Liveblog of episode 5 of Ahsoka. In which I have many feelings.

Ahhhh I’m so glad Huyang found Sabine’s helmet I was worried about that haha. His “I told them to stay together” and yup and because of that we doubly all saw this coming. I feel really bad for him as he might think both Sabine and Ahsoka are dead and obviously Huyang survived Order 66 (and is so much older as well). He has seen generations of Jedi from helping to craft their first lightsaber. He will have seen them die, most of them far younger than anyone would hope. If only they stayed together, there is safety in numbers. But Order 66 split the Jedi across the Galaxy – took them away from each other – and they fell one by one. Oh it hurts.

I find it interesting that Anakin is still wearing his “almost but not quite Sith” outfit he had in the third movie. I mean it was also his Clone Wars outfit. It was how Ahsoka knew him but it’s not the outfit he was put in for the replacement end scene in Return of the Jedi which was the stereotypical Jedi robes (identical to Obi-Wan).

I gasped with the “I won’t fight you” line as that’s what Ahsoka said to him in Malachor. “I’ve heard that before” – yes! And I remember when. Can you imagine that fight from his POV as suddenly a stormtrooper just yanks Ahsoka through a portal that came out of nowhere and boom she is gone.

Senator Organa!!!! I am screaming. Oh I love love love love that!!! Yay Leia covering for them. Oh that is so awesome! I know, I know, I am easily pleased but yay I am smiling so hard.

I love that Hera didn’t dismiss Jacen. She got Chopper to check, there was nothing, but she still listened and followed Jacen in listening. Did she know it was the force or was she just showing him respect? He might be a kid but he’s still a person. OMG OMG OMG they mentioned Kanan!!! Jacen has abilities – yes! Baby Jedi and I love that Carson is just like “whelp ok Jedi weirdness have to roll with it” and immediately snapped to it. I wonder why Hera didn’t taken Jacen in the Ghost. I mean if he can hear the fight, might she not think he could sense it and find it? Also leaving him alone on a planet, even with Chopper, seems risky.

Oh wow live action Clone Wars and baby Ahsoka. Oooooh and they remembered to give her a green lightsaber. So sad all those hurt and dead troopers 🙁 I know Ahsoka is a baby Jedi but that is still a lot to put a kid through. Star Wars doesn’t seem to care about that though. I mean Padme was Queen/leader of her planet as a teen.

I’m not sure if that Clone Wars was a memory/flashback or not. The Anakin that talked to Ahsoka about war, said that he had to train her to be a solider. There seemed to be Anakin’s usual attempt to connect but then a failure with the joke “teaching isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” to lighten the mood but Ahsoka wasn’t there yet. He then got defensive and grumpy “what do you want from me?” because really Anakin chafes under orders but can’t exist without them. He needs to be told what to do. It feels very realistic like this might actually have happened. Right up until the “what if I want to stop fighting?” “Then you’ll die” as they aren’t in the middle of the battle exactly. Yes it’s close but there is the injured men behind the frontline, there’s the Walkers etc. I don’t know my gut feeling says Clone Wars Anakin would have let Ahsoka step back from the battlefield. He didn’t want to lose her, he wanted her to stay a Jedi, and in those times that meant the war, but would he have made her fight if her head wasn’t there? He absolutely didn’t want her to die. Is this part of the tunnel vision that Anakin saw no other options but the lie of hiding his marriage? Staying a Jedi, fighting the war, and the fight was all there was? That shot with the smoke and then flash Vader, flash Anakin, sure was something. Stunning and impactful.

I wonder did Hera hear the lightsabers? Did Jacen somehow share that with her? “You do things your way because you care. This is why people like you” – I put on another tag that it must be hard to stop being a rebel, as that was years of living to conscience not the rule of law/government authority. So the New Republic is leagues better than the Empire but it’s still an organisation operating to the Greater Good, and people will get lost/hurt in the shuffle. Hera always understood the cost of the mission but she was also free to choose the priority based on conscience. She did right by the Rebellion but she also did right by her family. This wasn’t a case where she had to choose, as it didn’t hurt the New Republic to come help Ahsoka and Sabine.

I hope Huyang put Sabine’s helmet in her old room on the Ghost. Reunion for Sabine and her helmet in the finale.

Oh blink and you miss it live action Rex. Siege of Mandalore explains the Ahsoka face paint clone, also the Mando enemy and not separatists droids. Also her now blue lightsabers which I had thought was just the light not showing right in the smoke. I also had initially thought it was a Bounty Hunter as it was the same battle, and it looked like there was a blue twi’lek in the earlier one. I had thought perhaps that was Aayla Secura but she had what looked like a blaster rather than a lightsaber.

I’m not sure what Anakin is trying to teach Ahsoka here. These flashbacks, not flashbacks? back to the war. It’s like Ahsoka is saying Baylan was right, she is a soldier, a bringer of death – and the battlefield scenarios support that – and also Anakin is saying she is a fighter. But then it’s there is more to the legacy? And she has learned nothing? and he’s going all Sith eyes. I am confused. Man Anakin striding forward and the flash to Vader, the show is really bringing it with the artistry. Wow she disarmed him. A true reflection of her skill? Or was the point to make her choose life rather than death? Anakin’s eyes are back to normal. “There’s hope for you yet” and he’s gone.

I wonder… so much about Ahsoka. So much about any Jedi post-Order 66 is the trauma of survival. Being stuck alive but dead in so many ways, of having lost a lot of what made them who they are, of not being allowed to be themselves. Having to hide their abilities, beliefs, deny their history etc. it’s like Ahsoka died on that Venator and she has been a Ghost ever since. Ha! I kinda just got that with the whole Ghost + Spectre thing. I mean also haunting the Empire, elusive and hard to catch but yeah the enemy they thought they had buried – the Jedi.

I read a meta. I think it was probably Gffa but it might have been someone else, wondering if Ahsoka only took Sabine as her padawan because she wasn’t force-sensitive. She could teach lightsaber techniques and not have to worry about the call to the dark side. Sabine could have emotions and it wouldn’t be Anakin. Now I’m not 100% sure if I buy that completely but it’s a plausible read. Ahsoka definitely feels stuck. So the whole “I choose to live” thing isn’t just a way out of this “world between worlds” force-willed safety net, it’s also potentially a release of the death and the chance for a new beginning? Maybe that was the point of the Clone Wars flashbacks, to face where it started and to say “I don’t live here anymore”.

Impressive job making the orange make-up waterproof. Ahsoka looked different without the headdress. Jacen playing with Chopper is so pure and I love that he ran over to give Ahsoka a hug. Sad though that he’s not been in her ship before, indicates they aren’t hugely close. But I love how indulgent and warm Hera and Ahsoka looked as Huyang answered Jacen’s questions. I still love that Ahsoka can sense force echoes like Cal Kestis can.

Chopper’s “uhoh” was awesome. And naturally Hera is like ugh politics, Sabine is family and my priority. Hera knows what it could cost her Ahsoka going after Sabine but it’s a price she will willingly pay. It’s not just her career, it’s her place in the world, it’s the ability to be part of things and keep making a difference. But what difference can she make if she sacrifices her integrity? Hera is so awesome. Never losing sight of that when arguably so many others (like perhaps Mon Mothma) has.

Small things I do love seeing Ahsoka’s ship next to the Ghost. I am still unnaturally happy everytime the Ghost is on screen.

I love Carson bullshitting to protect Hera. I mean he was a fun character in Mando season 1-2 but has really come into his own. I love characters who show loyalty like that. Awwww man Hera and Jacen, my heart can’t take it it’s so sweet “just like the stories you told me”. Ezra has never met him but I super adore that Jacen knows all about him.

Haha going in the whales mouth. I feel like there’s a reference here. Jonah? I mean chasing the white whale of Thrawn I guess. I’m not sure I like Ahsoka being so zen about “better than going nowhere” given Sabine’s in danger. But I guess even Ezra couldn’t tell them where to go, he just got to them to take Thrawn’s ship along for the ride. I love how the purgills just went around the fleet. Proof they only hit ships accidentally maybe? It’s a shame Hera and the Ghost isn’t going but a leap into the unknown like that would be crazy with Jacen so fair and I guess someone has to fill out the paperwork.

Wow what an episode. Shame Sabine didn’t appear but I think that would have been too much. There was a lot here without the third plot line and my usual complaint is that they rush stuff, so the delving into the Clone Wars flashback/memory things and giving them the time and weight they deserved was good. The sheer artistry.

I still don’t agree with some of the story points like the ridiculous ancient map (as how can they know that’s related to Thrawn and Ezra’s location?), or Sabine as a non-force sensitive Jedi? (Seriously it makes no sense) but I can’t deny this show has been made with an obvious real love for the franchise. I have a real love for Star Wars too so it’s great to see.