Y’all. The purrgil are back.
Episode 3 of Ahsoka – the latest live-action Star Wars show on Disney+ – featured a callback to Luke and Obi-Wan’s training aboard the Millenium Falcon in A New Hope, a good old fashion spaceship battle, politicians politicking, and SPACE WHALES.
Just like Episode 2, Steph Green was in the director’s chair for this one, with showrunner Dave Filoni picking up writing and producing credits. Green’s past work includes directing episodes of The Americans, Luke Cage, Scandal, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Deuce.
A quick recap: The episode begins with Sabine attempting to shake off the rust to pick her Jedi training back up, but it is apparent – to the viewers and Huyang – that there is just something missing. Meanwhile, as Ahsoka, Sabine and Huyang hurdle through hyperspace, Hera clashes with political leaders. She presents a hypothesis that none of them want to hear, that Thrawn is potentially alive, and his return could unite scattered Imperial remnants and loyalists to the Empire. While Mon Mothma – excuse me, Chancellor Mon Mothma – takes her seriously, the other senators simply don’t want to engage with this possibility, and so, they forbid Hera from creating a task force to investigate further. After a space battle with Morgan Elsbeth and co., in which Ahsoka sports a space suit and slices off the wing of a starfighter, she and Sabine cruise down to Seatos with some SPACE WHALES (more on those in a bit) before taking refuge in a forest area. Baylan Skoll senses their presence and the hunt is on.
While the third episode of Ahsoka didn’t contain as many easter eggs as the first two, or as many things that needed explanation, it was a compelling piece of Star Wars television that revealed a few details about where this series is headed.
Let’s break down what we learned.
SPOILER WARNING AHEAD FOR ALL STAR WARS CONTENT.
Sabine can’t use the Force?
Despite training with Kanan and Ezra in Rebels, and now Ahsoka, Sabine Wren might just not have what is required to be a Jedi. Put more simply: She hasn’t shown an ability to grasp or use the Force.
In the first episode of Ahsoka, we see Sabine wildly swinging Ezra’s lightsaber in her duel with Shin Hati, which ultimately ends with Shin delivering a non-fatal blow to Sabine after toying with her.
In this episode, we see Sabine largely fail to detect Ahsoka’s presence while blinded during a training session, and then she is unable to use the Force to move something as small as a coffee mug.
Huyang, who spent centuries training Jedi, breaks it down for Ahsoka in this episode, telling her: “The Jedi Order would not have accepted (Sabine). She is not an acceptable candidate… (By) standards which were proven over a millennium… Historically, there were very few Mandalorians who ever became a Jedi.”
But it’s worth noting that Yoda didn’t want to train Anakin or Luke either.
Also, there are non-Force users who have been successful wielders of lightsabers; General Grievous was one of them.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Sabine will have future success tapping into the Force, she did, however, prove to be a good pilot, mechanic and sharpshooter in this episode.
Oh…so #Sabine is getting some Force training??? #Ahsoka Also this opening scene is giving very much Japanese katana training.
— Chris Del Rey (@ChrisMDelRey) August 30, 2023
sabine trying to use the force on that cup is the most relatable thing i’ve ever seen
— riley 🐝 LESBIAN YANG (@bumblemio) August 30, 2023
PURRGILS!
“I haven’t seen those creatures since the day Ezra disappeared,” Sabine tells Ahsoka after flying path a group of SPACE WHALES.
The hyperspace ring that Morgan Elsbeth is building, Huyang tells us, “would be capable of hyperspace jump of astonishing speed and distance” that could jump to another galaxy. Further, he says that the Jedi archives have information about “intergalactic hyperspace lanes” that followed the migration path of “star whales” or purrgils.
If you watched the first episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian closely, you saw Grogu staring at some purrgils as he and Din Djarin blasted through hyperspace. And if you’re a fan of Rebels, you know that Ezra used purrgils to take he and Thrawn away from Lothal.
According to Wookiepedia, purrgil are “a semi-sentient species of massive whales that lived in deep space, traveling from star system to star system.”
It feels like this isn’t the last we’ve seen of these awesome creatures.
They made the purrgil’s look so awesome!🙌🏽🔥 love seeing them in live action!👌🏽 #Ahsoka #AhsokaTano #TanoTuesday pic.twitter.com/DLj9pAraG0
— 𝙶𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎✖️✖️//💥⏳🥀🐉 (@giselleb1234) August 30, 2023
Kanan and Hera's son
Yes, Hera has a son. And yes, he is the offspring of Kanan Jarrus – a Jedi who survived Order 66, was a star in Rebels, and trained Ezra Bridger before his death.
Jacen Syndulla briefly appears in the Rebels series finale in the end sequence that fast-forwards to the period of time after the Battle of Endor. He is a creation of Ahsoka and Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni, and he named the character Jacen as an homage to a non-canon character, Jacen Solo – a son of Han and Leia in Star Wars Legends, according to Wookieepedia.
This episode is the first time Jacen has appeared in live-action. After Chopper spills the beans and tells Jacen that “Aunt Sabine” is training to be a Jedi, we see a giddy Jacen tell his mother that he, too, wants to be a Jedi.
Fans will surely be interested in following Jacen’s future. Perhaps the young Syndulla becomes a student of Luke Skywalker’s at his new Jedi Academy.
Yes! Give me Ezra Bridger training Jacen Syndulla to be a jedi by the end of #Ahsoka! pic.twitter.com/R3eh0Gbbpd
— trytcx (@trytcx) August 30, 2023
