{"id":57,"date":"2023-10-17T22:37:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T21:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joshtest04.wordpress.com\/2023\/10\/17\/ahsoka-episodes-7-8\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T20:21:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:21:42","slug":"ahsoka-episodes-7-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/2023\/10\/17\/ahsoka-episodes-7-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahsoka (episodes 7 & 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last time<\/a> I was struggling to care about Ahsoka.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Can\u2019t lie, that fleece looks so cozy. Buy me an Ahsoka fleece.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I left off last time equivocating over whether Ahsoka<\/em> would achieve more in its eight episodes than a set of filmed warm-up sessions for some future cinematic release. Unfortunately, and really somewhat unexpectedly, it hasn\u2019t. The events of the series, crafted to fill the moments immediately preceding the plot of an as-yet unfilmed movie, were circumscribed so closely that in the end you can list all in brief\u200a\u2014\u200aSabine is training with Ahsoka now, Thrawn has flown back from whale exile. Witches abound. Ray Stevenson\u2019s character exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear in retrospect that nothing was permitted to happen that might close off a possibility for the upcoming movie and so all the big set-pieces only open up ideas and never close them off. The two rogue Jedi never explain their whole deal. The zombie Stormtroopers only really pop in to say \u2018Hi\u2019. The movie\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2018Heir to the Empire<\/em>\u2019, if you hadn\u2019t heard\u200a\u2014\u200aeven has the option to leave the cast of this show entirely out of frame if Lucasfilm decide they\u2019d rather have a fresh protagonist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Look, I get that making them zombies has its own particular appeal but they\u2019re already a faceless legion. Thematically I\u2019m not sure what you\u2019re getting here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Less than the sum of it\u2019s parts\u2019 is my ultimate verdict, and the sum of the parts wasn\u2019t all that grandiose in itself. A loose-floating prologue, dispensable on its own terms, a free comic book day introduction to a pre-existing character in the middle of an extended up. Superhero comics suggest themselves as an analogue\u200a\u2014\u200aStar Wars\u2019 own Countdown to Final Crisis<\/em>. This is all a bit mean, but I think the ability to appreciate this show is dependant\u200a\u2014\u200amuch like a comic book\u200a\u2014\u200aon preexisting familiarity with the characters. I don\u2019t have it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a slightly laughable retread of the bleak final moments of Obi-wan<\/em>, Ahsoka<\/em> goes out with a lingering shot of Anakin Skywalker himself\u200a\u2014\u200aan always-welcome Hayden Christensen once more\u200a\u2014\u200aas a shimmering force ghost, casting a neutral expression verging on a smile at the departing Ahsoka. The cliffhanger ending\u200a\u2014\u200ain case you don\u2019t know\u200a\u2014\u200aleaves all the main characters trapped out in space with no route home, awaiting the benevolence of a noble space whale, no doubt. But the viewer\u2019s heart is warmed knowing that the ghost of interplanetary youngling murderer Anakin Skywalker is watching over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Look out! It\u2019s history\u2019s greatest monster!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wait, what? It\u2019s a curious move even for this show, where the title character spends most of their introspection time capital-C Conflicted over their relationship with the big guy and his authoritarian ways. The difficultly of reconciling the person you know with a horrifying act you discover they have committed is fertile fictional ground, but when Anakin made his appearance in the world of Ahsoka\u2019s mind earlier in the season he was exactly that\u200a\u2014\u200ain Ahsoka\u2019s mind. It\u2019s one thing to come to terms with the memory of the person you know, and another thing entirely to welcome their walking, talking ghost back on stage. How can Ahsoka possibly interact with this murderous spectre? What would she say? Is it possible for a Jedi to arrest a ghost? It\u2019s baffling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Same, Morgan. Also the show took a real turn into not looking great for these last two episodes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s about all there is really. Morgan Elsbeth did nothing and went out like a chump. Every time a Jedi did a force push it looked utterly ridiculous. The David Tennant robot eventually did what he\u2019d been threatening to do for seven episodes and became slightly grating to listen to. RIP Green Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she never looked good. They even ruined my theory that you couldn\u2019t put an Andor<\/em> actor into the same scene as an Ahsoka<\/em> actor by having Mon Mothma turn up live for another of those interminable council scenes, with a special guest appearance from C3PO. I assure you that as a true blooded Star Wars fan I toasted the screen when he entered, in gratitude for getting to see the guy I already know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So to revise my statement from the end of the first of these essays I wrote about Ahsoka<\/em>, it does seem that there is no Lazarine return for quality Star Wars<\/em> after all. The sickness, yes, is that unto death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previously:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Obi-wan: Episode 1<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Obi-wan: Episode 2<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Obi-wan: Episode 3<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Obi-wan: Episode 4<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Obi-wan: Episode 5<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Obi-wan: Episode 6<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. The Phantom Menace<\/a> (video essay)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Andor: Episodes 1, 2, 3<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. \u201cCan Andor save Star Wars from itself?\u201d<\/a> Andor: Episodes 4, 5, 6<\/a> (plus supplemental<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Andor: Episode 7<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Andor: Episodes 8, 9, 10<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. Andor: Episodes 11, 12<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Ahsoka: Episodes 1, 2<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Ahsoka: Episodes 3, 4, 5, 6<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Ahsoka: Episodes 7, 8<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    If you like my writing, watch my new video essay The Fanatic<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, available now with a short companion essay kindly published by Blood Knife. If you\u2019re after more text, please follow me on Medium or subscribe to my Letterboxd<\/em><\/a> reviews.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last time I was struggling to care about Ahsoka. I left off last time equivocating over whether Ahsoka would achieve more in its eight episodes than a set of filmed warm-up sessions for some future cinematic release. Unfortunately, and really somewhat unexpectedly, it hasn\u2019t. The events of the series, crafted to fill the moments immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,96],"tags":[47,45,48,49,50],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-media-criticism","tag-ahsoka","tag-media-criticism","tag-review","tag-star-wars","tag-star-wars-ahsoka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}