When I first read the 2 sentence plot blurb for episode 7 I felt a sense of dread, that ended up being unwarranted. It made it seem like the episode would be half focused on Hera and the New Republic but they resolved it within the first 7 minutes. Deus Ex Organa is what I’m calling the resolution to the dumb and stupid plotline, but I’m fucking glad it’s over. Just having 3P0 show up on behalf of Leia who lies about the mission being sanctioned just proved how much of a stupid conflict this was in the first place. The only thing this mission does is waste time and unless that 1 senator ends up being a part of the imperial remnant it should be excised from any fan edit of the series.
The episode actually starts with Ahsoka training with a recording of Anakin and some more emotional resolution from Ahsoka. Rosario Dawson is way more expressive as well which is really good. Now this is the Ahsoka I remember from Rebels and the Clone Wars and she continues acting this way through the entire episode. It looks like it really was an intentional choice for her to act wooden in the first half for a character arc, but it doesn’t excuse those first 5 episodes of her acting so reserved. We either needed more moments like this throughout the first 5 episodes, or they should’ve made it clear it was her trauma causing her to act this way.
After the opening, the action barely lets up. We get a flight out of a minefield, and a dog fight through the debris of dead Purgil. A chase scene, a fight between Sabine and Ezra vs. the Raiders and Shin, finally a fight between Ahsoka and Balon, and then Ezra, Sabine, and Ahsoka vs. Shin and Thrawn’s forces. This episode also did a good job of showing off Thrawn’s intelligence. He realizes the fighters have no chance of finding Ahsoka through the debris field and will only end up getting killed, so he pulls them back to save some of his forces. He uses the Nightsisters to pin Ahsoka’s location and sends troops after her and Sabine/Ezra. After they reunite he realizes his forces lost so instead of letting them all die he has them retreat because they did what he needed them to do, keep our trio distracted, and buy time for the transfer of materials.
I thought it was interesting how Balon separated from Shin after giving her one last piece of advice. His goals definitely do not align with Thrawn or Shin who seems to want to get power and favor with Thrawn. I fear this is a subplot that might be doomed to not be fully resolved because of Ray Stevenson’s tragic death. The action is a step above what we’ve previously seen from this series with the Ahsoka and Balon rematch being even more fast-paced than their first fight, and we get a cool chase scene with Ezra and Sabine before they fight against the raiders and Shin. Seeing Ezra fight without a lightsaber and just using the force was really cool and finally getting the reunion between Ahsoka and Ezra was great. I wish the entire series was as well-paced as this episode because it shows that this could’ve been a much better show than what we ended up getting. Still, this gives me hope it can stick the landing.