Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 8 (Season Finale): While the headline has a pretty important question preceding this recap, it is important to note what the question isn’t asking. Personally, having seen Rebels and important episodes of Clone Wars, I am caught up on the “Filoni-Verse” enough that references haven’t lost me. But as Ahsoka comes to an end, it will easily prove to be a divisive one because the question isn’t whether the show works for me; it’s whether the show works for a general audience. And after this season finale, I can safely say general audiences will feel kind of lost anyway.
Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 8 (Season Finale) Recap:
We finally get some inkling as to what the boxes that are being loaded in the hold of the Star Destroyer could contain—possible corpses of all the dead Stormtroopers that would be later re-animated. There had already been an inkling since Marrok’s death disintegrated the body, and green wisps of magic escaped. While Morgan remained confident that the team of Jedis wouldn’t be a problem anymore, Thrawn is less optimistic. He still remembers how the actions of one impudent Jedi had been enough to knock him out of one galaxy into the far end of another, and right now, he wouldn’t be taking another.
The fact that the show has trouble with pacing is no more emblematic than a scene in which Ahsoka’s Jedi cruiser is keeping pace with the Noti’s tank vehicles, effectively at a snail’s pace. For a “chase” supposed to attempt to stop Thrawn, the pace of the characters is pretty slow. One of the reasons I feel is the dissonance between animation and live-action. There was somewhat of a slowness in the animation, especially for the 3D animation for Star Wars Clone Wars & Rebels, which becomes glaring when translated almost exactly to live action.
Story-wise, the ship being slow gives time for Ezra to build a lightsaber, much to the chagrin of Huyang over how messy Ezra is being. Ezra slows down from being his manic self when Huyang learns from Sabine that Ezra’s master who taught him to build a lightsaber was Kanan Jarrus, AKA Caleb Dume, the shy, young padawan whom Huyang had taught at the Jedi temple. Huyang even gives Ezra a copy of the same hilt that Kanan had as if to show that the torch is finally being passed. But as you see Ezra finally having built a lightsaber quite expertly, Eman Esfandi’s casting finally coalesces. He captures the mannerisms of Ezra and the slightly stunted growth of the overgrown child, who is still strong enough to fight off stormtroopers.
But with the Ezra problem out of the way for the time being, the show is now free to dip into the relationship faultline that is the Sabine Ahsoka relationship. As we learn from Huyang answering the same question via the audience surrogate, that is, Ezra, Ahsoka had grown fearful of Sabine’s motivations to train as a Jedi when the purge of Mandalore had occurred, killing her family. That is an interesting revelation, but that is offset by the somewhat bland delivery. However, it is regained somewhat in importance by the master and apprentice finally airing their grievances out and Ahsoka asking Sabine to train her body and mind, as the secret of being a Jedi isn’t just holding a lightsaber.
Sabine is going to learn that the hard way. Back with Thrawn, Morgan Elsbeth is rewarded for her efforts by effectively being transformed by the Great Mothers into a proper night-sister and being gifted the Blade of Talzin (this same blade had been utilized by Mother Talzin, then leader of the night sisters, battling against Mace Windu in The Clone Wars; Mother Talzin had also been responsible for bringing back Darth Maul post-Phantom Menace, explaining his appearance in Solo, for all the live action fans). Meanwhile, TIE fighters had started attacking the Jedi Cruiser, and Sabine barely managed to start the destroyed engine in its final legs enough to get elevation and destroy those fighters before crash-landing.
With the ship being destroyed, Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra ride towards the “castle” on the back of the howlers (more than one; where did they come from? it isn’t shown that the Noti had two of them in their tanks from the previous episode). As they ride forward, Thrawn commands Enoch for “ground assault,” which effectively means laser charging at the ground through the weaponry of the Star Destroyer. The three barely manage to enter the castle with their hide intact when they meet a cadre of Stormtroopers. As the three Jedi slowly start mowing through them, they get the shock of their lives as our inkling is officially revealed: Thrawn has been resuscitating his dead army by dark magic from the Great Mothers of Dathomir to rebuild his army and now intends to quite possibly return to his galaxy to attack and regroup.
As the trio reaches the top floor after managing to lock the stormtroopers by smashing the door consoles, Ahsoka begins a duel with the now powerful Morgan Elsbeth, holding the Talzin blade. While Ahsoka begins a furious battle, Ezra and Sabine battle more stormtroopers. As Sabine is almost getting choked out by one stormtrooper, her lightsaber thrown out of reach, the build-up to so many episodes finally reaches its crescendo. Sabine uses the force to pull the lightsaber towards herself and ignites it through the blasted, zombified head of the stormtrooper. With renewed confidence, Sabine executes one of the best moments in Star Wars, where she force-pushes a mid-jump Ezra towards the Star Destroyer as it begins its interstellar travel. Sabine manages to hoist Ezra over, but before she can jump with Ezra pulling her in, she sees Ahsoka being forced backward towards her by an army of stormtroopers and Elsbeth.
