Star Wars: Ahsoka - 01:07 - Part Seven: Dreams and Madness

ctg

weaver of the unseen
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Hera must answer to the New Republic while a reunion takes place far, far away.
IMDB rating: 8.5 (1.5k votes) Runtime: 46 minutes
 
I did put this off for as long as I could. I also didn't want to write it in empty stomach, but mainly I just needed to empty my mind since there has been quite a lot of speculation in regards what is going to happen in these last two episodes. Not in the forum, of course, but on the internet. And boy some people will go lengths, and they dive deeper than I've ever done.

Generally I consider myself as a generally goofy but somewhat reserved on trying to feed the information. It's just some other people really wear a tinfoil hat with attached propeller when they form up theories on the doings of the Mortis Gods and Force Beings.

I honestly think Peridia is an important location because of the history with the Force. Maybe it's even more important than Luke's Jedi Academy or old Order's Jedi Temple at the Coruscant. However, we don't really, really know what's going on, unless we watch the weekly instalment of space wizards and laz0r sabres.

So let's see...
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First of all, even though a brief scene, it was good to see the Senate Building basking in the sunlight. The whole building surrounded by skybridges and traffic. That planet is so busy with all sorts of things, but most of the time, we only get to see the interiors, like in this case, the small assemble at Hera's hearing.

If you stop a moment to see her standing at the front of the committee, you can see behind her Chopper, but not Jacen. The boy probably were sent to school. So it's not a bring-kid-to-work all the time, even though mummy likes to keep a close eye on him. Hera, as usual, weren't really faced by the accusations of her going off the book.

She clearly knew what she was doing and why when she rebelled against a stand down order. She even went as far as to say to the Senator Xiono, "No, I protected the New Republic by ignoring you," to defend her security position.

His opposition offended Mon Mothma so much that she went to ask, "Can we at least agree that General Syndulla's actions brought to light that there was an incident on Seatos?

"And incident, yes," Xiolla agreed. "But this report reads like a child's fairy tale." He looked at his notes and quoted, "Jedi, False Jedi, star maps, star whales, distant galaxies. Honestly, are we to believe any of it?"

I wanted to slap him at that point for being a d*ck instead of understanding him as pragmatist who had never looked out from the window. Maybe he crew up in a box for ignoring the main recent history on Coruscant. It's just I doubt he was ignorant, but rather he's an imperial loyalist and under orders to clear the smoke so that the natives stay ignorant.

He even went to claim that there was no proof of any imperial activity. When the incident at the Mandalore was brought up, Xiono put it down as a single incident under Gideon's command.

Shaking her head, Hera claimed, "I don't know what frightens me more, the possibility of what might happen or your unwillingness to see it?!?"

Squinting at her, Xiono said, "I'll tell you what I see. I see a General who abuses her authority for personal gain and I will not stand for it." Because all the monies are his. Everything. "I motion that General Syndulla be court-martialed for disobeying a direct order."

Just after that, C3PO waffled in to defend the dear general. "The honourable Senator Organa has become aware of an unfortunate situation and wishes to represent this data transcript..." The droid waved the data package. "...which she hopes may resolve the matter."

Xiono "objected in the strongest terms," and you know why. Honestly, his opposition is getting super boring and predictable. Palpatine and the Old Republic were much better at this game. And in Xiono's case, he didn't want to see Leia's orders because it crumbled his case, most probably costing him big by losing that bonus money.

C3PO finalised the deal by saying, "Yes, well. Senator Organa is willing to overlook this misstep, and she wishes that you address any further concerns to her directly as in her role as the leader of the Defence Council."

On that note, Mon Motha was happy to close the session before the d*ckhead could spurt out more of his toxic lines. But she came down from her position to say Hera, "I don't know what you and Leia are playing at, but I know she did not authorize your mission."

Hera looked her in the eye and said, "She did. Eventually."

Concerned Mon said, "Put your personal feelings aside and tell me.... How real is the threat of Thrawn's return?"

Putting on her best poker-face, Hera stated, "We have to prepare for the worst. And hope for the best."

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The girl kept her old training holos from the first days of the Clone War as the holo Anakin stated: "In this war, you will face more than just droids. General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, even Count Dooku. You could face any one of them on the battlefield." And she did, with the Ventress being the highlight as her partner-in-crime after the F's were given to the Order.

