All Part of the Plan

Ahsoka Part 7 "Dreams and Madness"

SPOILERS ARE HIDING IN THE DEBRIS FIELD

Before I get too deep into writing about this particular episode of Ahsoka, I’d like to talk about the weird power of nostalgia that fuels this newsletter.

At the very beginning of Part 7, “Dreams and Madness,” Hera is standing before a committee of the New Republic being grilled yet again by Senator Xiono (let’s hear it for rare callbacks to Star Wars: Resistance everybody!). She’s in trouble for doing things that seem perfectly within her purview as a New Republic General, and it appears as if the rules of this “court” are that Xiono can talk as much as he wants while other characters get interrupted. It’s as frustrating as it sounds, until this season-long conflict is put to rest by a last minute visitor carrying a message from Senator Leia Organa.

That messenger? None other than C-3P0, human cyborg relations, again played by the spirit of Star Wars, Anthony Daniels. When Threepio entered, played in by a gentle version of the theme from the original Star Wars, readers, I cried. Never mind that this scene was perfunctory, even a little clunky. In this world of newfangled Star Wars something in me felt an ache for the past.

A lot happens in this episode of Ahsoka, but this was the moment I felt the sweetest, purest emotion. It’s a reminder that (gestures to the entirety of Ahch-To Baby) all of this is based on, to quote Finn in The Rise of Skywalker, a feeling. No matter how I might analyze or deconstruct or muse about Star Wars, I bother doing so because Star Wars can unearth this part of me that I cherish and miss. It was, to put it plainly, nice to get a visit from an old friend.

Now, onto that other very fun feeling, which is all-new, all-different Star Wars.

In this week’s Ahsoka, we see our heroes face off with Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is tactically engaged in the battlefield for the first time in live-action. It’s a chance for Dave Filoni and company to show off what’s made Thrawn such a fan-favorite, and display some of his signature moves, such as studying his foes weaknesses and background. In his best incarnations, Thrawn is Moriarty tossed into The Seven Voyages of Sinbad. While our dashing heroes dice up stop-motion undead skeletons, he’s making crossword puzzles that spell out the names of his victims.

It’s a difficult thing to write a genius or, at least, someone with skills you don’t have. Have you ever watched a show where one of the characters is a stand-up comic, for example? We hear how funny this character is, and then watch them do an actual set written by the screenwriter…which is not that good? In the show, of course, the fictional audience laughs like we’re watching them kill it, even if we’re seeing the less-than-genuine article. (I’m looking at you, HBO’s And Just Like That…)

Thrawn presents this conundrum. How to write a man who is the supposed to be the most formidable strategic mind in the whole galaxy, and make it convincing, if you, yourself, are not an educated military strategist? If your actual expertise is, I don’t know, directing lightsaber fights?

The secret weapon, it turns out, is casting. Lars Mikkelson plays Thrawn with such ruthless, quiet confidence that even the least complex maneuver seems like a Checkmate. The actual strategies Thrawn deploys aren’t all that revolutionary. “Pull back the troops, these are acceptable losses,” isn’t exactly the invention of the phalanx. But it’s spoken with such slithering intellect that it seems like there must be more behind each move.

Take his showdown with Ahsoka Tano as she approaches the planet. His actual plan seems to be to put out a lot of mines, which fail to kill the poor Star Whales, and also fail to kill Ahsoka Tano. When the mines don’t work, ships chase Ahsoka into the spooky whale graveyard. As Ahsoka hides out on a whalebone, Thrawn looks at intel on Ahsoka and discovers her Master was Anakin Skywalker. Thus, he says she will be “unpredictable and dangerous.” Which isn’t exactly deep analysis. Plus, she’s been totally predictable. She has flown in a straight line towards Sabine for the last three episodes.

Then, Thrawn declares that he wants to force her to make a decision of her own choosing that will mean no matter where she goes he’ll be a step ahead of her. Which sounds good unless you think about it very hard. Then, he has the witches find out where she is, and says “Okay shoot her!” When this attempted misses, Ahsoka just flies down to the planet, unimpeded.

