SiftPop

by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer

As the newest entry into the Star Wars universe dropped onto Disney+, one thing was abundantly clear to me: The franchise needed a live-action win. 

As I’ve stated before, while their animated offerings have remained consistently solid, outside of Andor, their other offerings have garnered lukewarm receptions at best. 

There were reasons, at least for me, for optimism when it came to Ahsoka, though. First and foremost, I’ve come to absolutely adore this character. Like most fans, it took a minute to warm up to “Snips,” but she’s become perhaps my favorite character in the franchise. (I think this video by Fandom does a great job of exploring why she works so well.) The other major reason for optimism was Dave Filoni. While I do think the worship can get a little overblown, his connection to this character has always been special and important to him. So I felt sure we were going to get his best effort. 

That optimism was thankfully not misplaced. I thoroughly enjoyed this show. 

We follow our title character (Rosario Dawson) as she reconnects with Mandalorian Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in order to try to prevent the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and perhaps save their long-lost friend, Ezra (Eman Esfandi), in the process. As a fan of not only The Clone Wars, but Rebels as well, this feels like such a natural continuation of the story of those shows. Where the character of Ahsoka is in her arc fits for the character, and I continue to enjoy what Dawson brings to the character in live action, carrying on what Ashley Eckstein brought to her in animation. 

Two actors reprising their roles from the animated canon are also particular standouts. As a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, the character of Admiral Thrawn is a villain I’ve loved exploring in the universe, given his Professor Moriarty vibe. Mikkelsen is actually able to embody the character beautifully, having gotten the chance to voice him in Rebels as well. Getting to see David Tennant return as Huyang, lightsaber builder/Jedi history repository droid, (who we only see in an episode or two in animation) is utterly delightful in how he interacts with our main cast. Loth-cats’ adorability also transfers wonderfully out of animation for the brief time we get them. The rest of the cast making the transition from animation, Bordizzo, Esfandi, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera, do perfectly fine. 

One of the main reasons this show works where other recent TV seasons have failed, like the most recent season of The Mandalorian for example, is it knows how to do fan service in a way that serves the plot and doesn’t feel cheap. The show continues to explore the impact having Anakin as her master has on Ahsoka, but I think it works better than it does in Obi-Wan Kenobi. It leads to an episode that was probably my favorite of the season because it marries his appearance with my favorite type of Filoni episodes — the ones where he’s allowed to get trippy and explore some of the more mystical elements of how the Force would operate. There is a moment during the course of the season that feels a little cheap, but I was able to handwave that away like a Jedi mind trick. 

Having said that, I’m not sure how well this show will play for someone who doesn’t have history with the animated shows. I don’t say that to gate keep; watch what interests you. However, there’s not a ton of exposition that those that don’t come to the show with a pre-made connection who these characters are and what they’ve been through get, and I worry it may leave those that haven’t done the prerequisites lost. While it didn’t bother me, it’s an interesting move for the show to make overall by not catering more to a general audience. 

What the show has going for it isn’t just what it does with characters we know and love. There are some very welcome additions to the Star Wars canon, specifically when it comes to our villains. Though we’re introduced to Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) briefly in “The Jedi” episode of The Mandalorian, here, we get to explore more about the history and culture of the Nightsisters through her. Our dark side master and apprentice duo, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), are also fantastic, particularly Stevenson. It’s such a shame that he passed before the show premiered, because this is one of the most interesting original Star Wars villains to be introduced in quite some time. It’s clear that they had more they wanted to explore with this mysterious character, and it’s sad that even if they do, Stevenson won’t get to finish the journey he started. 

The other interesting move this show made was the release strategy. Disney+ doing episodic releases is nothing new, but the primetime release was, and I’m here for it for a couple of reasons. First, there’s just something about a primetime release that makes it feel bigger, gives it some weight. Secondly, and perhaps selfishly, I had a bad habit of forgetting about Disney’s midweek releases when new episodes dropped overnight. With Ahsoka, I was always ready and waiting for the new episodes. Loki’s set to replicate the release schedule, so it seems like Disney liked it as well. 

Technically, I think this is the strongest a live action Star Wars show has been in a minute. Visually, the cracks don’t show nearly as much as they have with more recent seasons. I also love what they do with the action staging. Particularly with Ahsoka’s dueling style, I found the fights to be a great mix of the updated feel of the newer movies, while also slowing things down a little bit and being a little more minimalistic like the fights in the original trilogy, without feeling wooden. It gives things a style and tension with the economy of moves that I found to be a plus. Unfortunately, with both effects and the fights, it’s when things ramp up for the finale that they fall the flattest. That had the effect of leaving a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, and knocked my overall rating down a peg. 

There are other small quibbles I had, slight inconsistencies that I noticed, or not totally buying into exactly what they do with Sabine’s training storyline, but the overwhelming feeling I had during the show was excitement — both in the anticipation I had for every next episode to drop, and consistency with which I was literally fist pumping while watching the show. 

Those feelings are something that, hopefully, Disney can re-inject to my live action Star Wars consumption more consistently than they have been with recent efforts. 

Rating: Liked It

Ahsoka is currently streaming on Disney+

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You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd