Long have Star Wars Rebels fans waited for the sixth episode of Ahsoka to make its Disney+ premiere after years of needing answers.

I’ll have a lot more to say about this episode under the photo. But for right now, I can say it is everything that Rebels fans could have wanted. Well, almost everything. Some faces are not in the episode but that’s only because they didn’t serve the story. If you have not watched the episode yet, please do not read any further. Consider this a spoiler warning right now. Please forgive me for stalling a bit so as to make sure that no spoilers make their way onto the home page. There’s no read more–at least not yet, anyway.

It’s all been building up to this episode. While Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Huyang (David Tennant) were not as much of the focus, they still made their screen time count.  Huyang previously told stories about the purrgil to younglings during the Jedi Temple days: History of the Galaxy Parts  1, 2, and 3. Ahsoka responds: “One being the best, of course.” Huyang has the stories in their archives and offers to tell her one. She declines but eventually asks to tell her one. The droid says the thing! “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” You had to know that it was going to happen at some point. I mean, they’re going to another galaxy by way of purrgil so of course, Dave Filoni made sure it happened. I half expected the Star Wars theme.

Anyway, both Ahsoka and Huyang more or less took a back seat to Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Of course, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) was being held as a prisoner when they left to find Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). First created by Timothy Zahn in 1991’s Heir to the Empire, he’s become a fan favorite villain over the past thirty years. Their journey isn’t much longer before they exit hyperspace and find The Great Mothers–Aktropaw, Klothow, and Lakesis–and soon, Thrawn, on Peridea. Interestingly, the ancient Dathomiri homeworld appears to be a cemetery of sorts for the purrgil.

Baylon took Sabine captive with the promise that she would be able to see Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) again. He lived up to his end of the bargain despite the Nightsisters finding her a threat. Thrawn has his own agenda: letting Baylon and Shin kill Sabine and Ezra, if Ezra is still alive on the planet. It’s no surprise that Thrawn is up to his same old ways. We’re talking about one of the great tacticians in all of the Star Wars universe. He wasn’t created by novelist Timothy Zahn until after the original trilogy so Filoni moved him into exile at the end of Star Wars Rebels. He’s been living in exile for a decent amount of time. Meanwhile, Baylan wants to start anew.

Lars Mikkelsen reprises his Star Wars Rebels role as Thrawn in live-action. It’s picture perfect casting even as people were hoping for Benedict Cumberbatch. I don’t doubt that Cumberbatch would have been amazing as the Chiss alien but Mikkelsen has a history with the role. It allows for some continuity because you already know something is sinister or menacing when you hear his voice on screen. The day that they announced his casting in the series was an amazing day for Star Wars fans. Ahsoka surely will not be the end of him. Plus, only so many actors will have the patience to wear blue makeup for who knows how many days of work. I do wish that it didn’t take us six episodes. Thrawn and Ezra should have returned much sooner.

Ezra is a Jedi so he is certainly capable of figuring out a way to stay alive. Lo and behold, Sabine finds the Rebellion logo on one of Little Noti that she meets while looking. Eventually, the two are reunited–it took long enough! Of course, it might not be for long since Baylon and Shin are on their tails. We’ll have to see what happens next week but Ahsoka is really kicking things into full gear. Not only is Thrawn back but Ezra is, too. It’s only a matter of time before we get a full-fledged Star Wars Rebels reunion. That is, if Zeb (Sreve Blum) can get free of his New Republic duties to meet up with the former Ghost crew.

Only two episodes remain in Ahsoka. Dave Filoni will be tying up loose ends in a post-ROTJ film so I would not expect any finality during the finale.

Some notes:

• Captain Enoch (Wes Chatham) is Thrawn’s right-hand man but made no previous appearances on Star Wars Rebels.
• Thrawn’s trooper batallion are known as Night Troopers because of the Nightsisters. The red on their armor is new compared to how they looked on Lothal.
• Howlers make their first live-action appearance after previously appearing in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
• Episode director Jennifer Getzinger previously directed “The Suitcase” episode of Mad Men, amongst other series and a film. The season four episode remains one of the best hours in all of television.

CREATOR/HEAD WRITER: Dave Filoni
DIRECTOR: Jennifer Getzinger
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, Carrie Beck
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Karen Gilchrist
CAST: Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ray Stevenson, Ivanna Sakhno, Diana Lee Inosanto, David Tennant, Lars Mikkelsen, Eman Esfandi
GUEST STARRING: Jeryl Prescott Gallien, Claudia Black, Jane Edwina Seymour, Wes Chatham

Disney+ premieres new episodes of Ahsoka on Tuesday nights at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. Episode 6 – Grade: 4/5

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