No time to waste, we need to get right into this episode of Ahsoka.
1. A Long Time Ago
There has been a really fun theory throughout the Star Wars fandom that the entirety of the stories that we’ve been told, at least for the Skywalker Saga, have been told by R2D2. I know that’s weird, but hear out the theory: why else would this little droid essentially be the Zelig or Forest Gump of the galaxy, showing up every time anything happens, anywhere. This explanation also would account for some the continuity errors that pop up now and then, because you’ve got an unreliable narrator telling the tale.
I bring this up because in this episode, Ahsoka talks to Huyang in her ship inside the mouth of a space whale, and reminisces about the stories Huyang would tell the younglings at the Jedi Temple. Eventually, she asks him to tell her one, and how does he begin it? Well, the same way that all Star Wars films begin: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. While this doesn’t confirm anything, it’s a nice Easter Egg for fans who care about these sorts of things.
What is also interesting about this aspect of the story is that this episode takes place in a galaxy far, far away, as the title shows. And it is a place the Baylan Skoll believes to have been the site of some very important things ‘a long time ago.’ I wonder if this galaxy is going to be used to bring certain now non-canon Star Wars history back into the Disney-era. This lets the creators have their cake and eat it too, cherry picking the good stuff and creating a workaround to not have to include all of it.
2. “I miss the idea of it.”
I’m really loving who Baylan Skoll is becoming on this show, and it is sad every week when I remember that Ray Stevenson died before this season premiered, so that he couldn’t enjoy all the accolades his performance is garnering. He’s this fantastic mix of the dark side of the Force with a healthy respect for the light. He’s not a Sith, but he’s left the Jedi behind. In a statement that I think echoes anyone who has ever walked away or significantly changed their view on faith, he “miss[es] the idea” of the Jedi Order. He’s fine being left in this far away galaxy because, even though he claims he’s lost his faith, he believes in the myths and secret histories that he’s learned about.
Baylan is unlike any Dark Side user we’ve ever met and, in many ways, unlike any Light Side user, either. The people he most resemble are Ahsoka, someone who rejected the Jedi but not the Force, and Kylo Ren, who wanted to let the past die to build something new. When you hear Baylan speak, there are time when he seems very reasonable, but he is consistently revealed to not be. For instance, he did give Sabine a chance to find Ezra, but he’s now going to try to kill them both.
I’ve mentioned this before, he seems like what used to be called Dark Jedi in the old mythology. None of the ‘rule of 2’ nonsense with Siths, but more a Jedi who takes his teachings from the Dark Side and, therefore, are more open to embracing chaos. This seems at odds with the Empire, an instrument of order, but that order has always hidden the chaos that has raged from its leaders. Baylan is unpredictable, and that is part of what makes him so fascinating.
3. A Filoni-smorgasbord
More than any other episode thus far, this episode was chock full of things that Dave Filoni introduced in animation: we see Nightsisters, grown up Ezra, mid-Purrgil hyperspace travel, references to Dathomir, the live-action debut of Grand Admiral Thrawn (yes, I know he’s not a Filoni creation, but Filoni is the one who shepherded him into the Disney era), and those hermit crab/turtle things in vests that are easily the most animation-inspired new creature we’ve seen on Ahsoka or any other live-action Star Wars television series.
Continued belowAll of this, I’m sure, may feel like a lot for non-Rebels viewers, but I think that this episode may be the first that felt robust enough and, given the five episodes that came before it, well-supported enough to not feel like it needed to be buttressed by prior knowledge. There was emotional weight, the burden of expectation, and some truly amazing sci-fi stuff to go along with the catharsis that was, partially, fed by the long wait from Rebels to now. I hope that folks who weren’t fully immersed in the animated world now feel like this is worthy of their time.
4. The reunion
In so many ways this series is all about Sabine and Ezra (more on that in a moment), and so the reunion of the two had to feel earned and important, and it does, but it also feels true to who the characters were in their lives before Ahsoka. This is more that delicate balance between having to serve new viewers and reward the Rebels heads out there, because there needs to be a build, release, and catharsis within the show itself, too, and we’ve only ever seen one holovid recording of Ezra. And so, all of the work for making us care about Ezra has fallen onto Sabine’s shoulders. That’s a lot to put on Natasha Liu Bordizzo, especially because both Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Hera) and Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka) have been much more reserved in their performances.
And while it may seem a little silly to have their long-awaited reunion begin with some playful bickering, it felt very true to who they are. As soon as the hug happened, the anticipation of Sabine having to explain all of this to Ezra – how she got there, the deal she made, how they may not actually get home – began to suffocate the scene. Add to that the knowledge of Baylan and Shin on their way, and the reunion felt more fraught than could’ve been anticipated at the start of the season.
5. Ahsoka?
I know it is silly to get mad at the title of a show and the show itself not really lining up, but calling this show Ahsoka is pretty funny at this point. If anything, Ahsoka/Sabine would be more accurate, but why not just call it what it is. This is Rebels. Sure, we haven’t seen Zeb yet (in this actual show), but this is clearly Rebels season 5. And that is why it is so good! Aside from last week’s World Between Worlds shenanigans, Ahsoka has been clearly the second banana to Sabine the whole series.
And that’s ok! This show is really enjoyable, no matter what it is called. But I do wish that we got a little more about who Ahsoka is today, and got more insight into how she feels about things as a seasoned Force-wielder. Her stoicism is a choice, I get that, but I want more from the character. Hopefully, the last two episodes can deliver some of that.
