Today we continue our rewatch of Star Wars Rebels with episodes 36 through 40 of the popular Lucasfilm animated series.
Star Wars Rebels stars the vocal talents of Taylor Gray as Ezra Bridger, Vanessa Marshall as Hera Syndulla, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus, Steven Blum as Zeb Orrelios, Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren, and series co-creator Dave Filoni as Chopper.
Episode 36: “Twilight of the Apprentice (Part 1)” – Arriving on Malachor, Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka find an abandoned ancient Sith temple, site of a long-forgotten war. When the group is attacked by an Inquisitor called the Eighth Brother (Robbie Daymond), Ezra falls into an underground cavern where he encounters a stranger who turns out to be Maul (Sam Witwer, reprising his role from Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Maul wants to get into the temple as well, and he uses Ezra’s help to obtain a Sith Holocron while Kanan and Ahsoka continue to fight off the Inquisitor.
Episode 37: “Twilight of the Apprentice (Part 2)” – More Inquisitors arrive on Malachor and call in Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) for assistance. Meanwhile, Ezra convinces Ahsoka and Kanan to work together with Maul to climb to the top of the Sith temple. Halfway up, they are once again attacked by the Inquisitors, with Maul ultimately killing the three Sith warriors but then suddenly betraying Kanan and blinding the Jedi with his lightsaber. As Ezra reaches the top of the temple, he realizes Maul had used him to acquire a deadly weapon unlocked by the Holocron. Vader shows up and battles Ahsoka, who has accepted the Sith Lord's true identity as her former master Anakin Skywalker. Kanan disposes of Maul by throwing him from the temple, but when he and Ezra make their escape Ahsoka stays behind to further confront Vader, with her ultimate fate unknown.
Episode 38: “Steps Into Shadow (Part 1)” – In the third season premiere, some time has passed and Ezra has a new close-cropped haircut. He and the other members of the Ghost crew rescue Hondo Ohnaka from an Imperial prison, and Hondo informs them about a stash of Y-wing starfighters the Rebellion could use for their fleet. Ezra is promoted to Lieutenant and put in charge of the mission to collect the Y-wings, but early on lets the power go to his head. We learn that he has been taking lessons from the information contained in the Sith holocron, while a now-blind Kanan meets an ancient Force-wielding being called the Bendu (Tom Baker) and Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) takes command of the Imperial fleet.
Episode 39: “Steps Into Shadow (Part 2)” – Kanan continues to train under the Bendu, learning how to “see” using the Force, and gives the being the Sith holocron. On his mission to capture the Y-wings, Ezra makes some mistakes and accidentally gets the Phantom shuttle destroyed. Fortunately Kanan shows up at the last minute to rescue his Padawan from certain death, but Ezra is still suspended from his command for disobeying orders. Thrawn makes a tactical decision and allows the rebels to escape, and the Y-wings are given to General Jan Dodonna’s rebel cell.
Episode 40: “The Holocrons of Fate” – Kanan refuses to tell Ezra where he hid the Sith Holocron, but when Maul and a crew of droids hold the rest of the Ghost crew hostage, the two Jedi are forced to retrieve it from the Bendu. They must enter a cave of spiders in order to retrieve the device, learning how to avoid conflict with the creatures without the use of the sensor beacons. Kanan and the Ghost crew fight back against their captors while Ezra meets with Maul, who wants to combine the Force powers of both the Sith Holocron and Kanan’s Jedi Holocron. Upon doing so, Ezra asks how to defeat the Sith and is granted a vision of a planet with twin suns, while Maul simply leaves muttering the phrase “he lives” over and over again.
Star Wars Rebels is available to stream in its entirety on Disney+.