Ahsoka Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord Thoughts
Everything falls apart in the season finale as Ahsoka ends with a whimper instead of a wow.
Another Star Wars series has ended with some fascinating takeaways. One is that it was the right decision for Disney to change the release time of these episodes to 6 pm PST / 9 pm ET as social engagement increased significantly (which could have benefitted shows like Andor). But the series’ quality is questionable as second-week viewership plummeted, a reminder that social engagement only goes so far. When the dust settles and we see the episodes’ numbers, Lucasfilm can make further adjustments for the next series, The Skeleton Crew.
As for my opinion, this finale was all over the place and left much to be desired. The ending left room for a second season, but I wonder if there would be a sizeable audience for season two. One thing is sure: Star Wars must return to the theatrical screen ASAP or risk further shrinking its audience. Rick Famuyiwa does what he can in the director’s chair this week, but the issues are all in the script as the heroes have reached the 11th hour to try and stop Thrawn from returning. Here are some thoughts on “The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord.”
Filoni’s Fantastical Festival of Nonsense
If you watch Ahsoka and are slightly interested in Thrawn (and read), I highly recommend Thrawn by Timothy Zhan. Fashioned on The Art of War, Zahn tells how Thrawn rose quickly in Imperial ranks using his ability to build strategic insights on an enemy through their culture. He never needed any magic (or magick) to succeed in his endeavors, making him a formidable villain on par with Darth Vader.
Accessing Thrawn’s threat level is difficult here because he is surrounded by the plot convenience of the Dathomir Witches, who can reanimate the dead. Along with Morgan Elsbeth, these give him the distraction he needs to get the Chimera ready to depart. The Great Mothers use their magick to make Elsbeth look more like a traditional canon Nightsister (although her character design still comes up short). Thrawn asks Elsbeth to make herself useful and self-sacrifice so he and the Great Mothers can leave. Morgan immediately lets Sabine and Ezra go to try and stop Thrawn while she fights Ahsoka. One would think she and the zombie troopers could delay three people even if they are all Force-sensitive, but alas, it is all so we can have another fight between Morgan and Ahsoka. The fight overall is good, but was it worth an incredibly dull character like Morgan Elsbeth? No. Mother Talzin’s blade (which is never explained how the Great Mothers came to possess it) is wasted in this plot line and would have been better in the hands of Merrin from the Fallen Order games. At least Ahsoka puts Morgan out of her misery and frees us of that character.
Thrawn and the Great Mothers arriving at Dathomir leads me to believe they will try and raise an undead army or Nightsisters and Nightbrothers, which makes sense in a video game but sounds silly for live-action. I hope I am wrong. I don’t think I am.
What Could Have Been
It’s not great that I kept wondering when we would check in with Baylan and Shin while watching this episode.
That we only got a few seconds with Baylan in what is Ray Stevenson’s final performance is an insult to injury, no matter how unintentional. Stevenson’s unexpected death makes a case for avoiding loose threads in a season finale, as Lucasfilm clearly has bigger plans for Baylan and Shin. Will they do what Marvel did not after the passing of Chadwick Bosman and recast Baylan Skoll? While it is a less high-profile role, the situation is similar, and Lucasfilm and Filoni will have to decide whether to recast or rewrite whatever storyline they had planned.
As for Shin, her character will live to fight another day with a new following. Her lightsaber also appears redder than the original orange, which is very interesting for her character moving forward.
Sabine’s Character
While Rebels was never my favorite animated show (I would put it last in personal enjoyment behind The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, and Resistance), it is still an excellent look at a small Rebel cell during the Reign of the Empire overall. But thank heavens that Sabine was not my favorite character on the show because this Sabine is unrecognizable. One of the most unique dynamics in Rebels was having non-Force users work alongside two Jedi (one Master and one Padawan) and how they used their expertise to navigate fighting the Empire.
