Buckle up, kids, cause it's time for my string of thoughts about the Ahsoka show! And grab your popcorn, 'cause there are a lot of them. (Also, spoilers for any Star Wars movies/shows/what-have-you mentioned in this post.)
I wanted to like this show. I truly did, and I was initially hopeful. And there were lots of things I did like! But as the show wound on, the storytelling choices left me furrowing my brows and then huffing in high frustration. (And then ranting to @featherquilt1988, who has been very patient with my tirades. XD)
So here are my main critiques of the show:
It was a fundamental mistake to tie Ahsoka's story with the story of the Ghost crew. On paper, this sounds like it would work: the last chronological appearance of Ahsoka was with Kanan and Ezra, and she did spend a good deal of time with the Ghost crew in Season 2 of Star Wars: Rebels. But if you look at the episodes where Ahsoka appeared, they add up to less than half of the whole season. When she does show up, it tends to be for Jedi business--going with Kanan and Ezra to rescue children from the Inquisitors, going to the Jedi temple on Lothal for answers, going to Malachor on Yoda's instructions, that kind of thing. Overall, she seems to have stepped down from her primary role as Fulcrum once Phoenix squadron banded together--this shows that her path is different from the Ghost crew's. So in the Ahsoka show, fusing these characters together, particularly with the Jedi missing, does not actually mesh well, and it doesn't actually let any characters fulfill their story potential.
Ahsoka's attempt to entwine characters' internal growth with the external threat came across like two separate plots that occasionally intersected. On paper, again, this arrangement should have worked: Ahsoka is trying to stop the bad guys from finding Thrawn, and she had a falling out with Sabine years ago. Sabine has no family but Ezra anymore, and her only chance of finding him is to locate Thrawn. So she and Ahsoka have to work together again. But the way this played out on screen looked to me like a tug-of-war between topics. 2.5 episodes would be spent on character development (of a sort) and then pivot to "oh, yeah, there's a threat to deal with" and the plot focus switched to that. Rebels actually meshed character growth with exterior problems extremely well, but this show did not. I think a lot of it has to do with combining characters who don't have much reason to interact (see previous point) and also retconning much of what came before (see next point).
The show undid--or just ignored--the character development from Rebels. I'm thinking specifically of Sabine here--in Episode 3 of Ahsoka, she has a sparring/training session with Ahsoka that is pretty much a beat-for-beat repeat of her character arc in the Rebels S3 episode "Trials of the Darksaber." You're asking me to believe that Sabine forgot everything Kanan taught her at that pivotal moment of her life? Or at least it didn't ring any bells that she'd been through this kind of lesson before? The show ignoring Sabine's previous growth is particularly egregious because "Trials of the Darksaber" seems to be a fan-favorite episode, and it's extremely well done because of writing, pacing, buildup, music, animation, everything. To try to repeat that success with a different character in the mentor role (and since the previous mentor was a solid and popular character) is just...pointless.
On that note, I really do not agree with Sabine's character and choices in the Ahsoka show. The show did not provide enough information upfront on why she acted the way she did--why she felt abandoned and that Ezra was her only family. The truth is hinted at in bits and pieces, and eventually we learn that Sabine's blood family was wiped out by the Empire, and that eventually led to her falling out with Ahsoka. But this still doesn't explain why Sabine felt that Ezra was the only person left to her. Hello, Hera was still around right? And Chopper? And I didn't hear a peep about Zeb, which is really weird because he and Sabine were a dynamic duo and very close in Rebels. Maybe she felt abandoned because she was alone on Lothal, but the overall tone of the show seemed to indicate she felt alone in general, despite the surviving members of the Ghost crew. This leads right into...
Sabine's choice to hand over the map. Oh, my goodness, this one frustrates me to no end! Because Sabine (in this show) feels alone and abandoned, when the bad guys ask her to give up the map that will lead them to Thrawn, and possibly Ezra--she hands over the map. She at first seems torn over the choice but ultimately decides to risk Thrawn returning for a chance to find Ezra. But here's the thing--Sabine has personally met Thrawn. She knows how dangerous he is. He was a constant threat to Phoenix squadron. He is responsible for pushing the TIE defender program that ended up killing Kanan (her father figure). And Ezra's whole reason for being MIA in the first place? For exiling himself to parts unknown? It was to get Thrawn out of the picture and to free his homeworld. Would Sabine really risk undoing all of that just for a chance to see Ezra again? I don't think so. I could buy this choice if she clearly had an ace up her sleeve and was playing the bad guys' game to stop them--but this is not how the situation was written.
There was almost no mention of Kanan at all! He is name dropped once in Episode 5 or 6. Yay. And the reference is not satisfying to longtime fans but doesn't fully communicate who he is to newbies! I don't know if you could drop the ball any harder if you tried. And I'm not just saying that because Kanan is my favorite Star Wars character. He had a massive impact on the Ghost crew--he was their leader, father-figure, and friend whom they all loved dearly. His involvement in Sabine's and Ezra's lives was responsible for so much of their growth. He and Hera had the most solid romantic relationship ever depicted in Star Wars. But to include Kanan in the Ahsoka show--to spend time showing his relevance to the characters--would take up time that has nothing to do with the stakes of the plot. Nor does his impact really matter, since Sabine apparently forgot everything he taught her! To include Kanan in this show doesn't work. But to exclude him makes even less sense because of the choice to include characters from the Ghost crew. It's a no-win situation that could have been avoided by not forcing these particular sets of characters together.
So after all that, how does the show end? Things are mostly reset, back where they started. I'm not kidding. Ezra makes it home, but Sabine and Ahsoka are left stranded in parts unknown. Same situation, different characters. Oh, except Thrawn did make it back to the main galaxy, so Ahsoka's whole objective failed. And Ezra's sacrifice from Rebels? Exiling himself and Thrawn to parts unknown so that Lothal could have peace? Undone. Completely undone. This turnout of events is particularly frustrating when you consider that the self sacrifice point was hammered home in the final season of Rebels. And now Sabine makes a selfish decision just to see Ezra again? A choice that could have serious repercussions for the whole galaxy? What actually IS the point here, Filoni?!?!
Sigh. Again, there were things I liked. The music was gorgeous, mysterious and ethereal sounding. The costumes struck me as more Star Wars-like than a lot of recent stuff. The sets were great, and the actress for Sabine did a great job! She was believable as a live-action version of the character from Rebels (poor writing choices aside). A small detail I like is her having painted nails--Sabine loves color, and I headcanon that she would totally paint her nails if she had the opportunity!
And Ezra--oh, my goodness, Ezra was PERFECT!! I cannot praise that depiction enough! His actions, expressions, mannerisms...he was completely believable as an older version of of Ezra. I may even watch the second season of Ahsoka just to see that portayal again. This is a Big Deal. (I learned later that the actor did watch some key episodes and did a little research for how to portray the character. It paid off). 10/10, no notes.
Overall, though, this show was frustrating, not only because of the poor writing and characterization--but because Filoni has successfully done in Rebels what he tried to do in this show. The change is utterly baffling. I pray my own original writing never takes a downturn like this. And hey--I'm proven right again that whatever modern Star Wars tries to accomplish, Rebels did it first. And better.
