ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - AHSOKA Episode 7 REVIEW and THEORIES: How Baylan Causes PALPATINE to Return

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

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Direct and to the point, as always. Well, that's my style. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Harry, and let's talk about Asoka Episode 7. So I've got some really strong thoughts on this episode, mostly positive, but you know what? It wasn't perfect. And we only have one episode left to go, and I've got some theories on where this show is going to end up. And it's going to be a kind of Ragnarok for the Star Wars universe that I cannot wait to tell you guys about.

The end game of this series was actually set up in Rebels with some very cool hidden. details. And as always, thanks for watching the channel and supporting us at our merch store, screencrushmerch.com, where we have this grand admiral athletic polo, say no to death sticks, the apprentice lives, hello there, and many more. We deeply appreciate your support, so now let's talk about Asoka. So the part with C3PO is cool, but I know the real reason 3PO is in this show is because he speaks for Leah. And guys, just, just recast Leah. Why, you stuck up half-witted, scruffy-looking nerpherder. It's okay. In fact, a little later, I want to talk to a couple Star Wars experts, Colton Ogburn and Heather Antos,

so I can get their thoughts on recasting and also hear their thoughts on this episode and theories for what's going to happen next. So here's another nitpick about this episode. In the opening where the empire is like using minds out in space, a star whale should have died. What? But that would have been so sad. Exactly. We need higher stakes in this show. Every character has plot armor. All the heroes are going to be around for the Dave Filoni movie. So why not show how Thron is evil by having him kill a defenseless animal? Like not every character's immortal.

I'm sure Baylon's going to die in the next episode, but I'm going to talk about that later on. Now, I have talked a lot on the screen crush TikTok and IG reels about how I'm not the biggest Ezra fan. And like, he's kind of fun in this episode, but I would love to see some actual character development with this guy. I knew I could count on you. He has been gone for 10 years. How has he changed? In the past decade, has he struggled? How did he get away from Thron have his powers grown?

He just seems like the exact same person and nobody's the same after 10 years, especially from the ages 18 to 28. I feel like they could have done a lot with this character in this episode, but they ignored all those possibilities for the thrill of seeing Ezra Bridger as we know him in live action. Well, geez, what kind of change does you want to see? Well, he could have been a little darker, I guess. I mean, he flirted with the dark side in rebels.

Or at least he could have seemed relieved or surprised to have seen Sabine instead of being so casual. I sure took you long enough. He and Asoka have a much more tearful reunion later on, while Ezra and Sabine were actually much closer in Rebels. Sabine. My name's Sabine. And my big pet peeve in this episode is in this scene, where Hu-Yang is talking and then stops talking, and Asoka interrupts him like a beat later. Can not land while under attack standard Jedi mission protocols states...

Won't need to land. Oh, not this again. I mean, that is just... That's just bad editing. Exactly. High five. I will say, though, that the scale of the space battle was awesome, and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen.

Asoka is playing at a local Cineplex near you? I'm afraid not, buddy, and that's really a shame because all these new Star Wars shows feel so cinematic. They're created with such high-end cameras and visual effects that they really deserve to be seen on the big screen. So, I projected the episode with my Mars 3 projector. They're the sponsor of this video. This is by far the best projector that I have ever owned.

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So, this stunning, all-in-one projector is really a must-have. for movie fans. Click our link in the description to get yours today. Now, back to Asoka. By the way, everybody, this video is also going to be on our Screencrush Rewind podcast on all of these platforms here. Now, I've got a few other problems I want to talk to Colton and Heather about, but there was also a lot to love in this episode. Like, Thrawn is better than I ever dreamed. He is amazing. You're quite right. Like, I loved the way the Philoni realized him in rebels, but seeing him portrayed with like the same voice in live action. This is like one of the greatest all-time Star Wars villains. And for decades, he only existed on the page and then

