We’ve reached the mid-season point of Ahsoka, and episode 4 took the series to a whole new level. In fact, in my estimation it’s the single best episode we’ve seen from any of the Star Wars shows on Disney+ – and I say that as someone who has really enjoyed the other shows and episodes too.
This episode is a masterpiece, from start to finish. There are major spoilers to follow, so be warned before reading any further. But let’s dive in to the episode, titled “Fallen Jedi” – and, like many episodes of The Mandalorian, this episode title has multiple layers of meaning that unfold as the story goes on, leading up to a truly epic conclusion.
No disrespect to Andor, but this is the very best Star Wars has been in the Disney+ era, and I’m loving it.
Right from the start, the stakes are set, with Ahsoka giving Sabine a stern warning: if they can’t get to Ezra first, they’ve got to make sure no one does. There’s some heavy foreshadowing about a choice that will need to be made, for the good of the galaxy. They can’t let the villains find Thrawn, even if it means they give up on the quest for Ezra. It’s obvious right from the start that Sabine struggles with this idea, and Ahsoka later tells Sabine, “I know how much Ezra means to you. Sometimes we have to do what’s right regardless of our personal feelings.” This ultimately sets up the choice Sabine is faced with at the end of the episode, when she has a chance to destroy the map but, as Baylan talks to her, she reluctantly gives the map to him. She can’t give up on Ezra – because he’s the only family she has left.
As Baylan talks with Sabine, seemingly reading her mind with the Force, he reveals a massive piece of information that suddenly helps us make sense of Sabine’s actions and her rift with Ahsoka. Sabine’s family all died on Mandalore, presumably during the Great Purge. It’s the Night of a Thousand Tears referenced (and briefly glimpsed via flashback) in The Mandalorian, where the Empire unleashed a devastating attack on Mandalore that rendered the planet (presumed) uninhabitable and the Mandalorian people scattered and defeated. And now, we learn, Sabine’s family was killed during it. Her mother, Ursa, the leader of Clan Wren. Her father, Alrich, a former Imperial prisoner Sabine and Ezra helped to liberate. Her brother, Tristan, a great warrior in his own right. From the sound of it, they’re all dead. And Ezra is the only one Sabine feels she’s got left, so she can’t lose him. She’s training as a Jedi, so it bears remembering: Yoda warned Anakin that “the fear of loss is a path to the dark side.” The Jedi Order wasn’t exactly perfect in how they viewed attachments, but Anakin’s story was also a cautionary tale of what the fear of loss can do to someone when it becomes all-consuming.
But it’s not just Anakin that’s paralleled here, but also Luke’s story. Because Baylan tells Sabine, “your family died on Mandalore because your master didn’t trust you.” In other words, Baylan – presumably because deep down Sabine feels it too – blames Ahsoka for Sabine’s family dying. In earlier episodes it was made clear that there was a rift that happened between Ahsoka and Sabine, but now the picture seems to be clearer, and more understandable. Because whatever the details, Sabine feels Ahsoka abandoned her and distrusted her at the moment she most needed, when her family was in great danger. Here’s my guess: Ahsoka told Sabine not to go Mandalore, which saved Sabine’s life – but cost the life of her family. Remember in The Empire Strikes Back, when Yoda tells Luke that if he left his training he could perhaps save his friends, but sacrifice everything they fought for? Luke went and did save Han and Leia, but he bore a terrible burden for doing so as he wasn’t ready to face Vader. What if Sabine’s story played out in much the opposite direction? Where she didn’t go and save her family, which saved her own life, but gave her a different kind of burden? That makes for a tragic, and compelling, backstory that helps make perfect sense of why she just can’t give up on the quest for Ezra. She feels he’s all she has left.
