Following on the heels of the season premiere, “The Holocrons of Fate” centers on Ezra and Kanan as they try to find some sense of balance when Darth Maul takes the rest of the crew hostage in exchange for both the Jedi and Sith holocrons.  Some of the bigger moments take place off-screen, but that’s largely because this story has to fit the half-hour runtime. 

 

 

The idea that putting the two holocrons together would result in something revelatory, if incredibly dangerous, makes a good amount of sense if one sets aside the simplistic view of light/dark that the franchise has been saddled with since the beginning.  As often as the “light side” has been shown as preferable, there is an argument to be made that both sides choose to exclude certain aspects of the Force in their teachings.  In the era of Star Wars Rebels, the failing of the Old Republic Jedi are still fresh in mind, so perhaps a more nuanced treatment is on the horizon.

 

It makes sense, then, that Ezra is caught between the teachings of Kanan and Maul.  The melding of the holocrons becomes something of a metaphor for the dangerous potential that these “masters” will be invoking in Ezra.  Add to that Ezra’s vision of “two suns”, along with Maul’s realization that “he” is alive, and what seems like a convenient plot device promises to become so much more.  Is a confrontation between Maul and Obi-Wan on the horizon, with the latter’s protection of Luke as a plot point for Rebels as a whole?  Time will tell.

 

 

I also like that the crew hasn’t come back together fully in some blatantly artificial manner.  There are still rifts to be overcome and the characters have some issues to resolve before everyone can be anything close to one big happy family again.  They may not be until well into the season, or even towards the end of it.  But that befits the current status quo for Ezra as well: it will be some time, if ever, until he finds a way to integrate the various parts of himself into a recognizable whole.