‘Ahsoka’: ‘Part One: Master and Apprentice’ - Recap
Photo from LucasFilm
From Tarek
The premiere episode of Ahsoka opens with the crawl setting the stage. It states that the Empire has fallen and the New Republic has risen to take its place. There’s a plan in place to find Grand Admiral Thrawn, he was presumed dead but rumors of his return are swirling. Former Jedi Ahsoka has captured one of Thrawn’s allies and learned of a map that is important to her enemy’s plan. Morgan Elsbeth, Ashoka’s prisoner, is being transported to the New Republic for trial.
We see a ship known to be holding the prisoner captive which has C-3PO on board, another ship approaches and they want to see the prisoner aboard. Captain Hayle calls their bluff and lets the “Jedis” board. Descending from the ship are Baylan (Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin (Ivanna Sakhno). Hayle says “You’re no Jedi, you should’ve surrendered when you had the chance” and tells his guards to take them in. Baylan and Shin make quick work of Hayle and the guards, Baylan kills Hayle quickly as they board the ship. He then frees the prisoner, Morgan Elsbeth. We learn Baylan is also after Thrawn.
Ahsoka is walking through a ruinous temple and cuts a hole in the ground to see what’s beneath. She turns a lock of some kind to reveal a map that she was searching for. She emerges from the ground and four droids are waiting for her. They also want the map and begin to corner Ahsoka. She makes quick work of them and they self-destruct. Ahsoka boards her ship and she’s briefed by Hera on Baylan and Shin’s attack. It’s revealed that the map Ahsoka took from the ruins has Thrawn’s location. Morgan told Ahsoka its location.
There’s a ceremony taking place to honor Ezra and the other rebels for their bravery. Sabine is meant to speak but she’s nowhere to be found. Sabine’s riding her bike. A couple of officials find her and attempt to bring her back for the ceremony but she speeds off and they stop their chase. Sabine makes it home and she listens to an old message from Ezra about why he had to leave and how much Sabine means to him.
Shin, Baylan, and Morgan visit the ruins where Ahsoka found the map. To find Ashoka they believe finding Sabine will be their best bet so now the hunt is on. Sabine is asleep and has a dream about Ezra and is woken by ships flying overhead. Ahsoka meets with her to tell her she can help her find Ezra because she has the map to Thrawn. Ahsoka and Sabine catch up and she asks to keep the map and Sabine takes it. Ahsoka learns that Baylan and Shin are master and apprentice through the scans of their lightsabers.
Hera tells Ahsoka that Sabine gives her the best chance of reading that map. Hera says mentoring someone is hard and I’m sure you weren’t the best mentee. Ahsoka says she walked away from Anakin and the Jedi as she walked away from Sabine.
Sabine is trying to make something of the map as she finally gets it to open, droids attack her. They take the map and destroy all her hard work. Shin reveals herself and duels it with Sabine as Ahsoka flies there. When she lands, Shin stabs Sabine and she collapses to end the episode.
This was a pretty solid premiere. It set the scene for what’s to come, what everyone’s after, and built some intrigue with Sabine “dying” at the end of the episode. The lightsaber duels were fun and the performances were top-notch. Ray Stevenson as Baylan was menacing and will be an amazing villain for the series.
New episodes of Ahsoka debut on Disney+ every Tuesday night.
