The Ahsoka show continues to be maybe the greatest gift Star Wars fans have ever received in the entire Disney-Star Wars era.
What started out as a decent episode with cool action scenes and that special Star Wars feel - with awesome music, fun actions scenes, and timely space pursuits - escalated into one of the most shocking moments in all of Star Wars history.
Fans who have paid their dues and watched The Clone Wars and Rebels always have wanted to see what Lucasfilm could do with ideas from those animated shows in live action. Watching that final scene with Ahsoka waking up after she seemingly died gave me crazy chills as I realized what happened.
They finally did it. They brought us into the World Between Worlds.
As if that wasn't enough, they gave us one more surprise.
When Ahsoka wakes up on that platform and looks around in the eerie void of space, she hears a distinct voice talking to her.
"Hello, snips."
She turns, and there is Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker (with some de-aging, of course).
Return of the Chosen One
Cue the giddiness! Christensen has had a renaissance of sorts with Star Wars fandom recently. During the early 2000s, when the prequels released, he (and, to some extent, Natalie Portman and a few other actors) were criticized for their acting performances. People hammered Christensen in particular because of how he portrayed the grand moment of Anakin turning into Darth Vader in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Whether it was partially because of directing, the script or other factors, Christensen's performance was uneven, but he never deserved the heavy criticisms he faced. No one gave Christensen his due for the good scenes he was in. One of my favorites is when he talks with Padme after burying his mother in Episode II: Attack of the Clones - when he escalates slowly from talking about how he was good at fixing things to yelling about slaughtering the Tusken Raiders like animals. Another favorite is when he screams and burns after Obi-Wan slices his legs while in the high-ground position.
Now, though, all Christensen had to do at last year's Star Wars Celebration was walk out on stage. He immediately felt overwhelmed with love and joy from fans around him. My, how times change. People love him just for returning to play the character in Kenobi. I've said it for years and years. People are so easily swayed to believe what the masses agree upon. I've never been one of those people.
Anakin greets Ahsoka as she wakes up in the World Between Worlds. There is so much to tell about this place that I wrote a separate blog covering the topic, including some theories on what exactly happened to Ahsoka. Anakin says he didn't expect to see her so soon. That implies he was expecting her, but not at that moment. Does that mean he isn't the one who pulled her into the World Between Worlds? How else could she have ended up there, unless she did, in fact, die after Baylan knocked her off that cliff?
Sabine's choice
After Ahsoka falls off the cliff, Baylan turns to Sabine and convinces her to give back the map instead of destroying it. Sabine is so weak. Her refusal to listen to Ahsoka is the reason the map fell into the hands of Baylan and Morgan Elsbeth in the first place.
In this episode, Ahsoka warned Sabine of the difficult choice she might need to face. Sabine said she'd have strong enough willpower to destroy the map and keep the enemies from reaching Thrawn in this other galaxy, even if doing so meant she would lose any chance of finding Ezra. But of course, that's not how it went down.
As annoying as Sabine's decisions have been, it follows the classic Star Wars character arcs quite nicely. Anakin made a similarly bad decision for a seemingly good reason when he decided to protect the Emperor from the Jedi because the Emperor was the only way Anakin could save Padme from certain death. He did some evil things for the greater good (a line Baylan fittingly spoke during this episode), but at too high of a cost. These themes are so good and evoke the very best story arcs in all of Star Wars, one of the many reasons this show feels so much like classic Star Wars.
Heavy-handed dialogue
While the themes were outstanding, some of the deliveries were quite clunky.
The foreshadowing was a bit heavy handed when Ahsoka asks Sabine, "Can I count on you?" (to destroy the map) and, "Should I be worried?" (about Sabine's emotional ties to Ezra). Ahsoka tells her that sometimes we have to do what's right, regardless of personal feelings. Sabine asks if she really believes that, which is fitting, considering how difficult doing what is right proved to be for Ahsoka in her past; that didn't always lead to the outcome she expected.
