"May the Force be with you."
Hello everyone!
I'm even on time with this, can you believe it?
Usually, I'm absolute RUBBISH trying to keep up with things, but episodic shows releasing weekly are actually my jam.
It's what I enjoyed watching all through my university years and what we were always used to seeing on our TV screens, honestly, so this whole binge culture is completely anathema to me.
I don't binge. LOL. That's not my style.
But I DO often travel to a galaxy far, far away, because their stories tend to always engage me on some level.
And while people are calling this the Mandoverse, I prefer calling it Filoniverse.
So bring your popcorn and your sarcasm, because we're hitching a ride on the Ghost to see what Ahsoka has in store!
Links to previous related works (probably only the -verse, too) can be found at the bottom of the page, as always.
Ahsoka, as a show, was a highly anticipated entrance into this new Star Wars reality and era we live in, and boy did it not disappoint, at least not the majority of fans, me included.
It's also covering a hell of a lot of ground, because one, it has to fit in with the rest of the shows that have already been released (Mandalorian, Boba Fett) and the upcoming ones like Acolyte, but two, it has to continue the story which began in the animated show Rebels.
And honestly, I kind of concur with people online that this is basically just season five of that show, even if I haven't watched it myself (yet!).
We begin our journey with Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson), who pops up on a planet investigating something with connections to the rumour that Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) might be plotting a return from wherever Ezra Bridges exiled him to way back when. She gets into a fight with some droids and what looks to be a Jedi Inquisitor, while elsewhere, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), whom Ahsoka helped capture in Mandalorian, is freed by two fallen Jedi.
One of which is played by the late and great Ray Stevenson. RIP Ray, you will be absolutely missed, because Baylan Skoll is AMAZING.
Morgan reveals that even during her captivity, her secret project has continued in her absence, a project which Ahsoka and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) later uncover and reveal to be a huge ass hyperspace jump ring, bigger than anything they've ever seen before.
Big enough, say, for an Imperial Star Destroyer.
But before they can get to that point, they need to decipher a map of some sort that looks like a disco ball, so they take off to find a former Rebel, Mandalorian and coincidentally Ahsoka's former apprentice, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who not only disregards Ahsoka's warnings that the map is dangerous and should stay on the ship where she can protect it, but loses said map to Shin Hatti (Ivanna Sakhno), who comes to retrieve it.
So begins a rapid fire chase while Sabine is healing from a lightsaber wound, because Ahsoka fears Thrawn might actually return, and the New Republic is woefully bogged down in red tape and won't move a finger to help Hera so the general has to kind of solo it.
However, with Sabine healed, and getting some advice and reality checks from the helpful droid Huyang (David Tennant, and listen, he may be sarcastic but he's a lot less trigger-happy than Hera's droid Chopper), she joins Ahsoka on the hunt for the map, which leads them both to an out-of-the-way planet from where Morgan, Baylan and Shin are planning to launch the Eye of Sion, aka the huge ass hyperspace ring.
Our duo engage their enemies, but Ahsoka fails and falls to her supposed death, while Sabine cuts a deal with Baylan, handing over the map and tagging along for the ride.
I say supposed death for Ahsoka because she actually ends up in the World Between Worlds, where fans from around the globe get to SCREAM THEIR LUNGS OUT because we get none other than Hayden Christensen in live action as Anakin Skywalker, merging the Prequel Trilogy role, the Original Trilogy iconic character of Vader, and the Clone Wars expansion of his own character into one singular entity.
And we get to see him fight with his lightsaber. Man oh MAN is there a reason everyone and their mother was afraid of Anakin, and later Vader. Hayden perfectly encapsulates just how insanely talented, fast and strong Anakin is, balancing both the Light and Dark side of the Force, and teaching Ahsoka a lesson or two while she's there.
Once out of the World and found by Hera and Carson Teva (because, naturally the man's where the action's thickest, duh), Ahsoka hitches a ride to the other galaxy on space whales that little Grogu saw while travelling at hyperspeed, who do in fact take her and Huyang to where Sabine ended up.
Which is to say, in another galaxy, on a random planet infested by raiders that make the same sounds as Tuskens, and where Ezra Bridges (Eman Esfandi) has made his home for the past who knows how long. Decade or so?
Sabine kind of conveniently leaves out a lot of the details as to how she got there and such, and with the arrival of Ahsoka even Thrawn (who, yes, is in fact alive and well and forged an alliance with the Great Mothers who seem to be either related to the ancestors of the people of Dathomir, or something along those lines) is slightly worried as she's Anakin Skywalker's Padawan.
See, our Grand Admiral worked with Anakin for a while, and knew Vader. He knows what he's up against.
The conflict escalates, bringing the best character traits out in everyone, and allowing Sabine to finally trust in her own meagre Force powers while she's at it, but unfortunately only Ezra makes it aboard the Chimaera to travel home with Thrawn, because Sabine refuses to leave Ahsoka alone as she's battling Morgan, so our duo remain on Peridia, this random ass planet in the middle of nowhere.
With Ezra then announcing himself to Hera and the others (and, it's to be hoped, finally shutting up that INSOLENT senator who had to be schooled by C-3P0 on behalf of one Senator Leia Organa), the New Republic will hopefully muster some sort of response to Thrawn's return, while he establishes himself on Dathomir.
And as for Baylan and Shin? Baylan let Shin go her own way while he's off searching for something else, something to break the cycle as he calls it, of Light and Dark and rising and falling empires, which people online speculate has to do with the origins of the Force; Shin herself has now shacked up with the raiders on Peridia, stuck there just like Ahsoka and Sabine.
And our heroines?
Sabine is now confident in the bond she shares with her Master, while Ahsoka is confident that they're right where they need to be, just like Ezra is where HE needs to be.
If you don't shed a tear as the final shot reveals Anakin's Force ghost smiling proudly at the two women, then I don't know what to tell you.
Dave Filoni keeps hitting the ball right out of the park and even further, going further, higher, faster, and pushing the stories in a direction only a few people can anticipate, but most everyone ends up enjoying. The cast and crew worked their butts off for this show, and it is absolutely clear in each shot that was made.
There's also plenty of Easter eggs sprinkled throughout of both the stories George Lucas began and Filoni himself continued, and now he's launched arguably one of the most charismatic and dangerous villains back into the galaxy we all know and love.
Thrawn is without a doubt one of the most beloved morally gray characters out there in both the EU Legends and now New Canon, and the question everyone's asking themselves is: where the hell was he during the Sequel Trilogy?
Because Filoni himself has said that every installment in this universe leads to the new episodes, so we've still got ways to go yet.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the wild ride with this one. It had adversity, action, character moments, throw-backs, LIVE ACTION CLONE WARS, IF YOU PLEASE, and SO much more all wrapped up in a package of eight episodes.
I honestly believe we're witnessing the peak of Star Wars right now. And I'm SO glad I get to see it in real time!
xx
*images and video not mine
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