Despite featuring some absolutely gorgeous animation and a surprisingly terrific Morgan Elsbeth narrative arc, this second “Tales Of…” Star Wars series was fairly underwhelming as a whole. This season focuses on two mostly forgettable, uninteresting characters. The first three episodes in this six-episode season detail the downfall of Morgan Elsbeth, and the next three portray the redemption of Barriss Offee. Both are fairly mediocre characters in the Star Wars universe, and it was a bit surprising to see them featured so prominently in the “Tales of the Empire” show. At least the first three episodes of this series, which focus on Morgan Elsbeth, together offer a nice prequel to the classic Mandalorian episode “The Jedi” as well as a few other nods to the Rebels and The Clone Wars shows.
“The Path of Fear”
The inaugural episode of “The Path of Fear” begins with the backstory of Morgan Elsbeth –the Nightsister character introduced in the Mandalorian and Ahsoka series. During a battle on Dathomir, she witnesses her mother executed by General Grievous. She is then then taken in by the “Mountain Clan” as the rule of the Nightsisters has been broken. Devastated, she joins another young woman, Nali, in a mountain hunt while the droid armies still hunt for survivors. Fearful, several of the young women in the “Mountain Clan” ask Morgan Elsbeth for help and she leads them back to the abandoned Nightsisters cave to gather weapons, but they are attacked by a large contingent of droids. Two of the young women do not survive despite being rescued by the leader of the “Mountain Clan,” Nali’s mother. Morgan Elsbeth’s path is quite evidently divergent with the people of the “Mountain Clan.”
“The Path of Anger”
Some time later, Morgan Elsbeth pitches a plan for advanced starfighters to an Imperial group, mentioning her resource-rich base on Corvus, but the Empire isn’t interested in her starfighters, only her resource-rich planet. However, she is approached by a mystery man who claims to be interested in her “vision.” However, Morgan Elsbeth returns to Corvus empty-handed to her city filled with angry people (the same city featured in The Mandalorian) where she is suddenly attacked in the evening by a strange creature –we soon learn this is Rukh, the assassin of Grand Admiral Thrawn (as first mentioned in Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy”), and the mystery man Elsbeth spoke to at the outset was Captain Pallaeon. Shortly thereafter, Elsbeth speaks with Thrawn himself and he offers her a job to exact her “revenge” by commanding several ships in his fleet.
“The Path of Hate”
A small group of New Republic forces led by Nadura, an ambassador, arrives at Morgan Elsbeth’s city Calodan on Corvus. She is returning after a long period away, and she briefly speaks with Wing who laments ever having handed over the city to “the witch” (Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth). The people of the city have not heard the news from the outside world that the New Republic has now replaced the Empire. When they speak with Morgan Elsbeth, Nadura requests that she step down and relinquish control to the New Republic. Instead, she refuses and orders the slaughter of Nadura and her forces. But just before Nadura is killed as her ship explodes, her R8 unit sends a distress signal that reaches Bo-Katan Kryze. Hence why Ahsoka Tano was apparently dispatched in The Mandalorian. Morgan Elsbeth’s forces burn down the forests around Calodan –which explains why the forests appeared as ashen and barren as they did in The Mandalorian. As a great fan of The Mandalorian episode “The Jedi,” which was heavily influenced by Seven Samurai and other classic samurai films, I thought this story-arch was excellent.
“Devoted”
This episode explains the story of Barriss Offee, Ahsoka’s traitorous former friend who framed her for a sabotage of the Jedi Temple (in The Clone Wars), from her imprisonment through Order 66, to her release and subsequent Imperial training by a Grant Inquisitor. In her final test, she faces off with another student and Force-chokes him to death. She is then named an Inquisitor and meets her new master, Darth Vader.
“Realization”
Barriss and another Inquisitor Lyn (Fourth Sister) have been dispatched by the Grand Inquisitor to an impoverished region with reported ties to a rebel cell and claims that they are hiding a Jedi. After lies from the villagers, Lyn slaughters them all and they discover a Jedi hiding in the mountains (apparently, this Jedi uses “they/them” pronouns). At any rate, the unnamed Jedi is nearly killed by Lyn, but distraught and disillusioned, Barriss pushes Lyn off a cliff and attempts to revive the Jedi.
“The Way Out”
Barriss is now living the life of a hermetic “healer” high up in the snowy mountains. A young family with a boy named Micah visits her (she is now called “Wise Mother”) and asks why the Empire sought to take him. Barriss explains his potential to use the Force but then she is confronted by her old Imperial partner, Lyn. They battle (Lyn with a lightsaber, Barriss without) and Lyn follows the fleeing family with the child into a giant nearby ice cave. Inside, she becomes entrapped until Barriss offers her a helping hand, but Lyn stabs her through with a lightsaber, apparently killing her. Sadly, this was a pretty underwhelming story arc –it really would have been nice to see some sort of reunion between Barriss and Ahsoka.