Credit: LucasfilmAhsoka (Ashley Eckstein) learns a valuable lesson from Master Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) in this episode of Tales of the Jedi…
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In the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka is excelling at practicing her defense against training droids. Her master Anakin watches on, after arriving late to the session, while James Arnold Taylor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi (also watching, along with members of the council) remarks upon her skill. Anakin seems less than impressed, and lets his Padawan know so: He thinks she needs a challenge more representative of the dangers she will encounter in the real world. They agree to put her skills to the test in a bespoke simulation.
Cut to a republic military facility, where Anakin has engaged Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker) and members of the 501st in setting up a new challenge for Ahsoka. Similar to the drones, they will surround her, but attack with stun settings on at random. She must use the Force to detect where the next assault will come from. It does not go well for her: She is stunned again, and again, and again.
Rex remarks that he is surprised at her resilience, after how many times she has been knocked unconscious. Anakin explains that the test has to be difficult because, in the real world, the stakes are life and death. The training remotes cannot simulate the skill of sentient attackers. Facing Rex and his men is the ultimate way to test her abilities.
With this in mind, Ahsoka manages to last five minutes against the clones’ barrage, until Captain Rex fells her with his dual blasters. There’s a cut to the end of the Clone Wars: Ahsoka being escorted by Rex in their charade of her being captured, her attempt to escape Order 66.
Force For Thought:
- To me, this episode had the vibe of an early episode of The Clone Wars animation: The old animosity between student and master is present between Anakin and Ahsoka, and it is a relatively low-stakes plot — with the exception of that closing flashforward, bringing her practice against the clones into the true life or death situation she finds herself in surrounded by them in her future.
- The Phase I clone troopers’ armor is back, however briefly!
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From the days of the High Republic, to the discovery of a phantom menace, the Clone Wars, when the galaxy found a New Hope and more, the Jedi Order have protected peace and justice across the stars. Now, their stories are explored even further in Tales of the Jedi (2022), an anthology series created by Dave Filoni bringing short parables of the Jedi and Jedi Council to Disney+.
This first season explores more of the lives of Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and Count Dooku (Corey Burton), with appearances from Jedi Master Mace Windu (Terrence ‘T.C’ Carson), Jedi Master Yaddle (Bryce Dallas-Howard) Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), Sith Lord and future Darth Vader Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) and embodiment of the Dark Side, Darth Sidious (Ian Mcdiarmid).