‘Fallen Jedi’ & Rising Stakes as Ahsoka’s Fourth (Episode) Awakens the Action…

Baylon Skoll sends his forces, including his apprentice Shin Hati to find and eliminate Ahsoka and any threat to the completion/uploading of the star-map.  But with Huyang saying they are more powerful if they stick together, Sabine is faced with the hardest of choices. It’s one thing to face-down Shin Hati, a warrior far more adept with the Force, but will Sabine be willing to destroy the star-map to prevent Thrawn’s return if it’s also her only hope of rescuing Ezra? 

And can Ahsoka win alone against Baylor as the time ticks away and the Imperial forces ready to make their jump to another galaxy, far, far away?

*spoilers*

If you’re looking for a good old-fashioned Star Wars outing, then – at least on the surface –  the fourth episode of Ahsoka , entitled Fallen Jedi, ticks almost all the significant boxes you’d likely require for a mere forty-minute entry. Between the opening and closing credits you have a plethora of lightsaber battles, spaceship explosions, some character-development, an apparent betrayal and a significant cameo.

Yes, it still feels as if much of the previous outing and this could have been one episode and the over-all pacing of the series remains sedate. Those who have noted a stilted, stylised script will probably agree that the dialogue still seems somewhat staged and repetitive (Ahsoka, Sabine and Huyang sardonically go over their roles and attitudes once again and the cool-as-a-space-cucumber Ahsoka herself seems to be even more ‘deepwater zen’ than usual) but those simply here for some good old-fashioned action and Jedi stoicism will likely not be disappointed in a much-improved episode.

The light-saber battles are probably the best we’ve seen so far in the series format. There’s distinct two styles – the elegant, almost methodical duel between Baylon Skoll and Ahsoka (each fully-engaged and committed to win their fight but seeing it as a shame for having to happen at all) and the more earnest and impassioned conflict between Sabine and Shin Hati, where Sabine’s clear lack of Force expertise is balanced by her compensating tactics.  (There’s also an Ahsoka/Inspector Marrok encounter which ends with the latter dissipating in the wind and which should largely put the theory that he was actually Ezra to bed). Ray Stevenson gets more welcome screen-time and serpentine dialogue as Skoll and the actor’s premature death early this year will likely rob us of an on-screen multi-layered presence with much potential in the show.

Ahsoka burning her hands on the over-cooked globe that contained the essential star-map recalls a similar moment early in Raiders of the Lost Ark, though – for the love of Yoda – I hope they don’t suggest the markings are now branded into her palm. The way that Ahsoka later vanishes from the fight with Skoll – plummeting from the cliff that the henge – is, admittedly a deux et machina and a bit frustrating. We know she’s not dead, so it is a bit of an obvious effort to get her out of the picture for a short while to facilitate Sabine’s convenient defection. The ‘how’ of it all is a bit handwavery because there’s no clinging on by fingers or even force-levitation to actually explain her survival, but we close on what looks like a cross between the Rainbow Bridge and an astral projection. (It’s likely the ‘World Between Worlds’, the where/how she was previously saved from death by Ezra in the animated Rebels, but if you didn’t see that or didn’t immediately start the research, you’ll likely be baffled, which is an ongoing problem with a show that’s a continuation of that animated entry rather than a totally new show in its own right). Suspended in that realm, she is greeted by… Anakin Skywalker. Yes, Hayden Christensen’s much-heralded return sees the actor back in the role as promised, though this brief glimpse looks more like some middling CGI magic than the actual actor filming the scene there and then. The inference is they’re now both dead (Anakin having become a Force Ghost in Return of the Jedi) but that’s not likely given the series is named after it and she still has much to do!

Sabine’s betrayal (or strategy to keep her options open) come across as misguided but understandable – but her commitment to keeping the possibility of Ezra’s survival and rescue open is probably wasted on those who haven’t seen Rebels. (Again, this underlines the feeling that Ahsoka is more concerned with being a live-action sequel than independent series and that could be a major obstacle to newer viewers left with many questions).

All in all, Fallen Jedi, is decent Star Wars, with strong character moments (Ahsoka and Sabine each acting recklessly to the momentary belief the other is lost to them), but likely, hopefully, it’s all being played as a prelude as to what is to come.