So where were we?
Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Huyang JediBot (David Tennant) have tracked bad guys Baylen Skoll (Ray Stevenson), Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and Marrok to Seatos, a planet that holds the secret to Google Mapping the way to Thrawn.
After a fearsome space battle, our heroes are sequestered in a forest in the hopes of repairing their ship and stopping the Imperial remnants before they can find the heir to the empire.
But can they retrieve the star map before the algorithm is complete, or will Baylen and friends manage to stop or kill them?
This episode reminds me of a wrestling show, so I will treat it as such.
Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang survey the damage caused by their grueling space battle with the Eye of Scion. It’s not looking good. They try to contact Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) using Ahsoka’s Fulcrum callsign, a call-back to Star Wars Rebels, but are unsuccessful.
Ahsoka disembarks the ship, staring beyond the tree line. She senses something is out there watching. Joined by Sabine, the former Jedi discusses the potentially monumental decision they face. If we can’t have it, nobody can have the star map. Thrawn must not return, or else what did Ezra sacrifice himself for?
Huyang is left to repair the ship as Sabine and Ahsoka gear up for a raid on the baddy camp.
Meanwhile, at Seatos Ground Base, Marrok and Shin report that the hunting party have found the Jedi. Green light. Go go goooooo!
Can Ahsoka trust Sabine? Sabine affirms that she can…Once more with feeling Ms. Wren. You were just frantic when you couldn’t find the hologram of Ezra you had brought with you! It’s the second time this episode that Ahsoka has questioned their relationship. A heel-turn tease!
Huyang restores a ship’s function as an imperial droid ambushes him. It’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, but Huyang is clearly outmatched. The only thing he can do is undo his work to signal the others.
Sabine and Ahsoka rush out, easily dispatching the cannon fodder. Finally, using her Mandalorian armor, Sabine looks competent! Not a rookie! She and Ahsoka compliment each other well as they finish off the first wave in style.
Ahsoka and Sabine move out, heading for the Seatos ground base. Huyang remains with the ship, attempting to make repairs and contact Home One.
Baylen dispatches Shin and Marrok to intercept them.
General Hera Syndulla strides confidently through Home One’s hangar bay. She is determined to support her friends, authorisation be damned! Hera, Chopper and Jacen board the Ghost (OMG OMG OMG IT’S THE GHOST. I LOVE THE GHOST) and head out despite the whines of a low-level engineer.
And they’re not alone. Several other fighters join the crew, including Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), a prominent New Republic officer in other live-action Star Wars properties. On Hera’s mark, they enter hyperspace.
Once a rebel, always a rebel.
Baylen may have lost faith in the operation. As a keen mathematician, he knows one miscalculation could lead to being stranded in a void between galaxies. Yeah! Scary shit! Morgan poo-poos his concerns, basically clucking in his face.
Morgan places the star map in the center of the witchy circle, and the pretty lights return. This time, though, the equivalent of a ticking clock starts up to indicate the journey calculator has begun. Progress bar: 10% complete. Ish.
It’s 2 vs. 2, Ahsoka and Sabine versus Shin and Marrok. Sabine beelines for Shin, leaving Marrok for Ahsoka. I have no idea why Sabine thinks she can beat the young evil apprentice after being skewered in their last encounter, but here we go. Shin leads the padawan on a merry dance, isolating her. Tactical prowess is off the charts.
Shin and Sabine duel. The young Mandalorian fares a little better than last time but she’s clearly the underdog. Shin force-pushes her against a tree and her helmet falls off.
Ahsoka, on the other hand, carefully scopes out Marrok. They duel a little before Marrok brings out the old lightsaber spinaroonie. Child’s play for Ahsoka, cutting him across the chest. Dead. Or was he ever alive? A green mist farts out of Marrok’s body, harking back to Clone Wars Dathomir episodes. It’s possible he was a reanimated corpse all along!
It’s 2 vs. 1 now! Shin is toast!
Not. Sabine stupidly tells Ahsoka she’s fine and to retrieve the star map. I know we’re not in a horror movie, but STICK TOGETHER! They could have killed Shin and stopped Baylen easily if they had COLLABORATED! It’s like they learned nothing from last week’s episode.
Mogan retreats to the Eye of Scion to make preparations, instructing Baylen to guard the map.
