For a show with as many promises for the future as this one — Thrawn, Ezra, a future movie, Anakin — it is the title of this episode of Ahsoka, “Fallen Jedi,†that shows the most promise, not because of Anakin returning, but because Dave Filoni and his writers have created some great new characters worth finding more about. Baylan and Hati are some of the most interesting additions to Star Wars in years, and what little snippets we get about Baylan’s backstory and motivation are just thrilling.
And yet, the title of “Fallen Jedi†is definitely up for interpretation in this episode. You’d think it referred to the former Jedi who now wields a sinister Sith-like orange lightsaber, but much like Obi-Wan and Anakin would say, it is all about perspective. From Baylan’s point of view, Ahsoka is the fallen Jedi, the person who — as he tells Ahsoka when they meet — abandoned her master, the great Anakin Skywalker, whom every Jedi knew despite how much he spoke of her to everyone. He even implies that it was her fault Anakin fell to the Dark Side.
And in a way, Baylan isn’t entirely wrong. Anakin’s fall was set in stone and planned years before Ahsoka ever met the guy, but her leaving the Order definitely pushed her master further toward evil. As the Dark Jedi tells Ahsoka, her legacy, as well as Anakin’s, is one of death and destruction. Anakin may have been the one to slaughter younglings and destroy the Jedi, but before that, Ahsoka helped him become a maverick who constantly disobeyed the Order, who constantly toyed with darkness, and she was as prone to destroying and fighting as her master. All Ahsoka knew growing up was fighting.
The burden of her master’s fate and her own participation (or lack thereof) in it has turned this former happy-go-lucky, snappy Padawan Anakin called Snips bitter and disillusioned in adulthood. Though every single Star Wars TV show starring a brooding and dour protagonist is becoming stale, we at least know Ahsoka has seen enough to justify this turn. She’s lost everything and everyone, and not only once — plus, she’s seen what happens when you place friends above duty. So when she starts to realize they may not be able to stop Elsbeth from reaching Thrawn, Ahsoka suggests they make a hard choice and destroy the map, sacrificing finding Ezra while ensuring Thrawn doesn’t return. It’s a tough moment for Ahsoka and Sabine, but we understand where she comes from.
The way Baylan speaks and the way he seems less ideologically in line with Elsbeth in bringing back Thrawn, the more intriguing the character becomes. Baylan talks as if he’s using Thrawn for something greater, that the incoming war is a necessary evil to destroy what is there now before creating something new and better. This is reminiscent of Kylo Ren’s struggling morals and his “let the past die, kill it if you have to†quote.
Except, even if Ahsoka isn’t the chosen one (that’s Anakin), she is definitely important to the Force somehow. Just look at how often she’s come back from the dead — literally. First, she survived the Star Wars canon, making it out of Order 66 alive. Then, in Star Wars Rebels, she survived an entire temple falling on her thanks to one of the weirdest concepts in the entire franchise — the World Between Worlds. This is a Force-connected pocket dimension outside of time and space, which Ezra used in Rebels to go back in time and save Ahsoka from certain doom. Whether it is truly that plane we see at the end of the episode or some kind of Force Netherworld, Ahsoka being pushed off a cliff by Baylan seems to have taken another one of her nine lives.
At least she is not alone. With the word “Snips,†it is clear that we’re seeing the grand return of Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen via some truly awful digital de-aging that should never have seen the light of day. Regardless, it is a cool and emotional moment, a payoff to one of the best episodes in Rebels, Ahsoka finally seeing her master again and looking like his old self. Of course, give it to Kevin Kiner to ruin any hope of this being a happy reunion because immediately, we hear the Vader theme play, reminding us what became of Ahsoka’s master. It is an exciting ending that is sure to have prequel fans and Rebel fans excited, but there’s even more in the episode worth examining.
As I’ve mentioned in the recap for episode two, Ahsoka offers the most Star Wars experience in Star Wars TV to date, mostly in terms of tones, of the sense of a grand sci-fi adventure, a space fantasy with exciting dogfighting and laser-sword duels. In this week’s episode, however, Ahsoka proves it can not only deliver a classic Star Wars experience that feels like it belongs with the movies but also add something fresh to it, particularly when it comes to the lightsaber duels.
After the prequels changed the Jedi from samurai to Shaolin warriors capable of absurdly elaborate acrobatics, this episode of Ahsoka brings back the Akira Kurosawa–inspired samurai battles while also bringing a sense of variety to the fighting stances, giving each character an individual stance that speaks to their personality. Take Ahsoka, who fights in slow, methodical movements, her lightsaber practically looking like a katana, while Baylan fights like a knight with a great sword, heavy, hugely strong, and powerful. Baylan is unlike any Sith we’ve met, not elegant or quick, but Herculean, the embodiment of the Sith Juggernaut class of The Old Republic MMORPG, a huge tanky warrior. Even Sabine and Hati’s feels like a throwback to Obi-Wan and Jango Fett, showing the power of the Mandalorian warrior against the Jedi.
Except even her cool Mandalorian armor and her anti-Jedi gadgets aren’t enough to resist Baylan using some good old Palpatine-style manipulation. The Dark Jedi uses Sabine’s connection to Ezra and the death of her family (apparently they all died during the Purge of Mandalore, and Ahsoka could have prevented it) to convince Sabine to hand over the map and accompany the Baylan to find Thrawn and Ezra. She accepts, not waiting long enough for Hera and her band of rebel X-Wing pilots to arrive. Except the cavalry is too late to do anything except watch as the giant hyperspace ring pulls a Holdo maneuver, destroying half the X-Wing squad as it jumps to hyperspace in a rather visually impressive shot. Things look rather dire, and they’re about to get worse for our heroes.
The Jedi Archives
• RIP, all the Marrok theories. He was not Ezra or Starkiller, but a random dead Inquisitor from Rebels resurrected via Dathomir dark magic. We don’t even see his face, just a bunch of smoke emanating from his armor as he dies in a cool little nod to the duel wherein Obi-Wan kills Maul.
• It feels weird that Zeb still hasn’t appeared. Why tease him in The Mandalorian if he’s going to abandon his friends at their time of need?