“Star Wars: Ahsoka” has shown great promise, though it has been stifled by what amounts to the galactic errands of bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) into the main “Star Wars” universe. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter how they come back — they could arrive on a space whale exactly like they departed. This show really should have focused more on the stories of its leads Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo).
Episode 8 ends predictably (spoilers), with an overall victory by Thrawn and a devastating blow to our heroes — though there is a glimmer of hope. Ahsoka, Sabine and Ezra try to sneak aboard Thrawn’s Star Destroyer, which is getting hooked onto the giant Jedi starfighter-like hyperdrive ring we saw earlier, as it’s their only ticket home (Peridia is where space whales go to die, so it’s unlikely they’ll find one willing to give them a ride). Thrawn throws everything he has at them, including zombified Night Troopers and an upgraded Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), who has been granted special Nightsister magic and a magic sword by the three Great Mothers of Dathomir who have been collaborating with Thrawn.
We do get a rematch between Ahsoka and Morgan, though it’s not nearly as effective as their duel in “The Mandalorian.” I like that the Night Troopers (an Expanded Universe concept) appeared, but their execution was clunky and not very effective. The action overall in this episode is surprisingly bad — very disappointing considering how strong earlier duels were, like Ahsoka vs. Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Sabine vs. Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno).
Speaking of those two, Baylan and Shin are also seemingly forgotten, as they both remain stranded on Peridia. Baylan has a mission we will unfortunately not see Stevenson complete as he passed away shortly before this series premiered, that has something to do with breaking the cycle of Republic and Empire. Shin, however, is last seen returning to the bandits who jumped Sabine.
I will now spoil the ending, so don’t read any further if that’s important to you.
The episode ends with Thrawn and Ezra returned to the main “Star Wars” galaxy while Sabine, Ahsoka and Huyang (David Tennant) remain stranded on Peridia. I’m not sure what showrunner Dave Filoni is going for, but it does allow Ahsoka and Sabine to theoretically create a new Jedi Order in exile far away from the events depicted in the sequels. Perhaps they’ll both stay there until after “The Rise of Skywalker,” at which point they’ll return and help Rey restart the Jedi.
Baylan and Shin are wildcards, as the only reason they have to be enemies of Ahsoka and Sabine is their past alliance with Morgan and Thrawn. Baylan will likely collaborate with them if it suits what he is after, whereas Shin I think is more likely to clash with them over pride.
There are some good elements to Episode 8, but it is an overall lackluster ending to what has been a strong series, which I’d say is on par with the third season of “The Mandalorian,” leagues above “The Book of Boba Fett,” but well below the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” in terms of quality.
“Star Wars: Ahsoka” Season 1: Episode 8 “The Jedi, The Witch, And The Warlord” gets a 7/10
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