This may seem like an odd thing to focus on, but I think my favourite character beat in this whole episode was Maul's almost Pavlovian reaction to even saying Sidious's name; as if just saying it out loud will somehow make him appear. It's an interesting acting choice (by Witwer, I'm presuming) that shows just how utterly terrified Maul is of his old Master, even now.
Side note: anyone else planning on watching all four episodes of this final arc back-to back when the final one drops in two weeks? It's clear it's been designed to be seamlessly edited together as one movie so I kinda want to experience it that way for the final sitting.
Hmmm. If I recall correctly, in Rebels Ahsoka was shocked by the very notion that Anakin could turn to the sith. And yet, here, Maul spells it all out to her. I would have to think that in the back of her mind that she was always wondering about the Sith Lords Apprentice.
Knowing the truth and accepting the truth are two very different things. Indeed this episode makes it clear that she flat out doesn't believe Maul.
Back when she was on Rebels, Filloni said that the general idea was that after Anakin's fall and the Jedi were wiped out, she reached out to him but couldn't sense his familiar presence and took it to mean he was dead along with all the others.
I think it's not until she touched Vader's mind that she started to even give the matter serious thought. The very next time she pulls her Gandalf act and wander's off with
'questions that needs answering'* is where I tend to think she's going digging for solid answers of what happened to Anakin. It could have been elaborate as retracing his steps, or as direct as a very pointed conversation with Bail.
By ''Shroud Of Darkness' she clearly "knows" the truth, or at least enough of it to put the pieces together but hasn't fully accepted it in her heart. Indeed, despite Yoda trying to make her face it she's still somewhat in denial right up until she's literally face to what's-left-of-his-face with him.
* And now I feel stupid for literally just now realising as I typed that, that it was a direct quote (from the movie Gandalf at least, if not the literary one.) Seriously, one of these days I'm going to have to do a full account of all the "Ahsoka is Gandalf" references Filloni has dropped over the years...
Just as the Rebels finale had a coda that took place after Return of the Jedi, I have to imagine that the final episode of Clone Wars will do something similar.
A great way to fuck with the fan bases minds would be to have the final scene of the series reveal that all of these Clone War stories were contained in a holocron created by Ahsoka sometime after The Rise of Skywalker.
While that would be very cool, I think if anything we're more likely to get the downbeat but still hopeful version of the RotJ:SE celebrations montage, maybe featuring a few future Rebels like Hera, Ezra, Sabine etc. (showing the twins seems redundant given the end of RotS.)
Instead of taking Dooku, would Anakin have been able to take Maul? Especially if Anakin got brutal?
Well let's look at Maul's track record: He lost every fight he every had with Obi Wan, two of which killed him. Obi Wan trained Anakin, Anakin trained Ahsoka, and Ahsoka just beat him too. So yeah, I think Anakin would have wiped the floor with him in a stand-up fight. But then, I'm sure Maul would have heavily stacked the deck in his favour...mostly with Mandalorians...lots and lots of Mandalorians. So who knows? He may have been able to manage it.
