In the latest “Ahsoka” recap, Ahsoka arrives at Peridea in her search for Sabine Wren while Grand Admiral Thrawn plots to eliminate his enemies before returning home…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The penultimate episode of “Ahsoka” didn’t disappoint with some heartfelt reunions, a couple of epic lightsaber battles and the stage being set for a final encounter one week from now.
Last week saw Sabine Wren track down her long lost friend Ezra Bridger, who has been living alongside an alien tribe known as Noti on the planet Peridea after he helped defeat Grand Admiral Thrawn by sending his ship to a galaxy far, far away. Sabine’s journey wasn’t easy because she had to battle through bandits before eventually getting to Ezra but she also has no idea that Thrawn doesn’t plan on them leaving the planet alive.
As expected, Thrawn sent Baylan Skoll and his apprentice after Sabine and Ezra while also admitting that he doesn’t really care much of any of them return or not. Thrawn is committed to traveling back to his home galaxy and leaving Sabine, Ezra and even the former Jedi mercenary behind would be considered a perfectly acceptable victory.
Of course, Thrawn also learned through the Great Mothers that another threat is headed his way because Ahsoka Tano is still very much alive and she’s being transported to the distant planet by a group of Purrgils — the same space whales responsible for transporting him there nearly a decade earlier.
Now as we pick up this week, Thrawn continues to prepare for his inevitable departure, Ahsoka finally arrives in the star system where she hopes to find Sabine and Ezra and Hera Syndulla answers for her actions after defying orders handed down by the New Republic.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of “Ahsoka”…
Part 7: Dreams and Madness
The episode opens on Coruscant where General Hera Syndulla stands before the New Republic council seeking to punish her for defying their orders when she backed up Ahsoka Tano on Seatos in an effort to stop Morgan Elsbeth from traveling to find Grand Admiral Thrawn. The council doesn’t believe the threat is real and basically equates Hera’s mission to chasing a fairytale.
Senator Xiono in particular — the same guy who raised a stink when she first asked permission — isn’t buying anything Hera is selling. Before the council can bounce Hera out of the New Republic army for disobeying a direct order, she finds a new ally has arrived in court to offer support.
C-3PO — on orders from Senator Leia Organa — stands to testify before the council on Hera’s behalf. It’s a welcome appearance from a legacy character.
During testimony, C-3PO reveals that Senator Organa — in her role as the head of the New Republic defense — authorized Hera’s mission to Seatos so this trial is much ado about nothing. With Leia’s backing, the council has no choice but to dismiss the charges but Chancellor Mon Mothma knows there’s more to this story.
She approaches Hera afterwards and tells her she knows Leia didn’t actually authorize that mission but more importantly, Mon Mothma wants to know the reality of the threat they’re potentially facing with Thrawn still out there somewhere. Hera doesn’t mince words while offering her assessment of the situation.
“We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
~ Hera Syndulla
Back on the Fulcrum, Ahsoka Tano continues traveling towards her destination but for now she’s once again been reunited with her Master, Anakin Skywalker through a series of hologram training sessions he prepared for his Padawan. It seems there were 20 such sessions that Anakin recorded in an effort to prepare Ahsoka for the challenges she might face during the war.
It seems Ahsoka never told anyone — not even Huyang — about these training videos but after reconnecting with Anakin during her journey to the World Between Worlds, she’s suddenly compelled to learn from her Master again.
On the bridge, Huyang tells Ahsoka that the Purrgil are beginning to slow down, which means they must be arriving at their destination soon. The only problem is Huyang has no idea if this system is where Sabine landed during her journey with Morgan Elsbeth and become this is an unknown galaxy, they have no star maps to show them the way.
Ahsoka still seems unconcerned, especially with the trust she placed in the space whales to lead them to the same place where Thrawn was sent years earlier.
As the Purrgil come out of hyperspace, Ahsoka immediately realizes that something is wrong as the space whales begin behaving erratically — so she flies the Fulcrum out of the mouth of the beast only to find that there are a series of Imperial land minds waiting there for them. As Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered, the space whales would face immediate reprisal for landing in this star system because he aims to take out Ahsoka before she could possibly reach him.
The Purrgil react effectively by jumping back into hyperspace to avoid the bombs exploding all around them but Ahsoka is still trying to survive while a group of fighters dispatched from the Eye of Sion zero in on her location. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ahsoka decides to fly into a debris field to avoid the attacking ships.
Learning that Ahsoka has arrived, Grand Admiral Thrawn receives the background information on her that he requested and he soon discovers that she was a Padawan to Master Anakin Skywalker. Thrawn knows Anakin well after they worked together during the Clone Wars and then again after his transformation to become Darth Vader when they were effectively the two most trusted members of Emperor Palpatine’s inner circle.
Thrawn is also one of only a few people who knows that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.
