Ahsoka Episode 2 Review - 5 Ups & 2 Downs
The second part of Ahsoka's opening double-header continued the good work.
The first episode of any TV series is arguably one of the most important that will ever be created. The first chapter of the story needs to grab attention and almost force audiences to invest and connect, otherwise there is no guarantee that any further episodes will even be seen at all.
It's then the job of the second installment to take that energy and that momentum and run with it. There is always the risk of slowing down after an explosive opening, and though it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world under certain circumstances, it's something that should probably be avoided where possible.
Episode two of Ahsoka, 'Toil and Trouble' dropped at exactly the same time as 'Master and Apprentice', and so had to pick up from the pilot immediately. There is no denying that it was a slower episode, at least in terms of the story, but that doesn't mean by any stretch it was a bad episode.
There was plenty of character development, with certain characters moving into the spotlight who didn't necessarily enjoy it in the first episode, and some more truly touching callbacks to Star Wars Rebels that any audience would appreciate.
7. Down - Cliffhangers Don't Really Work
At the end of the first episode, Sabine Wren was engaged in
a lightsaber battle and was ultimately on the losing end. She was stabbed by Shin Hati,
and was robbed of the map to Thrawn. This is where the episode cut out.
Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. Cliffhangers are almost a necessity when it comes to an episodic series, but the suspense doesn’t really work when the next chapter is released at the same time. With the first two episodes dropping together, most viewers will have watched them back to back.
So Sabine gets stabbed, cut to black, and then literally seconds later she is fine at the beginning of the next episode being tended to in hospital. In fairness, no one would have believed that anything would have happened to a key character like Sabine anyway, but having a week between episodes instead of a few seconds would have built a little tension at least.
With the rest of the series debuting weekly, it feels like a strange decision to bring the first two episodes out together. Not only did it render the cliffhanger redundant, but we are immediately already a quarter of the way through the series.