But we’ve skipped over how it got to that point, as in the episode there are plenty of action sequences leading up to it. Huyang is attacked by droids as he fixes the ship, and Huyang actually can put up quite a fight of his own, for a 25,000 year old. Consider me impressed. But it causes Ahsoka and Sabine to spring into action, and we see Sabine using her Mandalorian skills and tools for the first time in the series, which is awesome. They head off into the forest, and Huyang tells them to stay together because they’re stronger that way. Kevin Kiner’s fantastic theme swells as the two heroes head off together, and they face down the next wave of foes: Shin Hati and Marrok. Sabine engages a rematch with Shin, while Marrok duels Ahsoka. The lightsaber combat in this episode is simply fantastic, and it’s as good as lightsaber duels have been in a long time in this franchise. Dave Filoni’s deep Star Wars roots really come clear here, as like he did at other moments in the animated shows he bases it on the old Samurai fights that inspired George Lucas all along. The duels are great, and Ahsoka makes quick work of Marrok – who bursts into smoke and disappears. I’m relieved (though not surprised) there wasn’t a major twist with the character, and instead he seems to have been made alive by Nightsister magik from Morgan Elsbeth – which is interesting enough on its own. It’s at this point that Sabine tells Ahsoka to go after the map, splitting them up.
Huyang had told them to stay together, because they were stronger that way. It’s not a new concept for Ahsoka. In The Clone Wars, there was a moment where Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano were stranded on a planet, and Obi-Wan told them, “we’ll be fine, as long as we stay together.” And as we fast forward to Anakin’s fall, we realize a tragic truth: at the moment he most desperately needed his friends, they weren’t there. Obi-Wan was away on Utapau, and Ahsoka had left the Order and was away on Mandalore. Had the two of them been there, could they have been enough to pull Anakin back from the darkness? We’ll never know, but the tragedy is that Anakin’s closest friends weren’t there at precisely the moment he needed them. Now, in this episode, the heroes again split up. And it leads to Ahsoka again losing an ally, as instead of Anakin to the darkness it’s Sabine in this moment of confusion.
But not before Sabine gets an upper hand on Shin by using one of her Mandalorian tricks, utilizing a wrist dart. As Sabine tries to use the Force, Shin taunts her saying she has no power. But it turns out that the Force is not the only kind of power there is, and Sabine can make use of the various skills she’s accumulated to fight back. There can be a tendency to see the Force as the only kind of power that matters, but that’s not true. Sabine actually does have power, it just might be different than Shin thinks. But I nonetheless think this is still all setting up for a moment later in the season when Sabine will finally focus and embrace the Force in a satisfying payoff. Just not right now, but it’s still great to see her make use of the skills she does have.
While that fight is happening, Ahsoka heads off to face Baylan. And let me just say that Ray Stevenson absolutely nails every scene he’s in. It’s sad he’s not here to see the fan reaction to his character, because he’s been terrific. He carries such weight and charisma through his stoic confidence, and he’s such a compelling character we’re desperate to know more about. He knew Anakin, as Baylan was formerly a Jedi knight, and here he launches into a thrilling fight against Ahsoka. She manages to disrupt the map sequence, delaying Morgan’s plans, but not ultimately. Baylan knocks her off the cliff, leaving only Sabine remaining. And, as we discussed earlier, she ultimately gives in and goes with the villains to find Thrawn (and Ezra). Again, Ray Stevenson is so great in these scenes. The casting in this show is absolutely top-notch.
Baylan, Shin, and a captive Sabine join Morgan on the bridge of her hyperspace ring, and the mission to find Thrawn is on. But Hera Syndulla goes rogue, leading a small squad of X-Wings to Seatos in defiance of New Republic orders. She flies the Ghost with Jacen, and she’s accompanied by pilots that includes Carson Teva, the X-Wing pilot we’ve seen show up several times in The Mandalorian. Teva has repeatedly been suspicious that there’s more going on than the New Republic is willing to admit, so it makes a great deal of sense that he’d join a mission like this (but, we must ask, where is Zeb?). And seeing the X-Wings assemble on the Ghost, with the New Republic fleet in the background, with Hera and Jacen flying the Ghost and Carson calling her “Phoenix Leader”? Simply amazing. They arrive, but too late to stop Elsbeth. She jumps to hyperspace, destroying several of the X-Wings, and leaving the survivors rattled – with Jacen saying he’s got a bad feeling.
