#obi wan sorta goes out on his own terms but its still while facing down his former brother turned space hitler

[knightlycowboy]

you ever think about how no one in star wars gets a happy ending <3 literally nobody <3 what the hell <3

[stairset]

Since the series finale is coming up I wanna talk about all my absolute favorite Rebels episodes, in the order they aired bc ranking them would be so hard and I'm lazy, and why I love them because I feel like I owe it to a show that's been a huge part of my life for the last few years and was one of the things that got me through the nightmare that is the teenage years.

Rise of the Old Masters: I think every good show has that one great episode early on that just tells you "this is gonna be a good show, we have a plan" and gets you hooked, and I believe this was that episode for Rebels. Spark of Rebellion was a solid start, Droids in Distress and Fighter Flight were slower episodes to help you get to know the characters a bit more, and then this episode is, for lack of a better term, when shit started getting real. Ezra and Kanan's relationship starts developing, the Grand Inquisitor is introduced in person and makes a great first impression, we get some of our first major Clone Wars connections, etc. It also uses Yoda's famous "do or do not" line to deliver a nice message. "I'm not gonna TRY to teach you anymore. If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe I can succeed, so from now on, I WILL teach you".

Path of the Jedi: Once again, Kanan and Ezra both have a lot of development here, both as a team and as individuals. The crazy visions that Ezra experiences were some of the darkest and most intense things in the show at the time, and Frank Oz guest appearing as Yoda's voice and Ezra finally constructing his own lightsaber are both great crowd pleasing moments. It also happens to be the first appearance of the world between worlds, though neither Ezra or the audience realized it at the time, which just goes to show how far back the writers planned everything out.

Call To Action: Tarkin makes his debut and calls out our other villains on their relative incompetence throughout the season, even going so far as to, erm, make an example of two of them, and succeeds where they have failed, even capturing Kanan in the process. Despite the cliffhanger, it's a bittersweet ending as the crew does succeed in their mission to deliver a message of hope to Lothal and the surrounding systems. This is where the stakes start to raise, and it shows.

Fire Across the Galaxy: Ending the first season with a bang, the crew rescues Kanan on Tarkin's star destroyer above Mustafar, the stolen TIE from Fighter Flight actually ends up being relevant, the Grand Inquisitor is sent off in the perfect way, the crew joins with Pheonix Squadron, giving us our earliest look at the growing rebellion, and of course the moment everyone remembers, the reintroduction to Ahsoka Tano, and her former master not long after. It was the perfect way to end the first season while getting everyone hyped for the next.

The Siege of Lothal: Everyone was absolutely hyped for the season 2 premiere and it did not disappoint. While many worried that Vader would be toned down for the show, he proved to be as threatening as ever, outsmarting our heroes time and again, kicking Kanan and Ezra's asses, and putting his pilot skills to use by taking on the entirety of Pheonix Squadron himself. And of course there's the unforgettable scene where he and Ahsoka sense each other and James Earl Jones delivers the iconic, bone chilling line "the apprentice lives".

Stealth Strike: This episode was just fun, plain and simple. Kanan and Rex's bickering, Ezra's interactions with Sato, it was all hilarious and entertaining. It was sweet seeing Kanan and Rex finally start getting along, and it also happens to be one of the few times Commander Sato played a major role in an episode. Despite Sato's fairly minor role in the show I always liked him, so seeing him in the action with the lead characters was nice.

The Future of the Force: The Inquisitors are after force sensitive children to ensure that they don't grow up to become Jedi, and it's up to Ezra, Kanan, Zeb and Ahsoka to stop them. Kanan, Ezra and Zeb having to get out of the apartment building with the Inquisitors hot on their trail was intense and lead to an entertaining chase through town, and it all culminated in the elic fight between Ahsoka and the Inquisitors where we see her brandish her white lightsabers for the first time. The episode also serves as a bit of a continuation of the Clone Wars season 2 premiere, in which Sidious hires Cad Bane to help carry out a very similar plot.

Legacy: The episode starts off intense with the Empire attacking the Rebels at their current location after Ezra accidentally gave it away in the previous episode, while the rest is much slower, as Ezra follows a trail of force breadcrumbs to Ryder Azadi, from whom he finally learns the tragic fate of his parents. I think I speak for a lot of people when I expected him to reunite with them, so the revelation of their deaths was a bit of a shocker, and Ezra's reaction, his vison of being with them on a better Lothal, and Kanan's statement that they'll live on in him were all beautifully tearjerking.

