Browsing through my Roku channels/apps, I was very surprise to see that the first episode of Season 2 was up to watch. I haven't heard diddly squat about the show coming back or when it would premiere. Doing a bit of research, I see that the original airdate was back in April and that the second episode is schedule for....September 2015. What the f*ck!!! Since I'm watching Rebels strictly through Roku, I have no idea if this is the norm by having air dates so far apart. I get that it takes time to make a series with this level of animation and will take longer to put together. I just thought that they would have more episodes in the can before airing. Anyway, as far as this particular episode goes, it was great because it comes with a great surprise. In Season 1 we get a tiny cameo from Darth Vader. In this episode we get a lot of Vader as he's the primary villain (as he should be). Furthermore, we also get Lando, making this feel even more at home in the Star Wars Universe. Props to actually getting both James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams to reprise their iconic roles. We also get a VO of the Emperor, but it's not voiced by Ian McDiarmid, but instead by Sam Witwer from Battlestar Galatica. He does a good job, but I would prefer that they get McDiarmid.


UPDATE:
Okay, digging a little bit deeper, I found out that Star Wars Rebels:The Siege of Lothal was a standalone movie that premiered at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in April 2015. So that makes sense as to why there is a huge gap between April and what will be the start of Season 2 in September.

Easily one of the best episodes ever for Rebels. A totally different vibe and feel for this one. It's like they purposely made an effort to do something different from the average episode. This one had the return of Darth Vader. Yay! It also gave us Yoda, Anakin Skywalker and the return of The Grand Inquisitor, kinda. Very cool nun-chuck lightsaber he had. I love that they are able to get James Earl Jones and Frank Oz to reprise their iconic characters. This season has been phenomenal. The previous episode was also great to with Zeb and Agent Kallus having to work together in order to survive. Part me thinks this is going to be a big shift in Kallus. It just felt that he had an epiphany at the end that he was in fact on the wrong side (The Empire). I really want to see how this story plays out.

Best. Episode. Ever! Now THAT is how you do a Season Finale and even better, I didn't know what to expect because the episode was a long con right from the start. Twilight of the Apprentice was written and designed for the die-hard Star Wars fan and it delivers. As you already know, this is the episode that reintroduces Darth Maul and it was misleading which helped sell the long con.  Having Maul basically take on his own version of Yoda did throw me off a bit at first. I was expecting to get the classic Darth Maul from Phantom Menace. But we get this Yoda/Emperor type of character as he tries to lure Ezra to the dark side. Even giving Maul a walking stick/cane went a long way to convince me he was battle worn and "old". I kept waiting for him to reveal his true self and he finally does, but then it's as a 'Good Guy'. I wasn't expecting to see him battling the Inquisitors and I certainly wasn't expecting to see him killing all 3. Very shocked! I'm gonna miss Seventh Sister (Sarah Michelle Gellar).

I thought it was a great reveal when we see Darth Maul unsheathing his iconic Saber from his cane. Very cool. I also thought it was kinda cool to see that the Inquisitors are able to turn their propellers Sabers into a mode of transportation. They should have used that as a mode of escape to get away from Maul. Too late. As great as it was to see Maul, leave it to Darth Vader to upstage him. We get an epic duel between Vader, Ezra and more importantly....Ahsoka. She even split his helmet, revealing Skywalker underneath. The final shot/camera pan, zoom and tracking shot to close out the episode was fantastic. It gave me goosebumps. We see Maul flying off into space in his Tie-Fighter, we see Vader hobbling out from the ashes of the Sith Temple and I think I saw Ahsoka hiding in the shadows of what was left of the Temple. Not entirely sure. Anyway, this episode was great and I can't wait for Season 3. One thing that was hinted at in this episode is the potential of a Maul/Vader duel. Could it happen in Season 3? I really hope it does.