Part seven of Ahsoka marks the penultimate episode of the latest Star Wars series and one that’s chock-full of action. While not too heavy on plot, it did allow for some further reunions to take place, as well as give us insight not only into part of Thrawn’s plan but also his philosophy.

We open up back in the familiar galaxy far, far away with a hearing to account for the actions of Hera. I gotta say, Kazuda’s dad is a jerk and the New Republic seems wildly incompetent even after the Eye of Scion is presented as eye-witness evidence to the council. Hera was almost suspended of rank if not for a last-minute save from Princess Leia, via a proxy from the one and only C-3PO, played once again by Anthony Daniels. It’s always good to see him show up and he convinces Mon Mothma and the other senators that Hera’s mission was sanctioned by Leia, which is total malarkey and Mon knows it but lets it slide, knowing if Thrawn is coming back, they’ll need all the help they can get. The show also confirms that we’ve passed the events of The Mandalorian season 3 now, with Carson commenting on the defeat of Moff Gideon.

Elsewhere, we catch up with Ahsoka training while listening to a holo recording of Anakin, played again by Hayden Christensen. He’s really tapping into the Matt Lanter side of the character from The Clone Wars and Hayden feels much more confident in the role, even as a pre-recorded message. Ahsoka has come to accept that Anakin was a good person, despite his fall to the Dark Side, and he continues to guide his apprentice from his pre-recorded messages, just like the one we saw in season two of Rebels.

Ahsoka and Huyang then arrive at Peridea and they’re immediately set upon by the Imperial minefield surrounding the planet. At the same time, Morgan’s pilots fly out to intercept, forcing the pair into the skeletal debris field to hide. It’s here that Ahsoka taps into the Force to try and connect with Sabine, just to make sure that she’s even on this mystery planet. Thankfully, she is and Sabine feels a familiar presence in the Force. Sabine still hasn’t confided to Ezra how exactly she got on the planet, I’m sure that will go over great once he learns. For now, though, we get a much more sincere reunion between Ezra and Ahsoka than the one we got last week with Sabine and Ezra, as the duo wastes no time hugging and showing how much they’ve missed one another. Makes last week’s reunion seem even more stuff in hindsight. Quick observation though, but Ezra’s non-saber combat seems to be getting a lot of flack online and I’m not sure why, the man hasn’t trained with his lightsaber in almost a decade, he has no idea how to use it right now but has been in tune with the Force for almost a decade, so of course he knows how to use it in a fight.

I did wish we got into that drama though, as everything is lining up pretty easily for the heroes all things considered. Sure, it’s what Thrawn wants but that doesn’t make it less convenient. First, Sabine found Ezra super easily and now Ahsoka was able to swoop in at the last minute to save Sabine and Ezra from Thrawn’s troops and Shin.

Speaking of Shin, Skoll actually part ways with her in this episode, fueling the speculation as to what his end goal is. He tells Shin to find a new place in the new Empire but says he’s on a different path, one that he’s willing to defend by having another duel with Ahsoka, one that ultimately ends in a draw. His absence is also noted by Thrawn, who watches the events play out via a holo board.

But despite the heroes uniting and causing the Night Troopers to retreat, Thrawn is surprisingly lax about it all, barring the realization that Ahsoka is the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, a man he knew as both the Jedi Knight and Lord Vader, as seen in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Alliances. By sending Sabine out to look for Ezra last week, he ensured all of this week’s action took place far away from the temple, buying him precious time to load up the Chimera with those mysterious coffin-looking devices. While I initially thought the Night Troopers could be reanimated, it seems Thrawn’s undead servants may come exclusively from the coffins, as the Night Troopers didn’t turn to smoke like Marrok did when he died.

On a technical level, Ahsoka continues to shine, with well-staged and entertaining action, fantastic music once more by Kevin Kiner and great puppeteering and creature design courtesy of those turtle-like creatures. This isn’t a bad episode at all, it just lacked tension because the characters aren’t being challenged right now, despite the crazy threat that’s coming. But it’s also great having so many unanswered questions heading into the finale. Feels fun and I hope the finale is nice and long to wrap up all the loose threads while setting up the Heir to the Empire film that’s so clearly being set up. Let’s hope it can deliver!