After an epic two-episode premiere last week, the third episode of Ahsoka dropped tonight, and though it was a shorter installment, it was action-packed and full of very interesting lore and worldbuilding.
The episode, “Time to Fly”, focuses on Ahsoka and Sabine investigating the threat of Thrawn, while Hera tries to rally the New Republic to aid them. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s dive in, but as a reminder, full spoilers are ahead!
The episode begins with Ahsoka continuing Sabine’s Jedi training, with Sabine first sparring with Huyang and then with Ahsoka – the latter of whom has Sabine wear a visor that covers her eyes, training her not just in combat but in being aware of her surroundings. This seems to work briefly, but Sabine gets angry and loses focus. “Anger and frustration are quick to give power,” Ahsoka tells her, “but they also unbalance you.” That line feels straight from George Lucas, as the dark side is easier and faster, but not stronger. I absolutely love it whenever Star Wars gives us training sequences like this, which most brilliantly played out in the episode of Rebels, “Trials of the Darksaber”, when Kanan Jarrus trained Sabine in lightsaber combat. This whole sequence felt like a subtle homage to Kanan, who first began Sabine’s training but who also learned to see through the Force after he was blinded in combat. Three episodes in, it’s a bit strange that there hasn’t been a single mention of Kanan, but the nods to him in this scene are obvious to those who have watched Rebels.
In the bigger picture of this show, though, what this episode explored more deeply is Sabine’s capability in the Force. She’s hurt by what Huyang said in last week’s episode (that she’s at the bottom of students he’s seen), and Huyang later tells Ahsoka that the Jedi Order would never have trained her. But Ahsoka responds by saying that the Jedi didn’t do everything right, and Huyang admits that she comes from a line of unconventional Jedi. Thinking about the line of masters and apprentices, we can trace it from Yoda to Dooku to Qui-Gon Jinn to Obi-Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker to Ahsoka Tano to now Sabine Wren, so it’s certainly true that there are a number of Jedi in that list who didn’t exactly go by the book. That’s the difference playing out here between Huyang, who is still committed to his programming from the Order, and Ahsoka, who knows the Jedi way wasn’t always the right way. She tells Sabine that the Force flows through everyone and that it’s up to Sabine’s focus and determination. I think this whole explanation about Sabine and the Force is tremendous, and as I wrote last week, it’s actually EXACTLY in line with the way George Lucas thought about the Force. Dave Filoni understands it well, having trained under Lucas, and grasps the mythos of Star Wars better than anyone.
So we see Sabine trying to move a cup with the Force, but so far she’s had no success. It does lead to a humorous cut, with Sabine telling the cup that it won that round, but it means we’ve yet to see Sabine use the Force. I think it’s such an interesting concept to explore someone the Jedi Order of old would have never even tried to train now training to be a Jedi under one who is better positioned than most anyone else to sift through the successes and failures of the old Order.
Speaking of a group that doesn’t get everything right, enter the New Republic. The shot of the New Republic fleet, accompanied by Kevin Kiner’s perfect-as-always score, was tremendous and something we hadn’t yet seen like this on-screen. And anytime Genevieve O’Reilly gets screentime as Mon Mothma it’s perfection, and it’s cool to see her especially after her stellar performance in Andor. Her scenes are among my favorites in that series, and this time we see Mothma as the Chancellor of the New Republic, accompanied by four Senators. Hera Syndulla and Mon Mothma are clearly friendly toward one another, but that warmth doesn’t extend to the others. Seeing the politics of the government in this scene is something that’s really well done, as the Senators don’t believe Hera’s report about Thrawn and accuse her of just trying to get more resources for her quest to find Ezra Bridger. I think that’s an important tidbit, because in last week’s episode Hera seemed surprised that Ezra might be alive; but now we know that she never really gave up on the search to find him, and the others know it.
Part of the scene’s nuance is that Mothma appears to be sympathetic to Hera’s plea, and also appears to be concerned about a potential return of Grand Admiral Thrawn. But her advisors, led by Senator Xiono, are not. Xiono is the father of Kazuda Xiono, the main character of Star Wars Resistance, and in that series his relationship with his son was distant, his animosity toward the Resistance clear, and his motives murky when it came to the First Order (was he aligned with them? Maybe). Here, he’s adversarial to Hera, and I can’t help but think of Borsk Fey’lya in these scenes. That name won’t be familiar to many fans, but Fey’lya was a character of prominence in Legends books and first appeared in the Thrawn trilogy. As a New Republic Senator, he became one of Mothma’s most trusted allies much to the chagrin of others, and his posturing failed to take seriously rising threats in an effort to gain more power for himself. While Fey’lya would get some redemption before his death, it seems like in this story his role is being played by Xiono, who likewise is a trusted advisor to Mothma but who doesn’t take seriously the threat.
