Spinning out of the #CloneWarsRewatch comes #RebelsRewatch. As we prepare for season two of “Star Wars: Resistance,” “The Mandalorian,” “Rise of Skywalker” and the final season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” I will continue to rewatch the animated Star Wars projects and bridge the gaps between the past and present of The Skywalker Saga S2E13 The Protector of Concord Dawn Recap: Hera is injured after attempting peace negotiations with a Mandalorian Colony on Concord Dawn. Sabine and Kanan must put aside their differences with the people and not seek revenge. Connecting the Canon Concord Dawn is a Mandalorian Colony. Sabine comes from House of Visla and is part of Death Watch. Sabine says, “I guess I’ve just been raised right,” furthering the theme of family between Hera, Kanan and the crew. This episode furthers the Mandalore plot from “Clone Wars.” S2E14 Legends of the Lasat Recap: The Ghost crew rescues two Lasat from imperial clutches as Zeb reluctantly agrees to help them find their new home world. Connecting the Canon This is the first time we see more Lasat people. Jim Cummings returns as Hando. The music in this episode is gorgeous and so is the Maelstrom. This may be one of the best episodes in the series. Lira San is the home world of the Lasat. S2E15 The Call Recap: Running out of power and fuel, the crew encounters massive creatures, known as purrgils, threatening a mining operation. Connecting the Canon The purrgills are super cool creations. They have an ancient tie to hyperspeed technology. S2E16 Homecoming Recap: Ba Connecting the Canon Cham Syndulla, Hera’s father, was introduced in “The Clone Wars” and returns in this episode. Hera found Chopper during the Clone Wars. Hera has an accent!?! Mace Windu is mentioned, referring to early Clone Wars episodes. Numa and Gobi Glie return in this episode. Numa is now all grown up and betrays Hera. Catherine Taber guest stars. Ryloth has had a long battle, under Separatist control and then Empirical control. S2E17 The Honorable Ones Recap: Zeb is stranded on an icy moon of Geonosis with the last person he would ever want to be stranded with, Agent Kallus. Connecting the Canon The Empire had started building parts of the Death Star over Geonosis. Darth Vader sterilized the planet so the Geonosis queen couldn’t reproduce. This second half of the season the “Rebels theme” hasn’t been playing over the main title like it used to. Zeb is “the child” and Kallus is “the warrior.” Their fates are tied together forever even before they know it in this episode. Here we see our first glimpse at Kallus becoming a good guy. S2E18 Shroud of Darkness Recap: Seeking to learn more about the Inquisitors and how to stop them, Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka return to the temple on Lothal. Each has a unique vision. Connecting the Canon This episode opens with Kanan and Ezra fighting the Inquisitors, proving that there are plenty more offscreen stories to tell. Ahsoka says, “the last time I saw him (Anakin) he was racing off to save the Chancellor,” proving that Ahsoka will see Anakin before the events of “Revenge of the Sith.” Matt Lanter returns as Anakin in a hologram. James Earl Jones returns as Vader. Frank Oz returns as Yoda. Jason Isaacs returns as Sentinel. Ahsoka, Kanan and Ezra return to the Lothal temple. Ahsoka says that she is no longer a Jedi and can’t use the force to open the temple. We find out that the temple goes a lot deeper. The temple guard has a collapsible lightsaber like we see “dark Rey” have in “The Rise of Skywalker” trailer. The temple guard hints that Ezra will fall to the dark side. We see yellow, black and white lightsabers and I really wish we would have seen them in live-action by now. Ahsoka says that Yoda was happier when she was younger and that the Clone Wars took a great toll on him as if he knew the Jedi’s time was ending. Ezra returns to a place that looks like the World Between Worlds to commune with Yoda. Yoda is sitting on a log on Dagobah but both Yoda and Ezra’s powers are growing. Ahsoka knows that Anakin has become Vader and she blames herself. Yoda warns Ezra not to bend fear into anger. Yoda admits the Jedi’s arrogance caused their downfall. This is in line with what Luke says in “The Last Jedi.” We learn that The Inquisitor was once a knight of the Jedi Order and now so is Kanan. Ahsoka says, “there’s