In the “Ahsoka” recap, Morgan Elsbeth and her crew arrive at their destination and we are reunited with two faces from the past….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
With time dwindling down on the first (and possibly only) season of “Ahsoka,” we had to know that Grand Admiral Thrawn had to make his entrance sooner rather than later.
The latest episode finally revealed the blue-skinned bad guy who has arguably become the second most well known and perhaps popular villain in “Star Wars” mythology behind only Darth Vader. Thrawn — or his full name Mitth’raw’nuruodo if ya nasty — is a member of the Chiss, a blue-skinned, red-eyed race that rarely interacts with anyone else in the galaxy.
During the rise of the Galactic Empire, Thrawn made his way up the ranks before eventually being promoted to Grand Admiral in charge of the Seventh Fleet and he made it his personal mission to stamp out the Rebellion one battle at a time. Emperor Palpatine considered Thrawn his most trusted servant behind only Darth Vader.
It was during a battle on Lothal — a planet we visited in the debut episode — where Thrawn was engaged with a battle against the Rebels led by Hera Syndulla. A fleet of Purrgil appeared out of the sky and interceded in the battle with Padawan Ezra Bridger using his connection to the space whales to transport him and Thrawn’s ship — the Chimaera — across space to an unknown region where he would no longer be a threat to the Rebellion.
Now years later, Thrawn’s acolyte Morgan Elsbeth finally discovered his location and she traveled in her massive hyperspace ring to find him. That’s where we pick up with this latest episode as the long journey to find Thrawn is finally completed and we also get our first glimpse at a live action Ezra Bridger.
With only two more episodes to go this season, there’s still a lot of action to come but for now let’s recap the latest episode of “Ahsoka” …
Part Six: Far, Far Away
We don’t spend much time at all with Ahsoka Tano in her own show this week because our only glimpse of her comes at the start of the episode as she continues traveling across the galaxy inside the mouth of a Purrgil.
As she sits and speaks with Huyang, Ahsoka informs him that she’s worried about what might happen when they arrive at this location where she expects to find both Thrawn and Ezra Bridger. When she picked up the shattered pieces of a map that led to Thrawn’s location, Ahsoka was able to use the Force to see Sabine Wren willingly hand herself over to the enemy.
Ahsoka has known for quite some time that Sabine had a massive blind spot where Ezra was concerned and now her desire to be reunited with him has led Morgan Elsbeth to retrieve Grand Admiral Thrawn, who may be the biggest threat to the New Republic.
As they continue flying through hyperspace, Ahsoka asks Huyang to share a story with her like he once did inside the Jedi temple.
Meanwhile, Morgan Elsbeth and her crew come out of hyperspace after arriving at their destination. Sabine Wren remained locked up for the trip and her concerns are growing that perhaps Baylan Skoll won’t live up to his word and allow her to reunite with Ezra Bridger. Baylan sees use in Sabine so he continues to honor his promise while bringing her to the bridge as they prepare to embark on a trip down to a planet’s surface.
The planet is called Peridea — it’s the world where Morgan Elsbeth’s witchy ancestors the Dathomiri once called home — and it’s also a Purrgil graveyard. According to Baylan Skoll, Peridea is where the space whales come to die.
Arriving on the surface of the planet, Morgan Elsbeth and the rest of the crew are greeted by the Great Mothers — a trio of Dathomiri witches — who have apparently been serving Grand Admiral Thrawn since first arrived there years earlier. They are responsible for sending a vision to Morgan Elsbeth that allowed her to not only know that Thrawn was alive but there was a way to find him.
Now, the Great Sisters’ mission is nearly complete with Thrawn about to depart back to the known world where he can re-establish the Empire and topple the New Republic.
It doesn’t take them long to notice Sabine Wren as well because she has the stink of a Jedi all over her. The Great Sisters demand she be put into captivity while they continue talking to Morgan Elsbeth and awaiting the imminent arrival of Thrawn.
Meanwhile, Baylan Skoll surveys the planet while speaking with his apprentice Shin Hati as she continues to wonder about his grand plan. Baylan’s true objective has never been made clear other than him talking about wielding great power when this was all over.
Now on Peridea, Baylan tells his apprentice about how this was a world from the storybooks when he was growing up in the Jedi temple. It’s the stuff of legends — and that hints at what Baylan is really after.
Baylan tells Shin that the kind of power that Thrawn wants to achieve is fleeting and temporary but what he’s after is much different.
“The fall of the Jedi. Rise of the Empire. It repeats again and again and again.”
~ Baylan Skoll
Baylan says he sees Peridea as a beginning rather than the end but it’s not likely he’s looking to relocate to this desolate planet to start a new regime. No, it sounds like there’s some kind of Jedi artifact that could be hidden on Peridea that he heard about from the old stories told at the temple, which could allow Baylan to amass incredible and perhaps unstoppable power.
Only time will tell but Baylan’s true objective will certainly play a major part in the final two episodes.
Moments later, a massive Star Destroyer emerges from the sky before hovering over the platform where the Great Sisters reside. As the ship docks, hundreds of Night Troopers have converged — the Storm Trooper armor looks a little worse for wear after all these years — and they are led by Enoch, the captain of the guard.
