three to answer.

Now to talk about the battle between Ahsoka and Anakin (Vader). As I mentioned everyone has been anticipating this fight and I have to say they didn't disappoint. The fight scene was amazing, the reaction of Ahsoka when she actually truly found out that Darth Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker was heart wrenching.

My only complaint if you can call it that is how they left the battle at a very pivotal point to follow the main characters off the planet. Of course this was done on purpose so we don't know if Ahsoka is dead or alive. The Ghost crew believes she's dead but we did see something staggering into the temple at the end. So I guess will have to wait until next season to find out (if they reveal it then).

I have to say Star Wars Rebels first season was good but I was such a hard core fan of The Clone Wars that I kept comparing the two and it didn't stack up. But I have to say Season two has really found it's footing.. and not only because they added Ahsoka and Captain Rex (from Clone Wars) to the cast but the overall story feel more connected with the original Star Wars "A New Hope". Both Star Wars The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are some of the best Star Wars stories out there and I'm super excited for season three.. not sure when it will start.. I assume in the fall but I can't wait for more Wars.