At this point, I have seen the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels, Twin Suns, twice. I wanted to watch it a second time before writing about it because I didn’t want to be swayed by my initial reaction to it. And I’m glad I waited. I’ve ready many reviews, tweets, and posts about the episode and as such, I know I am coming late to the game. But I think I am coming prepared.

If you haven’t watched the Twin Suns episode, then I would recommend you stop reading now. This post contains many spoilers. But, if you haven’t heard about what happened, this may actually be your first time on the internet. As such, I welcome you stranger.

Episode Summary

Twin Suns begins will a weary Maul wandering the deserts of Tatooine. He’s contemplating his own death as he things the suns might be too much for him. Instead of succumbing to the heat of the day, Maul reaches out, through the force, and sends a message to Ezra. Ezra, on Chopper Base, gets Maul’s message and realizes where he is.

Feeling responsible somehow, probably because like Anakin—Ezra has a Jesus complex, Ezra feels compelled to save/warn Kenobi. As if Kenobi needed the help of a padawan. When Ezra gets to the planet, he is ambushed by Tuskan Raiders, loses his way in the desert, and is eventually rescued by one of the last Jedi Masters.

Kenobi builds a camp. Ezra tries to convince him that he and Kenobi can work together to defeat Maul. Kenobi drops some truth bombs on Ezra and, when Maul shows up, sends the young one on his way. The fight between Maul and Kenobi is short and poetic and I’ll talk about it later on. The episode ends with a picture of Owen Lar’s moisture farm and Aunt Beru calling out “Luke.”

Things We Learn from this Episode

There are some key elements that I want to highlight about this episode. These are important things we learn from conversations and actions, mixed together with a little speculation.

Ezra Hears Voices

In the very beginning of the episode, Maul contacts Ezra using the holocrons. I’m not sure if all holocrons act as long-range walkie-talkies, or maybe it’s just this one. But in the message, Ezra clearly hears Maul’s voice. When he presented the events to the Ghost crew, Kanan is quick to point out that Ezra has heard his voice before.

Now, we know from previous episodes and seasons that Ezra has a sympathy with the force. He has the power to communicate. We saw it in this episode with Maul and we’ve also seen it in a number of episodes with a variety of animal life (space whales, for example).

I wonder if someone powerful will eventually try and contact Ezra. We know from the final installment of the Aftermath series that Palpatine was in contact with someone or something from the unknown region. I believe this to be Snoke. Could Snoke make contact with our young and impressionable padawan? I think it’s possible.

Kenobi is Still Sharp

Even though Kenobi was in this episode for less than 5 minutes, we learn a lot from his actions in it. Kenobi called Ezra by his full name, which means he knew who he was. We also know that he was aware of Maul’s presence on Tatooine. When Ezra asks him about how he knew about Maul, Kenobi responds with, “One does not live this long without being careful.” Now, Chopper could have told him all about Maul and Ezra; that’s something Chopper would do. That’s one very real possibility. He could also still be in contact with Bail Organa, but from what we saw in Rogue One, that seems unlikely. It’s possible that Obi-wan was in contact with Yoda, who knew all about the young one from Lothal.

Another thing we see is that Kenobi just dominates Maul. If you have heard or figured it out by now, Maul dies. And the fight was over in 3 swings. But even when Maul first shows up, it looks like Kenobi has no intent to fight. It’s not until Maul threatens what Kenobi is there to protect that the Jedi ignites his saber. Maul attacks and Kenobi defends. Again, like with his fight against Vader on Mustafar, Obi-wan Kenobi embodies the teachings of the Jedi and only defends. Even when he nearly bisected his former padawan, he was always just defending himself.

Now, it’s my belief that during his time on the desert world, Obi-Wan Kenobi honed his skills with the force and with the blade and by the time he fought Maul, he was truly a master of the defensive style.  Which makes my speculation in the section below all the more meaningful.

Kenobi Truly Believes in Luke

With his dying words, Maul’s asks Kenobi if the boy he is protecting is the chosen one. Kenobi says that he is. As the episode comes to an end, we see Kenobi watching the young Luke from a distance, once again saving him from an unknown danger so that one day he may potentially bring balance to the force.

It was a powerful moment where we see the old master looking on with resolve at the ward he was sent to protect. Kenobi gave up any chance of a life in the Jedi Order. When it was over, he dedicated what was left of it to restoring peace. The final scene of Twin Suns was powerful.

Things We Can Predict from this Episode

Now there are two things that we can glean from this episode.

Maul’s Death Triggers Thrawn

In an earlier episode, Maul tells Ezra and Kanan that in the event of his death, a message will be sent to the Empire informing them of the location of Chopper base. Thrawn has the base narrowed down to a handful of planets, but we with Maul’s death, Thrawn will have the exact coordinates. Trailers for the season 3 finale indicate as much.

Kenobi’s Death was Planned

Kenobi refers to his protected as a new hope. He believes so much in Luke that he dedicated his life to protecting him. If he was willing to live for Luke, then he would surely be willing to die for him as well. Twin Suns puts the fight between Vader and Kenobi on the Death Star in a new light.

Kenobi says to Vader that if strikes him down, the old master will become more powerful than he could possibly imagine. Vader kills Kenobi and poof, force ghost. If my assumption is correct, and Kenobi was truly a Jedi who mastered defense, then I speculate that he could have beaten Vader in the fight. But if he did so, then the force would remain unbalanced, and Luke would eventually fall to the dark side.

Kenobi’s choice to die was intended to bring balance to the force.

I’ve heard it said that true fans will either completely love the episode or completely hate it. Initially, I didn’t like it as much. My second viewing showed me just how meaningful Kenobi’s life was. It also made me believe that we won’t be seeing a feature film of the former master, but we will be getting to know more about his life through the new canon.

What did you think about Twin Suns? Was the fight between Maul and Kenobi too anticlimactic? Leave a comment in the section below and let’s discuss.