So I just finished the season 2 finale for the show (which I was not expecting, there was only subtle buildup to it), and man, it was great!
<spoiler= Summary. Spoilers, obviously>Ahsoka, Ezra, and Kanan go to the Sith planet Malachor, where they find a creepy ass Sith temple full of bodies of Jedi and Sith, weird ashy statues like the ones you would find in Pompeii. Sith mind bomb anyone? So they encounter another Inquisitor, the Eighth Brother, who is hunting Maul. Yes, Darth Maul. Maul manipulates Ezra, turning him into a pseudo-apprentice. Maul helps Ezra find a Sith holocron, which turns out to be a key for the temple, which also turns out to be a battlestation of some kind. In a fight to get to the top of temple where it can be activated, Maul kills two of the Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister. The Eighth Brother supposedly falls to his death, but so did Maul and he's alive. And the most important change: Kanan is now blind! When Maul turns on the Jedi (he was pretending to be on their side), he slashes Kanan's eyes out. Kanan fumbles around and gets a helmet off a dead Jedi, and beats Maul despite his blindness. Then bloody Darth Vader comes into the fray, and has an epic battle with Ahsoka. She slices off his breather, and sees his face and hears his voice, and knows that her old master has gone to the dark side.
It ends with Ahsoka's fate unknown, as the other Jedi were forced to leave her behind. Maul is flying off enraged by temple's destruction (he was to use to get his revenge on the Emperor), and Vader is battle damaged but alive, seemingly alone on Malachor.
Kanan and Ezra return to the Rebel base, with Kanan looking full on General Kota. Everyone is depressed by Kanan's injuries, and Ahsoka's absence (especially Rex).
The last scene is Ezra meditating on the Sith holocron, and he somehow manages to open it. Keep in mind, during the entire two episodes (yeah, the finale is split in two) they constantly emphasized how the holocron could only be opened by a Sith- or someone thinking like a Sith
To explain the finale without spoilers is impossible, but I can certainly describe it.
The world of Malachor is amazingly detailed, and a slap on the face to those who kept complaining that they kept going back to Lothal. There is a lot to infer about the planet, such as the bodies strewed around and the odd shiny surface. The music and sound effects were stellar, the new lightsabers have awesome sounds, and the when someone uses the Force in a dark side way, there is a different sound effect, like a tiger roaring. The music is perfect, shifting from creepy to frantic to classic Star Wars.
The only thing that the episode does not have that the Clone Wars did is the high quality of fight animation. While it has as much detail and thought put into it as the Clone Wars, the fights are never prolonged and are a lot slower in action.
All in all, this was a perfect season finale. The show's villains were defeated, yet the heroes still lost. There are enough loose ends to tide fans over to the next season, and yet enough closure as well.
For those who have been keeping up with Rebels, how did you find the finale? How do you think things will go down in Season 3?
<spoiler= Summary. Spoilers, obviously>Ahsoka, Ezra, and Kanan go to the Sith planet Malachor, where they find a creepy ass Sith temple full of bodies of Jedi and Sith, weird ashy statues like the ones you would find in Pompeii. Sith mind bomb anyone? So they encounter another Inquisitor, the Eighth Brother, who is hunting Maul. Yes, Darth Maul. Maul manipulates Ezra, turning him into a pseudo-apprentice. Maul helps Ezra find a Sith holocron, which turns out to be a key for the temple, which also turns out to be a battlestation of some kind. In a fight to get to the top of temple where it can be activated, Maul kills two of the Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister. The Eighth Brother supposedly falls to his death, but so did Maul and he's alive. And the most important change: Kanan is now blind! When Maul turns on the Jedi (he was pretending to be on their side), he slashes Kanan's eyes out. Kanan fumbles around and gets a helmet off a dead Jedi, and beats Maul despite his blindness. Then bloody Darth Vader comes into the fray, and has an epic battle with Ahsoka. She slices off his breather, and sees his face and hears his voice, and knows that her old master has gone to the dark side.
It ends with Ahsoka's fate unknown, as the other Jedi were forced to leave her behind. Maul is flying off enraged by temple's destruction (he was to use to get his revenge on the Emperor), and Vader is battle damaged but alive, seemingly alone on Malachor.
Kanan and Ezra return to the Rebel base, with Kanan looking full on General Kota. Everyone is depressed by Kanan's injuries, and Ahsoka's absence (especially Rex).
The last scene is Ezra meditating on the Sith holocron, and he somehow manages to open it. Keep in mind, during the entire two episodes (yeah, the finale is split in two) they constantly emphasized how the holocron could only be opened by a Sith- or someone thinking like a Sith
To explain the finale without spoilers is impossible, but I can certainly describe it.
The world of Malachor is amazingly detailed, and a slap on the face to those who kept complaining that they kept going back to Lothal. There is a lot to infer about the planet, such as the bodies strewed around and the odd shiny surface. The music and sound effects were stellar, the new lightsabers have awesome sounds, and the when someone uses the Force in a dark side way, there is a different sound effect, like a tiger roaring. The music is perfect, shifting from creepy to frantic to classic Star Wars.
The only thing that the episode does not have that the Clone Wars did is the high quality of fight animation. While it has as much detail and thought put into it as the Clone Wars, the fights are never prolonged and are a lot slower in action.
All in all, this was a perfect season finale. The show's villains were defeated, yet the heroes still lost. There are enough loose ends to tide fans over to the next season, and yet enough closure as well.
For those who have been keeping up with Rebels, how did you find the finale? How do you think things will go down in Season 3?