3x16 Altar of Mortis

7.9/10. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that we're spending more time on Mortis. Don't get me wrong, the last episode was great and I appreciated the world and the characters introduced, but to some degree, like Kevin Finnerty on The Sopranos, I thought it worked better as one standalone, high concept flight of fancy than as a continuing thing.

That said, there's a high fantasy, Diablo-esque vibe to the events on Mortis that still appeals to me. Star Wars is more in the realm of science fantasy than science fiction, but this is really leaning more into the ancient gods and magical avatars that feel more of a piece with The Legend of Zelda than Return of the Jedi (or maybe even Beast Wars in tone). That's not a knock, it's just an interesting and different direction to go with things.

Though I think I preferred to see Father, Brother, and Sister as more monolithic representations of concepts than actual characters, the show gives the latter two especially a little more shading, making the divide between them not just light and dark, but selfishness and selflessness. Brother's ambition and Sister's self-sacrifice draw a neat contrast, and the way those two impulses manifest in the episode -- Brother attacking Father and Sister saving him, is interesting if a little easy.

Again, there's something a bit odd about the events in this sort of allegorical world having such direct repercussions on "the rest of the universe" as Obi Wan puts it. The idea that Sister's death leads to the universe being out of balance as the result of something so literal (even if it uses some super duper magic blade) is a little odd.

Still, Brother's machinations lead to some cool bits, from his "meet yourself" vision with Anakin, to his little goblin creature run-in with Ashoka to his entire plot to kidnap her to draw him near. Plus, possessed Ahsoka is incredibly creepy (and kudos to the voice actress and animators for really selling the difference. Not everything about this episode worked for me, but there was enough that did to keep me fairly riveted throughout.