As I expected for the mid-way point, the episode ends on a dark note for our heroes. Sabine has given away the map and has been taken prisoner by the enemy. Morgan’s quest to find Thrawn is underway, meaning it’s only a matter of time before the Grand Admiral returns. Hera’s rogue actions to try to stop it have left several of her pilots dead. And Ahsoka? Well, she’s been defeated too. The ending leaves it a bit nebulous as to what really happened to her (I assume we’ll find out more next week), but it seems clear to me that this is intended to be a sort of “death”, whether it’s a literal one or not. I’ve long thought that this series would be exploring how she goes from Ahsoka the Gray to Ahsoka the White. Remember, the reunion with Sabine on Lothal at the end of episode 2 plays out almost identically to the Rebels epilogue, with one notable exception: instead of the white robes she wears in Rebels, she’s dressed all in gray. That’s intentional. Dave Filoni has long modeled Ahsoka’s character after Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, and think about Gandalf’s story: Gandalf the Gray has a “death” of sorts, but is sent back to Middle Earth as Gandalf the White to aid his friends in the fight. I’m fully expecting that’s what we’re seeing play out with Ahsoka right now – and, if I’m right, then seeing her in the white robes from Rebels is going to be so satisying.
But now we arrive at the single best moment from an episode full of great ones. Ahsoka wakes up to find herself in a strange realm, but it’s one we’ve seen before. This is the World Between Worlds, a realm in the Force between time and space. This was introduced in Rebels, and it’s actually how Ahsoka was saved from her fight against Vader, as Ezra reached “through time” to pull her out of that moment. It wouldn’t shock me to see Ahsoka utilize this World Between Worlds to find Ezra, or Sabine. But before we get to any of that, Ahsoka is found by someone else: Anakin Skywalker. Hearing the words “Hello, Snips”, and then seeing Hayden Christensen in all his glory was overwhelmingly beautiful. Master and apprentice, united again. The hype for next week’s episode is going to be off the charts.
What’s Anakin doing there? Well, that’s a great question, and we don’t know. I will say that there are a few ominous clues, and the episode ends with the Imperial March rather than Ahsoka’s theme or Anakin’s theme or Across the Stars or anything like that. Plus, the lightsaber hilt on his belt looks more like Vader’s than Anakin’s. I’m just saying: there could be more to this. But whether that’s the case or not, I expect Ahsoka to share a conversation with Anakin in which her master gives her the strength and encouragement to keep going. It seems that Ahsoka is afraid of letting her padawan go down the same path that consumed Anakin, the best Jedi and friend she knew. She refused to train Grogu in The Mandalorian because of his attachment to Din Djarin. She seems reluctant to train Sabine, and is quick to tell Sabine to let go of Ezra if need be. Ahsoka seems to have walled herself off a bit, not wanting to face the same danger as Anakin. But maybe she needs to learn that attachments are not bad in themselves, but just can’t consume a person. Likewise, Ahsoka needs to know how best to help her padawan, and who better to help her learn that than her own master? I’m extremely excited to see more of their scenes, and it’s not lost on me how incredible it is to have Hayden Christensen back as Anakin talking with a live-action Ahsoka Tano. It’s a dream come true.
And now return to the title of this episode: “Fallen Jedi”. It has a number of layers to it. It applies to Baylan Skoll, a former Jedi who has fallen from the light and fights against Ahsoka. It applies to Ahsoka Tano, who quite literally falls off a cliff to her defeat. It applies to Sabine Wren (at least from a certain point of view), who gives away the map and goes off with the villains (even if a bit reluctantly). But it also applies to Anakin Skywalker, the poster-boy for a fallen Jedi, who appears here at the end. These Jedi, like the Order itself, have fallen. But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless or irremediable. Just ask Anakin. The Jedi have fallen, but that’s not to say that the Jedi can’t rise once again. Darkness rises, yes, but so too does the light to meet it.
There’s much more that could be said, but this review is already lengthy enough. Like I said, from start to finish it was a masterpiece of Star Wars storytelling, one that featured some top-tier lightsaber combat and some incredibly emotional moments that tapped into some of the deep themes of the franchise. I am fully aware that a big part of why I’m loving this series so much is because of how invested I am in Star Wars – including Rebels, The Clone Wars, and more – but the way Dave Filoni is weaving all of these stories together into something new while keeping the same heart is fantastic.
Next week can’t get here soon enough.
Star Wars Thoughts 