Then the young and still mostly innocent Anakin were to state, "As your master it is my responsibility to prepare you. So practice these forms often..." It is too bad that there is no Ai element in his holoforms. Although it is equally true that Anakin was one of their best sword fighters and remained so when he became Vader. So all his lectures are valuable material, even if they've become a bit obsolete as Ashoka has grown past them.

When Huyang walked in, Ashoka finished the session and stated, "He made 20 more of these recordings. And this was his last one."

"Very thoughtful. I never realized," android replied.

Ashoka sighed, deeply. "He was a good master." Then she glanced the droid and asked, "Did you need something?"

"I think the whales may be reaching the end of their journey."

The girl glanced at him and asked, "What makes you think that?"

"According to my instruments, their speed is decreasing."

Feeling super confident, Ashoka walked after the droid into the cockpit and said, "Once we drop out of hyperspace, we find Sabine."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Droid asked. "If we have indeed travelled to another galaxy, our star charts will be useless." Even though their one should be far more accurate, because of the length of the time they have spent in the galaxy going from one place to another, and also using the other galaxies and celestial formation to fix their location.

Ashoka's answer was straight forward, "She came here with the enemy. We find the enemy and we find Sabine."

"Direct and to the point. As always," droid answered, sardonically.

Girl smiled. "Well, that's my style."

"I would like to point out that you are assuming that the star whales have brought us to the correct galaxy, let alone the same system or even the same planet where Lady Wren was taken."

Ashoka leaned back and crossed her arms. "I think the odds are pretty good."

Panicking, Huyang objected. "No. No, in fact, they're terrible. Astronomically terrible."

Girl waved her hand and said, "Well, you should've said something."

Droid turned to look at her. "I did, but you never..." And then he noticed the wizard grinning.

I have to say, Huyang is better comedy relief than Chopper. The orange astromech can be fun and also super annoying, but the master droid on live action is way better than any of other counterparts. His sarcasm is putting a big grin on my face.

So the space whales dropped out and went straight into a minefield. A large one, straight deployed in the possible exit point to cover the whole herd. Feeling danger Huyang voiced his objections on Ashoka heading out. But the girl couldn't do that. She had come to the right location and there was nothing stopping her from coming to rescue.

Feeling the damage Purrgil herd jumped away, leaving Ashoka to deal with the Imperial minefield. The fish are smart, but our lady is carrying a brass balls. So the minefield never really caused her a big opposition and soon they were able to have visual sighting on Morgan's hyperspace ring.

Morgan sent out 9 fighters to counter her. So Ashoka dived into the boneyard against Huyang's vocal opposition. "I can't find an opening. The field is too dense," it screamed.

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Captain Enoch reported the activity in the minefield to the Grand Admiral and then Morgan gave him a datapad containing Ashoka's information. The first thing he looked up was the master. Thrawn was visibly shocked. "Her master was Anakin Skywalker?"

Grand Admiral turned back to Enoch and asked, "You're certain there's only the one starship?"

"Correct, Grand Admiral," Enoch nodded. "Our fighters have engaged the target and pursued them into the debris field."

"Excellent. That'll be all, Captain." Thrawn replied. There was no sign of stress on his persona. Nothing that showed he was actually worried, because he was one of the people who guessed Vader's identity, but he wasn't present in the galaxy when he died. He even went as far as to pull out the fighters against Morgan's objections, because "the Jedi are good at hiding."

Then he added, "However, we are getting to know our adversary. And if she's anything like her Master, she will be unpredictable and quite dangerous. Which is why we must control all variables. Put her on a path of her own choosing so that no matter the direction she takes, we'll always be one step ahead of her."

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Girl, boy and the tribe. This is the way. Just like old Mand'lore intended. But the thing is girl couldn't keep her mouth shut. She had told the boy the news and Ezra were "still trying to process everything."

The Empire was defeated and the Emperor died. "Then there's New Republic. Zeb's training recruits and Hera's commanding a fleet. Missed everything," Ezra stated.

"Been a while," Sabine replied. "You know, I was beginning to think we'd never find you."

Being a clever boy, Ezra asked, "How did you?"

"What?"

"Find me. You never said."

Oh boy, the girl was in trouble. So she smiled and lied, "It's complicated."

So, Ezra the veteran of Rebel crew asked, "The usual level or worse?" ROFL

"Worse," Sabine answered.

Ezra sighed and looked into the distance, "Well, we could talk about something else, I guess. But you know getting home is kind of important."

