Ahsoka: A delightful treat for some fans, but just another spinoff to others.
Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers for spoilers for “Ahsoka”.
Despite mixed reviews, audiences this August were delighted to return to a galaxy far, far away with Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and the crew (unpopular opinions to ensue).
Long before the creation of the fatuous “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, George Lucas and Dave Filoni created the fan favorite, 4 time Emmy Award winning animated television series, “The Clone Wars”. The show tackled the war between Episodes II and III: “Attack of the Clones” (2002) and “Revenge of the Sith” (2005) respectively. In its seven critically acclaimed seasons, viewers met and became enamored with the now famous Ahsoka, with her show of the same name marking her second live action iteration.
Set years following “Star Wars: A New Hope”, (1977) Ahsoka and fellow rebels are thrust into chaos against the dangerous, Dathomir witch, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosato) and the ever cunning, universally anticipated “Star Wars” legend, Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelson) all while trying to find their comrade, audience favorite Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) from the beloved animated show, “Rebels”, with many easter eggs to follow.
The die hard “Star Wars” lovers around the world feel completely star struck in absolute zeal when Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) arrives to speak to Ahsoka. As I recall being eight years old, jumping up and down on the couch harder than Winnie the Pooh’s “Tigger,” in excitement every Thursday at 6 PM to see the week’s episode of “The Clone Wars”, seeing a live action, “Clone Wars” era Anakin gave me chills on my neck and teary, wet eyes. The last moment we saw the iconic master and padawan duo was in “Star Wars: Rebels” when Ahsoka fights Darth Vader on Malachor, learning of his true identity and vowing to not leave him as she did during Order 66 when he turned to the dark side. With stakes that high, being an all time favorite scene for many franchise enthusiasts, seeing them on the screen together again has been an overwhelmingly anticipated event. The pay off of experiencing the full scope is mesmerizing, at times dizzying in excitement.
However, it is not without its faults, with many critics noting how it fell flat for them. The relationship between the World Between Worlds and Mortis, while absolutely thrilling for audiences to see in the live action scope for the first time, ultimately is riddled with inconsistencies and plot holes that Jedi master Filoni ultimately could not justify. Wonderful, dearly yearned scenes from Ahsoka’s training with Anakin are inconsistent within the canon timeline. Additionally for the casual watcher, much of Ahsoka can drag along, as lots of its content and dialogue is geared with the intention of small references back to all of the “Star Wars” catalog preceding it (12 films and 8 television series of context, to be exact).
Additionally, Ahsoka still falls victim to the plague of the streaming wars, with a show being so long overdue, the final product was clearly a rushed one, more concerned with staying on a budgeted schedule with big reactions and external elements than character development and blocking.
While some audiences may not be able to reconcile with these downfalls, Ahsoka remains an irreverent, affable character, a treat for fans, and a fun addition to the always expanding Star Wars catalog.
“Ahsoka” is now available on Disney Plus.
