Star Wars: Rebels (TV Series) Trials of the Darksaber (2017) User Reviews

A delicate focus on a sole character pushes Star Wars Rebels into greatness

[ryanjmorris · 10/10 · 21 January 2017]

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

The deepest, most emotional episode of Star Wars Rebels yet.

[texcomplex · 10/10 · 21 January 2017]

The focus of this episode is all on Sabine. From start to finish, it's all about her. Everything anyone says is related to her in some way. Its her episode, and its a brilliant one. As she learns to wield and fight with the Darksaber we learn many heartbreaking truths of her past, and begin to truly understand the pains she went through.

Sabine has always lacked in substantial character development, and this all came in one episode, and it was done superbly.

Dave Filoni's writing shined through in this story, the depth of Sabine's struggles, the parallels of Kanan teaching her and Ezra differently, and how he learned from his mistakes.

I was at a loss for words at the end. But this is the most well written episode of Star Wars Rebels yet, and is definitely the best of Season 3. Absolutely fantastic.

Finally some development with Sabine

[aydenjenkins · 10/10 · 22 August 2020]

Prior to this episode, I wasn't a fan of Sabine. She was the least interesting of the Ghost crew, she really didn't have that much struggles, was on top of almost everything that was thrown at her, and she just seemed like an edgy teen who love graffiti. This episode not only gave some more history to her, but also gave her struggles and made her more relatable. Finding out why she left her Mandalorian family was really compelling and added a lot to her character. Also, Kanan training Sabine with lightsaber combat was super interesting and cool to see. And most of all, Sabine struggles with learning how to fight. She has some relatable weaknesses, which helped make her character so much better. Overall, a great episode. Sabine has definitely improved a lot as a character and I actually am starting to like her.

Zenith

[Fluke_Skywalker · 9/10 · 11 February 2017]

Plot; In an effort to unite her people behind the Rebel cause, Sabine reluctantly takes up an ancient Mandalorian weapon of great power and symbolic importance.

Rebels has its peaks and valleys, with plenty of middling filler (such as the previous episode, "Warhead"), but the peaks may not have ever been as high as "Trials of the Darksaber". Sabine may the most interesting character in the Rebels main cast, and she's front and center here in a story with huge future implications. It also brings the criminally underused Kanan into the fold, and Prinze gives what is easily his best performance of the series. Beautifully animated with a strong score and a deep, thoughtful and emotionally gripping story, this is Rebels at its absolute best, and a high water mark for the series.

A very different, but very brilliant episode.

[neilinscotland · 10/10 · 12 May 2020]

I didn't remember this ep from when it first aired, but rewatching it now was so rewarding! Not only do Sabine's character development and back story really set up and drive what's to come, but the way it was done was so beautiful and helped create one of the most emotionally fulfilling episodes yet. On top of that, Tiya and Freddie's performances were both outstanding!

This is a whole new level for Rebels!

Trials (and tales) of the Darksaber

[Trey_Trebuchet · 10/10 · 6 June 2022]

I'm with everyone else on this one. Hands down one of the best episodes in the show thus far, which I wasn't totally expecting.

Sabine is a character I didn't mind for most of the show, but never grew to really care all that much for her three seasons in. She was fine, fun to have around, but this single episode turned her into a very well-rounded character in my opinion.

Everything here just felt so different from the other episodes. The directing was excellent, the voice work was noticeably excellent (even more so than usual), the animation and action were very entertaining and the character work was really well executed, for Sabine but also a bit for Kanan.

I loved the lightsaber training stuff quite a bit. It reminded me of those samurai training seating between master and apprentice you see in old shows and movies, and none of the dialogue or shouting felt forced or heavy-handed in my opinion. I also learned a bit more about the history of the Darksaber in that intro, stuff I was totally unaware of up to this point.

I really liked what these writers did with Sabine in just half an hour. I'm actually sort of looking forward to seeing her again. Kanan also had some great character-building moments (BENDU SIGHTING)

I have no complaints. This was beautifully done. I never would have guessed that an animated Star Wars show airing on Disney would be so thoughtful.

Great episode

[yugurtz · 10/10 · 26 June 2020]

Love this episode exploring the backstory of Sabine, history and lore of the Darksaber.

I believe this is a tie in from the Clone Wars when Maul took Mandalore.

The ending scene might be my favorite so far - passionate, great fight, and all still giving you the childlike joy of Star Wars.

Finally

[lionranger · 9/10 · 2 July 2021]

For the first time Rebels goes deep into into one of its original characters resulting in one of the best storytelling experience in Rebels. What I loved most is the training session which has never been shown before even in the films or series we've never really seen lightsaber training like this it was scintillating to watch. Gave me goosebuo.

MandaLore

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 19 October 2020]

This is a very interesting mix which makes an unusual but excellent episode.

There is super cool Darksaber training with Sabine learning from Kanan and Ezra which is great fun.

There is overall story setup with a plan set out for Sabine to lead Mandalore against the Empire.

There is an emotional and powerful character development for Sabine presented very thoughtfully.

The mix works beautifully and the episode is great.

My rating: 9/10.

Trials of the Darksaber

[lassegalsgaard · 8/10 · 28 January 2020]

Although this was another episode with little to do with the main storyline, I do feel like this is the most exciting episode we have had in a while. This episode actually gave a lot to the character of Sabine, who is one of the lesser characters on the crew when it comes to background. We got to learn a lot about her and the reasons why she left her family, which I found quite heartbreaking, yet hopeful. I am excited about where this storyline could go, and for the first time in a while, I feel like the season has found something to focus on. It has been very muddled so far, with a lot of arcs thrown together. However, if they decide to dedicate the majority of the last episodes to Sabine's arc and the entire thing about her family, I feel like we could be in for a good time. The episode did feel like it had been stredged a little too far, and it felt like it was trying too hard to make Sabine angry at times, but for the most part, it was a heartwarming tale of family and one that solidifed Sabine's place on the crew, even though I fear that her time with the crew might be limited with her new mission.