Thursday, October 19, 2023

TV Show Review: Ahsoka - Season 1

Stars: 2 out of 5
Pros: Good acting, pacing, and visuals
Cons: Story stops with no resolution
The Bottom Line:
New Star Wars story
Meeting characters went well
But then it just stops


“We Almost Died.”  “Multiple Times.”  “Ah, Yes.  Standard Operating Procedure.”

There are a lot of Star Wars shows I haven’t watched.  As a result, I wasn’t familiar with the characters of Ahsoka until she popped up in an episode of The Book of Boba Fett.  Without any of that background, I jumped into the Disney+ series.  Despite not having the background on the character, I mostly enjoyed it until the final episode.

The series is set during the time period of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.  Ahsoka is a Jedi Knight who had apprenticed under Anakin Skywalker before he turned to the dark side.  As this story starts, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) is searching for a hidden map.  She wants to find it since it could lead to the place where her friend Ezra has been stranded.  But it’s a race to find it since the map might also hold the key to finding where Grand Admiral Thrawn was banished.  That is, if rumors that he is still alive are to be believed.  Can she find the map?  Will it fall into the wrong hands?

I was actually excited that they were bring Thrawn into the shows since the few Star Wars novels I read revolved around him.  Granted, that was over twenty-five years ago, so I remember nothing about them, but I still found it very fun to have a character from the extended Star Wars universe pop up that I’d at least heard of.

Based on how some of the characters interacted, I’m guessing if I were more familiar with Ahsoka from her previous appearances, I’d probably know them.  Like her former apprentice Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) or Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  I’m definitely interested in their backstory, but I don’t feel like I missed too much not knowing it going in.

I’ve complained in the past that many Disney+ series have pacing issues.  I sat down for this show prepared for that.  However, that wasn’t the case.  Each episode moved the story forward in some way.  We had action to keep us entertained, too.  I never felt like we were just marking time.

However, I’m still scratching my head over the point of the series.  As of my typing this, they haven’t announced a season two or how these events might play into some of the other Star Wars shows.  Given that, the eight episodes we have just…ended.  While they didn’t actually say it, you could definitely feel the “To be continued…” on the final scene.

And until we know more about what is to come for the threads introduced here, it’s extremely unsatisfying.  In fact, I’m wondering what the point of these eight episodes was.  While the episodes were entertaining, what we had wasn’t a story.  It was a set up for something that ended extremely abruptly.  The writers blew it.

Which is a shame since I enjoyed the acting.  Everyone brought their characters to life perfectly.  In addition to those I’ve already mentioned, I have to give a shout out to David Tennant who voiced Ahsoka’s droid Huyang.

And the show looked spectacular.  The visuals were fantastic, which is something the Star Wars shows seem to have going for them.

I’ll reserve the right to revise my opinion of Ahsoka’s first season if we ever get more of the story.  For now, know that it will leave you hanging, and therefore, unsatisfied story wise.

2 comments:

  1. I haven't checked out this series, but I have enjoyed The Clone Wars were Ashoka got first introduced as well as Rebels where she plays a role in as well as some of the characters you mentioned. Those are animated shows and somehow it just feels odd to see Ahsoka outside of those. That's too bad it ended so unsatisfying, but that's good to know the acting and visuals were so well done.

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  2. I haven't been reading these shows, but I probably would have given it 2 stars as well. :)

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