In a terse exchange, Hera questions his war record, as Xiono didn’t serve but waited for a victor to emerge and then join them. It’s a reminder that no matter the government there are always people who will be posturing for personal gain and not exactly devoted to the cause. Mon Mothma and Hera Syndulla sacrificed and fought and risked their lives on countless occasions to defeat the Empire and establish the New Republic; many of these Senators are opportunists looking for what will be most advantageous to them.
It’s hard to see the New Republic this way, but I also think that Mothma’s position is understandable. Because we know what will come with the rise of the First Order it’s easy to see how she was wrong, but in the moment, she leads a galaxy tired of war and is hesitant to get into another one. She’s also wary of amassing the same powers in the office of Chancellor as Palpatine had and abused, so when her advisors (New Republic Senators, no less) tell her not to get involved, she doesn’t. That doesn’t make it right, but it makes it reasonable in context. It makes me think of the Allies in-between World War 1 and World War 2 in Europe. Their actions were driven primarily by trying to avoid another war, while all the while they inadvertently let a great evil fester and grow. That’s what is happening to the New Republic; out of a noble desire to avoid another war, they’re letting the enemy amass far greater strength behind the scenes. It’s a long-standing theme of Star Wars that war is never something to be celebrated or glorified, but is something that is sometimes necessary. In the face of great evil, good people must rise up and oppose it for the good of others. It makes me think of one of my favorite quotes from Kanan Jarrus, in Rebels:
“Look, I tried to live that way once. Told myself the galaxy would go on with or without me. But when I saw innocents harmed, and knew I had the power to do something about it, I couldn’t just watch it all burn down around me. Some things are worth fighting for!”
I think it’s eerily prescient when one of the Senators, dismissing the threat, says that “the Imperial fleet is scattered and broken. They have no centralized command.” Hera then counters that it’s only “unless Thrawn returns”, and I think that in this series we’ll see Thrawn beginning to assemble this Imperial fleet under his centralized command. That’s something that gets me really excited to see, as it would be amazing to see Thrawn’s fleet assembling to challenge the New Republic, which will no doubt play out in future projects. But as Hera reminds the others, Thrawn isn’t just an ordinary Imperial leader. Hera knows this. It seems Mothma understands it. But the Senators dismiss it. I’m curious to see where this New Republic storyline goes from here, but we know at the very least Hera is going to get more involved. Whether others do remains to be seen.
But right now all roads are pointing to Thrawn, and the mystery is expanding. By the end of the episode Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang have learned about the hyperspace ring, one that is capable of traveling to another galaxy. And like I speculated last week, the map to Thrawn is really a map following Purrgil movements. The Purrgil (giant space whales) make an appearance here, and that’s a huge deal. The series has referenced several times already how Thrawn and Ezra disappeared at the Battle of Lothal, and the way it happened was that a group of Purrgil arrived (called by Ezra) and took Thrawn’s Star Destroyer away into hyperspace, with Thrawn and Ezra on board. The Purrgil showing up here is a clear indicator that they’re on the right track.
Before that, though, there will be more lightsaber battles. That will come next week, but this week was a full-on dogfight in space, which was done so well and looked great. This whole episode felt like it was right out of The Clone Wars, especially as Ahsoka went for a space walk to draw the enemy attention away and fight back while Sabine worked to repair the ship. It was a great sequence, but it was also great to see Ahsoka come to open up to Sabine’s ideas as they flew together and to see the two of them work in unison to have greater success. Last week we saw that there was plenty of unresolved tension between them, but here we see them beginning to learn to trust each other again. I’m loving the dynamic between them and am excited to see how Ahsoka continues to train Sabine as a Jedi.
And speaking of Jedi training, there’s an epic cameo appearance by Jacen Syndulla! The green-haired kid is mentioned by Mon Mothma, but then he greets Hera by mentioning how Aunt Sabine is training to be a Jedi. First of all, it’s a reminder that the Spectre crew is truly a family, and Jacen knows that well. But secondly, he tells his mother that he wants to be a Jedi, and we can only imagine all that’s going through Hera’s mind in that moment. Jacen’s father, Kanan, was a heroic Jedi knight who trained Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren, but he sacrificed his life to save Hera and the others. Hera has seen the Jedi up close, but she has also seen the pains that come with it. I wonder if down the road we could see Sabine take on Jacen as her own apprentice, much like Ahsoka has with Sabine? As long as he doesn’t wind up at Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy around six years prior to The Force Awakens (when Ben Solo rebels and destroys it all), then I’m fine.
Overall, this was another terrific episode, and it’s setting up some intense moments next week. Based on the trailers, we’ll see several lightsaber duels on Seatos, but beyond that we’re in almost uncharted territory from the footage already seen. The ride is just beginning, and I’m loving it.
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