Recap / Ahsoka S 1 E 4 Chapter 4 Fallen Jedi

The race is on for Ahsoka and Sabine when Morgan begins calculating the coordinates needed to bring back Thrawn.

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Tropes:

• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Baylan refers to Anakin having spoken highly of Ahsoka, but his phrasing leaves it unclear as to whether he ever actually met Anakin; when Ahsoka says that Anakin never spoke of Baylan, he simply says that "everyone in the Order" knew Anakin without further elaboration.
  • Baylan’s statement that Sabine’s family died on Mandalore was in part because Ahsoka didn’t trust her is not elaborated on. The only context being that he pulled that information from Sabine’s mind and it’s what she believes.
  • When Ahsoka meets Anakin in the World Between Worlds, it seems like this is the legendary Jedi Knight we all knew from beforehand. But shortly after he appears, "The Imperial March" plays, which makes one wonder if this is Anakin or Vader we're seeing, or perhaps given the timeframe and the setting, both.
• Armor of Invincibility: Sabine's beskar armor blocks a lot of blaster fire, Wonder Woman style.
• Art Evolution: The World Between Worlds in was portrayed in Rebels as brightly lit and having white paths and binding. For the first live-action appearance of the realm, it instead switches to dimly lit with blue, ethereal glowing paths and binding.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The auto-spinning lightsaber technique that the Inquisitors had is once again proved to be this. It was great for intimidating common criminals and the young, untrained Jedi who made up the bulk of the galaxy's surviving Jedi during the reign of the Empire, but it's a worthless tactic against a seasoned Jedi who isn't afraid of an Inquisitor. Kanan was able to defeat the Grand Inquisitor when he used the tactic out of desperation during their final duel, and here, Ahsoka does the same with Marrok when he pulls it. The smile on Ahsoka's face implies this was exactly what she was waiting for to strike him down.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Ahsoka and Sabine make quick work of Morgan's men and droids by using their skills to assist one another. At one-point Ahsoka uses the Force to use one mook as a shield for Sabine against another mook, to which she returns the favor by using her grapple wire to pull the latter mook towards Ahsoka who cuts him down.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Sabine reaches her arm toward Shin with her palm facing out, she thinks she's about to get Force pushed. When nothing happens, she taunts Sabine about her lack of Force ability, dropping her guard enough for Sabine to disarm her with a whistling dart.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Sabine uses her whistling dart to knock Shin's lightsaber out of her hand as she tries to block the dart.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: After realizing that Sabine has no Force abilities, Shin decides to mock her about it rather than go in for the kill, giving Sabine the chance to use her whistling dart to disarm Shin.
• Book Ends: On a meta level. The first introduced Inquisitor, the Grand Inquisitor, perished when he tried to use his lightsaber spinning against Kanan. Marrok, the last known surviving Inquisitor chronologically, is killed when he tries the same again with Ahsoka.
• Break Them by Talking: Although his words are sincere, Baylan uses the deaths of Sabine's family and her longing to rescue Ezra to convince her to hand over the map and join his and Morgan's expedition willingly.
• Broken Bird: At this point it is very clear just how emotionally devastated Sabine is. She has pretty much lost everyone she has ever cared about, sans a few people. Finding Ezra is pretty much all she has left. Having just seen Ahsoka be thrown from a cliff she is left in enough of a state that Baylan can manipulate her into surrendering on the promise of reuniting with Ezra.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Ahsoka uses the Force to grab a mook and then hold him in front of another that has Sabine pinned with blaster fire. Once Sabine has some breathing room, she's then able to grapple the first mook's neck once Ahsoka drops the shield.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Carson Teva joins the small group accompanying the Ghost to aid Ahsoka and Sabine.
  • The World Between Worlds reappears at the end of the episode, featuring Anakin Skywalker making his first live-action appearance chronologically set after his Heel–Face Turn in Return of the Jedi ^note not counting his voice-only cameo in The Rise of Skywalker.