an animation. And now, like a whole new swath of Star Wars fans get to experience this nuanced character firsthand. Like, I really hope the show and movie don't end up portraying him as like a mustache twirling villain because the Thrawn in the novels is much more caring and nuanced. He has the potential to be the greatest Star Wars villain ever. Right, really? Yes, because in Star Wars, the movies typically aren't given any real motivations or character development. They wear all black, they blow up planets, they dress like Nazis. But Thron is simply a brilliant tactician who always believes that he is serving the greater good, and he never, ever seeks personal power. And speaking of villains, I also love the Night Sisters in live action. They are another piece

of Star Wars lore that are lifted from the novels, and they're so different from anything else in the saga. They're mysterious, they're creepy, and I think they're going to end up being the real threat in the Dave Filoni culmination movie. I'm sure their plan is to return to Dathemir and resurrect their people, which I'm telling you could include Assange Ventress and Darth Maul, both of whom have attachments to Knight's sister magic in the Clone Wars. So wait, here's Assange, who is that? Asage Ventress is Duku's former apprentice and assassin. She actually got name dropped in this episode. In this war, you will face more than just droids. General Grevis, Assange Ventress.

And Ezra not using a lightsaber in that battle was a great choice. Like, a lightsaber would have made him too powerful and we just would have expected him to dominate all these night troopers. But his decision to go without does create some interesting questions. Is he now using the force in a different way? Does he sense that Sabine needs practice with the saber? In fact, maybe Ezra is the missing ingredient to Sabine learning the force because he has the ability to give her confidence. Good job, Kylie.

You're doing amazing, sweetie. Wow, look at her go. Also, the live action Ezra looks fantastic. Amonis Fondi feels so natural in the role like he's been doing it for years. And does blue eyes give him this otherworldly look like he's been doing spicy? with the other Freeman in the past 10 years. In fact, all of the live action translations have been spot on. Zeb, Harrah, Sabine, and I really hope that at some point, Freddie Prince Jr. gets to play a Force Ghost of Canaan, or like maybe we'll see him in a flashback or something.

But mostly, I love how this show is like hinting at a larger world without over explaining it. Like we see the ruins of the Knight's Sister Kingdom, but we don't know what happened. We don't know what happened to Baylon or Ezra or Thron. The show is leaving a lot of open ground for comics, animation, and books to fill in these gaps. Like this is one area where the sequel trilogy truly failed. They only left a short one-year gap between Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker for other creators to tell stories about the resistance and Ray fighting the First Order. So this show is leaving lots of room for fun fan theories, which is why I'm excited to talk to Heather Antos and Colton Ogburn. And just a reminder everybody, Colton is the

man who's eternally trapped in our television, but he does not know it, so please don't tell him. Heather, first I want to start with you. What were your thoughts on Asoka Episode 7? finally you know that's that's kind of how I felt um you know this this this episode did not have any of the pacing or structure issues that I think we've seen in the previous episodes um it moved uh it moved a lot and I thought it was super fun I mean just drawn is excellent just just god I wish he was in from episode two episode three so we could have more of him this this whole time I know you particularly don't like Ezra as a character, Ryan, but I did enjoy what they did with him. This episode, I think the little banter he had with the bad guys and, you know, not wanting the lightsaber and how they used his combat style, you know, force pushing and very hand-to-hand.

It was almost like a Shaolin monk type thing, which I really, really enjoyed. I loved all of it. I think the only part of the episode that I could have, I don't want to say done without, but I don't really understand how this storyline fits in yet is the Hara and New Republic trial of all of that. Obviously, that's building towards something that we'll probably see in the films or in Dave Filoni's film or it might tie in more with the next season of Mandalorian. I don't know, but I feel like that moment could almost be entirely removed,

and it doesn't really affect the overall story that we're experiencing yet. Yeah, well, we won't know until the finale. We won't know. Yeah. Those stick out like sore thumbs and all, like, I think since episode three we've been getting since she and Asoka parted ways. Look, and I knew earlier I complained about Ezra, and I talk about Ezra on our social videos and our TikToks a lot.

