To Serve a Greater Good: My Thoughts on Ahsoka Thus Far

Ahsoka went from fun Rebels fan-service to mugging me in the alley of my emotions.

*It goes without saying (but here we are) that spoilers are in this whole damn post. 

In episode 6 of Ahsoka, as the antagonists make their way to the mysterious planet Peridea, they pass through its planetary ring. The ring is made up of bones and leftover organic material of Purrgils (the hyperspace traveling space whales) because it is where these beautiful creatures come to die. Baylan Skoll fills in the viewer by explaining that Peridea was from children’s stories and essentially a myth. 

There are few times in recent Star Wars history where I have been filled with awe and a childlike sense of amazement but I felt that when the camera panned over Peridea and the awaiting Nightsisters and Mother were on camera. For me, this is the cool, weird space magic shit that I love about Star Wars. It’s not why everyone comes to Star Wars but it exists in this pocket of Star Wars fandom that is outside the main films, adjacent to the books, and just a smidge more mystical. Dave Filoni, who gave us The Clone Wars and Rebels shows, is responsible for this. Now depending on your placement in the Star Wars enjoyment category, this is either for you or absolutely not. I’m not going to convince anyone who doesn’t like it that it’s great because Star Wars fans just can’t all be lumped together. 

Night Troopers are big time creepy

I’ll get back to the show in a second but I did find myself thinking about the fandom of Star Wars quite a bit with Ahsoka more than any other series connected to the franchise. What I’ve learned over the decades of loving Star Wars is that we are on a spectrum of enjoyment and what makes one part happy, completely displeases another. I’ve somehow maintained a less dramatic approach. I love and enjoy most of what the franchise has to offer. I prefer the books because to me that is where Star Wars thrives. The shows/movies have their problems and that just comes down to Hollywood, having too many writers, and generally stuff that has nothing to do with Star Wars as an idea but more as a business. There are a ton of people involved who don’t care about the idea of Star Wars but they care how much money it makes them. I always keep that unfortunate reality in the back of my mind. But also, there are many people who love the franchise and want it to be the best it can be. Ahsoka feels like the latter camp.

The best War Criminal boy is back.

But let’s get back on track. 

Ahsoka rolls out its first 3 episodes with little explanation to anyone who hasn’t invested their time in Rebels. Rebels is the excellent animated show that adds more characters to the Filoni-verse and is sorta a sequel to The Clone Wars. Unlike The Mandalorian or Obi Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka doesn’t appeal to a casual Star Wars base initially. The very fact that it’s live action would suggest otherwise but Ahoska takes little steps to provide any context for the viewer. I had plenty of friends reach out and be like, “so she’s in more stuff than that 2nd season of Mando?”. I had one friend who had no idea that Anakin was Ahsoka’s Jedi Master. To me, this was just casual knowledge at this point but it points out that all Star Wars fans are not embedded in the bullshit of Star Wars. 

Thrawn is introduced in a context that he is big bad but unless you know all the books and watched Rebels, you could be like, what’s the big deal? While I enjoyed the set up of the first three episodes and getting plenty of screen time with Sabine, I could see the audience falling off. I read reviews where the author gave negative points because they weren’t properly informed why Thrawn was such a problem. It’s like man, have I got a ton of information for you. But given the fact it is not provided in the show, Ahsoka’s urgency doesn’t have volume for someone who was hoping to see Grogu again. 

But who cares because Ahsoka puts on a spacesuit and uses a lightsaber on a ship in SPACE. Rad af. RAD AF.

Then we get episodes 4,5, and 6. 

These 3 episodes alone are the best I’ve seen live action Star Wars in the Disney-era. I want to talk about these episodes directly because they had an effect on me. The first 3 was like Rebels fan-serivce which I was all about but then, well, Ahsoka stopped fucking around. 

Marrok being nobody is hilarious to me.

Episode 4: Fallen Jedi decided that Marrok was space witch dust which was a hilarious discovery for all the people claiming he was Ezra or Starkiller from Force Unleashed. He was a nobody! And thank god - Star Wars needs a little humbling every once and awhile because not everything needs to be something. 

This episode also highlights how good the lightsaber fights are in this show. We get heaps of lightsaber stuff and it’s all well choreographed and intense. Even Sabine gets to use her acquired skills to take on Shin Hati (my other space girlfriend) in a duel. The fight between Baylan Skoll and Ahsoka showcases 2 unique styles of fighting. Skoll is the heavier, power stance of the Knight while Ahsoka is the agile Samurai. 

Sabine’s selfish decision at the end of the episode does a good job of providing those gray areas into Star Wars canon that I appreciate. The primarily good vs. evil/black and white moral dilemmas are of a bygone era and it’s nice to have complicated actions in our protagonists. 

Also Purrgils? So many Purrgils and I couldn’t be happier. 

Episode 5 broke me. I think it was here that the internet turned off its overly intense criticism of Ahsoka and realized, “oh this is why she is the way she is.” 

The Clone Wars dreamlike sequence where a young Ahsoka runs with Anakin into battle speaks volumes compared to the animated show. When you take away the animation and the jokes per minute you are left with the horrors of the actual war. Ahsoka, at the age of 14, was on the battlefield commanding clones to their deaths. Not only was this a responsibility because of the Jedi Council but her training was not that of a peacekeeper. Ahsoka was trained for war, death, and no future. I had a similar experience when reading Rise of the Red Blade by Deliah Dawson. The harrowing scene on Geonosis where young padawans were sent to their deaths changed how I viewed the whole Clone Wars. 

Anakin was an adult here and maybe not a well adjusted one but he viewed this responsibility through a different lens than a 14 year old. This provides context for the casual viewer as well as understanding that yes, Anakin was her mentor and friend. The person she looked up to the most turned into one of the greatest sith to exist and she carries that with her. If you watched Rebels you would also know that Ahsoka, for the longest time, believed Anakin to be dead. She didn’t know he turned into Vadar. Poor Ahsoka has so much PTSD from this one dude and she cannot let it go. 

Then Thrawn. 

Jesus Christ. I’m not even floored by seeing Ezra again - Thrawn FINALLY arriving on screen was a treat and as terrifying as I wanted him to be. Along with his Nightroopers and their repaired Star Destroyer (it’s still the Chimaera, I believe) they lived on a graveyard planet with witches for 5 years. Lars Mikkelsen’s performance translated well from his voice acting in Rebels to his presence on screen. Thrawn is scary because he is so intelligent. That’s it! No force powers. No lightsabers. Just big brain energy. Not only that, but you also like him a bit? He has his convictions, principles, and overcame a racist, alien-hating empire to be one of their biggest assets. Much like Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, Thrawn operates within the institution carrying out acts of violence and war crimes for his own values rather than those of the power he works for. 

Perfection

I’m happy with Ahsoka. We have 2 episodes left and I’m not sure where it’s headed. It feels like there will be more after this show. What felt initially exclusionary to its audience has opened up for those dipping their toes into the nonsense we love known only as Star Wars. What I am most excited about is less fanatic folks now talking about Thrawn, Ahsoka, and generally cooler things that exist in the established lore of the series. Just the other day, I had a young girl come in and ask to order the Ahsoka book because she looked up to the character now. I think that’s so damn cool. And that’s what Star Wars is really about, isn’t it?