Darth Maul is back and he is looking for answers that only Ezra can provide…
During a mission briefing, Ezra begins seeing visions and hears Maul calling to him. Needless to say, this scares him to the point that he passes out. But it gets worse when he chases and attempts to harm someone who he believes is Maul only to find that it was only a Rebel soldier. Given the circumstances, Hera proceeds with the mission without Ezra, and Kanan asks Sabine to place a tracker on Ezra’s wrist-comm just to be save. Ezra and Kanan then journey to see the Bendu and inform him of the recent events. Ezra recounts the events of “The Holocrons of Fate” and how he and Maul had joined the Jedi and Sith holocrons in order to reveal the secrets of the universe. But the process was interrupted, destroying the holocrons in the resulting blast as well as leaving incomplete answers. The Bendu explains that this is not good, and asks Ezra what he wants: to which the young apprentice replies he wants to stop seeing Maul. The Bendu then warns them they should not turn around. However they do and there they see Darth Maul, for real this time.
Maul states that he did not come to fight but rather to talk to his “apprentice.” When the connection created by the joining the holocrons was severed, Maul was able to receive some fragments of Ezra’s memories which lead him to the Rebel Base (aka Chopper Base) on Atollon. With this in mind, Maul asks that Ezra come with him so that they can receive the answers the other saw, but if he doesn’t and if they choose to harm Maul a homing beacon will be activated alerting the Empire to their location. Despite Kanan’s protests, Ezra complies so that no danger will come to any of the Rebels on his account and that they can finally know the key to destroying the Sith. After they depart, Kanan and Sabine follow them thanks to the tracker that had been placed on Ezra earlier.
Maul and Ezra then arrive on Dathomir to perform what Maul calls “old magic” in cave dwelling where Nightsisters performed their ceremonies before they were wiped out. After studying their ways, he came up with a potion which will help to reveal the secrets that they each learned in the joining of the holocrons. Upon drinking the potion, their eyes turn green, shoot beams of light and together form a cloud in which they each receive the other’s knowledge. With this new revelation from Ezra’s memories, Maul declares that it will end where it started on a planet with twin suns. With the spell complete the spirits of the Nightsisters rise from the altar. Maul reveals that they now have to pay a debt for using their magic – their flesh and blood.
It is at this point that Kanan and Sabine enter the cave and unfortunately get possessed by the Nightsisters, and they proceed to attack Maul and Ezra. Maul has Ezra follow him under the pretext of saving his friends and it is discovered that their possession is limited since the altar is source of the Nightsisters’ power. Maul states Ezra should leave them behind given the circumstances and see this as an opportunity to embrace his destiny as his apprentice. Ezra rejects him saying they are responsible for what happened to them and that he refuses to abandon them. Maul goes on his way, remarking that he was a disappointment.
Ezra proceeds to rescue his friends, first by drawing Sabine out of the altar range thus releasing the Nightsister’s possession of her. He then goes in to help Kanan where he convinces the spirit possessing him that he is the one they want since he used their magic. When Kanan is released, Ezra then destroys the altar and by extension the Nightsisters’ power to exist from beyond the grave. Ezra then reveals that Obi-Wan Kenobi is alive (big shocker I know!) and that he is on a planet with twin suns (gee, I wonder which planet that could be). Kanan says they have to find Master Kenobi before Darth Maul does so they do not lost their chance to destroy the Sith once and for all. Before they go, Sabine finds the Darksaber (a symbol of leadership in Mandalorian culture) that was within Maul’s possessions and takes it with her.
This was a great follow-up to the events in “The Holocrons of Fate” as well as offering some great foreshadowing for future episodes to come; too bad that we have until next year for the second half of the season to find out. I liked how elements of The Clone Wars series was brought back in the references to the Nightsisters as well as to the Takeover of Mandalore Arc as well. It is clear now that the intention is to bring Obi-Wan Kenobi into the series and I can wait to see how it takes shape in the coming months.
Rating:
Fandom Factory 