Dreams and Madness (Ahsoka - S01E07) - Live Action Series

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"Your ambition drives you in one direction, my path lies in another!" SPOILERS.

Hera does own a proper uniform after all

After several episodes that gradually improved on a very rough beginning of Ahsoka and turning the series into something you can watch and is worth your time, the penultimate episode of the season is a major step back again. On the surface "Dreams and Madness" is a perfectly entertaining episode. It has action in space, it has action on the ground, there are lightsaber duels, Stormtroopers who can't hit anything, and there is even some character development. But the second you begin to think about it all things fall apart.

And more memberberries, because, why not

Let's address the beginning of the episode, the senate hearing where Hera has to answer to the committee for gowing AWOL. In the real world this would be something like some US carrier group admiral going on an unauthorized rogue mission to help out an old drinking buddy from the academy because he heard Osama Bin Laden may still be alive after all on some remote Pacific island. You can imagine the fallout this incident would have. So how does Filoni resolve this issue? He brings in C-3PO who has a message from Leia which claims Leia gave Hera an official order and so everything is cool now. Now of course no one even remotely believes any of this, but who cares. But this is not what is really so dumb and annoying about this scene, what is so annoying is that it insults your intelligence and feels as if it was written by a 5-year-old. Because the second you think about it all none of it makes any sense. First: so Leia knows about the senate hearing and wants to support Hera. So she comes up with this bogus story and because of budget reasons CGI Leia can't appear on the show, instead they have Anthony Daniels wear the C-3PO costume for the 200th time in his career. Ok. So we have established Leia knows about the hearing, and she wants to help. Why then doesn't she send C-3PO to this hearing in time, before it even begins, so he tells everyone Hera was on an official mission after all, authorized by Leia? Hearing is over before it even begins. Any sane person would see to it that the messenger droid does not show up when the hearing is almost over. But of course Filoni wanted us to see the stupid, incompetent senator and to show us how clueless the people in the committee are. And chancellor Mon Mothma who really should know better lets it all happen, tarnishing her character too.
But it gets worse: so Leia knows about Hera's little adventure and she wants to help her, which implies Leia knows of Hera, maybe even in person. Most likely she does. Are we to believe Hera did not think of contacting Leia who has certain powers as a senator? So why didn't Hera contact Leia directly before she went on her adventure to get the official greenlight, to avoid this whole stupid committee hearing altogether? Because Filoni needed unnecessary drama in his script - and so he made everyone dumb and / or clueless. And why didn't Leia contact Hera before the hearing to let her know she'll have her back? No matter how you look at it, the scene makes no sense and is just dumb. On a side note: so Hera does have an official uniform after all... yet she wears whatever she likes when in the field? Before anyone says, they did so in the Original Trilogy, this is now a proper New Republic Navy/Army and you really think they would let people, generals of all things, wear whatever they feel like?

One memberberry per episode is not enough

We then cut to Ahsoka doing lightsaber exercises with hologram Anakin giving her instructions. Yes, it's nice to see Hayden yet again, but this scene serves no purpose other than to appeal to your nostalgia.

Thrawn sure has a lot of mines at his disposal

The space whales finally jump out of hyperspace, only to get met by the most massive minefield ever. It looks as if the Empire deployed a quadrillion mines. The question arises where all these mines come from. Space is big. To have mines within mere meters of each other in a massive sphere around the planet you need a lot of them, and I mean "A LOT". Yes, it's Star Wars, yes, it's entertainment, but some basic plausability would still be nice to have. Are we to believe Star Destroyers carry a quadrillion mines, just because? Thrawn certainly does not have the capacity to manufacture these things, his Star Destroyer is held together by duct tape. Also, how much time did it take to deploy the quadrillion mines? Whatever... Or does the hyperspace ring carry all these things? But why? To their knowledge, when the mission was planned, no one can follow them. So why carry a bazillion mines in your cargohold?

Sabine and Ezra relax

Meanwhile Sabine fails to give Ezra any straight answers, not only does she not tell him that she believes Ahsoka is dead, she also doesn't tell him that she kind of cooperated with the villains to even get to this place. Somewhat understandable of course, who would want to admit any of these things.

