to pick my favorite episode, i tried to think of my favorite scenes in the series. the first of which is saw gerrera vs. mon mothma, but i wouldn’t consider “in the name of the rebellion” a favorite-tier episode. (it’s not bad, just not favorite-tier.) then i thought of the entire first 5 minutes of “visions and voices”, and i went with that because it’s definitely a favorite-tier episode. 

that first 5 minutes is so good. not much actually happens - much of that 5 minutes is ezra hallucinating - but the little bits in between are perfect: ezra fainting at the war table, the ghost family checking up on him, ezra nearly killing that random rebel, and hera leaving. a lot of little things come together to make that sequence so good: ezra’s fear, kanan and hera’s concern, the voice acting (especially taylor gray’s), the “camera” work, the music and sound effects, etc.

then there’s the meeting with the bendu, who’s always entertaining. and here, we get this iconic moment: “i want to stop seeing maul.” “then don’t turn around.”

every maul episode is just… godlike. 1) i love maul himself; this post does a good job of explaining some of the reasons why, which are relevant to this episode. 2) maul’s dynamic with every character he meets is excellent, kanan and ezra included. i could never get enough of the whole “he’s my apprentice” “no he’s my apprentice” thing with maul & kanan, and the whole “join me” “hmm… maybe the dark side has made some points” thing with maul & ezra (although ezra is kind of past that now). and, of course, 3) sam witwer’s voice acting is phenomenal. i could listen to him all day (and i do regularly listen to his battlefront 2 voice lines just for the fun of it). 

(and if you haven’t heard them, i highly recommend listening to battlefront 2 voice lines. there are some characters, e.g. anakin & vader, who would never interact otherwise and it’s so interesting to hear what they have to say to one another. it’s like something out of the mortis arc. and characters who have interacted before, e.g. anakin & dooku, interact in some new and entertaining ways.)

rapid-fire things i love next (literally the entire remainder of the episode): kanan’s theatrical display of arguing with ezra over going with maul (it strikes the perfect balance between convincing and melodramatic). returning to dathomir. ezra & maul’s conversation about the nightsisters & the “junk” maul collects. sabine & kanan’s conversation about ezra upon approaching mandalore. the ritual (“of course. it ends where it began. a desert planet with twin suns.”). kanan & sabine shooting at ghosts (just… 🤡). maul & ezra vs. kanan & sabine. maul’s last effort to get ezra to join him (the entire speech, but especially “as friends! as brothers.” 😔). ezra’s refusal & maul’s “k i give up bye.” ezra vs. sabine round two. ezra & sabine’s little conversation before ezra goes back for kanan. kanan vs. ezra. ezra destroying the altar. the final conversation between ezra & kanan & sabine. sabine taking the darksaber. 

it’s just moment after moment of perfection. it’s everything i could want from a rebels episode. there’s humor, angst, drama, action, and - most importantly - found family moments. and it focuses on two of my favorite characters, maul & ezra.

and a kind of “meta” thing i love is the way this episode comes together (returning to where maul’s story chronologically began & ezra and maul looking for the same thing with different motivations) as well as how it sets up for the future (“trials of the darksaber,” “twin suns,” and beyond, which are also some standout episodes).

now that i wrote this all out, it really stands out that there’s nothing noteworthy that i don’t like about the episode, which is extremely rare.