Spoiler Alert: The following contains details about the first two episodes of Disney+/Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka, “Master and Apprentice” and “Toil and Trouble”.
We’ve seen the spunk, force and determination of such Star Wars heroines as Princess Leia Organa and Rey, but behold the power of Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla in what is Disney+ and Lucasfilm’s most potent live-action female spirited Star Wars series yet. It’s truly a glass-breaking series in the Star Wars universe with its female protagonists not relegated to second fiddle, but truly taking full control of the galaxy — on both the light and the dark side.
Ahsoka, created by Dave Filoni, based on the characters from the Star Wars animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels continues to build on the tone and energy of the original George Lucas trilogy, a style which has easily seeped its way into the extended TV streaming series. However, Ahsoka offers more warmth than Andor, and more soulful characters than The Mandalorian, which has overstayed its welcome in its foster father-and-son dynamic between Din Djarin and Grogu.
Even the fight scenes seem better in Ahsoka, with Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan the ever so graceful fighter as she jumps and flips and then sidesteps a boomerang lightsaber being flung at her and back in tonight’s episode 2 “Toil and Trouble.” Ahsoka may have been spitfire and sassy in the cartoons, but Rosario Dawson plays the Togruta, from the planet Shi with a great Zen wisdom, and flawless light saber wielding skills, arguably sharper than Obi Wan and Luke put together. If Marvel’s Secret Invasion was a sleeping pill, consider Ahsoka an absolute upper.
For better or for worse for the old guard Star Wars film fans, Ahsoka is a full embrace of the largely Lucas and Filoni created mythology that takes place after the Clone Wars up until the original 1977 film, Episode IV. You either know the backstory of Ahsoka Tano and amigas or you don’t. If you don’t, the whole show might as well be in Russian. If that’s the case, well, it’s time to brush up on your Shakespeare (meaning either dive into the old animated episodes or read up on the lore).
Ahsoka is a live-action sequel to Clone Wars and Rebels. The first episode, “Master and Apprentice” even begins with a prologue, something that the series and new movies such as Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story avoided doing out of respect for the format of the original core feature episodes I-IX.
Essentially, the Galactic Republic has formed into the New Republic. General Admiral Thrawn, a great respected tactician, believed to be dead, may not be. Ahsoka has captured one of his flunkies, a witch, by the name of Morgan Elsbeth (not to be confused with a character name on Little House on the Prairie) played by Diana Lee Inosanto.
Morgan is imprisoned on a rebel freighter, which gets raided by two evil henchmen trained in the Jedi ways, Baylan Skoll (played by the late Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin Hati (the chilling Ivanna Sakhno).
At stake is a golden egg, not Fabergé, which Ahsoka finds hidden in an old temple of Morgan’s. Inside the egg is a map of the universe which leads to Thrawn’s whereabouts.
Star Wars wouldn’t be Star Wars without the dysfunctional mentorship of Jedis. General Hera Sydulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) insists that Ahsoka reteam with her former, rebellious Padawan, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who has fallen away from her Jedi training in the wake of her dear friend (and supposed lover, though he refers to her “like a sister”), fellow Jedi Ezra Bridger. By the way, she still has lightsaber which she uses. He disappeared during a mission where he was foiling Thrawn’s plans to decimate the planet Lothal. Duly note, that Sabine is also a Mandalorian. Syndulla believes that Sabine also has the noggin to decode the egg. Essentially, if the trio find Thrawn, they’ll be able to find Ezra as well.
Sabine is a total badass. She’s suppose to be honored at some Rebel ceremony, however, she’s out racing her speeder bike like she’s the sister of Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek movie. In a fun scene, she outwits two Rebel-like X-wing fighters (yes, fans, we know -they’re not X-wing fighters, they just look like them) to a punk-Japanese pop-sounding song; arguably the first time that the Star Wars soundtrack has ever used an actual song, not counting the “Yub Yub” Ewok ditty heard at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Sabine heads home, her house being something like Toronto’s CN Tower, where her alien cat lies waiting and purring. She plays a small hologram message from Ezra who apologizes for his disappearance. “As a Jedi, sometimes you have to make the decision no one else can, so that’s what I did to defeat Thrawn.” He encourages her to see the fight through.
Meanwhile, Shin returns to the tombs with Morgan where Ahsoka found the eggs. It’s an ancient temple built by Morgan’s witch order, the Witches of Dithomir. The first episode, directed by Filoni, ends in a lightsaber fight between Shin and Sabine, the former taking command of the egg with her battle droid. Sabine winds up getting stabbed through the torso by Shin.
Episode 2, directed by Steph Green (who directed episode 2 of The Book of Boba Fett “The Tribes of Tattooine”) begins with Sabine in the hospital receiving better medical care than Obi-Wan Kenobi ever did after losing his lightsaber battle against Darth Vader in “New Hope.” Ahsoka regroups with Sabine at the hospital; the latter knowing she screwed up. Ahsoka heads back to Sabine’s home where she encounters one of Morgan’s battle droids who’s been hiding in the house. Ahsoka chops off its head and brings it back to Sabine who begins to decode it. She learns that the droid is from Coreilla, which is a New Republic shipyard.
Meanwhile, Morgan, Shin and Baylan unlock the egg, learning the path where Thrawn is hiding.
At the shipyard, Hera and Ahsoka meet up with Myn Weaver, who appears to be building news ships out of old Imperial parts and employing re-programmed droids who were former villains. This is also a place where Morgan supplied raw materials for hyperdrive generators for Imperial class star destroyers (who knew witches doubled as spaceship architects). Hera and Ashoka smell something fishy, and indeed it is when a C1 droid gives up the fact that an assassin droid was bulling them around. It just so happens that said assassin droid is trying to escape the planet in a spaceship that’s blasting off, right at that second. There’s a shootout in the control room; clearly Weaver and his workers are Imperial loyalists. Hera blasts off to chase the escaping starship with her droid Chopper putting a tracking device on the rival ship. Ahsoka, meanwhile, contends with a lightsaber and battle saber wielding droids on the ground.
The episode ends with Sabine coming to terms with her calling: She finds her Mandalorian outfit, chops her hair short, and agrees to return to her training under Ahsoka. All the while in the episode there are debates between Hera and Ahsoka over the worth of Jedi training, i.e. Ahsoka doesn’t believe that Sabine is ready. Hera questions that faulty Star Wars logic (“I’m curious. What makes someone ready?,” presses Hera). Clearly haunting Ahsoka is how she fled her training under Anakin after she saw how corrupt the Jedi were.
In the first episode, Ahsoka tells Hera, “Anakin never got to finish my training…just like I walked away from Sabine.” Such are the Star Wars themes of obligation, faith and abandonment. Ahsoka may be a force sensitive outcast of the Jedi order, but she still feels a sense to teach the craft.
The future seems bright between Ahsoka and Sabine when the former tells the latter at the end of episode 2, “Take us out, Padawan.” The duo then head to find out where this egg might be hiding.
Meanwhile Morgan wants Baylan to take out Ahsoka.
“Her presence in the force is elusive,” Baylan tells Morgan, “Yet her determination is vivid…to kill her would be a shame; there’s so few Jedi left.”