TV Review: ‘Ahsoka’ Season 1, Episode 1 — A Start And A Sequel
by Frank Martin
To call the buzz around Ahsoka great would be an understatement. Not only would the show give a fan favorite character the lead in a story, but it also had Rosario Dawson reprising the role. Most notably, the series would operate as a sort of sequel to Star Wars Rebels, a very popular animated series that left one of its characters in limbo. Plus, it was a chance for those characters to finally get a live action adaptation. The overall plot of the series was hinted at in The Mandalorian, and the first episode more or less successfully followed along that path.
The main point of the show is for the good guys to search for Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and the bad guys to seek out Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). Ahsoka and the villains are both going after a mysterious star chart that is said to lead the way to both characters. A mysterious orange light saber wielding mercenary (Ray Stevenson) freed the ally of Thrawn’s Ahsoka defeated in her Mandalorian debut and continued to the star chart. But Ahsoka went to Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) to unlock it. She succeeded, but the mercenary’s apprentice (Ivanna Sakhno) managed to arrive and steal the star chart, injuring Sabine in the process.
There’s a lot to unpack in this first episode of Ahsoka. It doesn’t just reintroduce her character to fans of live-action Star Wars, it also propels the character to her own leading role, something she barely had in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This doesn’t even take into account having to catch up with the characters from Rebels and even the inevitable re-emergence of Thrawn. He’s a character who had a very pivotal and fan favorite place in both Rebels and the Legends continuity. So to see him make his first live action appearance is something fans are looking forward to. A lot of pieces must be put into place before that happens. And this first episode set the plot line on a good trajectory.
Ahsoka airs Wednesdays on Disney+.
