Star Wars

Ahsoka

Air dates: 8/22/2023 to 10/3/2023
Written by Dave Filoni
Directed by Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Vasant Patel, Rick Famuyiwa

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

October 13, 2023

Review Text

Note: Spoilers for all eight episodes of Ahsoka follow.

Ahsoka represents a lot of what's currently wrong with the Star Wars franchise while maintaining just enough fleeting interest and general competence to keep me from throwing it away altogether. This is not awful, but it sure ain't good. Clocking in at eight episodes for a "season of television" — whatever that may mean these days — it starts off turgid and devoid of urgency and then gradually builds steam before ending on a major note of "to be continued" frustration. We've reached the point where a "season of television" is not even envisioned as an "eight-hour movie" but an "eight-hour half-a-movie."

Granted, this season of Ahsoka doesn't clock in at eight hours (it's closer to six after you subtract recaps and credits), but, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, this still has the structure of something that probably should've been a movie rather than this drawn-out serialized string of padded episodes.

Not to get too hung up on the structural aspects, but they do the show no favors. In light of the end of the streaming era as we knew it, with the fallout that's coming after the collapse of the streaming economic model and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and the cutbacks to the once-never-ending stream of "content" as we came to know it for the past decade — Ahsoka already feels like a relic of a bygone era: a piece of property in an ever-expanding universe that tries mightily to justify itself above all else but might not be guaranteed a future.

Granted, I've only seen the first season and a half of The Clone Wars and none of Star Wars Rebels, so the fact that this is a continuation of Rebels means that aside from the title character, I know none of the history of these supporting players from their previous animated adventures. Dave Filoni, given full reign to bring his animated vision to live action, relays the backstory with the necessary exposition and it's not hard to follow, but I'm in no position to say whether this resonates better for fans of Rebels and/or the entirety of Clone Wars.

Unfortunately, based on what's on the screen as eight isolated episodes, this is another big sack of mediocrity, starting with the title character, played by Rosario Dawson — an actor I know is good because I've seen her many other places — as yet another boring, stoic Jedi who speaks in monotone, crosses her arms, and barely seems interested in what's unfolding around her. The Ahsoka of The Clone Wars (of what I've seen) was an annoying teenager, but at least she felt like a person with energy and opinions. The Ahsoka of the Mandalorian episode "The Jedi" was stoic, sure, but that was an outstanding samurai western with exceptional atmosphere and tension.

Ahsoka attempts to build out its cast in a story about the possible return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), who has been stranded in another galaxy and hopes to return to this one and start a war that restarts the Empire. (With Gideon gone, I wonder if it will be Thrawn who ultimately ushers in the First Order.) Also missing, and presumed stranded in the other galaxy, is Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), an ally from the Rebels days (I don't know the extended backstory) who was particularly close to Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo).

The key character dynamic is yet another master/apprentice relationship — which seems to be the only thing Star Wars knows what to do with its central characters — between Ahsoka and Sabine. Sabine's Jedi training has lapsed, and she's not particularly keen on taking it up again. For that matter, Ahsoka is not particularly keen on training her. But the circumstances of Thrawn's plan demand a return to action, as his proxies, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), are making moves to bring Thrawn back to this galaxy.

Also on hand for our heroes is Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who mostly deals with the bureaucracy — and possible corruption and Empire sympathizers — within the New Republic, which, as in The Mandalorian, seems to be quickly paving the way to the Republic's eventual downfall. Although, given her role and what she saw in the excellent Andor (which I hope to review eventually), I'm not sure why Chancellor Mon Motha (Genevieve O'Reilly) seems so reluctant to push back on the elements in government that are rendering it so ineffective. (Ray Stevenson, who died after this season was shot, has an interesting speech about the cycle of the rise and fall of the Republic and Empire, and his character has a desire to see something that breaks the wheel and replaces it entirely.) Hera has to go rogue in order to get the job done and help her friends, because the Republic is of no help.