Girl sighed and still didn't tell the truth. Instead she said, "Ashoka took me on as her apprentice."

"She what? Why?" Ezra cocked his brow. "I mean... congratulations." The whole deal didn't make any sense to him because as Huyang stated, the girl is worst material to go through the training. And Ezra knew it. He had thought the girl in the arts of sabre fighting and she never ever materialized the Force.

So eventually it led him to pop the question, 'where's the master,' and swallow the bitter answer of "It's complicated." The girl just didn't know better. Instead she was willing to live in the lie for a little bit longer than correctly brief the boy on the matter.

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Like these people. Girl just couldn't open her mouth and let the boy know the truth on how she got into the galaxy, because she was so afraid she would lose him again. Not that she even knew Ashoka had come to rescue and were lying dormant in the boneyard. Not until Ashoka contacted her through the Force and let her know she was there.

Only the problem was Thrawn used that moment to engage Great Mother's to find her location, and direct Enoch's fire, while Sabine was still trying to figure things out. So things got heated pretty quickly.

Baylon ordered Shin to contact Thrawn and then finish the mission by killing the pair, before she would go back and leave the master to wander the wastes. Thrawn dispatched two gunships to "assist the mercenaries."

Noti didn't prove to much of fighters. Ezra went as far as to state, "They're peaceful people," while Sabine thought they were defenceless. The curious thing is that she was their only gunfighter, while Ezra opted to remain as the lead driver for the tribe, instead of showing what he's really capable. It wasn't long after before one of the pods went down and Ezra pulled the tribe in a defensive circle.

As Shin came to the permiter, so did Ashoka. However the space wizard couldn't land. Instead she ordered Huyang to take take the stick and draw the chasers away, while she would do a drop. Without a parachute. When she came on the ground, she was faced by Baylon, who said, "Well, now, this is a surprise. Didn't expect to see you again."

"Disappointed?" Ashoka asked.

"No," Baylon answered. "However, can't allow you to interfere," and pulled out his sabre without liting it up.

Ashoka looked at the weapon and drew her own. "I don't have time for this."

"That, I know."

The round number 2 started by both pulling unconvetional stanses. Some that we've never seen before. Then it was clash time. Except Disney again didn't show the fight. Instead they pulled back to the tribe, where Sabine tried to hand the lightsabre back to Ezra. The boy refused, "I don't need it. Besides, you've been training."

"Very funny," Sabine snided back.

"No, I'm serious!"

"Take it," Sabine ordered.

The boy refused. "I gave it to you. It's yours now."
So the girl tried to give him a blaster. Again boy refused. "No, the Force is my ally. That's all I need."

Man, he is the Chosen One. The True One, because when Sabine charged in with her blasters firing and Ashoka were besting the Fallen One, Ezra went in with the classical Force Pushes and other manouvers. Just like a real space wizard would do, back in the day when it all began.

He was even able to dodge Shin's stealth attack that signed his hair. All going beyond even Master Yoda's level, because Yoda pulled his sabre when he faced Count Dooku. And so have all the other Force Users when they've faced the lightsabre wielders. Only the crazy gamers have tried achieving stunts like that, like for example a high firerate blaster to see how many bolts they can really deflect. Or feeling overpowered and using only force powers to show who's the best.

So the logic states that in a sabre fight Ezra would lose, but he held very well against Shin, until Sabine came to intervene with the matter. Shin Force Pushed him on the ground and then the girls clashed again.

At the hill Baylon went to state, "You cannot defeat me."

"I don't have to," Ashoka replied as she watched Huyang to swoop in from the sky and releasing rocket attack. Which to my surprise Baylon dodged without getting hit. The girl wizard however used the opportunity to flee and nick his ride, leaving the Fallen One to brood in his misery.

Nothing he could do.

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"Hut, Hut, Hut," boys. When they were in the position, Shin ordered, "Destroy them."

Ezra put up his hand and shouted, "Wait, wait, wait. We could... talk. Or we could just... We... Don't you wanna take us as prisoners? As prisoners?"

Getting bored, Shin ordered, "Fire."

In the moment Ashoka arrived. Sending NightTroopers in the air as she GTA'd the nicked Howler in the circle as if she owned it. Then it was Shin vs Ashoka the White. To my surprise Ashoka engaged Shin sabreless, showing also who's the boss.

