The first shot after the opening titles for "Trials of the Darksaber" is a close up of one of Sabine's paintings. It depicts her and the rest of the Ghost crew, stood together in harmony like one happy family.
You won't be aware of this when you first watch the episode, but it's a surprisingly poignant shot to open the main story with. "Trials of the Darksaber" is an episode that focuses almost solely on Sabine as she learns to wield the Darksaber she discovered in the mid-season finale "Visions and Voices". It's an episode that requires nuance, subtlety and emotional weight - and Lord knows these aren't Star Wars Rebels' strongest attributes.
Which is why the episode - easily one of the strongest in the show's three year run - comes as such a surprise. It is wonderfully nuanced, appropriately subtle with its supporting characters, and deeply emotional in its conclusion. Dave Filoni's script is admirable in the ways it brings in almost all of the rest of the Ghost crew and allows us to see how they feel about Sabine's training and how their individual emotional responses are affecting them, but he does so without the episode losing focus on Sabine herself.
And speaking of Sabine, what a performance from Tiya Sircar here. It might not quite match Vanessa Marshall's superb accent breakdown Twi'lek back in Season Two's "Homecoming", but it's flat out the best vocal work of the season thus far. As Sabine reveals the real truth about her history on Mandalore, Sircar allows her voice to fluctuate between strength and fragility - we feel the anger explode from inside her, but also see how much it's been hurting her. It's a breathtaking sequence.
"Trials of the Darksaber" is an absolute knockout all round. The performances are great, the writing is exquisite, the cinematography and framing are exciting, and it even finds time for an inventive sequence of 2D animation depicting the history of the ancient Mandalorian weapon all in the glow of the Darksaber itself. And that, that right there is what makes "Trials of the Darksaber" so terrific.
It brings in a whole lot of stuff, but seamlessly binds it to one character and one story. Quite simply brilliant stuff.
Grade: A
You won't be aware of this when you first watch the episode, but it's a surprisingly poignant shot to open the main story with. "Trials of the Darksaber" is an episode that focuses almost solely on Sabine as she learns to wield the Darksaber she discovered in the mid-season finale "Visions and Voices". It's an episode that requires nuance, subtlety and emotional weight - and Lord knows these aren't Star Wars Rebels' strongest attributes.
Which is why the episode - easily one of the strongest in the show's three year run - comes as such a surprise. It is wonderfully nuanced, appropriately subtle with its supporting characters, and deeply emotional in its conclusion. Dave Filoni's script is admirable in the ways it brings in almost all of the rest of the Ghost crew and allows us to see how they feel about Sabine's training and how their individual emotional responses are affecting them, but he does so without the episode losing focus on Sabine herself.
And speaking of Sabine, what a performance from Tiya Sircar here. It might not quite match Vanessa Marshall's superb accent breakdown Twi'lek back in Season Two's "Homecoming", but it's flat out the best vocal work of the season thus far. As Sabine reveals the real truth about her history on Mandalore, Sircar allows her voice to fluctuate between strength and fragility - we feel the anger explode from inside her, but also see how much it's been hurting her. It's a breathtaking sequence.
"Trials of the Darksaber" is an absolute knockout all round. The performances are great, the writing is exquisite, the cinematography and framing are exciting, and it even finds time for an inventive sequence of 2D animation depicting the history of the ancient Mandalorian weapon all in the glow of the Darksaber itself. And that, that right there is what makes "Trials of the Darksaber" so terrific.
It brings in a whole lot of stuff, but seamlessly binds it to one character and one story. Quite simply brilliant stuff.
Grade: A