When last we saw our heroes, Ahsoka and Sabine were headed off to Seatos to track all the hyperdrive engines and Hera was going to get the Republic council to authorize more troops to go chase after Thrawn.
Well, Ahsoka and Sabine find out what’s going on with the hyperdrive engines, and Hera’s request gets rejected by the squabbling senators on the council.
Hope you enjoyed the recap!
Ok, a little more happens, including some spectacular ship-to-ship combat, but really not that much. This is the shortest episode thus far, clocking in at 33 minutes before the credits roll.
On the way to Seatos, Sabine has resumed her Jedi training. Huyang is putting her through her paces with the lightsaber. Sabine is not bad but, as Ahsoka notes, that’s due to her Mandalorian training and not so much from the Force. Ahsoka brings out every padawan’s favorite, the helmet with the blast shield. Sabine can’t use her eyes and has to rely on the Force, so she gets beaten badly by Asoka.
Sabine says she had no connection to the Force. She can’t feel anything. While Ahsoka admits that natural talent is a factor, the Force is in every living object. And not everyone has the discipline to draw it out. So, she says while using the force to move a cup, start small. She leaves Sabine to go stare at the cup while she gets an update from Hera. (Sabine here reminds me so much of Silent Bob trying to use the Force in Mallrats.)
Gen X 4Eva!
All kidding aside, I am glad we’ve gone back to the concept that the Force is in all living things, and not just people named Skywalker can be force-sensitive. With enough discipline, anyone could potentially manipulate the force. Along with Thrawn, this is also something that came up in the novels of the early-mid ’90s, mainly in Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy books. Can someone become a Jedi through sheer force of will? Could someone like Chirrut from Rogue One (“I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.”) have become a Jedi if he had received training? I hope this show explores it.
Also, since Dave Feloni is apparently a fan of the same Star Wars novels I read in college, I am praying that he stopped before he got to The Crystal Star. Please no centaurs or “wyrwulves.”
The news from Hera isn’t good. Even though Mon Mothma is sympathetic, the senators are not. Even the threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return is not enough to spur them to action. After all, he’s been missing for years. One even suggests that Hera is using the prospect of Thrawn’s return as a way to go look for her old friend, Ezra Bridger.
The goal here is to make the Senators seem weak and feckless – and it succeeds! But really, the senators aren’t wrong. They have to keep a republic running while weeding out the remnants of the Empire. They all have to win elections, unlike the Emperor who could rule by fiat. Remember, in the last season of The Mandalorian, we heard how Republic resources were already stretched too thin. They need more proof than “there’s a magic map a Jedi dropout kinda saw” before they commit money and gear on a wild goose chase.
So, Sabine, Ahsoka, and Huyang are on their own.
They arrive at Seatos and see the hyperdrives being assembled into a giant ring. It’s so big that Huyang theorizes that it could be used to jump galaxies. He knows of Jedi lore talking of intergalactic trading routes. He wants to get closer to scan the structure, but they get spotted by Morgan. Shin and Barrok each lead a trio of fighters out to intercept them. (Who’s flying the other four ships? Eh, not important and you shouldn’t get too attached)
What follows, and makes up most of the back half of the episode, is one of the best dogfights I’ve ever seen in Star Wars. Sabine works the tail gun while Ahsoka dodges laser blasts, but they’re out of sync. It’s not until Huyang barks at them to get it together that they start to act like a team again. Ahsoka times her maneuvers with Sabine’s shots and soon three fighters are down.
As they get close to the ring, Morgan starts firing at them with the ring cannons. Huyang just completes his scans when their ship is hit. They lose power and Huyang is shorted out. The ship is dead in the skies.
In order to buy time for Sabine to reboot everything, Ahsoka dons a space suit and climbs onto the hull. This leads to some very cool action, where a zero-gravity Ahsoka deflects laser blasts and bounces across the ship, disabling another fighter with her sabers. (Of course, it’s not one piloted by Barrok or Shin! Don’t be silly!)
This also raises the question of why the fighters didn’t hang back far enough so they couldn’t be attacked by a lightsaber. The answer is shut up, that’s why. It looks cool, and that’s a good enough reason.
Sabine has restarted the ship, and after Ahsoka is back inside they head into the planet’s atmosphere. They make their escape by losing Shin and Barrok by flying through…
…A bunch of space whales??? WTF?
Yes, space whales. You know what? They look cool. #TeamSpaceWhales
They land in the forest below and power down to hide from the Dark Jedi hunting them. When the coast is clear, they power up and turn Huyang back on. He confirms that it is a hyperspace ring capable of galactic jumps. He also identifies the whales as Purrgils. They are intergalactic travelers, and were last seen when Ezra and Thrawn disappeared – more evidence that they’re currently in a distant galaxy and the hyperspace ring will soon be activated.
The episode ends with Baylan Skoll sending his troops into the forest to hunt for the Jedi. Better get the ship fixed quickly, guys!
So, as I said, not a lot actually happened this week but I had a lot of fun watching it. There was a lack of cool villainy, with only Shin and Morgan getting a chance to snipe at each other. (“Well done, Morgan! You *almost* got them!”) And there was only one brief scene with Baylan! Plus, a severe lack of my new favorite droid, Chopper, who has a cameo with Hera’s son, Jacen.
Still, that extremely cool dogfight makes up for a lot! And next week promises some exciting forest fighting.
Plot? Well, that can wait if the lightsaber fights are cool.
Rating 3.5 out of 5