• Bus Crash: Baylan implies that Clan Wren all perished in the Night of a Thousand Tears, and that Ahsoka's lack of trust in Sabine resulted in her being unable to prevent her family's destruction.
• Call-Back: Baylan offers Sabine the chance to see Ezra again, even saying it's the only way, mirroring what Ahsoka's former master said to his son Luke.
• Call-Forward: Morgan's hyperspace jump has a similar effect as the Holdo Maneuver. While it doesn't directly destroy the Ghost and the other X-Wings because it doesn't actually hit them, the wake of their jump does send two of the X-Wings careening into each other.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Hera's rule-defying mission to help Ahsoka and Sabine reaches Seatos mere moments too late; Ahsoka has been defeated by Baylan, Sabine has joined him as a willing prisoner, and the Eye of Sion jets off to find Thrawn with Hera and her fellow pilots helpless to do anything but watch.
• Character Death: Marrok is cut down by Ahsoka, and instantly crumbles into dust and smoke.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Marrok dies almost the moment he pulls the auto-spinning maneuver, much like the Grand Inquisitor in "Fire Across the Galaxy".
  • Ahsoka kills Marrok with a single well-placed blow to the chest after the latter charges at her, in almost the same way as how Obi-Wan defeated Maul in their final duel on Tatooine.
  • Upon his death, Marrok fades into Nightsister Magick, much like how Savage Oppress lost much of his empowered form as it faded upon his murder at Palpatine's hands in "The Lawless".
  • Much like her fellow Mandalorian Din Djarin, Sabine can also deploy whistling darts from her vambrace. She also deploys the rope she got during the Trials of the Darksaber.
  • When meeting up with Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds, Anakin cheerfully calls her Snips - his Affectionate Nickname for his old apprentice.
  • Anakin's appearance in the final moments of the episode have him dressed exactly as he was for most of Revenge of the Sith (and, perhaps not coincidentally, how he looked when he and Ahsoka last met as friends); his youthful appearance holds true to his portrayal in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi.
  • The reveal shot of Ahsoka turning behind her to see Anakin is composed exactly like the iconic shot of Anakin looking back to watch Ahsoka leave the Jedi Temple in "The Wrong Jedi", which was later reprised for their final meeting in "Old Friends Not Forgotten" and their confrontation in "Twilight of the Apprentice, Part II".
  • Hera takes her personal ship, the Ghost, her son Jacen and Chopper, (with a few volunteering X-Wing pilots) on an unauthorized expedition in order do the right thing. Similarly to how Anakin took his personal ship, the Twilight, his Padawan Ahsoka, and R2 on an unauthorized expedition in "Rising Malevolence" in order to do the right thing.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ahsoka and Sabine make short work of Morgan's men and assassin droids who find their ship.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • While he does put up a brief fight, Marrok proves to be no match for Ahsoka, and is cut down without much difficulty.
  • Although Shin is still clearly the more powerful of the two, Sabine does much better in their rematch, holding her ground for longer than she did in the premiere and managing to disarm Shin after being disarmed herself with a clever feint. It helps that this time she's fully armed and armored.
• Darkest Hour: Baylan has defeated Ahsoka and successfully tempted Sabine into following him, Morgan has the hyperspace coordinates for the other galaxy, and the map is destroyed so no one can follow her. When she jumps to hyperspace with Sabine as her prisoner, she takes out half of Hera's squadron in the process. Fitting with the "journey to the Underworld" aspect of this trope, Ahsoka ends up awakening in the World Between Worlds, greeted by her former master Anakin.
• Designated Girl Fight: The fight at the starship opens with a droid attacking Huyang, another droid.
• Despair Event Horizon: When Morgan tells Baylan to have faith, he has this to say.
  Baylan: Faith? I lost that a long time ago.
• Destroy the Evidence: Once the hyperspace calculations are complete, Baylan destroys the map sphere so it can't be used to track them.
