THE FORCE IS IN EVERYTHING. EVEN SPOILERS.
Sabine Wren is not Force-sensitive.
In “Time To Fly,” an otherwise dutifully Star Wars-y episode of Ahoska, there’s this little earthquake at the center. Sabine does not have a high midichlorian count, does not feel the Force intuitively, does not feel as if she has special powers that have always been there. Nonetheless, she is being trained in the ways of the Jedi by Ahoska herself.
I remember when the Rebels series was first announced and character designs were released, the very first one that made my eyebrow raise was Sabine. She screamed marketing department. She looked like a Star Wars heroine designed for maximum saleability, with Manic Panic hair and a oh-so-cool spray painted helmet that read more Trapper Keeper more than Rebel.
Much like Ahsoka’s journey from Snips to Sensei, I could never have predicted the importance of Sabine in the Star Wars mythos. This fact, that she is being trained despite her lack of affinity for the Force, is a rejection of the Special Person narrative that has been a hallmark of Star Wars, and a step towards a larger view of the Force.
The sequel trilogy flirted with this notion, suggesting that Rey was no one and that she was strong in the Force regardless, until it was revealed that she was very much someone. Even if they had never revealed her lineage, she was strong in the Force naturally, fated to play a role in the Galactic Space Opera. Sure, in The Rise of Skywalker they compensate for Rey’s specialness by showing the Force awakened in Finn and Jannah, but the film doesn’t truly counter the suggestion that bloodlines matter.
Ahsoka herself is a Special Person, having been discovered as an infant with innate ability. She may have rejected the way of the Jedi Order, but her path was being born into being a Jedi, and then being chosen to stand beside The Chosen One.
Star Wars has wrestled with the implication of some people’s special ability to the use Force at times, but has mostly embraced the idea of being born magically gifted. It hasn’t implied that the Force-sensitive are better than others, exactly, some of the most exciting and pivotal characters in Star Wars are not Jedi, and some of the most villainous characters can use the Force. Still, there’s something that’s a little painful about the notion of The Gifted, that some people are just born this way.
In the real world, we wrestle with the myths of meritocracy and inherency. Often what appears on the surface as Gifts are expressions of other factors. After all, it’s true that one’s parentage in (at least American) society is an all-too-consistent indicator of future success, it’s not because parents pass down their genes. It’s because they pass along their access to wealth, their connections. If Star Wars were the United States, a person would be more likely to become a Jedi if they already knew a Jedi. Being born Force-sensitive would be less likely to get you into the Jedi Temple than being born on Coruscant.
In the Star Wars Galaxy, it’s not quite so cynical. Ahsoka, while training Sabine, acknowledges that “talent is a factor” but stands behind the idea that training and dedication are more important. This is true in every galaxy: performance is a byproduct of access to teachers and coaching and mentorship, more than any natural ability. Sure, such a thing as nature exists, but to pretend all success is based on it is to deny a heavy dose of reality.
Ahsoka believes the Jedi Order failed. She doesn’t seem to believe it failed because of external factors so much as internal ones, it’s own blindness. (The New Republic Council sounds an awful lot like the Jedi Council in it’s refusal to act quickly in the face of a real threat.) Ahsoka sees systemic thinking as a dead end, so she refuses to apply it to Sabine. Why shouldn’t the Force, which is a part of all living things, be available to everyone?
This shouldn’t be quite so revolutionary, but friends, it is. In Star Wars, the journey of Sabine to Jedi Knight will be one based on something truly different than other stories we’ve seen. It’s an Unknown Region all its own.
In every other way, “Time To Fly” is an episode where most of the runtime is dedicated to quotes from other Star Wars films. Quite a lot of Part 3, from the ‘line up the turret targets’ space battle, to the 'cover your eyes so you can learn to see without seeing’ training sequence, are reminiscent of sequences we’ve seen before. It’s enjoyable the way ordering pizza is enjoyable: it’s exactly what I ordered and it’s got cheese on it and everything. No surprises, but I like it every time. If this show is about Sabine kind of being Ahsoka’s familiar, then it’s also about trafficking, so far, in the actually familiar.
But in this one key way, “Time To Fly” has something new to say. It makes Sabine a new kind of apprentice and reveals how Ahsoka’s unorthodox journey has led to unorthodox thinking. In the Star Wars “rules” up to this point, Sabine simply shouldn’t be an apprentice. She wasn’t born this way. She shouldn’t be moving objects with her mind, because it’s not something you can learn at her age. She is too old to begin the training.
Unless she isn’t.
Unless the Force is for everyone.
Unless there are other ways to be special.
That’s why this episode’s greatest battle isn’t the one in the stars. It isn’t between Hera and the New Republic, or between Shin Hati and our heroes. It isn’t even the contest of wills between Ahsoka Tano and her frustrated Padawan.
It’s between Sabine Wren… and the cup.
I was impressed by the little touches, like Shin's headset being similar to the one Anakin used on Coruscant and Sabine's being similar to the ones Han/Luke wore on the Falcon. That said, Sabine also looked like a '90s customer service rep. I kept waiting for her to say, "Thank you for calling J Crew! What would you like to order?"
Loved this, totally agree with your assessment. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that scene. I feel like one of the true strokes of genius in The Last Jedi was the idea that Jedi can come from anywhere. Also, Sabines telling the cup: “you win this time.” Chefs kiss!