Haunted by visions of Maul, Ezra has to journey across the Galaxy. Upon arriving at his destination, he has to participate in a strange ritual to sever his connection to Maul.
Tropes in this episode:
- Arc Words: "Where it all began", "a desert planet with twin suns".
- Bilingual Bonus: The writing on the wall in Maul's hideout says "KENOBI" in Mandalorian.
- Binary Suns: When Ezra says they have to look for Obi-Wan on a planet with "twin suns", Sabine notes that this doesn't exactly narrow it down, showing that binary systems are relatively common in this world-setting (as indeed they are in real life). This isn't a problem for Maul, who correctly guesses that it's Tatooine due to its shared significance in their pasts.
- Book Ends: Invoked by Maul, who clearly feels his struggles with Obi-Wan will end where he first encountered the Jedi, Tatooine.
- Call-Back:
- Most of the episode is set on Dathomir. Maul notes that the Nightsisters who used to inhabit it were wiped out, for being masterful witches who were "a threat the Empire."
- The Darksaber returns after last being seen in Maul's hands in Son of Dathomir, being found by Ezra in Maul's hideout before falling into Sabine's hands.
- Maul and Ezra have fragments of memories from each other after the holocron fusion was cut short. The two broken holocrons can be seen on a shelf in Ezra's quarters.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ezra once again has visions.
- The rebels are in the final planning stages of their assault on Lothal's factories, as discussed in "Steps Into Shadow", "The Last Battle", and "An Inside Man".
- Among other relics acquired in his past such as the Darksaber, Mandalorian supercommando helmets and dismantled B1 battle droid parts, Maul is apparently still in possession of Duchess Satine's portrait (seen as a section of her leitmotif plays, no less), serving as call backs to his takeover of Mandalore and leadership of the Shadow Collective during the Clone Wars. Likewise, Maul now maintains a hideout in the abandoned temples of the Nightsisters, and appears to utilize his mother's crystal ball.
- Maul realizes Obi-Wan is hiding on Tatooine, "where it began".
- When Ezra sees Obi-Wan as well, he says "I know him." He should — he saw Obi-Wan's message in Kanan's holocron back in the pilot.
- He also uses the typical warning against the Dark Side ("strike me down") again to warn Kanan and Ezra about his Dead Man Switch.
- The green glowing eyes that Kanan and Sabine get from being possessed by the Nightsister ghosts — as well as the ghosts' desire to rebuild their clan by possessing others — is reminiscent of the time that Mother Talzin possessed Count Dooku to restore her physical form.
- Kanan has to gently persuade Hera to trust in his reassurances and she leaves for her mission quite forlornly. While not stated aloud, it's clear she's thinking of their departure to Malachor.
- Creepy Souvenir: Maul's collection of various artifacts from previous events in his life hold significance to him, but seems to be nothing more than a pile of junk to Ezra.
- Dead Man Switch: Maul sets up a beacon that will activate if he's harmed, thus exposing Chopper Base to the Empire, which keeps the Jedi from killing him outright.
- Defacement Insult: Maul has defaced the portrait of the late Satine by crossing out her eyes and drawing a slash over her throat in red.
- Delirious Misidentification: Ezra nearly kills a rebel soldier that he sees as Maul.
- Demonic Possession: Sabine and Kanan get possessed by Nightsister spirits.
- Dramatic Irony: Ezra, Kanan and Sabine take comfort in the fact that Maul has no more information on Obi-Wan's whereabouts than they do since binary systems are relatively common. Unbeknownst to them, Maul has correctly deduced that the world is Tatooine, a place of significance to them both. On the other hand, we know Maul obviously isn't going to succeed in killing Obi-Wan.
- Dual Wielding: Ezra takes his lightsaber and the Darksaber to destroy the altar.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Maul continues to be thoroughly delusional about Ezra's loyalty to his friends, fully expecting Ezra to leave them after they've been possessed and become his apprentice. Ezra calls Maul out on this, stating his refusal to abandon his family.
- Field Power Effect: The Nightsisters' magic is tied to Dathomir, and more directly to the altar. Ezra manages to exorcise Sabine by pushing her outside the boundaries of the cave, forcing the spirit to leave.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Nightsister visions tell of a "desert planet" with "twin suns". Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Star Wars will immediately think of Tatooine. "Where it all began" indeed.
- Sabine picks up the Darksaber, with a none-too-subtle musical cue when she does so.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the end of the ritual, the glowing spirit ichor floating above Ezra and Maul briefly forms into Tatooine and its suns.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The possessed all have glowing green eyes filled with spirit ichor. Maul's eyes also glow slightly when he's shrouded in darkness, particularly in Ezra's hallucinations.
- Grail in the Garbage: Ezra mistakes Maul's collection of relics for a junkpile at first, and there is a lot of standard junk mixed in with the artifacts.
- Guile Hero: Ezra convinces the spirit to leave Kanan by offering himself as a suitable host, then destroys the altar once he's free.