still a way,” possibly meaning there’s still a way to save Anakin. Yoda tells Ezra to find Malachor. This episode changes all three character’s destinies. Ahsoka sees Yoda one last time. The Grand Inquisitor fights the fifth brother and seventh sister. Palpatine is scouring Jedi temples for relics. S2E19 The Forgotten Droid Recap: Chopper is left behind and must find his way back to the Ghost crew. Connecting the Canon I like how the series keeps adding people to the Ghost crew, like Ahsoka, Rex and now this new imperial droid, AP-5. I can imagine Kanan telling Hera that the ship is becoming a bed and breakfast. S2E20 The Mystery of Chopper Base Recap: The rebel cell’s new base is home to some unwelcome company. Connecting the Canon The little snail guys are super cute. Hera says “we’ve got to get used to not having them around” about Kanan and Ezra. She knows that their time might be limited with the Inquisitors hunting them. Ezra calls himself “the last jedi in the galaxy” even though he doesn’t include Ahsoka, Kana, Yoda, Obi-Wan, or soon to be Luke. Hera is worried that she will never see Kanan and Ezra again. We get a beautiful shot of the two of them against the sunset. The bird follows Ahsoka around foreshadows the future. S2E21-22 Twilight of the Apprentice Recap: Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra visit a Sith temple on Malachor for a final showdown. Connecting the Canon Rex tells Ahsoka that “experience outranks everything,” something he said to her when they first met. We see the dead Jedi left on Malachor. We also see a green lightsaber that looks like Kylo Ren’s. The Eighth brother appears in this episode. He was tracking Maul. That’s a story that still needs to be told. Maul says that he’s been on Malachor for years. Ezra is tempted by the dark side. That’s why he touches the temple and is so easily persuaded by Darth Maul. Darth Maul says the Sith tore him from his mother, killed his brother, used him, and took everything from him, which is true. Maul saves Ezra because he needs a second person to open the holocron. This is the first time we see an inquisitor use its lightsaber to fly. Ahsoka immediately recognizes Maul from the “Seige of Mandalore” which we will season in season seven of “The Clone Wars.” This is the first time we see seven people fighting with lightsabers, 11 blades. Kanan and Ahsoka look at each other while Ezra is talking like, “oh my god, this kid is gonna get it.” I wonder if Maul ultimately wanted to kill Vader to get another chance at being Sidious’ apprentice. “Twilight of the Apprentice” works on two levels, Ahsoka and Anakin, and Sidious and Maul. I’m sure Maul can barely handle himself from getting another chance to kill Ahsoka. Ezra is tiptoeing so close to the dark side, which becomes a big part of season three. The same person who voices Asaj Ventress also voices the sith holocron. In my head canon, I like to imagine it is Ventress’ old holocron. Maul says that the Sith temple is a battle station. Maul blinds Kanan. Vader destroys Ezra’s lightsaber. Ahsoka faces Vader. All the roads diverge. Rex realizes that Ahsoka is gone. Maul escapes. Vader makes it out of the temple. We see something enter the temple. Many people thought it was Vader. This started the #AhsokaLives campaign. Her bird (which is important) is shown going back to the temple. Kanan will never see Hera again. Ezra is tempted by the dark side. The season two finale is epic and brilliant. BEST OF THE BATCH
This week the best episode, hands down, is Shroud of Darkness because of all the force lore it introduces, connects back to “The Clone Wars” and foreshadows the shows future. We see the return of Matt Lanter as Anakin, Frank Oz as Yoda, Jason Issacs as the Inquisitor, who was once a Jedi knight, and James Earl Jones as Vader. The runner ups include “Twilight of the Apprentice” which has an unfair advantage of being a two-part finale with the return of Darth Maul and Ahsoka/Vader’s final showdown. Another great episode was “Honorable Ones,” which has me shipping Zeb and Kallus and creating my own fanfiction. . "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is in theaters December 20. May the Force be with you, always. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia
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Erick L. Graham Wood
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