Ahsoka Tano is on the trail of Grand Admiral Thrawn…

This house loved Star Wars Rebels.

Ahsoka Tano has been a favourite here since she walked away from the Jedi Order at the end of the Clone Wars.

It was with no small amount of nervousness that the television was switched on to watch these opening episodes of the live action show dedicated to Ahsoka. Star Wars quality has been very mixed in recent years with epically bad decisions about the nature of their audience, what kind of stories to tell and where to focus creative energy.

If I never see another low stakes low speed chase through the uncrowded streets of Tatooine it will be too soon.

I’d like to say Ahsoka wipes away the stench of poorly written and unnecessary shows to deliver something that actually earns its keep, builds the universe and promises something new and bold.

And fortunately I can.

Ahsoka is confident, exciting and fearless. It knows how to tie its characters into what has come before, how to show us a galaxy that feels both familiar but also new and fresh. It is funny, exciting and, most of all, I cared what was happening to these characters.

Sure, I come to this with a deep well of love for Ahsoka and Hera Syndulla and Chopper and Ezra Bridger and that buys a lot of passes.

Ahsoka didn’t need to ask my forgiveness once. It cracked into the opening scenes and powered on from there, giving us duels, temples, witches, mysteries, unexpected travel and brilliant new vistas.

More than that, it showed us bits of the Star Wars universe that are known but did so in an entirely fresh way.

It’s early. It can still go off the rails but one of the most exciting things for me is that the cracking material from the trailers almost entirely appears in these first two episodes (with a couple of notable exceptions). This fills me with hope that the rest of the season is going to take us places that we didn’t know we wanted to go – much like Rebels which did more for Star Wars than many people are prepared to admit.

So, go watch this but, if you haven’t seen Rebels, please go rectify that because this show, as brilliant as it is, is clearly best engaged with if you are familiar with Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus.

Indeed, there’s a second review here, which is what does Ahsoka look like for someone who’s accidentally switched it on?

It’s a largely female led show about McGuffins and enemy admirals (and those first six words will underlie a huge amount of the double standards it is inevitably treated with). It could feel a little thin because if you don’t already know these characters and understand what they’ve been through, it’s hard to see how their actions across episodes 1 and 2 make sense with who they are. It’s not that they’re incoherent, but it is that their emotional weight is absent without that context.

Besides, it is very much an adventure here – and it evoked the wonder of that for me perfectly. What it isn’t concerned with is the politics of the Empire or the New Republic. It’s not concerned with existential angst and deeply flawed and wounded characters.

Ahsoka is about determination and perseverance, struggle and hope.

I think it’s very hard to lay that out across the first two episodes of any series and this does a good job of at least having a try even if it’s quite clearly an interstitial series bridging Rebels and the movie that ties The Mandalorian and Ahsoka together.

Verdict: For those for whom Andor (and Rogue One) is the only good Star Wars then this isn’t going to satisfy either but for the rest of us, who enjoy something other than men being moody and loners, this is great. For me it stands way above The Mandalorian and Boba Fett and I can’t wait to see more.

Rating? 9 haircuts out of 10.

Stewart Hotston