Tales of the Empire: Devoted
What is it ? : Barriss Offee is in her prison cell after her acts of terrorism which she tried to frame Ahsoka Tano for, she gets a vision of violence occurring, and looks out of her cell window to see the Jedi Temple on fire in the distance.
She asks her guards what's happening, and they tell her she's lucky she's not a Jedi any more.
Later she is visited by former Jedi named Lyn Rakish, who is now an Inquisitor known as the Fourth Sister. She is told the Jedi tried to kill Palpatine and have now been declared illegal. When Offee asks what this means, she is offered an opportunity, which she takes.
On Nur the Fortress Inquisitorious is in construction, Offee is taken into the main hall where she recognises two other Jedi Padawans, Dante and Ahmar. The Grand Inquisitor explains that the Emperor wants them to restore order and if they prove themselves they will be allowed to join.
They are taken to a cell, where Ahmar expresses a desire to escape, Dante is worried that he and Barriss will be punished for Ahmar's actions, but he doesn't care and leaves.
They are later taken for training, and The Grand Inquisitor explains that Ahmar had an accident, and Dante tells him that he tried to warn him. Dante leaves for training with the Fourth Sister, and Offee is trained by The Grand Inquisitor. They spar and he tells her she is still fighting like a Jedi, and he disarms her and strikes her in the face drawing blood. Angrily she strikes out, slamming him into a wall, which pleases him.
Later Dante and Offee are taken to another training chamber, and they are told they have both done well, but there is only one position available, so they must prove themselves by fighting. They begin to spar, but Offee tries to reason with Dante, telling him that they don't need to fight. Danta disagrees and they fight with him ending up standing over her and preparing to strike, but she uses the force to choke him, winning the fight.
She is inducted into the Inquisition and give an uniform and black helmet, and attends the Grand Inquisitor along with other Inquisitors including the unnamed one we saw in the final episode of Tales of the Jedi being defeated by Ahsoka. The Grand Inquisitor introduces them to their new master, and Vader enters, they each kneel and chant "Love Live the Empire" as Offee dons her helmet. . . .
High Points : The start of a fresh storyline, so a lot of heavy lifting going on here as we see Barriss Offee turned into an Inquisitor, given a fresh chance after her betrayal of the Jedi. The training is fairly obvious, as they force her to lash out in anger, and then to kill a friend. But it's done well, and I do find it quite fascinating how everything came together for the Empire so quickly. The Inquisition is being organised only days after the Empire is declared and it's fortress already being constructed. Vader has gone from being a crippled Jedi, to taking oaths from the Inquisitors very quickly.
And it's genuinely nice to see that the Empire was recruiting from those the Jedi had already made enemies of. Taking prisoners and putting them in positions of power to totally twist the Republic into the Empire.
Low Points : As mentioned above, it's all a bit obvious. Make a Jedi angry to turn them to the Dark Side, make them kill a friend. It's nothing new, even if it's done pretty well.
But given the short time scale, we see the fall of the Jedi Temple, and Inquisitors are already out recruiting. The Grand Inquisitor has gone from being a temple guard to head of the Inquisition within hours, something I personally assumed took months of Vader or Palpatine turning him. The Fourth Sister is already working for the Empire, seemingly before Anakin turns into Vader.
It seems a little compressed time wise, as it now looks as if Palpatine already had turned Jedi to the Dark Side ready for service, even before the events of Revenge of the Sith, and we've not seen any of that preparation, it's just sprung into existance.
So what do you really think ? : The episode is enjoyable enough, even if it's obvious, and introduces a bunch of stuff which doesn't really make sense. But we're following Barriss Offee's story, and seeing what her fate as part of the Inquisition and the Galactic Empire will be.
Final Words : This just raises more questions, and the big one to me is if the Inquisition already existed on Empire Day, then why aren't we watching a story about Palpatine corrupting the Jedi behind the scenes as the Clone Wars rage. Turning those who have concerns about the Jedi to the Dark Side so he can use them once he's destroyed the Jedi Order. Seems a far more interesting tale than us just discovering the fate of a minor character from The Clone Wars series.
Score : 8/10
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