This review contains full spoilers for episode six of Ahsoka, now available to watch on Disney+.
When it comes to Star Wars touchstones, episode 6 of Ahsoka has it all. From the reference to the opening crawl by Huyang (David Tennant) onwards, “Far, Far Away” may be missing its title character but still delivers another excellent outing for the show. It builds up its villains and their plans while also taking the time for some quintessential Star Wars cuteness.
The purrgil delivered Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) to the planet where they go to die, an eerie site where Peridea’s rings are revealed to be the skeletons of countless star whales. This is also the original home of the Nightsisters before they arrived on Dathomir, and Ahsoka provides an appropriately creepy live action introduction to their order in their blood red garb, their leader’s voice given the same unsettling reverb used in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
This episode combines aspects of Star Wars with Dune as it leans into the drama and spectacle of space opera. As shown in Count Dooku’s alliance with the Nightsisters in The Clone Wars, the Nightsisters have a lot that they can offer. For Grand Admiral Thrawn, they’re serving as something like Dune’s Bene Gesserit, providing him with knowledge through their ability to foretell the future. They can bring him allies by communicating through dreams and also use their dark magic in his favor in a way we’ll presumably learn more about next week.
Thrawn knows how to make an entrance. His Imperial Star Destroyer is a deeply imposing sight as it appears above the platform where Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) meets with the Great Mother. Even more dramatic is the chanting of Thrawn as he walks out from amongst his line of stormtroopers, showing off his power by sporting an immaculate white suit that makes the faded armor of his soldiers look filthy by comparison. The scene evokes the Imperial military might demonstrated by the beginning of A New Hope while also standing in contrast to Casian Andor’s commentary on the complacency that made it possible to overthrow the Empire. These soldiers have been hardened by fighting to survive rather than growing soft without meaningful resistance.
Both the ship and the armor of many of the soldiers have been repaired with gold, embodying the Japanese practice of kintsugi, where broken pottery is reassembled in a way that emphasizes the damage rather than attempting to hide it. Beyond being one of the series’ many nods towards the Japanese influences on the original Star Wars, it’s a choice that feels deeply in line with Thrawn’s understanding of the importance of aesthetics, very clearly demonstrating the way that his troops have been shaped by their exile.
Mikkelson voiced Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and the actor seamlessly steps back into the role of a villain who always sees the big picture. He never underestimated the Rebels crew and views Sabine as a last chance to actually kill Ezra, though he won’t overextend his weakened forces on petty revenge if it endangers his greater goal of escaping exile. Given that the Nightsisters have previously shown the ability to temporarily reanimate their dead and are loading coffin-shaped boxes from the catacombs onto Thrawn’s ship, death might not be the end of duty for Thrawn’s troops.
That would certainly fit with the discussion of resurrection Thrawn has when he learns Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) is still alive. His insistence on learning everything he can about her is classic Thrawn, and I look forward to the mind games and verbal sparring to come between the two.
But Elsbeth and Thrawn certainly seem to have underestimated Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevensen), who gets more development this episode as he continues to be one of the highlights of the series. There’s a meta commentary to his mourning about the cyclical nature of conflict between the Jedi and Sith that runs throughout Star Wars that has played out for thousands of years in stories told by Huyang, George Lucas or Jon Favreau.
Skoll has fought as a general for the Jedi Order and saw how pointless their war was, but he hasn’t fallen for the path of the Sith seeking to claim temporal power as a lieutenant of Thrawn. He’s out for something bigger, an ancient power he believes lies on Peridea. Given the cosmology Filoni has been setting up since The Clone Wars, I’m guessing it’s tied to the Father, Son and Daughter, who embody different aspects of the Force. Obviously Skoll can’t succeed since the Star Wars IP is so profitable this conflict will keep playing out over and over again, but his ambitions are impressive in that they exceed even Thrawn’s goal of galactic conquest.
Released into the wilderness with some supplies and a warg-like Howler, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) has a forgettable encounter with some generic bandits so that they can later be part of a bad guy team up with Skoll. Mostly it’s a chance to show that she’s not bad with a lightsaber when she isn’t fighting skilled Force users and to create an adorable dynamic between her and her cowardly mount.
The decidedly ugly-cute creature leads her to the even cuter hermit crab aliens that Ezra has been living with. Their nomadic village with buildings that resemble larger shells feels like classic Star Wars, providing great practical details like a baby being swung in a hammock or a crowd retreating into their shells in fright as the Howler eagerly accepts a treat.
It’s jarring seeing Esfandi’s bearded Ezra given how young the character was when he disappeared, but the actor seems to have taken on Taylor Gray’s role well. He greets Sabine with casual confidence rather than big emotions, and Bordizzo does a good job subtly showing her pained guilt as she pushes back on Ezra’s questions. The recriminations can wait until next week.
