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Extra Thoughts on Ahsoka Part 7 "Dreams and Madness"

Friends, I have a little more to say about Ahsoka’s Part the Seventh, “Dreams and Madness” now that I’ve rewatched it a few times. This isn’t usually what I do here, I’m usually one-and-done (there’s plenty to read elsewhere like Jen Sopchockchai Bankard’s

The Long Take

or Eric Pierce’s

All the Fanfare

or Jesse Bartel’s

Damage Per Second

) but hey, it’s my newsletter! I make the rules! I’ll say more!

One of the most delightful details in “Dreams and Madness” was in the midst of Ezra Bridger’s hair-singeing confrontation with Shin Hati. As she attacks, he holds back a slash of her lightsaber with the Force, in a manner reminiscent of Rey and Kylo Ren’s confrontation on the bones of the second Death Star.

I love the battle between Rey and Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker. It’s cinematic, it’s thematic, and it’s fierce. It underscores that Rey’s desire to defeat Kylo Ren with rage won’t get her the same results she had during their first confrontation in The Force Awakens. It’s love and compassion the defeats Kylo Ren. Not anger. That rings true for Star Wars.

But the way the two of them match each other’s style, holding their sabers back with the Force, is beautiful and novel. We have more lightsaber battles per square inch of Star Wars than ever before, so whenever I see something new, I put it in my mental notebook and dot all the ‘i’s with hearts.

Ezra using this technique on Shin, even briefly, was yet another almost imperceptible nod to the slow transition from the victorious ending of the Original Trilogy to harrowing world of the Sequels.