I’ll stop summarizing but in short, Thrawns forces do not defeat Ahsoka, capture Ezra and Sabine, or even successfully work together. They are pulled back. Then, Thrawn declares this this was the plan all along! You see, Ahsoka wasted time looking for Sabine! He kept her busy! This would make more sense if Ahsoka hadn’t been looking for Sabine all along, but never mind.

Grand Admiral Thrawn feels like a spin doctor, explaining failures as victories. We all know the type. It’s like Elon Musk trying to turn Twitter into something called X because he’s torched Twitter. Maybe no one will notice if he gives it another name! “All a part of the plan! I meant to destroy the advertising base of this platform! I’m five chess moves ahead!” Sure you are, genius.

I kind of love this idea because Star Wars villain tropes are the best. Vader killing everyone who reports to him is hilarious. And don’t get me started on the fact that every single master plan that The Emperor has amounts to trying to get someone to kill him. It’s his favorite thing, trying to make someone chop him in half. If every move Thrawn makes amounts to “yes, we lost a battalion but that was on purpose!” or “Certainly our cannons missed their mark, but think of all the money we saved in ammunition!” it will be too much fun.

Anyway, none of this was likely intentional and I’m just spinning out about it. This episode did, in fact, leave our heroes far away from Thrawn, barely aware of him loading what seems like an undead army onto his creepy ship, and without any method of getting home that isn’t his Star Destroyer. They’re on a collision course with Thrawn, if for no other reason than he’s their only way home.

In other every other way, this very fun episode zipped through plot points to get everyone in place for the finale. We get a whole lot more of Ezra Bridger, charming and warm and now well-versed in using Force fu instead of a lightsaber. We see a scene that’s a cuter version of the Warg Riders attack in The Two Towers, this time with Noti adorably using their homes as battering rams.

And we move forward the most intriguing part of the story, Baylan Skoll’s mysterious mission. He sends his apprentice off to battle without him, and they share a quiet farewell. Then, he briefly has a rematch with Ahsoka that ends in a draw. Finally, he exits the scene in search of… something. Whatever it is, I have a good feeling that I should have a bad feeling about this.

As we near the finale, the loss of Ray Stevenson is ever more poignant. He makes a mountain out of this character, a darkly noble man on a quest into darkness. It’s his story I find myself most excited to see conclude in the finale.

The jury’s out on if Sabine will turn out to be a person unwilling to sacrifice her friends despite the risk (see Luke Skywalker going to Cloud City despite Yoda’s warnings) or if she’ll be Star-Lord punching Thanos in Infinity War, letting her emotions put the entire galaxy at risk. She continues to answer all of Ezra’s questions evasively, which he smiles at in a way I certainly wouldn’t if I were in his dusty boots.

At the end of each season of Star Wars storytelling, it always feels like there’s quite a lot to wrap up and not a lot of time to do it. I think I’ve felt that way with every series. But each season finale has been a banger, and I expect Ahsoka’s finale will be no different. I also expect Thrawn to escape. I doubt we’ll see him defeated so quickly, not after such a monumental introduction so late in the season.

I am hoping, though, that in the finale Ahsoka will more clearly emerge as the star of her own show. Thus far, she’s the character who seems to have undergone the least change and challenge. Sure, she was the subject of Part 5’s big Anakin showdown, but that was as much recap as revelation. I’m hoping that what she’s undergone in the series to this point - confrontation with her past and struggling to be a Master to her own student - will come into play in the final episode.

Ahsoka has been very Star Wars-y Star Wars. Lightsaber battles, chases, stormtroopers, dogfights, old friends, Masters & Apprentices, classic characters, adorable creatures, Anakin Skywalker, C-3P0, Mon Mothma, X-Wings, Home One, Mandalorians, it’s been a warm cup of tea for the super fan.

But it’s also been a deliberately told tale, establishing new heroes for a general audience, teasing future stories, and establishing the central conflict of the New Republic era. It feels like Ahsoka is part of a bigger story, perhaps to set up a grand cinematic finale for the Filoni-verse. Some of the plan seems to have come together a little haphazardly (why is this episode called “Dreams and Madness” when there’s very little dreamy or mad about it?); and some perfectly (Star Wars as high fantasy is a winner all the time, more witches please). We’ll see how all the threads of destiny come together, at last, next week!