Ahsoka – Episodes One & Two Review

By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)

This review contains spoilers.

The long and painful wait is FINALLY over… the Ahsoka series has arrived! But can it live up to the hype that I have greatly placed on it?

As this is a double episode drop, I plan to briefly go through both episodes and then at the end will go through my conclusions and overall thoughts on the show so far. Going forwards, with the week-to-week episodes, I’ll write up the run-through of the episode and give my thoughts as I go. This mirrors how we have done reviews for all the Star Wars Disney+ shows.

So, here we go…

Episode 1: Master and Apprentice

First of all, starting with a title crawl is always a strong start to any Star Wars property, and it really provided the framework of the details you needed to know!

Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) arrive onboard the New Republic transport that is transporting the former Magistrate, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), back for trial. Igniting their red-bladed lightsabers, they work their way through the ship cutting down everyone in their path. With Morgan free, she can resume her mission… facilitating Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return!

We pick up with Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) exploring a ruined Nightsister temple on Arcana. I loved how they brought in the Nightsisters of Dathomir here and they go even further later on in the episode when they confirm that Lady Morgan is also a Nightsister! Despite retrieving the artefact, Ahsoka is set upon by HK Droids, but they cannot best her in combat, so result in a self-destruct play that Ahsoka manages to evade – thanks to an assist from Professor Huyang! Having David Tennant return to voice this unique and memorable character was such a huge win for the show!

Now in possession of the artefact and onboard Home One, we get our first look at the live-action General Hera Syndulla! Hera is one of my all-time favourite Star Wars characters, so this was a huge moment for me, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead did not disappoint! We learn that the artefact contains a map that will lead to Thrawn’s location and by proxy, Ezra’s location too! But with the map being difficult to decipher, Ahsoka is going to need the help of her former Padawan… Sabine Wren!

On Lothal, Ezra’s homeworld and Rebels go-to planet, a celebration is underway, a celebration of Ezra’s sacrifice and the actions of those who helped free the planet from Imperial destruction. Two familiar faces from Rebels make an appearance here, with Clancy Brown reprising his role as Ryder Azadi! Clancy has been numerous characters in many different Star Wars properties, but Azadil is one of his defining roles. Jai Kell, Ezra’s former ‘Stormtrooper cadet’ friend and who is now a Junior Senator, also returns, however, they are not played by Dante Basco, who voiced Kell in the show. Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) makes her escape from the celebration by speeding down the familiar Lothal highway on her speeder bike, escaping the E-Wings sent to bring her back to take part in the festivities. It turns out that Sabine now lives in the old communications tower in which Ezra used to live. As well as a pet Loth-cat, the tower is full of Rebels Easter Eggs that really connect the two shows in a magical way. When Ahsoka arrives, her interactions with Sabine are strained and you believe the tension between them and while we don’t know why they parted, we know that both are struggling and living with that decision. Sabine steals the map and continues to work on exploring its secrets back at the tower, however, Shin Hati has other ideas! While seeing Sabine holding a lightsaber isn’t a new thing, I wasn’t hugely impressed with their lightsaber duel. It was a little too robotic and “snappy” – as if it was taken from the first series of The Clone Wars. But it was fine. Shin manages to defeat Sabine and acquire the map – mission accomplished, and we end the episode with Sabine heavily wounded.

Episode 2: Toil and Trouble

Baylan and Shin unlock the coordinates for the reflex point on Seatos and Morgan confirms their destination which will lead them to Thrawn. We also are teased with the name “Marrok” – a former Inquisitor turned mercenary working for Morgan. For fans of The Clone Wars, Marrok was the name of Embo’s Anooba. There is a theory on Marrok, which I will discuss at the end…

Back on Lothal, Ahsoka investigates the scene of the attack, hoping to find some clues. She finds and destroys an HK Droid, left behind as a trap to detour anyone from snooping around. Ahsoka makes light work of the HK and Sabine is able to extract the droid’s memory, revealing it came from Corellia and the New Republic Shipyard – a shipyard that is full of ex-Imperial workers…

Hera and Ahsoka arrive on Corellia and we get to see Chopper for the first time in the series! During their investigation, they uncover classified plans of something being built, something unbeknown to the New Republic. The control deck team are all Imperial loyalists, but Hera and Ahsoka manage to defeat their trap with ease. This revelation leads Ahsoka to her first encounter with Marrok. Marrok still sports that Inquisitor design, including the familiar-looking lightsaber. The “Knight” aesthetic plays on the Marrok from Autherihan legend and makes for a striking image. As for the lightsaber fight, this was much more fluid and had a good rhythm to it, unlike the previous duel between Shin and Sabine. During this sequence, we finally get to see Hera do what she does best, fly! Her interactions with Chopper were straight from Rebels and the two characters are just a joy to watch. They manage to secure a tracking device onto the escaping transport – so all is not lost!

Back on Lothal, Sabine returns to the communications tower to retrieve her old gear. Seeing that vibrant and iconic Mandalorian armour brought a wide smile to my face! Sabine also gives herself a haircut, resulting in a more familiar look to the character. Now geared up, she is ready to join up with Ahsoka and begin the search for Ezra and prevent Thrawn’s return.

In orbit, above the planet Seatos, the Eye of Sion – a large-scale Hyperdrive docking ring – is near completion and appears to be Morgan’s current base of operations. The episode ends with a great visual of Morgan standing defiantly, as she surveys the final construction stages of the Eye of Sion.

I think this second episode gave more of an indication of what the tone of the series is going to be, as it wasn’t weighed down as much by establishing elements, however, both episodes were brilliant!

Looking at everything that the show has offered us so far, I think the character relations, especially the parallels between Ahsoka and Sabine and Baylan and Shin are really intriguing – I can see this being a consistent theme throughout the series. 

If you have experienced The Clone Wars and Rebels, this show will hit you on a completely different level than those who haven’t. Removing all prior knowledge of these characters and their history, this is a solid entry into the ever-expanding Star Wars living mythology. Yet to those who have the gift of that knowledge, this show has a much greater emotional impact – as it is essentially a continuation of a much larger story, told previously through Star Wars animation. There were moments I teared up and my emotions rose to the surface. “For Ezra” might not mean anything to those who haven’t watched Rebels, but to me all that history, all those emotions attached to that character and those that splintered off him, it makes everything ten times more powerful. 

Visually, the show looks great! As with all the “new Star Wars”, the use of practical effects is a huge plus point and seeing so many of these elements here not only gives it a wonderful look, but it fits into the wider aesthetic of the Disney+ Star Wars shows.

I can see why they wanted to drop two episodes for the series launch, and this definitely felt like a two-part arc. I’m extremely excited to see where we go next and I am counting down the minutes until Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his first appearance…

And finally… I mentioned previously in the review about the ‘Marrok theory’. This theory has been growing on the internet for a while now, and this second episode adds a little more fuel to the fire! If you don’t know – there are some that believe Marrok to be Ezra… turned by Thrawn during their absence. The idea is that this eventual revelation will take Sabine and the rest of the ex-Ghost crew to a devastating place. Marrok – from Autherihan legend is a knight who is turned into a wolf, and with Ezra having a deep connection to Loth-wolves… you can see why some are making that connection. For me, however, it’s not a theory I buy nor would I wish that to transpire. But, only time will tell! – Bring on Episode 3!

This review is dedicated to Ray Stevenson.