The titular star of LucasFilm’s latest streaming series, Ahsoka, has a rich cross-media history in Star Wars. She debuted in The Clone Wars animated series (the canonical Dave Filoni one, not the earlier Genndy Tartakovsky one), made a smattering of appearances in the animated followup Rebels, starred in a few novels and comic book stories, and made the jump to live action in season 2 of The Mandalorian (with a reprise appearance in one of Book of Boba Fett’s “Boba Fett is barely in this one, actually” episodes). Given that history, it’s no surprise that, at least in the two debut episodes of the series, “Master and Apprentice” and “Toil and Trouble,” the series functions more like a live-action sequel to another series (Rebels) than a new show in its own right.
For Star Wars fans — certainly for fans of Rebels — that’s probably OK, if not appreciated. For “normies,” well, it remains to be seen if there’s any emotional resonance to be gleaned from this series that isn’t built on previous affection for these characters (For what it’s worth, my wife knows very little of Rebels and mostly rolled with this, but then, she mostly rolls with anything). To Ahsoka‘s credit, the core relationship on display in this two-part premiere, that of the splintered master/apprentice relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine Wren, is largely original to the series. While the two characters interacted in Rebels, the idea of Ahsoka taking on (the seemingly not Force-sensitive) Sabine as a padawan — and the resultant fracturing of their relationship as a result — is new to the series and occurs entirely offscreen. While it follows mostly predictable beats — Ahsoka the master is gruff but conciliatory, Sabine the apprentice instinctively rebels before returning to the fold — it offers a life preserver to new viewers, a dramatic and emotional beat they can cling to that isn’t entirely informed by snippets of old Star Wars canon (It also helps that Star Wars, moreso than many other longform serial narratives, also has a history of tossing backstory at its audiences with little explanation).
In fact, one of the more surprising things in this premiere is just how much Sabine shines in it. While both she and Ahsoka undergo character arcs over the course of the two episodes that bring them back together, Sabine’s arc is the showier of the two. Given she’s cast in the rebellious-apprentice mold so familiar to Star Wars, and gets to do the cool flashy stuff like Tokyo Drift her speeder under an E-wing and get stabbed by a lightsaber, this makes sense, but it still results in Ahsoka fading into the background of her own series far too often.
Ahsoka certainly isn’t a non-actor in things: She is the main driver of the plot, working in various steps to track down a map to where lost Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn (and Rebels co-star Ezra Bridger) may be, and she gets at least one signature lightsaber battle in each episode.
But due to the nature of the arcs the characters are undergoing, she sometimes gets overshadowed. We are reminded that Ahsoka is, technically, not a Jedi, but she certainly comes across as one in terms of her emotional even-keelness. As the more reserved master figure in the Ahsoka/Sabine relationship, Ahsoka’s journey toward their eventual reunion is shorter, so we don’t need to spend as much time with her, and it forces her to play the stoic who is grounding Sabine’s emotional sturm-und-drang.
Whether that continues, especially now that the pair are reunited, seemingly on better terms, and poised to dive into the wider conflict of the series side by side, remains to be seen. Just as it remains to be seen whether the series can establish itself as a narrative in its own right, as something like Andor, that is trying to be broader and deeper than just another fun romp through the Star Wars universe. For now, it definitely skews more toward fun romp, but that’s not the worst place at which to begin its story.
Force Facts
- It appears the villain of this series (at least until Thrawn shows up) is Morgan Elsbeth, introduced simply as a warlord in the same episode of The Mandalorian that introduced the live-action Ahsoka. She is revealed here to be one of the Witches of Dathomir, a group of Force users first introduced in the Legends novel The Courtship of Princess Leia and later canonized in The Clone Wars, when Darth Maul was revealed to be related to them.
- Her chief lieutenants are a pair of reddish/orange lightsaber-wielding mercenaries, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati. They seem to have the same loose affiliation with a Force-user order as Ahsoka (i.e. they’re not Sith or Inquisitors), though Baylan clearly has a past with and knowledge of the pre-purge Jedi Order.
- They are also aided by Marrok (the helmeted person Ahsoka dueled in the second episode), who is billed in promotional material as “the last Inquisitor” and has one of their signature whirly blade red lightsabers. Because Marrok’s face is obscured, speculation has already begun regarding their true identity, with Ezra a popular candidate.
- The notion of a looming threat from another galaxy outside the Star Wars galaxy has been lingering on the margins of Star Wars storytelling for decades, usually associated with Thrawn (It is that threat which prompted him to throw in with the Empire, in the hopes of using their military might to defeat it). Presumably, this series will finally move it more to center stage.
- I’m not the world’s biggest Chopper fan, but the bit with him accusing Hera of messing with this stuff was pretty great.
- Clancy Brown, of Highlander, Shawshank Redemption and animated Lex Luthor fame, pops up in the first episode as the Lothal Governor Azadi; he previously voiced the character in Rebels.
- Baylan and Shin’s attack on the New Republic ship in the opening of episode 1 calls back to Vader’s assault on the Tantive IV in A New Hope and Rogue One. The episode opens with a long crawl across a ship, too, echoing the opening of New Hope.
- That ship was said to be waiting for a rendezvous with Home One, which was the flagship of the Rebellion at the Battle of Endor (It’s the ship Admiral Ackbar is on when he famously points out the Empire’s trap).
- The title of the second episode — “Toil and Trouble” — and Morgan’s connection to the Witches of Dathomir bring to mind the three witches from Macbeth. The three witches bring to mind the mythological Fates who, in Greek myths, were known as the Moirai. In Star Wars, Morai is a particular convor with a connection to Ahsoka. Once again, it’s like poetry, it rhymes.
- The end of episode 2 syncs up rather nicely with the epilogue to the final episode of Rebels (with a few cosmetic differences, like Sabine wearing Ezra’s saber here and Ahsoka’s cloak not being as white), with the previous events of Ahsoka thus far showing us what led Sabine to decide to go out and look for Ezra after being on Lothal all this time.
Elsewhere in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
“Dark Droids” comes at an opportune time for Darth Vader, with the series already embroiled in a plot involving Vader facing off against and then commandeering a droid army. Darth Vader #37 — by Greg Pak, Raffaele Ienco, Federico Blee and Joe Caramagna — pays this off with some droid-on-droid action, as Vader leads his newfound droid allies against the droids possessed by the still-doesn’t-have-a-name-but-let’s-call-it-Scourge collective intelligence, which has taken control of Vader’s Super Star Destroyer Executor.
This series is always at its best when it finds ways to position Vader as the hero of his own story. Between his overall goal being the rescue of the human Executor crew (including Admiral Piett) from murderous droids and the way his struggles with his fluctuating Force powers are presented more like he’s one of the X-Men learning to control his mutant ability, Vader is darn-near a superhero here, and the issue is better for it.
This Week in Star Wars History
In 2013, the Legends novel Kenobi, written by John Jackson Miller and featuring Obi-Wan trying to settle in after his arrival on Tatooine in Revenge of the Sith, was first published.
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Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
