'Ahsoka' Episodes 1 & 2 Recap and Review
THE FAN-FAVOURITE EX-JEDI RETURNS FOR A NEW SERIES, COMBINING DIFFERENT ERAS AND MEDIUMS OF STORYTELLING FOR A BOLD NEW ADVENTURE
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Ahsoka Tano’s history within the Star Wars universe has always been contingent on pre-existing narratives, until this series. When the character was first announced to be the padawan learner of beloved Jedi Anakin Skywalker at the beginning of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, fans were skeptical that the character could even feasibly exist within the confines of Star Wars canon. Given the fact that The Clone Wars was an animated series targeted toward a younger audience of Star Wars fans, the character of Ahsoka Tano started her journey off as a scrappy, brash Jedi Padawan with much to learn. As the series progressed, so did Tano’s character, with her acclaim and reputation as a character following suit. However, the character’s overall fate seemed up in the air after her unceremonious departure from the Jedi Order, and the cancellation of The Clone Wars series, as well as the fact that Tano’s absence from the Star Wars films led many to believe that her story was to meet a natural end before the end of the Prequel Trilogy era of storytelling. To the relief of many fans, Ahsoka Tano was revealed to have survived the Jedi purge with her cameo appearance at the end of Star Wars Rebels’ first season finale. Yet again, Tano’s fate was “seemingly written,” as Luke Skywalker was the only Jedi or force-wielder within the timeline of the Original Trilogy. In typical Dave Filoni fashion, the consensus fan expectation was met with a curveball, with Ahsoka Tano resiliently making her way past the events of the Original Trilogy era unscathed, ready for the leap to live-action television era of storytelling, without a semblance of a defined fate or canon event in her way, which is where we catch up with the titular Ahsoka Tano in her new Disney+ series.
The new eight-episode series makes a strong impression right from the very start of its first episode’s runtime. Unlike its other live-action counterparts, Ahsoka opens harkens back to the roots of the Star Wars film saga with a opening crawl, setting the stage for the story by providing audiences with basic exposition on the characters, plot, and stakes of the story ahead. The crawl serves the series greatly, with its new red text and eerie music accompaniment from Kevin Kiner set the tone for the sinister threats ahead, but also familiarizes new audiences of many essential details from Dave Filoni’s previous animated Star Wars series, which Ahsoka is a direct continuation of, Star Wars Rebels in particular.
The series opens with introducing us to a New Republic vessel on a voyage back to the greater New Republic fleet. All is normal and smooth, until a nearby spacecraft requests to land aboard, transmitting old Jedi clearance codes. The Republic ship’s captain reluctantly lets them aboard, but prepares a security detail to meet the mysterious craft on arrival, believing that the supposed Jedi are not who they claim to be. Two hooded figures emerge from the shuttle, Baylan Skoll, (the late Ray Stevenson), and Shin Hati, (Ivanna Sakhno), two force wielding warriors, armed with orange-bladed lightsabers, who attack the Republic boarding party and storm the rest of the ship, confirming that they are indeed no Jedi of any sort. After making quick work of the Republic personnel aboard the craft, Skoll frees Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), from captivity. Elsbeth was last seen as a tyrannical magistrate facing off against Ahsoka Tano in the second season of The Mandalorian.
After a brief title card, the series picks back up with its titular character, Ahsoka Tano, (Rosario Dawson), stoically roaming the ruins of an ancient temple. Using her signature white-bladed lightsaber, Tano cuts herself down into a lower region of the temple, then using her force abilities and signature wit to solve an ancient puzzle, revealing a golden orb, believed to be a star-map with the location of the long-lost Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). Upon recovering this map, Ahsoka encounters a squad of deadly HK-87 assassin-class droids, armed with electro-staves. Tano makes quick work of a few of the droids, before the other droids engage self-destruct protocol. Tano calls for a quick-pick-up from Huyang, (David Tennant), the Jedi Historian droid, who quickly scoops up Tano before she is engulfed by the flames from the droid explosion. Tano and Huyang’s brief, and narrow success, is interrupted when they are summoned to the New Republic’s home vessel.
