Ahsoka Season 1

 2023, d. Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Vasant Patel, Rick Famiyuma - 8 episodes
Series written and created by Dave Filoni

I'm in too deep on this one. I can't see the forest for the trees.

I love Ahsoka as a character. She is my favourite in the entire pantheon. So I am already biased.

Star Wars Rebels, the Dave Filoni-created animated series, of which this is a sequel to, is perhaps my favourite Star War of all the Star Wars. I'm really, really in the pocket for this one.

This series also picks at threads of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the series where Ahsoka originated as Anakin Skywalker's padawan.  The Clone Wars was made with Filoni as showrunner under the direct guidance of George Lucas. You might say that Filoni was Lucas' padawan, but instead of having a silly side braid, he had a big ol' Stetson on his head.  I'm a fan of The Clone Wars too, so this show, right here, just sings to me with an alluring siren call that I cannot resist.  

I loved it, every damn minute, even when I wanted to start picking at things, my brain would justify away any of those nitpicks. You're not going to ruin this for me, brain.

I cannot put myself in the place of an outsider on this one. I cannot establish a "casual Star Wars viewer" perspective. I know too much. I feel too much. I get the warm fuzzies every time I see Ahsoka, Sabine, Hera, Chopper, Ezra, and Thrawn on screen. These are important characters to me. They are also Filoni's babies, so they are treated and handle with both respect and love.

I have no idea what it's like to be a viewer encountering these characters for the first time. Will this show make any sense? Will people who don't already love these characters care at all about them?

If I'm to criticize -- which, as we've established, my brain is fighting me on -- it's that this series is, perhaps, misnamed. Ahsoka is the focal character of maybe one episode but otherwise it's almost more of Sabine's journey, than Ahsoka's. If I'm to further quibble, the sub-plot for Hera was a little too thin for my liking, and erratically paced. Like other Star Wars series and the way they handle tertiary characters, I think maybe Hera here wasn't given enough to do, nor enough characterization for the newbies.

Filoni's experience has largely been writing for and directing animation. He's recently had his hand in a few episodes of The Mandalorian, but it is a different beast.  In animation there are short cuts that get taken in storytelling, acceptable short cuts that maybe don't work as well (or can't happen at all) with live productions. But at the same time, the D+ experience allows him more liberty, not constrained to 20-ish minutes, which means he can add in some breathing room.

The main complaint I've been hearing about Ahsoka is indeed the pacing. Many find it slow or arduous, and that some scenes feel unnecessary or like "stalling".  I rewatched Obi-Wan Kenobi recently and this kind of roundabout pacing is pretty egregious there, full of a lot of sequences that are just filling out the episode order with stuff happening. Nothing in Ahsoka, to me, felt like stuff happening. Everything seemed to largely have a point, whether it was exploring/enhancing/developing character, world/galaxy building, or advancing plot. Nothing in Ahsoka, unlike every other live action Star Wars Disney+ show (except Andor) makes me pull out my hair saying "why did they do that!" or "that wasn't needed!".  I could see Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Book of Boba Fett re-edited and condensed into a 2-to-2.5 hour film. With Ahsoka I'm pretty happy getting everything I got.

But perhaps it comes to expectations.... For me it's wanting to spend time with the characters, not powering through plot. But if you don't know these characters, you're probably wanting the plot to accelerate and to draw out the characters in the process, which it does, but in its own time.

If you're a Star Wars nerd and following the behind-the-scenes, there was definitely some ambiguity about what exactly Ahsoka is.  Is it a mini-series? Is it an ongoing series? Is it the set-up for a film/film series. These questions became even more pressing by the end of Episode 7, when it seems like the Series isn't even close to wrapping anything up.  Episode 8, however, seems to be the set up for a second season, given where our characters wind up.

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Characters and Performers

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka. I love Ashley Eckstein's vocal performance in the cartoons, and yes, she will always be the primary Ahsoka in my head, but in bringing this character to live action she needs the starpower of Rosario Dawson, and, frankly, there's no other choice. There was a lot of talk early in the season if Dawson's Ahsoka is too muted, too underplayed, but to me we're seeing a character who has, for lack of a better term, seniority. If she was, say, 14 when she became Anakin's padawan at the start of The Clone Wars, that's almost 10 years until Order 66, 20 years to Battle of Yavin, another 6 or 7 to the Battle of Endor, another 6 or 7 to where this show picks up. That put the character at, liberally, 55. The math might not be exact, but she's been doing her thing for a long, long time, and I think that's what Dawson brings to it, that sense of experience.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine. What I realized when trying to figure out if I liked Bordizzo's portrayal was that I don't think Sabine was the most well defined character in Rebels. This gives Filoni and Bordizzo a lot of room here, and I really enjoyed the character's journey. She's a very charismatic performer.  It did drive me mad that Sabine left her jetpack behind, though. I really liked the combination of Jedi/Mandalorian fighting, but it took too long for the character to really find the balance (it wasn't specifically a part of her training, which it should have been). I figure Sabine to be pushing about 30 here, but she still seems young and impetuous. Can't take the rebel out of a Rebel, I guess.

David Tennant as Huyang. This droid has been helping Jedi craft their lightsabers for centuries, and he appeared in a Clone Wars arc way back when. How he came to be aide to Ahsoka isn't clear, but a sassy droid is always welcome. Tennant brings both charm and pithiness to the character which serves him well as a figure who is way older than anyone else around him.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera. Maybe my favourite Rebels character (besides Ahsoka), and here, it feels like Winstead didn't exactly do her homework. Granted, she is (by my count) about a dozen years older, has been both a single parent and a general, with all the responsibilities those demand, so if she does act a bit more steadfast then it does make some sense. I don't dislike Winstead in the role I just don't think, as written in this show, there's enough of the character.

Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth. Returning from Ahsoka's first appearance in The Mandalorian, Morgan Elsbeth is revealed to be a part of the Night Sisters which ties her in with some deep Clone Wars lore. She's a witch. Inosanto doesn't seem like the most natural performer, but then she's still far less stilted than most of the main players of the Prequels, so there's that. When she finally gets to show off some stunt fighting (her background is as a stunt performer) she's incredible.

Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll. The breakout character of the show, and the most heartbreaking aspect of it all. Stevenson passed away between the filming and its release, and it's clear by the series end that the story of Baylan Skoll was just beginning. Stevenson brings a sense of power and calm, danger and familiarity to the role. He just feels like he's been a part of this universe for a long time. There's so much more to explore with the character, and it's the way the final episode closes with him that hits the hardest that there's definitely another season planned. As much as it pains me to say it, Skoll will have to be recast.  There's not another Stevenson out there... but maybe someone like Liam Cunningham (Davos from Game of Thrones) as my wife suggested. He's not as physically imposing, but seems in the right tenor.

Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati. Balen Skoll's apprentice is as much a mystery as Balen himself. Where Balen is clearly an ex-Jedi, he's training Shin both as a Jedi disciple but also letting emotion control her like a Sith. That both wield orange blades indicates sort of a not-quite-Sith penchant. Sakhno does a lot with a little with Shin. She doesn't have many lines, and she's mainly emoting, but doing so very effectively.

Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn comes to us from the first expansion of the Star Wars universe in 1992, when the first "official follow-up" novel, Heir To The Empire by Timothy Zahn, was released.  For a generation of us, Thrawn is the biggest deal Star Wars character that the masses have never heard of.  Back when Thrawn was originally announced for Rebels Lady Kent and I wondered who the best possible performer for Thrawn would be, and settled on Mads Mikkelsen.  Sadly, Star Wars used up their dose of Mads on Rogue One, so brother Lars was a very curious, very apt substitute. Mikkelsen's vocal performance for the character in Rebels was note perfect, and probably even better than I could have hoped.  It's a little off-putting seeing Mikkelsen as Thrawn in live action, because Thrawn is so much about demeanor...cold, calculating, reserved... but you expect a cinematic big bad to be much more grandiose. Mikkelsen delivers 90% of the performance in his slithering hiss of a voice and it's just as perfect as it ever was. Physically he's even more reserved. Thrawn barely moves, generally standing Grandpa-style with his hands behind his back. We know from the books Thrawn is a dangerous physical adversary, and while that's not what the role's calling for (yet), he doesn't exactly cut an imposing profile. But that voice...it really is all you need to make the character work, and Mikkelsen works it.

Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger. I was worried that Ezra was going to become a maguffin for the series, but those worries were unfounded. As well, the fact that 75% of the show rests on the balance of Sabine finding Ezra, it puts a lot of weight onto both the character and actor to deliver.  And boy does Esfandi deliver. The show comes alive when he joins.  Ezra was the plucky youth on Rebels and while he's no longer a youth, he's still full of pluck. He's basically survived in a whole other galaxy far, far away on his own (with a little help from his shelled friends) which has brought a maturity to him, but he's still the fun, excitable character we knew. Once Sabine is reunited with him, the two of them together really drew out the old Rebels vibes.

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Yes, toys of that please

Part of the Star Wars experience for me is toys. They are symbiotically linked in my mind. I cannot watch Star Wars without thinking about toys, little plastic representations of the awesomeness on screen.

Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Book of Boba Fett weren't what you'd call "toyetic" shows. They didn't feature a lot of new characters, costumes, aliens, spaceships or set-pieces that just screamed to be replicated and played with (even Boba Fett riding a ranco was...meh). They felt...recycled. Ahsoka is so, so different. There are so many new characters, vehicles, and surroundings (and great variant takes on existing versions thereof) that I want recreated in toy form. It seemed like every other new scene had something amazing.  Tops of them all is Ahsoka in her blue space suit. Coolest damn thing ever. Thrawn's Troopers, too cool. Ahsoka's spaceship, yes please.  The hyena steeds? Yes. The crustacean natives? YES! A flipping purrgil? SURE! Even in the last 10 minutes of the season, out pops a new weapon the likes we've never seen in Star Wars (or have we?) and it filled me with a giddy glee.

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Music

Kevin Kiner did all of the music for The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch.  While Ludwig Goransson made a decisive impact on Star Wars soundtracks with The Mandalorian, it could, and should be argued that Kiner is the heir apparent to the franchise post-Williams. Kiner's The Clone Wars work during its original run was underwhelming, but starting with Rebels his work started to find its only paths to follow, ones that didn't adhere to the traditional orchestral score John Williams established. It was the Season 7 revival of The Clone Wars that solidified his genius for me, a real synth and tone-fuelled soundscape that borrows from Tangerine Dream far more than Williams. Kiner has also been working with Clint Mansell on the Doom Patrol series for the past 5 years, and you can feel Kiner finding more and more grooves to inhabit as a result of that partnership.  His score here is great. It's not his most ear-capturing work, but it works really really well.

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The Future

Again, I'm oozing bias over here, but I think Ahsoka was a rousing but not exactly flawless success. I definitely want so much more.  Nothing's been announced outside of a tentative Thrawn-related crossover that would bridge Ahsoka, Boba Fett and Mando in one theatrically released film.  But there's so much groundwork laid here that it's not just a film's worth, but instead at least another season's worth, or maybe not even a second season, just, you know, part 2 of this one.  It isn't a complete production, and if it didn't satisfy fully, then it definitely whetted the appetite.