Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode 15 'Trials Of The Dark Saber' [Review]

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel, and today we will be reviewing Star Wars Rebels Season 3, Episode 15, Trials of the Darksaber. So guys, um, this was one of the best Star Wars Rebels episodes I've seen in a long time. Um, I remember seeing the trailers to this episode and thinking while Sabine will wield the Darksaber, you know, which is a weapon, as we've learned, only wielded primarily by Mandalorians. But also, we once saw it wielded by Darth Maul, I believe, in the Clone Wars. And so we open up with Fenn Rau explaining that whoever can wield the Darksaber can possibly unite Mandalore under one leader. And if Sabine could do that, she could possibly unify Mandalore behind her and help with the Rebel attack at Lothal. So we get this very cool, uh, puppet imagery of the history of the Darksaber, and, uh, it explains, um, I believe it was like 1,000 years ago that the first Mandalorian Jedi used the Darksaber to conquer all enemies and unite Mandalore under one clan, under one rule. And so we kind of have this Arthurian Excalibur type situation where the person who holds the blade and wields it is destined to be the promised leader or the true leader. So at this point, Sabine is the reluctant leader. She doesn't want this destiny. So Hera and Kanan, after careful consideration, they have to ask that Sabine reconsider as they need Mandalorian warriors. This could help them out tremendously. So Sabine feels obligated to do this for the crew, so she agrees to be trained. To wield the Darksaber. And so Kanan, along with Ezra, go off on their own to train Sabine. So, uh, as we've seen from the past episodes and history of Sabine, she's very much the capable warrior. She's a weapon specialist. She's very handy with blasters and bombs. However, this is a different weapon for Sabine. It requires a different discipline. Blades such as these are very elegant weapons, and we understand that through the Star Wars series that it's an art form to fighting, you know, with sabers, that it takes years of training. And they seemingly are trying to infuse all of this on Sabine in a very short period of time, as time is not a luxury they have in large supply at the moment. So Sabine is using the skills she has, you know, they just aren't working well, and Kanan can't train her well, or he can't train her because of her lack of open-mindedness. You know, she's, uh, just not at the level with the saber he needs her to be, or she needs to be. So he sends Ezra to go over the very basics, you know, and time after time Sabine is failing. She just can't get it together, and at this stage they are training basically with sparring weapons, sticks, non-lethal weapons, you know, as it would be too dangerous at her skill level to train with the actual Darksaber. So there's a lot of frustration. Sabine is somewhat discouraged as well as Kanan. So Finn comes in to boost Sabine's spirits a bit. He gives her some Mandalorian weapons, grappling cables, and this type of sonic blaster weapon of some sort, and he wants her to use the weapons in her training. Uh, and so Sabine does use the weapons, and they do work initially to a degree. However, Kanan, um, is very— it's very easy for him to overcome the weapons, and he reminds Sabine that this is not a game, that the Jedi defeated the Mandalorians through history, and that the tactics will ultimately not be enough, that they won't work. So at this point Sabine has pretty much had it. She, she's just down and ready to give up, it seems. And, uh, Kanan has this talk with Hera, and, uh, Hera helps Kanan to see that Sabine is conflicted by many things. You know, her status with her family and the people of Mandalore— they consider her a traitor at this point. And, uh, Hera's basically telling Kanan that he needs to trust Sabine with the Darksaber. Let her come into it on her own and find her way. So as Sabine returns, we get Kanan taking Hera's advice, giving her the Darksaber and trusting her to fight in her own way. And what I found interesting about this scene, you know, as they described the weight of the Darksaber and how the crystals power them in, in general, I find it interesting because I always kind of wonder how heavy are, like, you know, our sabers, lightsabers, the Darksaber? And at first glance, uh, you won't think they're very heavy, you know. However, Sabine notes that the Darksaber is quite heavy, and it's explained by Kanan. It's heavy and has weight due to the pure energy of the crystals pulling energy from her body into the holder and into the weapon. So I found that the The description of how it creates weight and mass is very interesting. So we move on to the actual round of training, and it's not going so great at first with Sabine, like in the previous training sessions. However, this time Kanan is able to dig deep into what's holding Sabine back. And as we haven't got very deep into what Sabine's history was on Mandalore and what actually happened During the training session, Kanan hits a nerve and it comes pouring out of her, and she explains how she made weapons and the weapons were misused by the Empire against them, and how her family joined the Empire. And so we get that Sabine wasn't a traitor at all, and that her intentions were only to protect her family and her people. So in this moment, Sabine finds her strength And she's able to defeat Kanan with the Darksaber versus the lightsaber. So this was an awesome episode, one of my favorites so far. I, um, you know, really did like the training, how it was done. I thought the voice acting, the direction they went to show how they trained was excellent. Ezra was encouraging during the training, and we get wise counsel from, um, from Ezra as a student, and, uh, he gives, uh, Sabine— or I'm sorry, as a student to Kanan— and he, uh, gives emotional support to, uh, basically to Sabine, um, you know, letting her know, hey, you know, I understand what you went through, but at least your parents are still alive, because we know Ezra's parents aren't alive. So great episode. Unfortunately, the next episode won't air for another 4 weeks. So yeah, we'll be taking a break on our next review. Now this is my first review of Star Wars Rebels to the channel because the channel is still very new. It's only a few months old. However, I've been a big Star Wars Rebels fan since the beginning. So hope you enjoyed the episode. Don't forget to like and subscribe and join me on the next review of Star Wars Rebels. Take care, guys.