Greeted by General Hera Syndulla, (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a close ally of Ahsoka’s dating back to Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka and Huyang are briefed by Syndulla on the dark-siders’ attack on the Republic vessel from the episode’s opening scene. Both are rather caught-off guard, and have no idea who these mysterious new assailants are. Tano also briefs Syndulla on her new holo-map, which she is having trouble accessing. Syndulla recommends that Ahsoka seeks out the help of Sabine Wren, Mandalorian warrior, expert artist, engineer, demolitions expert, Syndulla’s former crewmate during the Galactic Civil War, and Tano’s former Jedi apprentice.
The series then jumps to reveal Sabine Wren, (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), fleeing a Independence ceremony on the fan-favourite planet Lothal, speeding through the planet’s empty highway on a speeder-bike, in a thrilling sequence set to a heavy-rock musical cue in an alien dialect. Wren is ordered to return to the ceremony by Governor Ryder Azadi, played by Clancy Brown, reprising the role from the Rebels animated series. Azadi sends 2 E-Wing starfighters after Tano, which she bravely avoids in a highway stand-off, thanks to a remarkable drift underneath the E-Wing fighter. This thrilling sequence serves as a great introduction to the Sabine Wren character for new audiences, showing that even a whole series later, Wren still has the same rebellious and artistic flair that the character is so well-known for. Wren makes her way back to her reclusive home, an abandoned communications tower, formerly inhabited by her brother-figure Ezra Bridger, now lost amongst the stars with Admiral Thrawn. Sabine replays a hologram recorded by Ezra, (Eman Esfandi), in a somber scene which quietly and effectively lets the audience in on the emotional state of Sabine after all these years since Star Wars Rebels.
Later on, Sabine is approached by Ahsoka, and the two have a rather complex reunion onboard Ahsoka’s shuttle. The series lets the audience know that the two’s master-and-apprentice relationship that happened off-screen did not end amicably. Wren examines the locked holo-map orb, to no success of unlocking. To Ahsoka’s dismay, Sabine steals the orb to take a closer examination at it, and takes it back with her to her tower.
Sabine is able to solve the configuration which locked the holo-map, revealing a pathway to a new galaxy. Before she can save a copy of her findings, or share them with Ahsoka, Sabine is ambushed by the dark-side assailant Shin Hati and more HK-Droids. Sabine beckons to Ahsoka and Huyang for help, but before they can arrive, she is met by Shin at the base of the tower, with an intense lightsaber duel ensuing. The two trade clashes of the green and orange blades, with Shin gaining the upper hand, eventually stabbing Sabine through the abdomen with her lightsaber, and Shin disappearing with the map, as the first episode comes to a shocking close.
The second episode opens with Sabine Wren healing in a hospital room, revealing she survived the lethal lightsaber stab. Ahsoka shows animosity towards Sabine, as her trust was broken, also because Sabine let the map fall into the wrong hands. Ahsoka then investigates the scene of the duel, finding a remaining HK-Droid, then quickly decapitating it, and retrieving its head for further investigation. Back at the hospital bay, Sabine examines the droid-head and traces the whereabouts of its counterparts to the shipyard planet Correllia. Ahsoka Tano and Hera Syndulla set off on an investigation into the Correllian shipyards, once controlled by the nefarious Morgan Elsbeth, their current enemy.
We then meet back up with the series’ villains. Morgan Elsbeth, Shin Hati, Baylan Skoll and the mysterious new Inquisitor called Marrok, on Seatos, a gloomy and aptly dark world with a dark crimson forest. Elsbeth uses her Nightsister magic powers to use the holo-map orb, connecting it to ancient ruins, which she describes as being from otherworldly origin. The ruins then are enclosed by the sudden rise of a spherical enclave with the villains inside it, which shows the map, and the pathway to a new, mysterious galaxy. As Elsbeth describes the map’s importance, and how it relates to finding their leader, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Baylan reveals he recognizes this mysterious starmap, likening it to a old Jedi myth called, “The Pathway to Peridea,” giving audiences a glimpse into Baylan’s past life as a Jedi Knight prior to the purge, and his own descent to darkness.