The early episodes set the table for the leap to the other galaxy, including a cool, elaborate map contraption that plays at times like a MacGuffin. These early episodes are the toughest to get through. This season, especially in the first half, suffers from an acute case of Star Wars prequelitis. Characters speak in hushed monotone with flat expressions, and the editing patterns in these episodes are atrocious: Every cut seems to be about three seconds too late, lingering on the actors' (muted) reactions as if every line of dialogue must be heavily considered for its weighty emotional significance — even in scenes of pure exposition where such weight is absent.

Ahsoka and Sabine play will-they-or-won't-they for restarting Sabine's training. Then Sabine cuts her hair to indicate "it's on," and there are action sequences that play as far too routine and obligatory as these things go, especially a weirdly muted space battle involving Ahsoka's shuttle's approach toward the Eye of Sion (Elsbeth's ship which she hopes to jump to the other galaxy once she cracks the code with the map), which somehow can't destroy Ahsoka's ship even when it's helplessly right in its crosshairs. This sets up a series of action scenes in the forest of the planet where Ahsoka is forced to land, and later Sabine makes a misguided deal with the devil and hands over the map in her desperate quest to rescue Ezra from his isolation where the bad guys are going to rendezvous with Thrawn.

The second half of the season picks up a bit, and probably the best episode of the season is "Part Five: Shadow Warrior," in which Ahsoka lies dying and experiences a pre-death purgatory where she must face her old master Anakin (Hayden Christensen), who sends her through a spiritual journey into her past. The episode is rich with evocative imagery and self-reflection, and once Ahsoka returns to the waking world, she takes up a plan to use the "space whales" (who are capable of hyperdrive) to follow Sabine and the villains to Thrawn's base in the other galaxy. The episode manages to drum up a nice sense of atmosphere, awe, and wonder.

The back half of the season is better than the first half, but still not great. When we meet Thrawn, he doesn't disappoint, and is a nice entry in the pantheon of interesting villains who seem far smarter and calmer than their reputation suggests. Lars Mikkelsen's performance is key here. There's some mumbo-jumbo sorcery involving Elsbeth and the witches. And we meet some locals on the planet surface, some who are hostile and others who are welcoming. The "turtle people" seem to be in the tradition of cute Star Wars creatures that inhabit such worlds, and these are the people who have taken in the marooned Ezra. But when Sabine finally finds Ezra, it's a pretty weak reunion that pretty much goes, "I'm glad you rescued me. Cool." As characters go, Ezra is a complete dud, making you question why Sabine came all this way and made the awful deal she made (which could thrust the galaxy into another war with the Empire, for chrissakes!), just for the sake of this boring stock hero Jedi friend type.

At the very least, the action picks up in these episodes and does its Star Wars thing, even if we end up dealing with zombie stormtroopers raised from the dead by witchcraft. And I will never understand why the Force doesn't just allow you to fly. You can launch someone else across a ravine, but not yourself? You can't stop yourself from falling? Whatevs.

I'm not sure what I was expecting in terms of an ending, but this ends on a complete note of non-resolution, with Thrawn escaping back to the Republic's galaxy where he can start scheming, and with our heroes — save Ezra and Hera — stuck on this rock with no way back (until they are rescued by their friends). At least The Book of Boba Fett felt complete and self-contained. The entire arc of Ahsoka is "characters go to another galaxy, Thrawn escapes, heroes trapped." Which totally could've been told in a two-hour movie.

What's more is I don't know where or how all these threads will even be continued. Mandalorian season four? Ahsoka season two, assuming it gets made? Some wrap-up movie in the far future? A combination of two or more of the above? The problem with a shared mega-universe (which the MCU is also experiencing right now) is that shows (or movies, or "content") simply become trailers for the next thing, and storytelling becomes secondary. Ahsoka plays directly into that narrative, offering up familiar nuggets where a compelling story should've been. It has its moments and it entertains at times, but on the whole it's a frustrating and hollow experience of over-produced mediocrity. There was a time when a show like this would seem justified in taking years to get to the screen. But the more threadbare the storylines and predictable the productions become, the less that justification holds water.

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271 comments on this post

Yanks

Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 6:53am (UTC -6)

Hey Jammer,

will you be reviewing 'Ahsoka'?