(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Ahsoka)
Doug (vo): Somewhere in between the brilliance of the show Andor and the awkwardness of the show Obi-Wan lies Ahsoka, a pretty decent series that relies on good acting, decent atmosphere, a fair amount of fanservice, and just passable enough writing. Considering this is a Dave Filoni project, I'm actually kind of shocked this first season turned out as good as it did, considering that his first seasons of shows usually aren't that great. But, yes, while the writing is the weakest part of the show, it by no means destroys it, and I did come out very satisfied.
Premise[]
Doug (vo): Ahsoka Tano is searching for Admiral Thrawn, who, if you remember, disappeared into a galaxy...even farther away than where we are now...with Ezra, the friend of her apprentice, Sabine. But an evil Sith Lord and his apprentice is also on the search for him. As everyone says, if Admiral Thrawn returns, it could be the rise of the Empire. Sabine wants to use the information Ahsoka has to find her friend and hopefully not doom the entire galaxy by also finding Thrawn, but that's tricky as Ahsoka and Sabine have had a huge falling out and she's no longer teaching her. Will they figure out a way to work together and travel across the galaxy in order to find their friend and, hopefully not, I guess, lead to the underwhelming war we already know we got? (The poster for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is shown)
Review[]
Doug (vo): So, okay, let me talk about my favorite thing in this entire show: the acting. On the one hand, I can see some people not being into this, because it's not exactly the same as the animated shows. But I think that's really intentional. Characters like Ahsoka and Hera are very different here, but it makes sense they would be different.
(Footage and stills focusing on Ahsoka is shown, along with footage and stills of her from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels)
Doug (vo): I like the fact that Ahsoka is such a well-developed character that she can still evolve. If you want the young, quippy, upbeat girl that you got from Clone Wars, well, that's not who Ahsoka is anymore, and I don't think she should be. To me, this is very much like comparing Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan. One has a lot more life and energy and the other is a little slower, a little wiser, and isn't as surprised by much, 'cause he's kind of just seen everything. Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka is the same. It's not really a performance where she's really saying a lot of one liners or giving big reactions, everything's kind of restrained a little bit, but in a way that makes sense. I love watching her reactions to everything. I love the way she holds herself, I love the way she turns, I love the way she'll kind of raise an eyebrow or give a little smirk. She plays it as someone who has been through the ringer and has come out the other end smarter, the kind of person who knows, but doesn't tell.
(Footage focusing on Hera is shown)
Doug (vo): Hera is the same. I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this actress playing the part, it wasn't really how I imagined Hera. I don't know, this didn't really look or sound right to me. But as soon as she got a few lines in, I bought it, it made sense. She also has seen a lot, therefore, knows a lot, and therefore, calculates a lot more things going on around her. You constantly see the gears always kind of turning in her head whenever she's trying to figure out a situation.
(Footage and stills focusing on the live-action and animated Sabine is shown)
Doug (vo): If there is a weak link in the show, it's probably Sabine. If you recall my review of Rebels, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of this character to begin with. The only time I found her really interesting is whenever it went to her backstory on Mandalore. I thought all of that was really cool, so I guess I should probably like this character more, 'cause she is a lot more serious and does tie into more of the dramatic stuff that I like with the character. But even at the end of Rebels, when you see Ahsoka there about to train Sabine, I just remember thinking to myself, "Why?" I guess there's no reason why not, but I also didn't really see much of a connection between the two of them, which I guess you could argue is kind of the point here. They don't have much of a connection. They don't really fit together, they're at odds with each other, and they don't always get along, and they don't always agree. And, okay, I guess that can kind of be interesting, but I just feel like there's so many other characters that Ahsoka would be more interesting with. And this Sabine, again, I get it, is jaded and doesn't like that she had a falling out with her master, but she also talks about Ezra like he was the second coming of Christ. I don't remember their friendship being this strong. There's literally a moment where she makes a bonehead move that pretty much dooms the galaxy just so she can see her friend again.
(Footage focusing on the live-action and animated Ezra and the live-action Sabine is shown)
Doug (vo): But when they do meet up with Ezra...and I don't think that's a spoiler, I think you kind of know that's going to happen...he kind of brings the levity needed, and the actor portrays him really well, better than the animated series. I guess a lot of people thought he was pretty bratty, and, yeah, I agree, I think this guy does a better job.
(Footage focusing on Baylan Skoll and his apprentice, Shin Hati, is shown)
Doug (vo): The Sith Lord and his apprentice are fantastic. I hate the fact that this guy [Ray Stevenson] passed away, I am so angry we're not going to get more performances from him, 'cause he was so good in this! Once again, he got across so much while doing so little. It was just a little bit of a turn and raising an eyebrow, and just stuff that Ahsoka kind of did, too, like, they actually seem pretty evenly matched. I thought they really, really handled this well. And while his apprentice doesn't say much, she's got those great, crazy eyes. I just love how much these actors are saying without having to actually verbally say anything.
