Ahsoka: Part Eight- The Jedi, the Witch and the Warlord

 "Perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs."

This is, perhaps, the perfect finale. A satisfying ending... and a very StarWars fairytale vibe. I'm not just taking about the zombie stormtroopers, awesome though they were.

Consider the fate of Morgan Elsbeth, who has worked so hard and sactificed so much. She is honoured by being accepted by the Great Mother asa witch- although at the further cost of absolute loyalty- yet, that same day, she is expected to sacrifice her life so that Thrawn may escape.

We have avreconciliation between Sabine, whose gambit has paid off, and Ahsoka who has learned that, like Anakin, she ought to show faith in her apprentice. And it is only after realising she is trusted that Sabine, at last, uses the force properly, in the time honoured way of making her lightsabre fly towards her hand.

Yes, Thrawn escapes. But so does Ezra. Ahsoka and Sabine are stranded on the other galaxy with Huyang but, it seems, there is a mystery that they need to unravel. For Baylan and Shin are both there too. We know not what they are planning, but there have been hints. I sense a second season.

This was superb. The reactioin will be interesting. There is, of late, a certain negativity towards Disney's Star Wars content that seems to bear little relation to the material itself. This caps an excellent season.

Ahsoka: Part Six- Far, Far Away

 "Something stirs here..."

This episode is, it's fair to say, an exhilarating ride.

I almost admire that, not for the first occasion in a Disney Star Wars show, the titular character is hardly in the episode. Indeed, Ahsoka and Huyang appear only in the opening scene, inside the whale(!) as, yes, Ahsoka reveals to Huyang that Sabine went with the baddies willingly, but all they really do is discuss philosophy and break the fourth wall while foreshadowing the upcoming themes. I love how Huyang's stories are named History of the Galaxy 1, 2 and 3, with 1 being the best, of course.The subtext here is... yeah, not very sub.

However, in a galaxy further, further away, bloody loads happens. The planet is Peridea, where space whales go to die, and it's home to some rather cool space witches, known of the old to the Jedi, who ride space whales... and Morgan is descended from them. Thrawn's grand entrance is teased, of course, until we finally see the battered Star Destroyer, some battered old Stormtroopers, an intriguind figure (a droid?) called Enoch... and Thrawn. Lars Mikkelsen certainly imbues him with presence and charisma.

As promised, Sabine is allowed to seek Ezra, riding a rather cute wolf thing, but she's on a long leash, intended to lead the baddies to Ezra so they can kill them both. The scene of her riding out of the camp feels to me, if I may mix my pop culture references, as though Sabine is leaving Mega City One to take the walk into the Cursed Earth.

But the baddies, being baddies, have multiple agendas of their own. Morgan is quite happy to abandon Baylan and Shin on this extra-galactic world forever. Yet Baylan, in a fasxcinating philosophical conversation with Shin which seems to echo that between Ahsoka and Huyang, has other ideas. He seeks something deeper than power, to restore the Empire which will in turn be defeated by the Jedi only for the Empire to emerge again, and on it goes. The wheel turns. Baylan seems to want to stop the wheel spinning; intriguing.

Sabine, via some adorable creatures camouflaged as rocks, finally finds Ezra... but it is bittersweet. For she knows, and so do we, how disappointed he will soon be when he finds out the circumstances of how Sabine came to find him.

Awesome stuff. Wow.

Ahsoka: Part Four- Fallen Jedi

 "You know how it is. Once a rebel, aslways a rebel."

SPOILERS. Unless you've seen the episode, read on at your peril. You have been warned.+

Nice title. Has there ever been a pun that works on so many levels? Let us count them. Sod it, let's give this blog post an unorthodox structure, shall we?

1. We begin with Ahsoka and Sabine having literally fallen from the sky, their starshift lost in the woods.

2. Sabine, who has only just become Ahsoka's padawan again, gets a test of her mettle in combat, seems to decide not to try and use the force... but betrays her master to Baylan for the promise of meeting Ezra Bridger again, putting her feelings before the greater good. This is not the Jedi way. She falls at the first hurdle.

