1x08 Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord

In the time between episode 7 and episode 8 I learned a few things. I learned that there were only eight episodes, instead of nine. I also learned that this wasn't the end of the story. There's a full-blown movie planned involving Thrawn, and the Ahsoka series might also get a second season. So my mind immediately jumped to "what if Thrawn wins?"

That was the missing piece of the puzzle. How could they possibly wrap everything up in a satisfying way if there's only one episode left? They weren't planning to. They weren't setting everything up for the finale, they were setting everything up for the next part of the larger story.

This would have been a disappointing finale. Instead it was a great cliffhanger (apologies to Ezra).

Absolutely no time was wasted in this episode, but nothing was rushed either. Right down to Lars taking three-second breaths between sentences. Every story beat got to take its time while still going from one, click, to, click, another without a pause or slump anywhere in the episode.

I was so happy to watch Ezra build a new lightsaber. And one that pays homage to his late Master. I was listening to someone theorize that Ezra was secretly possessed by an evil that also wanted to leave the planet, or that his dark side inclinations seen in Rebels would resurface, but no. The blue blade of justice it is. Seeing Ezra, Sabine, and Ahsoka all lined up with their sabers out felt a bit like a return to form for Star Wars as a franchise. Ahsoka duel-weilding, Sabine switching between saber and blasters, and Ezra assisting with Force pulls and pushes made them an excellent team. I just hope we get to see them fighting together again.

"Jedi. Together. Strong."

Because once they get separated, everything starts to fall apart. Ahsoka was able to beat Morgan through sheer (little f) force of will. By the time Sabine and Ezra take out those... WTF are those things?? The Night Troopers were apparently still alive, until the Nightsisters revived them, but the Deathtroopers were... dead already. After they kill the DoubleDeathTroopers:tm: the only way to follow Thrawn is for them to split up as well. Leaving Sabine and Ahsoka trapped on Peridea, while Ezra returned to the known galaxy for a super brief, bittersweet reunion with Hera and Chopper. Thrawn has returned. I hope Mon Mothma took Hera seriously when she said to prepare for the worst.

The fight with Morgan was excellent. She was genuinely dangerous even before her baptism by dark magic and evil sword (ACTUAL SWORDPLAY IN STAR WARS!!). I REALLY hope Ahsoka keeps that Dathomirian blade to make up for losing one of her beautiful, white lightsabers. Alternatively, the fight with all the Night Troopers, especially after they got reincarnated, was Rebels-style comical. Both very different fights, both very enjoyable. Both emblematic of Star Wars.

I really respect how capable Thrawn is. He was always very smart about things, but this time we actually get to see those smarts pay off. 'The chances of the Jedi stopping us now are almost impossible... we should prepare for a ground assault immediately.' Yep. And you were still a hair away from losing everything despite that preparedness. Good thing Thrawn is so smart, because his troopers are so fucking stupid. Staring at things for several seconds before firing like it's the first time they've ever seen a starship or a Jedi. Okay, maybe that one is actually true. But still! I'm glad Enoch is still around, because I want to see more of him... and I want to see him fight. It should have been Enoch instead those Deathtroopers against Sabine and Ezra. But have the fight end in a stalemate so we could have at least gotten a taste of what's to come.

All in all, this was not the episode I thought it would be and I'm glad it wasn't. Because there is so much more to do with this storyline. We didn't see Baylan or Shin until the very end. Neither of them said a word, but their current positions are very clear. Shin rallied the renegades in the wastelands behind her and her good boy, and Baylan found male statues on the Nightsister planet that point to a beacon on a far-off mountaintop. It's a shame about Ray Stevenson, but I really hope they recast Baylan anyways - the clues surrounding his solo journey suggest a story that Filoni has been building up for decades. I needs it!

Ahsoka brought back the mysticism of Star Wars that the franchise has been sorely missing for some time now. The original hook that drew people to Star Wars in the first place, that made it famous in the first place. The light versus the dark - the importance of the Force (to all beings). And using all the lore that has been built up since then to express it. Here's to much, MUCH more of this kind of storytelling in Star Wars.

May the Force be with you, Ray.

[7.0/10] I have real mixed feelings about this one. Let’s start with the stuff I liked best.

There’s a real sense of paying tribute to masters and apprentices here, and the meaning those relationships have. You get it in the fun but poignant conversation between Ezra and Hyuang about the droid having helped build Kanan’s lightsaber. You get it in Ahsoka making peace with her feelings about her own master, and him smiling down on her as a force ghost.

And most of all you get it from Ahsoka and Sabine themselves. After Huyang told them to stay together before, and they didn’t listen, here Sabine comes to Ashoka’s aid when she needs it most. This time, Sabine will not leave her master behind and together, the two are better than either is on their own. The big arc this season centered on the two resolving their differences and finding a connection once again, and the show does a good job of dramatizing that.

I also like the reveal that what split them up was the Purge of Mandalore, and Ahsoka worrying that Sabine would want vengeance. I wish we got to explore it a little more, but It clicks as a source of their dissolution. On Sabine’s part, she’d be hurt by her master using the tragedy of the loss of her family as a reason not to train her. And for Ahsoka, someone else having lost their family and started training when older like Anakin would give her pause about where the process could leave. So it’s a slight thing in the episode, but an important one.

