Ahsoka's second part episode, "Toil and Trouble", gathers most of the Star Wars: Rebels crew and Morgan Elspeth's plans are closer to being fulfilled! Re:cap - “Master and Apprentice”, Sabine at the communications tower has decoded the map, but she fights with an assassin droid while its counterpart takes the map! She takes up her lightsaber and then faces the mysterous woman and another assassin droid. The woman activates her lightsaber, a glowing, orange blade. Sabine advances in guard position. Then, she rushes forward with a strike that the woman blocks. Sabine is driven back by several strikes.
Ahsoka charges up her shuttle and flies it from Lothal City. Sabine is grunting, her swings cut only air, while the woman is silent. She forces Sabine back still holding her lightsaber almost in a dancer’s position. They are both female apprentices, but Sabine’s opponent is more skilled. Ahsoka tells Huyang to pilot the shuttle. Sabine’s strike is parried and the woman drives her lightsaber through her side. This is not a lethal move, a shiak, but Sabine will need some bacta. The woman disengages, Sabine swings her lightsaber wildly, and she turns to see the shuttle. Sabine collapses as Ahsoka runs towards her!
"Toil and Trouble" is also written by Dave Filoni. It is directed by Steph Green who previously directed The Book of Boba Fett, "Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine" (2022). The episode's title refers to the witches' chant in Shakespeare's Macbeth, "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble." A hint of Morgan Elspeth, Witch of Dathomir? We hear water droplets, medical fluid?, in the darkness when the episode begins. The stark white resolves to Ahsoka looking at Lothal City while she hears Sabine’s question about Ezra. This is Sabine recalling Ezra saying he is counting on her. We see Sabine recovering on a bed, not a bacta tank?, and Ahsoka turns to see her.
Her memories go to meeting the woman with the lightsaber when Ahsoka rushes over to wake her up. She sees a Too-Onebee medical droid and Huyang at the other side of the room. Sabine tries to get up saying the droid took the map, but Ahsoka tries to calm her. She says she unlocked the map. Sabine says there are two galaxies with a path between them. Ahsoka asks if there was a starting point from their galaxy, but Sabine says she didn’t have time. She leaves. A downwards wipe, Filoni knows Lucas’ directing style, at a red forested world with seas, Seatos, the Eta-class shuttle lands. At a stone circle with jagged pillars around it, Baylan approaches with his apprentice. He places the map cylinder on a stone and it begins to rotate. Baylan tells his apprentice to contact Morgan about the reflex point.
A Loth-cat perks up in a grassy field outside of the communications tower. Ahsoka is there tracing the lightsaber battle like Prince Humperdink in Princess Bride (1987). She sees Sabine’s helmet and speeder. Ahsoka sees Sabine’s Loth-cat before entering her work room and activates her hologram of Ezra. The Loth-cat hisses and Ahsoka spins with her lightsaber severing the assassin droid’s head in a Sai cha! She says that she expected the droid to be there, most likely to track the other one. The Loth-cat is the best early warning device, they should bring it along on their adventures.
At the medical wing, Sabine examine’s the assassin droid head while we also see the hologram of Hera. She starts to remove the droid’s covering, nice to see the inner workings, and says it has back-up systems. Sabine was always a tech. Huyang notes that its memory can be used to find its base. Sabine starts slicing into the droid’s memory, it starts to overheat, then Huyang deactivates it. She has discovered that it came from Corellia. Hera asks the New Republic shipyard. Ahsoka notes that Morgan Elspeth has Corellian shipyards and Hera says she will meet her there.
Sabine doesn’t want to be left behind and speaks with Hera who says Ahsoka needs her help no matter what she says. Night, Morgan has arrived on Seatos, Baylan points her to the map stone. He asks who built it and Morgan says it was built by an “ancient people from a distant galaxy.” They step forward and Morgan begins swaying her hand over the map, her Dathomiran power?, it levitates with a green flame. The map projects the galaxy and then projections start to rise from the circle forming a half-globe. Another galaxy is projected by one of the pillars.
A new galaxy is something never dealt with in other SW material! The map shows the way to Peridea which is what Baylan calls it. He says that is what it was called in the Jedi Temple as a fairy tale. Morgan closes her eyes and says Thrawn is calling to her! This is an improvement over what was in the so called Sequel Trilogy. The map deactivates and Morgan says The Eye of Sion, a ship?, is on headed to them. Baylan says Marrok will have things ready. Now, I’m in the Unknown Regions here. Morgan leaves. The apprentice asks Baylan what will happen when Thrawn arrives and he says war! For others, “a new beginning”, Empire?, Sith? He sends her to Corellia to help Marrok.