Shroud of Darkness: Even though this episode basically exists for the purpose of setting up the season finale, it still stands on its own as a fan favorite, and rightfully so. Our Jedi Trio of Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka see lots of cool, trippy visions in the Lothal temple, including the Grand Inquisitor and the revelation of his backstory, the return of Frank Oz as Yoda (this time face to face), and of course Ahsoka getting confirmation that Vader really is her old master, with Matt Lanter reprising his role. The episode also has a number of iconic shots, including the temple guard avatars surrounding the Inquisitors, Ahsoka seeing Yoda in an homage to The Last Crusade, and Vader entering the Lothal temple at the end to meet with his Inquisitors in person.

Thhe Mystery of Chopper Base: A rather straight forward adventure, featuring the crew having to rescue Rex from some creepy ass spider creatures. Like Stealth Strike, this episode is simply fun. It's got so many great interactions between our main crew. But there's also a lingering feeling of dread throughout because, because you know there gonna be separated soon and that something's gonna go wrong because, well, it's Star Wars. It leads into the season finale perfectly.

Twilight of the Apprentice: We all remember this one. We all remember our exact reactions to everything in it. Maul is introduced, Ezra starts being tempted by the dark side, the Inquisitors are all killed off, Kanan is blided, and of course Ahsoka and Vader have their climactic duel that was built up for the whole season and did not disappoint, and the last minute or so simply showing the aftermath of everything that happened as “It’s All Over” plays is so effective with absolutely no dialogue. Not only that, but, and I’ve said this before, this episode is also the point where all the big parts of the timeline directly come together. In this episode, Rebels, Clone Wars, the prequels, the originals and even the sequels are all directly connected in a way that they never were before, and it’s not until a later episode that they’re all connected on that same level again. This episode, and subsequently the whole show, is the fulcrum of the Star Wars saga.

The Holocrons of Fate: Maul makes his return and has his sights set on both the Sith holocron from Malachor and Kanan’s Jedi holocron so that he can combine their power to learn any knowledge he desires. This leads to our mind-blowing climax in which Maul learns through the light of the holocrons that Obi-wan is still alive and sets off to find him, while Ezra sees a vision of twin suns, also pointing to Obi-wan, albeit in a less direct way. While the whole episode is entertaining the ending is truly what sets its place as one of the best simply because of the epic factor.

The Last Battle: This episode is simply a half hour of pure unadultered Clone Wars nostalgia and I loved every goddamn second of it. Everything from the battle of Christophsis soundtrack to the return of the droid humor from tcw to General Kalani from the Onderon arc being there to the heroes having to team up with the droids thanks to Ezra being the voice of reason and making them realize they were all just pawns for Palpatine and he is their true enemy, and the yellow Clone Wars style title card at the end with the Clone Wars theme playing during the credits, it’s just a giant love letter to the entire Clone Wars fanbase, a thank you for helping the crew get where they are today. It shows how much they truly appreciate their fans, which shouldn’t be a rare thing with content creators but it is.

An Inside Man: I have a sorta complicated relationship with Agent Kallus, who I guess isn’t an agent anymore but that’s beside the point. I don’t like him that much as I feel his redemption arc could’ve been handled much better and he could’ve done more to earn it, which I’ve talked about before. Yet despite this, I love not only this episode but another Kallus centered episode later on that I’ll get to. This whole episode is intense and excited. Mister Sumar, a minor character from season 1, is reintroduced only to be brutally killed by Thrawn, seeting the stakes for the episode, and establishing Thrawn as an effective villain. While Thrawn’s episodes before this one were more about him simply studying the heroes from behind the scenes, this is the point where he starts taking direct action against the heroes, and does it damn well. He figures out all their tricks that all the Imperials before him overlooked, and Kanan and Ezra only barely get out.

Visions and Voices: Maul returns once again to finish his mind connection with Ezra, leading to the return to Dathomir where the ghosts of the Nightsisters serve as the Guest Appearance Of The Week and posess Kanan and Sabine in rather creepy ways, Ezra also discovers Obi-wan is alive while Maul finds out where he’s hiding, and of course Sabine gets her hands on the darksaber. Like Shroud of Darkness this episode exists just to set up a climactic fight in a later episode, but still stands on it’s own.

