Star Wars Ahsoka Dreams and Madness review S1 E7
Dreams and Madness wasn’t just peak Star Wars, it was everything that made Star Wars Rebels so great. From dealing with the bureaucratic red tape of Rebel leaders, daring space dogfights, dramatic lightsaber battles, genuinely funny moments and that sense of family. This was a great episode.
Assuming the season finale just sticks to the medium of how good the rest of the episodes have been, Ahsoka is thisclose to being the best live action Star Wars series.
Hera is getting a browbeating from the New Republic leaders, specifically Senator Xiono who is shouting Hera’s claims about Thrawn’s return down so much I’m convinced he’s an Imperial loyalist. Carson Teva questions about the incursion on Mandalore, which Xiono just blows off as Moff Gideon being a random warlord acting on his own.
Mon Mothma tries to restore some order to give Hera time to defend herself when a very familiar protocol droid arrives with a message from Senator Organa.
And this is exactly why Ahsoka is so good. Showrunner/writer Dave Filoni uses all things Star Wars at his disposal. It doesn’t matter if it’s Original Trilogy, Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, Rebels or The Mandalorian. It’s all fair game. And how cool was it to just randomly see C-3P0 pop in?
Leia is the leader of the defense council and again I’m wondering if the Disney/Lucasfilm crew feels confident enough to do a movie/series with a CGI Leia and de-aged Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill because I’m all about it.
Mothma is no fool and knows Leia didn’t sign off on Hera’s mission. I love the idea that the OT crew and the Rebel squad are close enough to look out for each other. Of course this means I’m gonna need a secret mission featuring Zeb and Chewie ASAP. Hera cautions Mothma on the threat of Thrawn’s return to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Ahsoka is training with a hologram of Anakin offering advice with some casual name drops of iconic Clone War villains in Count Dooku, Asaj Ventress and General Greivious. Nope, I’m not complaining one bit about seeing more Clone Wars era Anakin even in hologram form.
She tells Huyang that Anakin made 20 recordings like this for her, and this was the last one. Ahsoka pauses to reflect. While she’s made peace with letting go of the notion if she were there she could have saved him, she still misses Anakin stating he was a good master. You know…that doesn’t have to be the last time we see those two interact, Dave…
The Huyang and Ahsoka banter is so fun and such a real treat for the show. It feels like every episode we get a visually stunning and movie-quality scene. Dreams and Madness had plenty as director Geeta Vasant Patel crafted some masterful sequences starting with the Purgills emerging from hyperspace into an Imperial minefield.
While Ahsoka and Huyang evade Thrawn’s fighter pilots, Sabine catches Ezra up on everything. One more episode with this crew isn’t nearly enough. The chemistry with Eman Esfandi and Natasha Liu Bordizzo is so strong that we could easily get a full season of the Rebels crew even if it has to be under the Ahsoka Season 2 banner.
The knights of Baylan look cool as they flank him as he looks on in the distance with Shin. It’s not just me that finds Ray Stevenson’s Baylan so fascinating. He really has been such a fantastic original character. I don’t envy the actor having to fill his shoes, but Baylan is too strong a character to retire.
Baylan says his farewell to Shin, who he envisions doing great things with the Empire. “Your ambition takes you in one direction my path leads me to another.” He leaves her with a final message — “Impatience in victory will lead to defeat.” Good grief, imagine Baylan being a main antagonist in the Sequel Trilogy with Thrawn (and Mara Jade?).
Patel weaves a very cross cutting edit of Ahsoka using the Force to find Sabine just as the Night Sisters track down Ahsoka. It’s time to mention how great Lars Mikkelsen has been as Grand Admiral Thrawn. He’s always in control with a measured tone suggesting his emotions are firmly in check.
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Morgan Elsbeth handed him the Imperial dossier on Ahsoka and Thrawn seems to pause upon learning her master’s identity. Thrawn dispatches gunships to get Sabine and Ezra while Ahsoka and Huyang speed off to help them.
Ezra’s crew aren’t elite killers like the Ewoks, but they’re brave enough to try and fight off Baylan’s mercenaries with slingshots and rocks. This chase sequence was very Rebels-esque with Ezra stopping the convoy to protect one of the group who’s pod was damaged.
Ahsoka lands in front of Baylan giving us Round 2 of a thrilling duel of lightsaber masters. It actually seems like Ahsoka can’t beat Baylan, but she doesn’t need to — all she wants is to get to Sabine.
Ezra doesn’t care about his lightsaber though it was a nice touch that Sabine offered it back to him. Instead, Ezra battles using Jedi-Fu most prominently shown on Clone Wars. This was fun to see play out in live action as well as Sabine incorporating her blasters, beskar armor to block and the lightsaber for attacks.
Ahsoka bails on the fight with Baylan — ending what was a superb rematch too quickly — to fight off Shin and her crew. Thrawn’s strategy seemed to account for Baylan being an active combatant instead of an onlooker. No matter, Thrawn tells Morgan that while he took some losses, Ahsoka was the big loser as she lost time as he preps their departure off the planet. There’s no cackling, no showy smiles, just the self-satisfied realization that everything is going according to plan.
In the fight aftermath, Ahsoka offers to help Shin, who seems to consider it before rolling out with the rest of Thrawn’s men. Ezra reuniting with Ahsoka was a tremendously rewarding moment. The same could be said of Dreams and Madness as a whole, just another Star Wars fan-pleasing episode that hit all the sweet spots leading up to what should be an epic season finale.
Rating: 10 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney