Tales of the Empire Episode 4 Recap

Moving over Barriss Offee, ‘Tales of the Empire’ episode 4, titled “Devoted”, tells the story of the former Jedi Padawan Bariss Offee after the end of the Clone Wars. It serves to tie up a loose end left at the end of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’, which seems to be the main focus. It does give an interesting look at the early days of the Inquisitorious, which is great from a lore perspective. It’s an enjoyable watch, if not substantive emotionally. 

The episode opens with Offee imprisoned in the Republic Military Base first seen in ‘The Clone Wars.’ Here, she can see the Jedi Temple burn, something that causes her discomfort, especially as she can sense Order 66 happening. She demands the guards tell her what is happening, but they simply say that she should be glad she’s not a Jedi anymore and that by tomorrow they won’t exist. 

Later on, Lyn, now called the Fourth Sister, comes and tells her that Offee was right about her calling out the Jedi for being treasonous. The Fourth Sister wants Offee to join her, and the clones ominously power up their blasters in the background making it clear what refusal means. Offee accepts her offer and is taken to Nur, where the Fortress Inquisitorious is located. At this time, it’s still being built. 

When the shuttle arrives, there are Clones in grey armour standing guard, likely the first Purge Troopers, special troopers that accompanied Inquisitors to hunt Jedi. The Fourth Sister takes Offee to a room with two other former Padawans, Dante and Ahmar. The Grand Inquisitor, once again voiced by Jason Isaacs tells them the Empire wants to build a new order to protect the regime. They only need to prove themselves worthy. But for now, he advises them to stay in their quarters until they are needed. 

The three former Padawans are led to a cell together, though there’s no guard. Ahmar voices that he thinks the Empire will be no better than the Jedi, and so leaves despite the plea from Dante. Offee and Dante wait in the cell until the Fourth Sister retrieves them. She takes them to the Grand Inquisitor, where he says he had a terrible accident (he was killed for not following orders). The Fourth Sister takes Dante away to be trained, and Offee stays with the Grand Inquisitor to train. 

He explains that in front of him are several lightsabers from former Jedi, and hands one to Offee. He says that the lessons the Jedi taught her limit her power, so he will help her overcome that weakness. The Grand Inquisitor tells Offee to attack him, despite the fact he’s unarmed. Offee tries to hit him but is unable to, and the Grand Inquisitor tells her she’s predictable. He then breaks Offee’s nose and later slams her against the ceiling with the Force. Offee drops, her face covered in blood. 

The Grand Inquisitor says she must let go of her feelings of mercy, so Offee slams him against the wall using the Force, impressing him. Later, Dante and Offee are taken to a chamber with a pit. The Grand Inquisitor reveals there is only room for one more Inquisitorious, so the pair must fight to the death for it. There is only one lightsaber, and the pair are trapped in a shrinking circular ray shield, very much like the one from ‘Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi’ but twisted. 

Offee is reluctant to fight Dante, but Dante is unwilling to grant Offee the same mercy, grabbing the lightsaber. This is where the episode loses its thematic power, as it proves Offee isn’t as committed to the New Order as the title implies. They should have made Offee eager to kill, and Dante reluctant to fight. Eventually, after a struggle, Offee Force Chokes Dante and he falls down the bottomless pit.  

The Grand Inquistor aand Fourth Sister congratulate Offee on her victory by giving her Inquisitor amour. Later on, Offee, Marrok, the Sixth Brother and the Fourth Sister join the Grand Inquisitor as they all bow before Darth Vader. The Grand Inquisitor exclaims “Long live the Empire!” and the episode ends. 

While Offee doesn’t convincingly commit to the Imperial regime it still offers a brief window into how the Inquisitors are trained. It’s this that keeps the episode interesting, even if the answers it provides to what happened to Offee at the end of the Clone Wars are fairly predictable.