I tend to keep it off the main channel. I am treating this Ezra as, like, a different character. You know, it's a different actor portraying him. And I was fine, mostly with, like, his little interplay. He came off a little bit more like Han Solo, a little less annoying. I do want to know what the hell has been, like, what's his character development up to this point? He's been gone for 10 years. He's been in exile.

What happened with Thron when he landed? Like, one thing, like I talked about earlier, I am excited about, is, like, how this show is setting up all these other stories that we don't get to see yet. So I'm cautiously optimistic that Ezra will stop being annoying and that, you know, when he joins the new galaxy, hopefully I think we have a video coming out about this tomorrow, and we see what's going to happen in that Dave Filoni movie. Maybe Ezra side-by-side with Luke Skywalker will, you know, kind of ease my feelings on him just a little bit. So, Colton, what about you? What did you think of episode seven? Well, you know, I've liked this series overall, but I think I can be a little critical of this episode. It wasn't my favorite.

I enjoyed the action and the interactions between Sabine and Ezra. My only problem with it is they seem so nonchalant about the whole thing. Sabine has traveled to a different galaxy. He's been stranded on this planet for 10 years, and he's just kind of like, so, uh, what, yeah, so what happened? Oh, you don't want to talk about it? It's complicated. Okay. So what else do you want to talk about it?

Like, oh my God, like, why aren't you just, like, asking a million questions? And they kind of imply off-screen that they talked about it, which I thought was kind of weird. Well, you don't want to, like, rehash information for the audience. But sometimes it's fun to watch people learn that information. Like, I wish I could have seen Assoca meeting Luke Skywalker for the first time, you know? Yeah. And, like, I don't get me wrong. I hate exposition.

I hate exposition. But it would have been really cool to see Asoka. tell Sabine about Luke Skywalker, the Jedi that save the galaxy. That would have been really neat. But I mean, I didn't hate the episode. I really liked it. I enjoyed it. I liked seeing C-3Pio, and I love how he's kind of like admired as a bit of a war hero, like alongside the, you know, Leia and Luke and all of them. He's like, oh. It's like a hushed show. Yeah, oh, that's the guy. Yeah, I thought that was cool. Thron was great. I think it's just, I think it's kind of clear where they're going. The next episode's the finale, right? So I think that what we're going to see,

my prediction would be, is Thron and the Knight Sisters get out of Dodge. They go back to the main galaxy. Our heroes are stuck on Peridia. They're stranded there. They're not stranded there. They'll either get back via the whales or the World Between Worlds, which I know you're going to talk about here in a little bit, like with Baylon and all that. I think that's where the story is going. I think it's been clear. Thron was not the antagonist. of this series. Baylon was the antagonist of this series. And I don't mean that as he's a villain,

but just he's the opposite of Asoka in terms of their missions. So like we've talked about in other videos, Osokka and Ezra have a lot of, you know, experience with the world between worlds, what that type of power can bring. And I think that's what Baylon is seeking. So I think that's more where the finale is going to go.

And I think Thron is going, I think his story is going to be followed up in the movie, not so much the finale of this series. Now, before I get too deep into theories, Heather, had a follow-up, but Colton brought up Asoka Fighting Baylon. And I think you pointed out, again, yeah, I think you pointed out in a past talk back, or maybe it was on our Easter egg video, that it was interesting that in their first duel, Asoka does a way, she doesn't use her duel-saber style. She goes more like single, two-handed, broadsword, in a way to match Baylon. And in this duel, she went, you know, full samurai with the long and shorter blades. What was your take on that? Because you're a Star Wars fighting nerd.

