Holocrons of Fate: an episode full of Lore and Jedi Lessons
Things are getting more serious! Maul is back, the Dark vs Light eternal battle for balance is stronger in this episode than in any other before. Bendu is back, this time without “the” in the title. Kanan‘s real name pops up, Ezra learns a valuable lesson from his master in the cave and so much more. Let’s start digesting “The Holocrons of Fate”!
Video Analysis
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Story Recap
Ezra and Kanan are split from the rest of the team, which is Maul’s plan as we see him capturing Ghost and the crew on it. Maul asks of Ezra and Kanan to give him the Sith Holocron (which Kanan gave to Bendu in the previous episode) and with the use of his force powers, he finds the Jedi Holocron, hidden on the Ghost.
Ezra and Kanan travel back to the misterious (to me at least!?) planet to find Bendu. The ancient creature sends them down a deep cave, where both Master and Student have a lot to learn about the balance in their relationship. At the end, the two jedi find the Sith Holocron and bring it to Maul. Maul attempts to kill Kanan by pushing him out the air lock.
The jedi survives and returns to save his friends. They find Ezra and Maul in the middle of the process of opening both holocrons together, which, as we’ve learned already, is very dangerous as it brings all kinds of knowledge. Kanan interrupts the process, but Maul manages to escape.
Well… it’s a lot better if you have seen it for yourself, I assure you. But, that’s the just of it as best as I can describe it :)))
Important moments
Now, it’s time to take a deeper look into some of the special lines, scenes and moments from the episode. And, wow, there were a lot in this week’s episode.
Maul returns
It was inevitable that Maul will not only return, but be one of the main villains in the third season of the show. The interviews published after the release of the episode on the official Star Wars YouTube channel with the cast and creators of the show, only proved that. Maul is not a sith. He’s aiming to be something else, something he’s creating on his own. As Dave Filoni says, Maul is trying something others have attempted before him. The results have always been the same – failure. We are hoping that Maul’s fate will be different. Well, I mean… it’s no fun watching something with a predictable ending, right.
Another interesting fact is that Maul has done his homework. He knows a lot more about the crew of the Ghost, about The Rebels, than we thought he does. A good example and a demonstration of that is the scene when he interrogates Hera. In her eyes we can see the surprise when he pronounces the real name of Kanan – Celeb Dume.
Then there’s that silly scene where Maul leaves 2 droids to guard the Rebels while he deals with Kanan and Ezra. Chopper to the rescue! The fact alone that Maul relies on droids, but forgets to monitor them – through the Force or in any other way… via an intercom… D’OH! – is just stupid mistake.
While on the subject of negative notes about Maul… He talks far too much, damn it. The Maul we all loved in 1999’s Phantom Menace was quiet. He relied on actions, not words. The Maul from Rebels talks a lot, acts little (the scene with him defeating the Ghost crew in 5 seconds was impressive, though!), makes weird faces. To me he just looks and feels like a very different character, that only looks like Darth Maul. I know that he’s been denied death one too many times and has lived through a lot, but I still cannot accept him as the same figure.
Bendu, Ezra and Kanan
The scenes with Bendu seem to always bring to us, the audience, a piece of classic jedi training lesson. In the 2nd episode we see the Bendu teaching the 2 jedi that once a great secret is known, it cannot be unknown. When the jedi learn that the Sith Holocron is hiden deep inside a mysterious cave, Kanan uses that to teach his padawan a valuable lesson – how to solve problems without a weapon:
Bendu: Why take his weapon?
Kanan: He’s got to learn how to solve problems without one.
Another quote that caught my attention was how Kanan explains to Ezra his new ability to adapt and survive without his sight:
Kanan: I’ve been forced to see things differently since Malachor
Is this a play of words? Probably not, but I would like to treat it as such. What I mean by that is the usage of the word “forced”. The Force itself helps Kanan and teaches him how to live without being able to see things with his eyes. The Force itself had Forced him to learn that. But! It was actually The Bendu that did it. We still know very little about this creature. Can Bendu be an expression of The Force itself or perhaps this creature represents The Force in a physical form?
The visuals
I’ve said it more than once when asked – I never liked the style of Clone Wars. Now I kind of dislike the design of the characters and the style overall in Rebels either. What I do notice is that with each passing ear the environment, the effects and all the details in each scene become more and more detailed and beautiful to look at. Why am I telling you this? The scene with Ezra and Kanan landing on the asteroid base (forgive me, I don’t know if it has a name at this point, if it does, you would fill that gap in my knowledge, will you? :P). It looked absolutely stunning for a Weekly Show production.
Opening the Holocrons
This moment wasn’t just cool to look at. It gave us, the Star Wars junkies some new knowledge and facts to play with. What I would mostly want to talk about here, though, is the quotes from both Ezra and Maul during the opening process. Ezra’s “Twin Suns” and Maul’s “He lives” are as interesting as they are unfinished and mysterious.
I would like to believe that Ezra is talking about Tatooine’s Two Suns and the future of the Rebelion, how Luke is their “only hope” for destroying the Sith. Which he did, actually! Ezra tells Kanan that he did see images of events and planets that he cannot explain and recognize. This to me is a good enough proof that the above quoted line was about the 2 suns of Tatooine.
Maul’s line, though… It’s hard for me to tell if it’s about Obi-Wan, who is stranded on the same planet Tatooine or is it about Kanan. After all just a few minutes ago he attempted to kill the jedi and this line comes right after Kanan’s voice is heard, interrupting the concentration of both Ezra and Maul.
I must admit, it’s a little annoying not knowing more about the process of combining holocrons (according to the new canon). For example – what would happen if you open together 2 random holocrons? Do they need to hold similar knowledge and information to be effective when opened together? Does the “library of information” hidden inside them matter or any 2 red and blue holocrons can be matched to open a mysterious portal through The Force and learn anything/everything?
Final verdict
Fantastic episode. So much jedi and sith lore, that I almost didn’t notice Thrawn’s total absence for the full ~22 minutes. It was an episode deeply connected to the main story and plot of the show. I kind of like how it is all developing so far. From what I saw is coming in Episode 3, it might mean that we are taking a short break from the main plot and next week will be a cool side story.
