Quoting Shakespeare in the episode title is a bold statement for the second part of Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka saga. While Star Wars is epic, it is hardly Shakespeare, but with the only connection to Macbeth being witches then maybe this is a big sign post for what is to come. With the Force being limited to just Jedi and Sith in mainstream Star Wars, it looks like the casual fans are about to be introduced to a third force-wielding faction. The Witches of Dathomir have been prominent background players in the Star Wars Universe for decades now and they might be about to step into the limelight.
The episode starts, to no one’s surprise, with Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) waking in a hospital bed having survived being run through with a lightsaber. The stabbing becomes a plot device to split the narrative into three strands as we follow Sabine as she takes the time to think about what she wants to do, Hera and Ahsoka (Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rosario Dawson) on a mission together to investigate possible Imperial activity in the New Republic, and the villains as they plot in the depths of space.
The three section all deal with different areas of the franchise. Everything revolving around Sabine ties heavily into the various animated series, be it heavy visual echoes to the events of Rebels or interacting with the droid Huyang, who first appeared in Clone Wars. The Ahsoka and Hera adventure to skews closing to what we have seen in The Mandalorian, dealing with the loyalties of former Imperials, while visiting the shipyards we saw in Solo. Where as the villains feel like classic Star Wars, focusing on mythical prophecies, dark magics, and building giant structures in space.
This is the second episode of a Star Wars show to be directed by Steph Green, following one of the stand out chapters of The Book of Boba Fett, and it looks like the TV veteran may become a permanent fixture. Green has a handle on all the aspects of what makes good Star Wars, expertly handling everything from the sarcastic banter between Sabine and Huyang to lightsaber duels to space battles. This is a director who is equally comfortable handling the actors and working with state of the arts special effects, putting all the budget on the screen, which is something a lot of recent high profile shows have been lacking. The episode feels very cinematic and you Green has a future on the big screen if she wants it.
For better or worse, something J.J. Abrams added to Star Wars was his mystery box concept. Up until The Force Awakens, Star Wars was never really about mysteries. There were reveals and surprises but, apart from Yoda saying “there is another”, there wasn’t really anything to ponder on. Since the question of Rey’s parentage, now anything that is unknown becomes a source of massive speculation.
Ahsoka set us up with two here, one intentional, the other maybe not. The intentional one, and probably the biggest swing in Star Wars to date, is the revelation of a new galaxy far, far away and what might be there. Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) uses her Nightsister magic to reveals a route that Baylon (Ray Stevenson) refers to as the Pathway to Peridea, a fairy tale spoken about by young Jedi. This new galaxy is where Grand Admiral Thrawn is supposedly trapped but could it also be the original home of the Witches and explain how their Force use is different? This new galaxy could be a Star Wars game changer and explanation for the more fantastic elements that have been introduced.
The second mystery may be one created by the internet. Ahsoka fights the last Inquisitor, a masked character named Marrok, and this has launched a thousand theories on the internet. The thought is that because he is masked he must be hiding his identity but there is a good chance that this isn’t the case, he might just be a cool looking character. Time will tell on this one.
With the episode ending at the same point as the Rebels finale, we are now at a point designed to put all levels of Star Wars fan onto the same page. Now the introductions are out of the way, we are ready for the story to kick into gear.
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