Star Wars Rebels returns this week, so refresh your mental hyperdrives with our recap of Star Wars Rebels season 2!
Oh, wait. Do you guys not read Aurebesh?
Fine, we’ll switch to English.
Star Wars Rebels season 2 began with the lingering threat of Darth Vader realized in full as he set up a trap for the rebels on Lothal. (Rest in peace, Minister Tua.) After a very close call in which both Kanan and Ezra crossed lightsabers with the mysterious Sith Lord, the crew was able to rendezvous with Ahsoka.
But Vader being Vader, he pursued the rebels into space and knocked out most of the fleet. While reaching out with the Force, Ahsoka and Vader felt each other’s presence and recognized each other — it was super dramatic, guys.
Luckily, the Emperor recalled Vader and dispatched two new Inquisitors to hunt the Ghost crew instead. The Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother would mostly prove to be nuisances throughout Star Wars Rebels season 2, but they did keep the Rebellion on their toes.
After picking up Ahsoka’s old friend clone Commander Rex, Ezra crossed paths with the slippery smuggler Hondo Ohnaka. Hera tested the B-Wing and was promoted to the leader of Phoenix Squadron, while Sabine met her old frenemy Ketsu Onyo and learned the importance of cooperation or something. (That wasn’t a great episode.)
Various close calls with the Empire, Agent Kallus, and the Inquisitors transpired, including one compelling incident where Kanan and Ezra had to save two Force-sensitive infants from the “redblades.” But the first major emotional climax of Star Wars Rebels season 2 arrived in the form of a vision Ezra had of his missing parents — which just so happened to coincide with a breakout from an Imperial prison.
Following his vision (and Force-connecting with a weird little lothcat) Ezra learned that his parents were, in fact, alive for much of their imprisonment. But their fellow prisoner, Lothal’s former governor, informed Ezra that his parents died helping the other prisoners escape. Ezra’s only solace, after years of believing his parents to be lost, was the fact that his mother and father heard and were inspired by the anti-Imperial message he once broadcast across Lothal.
After the mid-season break, Star Wars Rebels season 2 returned with a bang — and an appearance from a young Princess Leia. Later, Sabine was able to capture a powerful Mandalorian named Fenn Rau by revealing her heritage, Zeb helped surviving Lasaats find their ancestral home, and Ezra played with hyperspace whales… I mean purgill.
Hera had a painful homecoming to Ryloth and her dad Cham Syndulla, but it all turned out okay. Also, Kanan was adorably terrified to meet his girlfriend’s father, and Hera used to have a French accent.
In one of Star Wars Rebels season 2 most unique episodes, Zeb and Agent Kallus got stuck on a moon, and had to work together to survive. It turned out that Kallus had not intended to massacre the Lasaat, and that he had his own bad experiences. Upon returning to his Star Destroyer, he realized that literally nobody in the Empire gave a bantha fart about him, and tellingly kept a memento of his and Zeb’s adventure.
Increasingly desperate to escape the Inquisitors, Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka returned to the Jedi Temple on Lothal, where each had trippy Force visions. Kanan became a Jedi Knight after fighting a Temple guard who turned out to have been the Grand Inquisitor. Ahsoka dreamed of Anakin, and realized that he had become Darth Vader. Yoda appears to Ezra and tells him to find “Malachor,” which Ahsoka identified as a planet.
After Chopper found a new bestie and the Rebels found a giant-spider-infested-but-secret new base, Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra headed off to an ancient temple on Malachor. There, Ezra met Darth Maul, who now rejects the designation of Sith, but clearly had his own dark ends. Maul wanted an apprentice and a way to unlock a Sith holocron from the temple — and Ezra was a perfect fit for both jobs.
The Seventh Sister, Fifth Brother, and another random Inquisitor show up, and all met violent ends — but not before informing Darth Vader of their location. Kanan was blinded when Maul turned on him and Ahsoka, but Kanan kicked Maul’s replacement butt anyway. Ezra put the holocron in place, unlocking a creepy voice and a lot of evil power.
As he and Kanan struggled to remove the holocron, Vader arrived, and Anakin and Ahsoka had their long-awaited showdown.
The outcome was, in Avatar: The Last Airbender terms, “really unclear.” Ezra, Kanan, and Maul escaped the temple (seriously, Maul is an unkillable troll) but only a wounded Vader was seen leaving after the battle. Our last glimpse of Ahsoka was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimmer in the episode’s final moments, as the former apprentice seemed to proceed down a dark passage.
(Commence All The Theories.)
Finally, Ezra and Kanan returned to the Ghost. The crew, reeling with their losses, each reiterated to separate corners… which may have been a bad idea. Alone in his bunk, Ezra’s eyes flooded with livid red light, as he unlocked the Sith holocron all by himself.
So… that’s probably bad, right?
The Star Wars Rebels season 3 premiere, “Steps Into Shadow,” airs Thursday, Sept. 24 at 8:30 p.m.
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