The latest Star Wars Disney+ present has come to an finish (for now?) with the season finale of Ahsoka. Half Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord begins with Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) turning into a Night time Sister. The Nice Moms present her with the Blade of Talzin, and we begin off an episode that doesn’t conclude the story of Ahsoka in a satisfying manner. I used to be not an enormous fan of the present when it began, however in the direction of the center, I felt that it actually picked up. Having seen how the season ended, I’m left with a way of disappointment as all the problems this present has confronted are being delivered to mild.
There are numerous features of the finale that I loved. The most effective moments occurs early on when Huyang (David Tennant) displays on how the connection between a grasp and an apprentice is as difficult as it’s significant. When he says this, we push in on Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) reflecting on her complicated relationship with Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson). Ezra (Eman Esfandi) forges a lightsaber with a deal with that Huyang had been saving for Ezra’s former grasp Kanan Jarrus. We additionally discover out why Ahsoka stopped Sabine’s coaching, and it’s a coronary heart wrenching second of backstory.
As we settle into this new galaxy, we discover ourselves with a problem. That is the primary time in a Star Wars film or TV present that we now have entered a galaxy even farther than far, distant. That is uncharted territory, with limitless prospects for what completely different galaxies could possibly be like. Nevertheless, we discover ourselves on a planet that appears very similar to Earth. The creativity right here is restricted, particularly after we noticed ourselves within the forest of Seatos earlier this season, which had a definite look. This can be a visually boring planet in a galaxy that had the potential for far more taste.
Since that is the finale, we get some fairly huge Star Wars motion. Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra cost into Thrawn’s (Lars Mikkelsen) fortress because it rains laser fireplace on them. It feels fairly ludicrous that they’d get by way of this battle unscathed, however the Drive has at all times been a very good supply of plot armor. We later see them combating the Night time Troopers, however for the reason that scene begins with the struggle, it doesn’t really feel like there was sufficient buildup or suspense main as much as it. It nearly looks like a piece was deleted from the episode. Nevertheless, we rapidly have ourselves in full swing, with Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra combating off the troopers. It’s a stable motion sequence, and it will get taken up a notch when the Nice Moms use witchcraft to deliver the Night time Troopers again to life, turning them into zombies.
There are just a few novel concepts right here that make a lot of the episode worthwhile. Zombie stormtroopers delivered to life by witchcraft is an interesting idea for Star Wars, and it helps make them a extra formidable menace to the Jedi. Nevertheless, our heroes really feel weaker on this last battle. As an alternative of slicing by way of them or just Drive-pushing the gang of Night time Troopers away, they discover themselves cornered fairly simply. The lightsaber actions and choreography are a bit gradual, and this carries on into Ahsoka’s struggle towards Morgan. The fights could be inconsistent, generally that includes the perfect and worst of what Star Wars motion has to supply.
There’s a second the place Sabine lastly makes use of the Drive efficiently, utilizing it to seize a lightsaber to take out a Night time Trooper. This second looks like a recycled second from many earlier Star Wars initiatives, similar to when Rey lastly grabs the lightsaber in Star Wars: The Drive Awakens. Nevertheless, the second on this episode works nicely on paper however feels emotionally hole, not serving because the crowd-pleasing, cheer-worthy second it ought to have been. Moreover, in the course of the struggle with Ahsoka and Morgan, we now have extra white lightsabers towards a white sky, utterly throwing out the colour distinction rule that was employed completely in Return of the Jedi.
Ahsoka and Sabine lastly struggle alongside one another, but it surely doesn’t work too nicely as a result of we don’t get the sense that Ahsoka will ever lose the struggle. The episode doesn’t push something far sufficient for us to worry for her. Moreover, though we’re getting a rematch of the struggle we noticed in Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian, this struggle doesn’t have an excessive amount of emotional weight behind it. Elsbeth has been one of many extra boring villains in a collection that has been attempting to stability too lots of them. Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) wanted to be practically absolutely written out of this episode for her to have any second to shine.
Talking of which, the place are they on this episode? Their storylines don’t get a satisfying conclusion, feeling like a cliffhanger within the worst manner attainable. Though we get the tease with Skoll standing above the Mortis Gods, he was such a major side earlier within the season that it looks like they went nowhere with the character. He’s so magnetic that he satisfied Sabine to affix him on his journey. Nevertheless, they don’t take it anyplace extra significant than this, nor can we ever get a way of his motive. Nothing about what they do with Hati makes her story satisfying. She doesn’t get the possibility to completely go anyplace that pays off.
We’ve a scene of infamously ludicrous stormtrooper intention the place an entire crowd of them can’t hit Ahsoka or Sabine, though they’re operating immediately in entrance of them in a straight line. We’ve laughably cliché dialogue like, “Your pals are lifeless and you’ll die alone,” and “Victory is mine.” One of many fascinating issues they do is getting Ezra and Thrawn again to their previous galaxy, with Ahsoka and Sabine nonetheless caught on this one. It’s an Empire Strikes Again model ending the place there’s a darkish nature to it, however we now have a glimmer of hope.
Though we finish on the word of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker’s Drive Ghost returning to observe over Ahsoka, there are two points right here. Initially, the idea is strictly the identical as the ultimate moments of Return of the Jedi, that means that it’s not treading any new floor and feels uninspired. Secondly, that is essentially the most visually flat scene within the episode. It’s darkish, boring, and uninteresting to observe. It’s a disgrace that the present ended on such a flat word. General, Ahsoka principally delivered on what we wished, with a continuation of the Star Wars: Rebels characters. Nevertheless, I couldn’t assist however need extra from this episode, and never essentially within the great way.
SCORE: 5/10
As ComingSoon’s evaluation coverage explains, a rating of 5 equates to “Mediocre.” The positives and negatives wind up negating one another, making it a wash.