‘Ahsoka’ Recap – ‘Part Five: Shadow Warrior’ – Nerds That Geek

‘Ahsoka’ Recap – ‘Part Five: Shadow Warrior’

9/13/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Ahsoka’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, 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.

One particular concept that is popping up often in storytelling these days, and understandably so, is the importance of facing one’s past. Simply because… so many television viewers are starting to realize the impact the past has upon the present, and how much of our past we let control our future. So, since storytelling is a wonderful place to help us work out our own issues and concerns, or at the very least… point us in the right direction… this concept is seemingly everywhere these days. Since so many characters are looking toward yesterday to understand what tomorrow looks like. But while it is incredible to finally see stories ponder upon such matters, not all of them are necessarily answering one important question that relates to this particular quest in our lives.

Specifically… why it is important that we reflect upon and face and resolve our past. Because if we don’t… we achieve a stagnancy in life, or a bitterness that controls our lives as well. So, if we truly want happiness, if we truly want to move forward… the past must be put in front of us and we must make peace with it, and thankfully… the next episode of Ahsoka on Disney+ puts that answer front and center, in a powerful manner. For ‘Part Five: Shadow Warrior’ spent a great deal of time in the World Between Worlds to explore Lady Ahsoka Tano’s past, to help us understand better… some of the bitterness she’s carried since her days as Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, and well… that offered up new perspective, and delightful moments for the fans of this franchise.

Because we more or less came to understand that moments that were big in her mind, such as her first mission alongside Anakin in the Clone Wars, or the Siege of Mandalore for that matter… were no longer big. They were now filled with regret and lament, of a youth lost and a life dedicated to death and destruction, and she pondered deeply, during her time with Anakin in this strange place… as to whether she was no better than him. After all, he led her into battle and tried to help her understand the loss of life before eventually being a force for death and destruction in the galaxy as Darth Vader, and she wondered if being his apprentice… made her nothing more than a product of evil. Someone that had to skirt the line rather than do actual good in this life, and well, revisiting the past, and learning that Anakin made his own decision to step into the dark and abandon the light… helped her greatly. For such searching informed her, that she could in fact, find her own path and be the light she wanted to see in the galaxy, and that released her from the World Between Worlds and brought her back to the galaxy, and her friends. Well… most of them.

For Sabine was of course gone, and Hera would soon be out of the picture, courtesy of charges for insubordination for taking a fleet to help when it had nothing to show for it. After all, the map was gone, so was Morgan and her little troupe of Dark Jedi, with Sabine in tow no less. So, there was no evidence to support the threat that Grand Admiral Thrawn was on his way back to the galaxy, nor was there any hope of finding Sabine. But that is where confronting one’s past and resolving it to forge new paths came into play in a positive way. Because Ahsoka was refreshed and refocused and realized… that she needed to live in the moment and try something bold and new to find her apprentice and prevent evil’s return. Which meant her best hope to find Sabine, and potentially Ezra, and to stop the return of Thrawn… was to use the Force to speak with the Purrgil. To see if she and Huyang could tag along on a jump to the galaxy, far, far away where everyone may have gone.

A plan… that paid off in spades and just like that… she is off into the great unknown and places we’ve never seen in the Star Wars Universe. But what matters more, is that this was one phenomenal episode. One that brought some classic moments to life via the Clone Wars and Siege of Mandalore, and it of course, gave us more Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and that’s a real treat these days. Since the prequel iteration of the character is finally getting the respect, he is due, and these moves are letting Hayden do so much more with the character. But all nostalgia and wonder regarding this leg of the journey aside, make no mistake about it… we are now barreling toward another big moment in the SWU. One that will finally bring forth the first live-action appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and it will be fascinating to see what the Heir to the Empire has become… after being exiled from war and suffering for decades on end. Until next time.

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