“Ahsoka” Episode 3 Recap: Time Just Zips By When You’re Having a Blast

Home TV Features ‘Ahsoka‘ Episode 3 Recap: Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

By Maggie Lovitt

Last updated: 3 hours ago

Steph Green lends her talented directing to a too-short episode that meanders through its plots.

The Plot

The episode opens on the heels of “Toil and Trouble,” with Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) training with Huyang (David Tennant) aboard Ahsoka’s (Rosario Dawson) ship as they set out to learn more about Thrawn’s (Lars Mikkelsen) impending return. The training sequence is not particularly new or inventive—especially for anyone who has played Star Wars: Jedi Challenges or Jedi: Fallen Order—but Steph Green’s direction at least makes it visually appealing to watch.

The Disney+ description for “Time to Fly” mentions that Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) will “tangle with New Republic politics” in the episode, and that is about the extent of the moment. Hera takes a meeting with Chancellor Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and a panel of disinterested senators to discuss her findings at the Santhe Shipyards on Corellia. She attempts to raise an alarm about the Imperial sympathizers she discovered there, but the senators are insistent that all of the former Imperials are true to their oaths of loyalty. Mothma seems genuinely alarmed by Hera’s next revelation, which is the theory that Thrawn may still be alive, but the rest of the panel is unimpressed.

“Master and Apprentice” made it seem as though Ahsoka and Hera had never discussed the search for Thrawn or Ezra Bridger, but through this exchange, the senators accuse Hera of trying to allocate New Republic funds for her personal quest to find Ezra. Following the meeting, Hera runs into her son Jacen (Evan Whitten) in the hallway, where everyone’s favorite murder droid, Chopper, has told him about Sabine’s plans to become a Jedi. Jacen excitedly proclaims that he also wants to be a Jedi—which has never been a smart move for anyone named Jacen—and Hera fondly placates him. For fans of Rebels, this tiny moment has greater meaning, considering Jacen’s late father Kanan Jarus was a Jedi, but Ahsoka side-steps any real mention of him. Instead, Kanan is part of the catchall “family” that Hera lost while fighting Thrawn during the war. The weight of Hera’s wistful smile is lost to the casual viewer, much like so many of the best moments so far in the series.

To Be or Not to Be a Jedi

For a show led by a former member of the Jedi Order and in a period of time where there are very few Jedi remaining, Ahsoka seems quite fixated on the idea of the Jedi. About a third of the episode attempts to build on the newly introduced plot point which is Sabine’s previous Jedi training with Ahsoka. Despite the premiere dedicating a decent amount of time to establishing Sabine’s force sensitivity, the conflict between her and Ahsoka that arrived from their failed apprenticeship, and opening up a path for her to resume that apprenticeship, “Time to Fly” seems disinterested in committing to any of that.

If Huyang is to be ignored, Sabine is decent with a lightsaber—she has good form and natural instincts, but she is also insistent that she isn’t force-sensitive in the same way that Ahsoka is. The dialogue also backpedals on whether or not Ahsoka and Sabine had a formal master and apprenticeship, by having Ahsoka dismiss the idea that Sabine even needs to become a Jedi. After all, Ahsoka left the Jedi Order, and despite her track record of bolstering Luke’s desire to start the second downfall of the Jedi Order, she is fully aware of the inherent issues with the Order. While Huyang’s gentle barbing about the long line of failed Jedi that came before Ahsoka is amusing, no amount of snark can make up for the disjointed way this plotline is being rolled out.

The latter half of the episode is where things take flight, as Ahsoka and Sabine discover that their foes are constructing a hyperspace ring that will, presumably, take them to a galaxy far, far away. The ensuing firefight with Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), and a slew of throwaway fighter pilots, forces Ahsoka and Sabine to function as a team again. It is a welcome sight after the weird tension between them in the first two episodes, and it provides a glimpse of a much warmer Ahsoka—a characteristic that has been sorely missing in her live-action portrayal.

After narrowly escaping from Morgan Elsbeth’s (Diana Lee Inosanto) grasp, Ahsoka and Sabine take a moment to discuss the creature they encountered during the fight after taking refuge in the forests on a nearby planet. Fans of Rebels will already know that they were soaring through the stars among Purrgils, and for once Ahsoka takes the time to explain that the last time either of them saw Purrgils it was when Ezra and Thrawn disappeared. Huyang explains that the hyperspace ring that Morgan Elsbeth is constructing is capable of jumping to a neighboring galaxy, with the aid of Purrgils.

The episode ends rather anticlimactically with Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) giving the order to hunt down “The Jedi.” However, and not to sound like Huyang “um actuallying” anything, but given the earlier discussions in the episode—neither Ahsoka nor Sabine is a Jedi. Has anyone clued Baylan in on that factoid?

Time Flies When You’re… Having Fun

“Time to Fly” is an apt title for Episode 3, as the time did indeed fly while watching the episode. Green’s direction and O’Reilly’s brief appearance were the episode’s sole redeeming qualities, despite Bordizzio’s and Winstead’s best efforts to salvage the disjointed character arcs they’ve been given. The episode ends rather abruptly with neither a moment of closure nor a cliffhanger, which is a bewildering way to tease the journey ahead.

It remains to be seen if Ahsoka can pull together a more coherent story arc by the midway point next week, or if we’re watching an eight-episode series designed to establish Filoni’s upcoming feature film. The latter wouldn’t be surprising when The Mandalorian’s second season was used as a backdoor pilot for Ahsoka and the no-go Rangers of The New Republic. Episode 3 could’ve benefited from about fifteen more minutes of storytelling to establish crucial plot points that have been brushed over thus far for more casual viewers, though the premiere did make it quite clear that Ahsoka is aimed at a very niche audience who may prefer their truncated episodes.

The first three episodes of Ahsoka are streaming now on Disney+.

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To read more articles from Maggie Lovitt, visit her author page.

About The Author

Maggie Lovitt is the Lead News Editor at Collider and a lover of all things related to pop culture.
In addition to reporting on the latest entertainment news, she is also an actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild based out of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, a member of the Hollywood Critics Association, Screen Actors Guild, and The Cherry Picks.
She has a special taste for horror films that make you think, rom-coms that dole out a healthy dose of Fremdschämen, high-flying action flicks that deliver hits, and has an enemies-to-lovers relationship with superhero movies.
In 2020, she co-founded the podcast “Petticoats & Poppies: History Girls at the Movies” with her longtime friend, and North Carolina-based film critic, Nicole Ackman.
That same year, Maggie joined as a co-host on the Star Wars podcast ‘Outer Rim Beacon,’ and has appeared as a guest on numerous Star Wars podcasts and other pop culture podcasts.
In 2021, she launched “Starbucks Lovers: A Taylor Swift Podcast” which allows her to geek out about her love for Taylor Swift and music.
She also runs Millennial Falcon Reviews (@mfalconreviews).
While she spends her time writing and editing articles about the entertainment industry, Maggie’s background is in history and anthropology.
She earned her Bachelor’s in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington, where she focused on Colonial American history, British literature, and historic architecture.
She recently earned her Master’s in Engaged Anthropology at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, where she focused her studies on dark tourism, magic, and the politics of food.