There’s also some nice moments of action here. I particularly like the fight between Ahsoka and Morgan Elsbeth. It involves some longer takes that really let you see the choreography in action, and there’s more intensity between the two of them than we’ve had in certain fights. Plus, Elsbeth being turned into a Great Mother by the three witches, and even getting Mother Talzin’s sword to fight with raises the stakes in a very cool way for longtime fans.

It’s also worth calling out that Kevin Kiner’s score has been so damn good throughout this whole season. Much of the spiritual air of Star Wars comes through in the music, and kiner does a brilliant job of accentuating the high tempo parts of the episode, but also creating a more introspective and uplighting atmosphere in moments when our heroes are making breakthroughs..

I can also appreciate how in this episode, our heroes both win and lose at the same time. On the one hand, they’re not able to stop Thrawn from returning and Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang are stranded in this other galaxy (for the time being, at least). On the other, Sabine and Ahsoka reforged their bond with one another, and importantly, they got Ezra home. (His reunion with Chopper is particularly sweet). The thing Ahsoka feared, and the thing Sabine so deeply desired, both came to fruition, which is an interesting place to leave things. The fact that master and apprentice are back on the same page, and ashoka, seeing her trademark owl, affirms that they’re all exactly where they need to be, is a nice way to signal that this isn’t a happy ending, or even much of an ending just yet, but that her faith in her apprentice, and in herself as a master, and in the will of the Force, has been restored.

All of that said, I have my qualms about the episode too. For one thing, I found a lot of the action here pretty perfunctory. Little of the fight choreography really stood out outside of the Ahsoka/Elsbeth fight. The zombified stormtroopers might have seemed cooler to those who haven't played Jedi: Fallen Order and seen similar stuff before. Plus, it’s not like it seemed to change the stormtroopers' demeanor all that much. I wish we got to see them be more atavistic or deranged once reanimated.

More to the point, a lot of the direction here was flat and generic, even outside the action scenes. And many of the effects seemed off or even chintzy. Ahsoka and company riding on wolfback through the explosions looked poorly composited, and there were other times where the CGI looked too conspicuous and dare I say, Prequel-esque. The visuals didn’t wow me here, which is a disappointment for an action-packed finale.

I’m also very sanguine about Sabine unlocking her Force powers. Not everybody needs to be force-sensitive! I like the idea that Ahsoka puts forth, that being a Jedi is more about honing mind and body than wielding a lightsaber. So making half the Ghost Crew into force-wielders seems cheap somehow. We need more badass normals! Plus, it’s not like there’s some grand emotional breakthrough that lets Saine find the mettle within herself. She’s just about to be eaten by a zombie and boom, that’s it. I get that it’s an homage to Luke and the wampa, but they hadn't shown Luke having this kind of mental and emotional block holding him back the way Sabine had.

I’m also a little sanguine about just flipping everyone’s place here. All that build-up, and we trade Thrawn and Ezra in the main galaxy for Ahsoka and Sabine being lost. It opens up a ton of awkward questions. How did the New Republic choose to disarm with Thrawn showing up and making a go of it? (Maybe Thrawn’s arrival is what convinces Leia to start the Resistance?) Did Luke and Ezra interact and is Ezra another Jedi floating around the universe that we don’t see even though he’d be useful later in the timeline? So forth and so on.

It doesn’t outright disrupt continuity, but it doesn’t exactly fit neatly into what we know either. In Filoni I trust, and he’s done good work fitting meaningful stories into awkward spaces with both The Clone Wars and Rebels. But it doesn’t dovetail neatly.

This is a good outing for Thrawn, and seeing him make measured sacrifices and calculated defensive moves until he wins the day is a great look for one of the franchise’s signature non-Sith baddies. The fact that he discerns just how to tweak Ahsoka, suggesting that she might become her master, also shows his perceptiveness. I didn’t love Lars Mikkelson’s translation to live action Thrawn at first, but the more it’s gone on, the more he still feels right in the role.

This is also very much a Dave Filoni season finale ending. The glimpses we get of the various characters in their new locales, teasing more to come, in a big closing montage feels very much of a piece for multiple ending we got in Rebels. (Season 2’s especially feels cut from the same cloth.) I’m not knocking it. Filoni’s approach is traditional, but it does a good job of checking in on all the major players for the purposes of closure while hinting at what may still be to come.

But I’m also a little frustrated that this ends with more a semicolon than a period. That’s my personal preference. There's nothing sacrosanct about it. And longform storytelling over multiple seasons can be very cool. But this also isn’t as satisfying a finish to the season as I might like, with a lot of balls still in the air and a lot of key details that have gone unexplained.

Overall, this is a very mixed finale in my book. There's some emotional and character high points, but also some lowlights in the presentation and plotting that leave me a little cold. In its first season, Ahsoka never fell below “good”, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. But outside of the dreamscape interludes with Anakin and Ahsoka, never quite reached “great”, which can’t help but be a disappointment for folks like me who’ve followed these characters for years and wanted to see Filoni and company work their own nightsister magick once more.