• Distinction Without a Difference: Morgan somewhat mockingly notes a touch of fear in Baylan's voice when he expresses concern about the time needed to complete the hyperspace calculations, his unspoken worry being that it will give Ahsoka time to stop them. Baylan corrects that it's "experience", seemingly aware that a match between himself and Ahsoka is a coin flip.
• Double-Meaning Title: This episode has multiple examples of Fallen Jedi. This is the first time Ahsoka meets Baylan, a fallen Jedi from the Republic. Ahsoka herself literally falls off a cliff. Padawan Sabine falls from her master's path by disobeying her order to destroy the map and following the villains to Ezra. And at the end of the episode Ahsoka meets the Fallen Jedi, Anakin Skywalker.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Although a fallen Jedi himself, Baylan expresses nothing but disdain for Darth Vader, and he allows this sentiment to bleed into how he sees Ahsoka. He also accuses Ahsoka of abandoning her master, negatively comparing her to himself when he opts to keep his promise not to harm Sabine.
• Foreshadowing: As they gear up, Ahsoka audibly wonders if she needs to be worried about Sabine, and after they dispatch the HK assassin droids, Sabine is clearly hesitant at the idea of destroying the map and leaving Ezra stranded, even if doing so would prevent Thrawn's return. After Ahsoka is defeated, Baylan manages to convince Sabine to hand over the map and join the expedition in order to see Ezra again.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the reveal shot of Anakin, the Horsehead Nebula can be seen in the background of the World Between Worlds.
• Gainax Ending: After the villains' successful flight from Seatos, Ahsoka, last seen being dropped into a stormy sea by Baylan, wakes up somehow back in the World Between Worlds, being met by the image of her old master, Anakin Skywalker.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In-Universe example. The tense conversation between Ahsoka and Sabine in "Master and Apprentice" where Ahsoka states she goes where she is needed, only for Sabine to point out that isn't always the case, carries new weight in this episode where it is revealed that during their first attempt at training that Sabine's family died during the Night of a Thousand Tears and according to Baylan, Ahsoka didn't trust Sabine to go and save her family. Then Ahsoka insisting that the map stay on the ship instead of letting Sabine take it somewhere to think clearly could have made Sabine think Ahsoka still didn't trust her.
• The Heretic: Baylan gives Ahsoka a perversion of the Jedi way saying that "We must destroy in order to create.". This is more subtle than the usual code of the Sith, which simply insists on destruction, but the Jedi don't foster destruction, they just recognize that death is a necessary part of life.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Sabine threatens to destroy the map sphere to get Baylan to release Ahsoka from their Blade Lock. Sensing her hesitation, Baylan instead knocks Ahsoka off the cliff and then talks Sabine into giving him the map.
• I Gave My Word: This episode solidifies Baylan as, if nothing else, an honest man. He tells Sabine that if she gives him the map, he'll take her with him so she can be reunited with Ezra, and when she does, he fulfills his end of the bargain, even if he does make her a prisoner.
• I Shall Taunt You: During their duel, Baylan mocks Ahsoka by claiming that her legacy, like Anakin's, is "one of death and destruction"; the remark angers Ahsoka enough to go on the offensive, putting Baylan on the back foot for a time. Unfortunately, just as she had warned Sabine last episode, Ahsoka winds up handicapping herself when she presses the advantage and grabs the map sphere, not realizing it's been sitting over an open flame for the better part of an hour and is extremely hot.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Sabine tries to Force-push Shin, causing her to flinch, only to fail. When Shin taunts her that "You have no power", Sabine breaks out her Mandalorian vambraces for the second time in the episode, disarming her and allowing Sabine to rejoin the fight.
• Jidaigeki: Ahsoka's duel with Baylan begins with dueling poses, and includes some long pauses in the middle for the same.
• Kick the Dog: Believing her dead, Baylan gives one final jab at Ahsoka by stating how he won’t break his word to Sabine.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Baylan demonstrates once again his defection from the Jedi Order. "Faith. I lost that a long time ago."
