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Ahsoka Season 1 Episode 7 Review: I Can't Stay Mad at You, Bestie!

Disney+'s Ahsoka is ready to head to the finish line with another reunion in another predictable classic Star Wars Rebels-like episode.

It's safe to say the Star Wars franchise continually struggles with the idea of how main characters deal with attachments. After all, it was Anakin Skywalker's drive to try to save his wife Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) from certain death that drove him to the arms of The Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) and the Dark Side in hopes that when the inevitable comes, he could save her life. Not surprisingly, he wasn't able to keep that promise during the events of 2005's Revenge of the Sith, as Vader nearly murdered every Jedi and their sympathizers who cared for him during Palpatine's infamous Order 66. While Anakin was manipulated into the Dark Side, his son Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) was able to use his attachment to his friends as a source of strength to take down most of the Empire during the events of Return of the Jedi, and that theme has resumed through Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in the Star Wars live-action spinoff series Ahsoka in the latest episode "Part Seven: Dreams and Madness." The following contains minor spoilers.

Ahsoka: Almost a Complete Reunion

The events pick back up with Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) facing a New Republic tribunal where she has to answer for her insubordination, with the hearing set to determine if she would be stripped of her rank. The driving force behind that hearing is her biggest critic in Senator Xiono (Nelson Lee), a skeptic who scoffs at any notion of the Force and its mysticism. Caught in the middle is figurehead Chancellor Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), who's far more familiar with the good general's heroism. Kudos to Lucasfilm for making O'Reilly one of the busiest actors in the franchise. It's become a joy how Andor and Ahsoka have built her character in a way previous appearances barely scratched the surface of – we were even treated to a tease of what's to come in 2016's Rogue One.

The scene shifts back to the main adventure where Huyang (voice of David Tennant) and Ahsoka try to evade Thrawn's (Lars Mikkelsen) forces to track down their friend Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), not aware that she's finally reunited with her long-lost friend Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). The former Star Wars Rebels main protagonist found himself lost and adapted into his environment in a "when in Rome"-type situation with the Noti, a turtle-like species who are competent enough to drive local shell-like caravans.

This is the most we see out of Ezra as "Space Jesus" since, apparently, he doesn't follow his traditional Jedi ways anymore. We're treated to a loaded action sequence, mixing it up with Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) while her master, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), acts as a roadblock to our main hero (because the plot commands it). Creator Dave Filoni penned "Dreams and Madness" with Geeta Vasant Patel directing – together, the episode gave them an opportunity to create some genuine drama between Ahsoka and Sabine – but they won't have time to fully flesh that out since it's the penultimate episode and we have a finale to get to.

Make no mistake; this sounds like a broken record, but Filoni has been consistent in the storytelling he likes in his characters. Anyone expecting Ahsoka to deliver a more nuanced story than Rebels will be disappointed. Even the build-up of Mikkelsen's Thrawn offered nothing more than hype because all they have time for him to do is try to escape, given the limited format. With Filoni telling, rather than showing, us the "threat" Thrawn is, it undermines any greater purpose he's trying to achieve.

I have no doubt this is done by design because this is far from a one-and-done comeback in terms of Filoni's long-term planning. There are no loose ends tied, just another cliffhanger – like the end of Rebels – and I don't expect that to change with next week's finale. Basically, there's no sense of wonder by the end of the episode – just more fanserving that's predictable as Hell.

Ahsoka Season 1 Episode 7 "Part Seven: Dreams and Madness"

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Review by Tom Chang

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6/10

While there's nothing blatantly wrong with the latest episode of Lucasfilm & Disney+'s Ahsoka ("Part Seven: Dreams and Madness"), there's not a whole lot of imagination or originality to the chapter. Dave Filoni has been telling us, not showing us, the threat Thrawn is - but so far, we have to take his word for it in terms of this series. There's no sense of finality even with this season coming to an end and that's a problem. Because even if there's going to be a second season, there still needs to be some resolutions.

Credits

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Director

Geeta Vasant Patel

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