Star Wars Rebels: "The Holocrons of Fate" Review

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Two Holocrons are better than one.

By Eric Goldman

Note: "Holocrons of Fate" is now available to view on WatchDisneyXD.com, prior to airing on Disney XD on Saturday night. Full spoilers for the episode follow.

So… “Twin suns.”

So… “He lives.”

The final few minutes of this episode were fascinating for many reasons, including the unique and awesome visual of Ezra and Maul bathed in that light from the two Holocrons. But it was those tiny hints at what they saw that would make most Star Wars fans sit up and take notice.

We have to be talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi, right?

There’s a lot to ponder here. Ezra was searching for a way to defeat the Sith and “Twin suns” makes sense since Luke is on Tatooine and plays such a crucial role in ending the Sith. But Maul’s “He lives” seems to be about something else – something already familiar to him. Anakin being alive wouldn’t be that important to Maul, but Obi-Wan? That’s a revenge Maul’s been after for decades.

Sure, this could all be a fake out and everything Maul and Ezra referred to could be about something else entirely. But if it’s not, then it’ll be interesting to see how Obi-Wan might become involved in these events without disrupting what we know about where he was when the original Star Wars (Episode IV) began. As for Luke, could he pop up? I suppose, but that would need to be more of a “running into Ezra and Kanan in Anchorhead and not realizing their importance” type of thing. Right now though, it’s hard not to think Rebels may be heading to Tatooine soon.

Prior to that ending, this episode was notable as the first time we got a true spotlight on Maul in Rebels, given his only other appearance was in Season 2’s jam-packed season finale. It was really funny when Maul screamed in frustration, unable to open the Holocron as his prisoners overheard him, but I did worry about making Maul too comical a character. Fortunately, moments later he was ordering all the prisoners killed and it was clear he was just as nasty as ever. But when he told Ezra he was looking for “hope,” it seemed to paint a bigger picture of a guy who is, perhaps, feeling somewhat purposeless at this point. After all, he mentioned to Sabine he used to lead her people and now he’s leading a trio of droids (or was, until they were decapitated).

I was surprised to see Bendu again so soon, but it was a very fun use of the character. Obviously, this smart, powerful character has echoes of Yoda (and even a cave nearby!), but he has his own quirky sense of humor that helps him stand apart – his line about how Ezra or Kanan may find balance or may be eaten was great.

That being said, Ezra and Kanan resolving their issues felt really quick. It basically just was, “I feel bad you were blinded.” “It’s not your fault I was blinded.” We’ll see if that truly is the end of things though, as that Sith Holocron is still out there and now that Ezra had a taste of so much knowledge by bringing it together with Kanan’s Holocron, perhaps he’ll want more…

The Verdict

“The Holocrons of Fate” at first felt a bit low key for a Darth Maul episode, with moments like Maul’s capture of nearly the entire Ghost crew kept off-screen. However, things began to get more interesting as we learned about bringing the two Holocrons together – and it all culminated in an especially exciting “What?!” moment, as we got (or heard) some out of context fragments of what Ezra and Maul saw that seems to hint that a major connection to A New Hope may be coming, as the show heads towards the events of that film.

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