The following contains spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 7, "Part Seven: Dreams and Madness," streaming now on Disney+.
What makes Grand Admiral Thrawn such an engaging Star Wars villain is his intellect. Thrawn doesn't wield the Force. He's tough but not an absolute brawler. He doesn't seem to care much about pursuing vengeance, a line of thinking that often plagued Darth Vader's career. Thrawn always plans five moves ahead of everyone in order to "control all variables," as he so elegantly informs Morgan Elsbeth in Ahsoka's penultimate episode, "Part Seven: Dreams and Madness." He enjoys studying opponents and outflanking them to achieve his own ends, abilities that served him quite well in Star Wars Rebels and translate as successfully to live-action as Lars Mikkelsen's performance.
Fans have yet to see Thrawn pull anything quite as stunning as his maneuvers in Timothy Zahn's original book trilogy. But if his strategy here is any indicator, Ahsoka Tano and Hera Syndulla are right to fear his return.
The bulk of this episode is divided evenly among the main and supporting cast while delivering some much-hyped bonding sessions between long-lost friends. After catching a glimpse of his Last Jedi-esque exiled self, Eman Esfandi shines as an adult Ezra opposite Sabine. Their chemistry is spot-on, offering a slightly mature version of the duo's Rebels siblings dynamic as they veer between complementing and taking potshots at each other with ease. On the flip side is a brief but touching, scene of Ahsoka training opposite a holo-recording of Clone Wars Anakin en route to Peridea with Huyang, listening to him namedrop Separatist villains she'll one day fight (including the first live-action mention of Asajj Ventress) -- as much a sign of sentimentality as it is Ahsoka holding onto the man she remembered Anakin as, rather than the Sith he eventually became.
The action surrounding Ahsoka's heroes and villains offers insight into how Thrawn thinks. From setting up anti-purgill landmine traps around Peridea to pinpointing Ahsoka's location via Nightsister magick and coordinating his Stormtrooper platoons, Thrawn is good at manipulating his adversaries without them realizing it. "Dreams and Madness" gives the audience some cool set pieces, but as he eventually reveals, placing these battles such a great distance away from the Chimaera leaves Thrawn's crew ample time to load up their cargo and escape Peridea for good -- the very thing the heroes were trying to prevent.
There are, of course, a few unknown questions Ahsoka has yet to answer. Ezra, somewhat frustratingly, remains in the dark about Sabine's role in bringing Thrawn his off-world transportation. Baylan Skoll's objectives also remain unknown -- even to Thrawn, who expresses surprise at the Dark Jedi's absence when Shin Hati ambushes Ezra and Sabine -- leaving us to speculate just what power he's searching for on Peridea. And, for Rebels fans, there's still no explanation for why Zeb hasn't appeared yet, despite Ezra namedropping him this episode as Sabine updates Ezra on the current state of the galaxy and their old team's career paths.
Nevertheless, director Geeta Vasant Patel does a great job keeping her set pieces versatile. "Dreams and Madness" has some epic starship combat sequences, a brief but fun Ahsoka vs. Baylan rematch, and even a few chases involving Ezra and the Noti's pill bug-like transportation pods, combined with a ton of on-point jokes from Ezra, the always scene-stealing Huyang, and Ahsoka herself, whose outgoing personality has clearly brightened since her encounter with Anakin. The standout fight is Sabine and Ezra's standoff against Shin's forces, demonstrating the former's ample weapons supply and the latter's ability to fight using only the Force -- a kind of Force martial arts reminiscent of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon than traditional Filoni-era duels that might become more prominent in The Acolyte's Jedi-heavy timeline.
Ahsoka Episode 7 strikes the right balance between darkly serious and "this is where the fun begins" elements after seven episodes of waiting to see its cast reunited. But much as the Ahsoka/Sabine/Ezra reunion works, it is very much a "calm before the storm" moment regarding Thrawn's master plan. Whether Filoni's writing will execute that plan in a manner that leaves both casual fans and Clone Wars/Rebels die-hards satisfied remains to be seen. Given the quality of Ahsoka's back half, however, calls for optimism feel warranted.
New Ahsoka episodes premiere Tuesdays at 9 pm EST/6 pm PST on Disney+.