Ahsoka’s T-6 shuttle enters Corellian space, the first time we have seen it since Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), it passes a spherical station to head towards the surface. Ahsoka pilots the shuttle to a shipyard which is on a harbor with two Star Destroyers about to de-commissioned. She heads towards a curved hangar and meets with Hera and Myn Weaver (Peter Jacobson), a supervisor. The swarmy bureaucrat says Morgan’s shipyards were taken apart, but he is too busy to show them the shipyards. Hera convinces him to take them to Morgan’s shipyards.
Watching them is the familiar orange dome of Chopper, part of the Rebels crew, and a C1 astromech doid. He is voiced by Dave Filoni. The only other group member of the Spectres missing is Zee, whom we last saw in The Mandalorian, "Chapter 21: The Pirate" (2023). Weaver says all of the workers are ex-Imperials so that would mean they could easily turn over the ships to the Imperial Remnant. I’m not certain why the New Republic would use Imperial workers, the Imperials worked at the Kuat Drive Yards relatively close to Corellia, but Imperial tech is not as versatile as Corellian ships. A little gap in logic there.
Hera asks Ahsoka to take back Sabine as her apprentice. It is strange that even now, Ahsoka would have judgements of an apprentice when she was so resisted by Anakin to take he as apprentice. The Too-Onebee droid takes off a medical patch, strange he doesn’t say a word while doing so, that reveals the lightsaber wound. Huyang is there and picks up her lightsaber, Sabine corrects him that it is Ezra’s, and he says Ezra passed it to her. He says she has modified it so the lightsaber belongs to Sabine. Huyang tells her about training, Sabine says Ahsoka won’t train her, and he tells her to move forward. It doesn’t matter what Sabine thinks of her relationship with Ahsoka, if she wants to train, then she should train.
She doubts her abilities compared to Ezra, again she is making excuses, a person determines how they will fare as a Jedi. Huyang holds out her lightsaber. He is not a great instructor, no Cin Drallig, but Sabine takes her lightsaber. Weaver takes Hera and Ahsoka to a control room over looking the shipyard. Hera points out a hyperdrive core, Weaver says it is from a Super Star Destroyer, and when Hera asks what it is for, she is told it is classified. A general of the New Republic? She should close immediately close down the facility calling a fleet. He calls over C1-D1 (voiced by Shelby Young), a red protocol droid. Young voiced Princess Leia in Forces of Destiny. Ahsoka asks about HK-assassin droids and C1 says she saw one and that it is leaving on a ship. Hera tries to stop it, but then the workers shout, “For the Empire!”
They are taken down by Ahsoka and Hera. Ahsoka tells Hera to ready the Phantom, a new model transport shuttle to replace thir old VCX-starfighter. Ahsoka shatters the control room window with her lightsabers and then drops down to run after the ship. She stops when confronted by black-armored man, Marrok, with a red lightsaber and handle and assassin droid. Marrok was on Skoll meeting with Morgan, Baylan, and his apprentice. Hera tries to order the transport back, but instead blaster cannons are turned on her and she is fired upon. No response from Corellia? No fighters dispatched at an armed conflict? Ahsoka duels the assassin droid and Marrok. She has fought Maul, Dooku, and Grievous, I’m not certain how both opponents could possibly be anywhere near her level.
Ahsoka skewers the droid and then turns upon the other who has activated his other lightsaber blade. Hera has Chopper throw a tracking device before the ship jumps to hyperspace. Again, I think at minimum Hera could bring in an escort of two cruisers and six X-Wing fighters. Marrok gets a signal on his wrist comlink and throws his lightsaber, but Ahsoka leaps over it, very cool. He sees the shuttle that starts to strafe blaster cannon fire around him as he runs up. Then, leaps on the landing ramp with Baylan’s waiting apprentice. Marrok calls his lightsaber, which Ahsoka shrugs as it flies past, actually her control of the Force, she could easily keep it.
The Loth-cat sees the arrival of Sabine at the communications tower room. Sabine starts to set her Mandalorian armor on a table and then her helmet! She is the only Mandalorian whom helped the New Republic until Din Djarin. Sabine is meditating and then takes out a vibro-knife, cutting her hair, before picking up her helmet. Ahsoka and Hera watch as New Republic officers take away the traitors including Weaver. Chopper is still trying to track the ship. Hera enters her shuttle, she sees a signal, and activates a hologram transmission. It is Sabine in her Mandalorian armor, short hair, and says, “I’m ready.” Um, round 2 of a lightsaber duel, I would worry for her opponent. Ahsoka episode 2 has the heroes catching up as Morgan prepares to find Grand Admiral Thrawn, but Sabine is now ready to join Ahsoka Tano!
Five Lightsabers out of Five!
#Ahsoka, #StephGreen, #DaveFiloni, #RosarioDawson, #NatashaLiuBordizzo, #DavidTennant, #MaryElizabethWinstead, #RayStevenson, #IvannaSakhno, #DianaLeeInosanto, #ShelbyYoung
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