Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 7 of Ahsoka.
With Episode 7, titled ”Dreams and Madness,” Ahsoka has officially arrived at its penultimate point, though the story feels far from ready to finish next week. After an episode-long absence, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) returns to the main plot, alongside her trusty companion Huyang (David Tennant) as they ride the Purrgil Express into a brand-new galaxy of chaos. As they venture forth into the unknown, Ahsoka takes time to train with her old master Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) who kindly left her twenty training holograms before his untimely descent to the Dark Side. It seems that Ahsoka, despite her rebirth, is still hung up on the past.
The episode opens in a more familiar galaxy, however, with Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) facing the consequences of her actions by way of a panel of skeptical and downright condescending senators, who view her reports on Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) and Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) as nothing more than a fairytale. At the eleventh hour, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) arrives with an urgent message from Senator Leia Organa, who allegedly sanctioned Hera’s mission. While Hera manages to evade being court-martialed for her actions, Chancellor Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) immediately senses that Senator Organa didn’t know about the mission until they needed her assistance getting Hera out of trouble. Out of all the senators, Mon Mothma is the only one to view Thrawn as a serious threat—one that warrants serious concern. While the inclusion of Senator Organa feels a bit like a ploy to tug at still-tender heartstrings, it was a relief that Dave Filoni opted to only mention her, rather than recreating her via CGI to add another ghoulish uncanny valley Skywalker to the club.
When the Purrgils finally make the jump to the galaxy far, far away, Ahsoka and Huyang find themselves deposited right in the middle of a massive Imperial minefield, which has been set up to stop her arrival. While Ahsoka is no SkyGuy, she expertly navigates their ship through a sequence of exploding mines that looks like something out of an impossible-to-defeat level in the early-aughts video game Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter. With Ahsoka’s arrival proving that she evaded death, Morgan presents Thrawn with her discoveries about the Jedi as he requested in last week’s episode. Thrawn seems pleasantly surprised by the fact that Anakin Skywalker was her Master, a Jedi who he once forged an unlikely alliance with in Star Wars: The Clone Wars — and, of course, he is one of the few people who knows that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader. So it is rather amusing that he didn’t already know this crucial piece of information, though newcomers to Ahsoka were probably equally confused by the fact that Anakin even had a Padawan.
Thrawn, the master tactician that he is, realizes that Ahsoka’s main focus will be locating Sabine, and he conveniently knows exactly where she is. Baylan (Ray Stevenson) instructs Shin (Ivanna Sakhno) to kill Ezra and Sabine, as her path is one of ambition while his is apparently not. He indicates that he intends to part ways with her, but leaves her with sage wisdom about how impatience for a victory will always lead to defeat. This piece of advice might have been beneficial for the scriptwriting process, as Ahsoka has chased after victory rather impatiently.
‘Ahsoka’ Episode 7 Really Loves Lightsaber Battles
In between Episode 6 and Episode 7, Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) has filled Ezra (Eman Esfandi) in on everything that has happened since he’s been missing, from the fall of the Empire to Emperor Palpatine’s death to Hera and Zeb’s promotion, but she hasn’t told him how she found him on Peridea. As she travels with Ezra and the Noti, Ahsoka reaches out to her through the Force — and Sabine is understandably surprised to hear her former would-be Master calling out to her, when she’s assumed Ahsoka is dead.
In a decidedly Star Wars Rebels-styled chase sequence, the scavengers descend upon Sabine, Ezra, and the Noti, and they’re forced to fight with whatever tools they have at their disposal. The Noti are peaceful creatures, which means they’re mostly fending off the blaster-wielding scavengers with rocks and debris. Director Geeta Vasant Patel (House of the Dragon) crafts a very fun scene visually, one that feels a little more upbeat than previous episodes. Luckily, Sabine and Ezra don’t have to face Shin alone once she arrives on the scene — Ahsoka also drops in to offer assistance, but it’s Baylan that she squares off against first. Once more, Ahsoka utilizes lightsaber battles in lieu of more meaningful scenes. Cloaked in white-gray robes with her white lightsabers, Ahsoka’s actions are largely lost to the murky, light-gray skies above them. Neither Ahsoka nor Baylan seem too invested in the fight, with Ahsoka opting to create a distraction to escape from the duel so she can get to Sabine and Ezra before it’s too late.
Ahsoka Arrives Just in Time in Episode 7 — Or Does She?
It is nearly too late by the time Ahsoka arrives. Surrounded by Night Troopers and entirely out of their depth, Ezra suggests that they talk as a means to distract Shin long enough for Ahsoka to sweep in to save the day. The ensuing fight commences with a dazzling whirl of lightsabers clashing, blasters firing, and Ezra using the Force to knock enemies around. Eventually, Shin realizes that things aren’t going as planned, especially when Thrawn recalls his troops and leaves her to pick up the pieces of her failed victory. Before she sprints off, Ahsoka offers to help her — to give her an option other than the path she is on, but Shin doesn’t take it. Perhaps it is a hint of the future for the character, though the outlook is fairly bleak for Force users, good and bad, at this point in the timeline. While Morgan Elsbeth views their defeat as a loss, Thrawn sees it as a success. They may have lost Night Troopers, and Ahsoka might have reunited with Sabine and Ezra, but Ahsoka also lost time. In the time it took for the skirmish to occur, Thrawn managed to nearly complete his cargo transfer for his escape off Peridea.
“Dreams and Madness” closes on a surprisingly heartwarming and very Clone Wars/Rebels-style moment, with Ezra marveling at the realization that he finally gets to go home. It’s a slightly more fitting reunion than last week’s stilted moment with Sabine and Ezra, but that joy is undercut by the knowledge that Thrawn’s threat looms over the future in a very real way. Though, does it? Ahsoka’s Season 1 finale has a lot of ground to cover to set up wherever this story is headed — especially if it intends to make Thrawn seem like a genuine threat and not just another Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) vying for power in an unstable period for the galaxy.
The first seven episodes of Ahsoka are streaming now on Disney+.