Armed with that information, Thrawn calls off his fighters and instructs them to await orders on standby before telling Morgan Elsbeth that Ahsoka will likely behave just like her former Master — unpredictable yet still very dangerous. Thrawn’s goal is to stay one step ahead of her so pulling back resources and awaiting Ahsoka’s next move is smarter strategy that potentially losing fighters crashing through a debris field attempting to find her.
On the planet’s surface, Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren are traveling with the Noti herd and catching up on events including the downfall of the Galactic Empire, the Emperor’s death and the rise of the New Republic. Sabine is still being cagey about details surrounding her arrival as well as Ahsoka’s fate — she doesn’t know yet that Ahsoka survived —but she does share her initial training as a Padawan to become a Jedi.
Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Thrawn calls on the Great Mothers to help him pinpoint Ahsoka’s location in the debris field so he can spring an attack on her sooner rather than later.
As for Ahsoka, she learns that Huyang’s scan of the planet offered no clues about Sabine’s location so she decides to try something else instead. Ahsoka uses the Force to reach out to Sabine — and on the planet’s surface, Sabine feels a connection to her Master. It turns out Sabine is Force sensitive after all!
That brief connection is all Ahsoka needs to find Sabine but the Great Mothers have also found her location so Thrawn launches an attack of his own. As the fighters come after Ahsoka, she tells Huyang to head down to the surface where they will reunite with Sabine.
Before they can arrive, Ezra and Sabine encounter resistance after Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati locate them. Baylan sends back word to Thrawn that the enemies have been located and he sends Shin after them but tells her that he won’t be joining this fight.
It seems Baylan has different plans while he’s on this planet — he keeps speaking to a greater power he’s seeking but we still have no idea what that might be — but he tells Shin that she must move forward and take her place in the rise of the new Empire to come. She’s stunned that her Master is cutting her loose but now Shin must go after Ezra and Sabine by herself along with the raiding party they befriended on the planet.
Spotting Baylan and Shin on the horizon, Sabine and Ezra prepare to fight while telling the Noti to duck and cover. Sabine offers Ezra back his lightsaber but he politely declines — he gave that to her and now she owns it. Plus, Ezra has the Force on his side and that’s all the power he needs.
As the fighting begins, Ezra uses the Force to launch his enemies into the air while beating them in hand-to-hand combat while Sabine blasts away at the rest.
At the same time, Ahsoka’s ship bursts through the atmosphere to find Ezra and Sabine fighting on the ground. Ahsoka knows she needs to get to them so she plans a daring escape while the ship is still mid-flight — and when she lands on the ground, she finds herself face-to-face with Baylan Skoll again.
He’s surprised to see her given that Baylan thought she was dead after their previous encounter but he warns that her resurrection will be short-lived because he can’t allow her to interfere. Ahsoka welcomes the fight as she blazes up both of her lightsabers this time and engages in a duel with Baylan.
Meanwhile, Thrawn gets word of the location where Sabine and Ezra were found so he sends two squadrons as backup to ensure nobody makes it out alive.
The arrival of the Night Troopers helps Shin because all of her allies were eliminated and she’s standing up against both Ezra and Sabine until the soldiers arrive. As for Ahsoka, she’s engaged in a back and forth battle with Baylan that neither seems destined to win.
Rather than get locked in a never ending battle, Ahsoka tells Baylan that she doesn’t need to defeat him — just distract him long enough for Huyang to lay down some cover fire as she escapes and he nearly gets blown to bits. When Baylan gets back to his feet, Ahsoka is gone.
It’s good timing because Ezra and Sabine are just about to get gunned down when Ahsoka rides in for the save as she tears through the Night Troopers and then takes out Shin Hati as well.
Seeing the battle play out from afar, Thrawn tells Morgan Elsbeth that his plans are working out perfectly because the distraction has allowed his crew to finish loading the ship and they will now prepare to return to their own galaxy. He calls back his troops, who load up on the transport ships and abandon Shin Hati.
While leaving Ahsoka, Sabine and Ezra alive isn’t optimal, Thrawn sees all this as an acceptable result because they’ll be stuck on the planet with no hope to escape. The same can be said for Baylan Skoll, who Thrawn will gladly leave behind as well.
Of course, Shin is now all alone — not even her Master returns to offer assistance — but Ahsoka extends her hand. Ahsoka tells Shin to drop her weapon and then she can help — but the apprentice decides to turn and run away instead.
Finally safe and out of harm’s way, Sabine is stunned to see Ahsoka alive but it’s a welcomed reunion. Ahsoka says she wouldn’t have missed this reunion for anything as she hugs Ezra and the two old friends meet again.
Huyang returns from the sky above them and the Noti emerge from their ships as Ezra tells them that he’s got a feeling that he may be returning home after all. The three of them look up to the ship as they prepare for another battle together — and they’ll try to stop Thrawn for the last time while also seeking passage home.
It all comes down to this last episode with the “Ahsoka” finale debuting next Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+!
