Wow, what an episode. I know I say this every other week, but this may be the strongest episode of the show so far. After taking a few weeks to continue building the show’s supporting cast with episodes focusing on Hera, Zeb and Sabine, we finally get back to the meat of this season’s story as Kanan and Ezra once again take on the Imperial Inquisitors.
There’s a lot to unpack in this episode so without further ado let’s dive into Star Wars: Rebels‘ “Shroud Of Darkness”! With a warning that I will be discussing major spoilers this episode.
1. Shadow Of The Inquisitors
I loved the fact that the episode started in medias res with Kanan and Ezra fighting the Inquisitors. It established a number of things right off the bat: that the Rebels are still being hunted by the Inquisitors, that they’re still trying to find somewhere to set up a base and that Kanan and Ezra have become a genuinely formidable fighting team. They compliment each other perfectly, both of them being half-formed Jedi who fit together to form a whole. While they had to retreat and let Ahsoka face the Inquisitors when they last fought (or first fought? I don’t quite remember), here they’re able to hold their own against the Inquisitors for some time, which is pretty impressive.
This was also, for what it’s worth, the best lightsaber fight I think the show has had since The Clone Wars. Rebels never quite got the hang of lightsaber battles, they always felt like they were just swinging wildly with wiffle ball bats and not like fully fledged duels, but this was definitely impressive.
2. The Apprentice Returns
In a lot of ways, this was Ahsoka’s episode and it was the beginning of the epilogue to her story in The Clone Wars. I am continually convinced that this season will end with Ahsoka’s death and, honestly, this episode only confirmed that for me (not to mention the fact that the finale is titled “Twilight Of The Apprentice”).
Having her face the vision of Anakin and Vader in the temple solidified her connection to Anakin and her desertion of the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars was, to me, a way of showing that backstory to people who didn’t see The Clone Wars and give context to her upcoming fight with Vader and her, I think, demise at his hands.
Don’t believe me? Watch this week’s Rebels Recon to see Dave Filoni talk about coming to the end of telling Ahsoka’s story.
Also, I will say it was a really nice touch to hear Matt Lanter voice Anakin once again for this episode. At this point, I feel like I associate his voice more with Anakin than I do Hayden Christensen.
3. Kanan’s Journey
This was such a huge moment for this episode and I think it’s one of the most beautifully realised moments in Star Wars history, for my money. Kanan has, up to this point, been an almost Jedi. A failed venture. His past is rooted in the philosophy of the Force, but all he’s ever really known was betrayal, strife and the survival of the fittest. Up to this point, Ezra has been the only reason he’s had to keep to the Order. He’s been his anchor to the Force.
And when Kanan is connected to Yoda through the Force, he sees a vision of the Temple in its prime. He sees a Temple Guard. He sees the past, before the betrayal. But he’s confronted by the past. He’s torn between the light and the dark. A blue lightsaber in one hand, red in the other he has to defend his decision to train Ezra by literally defending himself against the Temple Guard. Freddie Prinze Jr. called this Kanan’s Skywalker moment where he realises that the only way to win the fight is to stop fighting and the moment where Kanan falls to his knees, throws down his weapon… and is finally knighted as Jedi is the moment that the characters has been built towards this entire time.
Kanan Jarrus continues to be so much cooler than his dumb design.
4. Ezra’s Vision
Continued belowOn the flipside of Kanan’s vision, Ezra’s was a lot more lowkey and a lot more insidious. While Ahsoka got a vision taunting her for abandoning Anakin and Kanan got an elaborate duel with the Temple Guard to prove his worthiness, it was only Ezra who Yoda spoke to directly. Well, okay, he appeared to Ahsoka in the end and I believe that was a moment of reassurance for her that while she left the Order, the Jedi didn’t leave her, but still.
What I found really interesting about Ezra’s vision was that Yoda actually sat down to talk with him. There was no obfuscation, there were no riddles. He tried to connect with him because he can sense the dark side pulling at him, the Temple Guard says as much (remember: the Temple Guard was a vision created by Yoda). I think Yoda realises this is his last ditch effort to keep Ezra from falling and I don’t know what he’ll find on Malachor, but I’m very interested in what this finale is building to.
5. A Knight Of The Order
So the Grand Inquisitor was once a Jedi. Not just a Jedi, but a Temple Guard. One of the most revered positions in the Order, the one charged with protecting the Jedi temples. And he fell. And he fell hard. I think that’s what’s so shocking about this reveal is that while we always kind of knew we’d get a look at who the Grand Inquisitor was before his fetish for twirly lightsabers reared its head, but the fact that he came from such a revered position in the Jedi Order to head a force created to hunt down and kill Jedi is such a heel turn it would make Ric Flair proud.
Obviously, there’s still more to learn about the Inquisitors and how they came to be, but the revelation that at least the Grand Inquisitor had roots in the Jedi Order make them all the more horrifying that they could be turned so much against those who trained them. I can’t wait to see more about the history of the Inquisitors.