Space magic can do anything

Ahsoka has successfully evaded all the mines and she is now hiding in the space whale graveyard in orbit. But Thrawn wants to flush her out and find her, kill her, which does make sense, or so you think. How fortunate that he has access to super powerful Nightsisters who can easily track Ahsoka across space and pinpoint her position, so they can attack. Nothing comes of it of course, and Ahsoka manages to go planetside, by jumping off the ramp and Huyang further providing distraction. My one question, a question I have had for a while now, is: why are the Nightsisters so enamored with Thrawn to begin with? We can speculate... but the series, thus far, has not provided any reason why they obey his every command and treat him like their overlord. Why are they allies? Didn't the Empire / Dark Side completely obliterate Nightsisters in the Star Wars galaxy? Are they not aware of this despite their space magic? And if so... this still fails to explain to the audience why the three Wicked Witches are Thrawn's allies. Maybe a Thrawn flashback where we see how he got where he is now would have been helpful. Now there is a slight chance the season finale will explain it all, but I have my doubts.

You can go eff yourself now... bye!

What follows is one of the most annoying and nonsensical things to happen in the season thus far. So Baylan and Shin track down Ezra and Sabine (question: why didn't the Nightsisters just tell them where they are and why didnt't they just send all the fighters they have to wipe them out with an airstrike??????) and the two ride on their space wolf horses and finally find them. And then, out of the blue, without any foreshadowing or prior plot development Baylan tells Shin that her apprenticeship is over, because she's too ambitious and her path lies with the Empire, while his does not, so good bye then! And no, I won't help you kill one trained Jedi and his Mandalorian wannabe Jedi sidekick who will certainly prove a challenge. Off you go then! Bye! So Shin rides off. Just like that. No explanation given really, unless you consider "your ambition drives you in another direction" a proper explanation. I do not. Are we to believe that Baylan trained Shin for years (probably) and that his own philosophy did not rub off on her? Also, why isn't Shin privy to Baylan's plans to begin with? Who else can he trust but his apprentice? Why separate the two now and have Baylan do his thing while Shin (maybe) becomes Thrawn's henchgirl? I get what Filoni was trying for, but you need to write this stuff better. As presented here it feels nonsensical, farcical, as if Filoni realized, oh... already episode 7, I need to move my pieces across the board...

Gandalfina the White vs Baylan, the rematch

Ahsoka finds Baylan and the two duel for a while. Baylan once more is about to gain the upper hand when Huyang arrives with his ship and tries to blasts him. Baylan evades the blast but this gives Ahsoka the opportunity to escape and to find Ezra. My question is: why did Ahsoka engage Baylan to begin with? To what purpose? What is her goal? Kill him? Distract him? But why? When the actual target is Ezra and Sabine. So what did she hope to accomplish? Did she really think an air attack with one missile barrage can take out a seasoned Force user? Also, how did she find him to begin with? The show tries to explain it away by presenting it as pure happenstance, Ahsoka just happened to jump off her ship right next to Baylan. My reply to that is "REALLY?". And instead of making a beeline for Ezra and Sabine she engages Baylan. Also, how very convenient for Ahsoka to basically land right next to Baylan.