Ahsoka’s entrance music hits! She enters the ring (of the shrine for the star map) and confronts Baylen. Baylen metaphorically low blows Ahsoka, invoking the memory of Anakin (Hayden Christensen). This version of Ahsoka is usually so calm, but this stung, especially when he says that she abandoned her master in his time of need. You know, before the younglings were slain.
When asked why he is helping Morgan, Baylen replies that it’s necessary to destroy in order to create.
Enough talking; it’s time for a fighting stance-off. Come on, Ahsoka! There’s a ticking clock here! Get on with it!
The other match-up is continuing. Sabine is predictably losing and is pushed to the floor, but manages to pull off the flimsiest force-slap to the face to Shin I’ve ever seen. Shin laughs and goads Sabine, but it’s to her detriment. Sabine blasts Shin’s lightsaber from her hands while she is distracted. Shin poops herself, throws a smoke bomb and retreats to ground base.
Master vs. Master continues, and Baylen is keeping up the trash talk. “Your legacy is death and destruction.” Yadda, yadda, yadda. Ahsoka finally steals a march on Baylen and grabs the map, which, infused with magic, sears her hand. OUCHIE!
When Shin makes it back to base, Ahsoka is overcome with grief, thinking Sabine is dead, and throws the young Sith like a ragdoll. This is the opening Baylen needs to gain the upper hand, pushing Ahsoka back to the cliff’s edge.
As Ahsoka spots Sabine arriving safely, Baylen takes a swing, forcing Ahsoka over the edge. Calm down. The show is called Ahsoka, and there are four episodes left; she’s not dead. And she forced a timeout!
Sabine picks up the star map from the ground and points her blaster towards it. DO IT SABINE! IT HAS TO BE DESTROYED! We all know what’s coming. The heel-turn teased earlier in the show comes to pass. It only took the mention of Ezra’s name and an insinuation about Ahsoka’s part in the destruction of Mandalore to win her over. Sabine hands over the map after assurances she won’t be harmed, giving the win to Baylen. You suck, Sabine!
Shin starts the post-match beatdown, force-choking Sabine, but Baylen stops her. He’s an honorable force-wielding bad dude, after all.
The calculations are complete. Baylen destroys the map with a stab of his lightsaber, ensuring nobody can follow them.
Huyang fixes the ship in time to contact Hera as she exits hyperspace near Seatos. The Ghost and the rest of the fighters approach the Eye of Scion, now containing Morgan, Baylen, Shin and an imprisoned Sabine. Morgan instructs the pilot to ignore the incoming fighters and jump to the calculated coordinates.
The jump destroys three of the squadron and damages The Ghost and two of the others. Carson is ok. Phew! There was only one winner in that fight.
Jacen has a bad feeling about this, and Huyang can’t reach anybody on comms. It’s all gone to hell.
Speaking of Ahsoka. The former Jedi awakens in a strange but familiar place. She’s in the World Between Worlds. Behind her, she hears someone say, “Hey Snips”. Trepidatiously, she turns, finding Anakin looking at her. Things just got bat-shit-crazy in here.
This episode had action, betrayal, and WTF moments. It was a welcome break from some of the more methodical opening episodes with a ton of tense moments and cool clashes. We had Marrok’s reveal which was cool, although maybe disappointing to a bunch of fans, *cough* The Ahsoka Chronicles *cough cough*. I thought the possibility of Nightsister zombies was awesome!
But I also thought the fights may have been too much. There’s a reason I could structure this recap like a rundown for Monday Night Raw. Hell, it had more matches on it than a lot of recent Smackdown episodes. I just hope the show hasn’t given us all of that action to make up for the lack of conflict in the next few episodes.
Anakin Skywalker, though? I’m 100% IN on next week’s ep. I can’t wait for all of the bonkers crap we will see in the World Between Worlds.
So, how would you rate Duel-o-Mania? And do you worry about the next episode?
If you want more Ahsoka coverage, be sure to check out Watching Now: The Ahsoka Chronicles podcast! Stef, Lily, Brandy and Tom will be nerding out weekly to analyze and react to each new episode! The podcast is available every Thursday to watch on YouTube and listen to on all of the podcast services, but you can also see it A DAY EARLY on CouchSoup.com if you’re a member. JOIN US!