Another surprise was that Ezra disarmed one of the troopers, who has classical shooting skills and used it to shoot the others, even though he was showing considerable power all on his own on taking them down. Sabine engaged her ones in Mando way, but also she never turned off her sabre. Instead it was lit up, while the other hand weilded the pistol.

Seeing the results Thrawn was pleased to call off the fighters and the gunships, and accept the losses, while even calling the clash as a First Match success. That man is weird.

Lady Morgan questioned his logic. So the Grand Admiral showed that he really had played his cards right as the Chimera was full of cargo and all Ashoka lost was time. Time she needed to overtake two ships to prevent the escape.

As the NightRunners made a runner, so did Shin when Ashoka asked her to yield and "surrender her weapon." She did not allow Sabine to pursue her.

The only mistake Sabine made at the end, was to blow a hole in her web of lies as she stated to the space wizard, "I thought you were dead."

That perked Ezra's ears as he said, "Wait? You thought she was dead."

"Clearly, I was wrong."

Ezra smiled and said, "I'm starting to get a feeling that I might be going home after all."

--

Okay episode, but it drives me crazy that they keep cutting the sabre fights. Grrrrrr
 
Good piece and Bernard hits the points. Like I said before, I'd rather be without the New Republic scenes than have them included. Mon Mothma's behaviour is most peculiar, because you'd think that she had learned from all the bad that went on during the Palpatine's reign and her moving to take over the rebellion movement. There should be Andor like spice-and-edge play, but it's completely missing, even though Mr Filoni knows how to write them.

The lack of passion for the space whales I'd put down to droid mannerism. If they were droids, nobody would care and it's evident throughout the SW history. Animals and beasts gets their share of brutality, and Kenobi's uses of beasts in the Episodes I to III shows that he can take a beautiful creature and take them to hell without really caring what happens to them at the end.

The thing with the SW fauna is that there's so much of it, and it's not just planet based. It's out in the deep space. In fact, it's everywhere, just like the shrimps in the boneyard scene. Who would have thought about them being real?

Well, here's to Bo's Space Shrimp business. Maybe it be bold and go well everywhere. But on the serious note, I would have assumed this one getting 7 score instead of reaching 8's, because of that lack of meaning, as a lot of this episode stuff was full-blown action that was cut short. We don't know how much of it landed on the cutting room floor, but there has to be plenty of it that weren't shown. And I don't mean space related stuff, but the actual ground combat.

There is also the curious case of Baylon Skoll and it's almost as if they don't want to reveal stuff. Just tease a lot to a point that it starts to feel like milking.

 
It's been a running joke since the Star Wars Rebels that actions Chopper took during the formative days of the Rebellion count as war crimes. Chopper was an infiltrator and saboteur of Imperial Cruisers and Star Destroyers, racking up tens of thousands of kills from crashing those ships. He also blew up the sewers of Lothal and routinely used his arms to bash and/or electrocute droids and organic beings, in order to incapacitate or destroy them. There are entire videos compiling the violence Chopper has done – as well as a humorous fan campaign to see him tried for his "crimes."
 
Star Wars never looks better than when it wears its (Japanese) influences on its sleeve. And it's the second time I also notice or perhaps imagine references to The Fifth Element in this show. In Part I with the temple in which Ahsoka found the map and now in this episode with the design of the Noti's pods.

Again, this show looks amazing. The scenery, the costumes, the composition of the shots are just brilliant.

This episode was pretty nice overall, I wouldn't say it suffered from any flaw that wasn't already introduced in the earlier episodes. All in all it was a pretty straightforward, action-oriented episode.

The one thing that still annoys me is Thrawn's constant blowing hot and cold:

"I don't care if Ezra and co. are killed or stranded here forever." but "Let's go after them!"
"I don't wanna waste resources." but "Let's send fighters after Ahsoka, let's send gunships to help Baylan and Hati."
"Let us allow Ahsoka to choose her course of action so we may better follow her." but "Quick! Fire on her position to flush her out!"

The show wants us to believe he's this master tactician who thinks of everything and always puts one egg in every basket, but to me he just looks confused, like someone who doesn't really know what he wants.
 
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“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other”

Yes, partly. The bad guys have so much ambition.

Aesthetically you have the blasted heath, the three witches, and the medieval costume designs of Baylan and Shin — also very reminiscent of the Hospitalier/Templar look.
 