Upon arriving on Correllia, Tano and Syndulla investigate the shipyard operations on Correllia, finding mass-corruption of sleeper Imperial loyalists within the factory’s ranks, as well as finding a massive hyperdrive, being moved offworld by Elsbeth. Ahsoka quickly chases after the hyperdrive, before she is face to face with the mysterious Inquisitor Marrok. The two have a fierce duel, Marrok’s double-bladed lightsaber and Ahsoka’s twin white-blades trading slashes, in a very elegantly choreographed yet intense duel, intercut with footage of Hera and her lifelong droid companion (and fan-favourite droid), Chopper, (series creator Dave Filoni), chasing after a vessel now carrying the hyperdrive technology, in a thrilling dogfight, accompanied by fitting music from series veteran Kevin Kiner.
Hera is able to place a tracking device on the hyperdrive, as the villains retreat back to Seatos. Shortly after, Ahsoka makes her way back to Lothal, now knowing that she needs Sabine’s help in this journey ahead. Sabine, after a heart-to-heart conversation with Huyang, also realizes that she is meant to reconcile with Ahsoka and help her with the new journey calling to both of them. Sabine returns to her tower, dusts off her Mandalorian armour, suits up, and cuts her hair in a kneeling position with a knife, paralleling a similar moment with her late friend and mentor Kanan Jarrus, from Star Wars Rebels. Ahsoka’s shuttle then arrives to pick up Sabine in front of the infamous Ghost Crew mural, in a scene that is a recreation of the epilogue scenes from Star Wars Rebels, as the second episode comes to a close, setting the stage for the journey ahead.
The series’ premiere episodes are sure to be immensely satisfying for many fans of Star Wars Rebels, getting to see their favourite characters after 5 years since Rebels’ end, and around 15 years for the in-universe timeline. Ahsoka is a refreshing dive back into a more traditional sort of Star War, with lightsaber duels, familiar characters and settings, while also bringing in a fresh new narrative, with new conflicts and new threats for this new era of storytelling. Despite the urgent galactic threat and adventure, Filoni gives the story room to breathe, allowing character moments to run at their pace, giving inter-character conflicts and quiet catharsis equal time with the exposition and action alike, and the show is all the better for it. However, while the series narratively succeeds at following up Rebels’ narrative threads, the execution is not without flaws. Dawson’s turn as Tano is a step-up from previous appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, but still cannot capture the full likeness and gravitas of her animated counterpart. The same can be said for Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla. Natasha Liu Bordizzo shines as Sabine Wren, aptly capturing the wit and rebellious spark that the character is known for. However, many have noted that Bordizzo’s casting is an unfortunate example of colourism, with Sabine’s animated counterpart being more darker skinned with South-Asian facial features.
The series takes on the contemporary canon issues in a great manner as well. The incomptence of the New Republic government and the many growing threats which remain unchecked were briefly touched on in the latest season of The Mandalorian, namely in Lee Isaac Chung’s The Convert. Ahsoka does not shy away from involving itself with the New Republic and its multifaceted elements of the galaxy within this story, which is a side of Star Wars that has barely been touched upon, making for a refreshing change of pace amidst the familiar elements.
The show’s cinematography and visual style also leave a lot to be desired. The use of “The Volume” ranges from fine to jarring, with the background integration and shot composition often feeling jarringly inauthentic and displeasing to look at. Many locations from previous Star Wars stories also are not translated well visually, with a rather murky colour pallete and middling cinematography. When compared to the cinematography and level of production design of other Star Wars series, notably Andor, the series just seems a step-below in that regard, and at times, it can make for a hamper on what is a rather decent narrative series.
Longtime Filoni collaborator and Star Wars composer Kevin Kiner is a true standout, as always. Kiner’s score helps the series feel so much more cinematic, using existing character themes and new melodies, blending into an epically pleasing mix of a score that just feels quintessentially Star Wars, in every sense.
While the show does a fine job exploring existing characters and plot threads, he show truly shines when it explores the new. The inter-galactic threat is completely unprecedented and adds a new layer of intrigue to the story, and the performances of the new antagonists, notably the late great Ray Stevenson as the fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll and Ivanna Sakhno as his apprentice, Shin Hati, bring an incredible energy and level of effortless captivation to the series whenever they are on screen.
Ultimately, Ahsoka’s first two episodes have thrust the series off to a solid start, setting the stage for what should continue to be another thrilling Star Wars adventure, and a return to form for Dave Filoni.