“The Holocrons of Fate” ‘Star Wars Rebels’ S03E02 Review

The Holocrons of Fate, the second episode of the season, was another great one! More Bendu, the return of Maul, and some really interesting hints about the future!

The Episode

We open in space where Ezra and Kanan come upon a damaged transport ship. Upon discovering a lone survivor, they are told that a “red blade” had attacked them. Taking this to mean they were being hunted by a new Inquisitor, they quickly call Hera, but it’s too late. The red blade was not an Inquisitor, it was Darth Maul, and he has taken the rest of the Ghost crew captive. Maul tells them that their friends will remain safe, as long as they bring him the Sith holocron, as well as Kanan’s Jedi holocron. They agree, but when they disconnect, Kanan tells Ezra that while the Jedi holocron is still on board the Ghost, it may be difficult to retrieve the Sith holocron.

On board the Ghost, Maul requests a tour from Hera, and with no other choice, she complies. As they go from room to room, Maul makes it clear that he knows that Hera is keeping things from him, and proceeds to use the Force on her to discover the location of Kanan’s holocron.

Kanan and Ezra arrive on Atollon, where Kanan begins to call the Bendu, who has the Sith Holocron as Kanan had left it with him as a gift. When they find him, the Bendu tells them that Maul is likely planning to unite the holocrons to access knowledge far beyond what the holocrons are capable of on their own. When two such sources of knowledge are combined, they have the potential to grant the user the ability to see the future. Ezra tells him that they need they have no choice if they are to save their friends. The Bendu agrees, but tells him that as the holocron represents an imbalance between him and his master, they need to work together to retrieve it. He has hidden it deep in a cave filled with enormous Krykna Spiders and – if they can get it out – they can have it back.

Back on board the Ghost, Maul is getting frustrated with the Jedi holocron, as he cannot open it on his own. While he is temporarily distracted, the crew stage an escape, destroying Maul’s droids that have been holding them captive. Quickly, they make their way to the engine room and, as Maul approaches, Chopper magnetizes the ship, dragging maul to the ceiling – as his lower half is made of metal thanks to his encounter with Obi-Wan many years earlier. This proves to be futile, however, and he escapes, quickly overpowering the entire crew. He tells them they will only remain alive as long as they are of use to him.

On Atollon, Ezra is making his way through the caves with a comlink connecting him to Kanan who is guiding him using the force. Kanan has taken his lightsaber so he won’t spook the spiders, but its him who is spooked. The comlink is destroyed, forcing Kanan to go in after Ezra. Kanan rescues him, and then proceeds to use the Force to guide them through the cave. As they walk Ezra apologizes him for his actions on Malachor that led to Kanan’s blindness, but Kanan tells him that he’s never blamed him and that it’s time he forgave himself. “Yes, master,” Ezra replies, and the two embrace.

Deep inside the cave they finally discover the holocron, sitting on the back of one of the spiders, in the middle of a huge nest of spiders. They retrieve the holocron, and Kanan sends the spiders away peacefully. When they emerge, the Bendu tells them that their conflict has ended, but their true struggle has only begun. Maul will be unable to open the Jedi holocron without them, meaning that one of them will end up having the same power as Maul. The Bendu tells them to do what they must, but the power will come with a price, once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown.

When they arrive at the rendezvous point, Maul orders his droids to take Ezra to the command center, and tells Kanan to follow him. When they are alone, Maul regretfully tells Kanan that he never meant to blind him. Kanan replies sarcastically that he may not have meant to blind him, but he was trying to kill him. “Well, if at first you don’t succeed,” Maul snaps back, and he shoves him out of an airlock into space. Kanan manages to grab hold of the ship before drifting into the void, and using the Force, he propels himself up, through a hanger, and back into the ship.

At the command center, Maul returns to Ezra. As he enters the room, he whispers to one of his droids to terminate the prisoners. Approaching Ezra, he tells him that he upheld his end of the bargain, now he needs the holocron. As the two sit down together, Maul asks Ezra what he wants. “You know what I want,” he replies, “I want to destroy the Sith.” Maul compliments him on his ambition and tells him that he seeks something equally as elusive: hope. They begin opening the holocrons, which merge together and emit a blinding light that fills the room, engulfing them.

Meanwhile, Maul’s droids are just about to execute the rest of the crew when they are all suddenly decapitated from behind. It’s Kanan! He frees the Ghost crew and they take off running to find Ezra.

As they look into the holocrons, Maul is seeing nothing, and says they must go deeper. Ezra sees something, but can’t quite make it out. The rebels burst in, but they can’t see anything through the blinding light. Except for Kanan! Somehow he can hazily see through the light and he makes his way toward them, telling Ezra to remember Bendu’s warning. “I see him!” exclaims Maul. “Twin suns,” Ezra replies. “It’s not worth it!” Kanan exclaims, and Ezra shuts his eyes, causing the holocrons to collapse and the light to explode, knocking everyone back. Maul takes that moment of shock as a chance to escape, and as he flies away he laughs to himself, “He lives… He lives!”

When he comes to, Ezra tells them that he doesn’t really know what happened. He doesn’t know what he was seeing, whether it’s what he wanted to see, or what Maul wanted to see. He just saw images of places and planets, some familiar, some not, and he doesn’t know what any of them meant. “I’m sure we’ll find out together,” Kanan tells him.

Final Thoughts

Before I give my thoughts on the episode, I just wanted to share this one random thought I had while watching it. Did anyone else think that Maul’s droids looked like they had emoji faces? I mean look at this guy.

[;   /;   |;   Something like that. Anyone? Maybe it’s just me. :p

Anyway, this was a great second episode. We wasted no time at all in getting back to Maul, and we even got to see Bendu again, after his mysterious debut in the premiere. He’s such an interesting character, I hope we get to learn more about him in the future.

My only complaint is that it would seem Ezra’s flirtation with the Dark Side has ended. I was really looking forward to getting an epic struggle out of that story line, but it seems as though it has ended just as quickly as it began, giving us really only one good episode about it. Ezra has always been a tiny bit of a Mary Sue for me. Not entirely, but enough that I am annoyed with him at times. I was really hoping that this Dark Side story line would be drawn out and really make me appreciate his character more. I’m sure that is still possible, but for now it seems as though it’s been swept away and forgotten. I hope I’m wrong, but we’ll see.

My biggest questions from this episode are probably the same questions on everyone’s mind. What, or who, did Maul and Ezra see? Was it just one person? It would appear that Maul was looking for a specific person, and Ezra’s statement about seeing twin suns is a huge clue. My first thought was Luke, but it’s doubtful that is who Maul is looking for. My feeling is that Maul was looking for Obi-Wan. After all, Obi-Wan was the one who chopped him in half all those years ago, it’s very likely that Maul is still looking for revenge. The only thing that keeps me from saying definitively that that is what this was about, was Maul’s comment about seeking hope. Though, perhaps in some twisted way, he sees revenge as hope. Who knows. Anyway, could we eventually see Obi-Wan in a Rebels episode? I guess time will tell.

What did you think of this episode? What do you think that Maul and Ezra saw in the holocrons?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes