By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright Disney
So Mae goes after her second victim Jedi Master Torbin in his meditation centre and she fails spectacularly. This fight was entertaining as Torbin didn’t move a muscle. His Force bubble saved him. Again we get more questions raised here. What unfinished business does she have with him? Is there a reason Mae demands her opponents to attack her with everything they have? Is she proving something to herself or her mysterious master?
It isn’t long before the story gets more complicated and gives us even more questions. Mae has a friend Qimir who gives her a poison which this time she offers to Torbin. Torbin has been in this state for ten years and Mae’s words about admitting what he did by taking his own life throws the audience. So the stuffy righteous Jedi did something so bad the night Mae and Osha’s family died on Brendok that Torbin retreated into a coma state then came out of it so he could end his life.
Last time I thought Mae wanted to kill all Jedi but in fact she has only four in her sights. Indara and Torbin are dead. That only leaves Sol and a wookie Jedi Kelnacca. Kelnacca is on a remote forest world called Khofar while Mae faces off against Sol on Olega, the location of the Jedi temple. This fight is beautifully executed and really showcases Sol’s control over his gifts as well as Lee Jung Jae’s martial arts skills.
Mae fails as Yord and Jecki close in and in a twist Mae discovers Osha is alive and well. Were both girls victims of some plan that went wrong? Sol tries to find out the identity of Mae’s mysterious master but not even she knows who he is. Or at least, we are assuming it is a he. So who is on the right side here?
Mae or Osha? or neither?
Trapped by the Jedi rules, Sol is left frustrated but they head to find Kelnacca before Mae gets there. We end the episode with Kelnacca scaring off two scavengers that attempt to raid his home. The sight of a wookie using the Force is a shocker but it got me thinking.
By the way, he is played by The Force Awakens trilogy’s Chewbacca, Joonas Suotamo. But in a way Disney has missed a trick here. While a wookie Jedi has appeared in other mediums, the first television appearance of one should have been a much bigger deal.
Kelnacca, yes I want the figure, was in the promo material but for me, it would have been smarter to keep that secret. There is no drama or appeal in the reveal. It is said he is a wookie and the third target but wouldn’t it have been better to hide the fact the he is a Jedi ala Marvel style. Yes, we are getting surprises along the way but this character should have been revealed in a much more dramatic and story twist way. We haven’t seen Sol with a lightsabre yet but I can’t wait. His skills are being drip fed to us as here where he simply uses his body to defeat Mae, countering her every move and freezing her so he can talk to her about Osha. Equally Mae using the dirt on the ground to escape was cool and worked perfectly.
I have a feeling that Sol is much closer to both of them than we actually know yet. I’ve got my theory about the identity of Mae’s mysterious master so it will be interesting to see if I am right. But after these two episodes we have questions; questions born from the fact we have already been side swiped by our own assumptions of the storyline’s direction.
While not having the foresight to amp up the drama where the wookie is concerned, Disney have delivered a story populated with interesting characters and dangled enough carrots to bring me back for more.
Let’s see where this goes.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 