Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Episodes 1-7 of Ahsoka.
The Big Picture
- Ahsoka suffers from inconsistent pacing, with episodes varying in runtime and scene-to-scene pacing, leaving little hope for resolving plot threads and character arcs.
- The series would have benefited from a longer season and shorter, contained episodes, similar to the structure of the animated series it draws its lore from.
- Ahsoka lacks focus and fails to explore emotional intricacies and meaningful moments due to rushed pacing, resulting in missed opportunities for character development.
In the penultimate episode of Ahsoka, "Dreams and Nightmares," Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) challenges Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) to their second duel. Wryly, flipping her lightsabers into her hands like an exhausted Reddit moderator deleting another troll-ish comment, she says, "I don't have time for this." At this point, that's an easy sentiment to echo about Ahsoka as a whole — literally. Episode runtimes have varied wildly while the scene-to-scene pacing of said episodes experienced similar inconsistency. It barely feels like Ahsoka's gotten off the ground before its finale, which inspires little hope that series creator and sole writer Dave Filoni will resolve plot threads and character arcs before his upcoming theatrical blockbuster. The problems of using an eight-episode series as set up for a feature film aside, the wiser course for Ahsoka would've been to structurally mimic the animated series from which it draws its lore. That means a longer season (a concept Disney+ seems adverse to) and shorter, contained episodes. Longer episodes wouldn't solve the core matter at play here; feature film runtimes risk bloating the material and testing audiences' patience. Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels' seasons spanned anywhere from 14 to 22 episodes. That kind of scaffolding allows for breathing room, something Ahsoka has both needed and fumbled.
‘Ahsoka’s Inconsistent Pacing Weakens Its Story
Much like its titular character, Ahsoka lacks focus. Dave Filoni's scripts dawdle on extraneous subjects then dash between plot points with haphazard speed. Occasions that need time and substance, like characters' emotional intricacies, aren't afforded that luxury. That's not to say writing shouldn't allow for creative flexibility; sometimes eight episodes is the magic formula. Ahsoka, however, devoted its premiere to solving puzzles and meandering dialogue. Conversations between characters about urgent matters lacked urgency. Lengthy dialogue should be pensive or craft tension. In that regard, Ahsoka's no Quentin Tarantino. Episodes 2 and 6 averaged the 40-minute mark while Episodes 3 and 4 were crunched down to 30 minutes. That middle batch suffers as a result — a perilous decision since pivotal moments where story and character converge, like Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) surrendering to Baylan Skoll, happen lightning-fast.
The season's back half feels the most hampered. It's phenomenal and necessary to witness the meaningful moments that informed Ahsoka Tano. Yet her encounters with Anakin Skywalker in Episode 5, while wonderfully played by Rosario Dawson and Hayden Christensen, fly past too quickly to explore the true connection, conflict, and trauma between Ahsoka and her beloved Master. Indeed, Episode 5 conveys Ahsoka's spiritual apotheosis through formulaic lightsaber fights. Once the Togruta exits the World Between Worlds, the second half of "Shadow Warrior" rings like an entirely different story. The moods clash, the goals dispute one another. Such a crucial episode and its aftermath deserved a forgiving pace. Momentum isn't the sole determinate of quality, but the rising action and its downbeat formula exist for a reason.
Episode 6 resolves Sabine's quest as easily as a weekend stroll but interjects revealing, and too-long delayed, conversations between Baylan and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Other revelatory moments, like Sabine and Ezra Bridger's (Eman Esfandi) reunion, happen offscreen. Episode 7 is perhaps the worst offender: a slap-dash mishmash including an extended cold open regurgitating established New Republic dynamics, space battles, Thrawn's machinations, Sabine and Ezra lounging, and scattered set pieces set against gray color palettes. With minor but essential changes, such compromises wouldn't have been necessary.
How Did ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Longer Seasons Make It a Better Series?
By default, animated series stretch across 22 episodes and run 20-25 minutes. That structure allows a writers room to foreshadow and calculate story beats for maximum impact. Because Star Wars Rebels was more narratively driven than its episodic cousin The Clone Wars, and because it facilitates Ahsoka's very existence, it makes for a better comparison. Rebels was allowed the freedom to pursue episodes of the week, advance plot points at a measured clip, and balance differing atmospheres, ideas, and intentions. The set structure requires efficiency. As such, Rebels explored the Force with complex new mythology expanding the Original Trilogy's foundational concepts (and breathing revitalizing life into those training sequences). Achieving balance means achieving understanding, which demands hard work and confronting difficult truths. Balance also requires empathy, evidenced by Ezra Bridger's connection to Lothal's Force-sensitive creatures. New conceits were abundant and cleanly accomplished: the purrgils, the Jedi and Sith Temples, the Inquisitors, and the World Between Worlds.
When characters paused to converse, every word landed like a meteor. Ezra (voiced by Taylor Gray) and his Master Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) evolved from miscommunicating lost souls mired in self-doubt into empathetic maturity. Kanan and Hera's (Vanessa Marshall) conflicting perspectives on joining the Rebellion were soulful meditations: Hera was raised a freedom fighter, Kanan embraced obscurity to survive. Hera and Sabine (Tiya Sircar) clashed about trust, an emotion Sabine's past fractured. Ezra had lost hope and his family in tandem, so Hera encouraged his idealism and embraced him like a mother. Sabine reunited with her estranged family. Season 2 paused the action just to strand Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum) on an ice moon with his Imperial agent enemy Alexsandr Kallus (David Oyelowo), an event demonstrating Kallus's lonely vulnerability as well as Zeb's mercy. Filler episodes aside, every moment that lingered did so to the story's benefit.
‘Ahsoka’ Has Tried To Do Too Much With Too Little
If Ahsoka had dared a longer season, that time could've paid off in manifold ways. The cast's interconnected relationships might boast refined resonance and a longevity of impact. Narrative depends on "show don't tell," but show why Ahsoka took Sabine on as her apprentice and what turmoil prompted Sabine to make that choice. Show how their initially mismatched partnership resulted in the death of Sabine's entire family. Show Ahsoka grappling with her confrontation with Vader and confirm that moment shattered her into someone depressive, withdrawn, and lost — things contrary to her nature. Show how her wayward journey parallels Baylan Skoll's.
Tell me anything about Shin. Show the magnitude of Sabine, a woman made of regret, succeeding at her seemingly impossible mission after she lived a life stuck in the repetitive mire of Ezra's ghostly memory. Show how Ezra feels after spending so long alone in a purrgil graveyard avoiding his enemies. Heck, why not show how Thrawn gathered his army. Earn Thrawn and Ezra's return by requiring some gnarly effort from our protagonists.
Admittedly, modern media exists in a vacuum dominated by short attention spans and studios run on capitalism first, satisfying stories second. Ahsoka's eight-episode limit might not have been Dave Filoni's choice. Speculation aside, all this series needed were a few crucial adjustments. Ahsoka lacks the clarity of vision its characters and fans deserve. It needed balance — just like the Force.
ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51krqm%2FzqSYZp2gnsCwsMRmqa6mpJ66pr%2BO