3. Ahsoka literally falls off a cliff, to what may or may not be an afterlife- I'm a little confused of the chronology, and I've not seen either Clone Wars or Rebels. Looks like I need to. Anyway, what's he doing there? Hayden Christiansen playing him again, no less.

I've no idea where this is going, but I suspect Sabine is not destined to be a Jedi. I loved Here's rebellion, general or not, with all her mates. And I love that the baddies have actually made the jump into this other galaxy. Big revelations can probably be expected not the series has taken such a massive change of direction.

I'm also loving Rosario Dawson's assured performance, and the superb comic turn from David Tennant as Huyang. What was already a dam good series is now, er, even damn gooder.

Ahsoka: Part Three- Time to Fly

 "We almost died."

"Multiple times."

"Ah yes. Standard operating procedure."

This is a somewhat short episode but, yet again, it's a bloody good one, in terms of both plot and character. It is, though, centred on an utterly superb dogfight set piece that rivals anything in the films for drama. This series has the potential to be every bit as good as The Mandalorian.

There's a lot of fascinating plot development here. Despite what I assume are Mon Mothma's best efforts (she's Chancellor; is she head of state of the New Republic?), Hera meets with politocal scepticism that Thrawn is indeed out there, and is refused resources. Ahsoka and Sabine are on their own. Yet, atthe end, they discover that the baddies have nearly finished constructing a big artifact hanging in space: how very Star Wars. In this case it's a hyperspace ring which, it seems, is capable of travelling to another galaxy, using the intergalactic migration paths of Purrgil, intergalactic space whales. And, if the concept isn't cool enough, they actually bloody appear.

Even better, though, is the focus on training between Ahsoka and Sabine, with an extended scene with one of thosesightless hemets as worn by Luke in Star Wars. I loved everything about this training scene, which reminded me very much of a Shaw Brothers style '70s style kung fu movie from Hong Kong. The dynamic between them is great, as is Huyang's traditionalist pessimism.

I'm loving this. I'll do my best to blog the next episode a bit sooner.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 13- The Jedi

 "He's formed a strong attachment to you."

Yeah, this is a bit good. My mind is blown.

We know from the start that Mando is on Corvus to find a Jedi to train Baby Yoda- or Grogu, as we now learn his name is. And, excitingly, we see said Jedi- Ahsoka Tano, played by Rosario Dawson from the various Netflix Marvel series- in the first scene, as she heroically pits herself against an evil local dictator who twirls her, er, moustache rather nicely. It's an interesting choice not to hold back this moment, but it sets the scene nicely.

We then get an episode which is awesome for several reasons. Ahsoka is, of course, coolness itself with those awesome lightsabres. The basic plot of Ahsoka and Mando teaming up and defeating the Magistrate is awesome, as is the lightly humorous relationship between them as they both see the irony in a Mandalorian and a Jedi, ancient enemies, working together.

There's a mind-blowing moment, though, as it's revealed that the Magistrate's "master" is one Grand Admiral Thrawn. I'm not at all familiar with Star Wars media outside this, the films, the Kenner toys of my '80s childhood and those two '80s Ewoks TV films, but I did read a novel by Timothy Zahn back in the early '90s- wasn't Grand Admiral Thrawn the baddie? But surely this novel can't be canon now the recent trilogy at the pictures has contradicted it?

 There's more geekiness, too, as Ahsoka examines Grogu, confirms his past- a survivor of the massacre at the Jedi temple on Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith- and, fulfilling a Jedi trope, refuses to train him as he's too full of fear and anger. I'm sure we all saw this coming- but there's hope in the shape of a magic mountain on yet another world...

The script here (not Favreau) is perhaps a little less polished than usual, but there's just so much cool stuff going on. I'm loving this.