Coming into Episode 5, “Star Wars: Ahsoka” needed to get a move on, as it has already spent half of its first season without series villain Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn or the Jedi, Ezra Bridger, making their inevitable return. As I argued previously, the series should have just started with them being back.

It doesn’t happen in Episode 5, but something better happens: Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) becomes the main character in her own series. Knocked into the World Between Worlds after her defeat at the hands of Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) last episode, she finds a ghostly version of her old master, Anakin Skywalker, which sees Hayden Christensen reprise the character.

Anakin is there to give her a lesson: To live or die, and they fight. He also leads Ahsoka through a vision of their first battle together — in which we see Christensen dawn “Clone Wars”-era Jedi armor and a younger actress (Ariana Greenblatt) plays Ahsoka.

That scene, along with one of Ahsoka’s battle during the Siege of Mandalore, is touching, as Christensen expertly brings to life a wiser Anakin who’s a mentor figure from between Episodes II and III that we don’t see in the prequels, partly because the addition of “Ahsoka” was a late one initially made for the “Clone Wars” animated film. If you had any doubts about Christensen as an actor, this episode should put that to rest.

I like how Anakin’s dark alter ego, Darth Vader, is also acknowledged, as he becomes angry and violent when Ahsoka doesn’t understand his lesson, which shows that Vader is always a part of him, but there’s also more to him than his atrocities.

We also get some space whale action, as Ahsoka finds a flock of them and uses one to presumably jump into hyperspace to where Thrawn and Ezra are, with the help of New Republic General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her force-sensitive son, Jacen (Evan Whitten).

This is one of the strongest episodes in the series and Ahsoka’s scenes with Anakin might be some of the strongest in the franchise as a whole. It poses interesting questions on what a student takes from their teacher — good and bad — and what their place as the next line in the lineage will be. Ultimately, “Ahsoka” is a show about grappling with the legacy of those who’ve come before you while shaping your own.

“Star Wars: Ahsoka” Season 1: Episode 5 “Shadow Warrior” gets an 8/10