Posted in: Disney+, Review, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: Ahsoka, ahsoka tano, disney, mandalorian, Review, rosario dawson, star wars, star wars rebels

Ahsoka Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 Review: Rebels 2.0 Hits Familiar Notes

Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Natasha Liu Bordizzo pull off a Star Wars Rebels reunion in the action-packed premiere of Ahsoka.

Disney+ released the first two episodes of Ahsoka, with the first episode being "Master and Apprentice" and the second being "Toil and Trouble." The series follows the story after the character's introduction to live-action in The Mandalorian season two episode "Chapter 13: The Jedi," which saw her take down magistrate Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) with the help of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal). While Rosario Dawson reprised the role involved in the arc concerning Grogu and his Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka refocuses back to her original arc. The following contains minor spoilers.

Ahsoka: Getting (Some of) the Rebels Band Back Together

The events are set in motion when two former Jedi in Baylan Skoll (the late Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) free Morgan from her prison after we see Ahsoka find an encrypted map in the cold opening. The key to decrypting it lies in her ally Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), the Mandalorian who wields her friend Ezra Bridger's (Eman Esfandi) lightsaber. Ezra was last seen dragging Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) across the galaxy.

To get to Sabine, the Jedi revisits General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), one of her fellow Rebels crew (with Sabine) who's been celebrated since the fall of the Empire. We don't get a full-on reunion since we don't get Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Kanan Jarrus, the Jedi who trained Ezra. Near the conclusion of Rebels, he sacrifices himself in a blast while saving his girlfriend, Hera. Also missing is Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios (voiced by Steve Blum), the Lasat member of the Ghost crew. We do get the live-action introduction to their astromech droid in Chopper.

The Rebels crew is depicted in a mural, so it's still too early to say what's happened to Zeb, Kallus (David Oyelowo), and other alum. For now, we get a healthy dose of Hera, Ahsoka, and Sabine – with the first two episodes concentrating on the latter two, along with Morgan and her two mysterious new antagonists, Baylan and Shin. Creator Dave Filoni wrote both episodes and directed the first episode, while Steph Green directed the second. Both do a great job of re-establishing the characters as a unit. I didn't care for the ending of the first episode because it was tension for tension's sake, and we all know Filoni's not about to give the middle finger to his audience for a pro-wrestling swerve.

Dawson isn't offering anything particularly insightful or refreshing about the character aside from the "sick of your shit" cynicism vibe we're used to seeing in the Jedi after Revenge of the Sith. Unless there's some backstory as to why she can't trust to process of training someone else I'm missing, it makes almost no sense. Then again, it's not like Star Wars doesn't regularly move the goalposts when it comes to what makes someone capable of being a Jedi. The pacing of both episodes moves as it needs to move the story, but it feels a little awkward when neither Zeb nor Kanan are even mentioned, given how much the series leans on Rebels as a launching point. Newer fans, which I don't think Ahsoka is really targeted for, won't really care, but as someone who's followed the character across three animated shows and her two previous live-action appearances, they could have done better in some flashback or something.

We have six more episodes to go, and perhaps we'll see some surprise cameos from the animated series. It was great seeing Chopper again, and Filoni let his actors shine naturally through their charisma to match the action they're put in. There's enough mystique in Stevenson, Inosanto, and Sakhno's characters to be invested in their arc. I also want to commend David Tennant as the voice of the droid Huyang, providing some levity and a change of tone in the seriousness of the series. Aside from the familiar vibes from Rebels, there are also some parallels to the sequel trilogy as far as build, which I hope Filoni polishes by the end of the season. Ahsoka streams Tuesdays on Disney+.

Ahsoka Sesaon 1 Episodes 1 & 2: "Master and Apprentice" & "Toil and Trouble"

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Review by Tom Chang

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7/10

Newer Star Wars fans who watch Lucasfilm & Disney+'s Ahsoka for the first time without checking out the previous animated shows and live-action appearances might get a little lost at first. Fans of the character and the Dave Filoni-verse end of the franchise won't be disappointed as it tends to play it safe and sticks to what it knows - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Credits

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Director

Dave Filoni, Steph Green

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