- Hallucinations: Rather than passing out or having them in his sleep, Ezra starts seeing and hearing Maul on the base (despite him not actually being there). Justified, since they aren't natural Force visions.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted. Sabine questions why Ezra would continue to trust Maul despite past betrayals (similar to how he's willing to put his faith in a con-man like Hondo). However, Kanan clarifies that Ezra doesn't trust Maul anymore, and is only agreeing to go to get the information he wants and to protect their base from being exposed by Maul. Ezra demonstrates this mistrust on multiple occasions, most notably when he refuses to drink the potion for the ritual until Maul does it first to prove it's not harmful.
- Hypocrite: Maul commanding Ezra to let go of his attachments — Kanan and Sabine — all while begging Ezra to essentially be his replacement for his deceased brother. Not to mention he also demands Ezra "forget the past", you know, like Maul himself clearly hasn't done, given his obsessive need for revenge against Palpatine for ruining his life.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ezra attempts this (by name!) with Kanan and Sabine, but it doesn't work.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Ezra offers himself up to the Nightsister spirit possessing Kanan. Once the spirit leaves, he uses the opportunity to attack the altar, which the spirit can no longer defend.
- Internal Reveal: Kanan, Ezra and Sabine conclude that Obi-Wan Kenobi is possibly still alive. Maul finds out where he's hiding and decides to further search for him.
- The Lost Lenore: Maul's subtle Freudian Slip at indirectly referring to Ezra as his brother confirms that Ezra has been his stand-in for Savage.
- Mental Fusion: Ezra and Maul briefly form one to put together the clues they got from both Holocrons.
- Mood-Swinger: Maul's Sanity Slippage from the Holocron fusion is starting to show, especially in his last conversation with Ezra where he snaps back and forth between angry and genuinely pleading, and starts laughing for seemingly no reason at the end of it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- The Bendu warns that while merging the Holocrons carried great danger, breaking the connection before they got their answer has its own consequences.
- Kanan and Sabine arrive on Dathomir to save Ezra, but are possessed and forced to fight him instead. It also allows Maul to escape with Obi-Wan's location, while the rebels only have a vague hint as to where to look.
- Now You Tell Me: Ezra, when Maul reveals that the price of using the Nightsisters' magic is getting possessed by them.
- Power at a Price: The Nightsister spirits will grant their magic to those who ask, but in turn demand physical forms, and the ones that performed the ritual are fair game. Maul never intended to fulfill his end of the bargain, but Kanan and Sabine end up being taken when the spirits realize they'll be easier prey.
- Red Herring: The key to defeating the Sith found on a planet with twin suns is not Luke, as it was largely assumed, but Obi-Wan.
- Room Full of Crazy: Not too obvious at first, but Maul's hideout is covered in unintelligible drawings loosely linked together, he seems to have damaged most of his stuff, he's made some sort of pseudo shrine with Satine's defaced portrait and the Darksaber, and "Kenobi" is written in Mandalorian script on the wall with what appears to be blood.
- Soul Jar: The altar contains the spirits of dead Nightsisters, who allow Maul to use their power in exchange for physical bodies. Ezra ends up destroying it to stop them.
- Spanner in the Works: Had Kanan not stuck a tracking device on Ezra, Ezra and Maul would have either been possessed or escaped and been off to Tatooine, with the rebels having no clue where to look.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The Bendu pulls this when Maul arrives. Considering his size and that Kanan and Ezra only turned away for a few seconds, it's quite impressive.
- Take Me Instead: Ezra to the Nightsister spirit inhabiting Kanan, so that his friends won't be possessed anymore. This is just a trick to get the spirit out of Kanan so it can't defend the altar.
- Tracking Device: Kanan has Sabine covertly slip a tracker onto Ezra's wrist com before they visit the Bendu, just in case.
- Unexplained Recovery: Sabine has her blasters back, despite being kicked away and never being retrieved (and likely impossible to return to due to ISC presence) in "Imperial Supercommandos". Of course, it's possible she just found some of the same model and repainted them.
- Voice of the Legion: While possessed by the Nightsister spirits, their voices echo over Kanan and Sabine's.
- Wall Crawl: Sabine does this while possessed to ambush Ezra.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: With getting possessed being added to the list of bad things that have happened to Kanan when they've teamed up with Maul, Kanan says outright he doesn't care what Maul's holding over their heads, they are not teaming up with him again.
- We Will Meet Again: Although Ezra flatly rejects Maul's demand that he'll join him in his vengeance against Kenobi, Maul doesn't kill Ezra and simply scolds Ezra for disappointing him while slinking off to his ship in a manner that suggests that he will somehow have Ezra come around to him.
- Wham Episode: Ezra, Kanan and Sabine find out Obi-Wan Kenobi is still alive and is apparently "the key to destroying the Sith", while Maul (who already knew Obi-Wan still lived) now learns where he's actually hiding. The heroes are determined to find Obi-Wan before Maul does. Also, Sabine picks up the abandoned Darksaber and takes it as her own.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Maul's beacon is never mentioned again for the rest of the season, not even that it had been removed.
- Where It All Began:
- Maul deduces that the desert planet with two suns is Tatooine, where he first ran into Obi-Wan (though hardly a formal meeting) and where their final confrontation will soon take place. Maul even lampshades the irony.
- There's also the fact that the episode is set on Dathomir, where the setup for Darth Maul's return began (specifically, in Season 3 of The Clone Wars).