The troopers all chant ‘THRAWN!’ as if they’re abiding by some cult ritual and that’s when the Grand Admiral finally arrives. He marches through his army before coming face-to-face with Morgan Elsbeth as well as Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati.
“What was first just a dream has become a frightening reality for those who may oppose us.”
~ Grand Admiral Thrawn
Thrawn is delighted that he’ll finally get to leave this planet and return to conquer the New Republic – but first he learns that it will take time to load up the ship and prepare for travel. The Great Sisters then inform Thrawn about the prisoner that came along with Morgan and her crew.
That’s when Thrawn learns that the prisoner is none other than his old adversary Sabine Wren — and she was brought there under the protection of Baylan Skoll, who we learn was General Baylan Skoll of the Jedi order before he abandoned the cause.
From there, Thrawn asks to meet with Sabine Wren, who he greets as a welcome familiar face after all these years. He knows that Sabine came there to find Ezra Bridger and it turns out Thrawn intends to live up to the promise made by Baylan Skoll — after all she was responsible for Morgan being able to find him when she willingly turned over the map with his location.
He also marvels at Sabine’s blind loyalty to Ezra Bridger and he comments on how her singular focus will now reshape the galaxy because his return will almost surely usher in a new regime and the resurrection of the Galactic Empire.
With that, Thrawn releases Sabine while also providing her with transportation, her weapons and the last known location where to look for Ezra Bridger. She reluctantly accepts the offer before mounting a Howler — a giant wolflike creature — and retrieving her blasters and lightsaber (that once belonged to Ezra Bridger).
Before leaving, Enoch warns Sabine that there are nomads roaming Peridea so she should be cautious.
It doesn’t take long for that warning to come true when Sabine is attacked by a group of bandits but she’s eventually able to fight them off. As she travels across the barren wasteland, Sabine eventually comes across a species called the Noti — a bug-eyed turtle like species with rocks serving as a shell where they can hide.
While Sabine struggles to communicate with her new friend, the Noti sets eyes on the Rebel symbol adorning her Mandalorian armor. The Noti then shows that its wearing a necklace with that same symbol, which tells Sabine that this little guy can lead her back to Ezra.
The cute little creatures — most certainly to be found as a stuffed plush toy version ahead of the holidays — lead Sabine back to their camp. As she examines her new surroundings, Sabine is then stunned to hear a familiar voice.
That’s when Sabine is reunited with Ezra Bridger, who thanks her for finally coming to find him. The two embrace as Ezra marvels at finally seeing Sabine again and she’s got the same look in her eyes as well.
Ezra does learn that his plan to exile Thrawn to eliminate him as a threat to the Rebellion worked but he’s still curious to know more about what’s happened since he’s been gone. The only problem is Sabine doesn’t want to tell him how she found him, the bargain she made to get there and the chances that they’ll even survive this encounter now that Thrawn is back.
As they gather up the camp site to move to a new location, Ezra excitedly tells Sabine that he can’t wait to get home — and little does he know that the only way back may be with Thrawn or more likely they’ll be trapped on this planet together forever.
Back at the Chimaera, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati are preparing to leave on their own. It seems Baylan’s promise to reunite Sabine with Ezra has now been fulfilled — so he plans to seek them both out and kill them. Even Shin appears a little surprised by this strategy, especially after her Master did get Sabine his word.
They mount off on Howlers before traversing across Peridea to find Sabine and Ezra.
When they find the group of nomads dispatched by Sabine, they know she can’t be far. Baylan also knows that he’s getting closer to his ultimate goal as he tells Shin that there’s something power awaiting them on Peridea. Before he can finish talking to his apprentice, another group of nomads appears on the horizon but Baylan stands down while telling Shin that the enemy of their enemy is a friend — for now anyways.
As for Grand Admiral Thrawn, he tells Enoch to ready two squads of soldiers, wait for Baylan’s signal and then go there to kill Ezra and Sabine. Of course, Thrawn also tells Morgan Elsbeth that if the ship is ready to leave before Baylan and Shin return, he’ll happily leave them stranded as well because a former Jedi and his apprentice mean nothing to him.
While Chimaera is still being prepared for travel, Thrawn meets with the Great Sisters again, who have to inform him that another loose thread has appeared in their ongoing prophecy. They feel a great threat is traveling there with the Purrgil — and it doesn’t take long for Thrawn to surmise that it must be supposedly deceased Ahsoka Tano coming for them.
He tells Morgan that he wants to know everything about Ahsoka — her home world, her background as well as her Jedi Master. That seems like a key piece of information considering Thrawn actually served alongside Anakin Skywalker during The Clone Wars and then reunited again years later after Anakin became Emperor Palpatine’s apprentice, Darth Vader.
As he prepares for Ahsoka’s potential arrival, Thrawn commands Morgan to destroy any Purrgil that appear in the skies above Peridea. He then turns to the Great Mothers and asks them to supply him with their dark magick one more time.
It remains to be seen what Thrawn has in store for Ahsoka — perhaps he intends to put on a bit of theater by using magic to make Ahsoka believe she’s seeing her former Master Anakin Skywalker. For now we’ll have to wait and see when “Ahsoka” returns for the penultimate episode of the season next Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+!