To Ahsoka’s surprise, Sabine stays back with her to fight the Stormtroopers, and Ahsoka finally manages to cut Elsbeth down and destroy the Night Blade. The stormtroopers disintegrate, and the two Jedi jump on the now-repaired Jedi Cruiser, which had been under careful repairs by Huyang and the Noti. However, the trio are too late to stop Thrawn, who manages to turn on the Eye of Sion and travel forward towards the home galaxy, but not before communicating a smug message to Ahsoka Tano: that even though they hadn’t met and might never have a chance to meet (they definitely will meet), she has earned his respect, and he used these tactics because he expected her to react similarly to her master’s unpredictable methods. As Thrawn states that he wonders whether she would become more like his master, it is evident that Thrawn knows Anakin Skywalker has been Darth Vader. The last moment of Thrawn we see is that of the Chimaera finally exiting out of hyperspace into the planet of Dathomir, home of the Great Mothers and the Nightsisters.
Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 8 (Season Finale) Ending Explained:
Dave Filoni effectively created his own The Empire Strikes Back. Almost eerily and bafflingly, Ezra and Thrawn again escape to another galaxy, with Ezra leaving his friends behind. The difference here is that Ezra has now gone back home, and as we see in the final moments, he manages to escape with an imperial shuttle and meet up with the New Republic army, most importantly Hera and Chopper (who immediately recognize him even with the Stormtrooper regalia Ezra had put on as a disguise).
Back on the planet, a lot of events are occurring. Shin Hati goes back to the nomadic tribes, where she uses her red lightsaber to effectively reign command and build up her army. Baylan Skoll, we see, is standing at the foot of a monument equivalent to “The Pillars of Kings” in Lord of the Rings, except here the statues are of the Force Gods of Mortis (a very important piece of lore from The Clone Wars and one that connects both Anakin and Ahsoka). It is fascinating that the Mortis are involved here, and somehow, in the future season or the inevitable Dave Filoni movie, this will play a role in Ahsoka and Sabine’s return home. Sadder, though, is the fact that this is the last we will see of Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll because he is easily one of the best villains we have had recently.
Finally, for Ahsoka and Sabine, we see them making camp at the Noti encampment and deciding to effectively “move on” like the ronins and the nomads of old. Huyang, too, is with them. Ahsoka also realizes that her master is always looking out for her, as we see a forceful ghost of Anakin looking out at the encampment with obvious pride.
Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 8 (Season Finale) Review:
The Star Wars definition of Inside Baseball, and one of the primary issues Filoni had, was not making it accessible to general audiences, to the extent that The Hollywood Reporter had to run an article days before the first episode was scheduled to air, listing important episodes to watch before watching Ahsoka.
For fans of the Filoni-led Star Wars universe, interconnectivity is a reward because he is getting a bigger canvas for handling and delivering on his endgame. However, Filoni still can’t get over his old tricks of keeping things so close to the vest. This is a six-episode series stretched out to a needless eight. There is an issue in translation from animation to live-action as well as indirection in some episodes where characters are acting far stiffer than even the body language of the characters demands in the situations presented. Plus, the fact that the show is also taking place years after Rebels ended, with important events happening in the interim, one has to take it all in stride before moving on.
The things that work definitely do work. Star Wars: Ahsoka is no Andor, nor does it need to be. It is a Dave Filoni vanity project where he is given carte blanche to carry forward a story as he pleases. While his story somewhat bends towards the endgame at the expense of some character developments, there are so many breathtaking and emotionally resonant character beats being delivered that it balances out some of the criticisms. One also has to give credit to the live-action casting of these characters, who take an episode or two to get into their stride, but once they do, they’re pitch-perfect. It is almost impossible after this season not to thematically think of these characters as actual continuations of their animated counterparts.
With Filoni effectively redoing Timothy Zahn’s landmark novel “Heir to the Empire,” one might wonder how the breadcrumbs will fall into place. This is inciting interest in the franchise, but it would help if the show started revealing more and more answers as well as resolutions instead of keeping things closer to the vest. As much as Lucasfilm and parent company Disney wouldn’t mind it, this story reeks of leading to a potential endgame sooner rather than later, and an endpoint, unlike a feedback loop of IP generation, is always good from a story perspective.