• Leitmotif: As the end of the episode fades to black, Vader's theme (a few notes of the Imperial March) plays as a reminder of who Anakin became. The fact that it plays within a visually heartwarming moment (i.e. Anakin reuniting with Ahsoka) doubles as a Last Note Nightmare—implying this might not be as benevolent as it looks.
• Lampshade Hanging: Huyang's clip of him asking "What did I miss?" opens the Previously on… segment.
• Manipulative Bastard: Even though he is very sincere to her, promising to reunite her with Ezra, Baylan knew exactly which of Sabine’s trauma buttons he needed to press to break her resolve.
• Moment of Weakness: Sabine, clearly desperate to see Ezra again and swayed by Baylan's words, reluctantly disobeys Ahsoka's orders to destroy the map and instead hands it over to the Dark Jedi.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The look on Sabine’s face once she has given Baylan the map indicates that she is well aware that she just put the galaxy on the path of another war for her need to have Ezra back.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When Morgan successfully makes the jump to hyperspace, Jacen comments he has a bad feeling about it, a hint to his Jedi heritage.
• Mythology Gag: Ahsoka warns Sabine about Thrawn potentially returning as heir to the Empire. His first appearance was in the Legends novel Heir to the Empire.
• The Needs of the Many:
  • Ahsoka tells Sabine that they may have to destroy the map to prevent Thrawn's return, even if it means sacrificing their chance to save Ezra. After Ahsoka's defeat and with Baylan's masterful argument, Sabine can't bring herself to follow through and hands the map back to Baylan.
  • Baylan also tells Ahsoka that this is what he's trying to do, that Thrawn's return will enable him to use the ensuing war to create something greater than the Republic, New or Old, or the Empire. He keeps his word to Sabine and seems to genuinely believe he's a necessary evil for a greater good. Ironically, this makes him more like Vader than he would like.
  • This may also be a Shout-Out to Zahn's 2021 novel Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good, given the plot of this series centers on the threat of Thrawn's return.
• No MacGuffin, No Winner: Ahsoka tells Sabine that it may be necessary to ensure that if they can't get to Ezra, it might be best if no one can, because losing Ezra is better than seeing Thrawn return as Heir to the Empire.
• No One Could Survive That!: Baylan knocks Ahsoka off a cliff.
• Noble Demon: Baylan is sincere in his offer to help Sabine find Ezra, and his promise that she won't be harmed is genuine; when Shin starts choking Sabine, Baylan commands her to let her go.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Shin is shocked when Ahsoka cuts down Marrok.
  • Hera has a moment of fear when she realizes that the Eye of Sion is preparing to jump to hyperspace despite her and her fighter escorts being right along its trajectory.
  • Sabine clearly was not expecting Baylan to destroy the map sphere, and looks absolutely stunned when he does.
• On Three: When Hera leads the hyperspace jump.
  Hera: We're all in on three, two, one, mark!
• Once an Episode: Jacen doesn't say "I've got a bad feeling about this.", but he comes very close.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Ahsoka realizes Huyang is in trouble when he seemingly messes up the ship’s power again, recognizing he wouldn’t have made such an error.
  • Upon seeing Shin arrive at the henge and thinking that meant Sabine was dead, Ahsoka becomes visibly angry and uses the Force to slam Shin into one of the henges and starts to fight Baylan more viciously.
• Papa Wolf: Having seen that Ahsoka slammed Shin into one of the henges, Baylan becomes a lot more ferocious in his attacks against her.
• Parental Hypocrisy: Jacen asks why Hera gets to disobey orders if he has to do what he's told. She says he can do the same when he becomes a General, then orders him to buckle up.
• Parent-Child Team: Hera's son Jacen is also her co-pilot on the Ghost.
• Properly Paranoid: When Huyang pulls a thing and shuts off the lights in the ship, Sabine is annoyed that the droid would make a mistake like that, but Ahsoka knows it's not a mistake and sparks up her sabers.
• Psychic Strangle: Shin uses a Force choke on Sabine after she gives up the map, only to be called off by Baylan as he gave his word that Sabine wouldn't be harmed.
