Ahsoka: Pretty finale lacks logic, pacing, consequence, impact…

It seems that time is on Thrawn’s side as he begins the countdown to the hyper-ship leaving for home. Our heroes are reunited but can they turn the tide and make it back to the ship and stop Thrawn fulfilling his diabolical promise?  Maybe… but they’ll have to get through witches and zombie storm-troopers first

Can victory be snatched from the jaws of defeat?

*spoilers*

Well, no. Not, really.

While Ahsoka has probably been something of a holy grail for die-hard Star Wars who had also thrilled to the animated entries such as Rebels and Clone Wars and loved the idea of live-action, it’s also been something of a poisoned chalice for those less au fare with all things Force. There’s nothing wrong with metatextual easter-eggs and a genuine sense of continuity to reward the party faithful… and early on there seemed to be a balance of the will to be both old and new. But when – as things progressed – key elements of a series actively started to rely on you having to know such minutiae to the extent that – if you don’t – there’s huge gaps in logic and explanation, then, one way or another, that’s pretty dire story-telling or bad marketing.

Visually, as ever, there’s much to like in Ahsoka‘s final chapter (at least for the foreseeable). Ships hover majestically, the terrain rises and falls with aplomb and cloaked figures swish and swash. Yet, in almost every other aspect of scrutiny, it’s found wanting.  Logic has no real place here and the askew pacing makes it even more obvious. Our heroes are racing to stop Grand Admiral Thrawn returning to the ‘home’ galaxy and their efforts include riding the slowest caravan in the galaxy (seriously, they make sand-people look positively frenetic) as the crab/snail/rock creatures meander their way across the landscape and Huyang’s ship drags itself lethargically above them.  There’s not an iota of urgency in a situation that should be leaving us on the edge of our seats and by the time someone suggests they take the rat-horses (again, Lucasfilm seems to have a dartboard where they mish-match animals to make new aliens), it’s far too late.

The Witches of Dathomir stand there creating hubble, bubble, toil and trouble, but even the great Claudia Black is asked to do little more than wave her arms and look sternly from beneath heavy make-up. The witches’ role has been spoken about in hushed tones of great relevancy, but they’ve been little more than pantomime props who never really did anything that felt very important.

Equally, the high-concept of zombie storm-troopers, one that positively drips with potential, is squandered here. The only difference between the classic version of the target-aversive foot-soldiers and their undead counterparts is that they’re slightly harder to cut down (but, luckily lightsabers still work as well as ever) and that they have green glowing eyes. (Seriously?) There’s no more sense of peril than ever and at no point does anyone really feel any more under threat than usual. Even later seasons of the Walking Dead felt more energised.

The Ahsoka/Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) rematch (they last encountered each other in The Mandalorian) is well-enough choreographed but less well-executed. The two actors dance around in a balletic way and have clearly spent time making the moves look graceful and assured but it looks more like a display than a fight and lacks the emotional vibe of the Ahsoka/Skoll encounters… and when a group of dark-troopers stand around watching forever (or until someone reminds them that even they could easily have all cut Ahsoka down with a salvo of shots and then it’s too late), it raises little more than a sigh.

Out last scenes back on Peridea have Ahsoka looking in a melancholy way to the clouds above (could that bird be more than metaphor…why, yes, but if you’ve seen those other shows!) and smiling with an ‘Aw, shucks, we lost, well, never mind….‘ feel and promising her padawan Sabine that she intends to stick by her and her difficult decisions. Again… seriously? Sabine’s actions (and our heroes subsequent inability to stop Thrawn) have essentially put their own welfare ahead of the home galaxy and billions of lives…. they should be angry, forlorn, resentful, desperate to get back home and save people…possibly even at odds with each other and yet it has all the desperation of a family picnic where someone’s forgotten the relish. Oh… and do Sabine and Ahsoka really sense Anakin’s ‘Force Ghost’? It feels like decorative icing, but actually throws in a few more spanners to how that would work.

Sadly, Ray Stevenson’s swansong in the series (due to the actor’s untimely death) sees Baylon Skoll reduced to what amounts to an enigmatic cameo in the epilogue as he strides across the form of some massive humanoid-shaped monuments (the landscape looking like a cross between Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones). Indeed, with Skoll literally walking in the shadow of giants, Shin Hati (Ukranian-born Ivanna Sakhno) looking set to lead a group of samurai Ronin and our heroes down among the nomadic crab-people, it does feel like – should a second season go ahead – that we’ll have a contest between their forces before some deus ex machina conveniently ships the survivors home.

When that will be and how…? That does depend on the forthcoming series set for Disney+. Will Skeleton Crew or even The Acolyte contain any connective elements to this or might the stories in The Mandalorian, Bobba Fett and Ahsoka simply dovetail into that touted feature-film. It all seems very… vague.

Once again, the Disney+ curse of high potential, powerful start and floundering finale has held steady.