Wren restarts her training…

If the first two episodes focused, in part, on recapping Rebels and then moving us to seeing this new (old) threat to the Republic. Episode 3 puts us right into addressing that threat.

As ever the world building is exquisite – from the comments about how the Jedi were and how that failed them to the glorious arrival of Pergils and a thoroughly exhausting piece of politics.

The struggles of the Republic aren’t ever lost in this show. Hera’s clear sight running into the brick wall that a refusal to want to see one problem because of the others addressing it will reveal is excellent writing even if it felt obvious in its execution. I was left thinking about how some people make things seem effortless when, if you stop to think about it, you know their ease is the result of decades of practice.

More so than for any other show that Disney have put out, the small details here are additive rather than indulgent, constructive rather than empty.

Alongside the politics the relationship between Sabine and Ahsoka is centred with their dynamic being explored through small exercises, facing challenges together and learning (a little) about what broke them apart. It has strong overtones of Obi-Wan and Luke from the original trilogy, quite deliberately so, but rather than feel nostalgic, they work in their own right while also telling us a little about how this story plays out.

Lastly, there’s also a cheeky reference to The Last Jedi and some of the wing walking from the Clone Wars series. All of which is handled deftly.

The episode is shorter than either of the two openers by quite some margin, but it feels cohesive – starting in a good place and ending so that I wanted to immediately watch more. Honestly I haven’t felt this way about a Star Wars show in quite some time.

Verdict: Ahsoka is good Star Wars and just good television.

I don’t know where this show is going. Part of it feels like a good old fashioned adventure, mixing Kurosawa with John Ford as adroitly as Lucas ever did. Part of it feels like they could literally go off the reservation at any moment and I’m totally here for it.

Rating? 9 haircuts out of 10.