I am, yeah. I think that this particular fight to me and watching, it felt more like a, this is the real fight. The previous fight felt, you know, more defensive and wasn't as aggressive. And this to me was much. more at this fight counts. This fight matters and maybe one of us isn't walking out of it and that's okay. Asoka's going to go all in with it. She's going to go with what

she's most comfortable with and this is the, I think we got more of the Asoka fighting style that we are accustomed to is from seeing in Clone Wars and Rebels and this. Maybe because in that first fight she was just trying to get the map and that explains the defensive style. Well, the part of this fight that I thought

was most interesting that was how it ended with Baylon saying, you know you can't beat me. Like it's like, and And in our Easter egg video, I pointed out, I mean, this woman took down Darth Maul before she could vote. What is it about Baylon, do you think? Like, was that your read from the fight that Asoka was outmatched? I mean, who the hell is this guy? Like, this character, it's a shame we won't see him portrayed by Ray Stevenson after the next episode, you know?

Yeah, I'm very curious how they're going to solve, quote, unquote, the death of Ray Stevenson in this. If bailin was always intended to die, I know we talked a little bit about that last week, about being one of the potential theories. But as we know, Star Wars doesn't recast, doesn't want to recast anymore. I never in a million years got the sense that he was, quote, unquote, better than Asoka at lightsaber dueling or the force or anything like that. That definitely implies of maybe previous encounters going back to episodes. one, Baylon knew of Asoka, knew she would be an issue, knew she would be a problem. But if he knew

that she could never defeat him, then why would he be so concerned about her this entire time? Yeah. As I'm going to talk about later on when I get into my theories, you know, Colton, you alluded to this. But I do think that Baylon's going to end up in some ways being the heart of the show. And then in a lot of ways, he's going to kind of bring it full circle with Asoka's buried trauma and things like that and the connections to Anakin and maybe even Thrawn along the way in there. I'm just, I'm really hyped to see that. But you touched on the thing that I'm really irritated about, about Star Wars in general, and I think we have a video coming out about this really soon. Colton, with the recasting, right? Great to see C3PO, but he's basically

there because they didn't have a recast Leia. And I don't know if you watch the show Strange New Worlds, Heather, I know you do. Wonderful show, a prequel before Star Trek the original series where certain characters from the original series have been portrayed by different actors, including Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory Peck, but he is great as Spock. There is a new Kirk, there is a new O'Hura, a new Scotty.

These are people who, maybe before JJ Abrams, they never would have dreamed of recasting, but they've been recast as younger actors, and it's fine. Whereas Lucasfilm has decided that after Solo, they're canon. It's like they're saints. It's like there's a religion that says

you can never redraw them on a piece of paper is a different person and that's silly to me i just think a recast princess lea coming in there maybe even as billy lord if you want to keep it in the family would have had it just would have made more sense within the universe and if we're going to get to a point uh where this thron movie right if it is air to the if they're doing air to the empire then we're going to need to see this original cast it's just really silly to me that we haven't um colton what do you think do we recast do we not recast uh oh i'm i'm very recast. When Chadwick Bozeman passed away, I thought they should have recast Chala. When Carrie Fisher passed away, there were talks about, you know, she was very close with Merrill

Streep. I think that could have been a good choice to continue the story of Leia. Maybe not. Maybe, you know, in the nine episodic films, and it's the last one, maybe you don't recast. But which you have to remember, and what Carrie Fisher understood, I was watching a documentary a few weeks ago where she actually said, I'm not famous. Princess Leia is famous and I have her face. And that's what I loved about that. And wishful drinking, she talks about how strange it was to see her face on pest dispensers. Yeah. I pill my face back and I pull candy out, you know? Yeah. And see, what she understood was that stories like Star Wars and stories in general, they're about characters. And that's what makes Star Wars so good. And you have to be able to

move beyond this idea that you can't recast. And see, like, when Disney bought Lucasfilm and bought Star Wars, what is Star Wars? Star Wars is Luke, Han, Leah, and I just can't believe that those valuable characters that they purchased, they're not planning on using, like, because they just refuse to recast. So I do hope in the Flonie movie, and yeah, we're definitely going to talk about this in tomorrow's video, I do hope. that they will recast. I don't know what that looks like with, you know,

they have recast solo, but they're doing the de-aging stuff with Luke or the, it's not even de-aging. They're like putting an artificial face on that other actor. Solo is the example I think that they're citing is why not to do it. When I've thought, and Heather, I want to hear what you think about this, I've always thought the reason Solo bomb wasn't because a different guy played Han Solo. It's because nobody ever cared about young Han Solo.

