Last time I was struggling to care about Ahsoka.
I left off last time equivocating over whether Ahsoka would achieve more in its eight episodes than a set of filmed warm-up sessions for some future cinematic release. Unfortunately, and really somewhat unexpectedly, it hasn’t. The events of the series, crafted to fill the moments immediately preceding the plot of an as-yet unfilmed movie, were circumscribed so closely that in the end you can list all in brief — Sabine is training with Ahsoka now, Thrawn has flown back from whale exile. Witches abound. Ray Stevenson’s character exists.
It’s clear in retrospect that nothing was permitted to happen that might close off a possibility for the upcoming movie and so all the big set-pieces only open up ideas and never close them off. The two rogue Jedi never explain their whole deal. The zombie Stormtroopers only really pop in to say ‘Hi’. The movie — ‘Heir to the Empire’, if you hadn’t heard — even has the option to leave the cast of this show entirely out of frame if Lucasfilm decide they’d rather have a fresh protagonist.
‘Less than the sum of it’s parts’ is my ultimate verdict, and the sum of the parts wasn’t all that grandiose in itself. A loose-floating prologue, dispensable on its own terms, a free comic book day introduction to a pre-existing character in the middle of an extended up. Superhero comics suggest themselves as an analogue — Star Wars’ own Countdown to Final Crisis. This is all a bit mean, but I think the ability to appreciate this show is dependant — much like a comic book — on preexisting familiarity with the characters. I don’t have it!
In a slightly laughable retread of the bleak final moments of Obi-wan, Ahsoka goes out with a lingering shot of Anakin Skywalker himself — an always-welcome Hayden Christensen once more — as a shimmering force ghost, casting a neutral expression verging on a smile at the departing Ahsoka. The cliffhanger ending — in case you don’t know — leaves all the main characters trapped out in space with no route home, awaiting the benevolence of a noble space whale, no doubt. But the viewer’s heart is warmed knowing that the ghost of interplanetary youngling murderer Anakin Skywalker is watching over them.
Wait, what? It’s a curious move even for this show, where the title character spends most of their introspection time capital-C Conflicted over their relationship with the big guy and his authoritarian ways. The difficultly of reconciling the person you know with a horrifying act you discover they have committed is fertile fictional ground, but when Anakin made his appearance in the world of Ahsoka’s mind earlier in the season he was exactly that — in Ahsoka’s mind. It’s one thing to come to terms with the memory of the person you know, and another thing entirely to welcome their walking, talking ghost back on stage. How can Ahsoka possibly interact with this murderous spectre? What would she say? Is it possible for a Jedi to arrest a ghost? It’s baffling.
That’s about all there is really. Morgan Elsbeth did nothing and went out like a chump. Every time a Jedi did a force push it looked utterly ridiculous. The David Tennant robot eventually did what he’d been threatening to do for seven episodes and became slightly grating to listen to. RIP Green Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she never looked good. They even ruined my theory that you couldn’t put an Andor actor into the same scene as an Ahsoka actor by having Mon Mothma turn up live for another of those interminable council scenes, with a special guest appearance from C3PO. I assure you that as a true blooded Star Wars fan I toasted the screen when he entered, in gratitude for getting to see the guy I already know.
So to revise my statement from the end of the first of these essays I wrote about Ahsoka, it does seem that there is no Lazarine return for quality Star Wars after all. The sickness, yes, is that unto death.
Previously:
- Obi-wan: Episode 1
- Obi-wan: Episode 2
- Obi-wan: Episode 3
- Obi-wan: Episode 4
- Obi-wan: Episode 5
- Obi-wan: Episode 6
- The Phantom Menace (video essay)
- Andor: Episodes 1, 2, 3
- “Can Andor save Star Wars from itself?” Andor: Episodes 4, 5, 6 (plus supplemental)
- Andor: Episode 7
- Andor: Episodes 8, 9, 10
- Andor: Episodes 11, 12
- Ahsoka: Episodes 1, 2
- Ahsoka: Episodes 3, 4, 5, 6
- Ahsoka: Episodes 7, 8
If you like my writing, watch my new video essay The Fanatic, available now with a short companion essay kindly published by Blood Knife. If you’re after more text, please follow me on Medium or subscribe to my Letterboxd reviews.
