Star Wars: Ahsoka Season 1 Episode 3 Review

“Free to Fly,” the third episode of Star Wars: Ahsoka™, brings us one step closer to finding Grand Admiral Thrawn™ and (hopefully) reuniting with Ezra Bridger™. The series maintains that steady momentum established in last week’s double-episode premiere. Like McDonald’s, I’m loving it so far. Natasha Liu Bordizzo continues to impress as Sabine Wren™, becoming the unexpected beating heart of this show. She’s the perfect live-action Sabine.

There’s a nice dose of humor to balance the drama and action (there must always be balance in the Force), and Huyang™ provides that levity. He’s such a sassy, blunt droid. You can tell David Tennant is having a blast with this role.

“Free to Fly” also offers breathtaking action scenes and a gorgeous spacesuit sequence that makes me want more hand-to-hand combat in space. You know, Jedi™ in spacesuits hopping around with their lightsabers™. Give it to me.

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Resume Your Training

We open on Sabine training with Huyang aboard T-6 One-Nine-Seven-Four™. Ahsoka Tano™ watches from afar. Our trio is en route to the Denab™ system, the orbit of the planet Seatos™, to be exact, to track the transporter that left Morgan Elsbeth’s™ shipyard on Corellia™. Huyang is blatantly honest with Sabine. He doesn’t think she’s ready to be a Jedi. He’s seen tons of apprentices with a stronger aptitude for the Force than Sabine, who, according to him, doesn’t have any. Ouch.

Ahsoka takes over the training session. She gives Sabine a helmet without eye slits to wear, much like Jedi younglings used to wear in training. Our titular hero urges Sabine to engage her other senses and stop relying so much on her sight. She must open her mind to the Force. Ahsoka arms Sabine with a wooden bokken and circles her, occasionally hitting her to see how she’ll react. Sabines starts to get the hang of it, eventually feeling Ahsoka’s presence without seeing her. However, Sabine gets too cocky and winds up faceplanting on the ground. Practice makes perfect, Sabine.

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Appealing to the Senate

Meanwhile, Hera Syndulla™ meets with Chancellor Mon Mothma™ and members of the Senate. Someone’s had a promotion since Andor™! Hera informs the group about her investigation into the Vesper™ attack and her tour of the Corellian™ shipyard, culminating in an attack from Imperial loyalists. Hera reveals there’s a good chance Thrawn is still alive, and Morgan Elsbeth and other devout Thrawn followers are actively searching for him.

Mothma seems genuinely interested in listening to her, while others present for the meeting claim the Empire has been effectively quashed. They have no legs to mount an uprising of any kind. Regardless, Hera requests permission to send a task force to the Denab system to find out.

Senator Hamato Xiono™ (the father of Resistance pilot Kazuda Xiono™, who was a main character in the animated series Star Wars Resistance™) believes Hera only wants to sniff out the Thrawn threat so she can find Ezra. Before things get too heated, Mothma urges Hera to give them privacy so the Senate can discuss her request.

After her meeting, Hera runs into her son, Jacen™ (his father is the late Kanan Jarrus™), who asks about Sabine becoming a Jedi. Jacen declares his desire to be a Jedi, too. Aw.

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The Force Is in All of Us

Next, Ahsoka compliments Sabine on her progress. They share a drink. Ahsoka explains the fundamentals of the Force. While not everyone has the talent to wield it, it exists in all things. She urges Sabine to start small after she demonstrates moving a cup without touching it. Huyang calls for Ahsoka. Before she departs, Sabine vows to give it her best. She won’t give up.

In the cockpit, Ahsoka asks Huyang to ease up on Sabine. He may not believe Sabine is an “acceptable candidate,” but she’s still learning. There aren’t many Mandalorians™ who became Jedi. Huyang acknowledges Ahsoka’s “non-traditional Jedi” lineage, so perhaps Sabine will surprise him.

Meanwhile, Sabine tries to move the cup with her mind. It doesn’t work. I did the same thing just now, and my coffee mug inched slowly across the table. I always knew I could use the Force.

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We’ve Got Company

Later, our trio arrives at the Denab system. We can see Seatos from a distance. Suddenly, Shin Hati™ sneaks up behind them with a handful of ships. Ahsoka orders Sabine to operate the tail gun, which she obliges. Sabine has difficulty shooting at their circling enemies. Ahsoka reassures her that she’ll get the hang of it again. Huyang claims what they’re both doing will get all of them killed. Ahsoka asks Sabine what she needs. Sabine finally sees some success when she takes out one of Shin’s ships. Huzzah!

As they get closer to the planet, our heroes see a massive hyperspace ring — the Eye of Sion™. Shin contacts Morgan, who’s standing in a room at the top of the ring. Morgan seizes the reins of Operation Kill Ahsoka, ordering her droids to prepare the turbolasers.

Huyang runs scans on the ring and encourages Ahsoka and Sabine to continue moving the ship toward said ring, even as Shin fires at them. The blast from Morgan’s turblolasers causes them to lose power temporarily. Now, our protagonists are sitting ducks as Shin and her crew descend on them.

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A Distraction

Huyang is out of commission due to the blast, so Sabine is on her own as she tries to jumpstart the ship. Ahsoka distracts their enemy, standing outside the craft in a spacesuit while wielding her lightsabers. This scene looks super cool. I don’t think we’ve had a live-action spacesuit lightsaber battle yet. As Ahsoka destroys one of Shin’s vessels, Sabine gets things fired up again. She hastily returns to the ship while Sabine flies them through Seatos’ atmosphere. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Then, Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang (who’s back online) spot a pod of purrgil™ as they descend onto Seatos. The last time we saw the purrgil was in The Mandalorian™. However, the last time these characters interacted with the whale-like creatures was during the liberation of Lothal as Ezra utilized the Force to control three Purrgil Ultra to contain Thrawn in his ship, Chimaera, and jump to hyperspace. (You can relive it with Star Wars: Rebels™, “Family Reunion – and Farewell.”)

Sabine skillfully navigates the purrgil while Shin and her ships give chase. As they finally pass the pod, Sabine finds a clearing in a vast forest for a safe landing.

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The Search

Next, Ahsoka switches off Huyang and the ship to avoid detection. We see Shin and the other vessels pass over T-6One-Nine-Seven-Four. Then, she flips everything on again. Huyang informs our Jedi Master/Padawan™ duo about his findings when he conducted that scan on the ring. You know, before Morgan Elsbeth rudely interrupted him with her turbolaser blast. He believes a hyperspace ring of this immense power could, theoretically, jump between galaxies.

Huyang mentions the Jedi archives and how they note “intergalactic hyperspace lanes between galaxies,” which followed purrgil migration paths. The lightbulb flicks on in Ahsoka and Sabine’s heads as they come to the same realization: Follow the purrgil brick road.

Meanwhile, Baylan Skoll™ stands around Star Wars™ Stonehenge and broods like any former Jedi-turned-baddie worth his salt. He orders his fighters to hunt down Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang, who have taken refuge in the forest. It’s on, y’all.

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Will Baylan’s forces track down Ahsoka and her crew? Will Morgan eventually find Thrawn? Become one with the Force with other fans at side.show/geekgroup or in the Sideshow Social Network, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!