Whereas if you were going to ask any Star Wars fan, Like when Lucasville, I did it, like, what do you want to see next? It would be like, oh, well, I want to see what happens after Return of the Jedi. And that doesn't just mean episode 7, 8, and 9. It means we, what, like, what were the legends novels that we loved for years? They were the further adventures of Luke Han and Leia. And like I was talking about earlier, if you're doing the Mandalorian's in the Outer Rim. Great, great, great, great, great, great, that's fine.

But that's the Outer Rim stuff. If we're dealing with New Republic, we've got to see what these guys are up to. Heather, what do you think about this? Do we recast? Oh, 100%. I am fully on recasting. Recasting works if you have writers who know what they're doing, directors who know what they're doing,

and actors who can know how to embody those core traits of the characters that we love. You know, obviously, I think in something like Star Wars, you don't want them to look too far away from the original actors. But recasting 100% works. I agree. I think the reason Solo bombed and wasn't as, you know, financially successful as, as they had hoped is you released a Star Wars film six months after the previous Star Wars film. True. And it's not that I don't think people didn't care about Young Han Solo. I think it's more so that that wasn't the story anyone was interested in learning.

you know you're answering questions that no one wanted answered why does he call him chewy right why is why is he solo why is his last name solo you know i think it comes down to that wasn't what anyone was interested in you know like if it was uh i think solo um would have done been more successful as a TV show like this, where it's like one and done different smuggling missions, you know, maybe Han is, Han is on the run from some criminal organization, who knows, right? But I think that's how you utilize that character and not answer questions that no one asked. And also, like, Solo had the misfortune of coming out before that the Disney Plus train was going, you know, so I agree with you, though. And it's a kind of a bad look. Like,

Everybody loved Donald Glover as Lando. He's getting his own, well, was series, now it's going to be a movie. It's kind of a bad look, though, if the only character you're willing to recast is the first black person in the franchise. It's a bad look, but I think it goes to show if you have an actor that can carry who that character is, if you have, you know, if it's written in a way that that truly captures who that character is, and I think Donald Glover is a perfect example of that. that um like you you watch that portrayal and he is he he he is invoking billy d like he oozes it um without doing an impression without doing a strange new world's characters do so well yeah exactly and that's a very very hard thing to do and nothing against alden erin rick i think he did a great he was great he's great and everything exactly but it just i i think with that script with that

story, there was no way that he was going to succeed at Hans Solo. It's such an impossible task. And again, I think having that film come out when Last Jedi left theaters, not even a month before, which is just a terrible, terrible distribution mistake. Yeah. So going forward in the movie and everything else, I just, I really want them to move away from deep fakes and just put the characters on screen, just show the courage and move past solo and just do, like, move us into the next phase of Star Wars, basically. Well, guys, thanks for both of your thoughts. You can follow Heather and Colton on their socials, which are listed below.

And now I want to get into my theory on Ragnarok and Baylon and the World Between Worlds and how in the hell this whole thing is going to wrap up. So like Colton said, I don't think we're going to get much resolution of the Thrawn story in the next episode. They're going to get back to the main galaxy. I think the main final conflict is going to be between Baylon and Asoka. Now, there is a big clue with Baylon and Shen's names. Balin and Shen were the names of two wolves in Norse mythology who chased the sun and the moon across the sky until Ragnarok.

So we pointed out in our Easter egg video last week that they even ride a black and white haler to symbolize these two wolves for mythology. Now, you could say that Asoka represents the sun and Sabine represents the moon because they are a master and apprentice. But the real question here is what is the Star Wars version of Ragnarok? Remember, Ragnarok is not just the destruction of Asgard, it's also the rebirth of Asgard. a haven for all peoples and aliens of the universe. Now, Baylon alluded to this when he talked about not repeating the cycle of the galaxy. What I seek is the beginning. So I may finally bring this cycle to an end.

