The rumours are true. Star Wars: Rebels is good again. After most of the first half of this season amounted to very little and the beginning of the second half tripping over itself, this episode, ‘Trials Of The Darksaber,’ puts an unlikely character bond firmly at the emotional core of the story and doesn’t back down. It’s a reminder of just how great a Star Wars show can be when someone like Dave Filoni is writing.
This is a fantastic episode, so let’s just dive right into our Five Thoughts on ‘Trials Of The Darksaber.’ Spoilers ahead!
1. The Difference A Filoni Makes
Holy shit, this was an episode. This episode was written by Dave Filoni and it shows. Everything in this episode was a step up not just from the last couple of episodes, but from the entire show as a whole. This might mark the best episode we’ve seen of Rebels so far. From the writing to the directing to the blocking and animation to the voice acting, this episode just went for it and left everything on the screen and feels like the kind of show that is worthy of Star Wars.
Despite being such a contained story, this episode had a lot going on thanks to the conflicting emotions of the characters and the journey they take together. Finally, these characters were allowed to learn and grow and develop over the course of an episode instead of having their backstory told to us with no emotional ramifications to the story. This is the kind of episode I’ve been waiting for this whole time.
2. Sabine’s Journey; Or How To Do A Character Episode Right
Sabine has been a character that I’ve really wanted to love, but who’s never had a chance to shine. Even in episodes that focus on her, her nebulous backstory and vague personality (she’s… artsy? I guess?) have made her feel more like a cool character design than an actual person with feelings. This episode, and by Filoni’s own admission on Rebels Recon, was an attempt to imbue that sense of personhood onto Sabine in a way that we haven’t really seen before.
If this was Rebels Season 2, this episode would have dealt with Fenn Rau trying to steal the Darksaber only for Sabine to steal it back and declare the only she will lead the new Mandalorians. Here, we get a much better story that focuses on the slow, gruelling progression that comes with training with a lightsaber and using that as a backstory for developing the emotional conflicts between the characters that allow them to actually grow. It is only through her training that Sabine can face her past, accept it and attempt to move on from what she has learned.
This is all beautifully brought to the fore by Tiya Sicar’s best voice work from this entire show that commanded the entire episode. This is the kind of standard I want from all Rebels episodes.
3. Kanan & Hera: Rebel Parents
One of the things I admired about this episode, was the apparent lack of a side narrative. The episode never once cut away to what other characters were doing in order to break up the plot. It did, however, use Sabine’s training to develop the emotional conflict between two other characters: Kanan and Hera. This is the first time since the Season 3 premiere that we’ve really seen how Malachor has changed Kanan and his attempt to live up to his Jedi status. What it’s lead to is a Kanan who’s too overprotective, because he saw his prior methods as too lax and that lead to him almost losing Ezra to Maul. With Sabine, he barely lets her progress through her training, treating her like a padawan instead of the young woman he’s trusted with his life time and again.
It was interesting to see a character make that kind of well intentioned mistake and have it be countered by another character in Hera and then learn from it in the end without it being The Message of the episode. I keep comparing this episode to the prior storytelling styles of Rebels episodes and I feel like this subplot would have been the focus of the story if it had been structured like a “normal” Rebels episode. Instead, it allows Hera and Kanan to supplement the story being told about Sabine and allow her development to grow.
Continued below4. The Fight For Mandalore
I’m so glad Rebels is finally going to explore the state of Mandalore in the time of the Empire. Sure, it’s been touched on in the past, but only through Mandalorian colonists in places like Concord Dawn. The history and status of Mandalore itself hasn’t really been touched on as much and I hope Sabine’s attempt to claim control of House Viszla will mean that we finally get to see just what has happened to the planet and culture we saw in The Clone Wars in the years since.
Plus, with the Rebellion hoping to recruit an army of Mandalorians to their cause and the Darksaber about the be unveiled once more… could we see an appearance from one Mr. Boba Fett in the near future? I hope so, even if just to see what he’s been up to since his appearances in The Clone Wars.
5. Family
A prominent theme in this episode is family and it’s something I think has been kind of brushed under the rug for most of this season. The joy of Rebels should be that while we’re seeing the birth of the Rebellion against the Empire and the mobilisation of a political movement against oppression, our viewpoint is about a bunch of misfits who have no home and who come together as a family and find their home within the Rebellion.
It’s something that should be fairly obvious, but with Season 2 getting so wrapped up in being about Ezra’s training and Season 3 just milling about waiting for Rogue One to drop, this was the episode that reminded me just how good this show can be when it means something. And I sincerely hope the rest of this season can pull it out of the bag and keep up this level of quality.