Trials of the Darksaber/Legacy of Mandalore: I put these together because they’re basically a two-parter and because I love them for largely the same reasons. These were the first Sabine episodes where she finally got some real, major development as a character. Previous Sabine centered episode seemed to all follow the pattern of “have some dialogue hinting at her backstory that we give away in the sneak peeks then no other answers” and it was frustrating because beyond that those episodes were solid episode, but the way they kept promoting them to be bigger than they were did effect my enjoyment of them at the time. These episode finally resolve that problem and give us payoff to all those hints, and boy was that payoff satisfying. We get the backstory of the darksaber, Sabine training, we’re finally introduced to her family, and the final battle between Sabine and Gar Saxon is simply epic.

Through Imperial Eyes: This is the other Kallus episode that I love despite my “meh” opinion of the character. The banter between Kallus and Ezra is very entertaining to watch, Kallus’s plan for framing Liste as the traitor to keep his cover is very clever, though obviously not clever enough to fool Thrawn, who once again proves to be a great villain and shows that he can hold his own in a physical fight, and of course Yularen appearing was cool.

Twin Suns: The long awaited final showdown between Obi-wan and Maul, who actually finally dies for good, like is really, seriously, legit, for real, in actuality, finally permanently dead, deceased, lifeless, killed, devoid of life, sleeping with the fishes, an ex-person. At first I was in the crowd of people who were like “what the fuck” at how quick he went out, but in analysis I wouldn’t have it any other way. It shows how much Obi-wan has wisened over the years whereas Maul never learned, never changed, and tried the same thing he did on Qui-Gon, and it proved to be his final downfall. The way Obi-wan holds Maul’s body in his arms the same way he did with both Qui-Gon and Satine so many years before, and shows sadness and pity that it couldn’t have turned out differently is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. The cartoons made Maul such an interesting character, and cemented him as one of my favorite villains, and I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to this decades old rivalry.

Zero Hour: While not as mind blowing as the previous season’s finale, Zero Hour is still and intense and action packed way to conclude the season. We see the end of Pheonix Squadron and the beginnings of then true Rebel Alliance, Sato gets an epic and heroic send off, the fight in space with Ezra and the Mandos is epic, the Bendu gives us a glimpse of his true power, and Thrawn is as great a villain as ever. The whole thing is simply epic.

In The Name of the Rebellion: We finally saw the Rebel Alliance on Yavin 4 in all its glory, Saw makes a return and, as I said when the episodes first aired, I believe the Moral Ambiguity with his character, while still not perfect, was handled better here than in Ghosts of Geonosis, but i don’t feel like repeating myself so just look the post up if you haven’t read it already. Anyway Saw’s interactions with Ezra and Sabine were a lot of fun to watch, like if we’re still giving everyone space fmaily nicknames then Saw is like the slightly crazed but still kinda cool uncle in this episode. All the connections to Rogue One were a ton of fun to piece together, and it was great to finally see a giant kyber crystal that’s actually fully animated. Also Jennifer Hale was in it so that’s pretty neat.

Flight of the Defender: A very simple and straight forward episode. Ezra and Sabine steal the TIE defender prototype, they crash it and hide the hyperdrive, we meet the white lothwolf who helps them get back to their friends. I can’t even really explain why I like this one so much tbh, but I do.

Jedi Night/DUMJE: We all know why these episodes are here. I couldn’t ask for a more epic and heartbreaking send off for Kanan’s character, and I’m glad that they dedicated the entire following episode to showing how the rest of the cast deals with their grief in different way rather than glossing over it and immediately moving on to the Mortis stuff. It’s surprisingly rare for characters to get to properly grieve in this franchise despite death being so common. Obi-wan, Galen, Han, Luke, the entire population of Alderaan, the other characters have to get over these things pretty quickly so it’s nice to see a more realistic aftermath for once.

Wolves and a Door/A World Between Worlds: I’ve made my thoughts on these episodes very clear since they aired on Monday, which is that they are quite possibly the most mind blowing thing I’ve watched in a very long time. The connections to Mortis and callbacks to all the movies and to Clone Wars, the voices in the background, the beautifully animated moving pictures, the return of Ahsoka and the revelation of what happened to her, Sidious making his debute with Ian McDiarmid himself providing the voice, it’s all incredible to watch. Like I said about Twilight of the Apprentice, this episode is one of the few times where we get an idea of just how connected everything really is, that it’s all one big story. No wonder the two episodes are also so tightly connected to each other, they truly are where all the parts of the saga come together in ways they never could otherwise.