'The Phantom Menace' becomes manifest, the Republic wasn't built in a day, and what the Force is remains decidedly unclear. We recap the second (also premiere) episode of the series 'Ahsoka'.
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Warning: spoilers for the 2nd episode of the series 'Ahsoka' follow below
Plot
Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) is glad that Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) is alive (although it's no surprise to anyone), but is extremely irritated that the Mandalorian disobeyed her, and now they don't have the map. And what was on the decrypted holocron, Sabine naturally doesn't remember. But someone else might remember.
Ahsoka heads to Sabine's house to retrieve the head of the assassin droid, which might contain data on the location of the gray Jedi who stole the map. There, a slightly more lively droid than she expected awaits Ahsoka, but for a Jedi, that's not a problem.
When she brings its head to Sabine's ward, the latter (not without difficulty and not without risk to everyone present) extracts information from it: the assassin was at the shipyards on Corellia, meaning Ahsoka's path lies there. General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, still the best part of the series) volunteers to help her, and they set off for the distant planet. Sabine would have liked to fly with them, but first, she's injured, and second, Ahsoka is angry with her.
When the Jedi leaves, Hera (as a hologram) convinces Sabine that she should offer Ahsoka her help when they return from Corellia, despite the tension between the former master and padawan.
Meanwhile, Baylan, his apprentice Shin, and their employer Morgan Elsbeth, a Dathomirian witch and former Imperial magistrate, arrive on Seatos, a planet they learn about from the decoded map. On Seatos, a portal is supposed to open that will allow Thrawn to be brought back from another galaxy, and for this, the mysterious Eye of Sion is being built, which is almost ready.
Shin is not entirely sure she's happy with this turn of events, but Baylan convinces her that they will gain power they never dreamed of. Either the girl suspects something, or she never dreamed of such power in principle, but some doubts in her are evident.
Ahsoka and Hera Syndulla arrive on Corellia, where they are met by the shipyard owner – a slippery businessman played by Peter Jacobson (Chris Taub in 'House M.D.'). He gives the heroines a short tour, and to Syndulla's surprised question about whether those who built Imperial ships still work there, he replies: 'Of course. The Empire cannot collapse overnight.' Characteristically, the Republic also cannot be built overnight.
This is confirmed by a scene in the control center: Ahsoka and Hera increasingly suspect that something is amiss, especially when they see a giant engine of such proportions that it simply cannot be intended for a Republic cruiser. At the moment of realization, the shipyard employees start shooting at them with shouts of 'For the Empire!'. Hera and Ahsoka, of course, quickly deal with the bunch of goons, but the bitter aftertaste, so to speak, remains: not everyone was happy with freedom and justice; in a galaxy far, far away, it turns out, there were not only rebels and sympathizers, but also those who were actually for the Empire.
Meanwhile, the giant component of the Eye of Sion, that very engine, departs into space. Hera hurries to her starship and gives chase, while Ahsoka on the dock engages in combat with Baylan's second apprentice, a young man clad in dark armor, reminiscent of both an Inquisitor from 'Rebels' and a knight from a Monty Python film. Their duel – dynamic, vibrant, referencing 'The Phantom Menace' – also ends in the spirit of the first episode: Ahsoka's opponent jumps onto the ramp of an arriving starship.
Hera, meanwhile, catches up with the transported engine, and her droid Chopper, also an old acquaintance from 'Rebels', in an extremely amusing scene, sticks a tracker on it. Thus, they gain hope of tracking down the Imperials.
Sabine, in her ward, is also not bored and gets into a melancholy argument with Ahsoka's droid Huyang (David Tennant). He tries to convince her that Ahsoka herself wanted to contact her former padawan, but Sabine understands (and correctly so) that she was convinced by Hera.
Obviously, Sabine is truly offended at Ahsoka for leaving and abandoning her, but the droid, defending his master, notes that the Mandalorian herself also didn't express a desire to return. Flawed logic, but such as it is. The Mandalorian complains that she never had sensitivity to the Force, and in skill she hasn't come close to the departed Ezra (around whom a significant part of the drama is built, even though he hasn't really been shown). Huyang harshly but honestly says that the only way to fix this is to train and truly want to become a padawan again.
Since Hera, on the way to the shipyards, also did some educational work with Ahsoka, convincing her to take Sabine back as a padawan and correct the mistakes of the past, when on Lothal Sabine appears before Ahsoka in Mandalorian armor and with a lightsaber at her belt, the latter is not surprised but rather glad. Sabine says she is ready, and we have no reason not to believe her. Before flying off with Ahsoka to the Eye of Sion, whose coordinates they obtained from the tracker, Sabine lingers her gaze on the mural with the heroes of 'Rebels' from the first episode, once again showing: 'Ahsoka' is not primarily about dealing with villains, but about dealing with the past.
On the Eye of Sion itself, Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan, and Shin have gathered. The magistrate informs her allies that the cruiser with the giant hyperdrive is almost ready, and soon they will be able to rescue Thrawn from an even more distant galaxy. In short, the past is creeping in from every crack, and very soon Lars Mikkelsen will also fly onto our screens. We wait.
Impressions
In short: the second episode is better than the first, and that's a victory. Steph Green's direction doesn't let you get bored, and even the most perfunctory scenes look engaging enough.
Storywise, the series takes an interesting direction: not only former Imperial officials and warriors with orange blades desire the return of the Empire, but also the most ordinary citizens, workers, and, of course, profiteers.
We saw a lot on this topic in the best 'Star Wars' series, but that was a story about how new hope was born from darkness, how totalitarianism lost as soon as people who believed in freedom appeared. Here, the main feeling is not hope, but resentment; the Jedi has returned, but who, excuse me, needs him? There will always, in general, be those who say that the collapse of the Empire is the greatest geopolitical catastrophe and something else in that vein. In 'Revenge of the Sith', freedom died to applause and promises of ensuring security. In this sense, 'Ahsoka' is about how in 30 years, nothing has changed in a galaxy far, far away. And where else?
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