Ahsoka S1E5 - Discussion Thread

I’m taking it upon myself to post these discussion threads now.
That was a hype episode. Though I must admit I am mildly disappointed we didn’t get a tease of Sabine and crew and what they were up to.
Live action siege of Mandalore (no matter how smoky and low budget) was a fucking treat to see. Really fantastic seeing Hayden don the clown wars era attire.
- Surely it's not the last we see of Hayden this series, right?
  
  I really want to see a lucid conversation between ghost Anakin and someone else about his fall and time as Vader.
  It was his destiny and I get that. But I want to see how he reacts to being asked about it.
  
  I feel like there's not much else to explore between their relationship anymore. She and Vader had their duel in Rebels, and now in WBW, Anakin finished her training. With three episodes left, there's still a whole lot to wrap up with Sabine, Ezra, and Thrawn.
  That being said, who knows the backstory of Baylan? Maybe he was a youngling who was in the temple during Order 66, and they have Hayden there for more slaughtering? Maybe Baylan is the kid who said "Master Skywalker, there are too many of them, what are we going to do?" and they'll retcon that scene with Hayden saving that kid? Who knows??
- I didn't think the costume had a big enough nose to be from the Clown Wars.
- Live action siege of Mandalore was a pretty heavy handed fan service and I loved every second of it. My mind auto completed their discussion about it:
  
  Anakin: I don't know this battle Ahsoka: This was the siege of Mandalore, we had parted ways by now Anakin: Looks intense Ahsoka: It was fucking epic
- I am mildly disappointed we didn’t get a tease of Sabine
  It was my favorite because there was no Sabine.

Also
Not sure how much of a LoTR fan Filoni is but does anyone else find it interesting that she’s been wearing gray this whole show but came back from the WBW and is in white now?
Gandalf reference baby lmao
- This is actually the second time he's done that with her. When she appeared to die in Rebels she was wearing a predominantly grey outfit, but when she reappeared in the series finale she was wearing a white robe. The odds that it isn't a deliberate reference are pretty slim.
  
  we're definitely right haha
- Might just be me, but it seemed like her whole demeanor changed too after she came back from WBW. A lot more upbeat and funny - just like she was in clone wars.
  
  Yeah, especially at the end. "I have no fucking clue where it's taking us lol"
  Major Anakin energy there

ANAKIN FUCKING SKYWALKER
- I love that he's riding the line between light and dark and successfully using both for good. Makes the Force much more interesting.

I really enjoyed the clone wars scenes! Was awesome seeing Anakin again.
- Not just Anakin, but Rex too!
  
  I was scanning for him in the first battle, but once I heard his voice at the seige of Mandalore, goosebumps and a squeal of joy. Also, seeing Anakin's sabre movements showing flashes of his Vader era style with those push offs was epic.
  
  I'm really holding out hope for Temuera Morrison as old Rex teaming up somehow once they get back to the main galaxy.
- It was also Awesome Clone Wars Anakin, rather than Pouty RotS Anakin.

I love how we got a little taste of just how deadly a fully healthy Vader would have been. Anakin was an absolute monster for a split second there advancing on Ahsoka.
- This was one of my wants out of Episode III that we didn't get enough of there. I know it probably would have added a lot of length to the movie to see more of Vader prior to Obi-Wan taking him apart, but I would have been fine with that and would watch it again and again.

So was that actually Anakin or just in Ashoka’s head? Because that sure didn’t seem like a ‘redeemed’ Anakin.
Also, I need to find a refresher on what exactly the WBW is, been a while since I watched Rebels.
- I thought it was a post-Vader Anakin. His lesson to Ahsoka, in my eyes, was that his life, her life, as soldiers led them to a "fight or die" mentality, though maybe "kill or die" is a better way to put it. That's what drove him to the dark side. Only by the end of his life, as he learns from Luke, there is another option.
  "You're never too old to learn" isn't just in reference to Ahsoka's age, but in reference to this last lesson he learns from his son, that he now passes onto her.
  
  This is it. That is the lesson. To have hope that there is always a choice.
- Because that sure didn’t seem like a ‘redeemed’ Anakin.
  I thought it did. The world between worlds is tied to the cosmic force, so "force ghost" anakin could probably appear however he wanted, so sith eyes and red saber were used because thats what Ahsoka was aftaid of, and confronting fears is very Jedi - Yoda went through a similar experience fighting a manifestation of the dark side within him. Additionally, Ahsoka's fear was also impacting what we saw on screen - I don't think he was choosing to flash into Vader, I think that was Ahsoka projecting.
- The World Between Worlds

Sad that we didn't get Ashley dubbed as young Ahsoka 😔
But that aside, first episode I've really enjoyed!
The lightsaber scenes were tremendous!
- I think they're probably doing what they did for the Clones, have a set actor for live action and TV. Casting an additional person to play the young Rosario Dawson version prevents that from getting muddied.
- Sad that we didn’t get Ashley dubbed as young Ahsoka
  To be fair, your voice sounds different to you than when other people hear it, because of our sinuses, etc. I imagine it's worse for Ahsoka with those montrals and lekku covering up her ears.

While it was great to see a bunch of Clone Wars stuff in live action, the sparse and foggy environments felt glaringly low budget. I wonder if they could have gotten a better effect by using the Volume for a backdrop.
Though it may seem weird to have a 19 year old and an 14 year old leading the front lines of a battle, keep in mind that they’re technically older than their clone troops.
Anakin’s “You look old” line felt like a poke at viewers complaining about Hayden not being de-aged much in the Obi-Wan show.
- Anakin’s “You look old” line felt like a poke at viewers complaining about Hayden not being de-aged much in the Obi-Wan show.
  Thought it was a reference to the Rebels scene where Ahsoka and Rex reunited.

Tons of small details in this episode to give so much weight to every single line of dialogue, from the costume design to the ethereal nature of everywhere. What a gift this was to everyone who has seen it all up to this point. The most interesting thing I caught wasn't dialogue, but in the droids/helmets intro. Red and blue lights crossing the gallery, all appropriate to their side of the fight; all except Sabine at the very last, whose helmet is crossed by red. Maybe just a sign of her most recent choice, or maybe the direction of her arc to come? Either way, it's the only plot point of Sabine's we got this episode.
- Her helmet was also red in episode 4s intro!
  Ahsoka has been a love letter to the die hard fans. It’s been nice.

I knew that they hadn't retconned the ending of rebels with the white robe. My prediction: The last scene of the season will be a real life recreation of the rebels ending.

Jonah Tano is my spirit animal.
🎶 Like arrows in the skyyyyy! 🎶

Had to shed some tears a little bit on Anikins scenes. I miss him so much, he is my childhood (anti-)hero. Hayden in clone wars attire was epic. I know we already had a lot of clone wars, but I'd love to see him in his own live action series.