• Ramming Always Works: While it doesn't directly ram them on account of the huge negative space in the hull, the force of the Eye's jump to hyperspace is enough to toss the Ghost and its escorts into chaos, with two X-Wings slamming into each other and the rest eventually managing to right themselves.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Hera goes out to help Ahsoka and Sabine, the Senate Committee be damned.
• She's Back: Having rededicated herself to her training and redonned her beskar, Sabine does much better against Shin this time.
• Shout-Out: Ahsoka tells Sabine that, as much as they want to get Ezra back, it isn't worth it if it also means Thrawn returns as the Heir to the Empire.
• Single-Stroke Battle: The final clash between Ahsoka and Marrok has him spinning up his lightsaber, followed by the two slashing at each other. After a moment, the camera pans to reveal a cut along Marrok's torso, and he promptly collapses.
• Smoke Out: After Sabine uses a whistling dart to take out Shin's lightsaber, Shin deploys a smoke bomb and escapes back to the henge.
• Smug Snake: Morgan doesn't even bother to activate the ring's cannons when the Ghost and its escort show up, merely smirking because she knows they're too late to stop her.
• Take a Third Option: When Huyang is attacked by one of Morgan's droids, neither can overcome the other physically, but the HK unit muffles Huyang's vocalizer so he can't call for help. Huyang deploys one of his attachments and cuts the power connection he just made, knowing Ahsoka and Sabine will if nothing else come to see what's wrong.
• Telepathy: As he confronts Sabine, Baylan takes a moment to close his eyes and reach out with the Force to read her mind, using what he gains (that Sabine's family died in the Purge and that she's desperate to find Ezra, the only family she has left) to verbally coerce her into surrendering the map and herself.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Huyang chooses the moment the enemy is nearly upon them to proudly declare progress has been made.
  • After Sabine's attempt at a Force push fails, Shin smugly tells her that she has no power. Cue Sabine firing a wrist dart that disarms Shin.
• Undying Loyalty: This trope is subverted by Sabine towards Ezra. Here it is made clear that her desire to get Ezra back is caused by emotional problems, rather than a true sense of loyalty towards him.
• Villains Never Lie: Baylan is sincere in his offer to help Sabine find Ezra. When Shin begins to choke her with the Force, Baylan scolds her to get her to let go.
• We Can Rule Together: Baylan tempts Sabine to join him by promising he'll help her reunite with Ezra.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Marrok dies with little to no characterization to him, the only hint of his past being green smoke leaking from his wound, suggesting he was enhanced or even resurrected by Nightsister magic.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Baylan seems to believe he's genuinely making a better world out of the ashes of the one Thrawn will destroy if brought back, and even sincerely offers Sabine the opportunity to go with him if she hands over the map.
• Wham Line: The voice Ahsoka encounters calls her by a very familiar name - "Snips."
• Wham Shot: Ahsoka awakes after being thrown off the cliff, and it soon becomes apparent that she's not on the shores of a nearby beach, but the cosmic shores and paths of the World Between Worlds. It's then followed up by the return of Anakin Skywalker himself.
• With My Hands Tied: Ahsoka duels Marrok with only one lightsaber and kills him. She starts her duel with Baylan the same way because she needs to grab the map (and keeps fighting her way toward it and eventually grabbing it).
• Worf Had the Flu: Baylan and Ahsoka are initially portrayed as even combatants, with Ahsoka at a slight disadvantage due to using only one lightsaber (likely to leave a hand free to grab the map). Then Ahsoka burns her hand taking the map from its pedestal once she manages to get past him, putting her at a disadvantage against Baylan's heavy swings without the use of a second hand to brace against his attacks. He's thus able to overpower her and knock her off the cliff.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: The first four episodes centered around taking or destroying the map in order to prevent Morgan and Baylan from using it to find Thrawn; this episode ends with the Eye of Sion successfully making the extragalactic journey to find him, with Baylan destroying the map himself to prevent anyone from following them.

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