Even more badass looking Stormtroopers are still useless

Shin meanwhile attacks the Space Jiminy Cricket waggon trail with some of the raiders Sabine made short work of a few episodes ago and Ezra doesn't want his lightsaber back, because it's Sabine's now. Sure, it is a great idea to have the non Jedi use the saber and the trained Jedi to only use Force powers. Now granted, Ezra is pretty good with just his Force powers, but it still makes little sense why he wouldn't also want a lightsaber. Because the question is: if Jedi do not need lightsabers and can effectively duel another Force user who has a lightsaber by just using the Force... why would Jedi bother with lightsabers to begin with? Why don't all the powerful Jedi just use the Force then? Anyway, Shin still can't kill anyone and then two dropships arrive with two Stormtrooper platoons... and even they can't accomplish anything, because just in the nick of time Ahsoka arrives and three (more like 2 1/4) force users are too much of course. Thrawn, who monitors the action in real time, decides it's best to withdraw, and he then says that all they needed was time anyway, and they are almost done transferring all the mystery cargo. Which makes sense. But then you think: why even bother with attacking them to begin with? Let Ahsoka find Ezra, let them have their party... while you load the last caskets and then fly off, possibly stranding Ahsoka in the other galaxy for good, because it's not guaranteed they find yet more space whales. And if it's just pure spite and pettiness... why didn't Thrawn have Ezra killed years ago then, the person who is responsible for his exile, especially when he has awesome Nightsisters at his disposal? So when you think about it all Thrawn's tactic makes little sense. In fact, by going after Ahsoka he may only provide more incentive for her to go after him immediately. Why not let her find her allies, you can be long gone before they reach you. And should they attack your Star Destroyer you still have Nightsisters and hordes of useless Stormtroopers and fighters.

We need some comedy of course

We get a very short but interesting scene with potential... that is immediately squandered. When Shin realizes Thrawn's Stormtroopers leave her to fend for herself and she's all alone Ahsoka tries to reach out to her and tells her that she can help... this is, in a way, similar to what Kylo did with Rey and it is, in a way, a variation of what Vader tried to do with Luke. And while it makes sense for Shin to reject Ahsoka's offer, I wonder if it wouldn't have been refreshing for someone to finally say "yes" when someone reaches out and wants to help or become an ally. So Shin hops on her space wolf horse and rides away. It's uncertain where to... back to Baylan? Back to Thrawn? I still can't get over the fact that Baylan let her go just like that, because she wants to work for Thrawn. What did he teach her all these years? There is a chance it may make more sense after the finale. But as of now this is just pure nonsense. At least the way it is presented here.

Ahsoka almost feels human(oid) in this short scene

if you get the impression that I did not like this episode very much you are correct. Now you may say that I am too harsh and critical, that it's "fun", and yes, "fun" it is. But must fun be synonymous with "stupid" and "illogical"? Of course not. On a surface level the episode is a 6 or 7 out of 10, it had "fun" action. When you think about the story it's at best a 2/10. The senate hearing alone is some of the dumbest writing in Star Wars ever, and the franchise had its fair share of dumb and silly things. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Andor and Ahsoka exist in the same continuity. I am sad to say that Ahsoka is ruining Mon Mothma for me. After seven episodes I also have to say that Filoni's writing is very, very uneven. Episode six was some of his best work. Episode seven is some of the worst writing I have ever seen. And let's not forget that episodes one to three were very mediocre to begin with. I still don't understand why Filoni opted not to properly reunite the Rebels team. I also don't understand why they wasted a Zeb cameo in The Mandalorian, when a Zeb appearance here would have made so much more sense. Yes, maybe we will still get one in the finale, but still. Hera, who was the team leader in the series, is relegated to bitplayer, she is not part of the team or adventure and instead gets an "exciting" senate hearing plotline that is resolved in the dumbest manner possible.

The final verdict is still out, maybe the season finale will deliver and maybe things, like Baylan's spontaneous decision to let Shin go, will make sense, but even if the finale is a raging success the first season of Ahsola is ultimately just too uneven, suffering from bad writing, contrivances and things that make no sense. In short: maybe it is too cartoony, and maybe Filoni is not ready yet for prime time live action entertainment, when all he really did before was cartoons. Also, please, if there ever is a season 2, get rid of the darn contact lenses, it's most obvious with Hera, but Ezra too looks like a drug addict who is high on something, he, Hera and Ahsoka all have this uncanny valley look because of the fake irises and dilated, static pupils. Either use CGI or let the actors have their natural eye color. But not this.

Action and fun factor: 6.5/10. Story: 2/10. Overall: a very generous 5/10, at least it wasn't as boring as the first three episodes. If you can easily switch off your brain you will probably love this episode. If you can't... you may have a hard time watching it. Star Wars deserves better.