I was expecting more to happen and a faster pace, but that's only because my expectations have been improved. I'm in danger of breaking my own rule of not expecting too much, and so never being disappointed.
It's just I doubt he was ignorant, but rather he's an imperial loyalist and under orders to clear the smoke so that the natives stay ignorant.
I agree with you, he cannot be that stupid as to dismiss the threat as a 'fairy tale.' therefore we must conclude that he has Imperial sympathies.
"I'll tell you what I see. I see a General who abuses her authority for personal gain and I will not stand for it.
I don't get what her "personal gain" would be from this? Finding Ezra, yes, but that's not really a personal gain, and it also assumes that what she has been claiming is actually correct. But as you say, no monetary gain, unlike him, and she only gets kudos, praise and honour, if she is correct, so it's a big risk for her to take, not a forgone conclusion.
Again, this show looks amazing. The scenery.....
Maybe not the scenery! It looks like a slate quarry of the kind that we used to see on Doctor Who and Blakes Seven on a weekly basis, but yes the production values are high.
The one thing that still annoys me is Thrawn's constant blowing hot and cold:

"I don't care if Ezra and co. are killed or stranded here forever." but "Let's go after them!"
"I don't wanna waste resources." but "Let's send fighters after Ahsoka, let's send gunships to help Baylan and Hati."
"Let us allow Ahsoka to choose her course of action so we may better follow her." but "Quick! Fire on her position to flush her out!"
I agree. He acts as if he has some great over-reaching plan that he isn't sharing because only he can understand the complexity of it, yet he chops and changes his orders as if they aren't really important. Is losing a battle important to the success of his great plan? Otherwise, why send his troops out just to lose? If he is making them time waste so that he can get his ship finished, surely there are much better ways to achieve that? They could have continued to let Ahsoka hide in the asteroids for starters!
Aesthetically you have the blasted heath, the three witches, and the medieval costume designs of Baylan and Shin — also very reminiscent of the Hospitalier/Templar look.
Yes, I can see that Macbeth thing now that you mention it. Except that there are always three witches in these things. For the same reasons that there are three psychics in Minority Report. There were three witches even before Shakespeare's Weird Sisters - the Fates - the Moirai of Greek myth or Parcae in the Roman version. This article even says it accounts for the reason there are three women in girl pop bands - The Magic Number: Why Witches Come in Threes
 
Yes, I can see that Macbeth thing now that you mention it. Except that there are always three witches in these things. For the same reasons that there are three psychics in Minority Report. There were three witches even before Shakespeare's Weird Sisters - the Fates - the Moirai of Greek myth or Parcae in the Roman version. This article even says it accounts for the reason there are three women in girl pop bands - The Magic Number: Why Witches Come in Threes
This is the symbolism that somehow escapes my attention. I never read Macbeth, but I understand witches to point, because they are part of the Finnish Mythos as well. But we don't have three witches in Kalevala. I can understand that people see Great Mother's as the Fates, because they keep mumbling about the destiny and so on. However, maybe my problem is that in Dathomir, there was only one Mother, not three.

She was a borderline voodoo mama, and she dabbled deep into the Force Magick, even going as far as necromancy in the way she brought Maul back. In this series, the Great Mothers haven't been really Fays, but plot tools to cause tension on the MC's.

Maybe I'm blind.
 
I've not much to comment. It was a good episode. I noticed that for all of the tension the story had its moments that were played for comedy. The light saber duck which cuts off hair had to be played for laughs IMO. I feel like that sort of thing rather cheapens the story. I recently finished watching Special Ops: Lioness and the eposides in that series fairly dripped of tension and danger. Here I always have the feeling that something funny is going to happen and that the main characters are absolutely untouchable. That's not to the benefit of the story.
 
I'm not up to date.

I notice the space shrimp that CTG mentioned. It's strange what the mind picks up.

Has Shin been betrayed by her master?
 
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Has Shin been betrayed by her master?
You could see it that way, but I doubt that's the case. She just have been given marching orders, and Baylon doesn't want her to stay on the planet. Her destiny lies in the original galaxy.

Another thing, the way he sent Shin off is the same thing that suiciders do. They don't want people to be around, stopping them when they do the stupid thing. He also didn't expect to see Ashoka jumping on his face or her nicking the ride. If he'd been alcoholic, he would have pulled a flask out from his pocket and downed some. So the real question is what could be the thing that he doesn't want the girl to experience, and possibly have no future?
 
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