As a casual fan not familiar with the Filoniverse, this episode almost put me to sleep. Especially after the last episode which had so many good moments that were independent of how much SW you have seen.
But all the Clone Wars/Rebels fans are loving this one. It’s an interesting line he has to toe.
I am, unsurprisingly, scandalized by this take, but I respect it and can see how not having all that backstory and history with these characters in animation would change the experience. It's a balancing act that is likely impossible to pull off without leaving out some group of viewers.
I think your response speaks to the strength of the new characters we get in the series, especially Baylan. He's what makes Episode 4 chef's kiss.
Haha you can tell ep 5 is what he really wants to make but if the whole series were like that maybe he doesn’t get enough viewers to make his Infinity War movie?
Great article, as always -- love the insight into the cinematic affect in the story.
I know that people have been worried about the white robes changing to gray in the "Sabine and Ahsoka leave Lothal" scenes...heck, after those first two episodes, I was convinced that we weren't seeing the same moment as the one in Rebels, but the second time the pair left to go find him. But in thinking on it more, I wonder if it's less the taxonomy ranking of canon (with live action being more canonic than animation which is more than video games which etc etc) and more that each story we get is told from a certain point of view. The Rebels epilogue is narrated by Sabine; it's her version of setting up that moment in the story. In her telling, she conflated the departure with the "Ahsoka the White" that came a little later. But in this telling of the narrative, we hear Ahsoka's perspective, which gives more specifics about when she had her moment of transformation.
(The Skywalker saga movies are, of course, told from R2's perspective. Even if he's sleeping for much of The Force Awakens.)
That's what I assumed too! We were operating under false premises, that what we saw at the end of Rebels had to still be true, as it was presented. But I LOVE the idea that Filoni's playing with subjective experience and the inconsistencies of subjective narration. I'm not sure if there's enough evidence to point to this being intentional from the start, but I like it as an explanation of it after the fact.
And now I'm thinking about an academic paper that includes the phrase, "R2-D2 as Unreliable Narrator"!
You were def-ly spot on with all the Gandalf parallels! Like, Ahsoka kinda dies and is reborn again wearing a white cloak, as well as having become more emotionally open than before.
I find it interesting how so much pop discourse around Ahsoka right now had folks complaining about the choice to have her be stoic during the first four episodes. It is now clear that this was intentional but still a lot of people viewed it as a flaw.
Thanks! There's a lot more to be thought out and written about the Ahsoka/Gandalf comparison. In some ways her transition from gray to white is in reverse, personality-wise. Gandalf the Gray, at least when Ian McKellan portrays him, is much more playful and jovial than Gandalf the White. Ahsoka starts out more serious and gets lighter here. I find that I am always urging folks to be patient with Dave Filoni Star Wars. You just have to trust that seeds planted in the beginning will pay off later. I had a strong hunch that Ahsoka's stoicism would melt away at some point, and for valid narrative/character development reasons. The only concession I would give for the folks still viewing it as a flaw is that if we are just focused on growing the audience for Ahsoka, starting the series off with her more serious than normal may not, no matter how good a reason for it, be the best choice because of how they would react. They don't know that this is abnormal behavior for her. I'm not sure how you solve that, though. A flashback to younger, more cavalier Ahsoka at the beginning?
As a casual fan not familiar with the Filoniverse, this episode almost put me to sleep. Especially after the last episode which had so many good moments that were independent of how much SW you have seen.
But all the Clone Wars/Rebels fans are loving this one. It’s an interesting line he has to toe.
I am, unsurprisingly, scandalized by this take, but I respect it and can see how not having all that backstory and history with these characters in animation would change the experience. It's a balancing act that is likely impossible to pull off without leaving out some group of viewers.
I think your response speaks to the strength of the new characters we get in the series, especially Baylan. He's what makes Episode 4 chef's kiss.
Haha you can tell ep 5 is what he really wants to make but if the whole series were like that maybe he doesn’t get enough viewers to make his Infinity War movie?
Great article, as always -- love the insight into the cinematic affect in the story.
I know that people have been worried about the white robes changing to gray in the "Sabine and Ahsoka leave Lothal" scenes...heck, after those first two episodes, I was convinced that we weren't seeing the same moment as the one in Rebels, but the second time the pair left to go find him. But in thinking on it more, I wonder if it's less the taxonomy ranking of canon (with live action being more canonic than animation which is more than video games which etc etc) and more that each story we get is told from a certain point of view. The Rebels epilogue is narrated by Sabine; it's her version of setting up that moment in the story. In her telling, she conflated the departure with the "Ahsoka the White" that came a little later. But in this telling of the narrative, we hear Ahsoka's perspective, which gives more specifics about when she had her moment of transformation.
(The Skywalker saga movies are, of course, told from R2's perspective. Even if he's sleeping for much of The Force Awakens.)
That's what I assumed too! We were operating under false premises, that what we saw at the end of Rebels had to still be true, as it was presented. But I LOVE the idea that Filoni's playing with subjective experience and the inconsistencies of subjective narration. I'm not sure if there's enough evidence to point to this being intentional from the start, but I like it as an explanation of it after the fact.
And now I'm thinking about an academic paper that includes the phrase, "R2-D2 as Unreliable Narrator"!
You were def-ly spot on with all the Gandalf parallels! Like, Ahsoka kinda dies and is reborn again wearing a white cloak, as well as having become more emotionally open than before.
I find it interesting how so much pop discourse around Ahsoka right now had folks complaining about the choice to have her be stoic during the first four episodes. It is now clear that this was intentional but still a lot of people viewed it as a flaw.
Thanks! There's a lot more to be thought out and written about the Ahsoka/Gandalf comparison. In some ways her transition from gray to white is in reverse, personality-wise. Gandalf the Gray, at least when Ian McKellan portrays him, is much more playful and jovial than Gandalf the White. Ahsoka starts out more serious and gets lighter here. I find that I am always urging folks to be patient with Dave Filoni Star Wars. You just have to trust that seeds planted in the beginning will pay off later. I had a strong hunch that Ahsoka's stoicism would melt away at some point, and for valid narrative/character development reasons. The only concession I would give for the folks still viewing it as a flaw is that if we are just focused on growing the audience for Ahsoka, starting the series off with her more serious than normal may not, no matter how good a reason for it, be the best choice because of how they would react. They don't know that this is abnormal behavior for her. I'm not sure how you solve that, though. A flashback to younger, more cavalier Ahsoka at the beginning?