(Footage focusing on the live-action and animated versions of Admiral Thrawn is shown)
Doug (vo): Thrawn is so much better in live-action. I hate saying that, because you know I love animation, I think it can do amazing things, but this style of animation was not what Thrawn needed. If you're going to show Thrawn, you have to show him in, like, an anime style, a style where he can be really still. You can't do that with this animation. If it's too still, it's going to look like it's not alive or it's broken or something. But in live-action, even the same actor [Lars Mikkelsen] can give the exact same performance, but actually seeing him there being so still makes a huge difference. I was actually kind of wondering, "Why is everyone so afraid of this guy?" I remember him in Rebels and he really wasn't that big a threat, I did not find him that intimidating. But here, when you see his army and this almost Empire cult he's put together, I kind of go, "Okay, yeah, I can see why it's bad if this guy returns". I so wish this is what the First Order was like. Get rid of Snoke and the Emperor and Shouty McScreamShout (General Hux). I mean, just put Adam Driver in this Empire, and I really think those movies would have turned out great.
(Footage focusing on Anakin Skywalker is shown)
Doug (vo): It's also nice to see Hayden Christensen return with, well, somebody that knows how to direct actors. I'm sorry, I didn't like him in Obi-Wan, and obviously, I didn't like him in the prequels, so when you see him walking around talking to Ahsoka, I do really feel like this is the same Anakin I got from the show. Obviously, they sound alike, but his delivery seemed on point, it really felt like they had this connection. I had no trouble believing this was the same guy from Clone Wars...even if his appearance did kind of feel a little pointless.
(Various footage is shown, including stills of Baylan Skoll)
Doug (vo): Yeah, okay, let's get to the one major flaw with this show, and like I said, I don't think it's major enough to destroy it: the writing. This is nowhere near the worst writing we've had for Star Wars, and like I said, it's hard to even say it's that bad. It's just...standard. Everybody does the standard things you would think these characters would do, and they say the standard things you think they would say. After a meeting doesn't go well, somebody says, "Well, that went well". When they're introducing Sabine in front of this big crowd and she's supposed to make a big speech, guess what happens? It's exactly what you think happens. She's not there and she's driving away, 'cause, oh, she hates all that official stuff, which I love because that means she had to literally go from home to the city just so she could go from the city to home. There was no reason for this, except to have a chase scene where they go, "Sabine, you get back here!" I also never fully understood the Sith Lord's plan. Like, he talks about, "We just want power! We want balance! We want...", and it's just a little too vague. Like, I get it, the dark side, the light side, there's even some characters in-between. But this guy was so damn interesting, I really did want a little bit more explanation. I don't know, maybe we'll get it in the future...with a different actor. Please, don't-don't do this. (A screenshot of Leia from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is shown) There's a lot of scenes where people just do stuff that flat out doesn't make any sense, and it either just coincidentally works in their favor, or even sometimes, doesn't work in their favor. If you really think about the choices these characters make, you kind of realize a lot of lives are going to be lost for some very dumb reasons, which, again, I guess is nothing new in Star Wars, but you kind of hope it would evolve beyond this. With that said, I think Filoni does realize you do have to structure a live-action show different than an animated show. It does have to go a little slower, you do have to take your time a bit more, and you have to set up atmosphere. The performances have to be different, too, and effects and timing and how you show stuff, and I actually do like that the show does take its time, it's not in a rush. Again, because I think they are aware they have a good cast here, they do just let them react to things. And that's always my favorite part of stuff like this, just seeing these great actors react to other great actors.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): And overall, while it never really got to any big ideas or big battles or big character moments...hell, the moment where Sabine and Ezra meet up is surprisingly kind of underwhelming. I actually thought Ahsoka and him meeting up was more emotional...I still feel like there's enough that kept me really interested. I don't know if they're going to do a season two or if they're just going to continue these characters in other Star Wars properties. Honestly, I think that might be the best. I don't know if the show has enough momentum for a season two, but at the same time, I want to see what happens to these people, I want to see these actors again. Though, I will give the warning right now, if you have not seen the other shows with these characters, Clone Wars and Rebels and so forth, you'll be able to follow this, but I don't know how much you're going to care about it. They keep talking about these characters and their connections to them, and, yeah, you can talk about it all you want, but unless you see it, unless you're there with the characters, I don't think the writing does well enough to really make you understand why these people are as interesting as they are. But if you have seen the shows, I think the series is interesting enough. It takes its time, has some good effects, has some good action, and like I said, some really great acting. It's serviceable enough where I would feel bad if I didn't see it, I would feel like I was missing out on something, just not a great something, but a good something. So if you think that's...something, I would definitely say, check this show out.
(A scene showing Ahsoka posing with her two lightsabers is shown)