After the H-K assassin and Huyang fight, Huyang requests that Ahsoka and Sabine stay together, as if that didn't make it totally obvious that they were going to get split up later on, right? On a side note, the droid fight was cool. I always find it funny when someone covers a droid's mouth, as if that's supposed to prevent the droid from speaking. I get it, a hand covering the mouth would make it harder to hear, but it wouldn't actually decrease the volume. It's just funny to me any time that happens (another instance is when Leia covers C3PO's mouth in Return of the Jedi).
The heavy-handedness continued with Hera's "Once a Rebel, always a Rebel" line. So cringy, yet it was still a fun wink-and-nod moment.
Ahsoka also namedropped "Heir to the Empire," the now-Legends book series that first introduced us all to Grand Admiral Thrawn.
There was even a cringier moment when Jacen said, "I have a bad feeling." Such a trolling line! They didn't even bother to let him say the whole phrase that's in every numbered Star Wars movie (Han says "I have a good feeling about this" in Solo).
Lightsabers, camera, action!
While the dialogue was cheesy at times, the action was superb throughout, and Elsbeth's Nightsister abilities are shown in full force (no pun intended).
There were some epic lightsaber battles. Ahsoka switched from her classic dueling blades stance (called Ataru - Form IV) to a single blade when fighting Baylan, likely to keep one hand free so she could grab the map out of its socket before Elsbeth locked in the coordinates. When she grabs the map, however, she painfully discovers a spell was placed on the device, and it curses her hand. She isn't even able to use the Force with that hand after touching the map.
Earlier in the episode, Ahsoka made surprisingly quick work of Marrok in another awesome lightsaber fight. After she kills him, the Inquisitor vaporizes like an exhumed corpse that was sealed for centuries. I personally think that Marrok had some sort of enchantment on him from Elsbeth. In The Clone Wars, there was a race of "undead" beings who were basically zombies under the Nightsisters' control. The Nightsisters also enchanted Savage Oppress (Darth Maul's brother), who died similarly at the hands of Sidious, with a green gas spewing out after getting stabbed by Sidious' lightsaber.
While Ahsoka fought Marrok, Sabine got her rematch with Shin. The moment when Sabine tried using the Force was such a trolling of the audience! But it led to a cool trick as she ended up shooting little missiles out of her arm plates.
Once a Jedi, always a Jedi?
The title of this episode is Fallen Jedi, which is actually close to the two video games in the current Jedi: Fallen Order series. After seeing that title, I wondered if Cal - the main protagonist you play as in those video games - would ever make the jump to live-action shows or movies, too.
After watching the episode, though, the title likely refers to Ahsoka's fall off the cliff. But what if it also is referencing Baylan?
Baylan had a short, but interesting, conversation with Ahsoka before their duel. Baylan knew about Ahsoka abandoning Anakin and the Jedi Order, so clearly Baylan was involved during that era. And he knew that Anakin turned into Vader, which wasn't known by many at all.
At one point, Baylan says, "Faith? I lost that a long time ago." Yes, we get it. Something happened to him during his past that made him turn away from the Order, so perhaps that is why he could be considered a fallen Jedi?
It was interesting that Baylan kept his word about not killing Sabine in exchange for her returning the map to him. Perhaps there is still good in him, huh? Quick side note: there were some weird sound effects in the background when Shin grabbed Sabine by the Force during this scene. It was faint, but it sounded like laughing, possibly a creature making sounds. I've read theories about Shin being one of the wolves from Rebels, but I think that's a pretty far-fetched possibility.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
So what's going to happen next week? Aside from the highly anticipated conversation Ahsoka and Anakin will have, I'm hoping this will be the episode we finally get a glimpse of this new galaxy. Lucasfilm announced that next week's episode will have special theatrical screenings in participating locations. Why would they do that? I think they want to show off the new galaxy on the big screen and get people hyped for Star Wars movies once again.
The alternative reason, which I'd also be very happy about, is they want to introduce Grand Admiral Thrawn in a, well, grand way. If he's going to be the focal point of the next great war in the Star Wars universe, it would make sense to introduce him on the big screen. Either way, I'm more excited for what's next with Star Wars than I have been since before the release of The Force Awakens. Ahsoka is shaping up to be a pinnacle moment in the history of the franchise, and I hope they capitalize on it with future projects.