Baylon sees that the Jedi and Sith are locked in a never-ending cycle of death. And, much like DeNaris Targaryen, he seeks to break the wheel. Now, you might think that the Star Wars Ragnarok would be the rise of Thrawn and the destruction of the New Republic. But that's just part of the same endless side. cycles. I think their Ragnarok actually relates to the world between worlds. So we have talked about this realm extensively in our videos. It is a junction of all time and space where Ezra visits in rebels, and it's also where he reached back in time to save Asoka's life. And in that same episode, Ezra wanted to save the life of his master, Canaan Jarous, but Asoka warned him to

not change the past. Canaan gave his life so that you could live. If he's taken out of this moment, you all die. Here's what I think's going to happen in the finale. We know that you can access the world between worlds through different gateways, like the one on Lothal. And we also know that these gateways exist on force-sensitive planets, like the Sith Temple on Malacore or on Lothal. So I think there's also a gateway to the world between worlds on this ancient force planet of Peridium. Now we pointed out several videos ago that the figures on top of this portal do look like the Zepho. Zepho are the ancient race of long-dead force wielders from Fallen Order. And this Knight's Sister Palace is covered in Zepho ruins, like we've

talked about in past episodes. Adding to that, master tainment on the channel heavy spoilers pointed out these animals on the side of that Zepho portal look a lot like the howlers. This makes me think that this portal leads to Peridia. So Dave Filoni was actually setting up this ending of Asoka years in advance. I think that Thron is going to return to the main galaxy and the heroes will be abandoned and then they will have to use the world between worlds to get home. But then Baylon will enter the realm because he wants to restart the Jedi order with something new. That, like him, embraces a larger view of the force. I think that in the world between worlds, he will see pivotal moments from the past,

like Anakin swearing allegiance to Palpatine, but he'll ignore those moments instead of changing them, because he doesn't want to save the Jedi order. He wants to erase and rebuild the Jedi order. Maybe he'll actually look back to the days of the prime Jedi. That's the subject to the James Mangold Dawn of the Jedi movie, and Baylon will want to reshape the order from the beginning. But like Assoca warned Ezra, this has dire consequences. See, I think the world between worlds is not like natural. It was built by the Z. Zepho to be a gate across time and space. You know, if the Zepho were going to be so important,

I wish they were to give them a much less silly name. I know. They sound like a Marx brother, don't they? So anyways, I think the Zepho civilization fell because they turned to the dark side, and then they tried to use the world between worlds to control time and space. When Bailen tries to change the past, maybe he'll be forced to face a Zepho guardian like the ones that you fight in fallen order. So when Bailen tries to change the past, he will cause the desolation of this realm, a kind of Ragnarok of the Force.

This is important because a few episodes ago, we saw that Anakin Skywalker seemed to be in the world between worlds and that Asoka had a psychic connection to this realm. So that means that spirits of people in the forest, the spirits that Ray heard at the end of Rise of Skywalker, those spirits reside in this realm, or at least this realm, is a gateway that can connect those spirits to people who are living. So if Baylon destroys the world between worlds, that is going to free the spirit of Palpatine from this realm. That's right. I think that Baylon's actions will actually lead to Palpatine's spirit being set free.

Palpatine's spirit is going to escape the world between worlds and then exit through a gate to another world that is strong in the force, the Sith planet of Exigal that we saw in the rise of Skywalker. Welcome to Exigal! And all of that is going to explain this silly-ass quote. Somehow Palpatine returned. Now you guys know that I've never been a fan of Palpatine, suddenly coming back from the dead. But if Star Wars can make really quality stories, then you know what? I'm all for it.

But what do you think is going to happen in the finale? What did you think of this episode? Let me hear your thoughts down in the comments below or at me on Twitter. And if you're first time here, please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.