For Sabine, that was her engineering skills, and time served as an Imperial weapons builder. However, for reasons only known to Lucasfilm, they decided to pivot in a different direction with Sabine for live-action and make her Force-sensitive, leaning more on her learning the ways of the Jedi than her natural talent as an engineer. The execution felt insincere, like Natasha Bordizzo was cosplaying as a Jedi. They were “hinting” at her Force-sensitivity throughout the series, but you could also say that they were hinting at her not having the Force more, leading to the admirable point that you do not have to be a Force-user to follow the teachings of the Jedi. I have no clue where they are taking this Sabine, but I have since resigned myself to accepting that I don’t care.
As for my favorite characters from Rebels (that would be Hera, Zeb, and Kallus), there is hope. Mercifully, the latter two did not appear (I imagine Zeb would balloon the budget significantly, and who knows if Kallus will ever show up). Hera was sidelined, which I was initially upset about, but with how everything played out, I think this was the best for her character and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra story was such a mess that her arc was unscathed. Yes, Hera was still stuck as a matriarch, but with Ezra back, maybe we can get some emotional scenes between the two since Kanan Jarrus meant the most to them. Kanan is an essential emotional beat for these characters, and he hasn’t been discussed because Ezra has been absent. Hopefully, the next time we see these characters, they will be given meaningful dialogue worthy of their actors.
This brings me to my next point, which still stands at the end of the show’s season: Dave Filoni has clear limitations as a writer. Writing has never been the strongest feature of any Star Wars live-action content except for Andor (I will give it to Tony Gilroy and crew on that). Still, it highlights the contributions of writers like Simon Kinberg, Steven Melching, and Henry Gilroy to Star Wars Rebels. Because none of them are involved in Ahsoka, and it shows. The Skeleton Crew might end up being okay with Jon Favreau and Jon Watts more involved, but Lucasfilm should seriously consider a more prominent writers’ room for Filoni’s film. The stakes for the franchise are too high.
Has Filoni’s Star Wars Shrunk the Fanbase?
Ahsoka is the most significant creative platform that Dave Filoni has ever had. Even with The Mandalorian, that was just as much (if not more) associated with Jon Favreau. Filoni owns Ahsoka and its success. And its failures. The success is that the series has had more social engagement among Star Wars fans than Andor, and those watching the show seem to genuinely like what they have seen.
But the failure is that fewer people are watching as the show’s viewership dropped significantly in its second week to just over 400M viewing minutes, pushing the series down to number 5 on the Originals list and off the Overall Top Ten. It is unusual for a series that loses that much momentum to get it back, but perhaps Shadow Warrior with Anakin and Ahsoka’s reunion will make a difference. Until then, the drastic decrease in viewership will be a topic of conversation externally and internally. Filoni is still set to direct a film involving characters and situations from The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and The Skeleton Crew. Most assumed his movie would be the first of the three announced at Star Wars Celebration to make it to theaters. However, the success of that film would rely heavily on fans who have Disney Plus and are watching these shows, and those numbers are getting smaller. Star Wars can no longer depend on brand recognition, as the box office failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story proved. So, how big is Filoni’s theatrical box office potential? Hopefully, it’s much bigger than The Clone Wars film.
People can trash talk the Sequel Trilogy all they want, but each of those films crossed 1B at the box office, so “Rey” still has more meaning to most than the name “Ahsoka.” Social engagement rarely translates to box office success, so if the numbers do not go back up, where does that leave the film’s status?
Dave Filoni has his fans, but is he the best director to bring Star Wars back to theaters? Are these the characters that will bring in a 1B+ film?
And the end hints at Force Deities coming to live-action, which will not likely bring in more fans. As franchises age, they must expand with characters and new lore, so it is not surprising that Star Wars is doing the same. The World Between Worlds is an excellent example of how you can bring in an absurd element from animation to live-action, but we are heading into a part of Star Wars where many casual fans might opt out.
Overall, this series was what I thought it would be: a mish-mash of Filoni’s weirdest story arcs from The Clone Wars and Rebels. Unfortunately, I do not believe any of that will help grow the franchise, especially with Filoni’s struggles to bring them into live-action cohesively.
But I will take the good (Hayden Christensen finally settling into his Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka the White look) and go my way.
Originally published at http://creditsandcanon.com on October 4, 2023.
