Star Wars: Ahsoka Part 5: 'Shadow Warrior'

© Lucasfilm

‘Ahsoka’ delivers a highly effective ode to the main character’s roots and the lamented prequels.
by Jeremy Fogelman

The most recent episode of Ahsoka is called “Shadow Warrior” and that layered meaning is clearly intentionally ambiguous -- Ahsoka is fighting in shadows literal and figurative, but also fighting about being a warrior, while her master Anakin can certainly be considered fighting in the shadows also in multiple ways.

The big heft of the episode is also its most effective, which is the mysterious “is it real?” vision that Ahsoka is experiencing with Anakin. Perhaps it’s not physically real, but it’s real in the Force as Hera’s son Jacen finally gets more to do than be a little annoying and a cameo to the Rebels show. His latent Jedi powers give us one of the few old school John Williams needle drops, as he seems to help his mother “hear” the lightsabers clashing somewhere beyond the waves.

In the vision (or whatever it might be), Hayden Christianson gets to show some actual range with more complicated depth, far better than the minimal stuff from the Obi-Wan Kenobi show which used him basically as a long tease. Here, despite the little CGI-ish stuff on his face, he really looks pretty great, and whenever he (as opposed to a stunt double) is handling the choreography, he does a great job.

The show so far has been excellent at these lightsaber battles, although the Baylan vs Ahsoka one is still the highlight thus far -- I am generally familiar with the relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka but I haven’t watched The Clone Wars so it’s really more about how the episode might work on me. Which means ultimately it didn’t really affect me emotionally, but it did work intellectually.

After a quick fun fight, Anakin sends them back in time to when she was just a teenager, now played by Ariana Greenblatt (who was also the young Gamora in Infinity War and was the teen girl in Barbie) -- and the kid can act, that’s for sure. With all we know about Anakin, it’s easy to see how this trial affected her -- and the episode gives us some tremendous visuals, including seeing Anakin’s form swapping with that of Darth Vader and his voice subtly getting robotic undertones.

The overall message of “fight and live or give up and die” seems to be the point -- there’s an aspect about Ahsoka getting stuck in the past and her fears of becoming like the worst of her master, instead of the best. Thus we see her temptation, her flash of red eyes, until she acknowledges out loud that indeed -- she wants to live. She wants to fight -- a warrior, but not simply a soldier, a direct contrast to the way Baylan called her the heir to a path of death and destruction.

© Lucasfilm

No wonder Anakin smiles at the end and says there’s hope for her yet. After that Ahsoka is noticeably lighter in spirit and demeanor, smiling easily and practically joking, wearing a robe of white and with the notion that “going somewhere” is better than going nowhere. The final shots of the giant space whales was pretty cool, something I don't believe we’ve seen before, especially in live action -- living beings that can travel faster than light.

It’s interesting how the episode worked pretty well on the vibes, even if the more you know the more you will clearly enjoy the old flashback references. As someone who has more than no knowledge and having seen no episode of those shows, I’m an odd case, but it’s a sort of middle ground where I liked this episode a lot but didn’t love it. Still, I think this show (with a few iffy moments here and there) has been pretty good so far. Hopefully it can keep up this momentum.

Note: We support the current WGA/SAG strike and emphasize the importance of writers and actors and ensuring they and fellow creatives are compensated and treated fairly for their work. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn't exist.